Meaning

Ayah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

1. When the sun loses its spacious light and darkens out;

إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ (1)

وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَت ْ(2)

وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ (3)

THE EXPLANATION

            Al-Hakim narrated from the route of Ibn ^Umar that the Messenger of Allah said:

<< من أحبّ أن ينظر الى يوم القيامة فليقرأ إذا الشمس كورت >>

This means:  <<The one who desires to envision the Day of Judgment let him read Surah at-Takwir.>>  Al-Hakim established the hadith as Sahih with which adh-Dhahabiyy concurred and Ahmad reported the hadith.

1.  ٌ{إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ}

Ibn ^Abbas said it means:  When the sun loses its light and becomes dark. The scholars of interpretation said the sun will be gathered and wrapped and thrown into Hellfire.

2.  {وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انْكَدَرَت}         

            When the stars scatter and drop and lose their light;

3.  {وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ}            

            When the mountains are wrenched out from the earth and leveled as earth was first created without mountains or valleys.

4.  {وَإِذَا الْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ}            

            ^Ishar (عِشَارُ) is the plural of ^ushara’ (عُشَرَاء) which is the she-camel ten (10) months pregnant.  She is called ^ushara’ until she delivers so long as her pregnancy does not exceed twelve (12) months.  Such a camel is very precious to her owners, yet they have to leave her untended, without a shepherd and without one milking her, because they are overwhelmed by other matters.   This similitude alludes to the Day of Judgment when no one pays any heed to what he used to have.^Uttilat (عُطِّلَتْ) means, ' left out and neglected due to being occupied by the dire events of the day of judgment.'

5.  {وَإِذَا الْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ}        

            This refers to when the beasts are gathered after Resurrection.  Ibn ^Abbas said:  The beasts will be gathered on that day to take their due from one another, after which they will turn into soil.  Although the beasts are not accountable for their deeds, still this happens to elucidate the Justice of the Creator.  This ayah also carries an explicit proof that animals have souls. 

6.  {وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ}           

            Imam Al-Bukhariyy commented in his Sahih that al-Hasan said the ayah means:  The water of the oceans will be gone, without any drop left.  ^Aliyy Ibn Abi Talib and Ibn ^Abbas said sujjirat (سُجّرَت) means ‘will be lit in a blaze,’ as reported by al-Qurtubiyy.  Ibn Kathir and Abu ^Amr recited sujirat (سجرت) with a single jim.

7.  {وَإِذَا النُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ}          

            Imam al-Bukhariyy narrated in his commentaries that ^Umar Ibn al-Khattab used to say about the meaning of this ayah: " ‘the man among the people of Paradise will be wed to his equal, and the man among the people of Hellfire will be wed to his equal.’  Then he recited the saying of Allah: (As-Saffat, 22)

{ احْشُرُوا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا وَأَزْوَاجَهُمْ }

This ayah  means: [Assemble those who committed iniquities along with their spouses]"

Hafidh Ibn Hajar said:  "This narration has a continuous Sahih chain of narration.”

 Al-Hakim narrated a similar meaning from the route of ^Umar Ibn al-Khattab that he explained the meaning as:  “They are the two men doing the deeds that make them enter Paradise and Hellfire, the sinner with the sinner and the pious with the pious.”  Al-Hakim classified it as sahih and adh-Dhahabiyy agreed.

8.  {وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ}         

            This ayah refers to the abhorrent practice of some during the Era of Ignorance of burying the female infants born to them while they were still alive.  The man preferred to kill his own female infant out of fear that she might be disgraced if captured in a raid or sold into slavery, or out of fear of poverty.  The honorable people at the time refrained from such a practice and stopped others from doing it.  Sa^sa^ah, the grandfather of al-Farazdaq, used to buy the female infants from their fathers.  He had rescued seventy (70) of them by the time Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, renewed the call of al-Islam.

            The significance of her being asked is to severely reprimand the doer of such an abhorrent deed.

9.  {بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ}                

            This is a narrative of the statement with which she would be addressed.  Her reply would be, “I was murdered for no reason.”  By this, the abhorrence of the act stands out and the murderers would be clearly exposed.  ^Aliyy Ibn Abi Talib, Ibn Mas^ud, Ibn ^Abbas, Abu ^Abd Ar-Rahman, Ibn Ya^mar, Ibn Abi ^Ablah and Harun from Abi ^Amr recited sa'altu  (سألت) with a fathah on the sin and an 'alif after it and recited bi'ayyi dhambin qutiltu  (بأيّ ذنب قتلت) with a silent lam and a dammah on the ta'.

