| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for verses 16 to 20 inclusive, which are Medinese; it consists of
30 verses revealed after [sūrat] al-Muâminūn.(As-Sajdah )
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| بِسْم ِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | | Ayah First 1 الأية الأولي |
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Tafseer
Alif lām mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].
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Tafseer
The revelation of the Book, the Qurâān (tanzīluâl-kitābi, the subject) whereof
there is no doubt (lā rayba fīh, the first predicate) from the Lord of the Worlds (min rabbiâl-âālamīna, the
second predicate).
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Tafseer
474 Or do they say, âHe, Muhammad (s), has invented itâ? Nay, but it is the truth
from your Lord, that you may warn, thereby, a people to whom no warner came before you (mā is for negation)
that perhaps they may find [right] guidance, by your warning.
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Tafseer
God is He Who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in
six days, the first of which was Sunday and the last of which was Friday, then He presided upon the
Throne (al-âarsh in the [classical Arabic] idiom denotes the seat of a king), a presiding worthy of Him.
You do not have, O disbelievers of Mecca, besides Him, in other words, other than Him, any
protector (min waliyyin is the subject of the particle mā with the min added [extra]) in other words, [any]
helper, or intercessor, to ward off His chastisement from you. Will you not then remember?, this and become
believers.
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Tafseer
He directs the command from the heaven to the earth, for the duration of this
world, then it ascends, then the command and the direction [thereof] returns, to Him in a day whose measure
is a thousand years by your reckoning, in this world. In sūrat saâala, [An asker] asked [the measure is
said to be]: âfifty thousand yearsâ [Q. 70:4] â and this [day] is the Day of Resurrection, [reckoned so]
because of the severity of its terrors for the disbeliever. As for the believer, however, for him it will be
easier than performing any one of [his] obligatory prayers in this world â as is stated in hadīth.
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Tafseer
That, Creator and Director, is the Knower of the Unseen and the visible, that
is, what is hidden from creatures and what is present before them, the Mighty, the Invincible in His
kingdom, the Merciful, to those who are obedient to Him,
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Tafseer
Who perfected everything that He created (read khalaqahu, as a past tense
functioning as an adjectival qualification [of what He perfected]; or khalqahu, âits creationâ, as an
inclusive substitution [for kulla shayâin, âeverythingâ]). And He began the creation of man, Adam, from clay,
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Tafseer
then He made his progeny, his offspring, from an extract, a blood clot, of a
base, delicate, fluid, namely, the sperm-drop;
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Tafseer
then He proportioned him, that is to say, He created Adam, and breathed into him
of His spirit, in other words, He made him a living sensory being after having been an inanimate thing.
And He made for you, in other words, for [you] his descendants, hearing, meaning, ears, and sight and
hearts. Little thanks do you give (mā here is extra, emphasising the âlittlenessâ [of the thanks]).
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Tafseer
And they, namely, the deniers of resurrection, say, âWhen we are lost beneath
the earth, [when] we have gone thereunder, having become dust mixed with its dust, shall we be indeed
created anew?â (an interrogative of denial; [read a-innā] by pronouncing both hamzas, or by not
pronouncing the second one and inserting an alif between them either way, in both places). God, exalted be
He, says: Nay, but they disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord, through resurrection.
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Tafseer
475 Say, to them: âThe Angel of death, who has been charged with you, shall receive
you [in death], in other words, he shall seize your spirits, then to your Lord you shall be returnedâ,
alive, whereat He will requite you for your deeds.
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Tafseer
And if could you but see the guilty, the disbelievers, hanging their heads [low]
before their Lord, lowering them in shame, saying: âOur Lord! We have seen, the resurrection that we denied,
and heard, from You the confirmation of [the truth of] the messengers concerning that in which we used
to call them liars. So send us back, to the world, so that we may act righteously, therein, for indeed we
are convincedâ, now. But none of this is of any use to them and they will not be sent back (the response to
[the conditional clause beginning with] law, âifâ, is [an implicit] âyou would see a terrible thingâ).
