Verses 9–33
Having described in the previous verses how the Qur’an is a clear book which was sent down on the best night of the year to God’s Messenger in order to warn people as an act of divine mercy, the sūrah now turns to those who persist in doubting this book. It threatens them with punishment in this world and divine retribution on the Day of Resurrection, before striking a parable with the story of Moses going to the people of Pharaoh and how they denied him and drowned as a result.
This story hints at the fact that God will save the Prophet and those who believe in him from the obstinate Quraysh by bringing them out of Mecca before destroying the leaders of the Quraysh who pursued them.
Commentary
بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ يَلْعَبُونَ ٩
(44:9) Rather they play around in doubt.
They are the Prophet’s people. And the adversative rather (bal) is used to reinforce something implied in the previous verse, namely that they are those who have no conviction and do not believe in the description provided of Prophet’s message or the scripture which has been sent down to him. Instead, they are in doubt and uncertainty about it. They play in the sense that they are preoccupied with worldly concerns. Zamakhsharī suggests that this adversative is in conjunction with should you have conviction ().
فَارْتَقِبْ يَوْمَ تَأْتِي السَّمَاءُ بِدُخَانٍ مُبِينٍ ١٠
(44:10) So watch out for the day when the sky brings on a manifest smoke,
Watch out means to expect, and this is a warning of punishment in the form of the skies being filled with smoke that will swallow people up. But commentators have disagreed about the punishment referenced in this verse.
Some say it refers to a famine that afflicted the inhabitants of Mecca when they persisted in disbelieving in the Prophet and persecuting him and his followers. They say that it came about because the Prophet invoked God, saying: “O my God! A famine like that of Joseph!” So the ground became arid and the Quraysh suffered a terrible famine. Then, when a person was suffering the pangs of starvation, he would see as if there was smoke between him and the heavens. They had to eat carrion and bones. Then they came to the Prophet and said: “O Muḥammad! You came and lectured us about family bonds, but here your people are perishing!” They promised that if God relieved them of this famine they would believe, so the Prophet prayed and invoked God to make the soil fertile and the harvest plentiful again. So God relieved them of their famine, but they returned to their idolatry and broke their promise.
It is said: The aforementioned smoke is one of the Signs of the Hour which has not yet come to pass. It will come before the Setting of the Hour and enter people’s ears until their heads become like that of a roasted calf (hanīdh). A believer will be afflicted as though he has a cold, and the entire earth will be like a smoke-filled house without any respite. This will endure for forty days.
Perhaps it could be said the Day of Smoke refers to the day on which Mecca was captured; when the Muslim army entered Mecca, they kicked up a great cloud of dust. It might also be said that it is the Day of Resurrection. And both opinions are as you see .
يَغْشَى النَّاسَ ۖ هَٰذَا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ١١
(44:11) enveloping people. “This is a painful punishment.
In other words, surrounding them from all directions. People refers to the inhabitants of Mecca according to the first opinion, and the entirety of mankind according to the second.
رَبَّنَا اكْشِفْ عَنَّا الْعَذَابَ إِنَّا مُؤْمِنُونَ ١٢
(44:12) Our Lord! Remove from us this punishment. Indeed we have believed!”
This recounts what people will say when the punishment of the Smoke arrives. In other words: “People will say on the day that a visible smoke covers the skies: ‘This is a painful punishment!’” And they ask God to remove it from them by acknowledging His lordship and making a show of belief in His true religion: Remove from us this punishment. Indeed we have believed!
أَنَّىٰ لَهُمُ الذِّكْرَىٰ وَقَدْ جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مُبِينٌ ١٣
(44:13) What will the admonition avail them, when a manifest Messenger had already come to them,
How will they take admonition or submit to the truth, while there has already come to them a manifest messenger the truth of whose message cannot be doubted, namely Muḥammad. This verse rejects the sincerity of their promise.
ثُمَّ تَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا مُعَلَّمٌ مَجْنُونٌ ١٤
(44:14) but they turned away from him, and said, “a tutored madman!”
From him refers to the Prophet, and they say a tutored madman! about to the Prophet; grammatically, these words are predicates for an implicit subject—a pronoun “he” that refers to the Prophet. This means that they turned their faces from the Messenger and said: “He is a tutored madman!” So first of all they accused him of having been taught by someone else, but he attributes whatever he has learnt to God, who Himself says: We certainly know that they say, “It is only a human that instructs him.” () Secondly, they accuse him of being a madman who has lost his good sense.
