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75: Al-Qiyama - القيامة
Introduction
This Surah belongs to the early Makkan period, but comes chronologically a good deal later that the last Surahs. Its subject matter is the Resurrection, viewed from the point of view of man, especially unregenerate Man, as he is now, and as he will be then-his inner and psychological history.
75:1
[ Original ]
لَا أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
I do call to witness the Resurrection Day;
Tafseer Commentary
5809 Cf. 70:40, and n. 5700. Here the point to be enforced is understood: I have added it in brackets; "eschew Evil". The appeal is made to two considerations: (1) That every act has to be accounted for, and evil must have its recompense at the Resurrection; and (2) that man's own spirit has a conscience which would reproach him of sin, if he did not suppress that inner voice.
75:2
[ Original ]
وَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالنَّفْسِ اللَّوَّامَةِ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And I do call to witness the self-reproaching spirit: (Eschew Evil).
Tafseer Commentary
5810 Our doctors postulate three states or stages of the development of the human soul; (1) Ammarah (12:53), which is prone to evil, and, if not checked and controlled, will lead to perdition; (2) Lawwamah, as here, which feels conscious of evil, and resists it, asks for Allah's grace and pardon after repentance and tries to amend; it hopes to reach salvation; (3) Mutma'innah (89:27), the highest stage of all, when it achieves full rest and satisfaction. Our second stage may be compared to Conscience, except that in English usage Conscience is a faculty and not a stage in spiritual development.
75:3
[ Original ]
أَيَحْسَبُ الْإِنْسَانُ أَلَّنْ نَجْمَعَ عِظَامَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones?
Tafseer Commentary
5811 The Unbelievers' usual cry is: "What! when we are reduced to bones and dust, how can our personality be called to account?" (17:49). The answer is: Allah has said so, and He will do it; for the death here is not the end of all things.
75:4
[ Original ]
بَلَىٰ قَادِرِينَ عَلَىٰ أَنْ نُسَوِّيَ بَنَانَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers.
Tafseer Commentary
5812 An idiom for the most delicate parts of the body.
75:5
[ Original ]
بَلْ يُرِيدُ الْإِنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
But man wishes to do wrong (even) in the time in front of him.
Tafseer Commentary
5813 It is bad enough not to repent of past sins. But the evildoer who rejects a Day of Reckoning and has no conscience wants to go on in his career of sin and jeopardise his future also.
75:6
[ Original ]
يَسْأَلُ أَيَّانَ يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
He questions: "When is the Day of Resurrection?"
Tafseer Commentary
5814 The question is sceptical or derisive. He does not believe that there is any chain of consequences in the Hereafter. He does not believe in a Hereafter.
75:7
[ Original ]
فَإِذَا بَرِقَ الْبَصَرُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
At length, when the sight is dazed,
Tafseer Commentary
5815 At the Hour of Judgement the full light and glory of the Lord will shine, and the effulgence will daze man's eyes. For the world as we knew it will go to pieces and a new World will come into being.
75:8
[ Original ]
وَخَسَفَ الْقَمَرُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And the moon is buried in darkness.
Tafseer Commentary
5816 Not only will man's sight be dazed, but the great luminaries themselves will lose their light. The moon with its present reflected light will then cease to shine. All reflected or relative truth or goodness will sink into nothing before the true and Eternal Reality. (R).
75:9
[ Original ]
وَجُمِعَ الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And the sun and moon are joined together,-
Tafseer Commentary
5817 To the moon the sun is the original light, but the sun itself is a created light, and it will sink into nothingness along with the moon. Both will be like empty shells "whose lights are fled, whose glories dead", because the Prototype of all Light now shines in full splendour in a new World. See n. 4344 to39:69.
75:10
[ Original ]
يَقُولُ الْإِنْسَانُ يَوْمَئِذٍ أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
That Day will Man say: "Where is the refuge?"
75:11
[ Original ]
كَلَّا لَا وَزَرَ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
By no means! No place of safety!