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Tafseer
God, exalted be He, says: âAnd had We [so] willed, We could have given every
soul its [means to] guidance, so that it may be guided through faith and obedience, through its own choice,
but My Word became due, and it is that: âVerily I shall fill Hell with jinn and mankind togetherâ.
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Tafseer
When they enter [Hell] its Keepers shall say to them: So taste [now], the
chastisement, for your having forgotten the encounter of this day of yours, in other words, for your having
neglected to believe in it. We [too] shall forget you, we shall abandon you in the chastisement. And taste
[now] the everlasting chastisement for what you used to practiseâ, of disbelief and denial.
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Tafseer
Only those believe in Our signs, [such as] the Qurâān, who, when they are
reminded of them, admonished [with them], fall down in prostration and make glorifications, ensconced, in
praise of their Lord, in other words, they say, âGlory be to God through His praiseâ (subhānaâLlāh
wa-bi-hāmdihi), and they do not disdain, to believe and to obey.
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Tafseer
Their sides withdraw, they rise, from their lying places, the places for lying
down [to sleep] together with the bedding, in order to spend the night in prayer (tahajjud), to supplicate to
their Lord in fear, of His punishment, and in hope, of His mercy, and they expend of what We have provided
them, they give voluntary alms.
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Tafseer
For no soul knows what has been kept hidden for them in the way of joyous sights
(a variant reading [for ukhfiya] has the imperfect tense ukhfī) as a reward for what they used to do.
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Tafseer
Is he who is a believer like him who is a transgressor? They are not equal,
namely, the believers and the transgressors.
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Tafseer
As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for them shall be the
Gardens of the Abode â a hospitality (nuzul is what is prepared for a guest) for what they used to do.
476
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Tafseer
But as for those who transgressed, by disbelieving and denying, their abode
shall be the Fire. Whenever they seek to exit from it, they shall be brought back into it, and it shall be
said to them, âTaste the chastisement of the Fire which you used to denyâ.
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Tafseer
And We shall surely make them taste the nearer chastisement, that is, the
chastisement of this world â in their being killed or taken captive, or [through] years of drought and disease â
before the greater chastisement, the chastisement of the Hereafter, that perhaps they, namely,
those remaining of them, may return, to belief.
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Tafseer
And who does greater wrong than he who is reminded of the signs of his Lord,
[such as] the Qurâān, but then turns away from them?, in other words, none does greater wrong than such [a
person]. Assuredly We shall take vengeance upon the criminals, the idolaters.
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Tafseer
And verily We gave Moses the Scripture, the Torah; so do not be in doubt
concerning the encounter with Him, and indeed he and He met on the Night of the Journey; and We appointed him,
namely, Moses â or [read âWe appointed itâ] the Scripture, a guidance for the Children of Israel.
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Tafseer
And We appointed among them leaders (read a-immatan by pronouncing both hamzas,
or by substituting the second one with a yā) who guided, people, by Our command, when they had
endured [patiently], in [observing] their religion, and against the hardships [they suffered] because of
their enemies (lammā, âwhenâ: a variant reading has limā, âbecauseâ) and had conviction in Our signs,
[the ones] indicating Our power and Our Oneness.
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Tafseer
Surely your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning
that wherein they used to differ, in matters of religion.
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Tafseer
Or is it not an indication for them how many generations, communities, on
account of their disbelief, We destroyed before them, that is to say, has [not] Our destruction of many
[generations] become clear to the disbelievers of Mecca, amid whose dwellings they walk (yamshūna is a
circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of the pronoun lahum, âfor themâ) during their travels to Syria and
other places, so that they might take heed? Surely in that there are signs, indications of Our power. Are
they not able to hear?, in a way so as to reflect and be admonished.
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Tafseer
Or have they not seen how We drive the water to barren land (juruz), [this] is
arid land that contains no vegetation), and therewith bring forth crops whereof their cattle and [they]
themselves eat? Can they not see?, this and so realise that We have the power to bring them back [to life
after death].
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Tafseer
And they say, to the believers: âWhen will this [decisive] Judgement, between us
and yourselves, be, if you 477 are truthful?â
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