| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for verses 68, 69 and 70, which are Medinese; it consists of 77
verses, and was revealed after [sūrat] Yāsīn.(Al-Furqân)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
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Tafseer
Blessed, exalted, is He Who revealed the Criterion (al-furqān), the Qurâān â
called thus [al-furqān] because it has discriminated (faraqa) between truth and falsehood â to His servant,
Muhammad (s), that he may be to all the worlds, [to] mankind and the jinn, but not the angels, a warner, a
threatening of Godâs chastisement.
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Tafseer
He to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Who has not
taken a son, nor has He any partner in sovereignty; and He created everything, which was meant to be
created, and then determined it in a precise measure, He fashioned it in a balanced form. 401
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Tafseer
Yet they, the disbelievers, have taken besides Him, that is, [besides] God, in
other words, other than Him, gods, from among the idols, who create nothing but have themselves been created,
and who possess no harm for themselves, that is, [the power] to repel it, nor any benefit, that is,
[the power] to attract it, nor do they possess [any power over] death or life, that is, [nor do they have the
power] to make a person die or to give him life, or resurrection, that is, [nor do they have power] to raise
the dead.
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Tafseer
And those who disbelieve say, âThis, Qurâān, is nothing but a calumny, a lie,
that he, Muhammad (s), has invented, and other folk have helped him with itâ, who [according to the
disbelievers] were from among the People of the Scripture. God, exalted be He, says: Verily thus they have
committed wrong and [spoken] falsehood, [they have come with] disbelief and mendacity.
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Tafseer
And they say, that it [the Qurâān] is also, âFables, their lies (asātir is the
plural of ustūra) of the ancients which he has had written down, that he has had someone from among those people
copy it down for him, so that they are read to him, for him to memorise, morning and eveningâ. God,
exalted be He, responds to them saying:
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Tafseer
Say: âIt has been revealed by Him Who knows the secret, the Unseen, of the
heavens and the earth. Truly He is ever Forgiving, of believers, Mercifulâ, to them.
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Tafseer
And they also say, âWhat is it with this Messenger that he eats food and walks
about in the marketplaces? Why has an angel not been sent down to him so as to be a warner along with him?,
and confirm his truthfulness.
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Tafseer
Or a treasure thrown down to him, from the heaven, for him to spend from so as
not to be in need of walking through the marketplaces in order to earn his livelihood. Or he has a
garden, an orchard, for him to eat from?â, that is, [to eat] from its fruits and satisfy himself therewith (a
variant reading [for yaâkulu, âfor him to eatâ] has naâkulu, âfor us to eatâ) and thus possess because of that
[garden] an advantage over us. The wrongdoers, namely, the disbelievers, say, to the believers: âYou are just
following a man bewitched!â, one duped, his mind overcome. God, exalted be He, says:
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Tafseer
See how they strike similitudes for you, of [the fact that the Prophet is] a
person bewitched and one in need of something to expend [from] and of an angel to help him carry out the task [of
delivering the Message], so that they go astray, thereby from guidance, and are unable to find a way, a
means thereto [to guidance].
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Tafseer
Blessed is He, abundant is the good of God, Who, if He will, will give you
better than that, treasure or orchard which they mentioned â gardens underneath which rivers flow, in this
world, for He has already willed to give him such things in the Hereafter, and will give (read apocopated
form wa-yajâal) you palaces, as well (a variant reading [of the apocopated yajâal] is yajâalu, âHe will
giveâ, beginning a new sentence). 402
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Tafseer
Nay, but they deny the [coming of the] Hour, the Resurrection, and We have
prepared for those who deny the Hour a blaze (saâīr), a fire that has been set ablaze (musaââara), in other
words, an intense [fire].
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Tafseer
When it sees them from a distant place, they will hear it raging, boiling like
an enraged person when his heart boils with anger, and roaring, [producing] a powerful noise.
Alternatively, what is meant by their âhearing it ragingâ is their vision of it and awareness of it.
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Tafseer
And when they are flung into a narrow place thereof (read dayyiqan or dayqan,
ânarrowâ, such that it constricts them; minhā, âthereofâ, is a circumstantial qualifier referring to
makānan, âplaceâ, because it is actually an adjectival qualification of it) bound together, shackled, with their
hands bound to their necks in chains (the use of the intensive form muqarranīna [as opposed to muqranīna] is
meant to indicate a large number), they will at that point pray for [their own] annihilation, and it will
be said to them:
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Tafseer
âDo not pray for a single annihilation on this day, but pray for many
annihilations!â, which will be [the nature of] your chastisement.
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Tafseer
Say: âIs that, which is mentioned of the threat of chastisement and the
description of the Fire, better, or the Garden of Immortality which has been promised to the God-fearing, which will be,
in Godâs knowledge, exalted be He, their requital, [their] reward, and journeyâs end?â, [their]
place of return.
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Tafseer
In it they shall have what they wish, abiding [therein] â an irrevocable state â
it, the promise to them of what is mentioned, is a promise binding on your Lord, [a promise] much besought,
requested by those who have been promised it [as is clear from the following]: Our Lord, grant us what
You have promised us through Your messengers [Q. 3:194], or requested on their behalf by the angels
[who say]: Our Lord, and admit them into the Gardens of Eden which You have promised them [Q. 40:8].
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Tafseer
And on the day when He will assemble them (yahshuruhum; a variant reading has
nahshuruhum, âWe assemble themâ) and that which they worship besides God, that is, other than
Him, such as the angels, Jesus, Ezra and the jinn, and will say, exalted be He, (fa-yaqūlu; a variant has
fa-naqūlu, and We shall sayâ) to those who were worshipped, as a way of establishing the argument against the
worshippers [of the former]: âWas it you (read a-antum pronouncing both hamzas, or by substituting
the second one with an alif, or not pronouncing this [last] and inserting an alif between the one not
pronounced and the former, or without [such an insertion]) who misled these servants of Mine, causing them to
fall into error by commanding them to worship you, or did they go astray from the way?, the path of
truth, by themselves?