10.  {وَإِذَا الصُّحُفُ نُشِرَتْ}       

            Al-Qurtubiyy and al-Mawardiyy said the meaning is:  The journals in which the angels record the good and bad deeds of those concerned will be folded by death, and then laid open again on the Day of Judgment.  Then every person will stand at his journal and learn what is written in it and would say (as Allah told us in Surah al-Kahf, 49:

{مَالِ هَذَا الْكِتَابِ لا يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلا كَبِيرَةً إِلاَّ أَحْصَاهَا}

This means:  [This book, wondrously, does not skip counting neither a small nor an enormous matter]  Nafi^, ^Asim, Abu Ja^far, Ibn ^Amir and Ya^qub recited nushirat (نشرت) with a single shin. The rest of the scholars of recitation recited with nushshirat (نشِّرت) with a double shin.

11.  {وَإِذَا السَّمَاءُ كُشِطَتْ}       

            Az-Zajjaj said it means:  When the sky will be wrenched out as in wrenching out the roof of a house.  Al-kasht (الكشط) is the wrenching out of something in firm adhesion to another thing. ^Abdullah recited qushitat (قشطت).

12.  {وَإِذَا الْجَحِيمُ سُعِّرَتْ}        

            At such time when the blazing fire of Hell is fervidly fueled.  As-sa^ir (السعير) is the blazing and fervor of the fire.  At-Tirmidhiyy and Ibn Majah narrated from the route of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: 

<< أوقد على النار الف سنة حتى احمرت، ثم اوقد عليها الف سنة حتى ابيضت، ثم اوقد عليها الف سنة حتى اسودت فهى سوداء مظلمة. >>

This means:  <<The fire of the Hell was fueled for one thousand (1,000) years until it became red in color, then one-thousand (1,000) years until it became white in color, then one-thousand (1,000) years until it became black in color.  Hence, it is dark and pitch-black in color.>>  Nafi^, Ibn Dhakwan, Hafs from ^Asim recited su^^irat (سُعِّرَتْ) with a double ^ayn, others recited su^irat (سعرت) with a single ^ayn.Shu^bah recited both ways.

13.  {وَإِذَا الْجَنَّةُ أُزْلِفَتْ}           

            The reference here is to when Paradise will be brought closer.  Az-Zajjaj said:  The interpretation of that is when the time of their entry into and looking at Paradise becomes near.  Al-Hasan said:  They will be brought close to Paradise while it remains in its place.

The forthcoming ayahs are the reply statements to the first ayah {إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ} and the ayahs joined to it by conjunction [1].

14.  {عَلِمَتْ نَفْسٌ مَا أَحْضَرَتْ}  

            The term nafs (self,  نَفْسٌ) is indefinite thereby reflecting a general context.  The ayah means that every soul shall know the good deeds it brought in its journal that would admit it to Paradise or the bad deeds that would make it deserving of Hellfire, may Allah protect us.

15.  {فلا أُقْسِمُ بِالْخُنَّسِ}           

            An-Nasafiyy and others said la (لا) is a linguistic additive meaning:  Verily, I swear by al-khunnas (الخنّس).  Al-Khunnas (الخنس) is the plural of khanisah (خانسة) and khanasa ^anhu (خنس عنه) means 'to be delayed or receded from.'  Al-Hafidh said:  Al-Bukhariyy said al-khunnas (الْخُنَّسِ) is 'to recede and conceal itself in its habitat like when the gazelles recede into their caves.'  

            Al-Farra’ said that the ayah is in reference to the five stars that run their course by receding in their tracks just as the gazelles recede back in their caves.  He said what is meant by the five stars is: 

'Mercury (عطارد), Venus (الزهرة), Mars المريخ) بهرام و هو), Jupiter (المشترى), Saturn   (زحل).'      

            Then al-Farra’ said:  "Sa^id Ibn Mansur narrated from ^Aliyy with a hasan classification that they are the planets appearing at night and receding unseen at daylight."  In his book   'Lisan Al-^Arab' he said:  "Khunusuha (خنوسها) is the receding at daylight and al-khunus (الخنوس) is to recede and conceal."

16.  {الْجَوَارِ الْكُنَّسِ}                

            Al-kunnas (الكنّس) is the plural of kanis (كانس) and kanisah (كانسة).  Kanis (كانس), if attributed to a beast, means the beast entering its habitat--like the wild cows and the gazelles.  Al-jawariyy (الجوارى) are the moving planets and al-kunnas (الكنس) are those planets that set and hide. Hence, the ayah refers to the moving planets that set and hide.

17.  {وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ}           

            Al-Khalil said: Allah adjured by the setting in of the night and by its disappearance.  The term ^as^as (عَسْعَسَ) is antonymic (الاضداد); such terms contain in the same word opposite meanings (like appearing and disappearing).