75:12
[ Original ]
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْمُسْتَقَرُّ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Before thy Lord (alone), that Day will be the place of rest.
75:13
[ Original ]
يُنَبَّأُ الْإِنْسَانُ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِمَا قَدَّمَ وَأَخَّرَ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
That Day will Man be told (all) that he put forward, and all that he put back.
Tafseer Commentary
5818 All good and bad deeds, positive and negative, i.e., all sins of commission and omission, and all the good that a man did and all the evil that he omitted, all the influence that he radiated before him and all that he left behind him.
75:14
[ Original ]
بَلِ الْإِنْسَانُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Nay, man will be evidence against himself,
Tafseer Commentary
5819 Cf. 24:24, and n. 2976: "On the Day when their tongues, their heads, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions." It is not what a man says about himself, or what others say of him, that determines judgement about him. It is what he is in himself. His own personality betrays him or commends him.
75:15
[ Original ]
وَلَوْ أَلْقَىٰ مَعَاذِيرَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Even though he were to put up his excuses.
75:16
[ Original ]
لَا تُحَرِّكْ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Move not thy tongue concerning the (Qur'an) to make haste therewith.
Tafseer Commentary
5820 Cf. 20:114, and n. 2639: "Be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation to thee is completed." S. 75. is an earlier revelation, and the shade of meaning is slightly different. The immediate meaning was that the Prophet was to allow the revelation conveyed to him to sink into his mind and heart and not to be impatient about it; Allah would certainly complete it according to His Plan, and see that it was collected and preserved for men, and not lost; that the inspired one was to follow it and recite it as the inspiration was conveyed to him; and that it carries its own explanation according to the faculties bestowed by Allah on man. The general meaning follows the same lines; we must not be impatient about the inspired Word; we must follow it as made clear to us by the faculties given to us by Allah.
75:17
[ Original ]
إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُ وَقُرْآنَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
It is for Us to collect it and to promulgate it:
75:18
[ Original ]
فَإِذَا قَرَأْنَاهُ فَاتَّبِعْ قُرْآنَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
But when We have promulgated it, follow thou its recital (as promulgated):
75:19
[ Original ]
ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا بَيَانَهُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Nay more, it is for Us to explain it (and make it clear):
75:20
[ Original ]
كَلَّا بَلْ تُحِبُّونَ الْعَاجِلَةَ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Nay, (ye men!) but ye love the fleeting life,
Tafseer Commentary
5821 Cf. 21:37. Man loves haste and things of haste. For that reason he pins his faith on transitory things that come and go, and neglects the things of lasting moment, which come slowly, and whose true import will only be fully seen in the Hereafter.
75:21
[ Original ]
وَتَذَرُونَ الْآخِرَةَ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And leave alone the Hereafter.
75:22
[ Original ]
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty);-
Tafseer Commentary
5822 This passage (especially with reference to verses 26-28) would seem to refer to what our Doctors call the Lesser Judgement (at Qiyamah al Sughra), which takes place immediately after death, and not to the Greater or General Judgement, which may be supposed to be referred to in such passages as occur in S. 56. There are other passages referring to the Lesser Judgement immediately after death; e.g., 7:37etc. If I understand aright, the punishment of sin takes place in three ways; (1) it may take place in this very life, but this may be deferred, to give the sinner respite; (2) it may be an agony immediately after death, with the Partition or Barzakh (23:100) separating the sinner from the final Resurrection; and (3) in the final Resurrection, when the whole of the present order gives place to a wholly new World: 14:48.
75:23
[ Original ]
إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Looking towards their Lord;
75:24
[ Original ]
وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَاسِرَةٌ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And some faces, that Day, will be sad and dismal,
75:25
[ Original ]
تَظُنُّ أَنْ يُفْعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
In the thought that some back-breaking calamity was about to be inflicted on them;
75:26
[ Original ]
كَلَّا إِذَا بَلَغَتِ التَّرَاقِيَ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Yea, when (the soul) reaches to the collarbone (in its exit),
Tafseer Commentary
5823 A symbolic picture of the agony of death.
75:27
[ Original ]
وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And there will be a cry, "Who is a magician (to restore him)?"