إِنَّا كَاشِفُو الْعَذَابِ قَلِيلًا ۚ إِنَّكُمْ عَائِدُونَ ١٥
(44:15) Indeed We will withdraw the punishment a little; but you will indeed revert.
In other words, We will relieve you of the punishment for a short time, but then you will go back to your previous state of faithlessness and denial. This is based on the first opinion, above (that the verse refers to the inhabitants of Mecca). This verse emphasizes God’s rejection of the sincerity of their promise to believe.
As for according to the second opinion (that the verse refers to all mankind on the Day of Resurrection), the nearest reading to that reading is that you will return to your punishment on the Day of Resurrection.
يَوْمَ نَبْطِشُ الْبَطْشَةَ الْكُبْرَىٰ إِنَّا مُنْتَقِمُونَ ١٦
(44:16) The day We shall strike with the most terrible striking, We will indeed take vengeance.
According to al-Rāghib, “to strike” (baṭsh) means seizing something violently. Based on the first opinion (above), the Day God refers to is the Battle of Badr; based on the second, He refers to the Day of Resurrection. Perhaps the second reading is given more weight by the fact God describes His striking as the most terrible. After all, God’s striking and punishment is greatest on that day. He says: Him God will punish with the greatest punishment (). By the same token, His reward is greatest on that day: and the reward of the Hereafter is surely greatest ().
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَجَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ كَرِيمٌ ١٧
(44:17) Certainly We tried the people of Pharaoh before them, when a noble Messenger came to them,
“To try someone” (fitnah) means to put them to the test to determine how they really are. When a noble Messenger came to them explains the nature of the test. The noble Messenger is Moses, who is called “noble” (karīm) means someone endowed with praiseworthy character traits. al-Rāghib says:
When God is described with “nobility” (karam), this refers to his manifest generosity and kindness; for example, when He says: my Lord is indeed all-sufficient, all-generous (karīm) (). As for when a human being is described as karīm, this describes the virtuous manners and behavior which he demonstrates. But he is not called karīm until that appears from him. He says that everything that manifests nobility with respect to its kind or category is described as karīm: We have caused to grow in it of every noble kind [of vegetation] (); Fields and noble places (); This is indeed a noble Qur’an (); but speak to them noble words ().
أَنْ أَدُّوا إِلَيَّ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّي لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ ١٨
(44:18) “Deliver the servants of God to me; indeed I am a trusted Messenger to you.
This explains the coming of the Messenger. When a Messenger comes, this means He conveys His message. One part of Moses’ message to Pharaoh and his people was that they must send the Israelites with him and not persecute them. The servants of God mean the Israelites; he refers to them with this title to engender mercy and to insinuate that in their tyranny and aggression against them, they have really aggressed against God because these are God’s servants.
When he says indeed I am a trusted Messenger to you, he describes himself as “trusted” to dispel any notion that he might betray them in his claim to be a divinely-sent messenger on a mission to free the Israelites from their captivity; in other words, that if Pharaoh releases the Israelites, he will not lead them against the Egyptians to turn them out of their land. This is a claim God quotes Pharaoh as making: “This is indeed an expert magician who seeks to expel you from your land with his magic” ().
It is said: Servants of God is actually Moses addressing Pharaoh and his people, and the sentence actually means: “Give me what you have been commanded, O servants of God!” However, this reading does not accord with the apparent meaning of the text.
وَأَنْ لَا تَعْلُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّي آتِيكُمْ بِسُلْطَانٍ مُبِينٍ ١٩
(44:19) Do not defy God. Indeed I bring you a manifest authority
In other words: Do not behave arrogantly towards God by denying His message and ignoring what He has commanded you to do; after all, denying the message of a Messenger means defying and behaving haughtily towards the one who sent him. The evidence for this reading is the fact that Moses explains the prohibition with the words: Indeed I bring you a manifest authority. Meaning: I bring you an irrefutable proof in the form of miracles and sound arguments.
It is said: Part of the eloquence of this verse is that Moses combines “deliver” with “trusted” and “defiance” with “authority.”
وَإِنِّي عُذْتُ بِرَبِّي وَرَبِّكُمْ أَنْ تَرْجُمُونِ ٢٠
(44:20) I seek the protection of my Lord and your Lord, lest you should stone me.
I take refuge with my Lord against your stoning me, so you will not be able to do that. This appears to refer to the assurances God gave him before he came to Pharaoh and his people, as we read in the verse: The two of them said, “Our Lord! We are indeed afraid that he will forestall us or will overstep the bounds.” He said, “Do not be afraid, for I will be with the two of you, hearing and seeing.” ()
The above demonstrates the falsity of the opinion that this was before God had told him that they were not able to stone him; they will not touch you ().
وَإِنْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا لِي فَاعْتَزِلُونِ ٢١
(44:21) And if you do not believe me, keep out of my way.”
In other words, if you will not believe in me, then keep away from me; do not be with me or against me, do not do good or evil to me. It is said this means “turn away from me and cut yourselves off from me”, but this is unlikely.
فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنَّ هَٰؤُلَاءِ قَوْمٌ مُجْرِمُونَ ٢٢
(44:22) Then he invoked his Lord, “These are indeed a guilty lot.”
Meaning he called on Him saying that these people are guilty. The reason behind his supplication is mentioned as part of it, namely that they were transgressing to the extent that they deserved to perish. And we can know that this was his supplication from God’s answer: “Set out with My servants by night….”
فَأَسْرِ بِعِبَادِي لَيْلًا إِنَّكُمْ مُتَّبَعُونَ ٢٣
(44:23) “Set out with My servants by night. You will indeed be pursued,
The word isrāʾ used in the above verse already means to travel by night, so God mentions by night (laylan) to emphasize this and make it explicit. My servants means the Israelites. You will indeed be pursued means that Pharaoh and his army will follow you; this is a new sentence serving to explain what will happen after they set out by night. And this is a succinct statement, as some details are left implicit. Fully unpacked, it means: “Set out with My servants by night. You will indeed be pursued. Your pursuers shall be Pharaoh and his army.”
وَاتْرُكِ الْبَحْرَ رَهْوًا ۖ إِنَّهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُغْرَقُونَ ٢٤
(44:24) And leave the sea calm; they will indeed be a drowned host.”
Rāghib says in his Mufradāt:
Leave the sea calm means at peace. It is also said: It means [leave the sea] as a wide path, which is correct.
They will indeed be a drowned host explains the rationale for God telling them to leave the sea calm.
This too is a very succinct verse, which leaves much implicit for the sake of brevity. In full, it means: “Set out with My servants by night. You will be pursued by Pharaoh and his army until you reach the sea. There, you must strike it with your staff and a path will open up for you to cross it. Cross the sea and then leave it calm, or open as it is. They will rush into it hoping to catch you, whereat they will become a drowned host.”
كَمْ تَرَكُوا مِنْ جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ ٢٥ وَزُرُوعٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ ٢٦ وَنَعْمَةٍ كَانُوا فِيهَا فَاكِهِينَ ٢٧
(44:25–27) How many gardens and springs did they leave behind; fields and noble places; and the bounties wherein they took delight!
How many is used here to emphasize a great number of them. Gardens… onwards describes what they left behind. Noble places are beautiful and lavish abodes. Bounties means those things whose benefits they enjoyed. Took delight (fākihīn) means speaking with one’s friends, but it could also refer to the enjoyment of different kinds of fruits.
كَذَٰلِكَ ۖ وَأَوْرَثْنَاهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ ٢٨
(44:28) Thusly; And We bequeathed them to another people.
It is said: Thusly (kadhālik) means “the affair was thus.”
It is also said: It means “We will do thus when We want to ruin someone.”
It is said: It refers to the idea drawn from the previous discussion, meaning: “In this way, we brought them out from it.”
It is also possible to read this as a circumstantial qualifier for the things they left behind, meaning: “How often did they leave things behind in that way.”
And God knows best.
And We bequeathed them to another people: Them refers to the things they left behind; gardens and so on. The meaning is obvious.
فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَا كَانُوا مُنْظَرِينَ ٢٩
(44:29) So neither the heavens wept for them, nor the earth. Nor were they granted any respite.
When the heavens or the earth weep over a thing lost, this is an imaginary allusion. So when the Qur’an says that the heavens and the earth did not weep over them, this demonstrates their insignificance in the eyes of God and the fact that their destruction meant nothing in the grand scheme of the cosmos.
…Nor were they granted any respite: This refers to the speed at which the Divine Decree and the Lord’s power overwhelmed them; it shows there was nothing that could shield them or any means they could use to try and prevent it from befalling them.
وَلَقَدْ نَجَّيْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ الْمُهِينِ ٣٠
(44:30) Certainly We delivered the Children of Israel from a humiliating torment,
This is what befell them while they were Pharaoh’s prisoners, such as their sons being put to death and their women spared.