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Tafseer
They will say, âGlory be to You â exalted be You above what does not befit You!
It was not, it would [not] have been right, for us to take any guardians besides You, that is, other than
You (min awliyāâa, the first direct object, the min being extra, [added] to emphasise the negation; the
preceding [min dūnika, âbesides Youâ] is the second [direct object]). So how can we command that we be
worshipped? But You gave them and their fathers, before them, ease [of living], by granting [them] long life
and abundant provision, until 403 they forgot the Remembrance, [until] they became remiss about admonitions and
belief in the Qurâān, and became a lost folkâ, [a folk] destroyed. God, exalted be He, says:
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Tafseer
Thus they will deny you, that is, the ones who were worshipped denied those who
worshipped [them], in what you allege, namely, that they are gods, and they will neither be able to
(read yastatīâūna, or [second person plural] tastatīâūna) in other words, neither they nor you will be able
to, circumvent, ward off the chastisement from you, nor help, nor protect you from it. And whoever of you
does evil, [whoever] ascribes partners to God, We shall make him taste an awful, a severe, chastisement, in
the Hereafter.
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Tafseer
And We did not send before you any messengers but that they ate food and walked
in the marketplaces, and so you are like them in this respect, and truly what was said to them is
being said to you. And We have made some of you a trial for others:, a test, trying the rich with the poor, the
healthy with the sick, the honourable with the vulgar, in each case the latter would say, âWhy can I not be
like the other person?â Will you be steadfast?, [and endure] what you hear from those with whom you are
tried? (the interrogative is meant as an imperative, in other words, âBe steadfast!â. And your Lord is ever
Watchful, of those who remain steadfast and those who become miserable.
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Tafseer
And those who do not expect to encounter Us, [those] who have no fear of the
Resurrection, say, âWhy have the angels not been sent down to us, to act as messengers to us, or why do we
not see our Lord?â, so that we might be informed [by Him] that Muhammad (s) is [truly] His Messenger? God,
exalted be He, says: Assuredly they are full of arrogance within their souls and have become terribly
insolent, in demanding to see God, exalted be He, in this world (read âutuwwan, âinsolenceâ with the wāw,
according to the original root form, as opposed to âitiyyan with the [yāâ] substitution as in [sūrat]
Maryam [Q. 19:8]).
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Tafseer
The day when they see the angels, [while they stand] together with the rest of
creation, namely, on the Day of Resurrection (yawma is in the accusative because of an implied [preceding]
udhkur, âmentionâ), there will be no good tidings on that day for the guilty, that is, the disbelievers, in
contrast to the believers for whom there shall be the good tidings of Paradise, and they will say, âA forbidding
ban!â, as was their [the pagan] custom in this world whenever a misfortune befell them; in other words [they
mean] âawdhan maâādhan, seeking refuge from the angels [who will chastise them]. God, exalted be He,
says:
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Tafseer
And We shall attend to, We shall turn to, the works they did, that were good,
such as voluntary alms or kindness to kin, a hospitable reception of a guest or the succour of a troubled
person in this world, and turn them into scattered dust (habāâan manthūran), namely, [as] those individual
particles of dust which one might observe near a window when the sun is shining through. In other words, [We
shall make their good works] like those [particles of dust] in their uselessness, there being no
reward for such [works], for lack of any [binding] obligation [to reward them therefor]; but they are rewarded for it
in the life of this world.
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Tafseer
Those who will be the inhabitants of Paradise on that day, the Day of
Resurrection, will be in a [far] better abode, than are the disbelievers in this world, and a [far] better resting
place, than theirs [the latterâs]; in other words, a [better] place for qāâila, which is a rest taken during midday
during hot days. From this [last interpretation of maqīlan] it has been inferred that the Reckoning will be
concluded in half a day, as is stated in one hadīth. 404
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Tafseer
And on the day when the heaven, each of the [seven] heavens, will be split
asunder with the clouds, in other words, [split asunder] together with them [the clouds] (al-ghamām is white
cloud) and the angels will be sent down, from every heaven, in a [majestic] descent, and this is the Day of
Resurrection (it [yawma, âon the dayâ] is in the accusative because of an implied [preceding] udhkur,
âmentionâ; a variant reading [for tashaqqaqu] is tashshaqqaqu, âwill be split asunderâ, where the second tāâ [of
the original form tatashaqqaqu] has been assimilated with it the [the shīn]; another variant
reading [instead of nuzzila almalāâikatu, âthe angels will be sent downâ] has nunzilu al-malāâikata, âWe will send down
the angelsâ);
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Tafseer
true Sovereignty on that day will belong to the Compassionate One, with no one
else sharing it with Him, and it, that day, will be a hard day for the disbelievers, in contrast to the
believers.
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Tafseer
And [it will be] a day when the wrongdoer, the idolater, âUqba b. Abī Muâayt â
who had uttered the two-part profession [âthere is no god but God, Muhammad (s) is His Messengerâ] but
retracted it in order to please Ubayy b. Khalaf â will bite his hands, in regret and anguish on the Day of
Resurrection, saying, âO (yā is for drawing attention) would that I had followed a way with the Messenger!, Muhammad
(s), a route to guidance.
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Tafseer
O woe to me! (yā waylatā: the [final] alif stands in place of the [first person
singular] possessive yāâ, yā waylatī, meaning â[alas] for my destruction!â) Would that I had not taken so and
so, in other words, [that] Ubayy, as friend!
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