75:28
[ Original ]
وَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ الْفِرَاقُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And he will conclude that it was (the Time) of Parting;
Tafseer Commentary
5824 'He' = the dying man, whose soul is referred to in verse 26 above.
75:29
[ Original ]
وَالْتَفَّتِ السَّاقُ بِالسَّاقِ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And one leg will be joined with another:
Tafseer Commentary
5825 When the soul has departed, the legs of the dead body are placed together in position, in preparation for the rites preliminary to the burial. Saq (literally, leg) may also be taken metaphorically to mean a calamity: calamity will be joined to calamity for the poor departed sinner's soul, as his life story in this world is now done. Willy-nilly, he will now have to go before the Throne of Judgement.
75:30
[ Original ]
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْمَسَاقُ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
That Day the Drive will be (all) to thy Lord!
75:31
[ Original ]
فَلَا صَدَّقَ وَلَا صَلَّىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
So he gave nothing in charity, nor did he pray!-
Tafseer Commentary
5826 His indictment in this and the succeeding verse consists of four counts: (1) he neglected prayer; (2) he neglected charity; (3) he rejected Truth; and (4) he turned away. In 74:43-46, the four counts are: (1) neglecting prayer; (2) neglecting charity; (3) talking vanities; (4) denying the Day of Judgement; see n. 5803, Nos. (1) and (2) are identical in both places, and Nos. (3) and (4) are analogous. Rejecting the truth is equivalent to talking vanities and making an alliance with falsehoods. Denying the Day of Judgement means behaving as if no account was to be given of our actions. i.e., turning away from right conduct. An additional touch is found here in verse 33. See next note.
75:32
[ Original ]
وَلَٰكِنْ كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
But on the contrary, he rejected Truth and turned away!
75:33
[ Original ]
ثُمَّ ذَهَبَ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهِ يَتَمَطَّىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Then did he stalk to his family in full conceit!
Tafseer Commentary
5827 Conceit or arrogance is the root cause of most Evil. By that cause fell Iblis: see 2:34.
75:34
[ Original ]
أَوْلَىٰ لَكَ فَأَوْلَىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Woe to thee, (O men!), yea, woe!
75:35
[ Original ]
ثُمَّ أَوْلَىٰ لَكَ فَأَوْلَىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Again, Woe to thee, (O men!), yea, woe!
75:36
[ Original ]
أَيَحْسَبُ الْإِنْسَانُ أَنْ يُتْرَكَ سُدًى
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Does man think that he will be left uncontrolled, (without purpose)?
Tafseer Commentary
5828 Suda: has many implications; (1) uncontrolled, free to do what he likes; (2) without any moral responsibility; not accountable for his actions; (3) without a purpose, useless; (4) forsaken.
75:37
[ Original ]
أَلَمْ يَكُ نُطْفَةً مِنْ مَنِيٍّ يُمْنَىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Was he not a drop of sperm emitted (in lowly form)?
Tafseer Commentary
5829 Cf. 22:5, where the argument is developed in greater detail. The briefer argument here may be stated thus. His lowly animal origin makes him no higher than a brute; his foetal development is still that of a brute animal; then at some stage come human limbs and shape; the divine spirit is poured into him, and he is fashioned in due proportion for his higher destiny. In spite of that the mystery of sex remains in his nature: we are living souls, yet men and women. Allah Who creates these wonders-has He not the power to bring the dead to life at the Resurrection? (see also n. 5116).
75:38
[ Original ]
ثُمَّ كَانَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Then did he become a leech-like clot; then did ((Allah)) make and fashion (him) in due proportion.
75:39
[ Original ]
فَجَعَلَ مِنْهُ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
And of him He made two sexes, male and female.
75:40
[ Original ]
أَلَيْسَ ذَٰلِكَ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ يُحْيِيَ الْمَوْتَىٰ
[ Abdullah Yusuf Ali ]
Has not He, (the same), the power to give life to the dead?
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