Verses 1–9
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
This sūrah addresses three theological principles: the oneness of God, prophethood, and the resurrection. After introducing them, it ruminates over what opponents of these things claim. Then it refutes them on the grounds of divine wisdom, admonition, and polite debate. This sūrah gives most importance to the matter of the resurrection, and so it mentions the resurrection at the outset and conclusion, and returns to it throughout.
The content of the verses indicates that the sūrah was revealed in Mecca.
Commentary
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ وَهُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْخَبِيرُ ١
(34:1) Praise be to Allah, to whom belong all things in the heavens and on earth. To Him be praise in the hereafter. He is wise, aware.
Here, the goal is to present the resurrection and recompense in a way that none could doubt. It does so by alluding to evidence which cuts short further debate. This argument is founded on two things. First is God’s comprehensive reign over all things. He can dispose of them how He wills and manages all aspects of them, from their creation to their sustenance to their death, and then bringing them back to life again for recompense. Second is His complete and perfect knowledge of things from all angles. Nothing slips his notice; therefore, He can revive whomever or whatever He wills and recompense it according to His knowledge of their acts, for good or for ill.
The first matter [His reign] is alluded to in this verse (); the second [His knowledge] is alluded to in the second verse (). Therefore, it is clear that these two verses act as an introduction to the third and fourth verses.
Praise be to Allah, to whom belong all things in the heavens and on earth: This praises God for His wide, vast kingdom encompassing all things. He may do whatever He wills with all things.
To Him be praise in the hereafter: Here, “praise” is mentioned with respect to the hereafter. Previously, “praise” was spoken of with respect to the material world since the visible order of the heavens and the earth is a worldly matter, as evinced by:
On the day when the earth will be replaced with a different earth, and the heavens. ()
And He is wise, aware (khabīr): The verse finishes with these two divine attributes to show that His ordering and managing the physical universe, followed by His ordering and managing the hereafter, is predicated on His wisdom and awareness. His wisdom dictates that the physical world be followed by the hereafter. Were this not the case, creation would be in vain, and the good would not be distinguished from the evil. As He says:
And We have not created the heaven and the earth and what is between them in vain… Should We make those who believe and act righteously like those who cause corruption on the earth? Or should We make those who are mindful of Allah like the depraved? ()
Through His awareness, He will muster them, not omitting a single one. Then he shall recompense every soul for what it has earned.
Khabīr (“aware”) is one of the beautiful names of God. It comes from the word khibrah, meaning “knowledge of the particulars of a thing”; in that regard, it is more specific than ʿalīm (“knowledgeable”).
يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنْزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا ۚ وَهُوَ الرَّحِيمُ الْغَفُورُ ٢
(34:2) He knows what goes down into (yaliju) the earth and what emerges (yakhruju) from it and what descends (yanzilu) from heaven and what ascends (yaʿruju) to it. He is merciful, forgiving.
Yaliju (“go down into”) and yakhruju (“emerge from”) are opposites, as are yanzilu (“descend”) and yaʿruju (“ascend”). Describing God’s knowledge with these four opposing verbs is a figure of speech expressing that He knows every single movement and act of every single motile being. The verse concludes with He is merciful, forgiving; this indicates that His mercy is firmly fixed, and His forgiveness stretches towards a people on account of their faith.
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَا تَأْتِينَا السَّاعَةُ ۖ قُلْ بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّي لَتَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ ۖ لَا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا أَصْغَرُ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ وَلَا أَكْبَرُ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ ٣
(34:3) Those who disbelieve say, The Hour shall not come to us. Say, By my Lord, the knower of the unseen! It shall come to you. Not an atom’s weight evades Him in the heavens or on earth, nor smaller than that, nor larger—but that it is in a clear book.
They are denying the coming of the Final Hour (al-sāʿah)—that is, the resurrection. They are denying it, even though God’s all-encompassing reign and all-encompassing knowledge are clear, so they have no grounds to doubt the coming of the Hour. Therefore, the Prophet is commanded to reply to their claims by saying: Say, By my Lord… it shall come to you—“it” meaning “the Hour”.
