| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan: it consists of 53 or 54 verses, revealed after [sūrat] Ghāfir.(Fussilat)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
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Tafseer
Hā mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
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Tafseer
A revelation from the Compassionate, the Merciful (tanzīlun
minaâl-rahmāniâl-rahīm, the subject).
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Tafseer
A Book (kitābun, the predicate thereof) whose signs have been set out in detail,
[whose signs have been] expounded through [various] rulings, stories and admonitions, as an Arabic
Qurâān (qurâānan âarabiyyan, a circumstantial qualifier referring to kitābun, âa Bookâ, by qualifying it
adjectivally) for a people (li-qawmin is semantically connected to fussilat, âset out in detailâ) who have knowledge,
[who] understand this [fact] â and they are the Arabs;
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Tafseer
[containing] good tidings (bashīran is an adjective describing qurâānan, âa
Qurâānâ) and a warning. But most of them turn away so that they do not hear, in a way so as to accept [its
message].
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Tafseer
And they say, to the Prophet, âOur hearts are veiled, [they are] masked, from
that to which you call us, and in our ears there is a deafness and between us and you there is a partition, a
variance over religion, so act, according to your religion; indeed we shall be acting!â, according to our
religion. 556
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Tafseer
Say: âI am only a human being like you. It has been revealed to me [simply] that
your God is One God. So be upright [in your conduct] before Him, through faith and obedience, and seek
forgiveness from Him. And woe (waylun is an expression implying âchastisementâ) to the idolaters,
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Tafseer
who do not pay the alms and who are disbelievers in the Hereafter ([the
repetition of] hum, âtheyâ, is for emphasis).
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Tafseer
Indeed those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall have an enduring
rewardâ, [one that is] unceasing.
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Tafseer
Say: âDo you [really] (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not
pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the two in both cases) disbelieve in Him Who created
the earth in two days, Sunday and Monday, and ascribe to Him associates? That is the Lord, in other
words, the Possesser, of [all] the Worlds (al-âālamīn, the plural of âālam, which denotes everything apart from
God. On account of the variety [of beings] that it subsumes, it has been expressed in the plural form
ending with âīn, as a way of giving prevalence [in the address] to rational beings).
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Tafseer
And He set (wa-jaâala, the beginning of a new [independent] sentence and cannot
be a supplement to [the preceding] relative clause containing alladhī, âWhoâ, because of the intervening
clause that is [syntactically] unrelated) therein firm mountains [rising] above it, and blessed it, with an
abundance of water, crops and stock, and ordained, divided, therein its [various means of] sustenance, for
human beings and beasts, in four, complete, days â in other words, the âsetting therein [of mountains]â
together with what has been mentioned in addition [all] took place on Tuesday and Wednesday â evenly
(sawāâan, in the accusative because it is a verbal noun) in other words, the four days were exactly four,
neither less nor more, for [all] enquirers, about the creation of the earth and all that is in it.
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Tafseer
Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke, [consisting of] rising vapours,
and He said to it and to the earth, âCome both of you, to what I desire from you, willingly, or
unwillingly!â (tawâan aw karhan, their [syntactical] locus is that of a circumstantial qualifier, in other words,
â[Come] being obedient or coercedâ). They said, âWe come, together with all those inhabiting us, willingly!â
(tāâiâīna mainly indicates masculine rational beings; it may also be that they are referred to in this way because
they are being addressed thus).
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Tafseer
Then He ordained them (the [suffixed] pronoun refers back to al-samāâ, âthe
heavenâ, because it [al-samāâ] actually denotes that plural [sense] to which it will lead [in the following
clause), in other words, He made them to be, seven heavens in two days â Thursday and Friday. He completed them
in the last hour thereof, in which He created Adam â which is why He does not say sawāâan, âevenlyâ here
[as He did earlier]; what is said here concords with those verse in which it is stated that the heavens
and the earth were created in six days; and in each heaven He revealed its commandmentâ, that to which He
commanded those in it [to follow], in the way of obedience and worship. And We adorned the lowest heaven
with lamps, with stars, and [this was also] to guard them (hifzan is in the accusative because of its
implicit verbal sense, in other words, âWe guarded it against the devils lest they try to listen therein [to the
angels] by stealth with meteorsâ). That is the ordaining of the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Knower, of
His creatures. 557
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Tafseer
But if they, that is, the Meccan disbelievers, turn away, from belief, after
this clear statement, then say, âI warn you of, I threaten you [with], a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt of âĀd
and Thamūdâ, in other words, a chastisement that will destroy you like the one that destroyed them.