18.  {وَالصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ}            

            As-subh (الصُّبْحِ) is dawn, the beginning of daylight.  Idha tanaffas (إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ) i.e., if it's light spreads out.  This ayah contains an adjuration;  Allah adjures by the Dawn and its spread-out light.  The reply statement that shows the subject matter of the adjuration is the following ayah (#19).

19.  {إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ}       

            The revealed Qur’an, highly praised to Allah, is the utterance[2] of an honorable angel and messenger to Allah, Jibril, who came down with the revelation on all the prophets, peace be upon them

20.  {ذِي قُوَّةٍ عِنْدَ ذِي الْعَرْشِ مَكِينٍ}                   

            Jibril is extremely empowered to carry out his assignments without weakness or powerlessness.  His strength enabled him to wrench out the villages of the people of Prophet Lut (Lot) and turn them upside down, as he was ordered.  Jibril has a very high status to Allah.

21.  {مُطَاعٍ ثَمَّ أَمِينٍ}                

            This ayah means Jibril is obeyed by the other angels in the skies and is entrusted with bringing the Revelation down to the prophets of Allah.  The saying of Allah, thamma (ثمَّ), refers to the skies.  Ibn Hisham said thamma (ثمَّ) with a fathah is a name reflecting the far away place.  Jibril is amin (أمين)[3] i.e., he is entrusted with bringing the Revelation down to the prophets of Allah.  Ubayy Ibn Ka^b and Ibn Mas^ud recited thumma (ثم) with a dammah on the tha'. 

22.  {وَمَا صَاحِبُكُمْ بِمَجْنُونٍ}      

            This is a conjunction to the reply statement of the adjuration in ayah 19.  It means:  O People of Makkah, unlike the lies the blasphemers fabricate, Muhammad is not insane. Rather, he is truthful and may Allah reward him greatly for what he gave his nation. Majnun (مجنون)[4] is the one subdued by Jinn or the one who suffered an ailment in his brains that veils his mind.

23.  {وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ بِالأفُقِ الْمُبِينِ}     

            This ayah refers to that Muhammad saw Jibril in his original form having six hundred (600) wings. He saw him in the far horizon (ِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ) from where the sun rises.

24.  {وَمَا هُوَ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ بِضَنِينٍ}                        

            Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is not a miser in conveying what was revealed to him.  Ibn Kathir, Abu ^Amr, and al-Kisa’iyy read the term bidanin (بِضَنِينٍ) with the letter dha' (ظ) instead of dad (ض).  Read as such, it means Muhammad is neither accused of bringing forward something which was not revealed to him, nor of short-conveying any of what was revealed to him, nor of adding to what was conveyed to him.  Al-Bukhariyy said adh-dhanin (الظنين) means ‘the accused’ and ad-danin (الضنين) means ‘the miser.’  Likewise it was narrated by ^Abdur-Razzaq from the route of Ibrahim an-Nakh^iyy.

25.  {وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَيْطَانٍ رَجِيمٍ}                                                                                        

            Contrary to the false claim of the blasphemers of Quraysh, the Qur’an is not the word of one of the devils--pelted away with meteors--uttering through the tongue of Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.  Some of the devils eavesdrop near the first sky whereupon the angels pelt them away with meteors.  Rajim (رَجِيمٍ) means marjum (مرجوم) i.e., ‘pelted with meteors.’

26.  {فَأَيْنَ تَذْهَبُونَ}                  

            What other route would you follow but the Qur’an which provides the guidance and soundness?  This ayah shows that the blasphemers strayed by their fabrications about the Prophet.  One time they attributed to him insanity, another time soothsaying, and other than that.  The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is clear of their accusations. 

27.  {إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ ذِكْرٌ لِلْعَالَمِينَ}   

            An-Nasafiyy said it means the Qur’an is truly a preachment for the creation.

28.  {لِمَنْ شَاءَ مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يَسْتَقِيمَ}                        

            The Qur’an is a preachment for those who willed to follow the Straight Path by embracing Islam and they will indeed benefit from it.  As for those who do not embrace Islam, they do not benefit from the Qur’an.

Then in the following ayah, Allah elucidated that the slave’s will of embracing Islam, and thus being on the straight path, is only by the Will of Allah.

29.  {وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ}   

            You shall not will for yourselves to be on the Straight Path by embracing Islam unless Allah willed that for you eternally.  Allah made it known that their being guided to the good ending is only by and in accordance with the Will of Allah.  In the ayah, Allah mentioned specifically one’s will to follow the Straight Path–and not one’s will to go astray to elucidate the honor of the belief.