Their main problem with the resurrection is the way that matter gets mixed up. For instance, after bodies decompose, they become into new bodies, and the same matter takes on a new form. Furthermore, they had never seen such a thing happen. For that reason, they deem it impossible that all the bits and pieces of bodies could be picked apart and reassembled. A refutation to this is alluded to in Knower of the unseen! It shall come to you. Not an atom’s weight evades Him in the heavens or on earth ().
Nor smaller than that, nor larger—but that it is in a clear book: His knowledge extends to all things. Therefore, all existents are inexorably inscribed in a clear, unchanging, undying book, even if their forms are erased from the pages of the material universe. This was discussed previously with respect to the phrase “clear” book in the exegesis of Sūrat al-Anʿam [] and elsewhere.
لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ٤
(34:4) That He may reward (li-yajzī) those who believe and do good. They are those who shall have forgiveness and a gracious sustenance.
Li- in li-yajzī denotes that yajzī expresses causality. It is linked to la-taʾtiyannakum (“it shall come to you”, ). [Meaning, “it shall come to you in order that He may reward”, not just “it shall come to you and He will reward.”]
They are those who shall have forgiveness and a gracious sustenance is parallel to He is merciful, forgiving ().
This verse explains one of the two reasons for the resurrection. That is, the Hour will come so that God may recompense those who believe and act righteously with forgiveness and a generous sustenance—namely, Paradise and all that is in it. The other reason is alluded to in the next verse.
وَالَّذِينَ سَعَوْا فِي آيَاتِنَا مُعَاجِزِينَ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مِنْ رِجْزٍ أَلِيمٌ ٥
(34:5) Those who strove (saʿaw) to thwart Our signs (muʿājizīn) shall endure a revulsive (rijz), tortuous punishment.
Saʿaw (from saʿī) means “to walk strenuously”. Muʿājizīn is an exaggerated form of iʿjāz (“to render weak or incapable”); some also say it means “competing” or “racing”. The verse is metaphorical. It is as if the signs of God are goal-posts which they are rushing towards to try to disable God and outstrip Him. Rijz means rijs (“filth”). Possibly, it refers to wicked acts. Therefore, it would imply that this revulsive punishment is in exchange for their wicked acts, or because of their wicked acts. Some say that rijz means “a terrible punishment”.
The verse is an insinuation towards the deniers (kuffār) who insist on denying the resurrection.
وَيَرَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ هُوَ الْحَقَّ وَيَهْدِي إِلَىٰ صِرَاطِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ ٦
(34:6) Those who have been given knowledge see that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth and guides to the path of the Mighty, the Praised.
The first pronoun who [alladhīna, in those who have been given knowledge] is the subject of the verb see. The second pronoun what [alladhī, in that what has been revealed to you] is the first object of the verb, and the truth (al-ḥaqq) is the second object of the verb.
Those who have been given knowledge (alladhīna ūtū al-ʿilm) are those with knowledge of God and His signs.
That which has been revealed to you is the Qur’an, revealed from God to the Prophet.
There are two possible ways to see this sentence grammatically. It may be a new sentence, contrasting the previous sentence [those who have been given knowledge versus those who disbelieve]. Or, it may be an adverbial clause (ḥāl) describing those who disbelieve, thereby rendering the meaning: “They say, ‘The Hour will not come to us’—denying it out of ignorance—whereas those with knowledge of God and His signs see that this Qur’an was revealed to you informing them that the Hour is coming, and it is the truth.’”
And guides to the path of the Mighty, the Praised: This is grammatically linked to the truth via “and”, meaning, “They see that the Qur’an guides to the path of the One who is Mighty and Praised. He is Mighty (ʿazīz) because He is never-vanquished, and His will always predominates. He is Praised (ḥamīd) for all of His acts, for despite His mightiness, His acts are always good and beautiful. And He is God, exalted be He!”
Describing God as Mighty and Praised acts as a contrast to how some people attempted [in vain] to weaken God or thwart His signs ().