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Tafseer
When the messengers came to them from in front of them and from behind them,
that is, coming to them [to warn them] and leaving them behind [as they departed], but they disbelieved,
as will be stated shortly â the destruction [of them meant] would only take place in his time â saying,
âWorship none but Godâ, they said, âHad our Lord willed, He would have surely sent down, to us, angels;
therefore we indeed disbelieve in what you, according to your claim, have been sent with!â
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Tafseer
As for âĀd, they acted arrogantly in the earth without right, and they said,
upon their being threatened with the chastisement, âWho is more powerful than us in might?â, in other words,
[they believed] no one [to be so] â a single man among them could pull out a huge rock from a mountainside and
[have the strength to] place it wherever he wished. Did they not see, [did they not] realise, that God,
He Who created them, was more powerful than them in might? And they used to deny Our signs, the miracles
[We sent down].
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Tafseer
So We unleashed upon them a raging wind, cold and violent, but without rain,
during [some] ill-fated days (read nahisātin, or nahsātin), [days that were] calamitous for them, that We
might make them taste the chastisement of disgrace, humiliation, in the life of this world; yet the
chastisement of the Hereafter is indeed more disgraceful, more severe, and they will not be helped, to have it
warded off from them.
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Tafseer
And as for Thamūd, We offered them guidance, We pointed out to them the path of
guidance, but they preferred blindness, they chose disbelief [as opposed], to guidance. So the
thunderbolt of the humiliating chastisement seized them on account of what they used to earn.
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Tafseer
And We delivered, from it, those who believed and feared, God.
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Tafseer
And, mention, the day when Godâs enemies are gathered ([read either] yuhsharu
aâdāâuâLlāhi, or nahshuru aâdāâaâLlāhi, â[when] We gather Godâs enemiesâ) to the Fire, for they will be
driven [thereto],
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Tafseer
until, when they reach it (idhā mā: the mā is extra), their hearing and their
eyes and their skins will bear witness against them concerning what they used to do.
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Tafseer
And they will say to their skins, âWhy did you bear witness against us?â They
will say, âGod made us speak, Who gave speech to all things, in other words, [all things] which He wanted to
[be able to] speak. And He created you the first time, and to Him you will be returned: it is said that
this statement is made by their skins; but it is also said to be Godâs words, as is the case with what follows,
for it is similar in context to 558 what preceded, namely, that the One with the power to originate you without any
precedent and restore you to life after death, also has the power to make your skins and your limbs
speak.
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Tafseer
And you did not use to conceal yourselves, when you used to commit lewd acts,
lest your hearing or your eyes or your skins should bear witness against you, because you were never
certain about [the truth of] resurrection; but you thought, when you used to conceal yourselves, that God did
not know most of what you did.
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Tafseer
And that (wa-dhālikum, the subject) supposition of yours (zannukum, substitutes
for it) which you supposed of your Lord (alladhī zanantum bi-rabbikum, a descriptive clause; the predicate
[is the following, ardākum]) has ruined you, that is, it has brought about your destruction. So you have
become among the losersâ.
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Tafseer
So if they endure, the chastisement, the Fire will [still] be their abode; and
if they seek reconciliation, if they seek the satisfaction [of God], then they will not be among the reconciled,
those deemed satisfactory [by God].
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Tafseer
And We have assigned, We have occasioned [for], them companions, from among the
devils, who have adorned for them that which is before them, of what concerns this world and the
following after lusts, and that which is behind them, of what concerns the Hereafter, when they [make them]
say that there will be neither resurrection nor reckoning. And the word, of chastisement â namely, the
verse: Assuredly I will fill Hell â [Q. 11:119]) â became due against them, being among, all those,
communities that passed away, [that] were destroyed, before them of jinn and mankind. Truly they were losers.
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Tafseer
And those who disbelieve say, during the Prophetâs (s) recitation [of the
Qurâān], âDo not listen to this Qurâān and hoot it down, make a din and so forth, and clamour whenever he is reciting,
that perhaps you might prevailâ, so that he will then desist from recitation.
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Tafseer
God, exalted be He, says regarding them: But verily We will make those who
disbelieve taste a severe chastisement, and We will verily requite them the worst of what they used to do,
in other words, [with] the worst requital for their deeds.
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Tafseer
That, severe chastisement and worst requital, is the requital of Godâs enemies
(jazāâu aâdāâi, the second hamza may be pronounced fully or replaced with a wāw) â the Fire! (al-nāru, an
explicative supplement to jazāâu, âthe requitalâ, alluded to by [the demonstrative] dhālika, âthatâ).
Therein will be their everlasting abode, that is, as a place of [permanent] residence, from which there will be no
removal, as a requital (jazāâan is in the accusative as a verbal noun from the implicit verbal action)
for their denial of Our signs, [for their denial of] the Qurâān.
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