Fath between the people (judgment)

In Shu'ayb's prayer in Al-A'raf 89, he asks God to "open" between his people and himself in truth. Rida holds that the opening here means judgement and the deciding between two parties, and that every opening between two parties carries the sense of judgement, from which victory derives. ¹

Rida relates a report from Ibn Abbas that he did not understand the meaning of this prayer until he heard the daughter of Dhu Yazan say to her husband, "Come, let me open [a case] against you", and a Bedouin woman say to her husband, "Between me and you is the one who opens". Early exegetes, including Ibn al-Anbari and al-Bayhaqi, transmitted the report and understood "opening" as settling a dispute at law. ¹

Rida holds that the report shows linguistically that this sense of "opening" as judging is not Qurashi, and he mentions al-Suddi's view that it is Yemeni, while some limited it to Himyari. ¹

Rida gives examples of "opening" in the sense of judgement in the Qur'an, including a verse in Surah Saba and Noah's prayer in Surah al-Shu'ara', and holds that what Shu'ayb meant by his prayer is exactly what Noah meant. ¹