Verses 29–35

35:283This is the second account, which follows on from that of ʿĀd, to serve as an admonition for the Prophet’s people. It also serves as a stinging rebuke of them in that they disbelieved in him and in the scripture that was revealed to him in their language, which they knew was a miraculous sign. This was while they were human beings like him, and yet when the jinn heard the Qur’an, they believed in it and returned to their people to warn them.

وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَآ إِلَيْكَ نَفَرًا مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ يَسْتَمِعُونَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ فَلَمَّا حَضَرُوهُ قَالُوٓا۟ أَنصِتُوا۟ ۖ فَلَمَّا قُضِىَ وَلَّوْا۟ إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِم مُّنذِرِينَ ۝٢٩

46:29 When We dispatched toward you a team of jinn listening to the Qur’an. When they were in its presence, they said, “Be silent!”

When it was finished, they went back to their people as warners.

To “dispatch” (ṣarf) means to drive something from one state to another or from one place to another. A “team” (nafar)—based on what Rāghib has said—literally means a group of men still small enough to escape notice, and it can be applied to any group of three or more men, women, humans, or jinn, as in this verse. Listening to the Qur’an is an adjective for a team.

The meaning is: “And mention when we directed to you a number of the jinn listening to the Qur’an.”

…when they were in its presence, they said, “Be silent!”

Its presence means the presence of the Qur’an, and this intimates a sense of activity (i.e. its recitation). Silent means to be quiet in order to listen. In other words, when they attended the Qur’an’s recitation, they said to one another: “Be silent so that we may listen properly!”

When it was finished, they turned to their people as warners.

It means the Qur’an, in the sense of its recitation and reading. Turned means that they departed. As warners is a circumstantial qualifier for the plural pronoun in they turned. In other words, when the recitation had finished completely, they departed to their people to warn them of God’s