Intermediate Quranic Sciences Surah: At-Tawbah (80)

Numbers: literal vs. figurative: Numbers in the Quran serve two functions — literal (an actual count) and figurative (an indefinite large quantity) — and context is the deciding factor.

"Seven" (sab) and "seventh":

• Literal: "seven heavens" (2:29) — "seven fat cows" (12:43)
• Figurative for abundance: "Even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will never forgive them" (9:80) — meaning: no matter how many times, they will not be forgiven. Al-Tabari said: "even if he exceeded seventy."

"Seventy" (sabuun): A figure for an uncountable large quantity in Arab usage — as in At-Tawbah 9:80.

"Thousand" (alf) and "thousands":

• Literal: "a thousand years minus fifty" (29:14)
• Figurative: "one of them would love to be granted a thousand years" (2:96) — exaggeration of the desired lifespan.
• Multiplication of reward: "like a grain that grows seven spikes with a hundred grains in each spike" (2:261)

The principle: Ibn Ashur said: "The Arabs use seven, seventy, a hundred, and a thousand to indicate abundance, not a precise count."

Source: Ibn Ashur, Al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir (10/273); Al-Tabari, Tafsir (14/388); Al-Alusi, Ruh al-Maani (10/166); Al-Zarkashi, Al-Burhan (2/88)

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