            Al-Qurtubiyy said: “Allah showed in this ayah that the good the slave does is by the Will of Allah in order to benefit him, and the evil the slave commits is by the Will of Allah in order to deprive him.  Allah said in Surah al-An^am, 111:

{وَلَوْ أَنَّنَا نَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ وَكَلَّمَهُمُ الْمَوْتَى وَحَشَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ قُبُلا مَا كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا إِلا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ }

This ayah means:  [Even if Allah sends the angels to them and the dead speak to them and Allah assemble everything in front of their own eyes, they still would not believe unless Allah willed for them to believe.  And Allah said in Surah Yunus, 100:

{ وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ إِلا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ }

This ayah  means:  [No soul can believe except by the Will of Allah.]  Allah said in Surah al-Qasas, 56:

{ إِنَّكَ لا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ }

This ayah  means:  [O Muhammad, you will not be able to guide whomever you love, but Allah guides whomever He wills.]  There are many other verses and religious reports showing that Allah guides one by Islam and misguides one by blasphemy.” (End of Qurtubiyy's saying.)

            Allah is rubbul-^alamin (رب العالمين) i.e., the Owner of all the creatures and their deeds.  By precedence He is the Creator of their deeds.  Allah said in  Surah as-Saffat, 96:

{ وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ }

This ayah  means:  [Allah has created you and your doings.]

            The Messenger of Allah said:

<< إن الله تعالى صانع كل صانع وصنعتة >>

This means:  <<Indeed, Allah has created every doer and his doing.>>  Narrated by al-Bayhaqiyy, al-Hakim, and Ibn Hibban.  Allah said in Surah al-An^am, 110:

{ وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ }

This ayah  means:  [We (Allah) shall change their hearts and turn their sights.] 

            The fact that Allah controls and changes the hearts of the slaves clearly indicates that Allah is the Creator of the actions of the hearts. Likewise, the fact that Allah controls and turns the sights of the slaves clearly indicates that Allah is the Creator of the doings of the extremities and other external body organs. 

            Praise be to Allah, the One Who guides whomever He willed out of His generosity and makes misguided whomever He willed out of His justice.  Hence, the one who attributes the ultimate will to the slaves and not to the Creator, who is the Owner of the slaves, is undoubtedly a misguided blasphemer. 

            Muslim narrated that the blasphemers came to debate with the Messenger about the Destining of Allah, so Allah revealed in Surah al-Qamar, ayahs 47, 48, and 49:

{ إِنَّ الْمُجْرِمِينَ فِي ضَلالٍ وَسُعُرٍ(47)يَوْمَ يُسْحَبُونَ فِي النَّارِ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِمْ ذُوقُوا مَسَّ سَقَرَ(48)إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ(49)}

These ayahs mean:  [The blasphemers are in a state of misguidance and madness (47).  On the Day of Judgment they will be dragged through the fire of Hell on their faces and will be told to taste the touch of Hell (48).  Verily, We (Allah) have created all things in accordance with (Allah’s) Decree (49).]

            Those who say the slave creates his own actions are blasphemers by the evidence of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous agreement of the salaf and khalaf.  The sayings of those who oppose them do not have any consideration due to the following confirmed saying of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, narrated by Abu Dawud:

<< القدرية مجوس هذه الأمة >>

This means:  <<Those who deny the Destining of Allah are the Majus of this nation.>>

            Al-Lalaka’iyy and al-Bayhaqiyy narrated about many of the scholars of the salaf that they pronounced those who deny the Destining of Allah as blasphemers.  Among such scholars were the companions, ^Abdullah Ibn ^Abbas and ^Abdullah Ibn ^Umar, as well as a number of the followers of the Companions and their followers.  The two great imams, Imam Malik and Imam ash-Shafi^iyy explicitly stated that this is a case of blasphemy.  Henceforth, it is not permissible to doubt in the blasphemy of the one who says the slave creates his own actions, for, may Allah protect us, they are belying the saying of Allah in Surah ar-Ra^d, 16   { قُلِ اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ } and Surah as-Saffat, 96:   { وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ }.  Surah ar-Ra^d, 16 means:  [Say, Allah is the Creator of all things.]  Surah as-Saffat, 96 means:  [Verily, Allah created you and your doings.]

            Ibn Jarir and others reported that when{لِمَنْ شَاءَ مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يَسْتَقِيمَ} was revealed Abu Jahl said, 'we are meant by this ayah, if we willed to, we follow the Straight Path, and if we willed not to, we do not follow it.' So Allah revealed {وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ}.

Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, Abu Al-Mutawakkil and Abu ^Imran recited wa ma yasha'un ( يشاءون) with a ya'.