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا هَلْ نَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ يُنَبِّئُكُمْ إِذَا مُزِّقْتُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّكُمْ لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ ٧
(34:7) And those who disbelieve say, Shall we point you to a man who will tell you that when you have been scattered about (muzziqtum), you shall become a new creation?
By saying “a man” (Shall we point you to a man), they are mocking the Prophet. They all know that the Prophet is the one who is going around telling people about the resurrection.
The verb muzziqtum (scattered about) means “to tear apart” or “to rupture”. [Here, it is translated as scattered.] By new creation (khalqin jadīd), they mean that they will take on a new, stable, enduring form. That is, it is as if, after being annihilated at death, they will be revived and created anew, thereby being a new creation.
The clause when you have been scattered about is an adverbial clause describing, you shall become a new creation.
It means: In order to make fun of the Prophet for warning them about the resurrection and recompense, some of the disbelievers are telling others, “Should we point you to a man”—and by this, they mean the Prophet—“who is telling you that you shall be recreated and revived, brought back into being, after your bodies have turned to dust and been scattered about, such your remains cannot be distinguished from anything else?”
أَفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَمْ بِهِ جِنَّةٌ ۗ بَلِ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ فِي الْعَذَابِ وَالضَّلَالِ الْبَعِيدِ ٨
(34:8) Has he forged a lie against Allah, or is he insane? Nay, those who do not believe in the hereafter are in punishment and great error.
Through this question, they express their amazement. Surely, a sane and rational person would never claim that decomposed dead bodies would be put back together again! He must be somehow lying to the people and trying to misguide them for his own agenda. Either it is a blatant lie, or he is stark raving mad.
It means: “Is he of sound mind, and just fibbing, claiming that God will resurrect us? Or has he just lost it, babbling any thought that comes to mind, without thinking straight?”
Nay, those who do not believe in the hereafter are in punishment and great error: This refutes them and kills their argument that there are only two options: that he must be either lying or mad. It presents a third option: he is neither lying nor mad; rather, those disbelievers will be the ones who will be abiding in the punishment that will become clear to them. This has kept them from the truth. They were so deeply misguided that their intellects could not grasp and acquiesce to the truth.
Nay, those who do not believe in the hereafter: This indicates that the reason that they fell into divine punishment and misguidance is because they lacked faith in the hereafter.
أَفَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَىٰ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ إِنْ نَشَأْ نَخْسِفْ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ نُسْقِطْ عَلَيْهِمْ كِسَفًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُنِيبٍ ٩
(34:9) Do they not look at what is before them and behind them in the sky and the earth? If We willed, we could swallow them up in the land or cause fragments of the sky to fall upon them. This is a sign for every servant who turns [towards Allah].
This warns them of the magnitude of what they are doing when they accuse the Prophet of lying about the signs of God and mock him. What is before them and what is behind them expresses how the sky and earth engulf them. Wherever they look, the sky shades them from above, and the earth bears them; there is no escape.
If We willed, we could swallow them up in the land or cause fragments of the sky to fall upon them: Since the earth and sky surround them, and the earth and sky obey the divine command, if He willed, God could easily swallow them up in the earth or cast part of the heavens down upon them, and wipe them out. So why don’t they cease and desist from saying these things?
This is a sign for every servant who turns [towards Allah]: Meaning, the fact that God could obliterate them by swallowing them up in the earth or casting the heavens down upon them is a sign for every servant [of God] who obediently turns to his Lord. No one mocks these things or accuses the Prophet of lying about divine signs—no one except the arrogant, who are too puffed up about themselves to turn to their Lord or return to Him obediently.
ʿAllāmah seems to be using the expression “firmly fixed” (thābitah, also meaning “stable” or “established”, in lahu raḥmatun thabitah) as an antonym to “movement” and “motile” (bi-ḥarakat kulli mutaḥarrik) to contrast the perpetuity and immutability of God’s mercy with the motile and transient nature of existent, created beings. (Trans.) ↩︎
This and the previous paragraph have been moved up from the exegesis on (which is where ʿAllāmah situated them) since they relate to this verse. (Trans.) ↩︎