مِنْ فِرْعَوْنَ ۚ إِنَّهُ كَانَ عَالِيًا مِنَ الْمُسْرِفِينَ ٣١
(44:31) from Pharaoh. Indeed he was a tyrant among the profligates.
From Pharaoh is a substitute for from a humiliating torment either in the sense that he was the one who wrought this humiliating torment upon them, or in the hyperbolic sense that Pharaoh himself was that humiliating torment.
Indeed he was a tyrant among the profligates means that he was arrogant, even amongst the profligates and those who aggressed.
وَلَقَدِ اخْتَرْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ ٣٢
(44:32) Certainly We chose them knowingly above all the worlds.
Based on the context, this means: “We chose them because we knew that they deserved to be chosen.”
The meaning of worlds (ʿālamīn) here means all the nations, if by chose God means they were singled out from some aspects, such as the many prophets they were given; for the Israelites are distinguished from all other nations by how many prophets God sent to them from amongst themselves. They are also marked out by the fact that they spent a long time wandering the desert, shaded by clouds and eating manna and quails, and many other such distinctions.
And worlds means the people of their time, if God uses chose in the categorical sense. After all, they were not chosen above the Muslim community, whom God addresses with the verse: You are the best nation brought forth for mankind… () and: He has chosen you and has not placed for you any obstacle in the religion ()
وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ مَا فِيهِ بَلَاءٌ مُبِينٌ ٣٣
(44:33) And We gave them some signs in which there was a manifest tribulation.
A tribulation (balāʾ) means a test and a trial. In other words: “We gave the Israelites some signs in the form of miracles that contained a clear test for them.” Some of these miracles are unheard of for any other nation, and they were clearly put to the test in this way.
It is said: In which shows that there were other matters too, such as their miraculous nature.
And by concluding the story with these four verses, beginning with Certainly We delivered… () and ending with …a manifest tribulation (), this serves as a kind of comfort to the Prophet and an allusion to the fact that God will save him and those who believe in him from the Pharaohs of Mecca, and that He will choose them and establish them in the earth then see how they behave.
Examining Narrations
- From Jawāmiʿ al-Jāmiʿ, concerning His saying: So watch out for the day when the sky brings on a manifest smoke ():
They have differed about the meaning of “smoke.” It is said: It is some smoke that will come from the heavens before the Setting of the Hour. It will enter the ears of the faithless until their heads become like that of a roasted calf (hanīdh). A believer will be afflicted as though he has a cold, and the entire earth will be like a smoke-filled house without any respite. This will endure for forty days. This has been narrated from ʿAlī, Ibn ʿAbbās, and al-Ḥasan.
Author’s comments: It has been narrated from them in al-Durr al-Manthūr, and also from Ḥudhayfah b. al-Yamān and Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from the Prophet. It has also been narrated from Ibn ʿUmar without a complete chain (mawqūf).
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says about this verse ():
That is when they come forth from their graves during the rajʿah. Everyone will be shrouded in darkness. They will say: “This is a painful punishment. Our Lord! Remove from us this punishment. Indeed we have believed!”
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, Zurārah b. Aʿyan narrates from Abū ʿAbd Allāh:
[Imām al-Ṣādiq] said: “The heavens wept for John the Baptist and Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī for forty nights.”
I asked: “How do they weep?”
He said: “They would be red at sunrise and sunset.”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim relates from ʿUbayd al-Maktab, from Ibrāhīm:
“The heavens did not weep for anyone since the world began except two.”
Someone asked ʿUbayd: “Don’t the heavens weep for the believer?”
He said: “That is where he stood in prayer and the way through which his deeds ascended. Do you know how they weep?”
They said: “No.”
He said: “They redden and become pink, as though painted. When John the Baptist was slain, the skies turned red and rained blood. And on the day Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī was slain, they turned red as well.”
- In Man Lā Yaḥḍaruh al-Faqīh it is narrated from Imam al-Ṣādiq:
When the believer dies, the spot of ground on which he used to worship God weeps for him, and so does the gate in the heavens through which his deeds used to ascend, and his place of prostration as well.
Author’s comments: There are traditions to this effect, and to the effect of the previous two narrations, narrated through both Sunni and Shiʿi routes of transmission. And to interpret the weeping of the heavens and earth according to these traditions, there is no need to treat their weeping as something symbolic or imaginary.
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says about the verse: and said, “A tutored madman?” ():
They said that because God’s Messenger would become faint-like when the revelation came down to him, so they would say: “He is a madman.”
In other words: “Rather they do not have conviction; they play around in doubt instead.” [Trans.] ↩︎