Verses 1–14
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
This sūrah mentions the prophetic mission (daʿwah) and discusses the warning it contains of the Resurrection (maʿād), the obstinate rejection of it by the polytheists and their bafflement at such a concept. This is because they believed that death represented a total end to the human being’s identity; once a person’s body turned to dust, nothing was left of them. How, they asked, could a person come back to life just as he had been before his death? It responds to their bafflement and scepticism by saying that God’s knowledge encompasses them entirely and that with Him is a Preserving Book from which no detail about His creation, no matter how infinitesimally small, is omitted. Then he threatens them with the same fate as befell previous nations who perished.
Secondly, this sūrah calls attention to God’s knowledge and power by mentioning His governance, as demonstrated by the creation of the heavens and the stars and celestial bodies that adorn them, and by the creation of the Earth, its expansiveness, the casting of mountains into it and the growth of various species of plants upon it, then the sending down of rain by which He provides sustenance for His servants and revives the land.
Next, it exposits the condition of the human being from the very beginning of his creation and says that every word and every thought of his is under complete and total observation so long as he is alive. Then, when death comes to him, and he is brought back for judgement, and when his accounting is finished, if he was one of the deniers then he will enter hellfire, and if he was one of the Godwary, he will enter the gardens of Paradise.
In short, the focus of this sūrah’s discourse is the Resurrection and some of its most profound verses read: You were certainly oblivious of this. We have removed your veil from you, and so your sight is acute today (); The day when We shall say to hell, “Are you full?” It will say, “Is there any more?” (); and There they will have whatever they wish, and with Us there is yet more ().
This sūrah is Meccan, as demonstrated by the context of its verses. However, it has been suggested that one or two verses, beginning with Certainly We created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, in six days, and any fatigue did not touch Us () could be from Medina, though there is no textual indication of this.
The verses we have mentioned begin with a general discussion of the Resurrection and the polytheists’ scepticism thereof, and a general answer and warning to them. Then, there is a detailed response and warning second.
Commentary
ق ۚ وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ ١
(50:1) Qāf. By the glorious Qur’an.
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
Glory (majd) in everyday speech means “abundant nobility” (sharaf wāsiʿ). It said that a man is glorious if he is great and noble. Originally the Arabs would say: “A glorious camel” (majadat al-ibl) when its stomach was enormous from eating the spring pastures.
By the glorious Qur’an is an oath, the object (jawāb) of which is implicit but whose sense is indicated by the following sentences. Its meaning is either “By the glorious Qur’an, the Resurrection is indeed true”, or “…you are indeed from the warners”, or “…the warning is indeed true.” It has been said that the object of the oath is actually explicitly mentioned, namely: Rather they consider it odd… (). It has also been said that the object of this oath is: We know what the earth diminishes from them… (). Other possibilities that have been mentioned are: …he says no word but that there is a ready observer beside him (), There is indeed an admonition in that… (), and The word is unalterable with Me (). However, all of these opinions are nonsensical, and there is no evidence for them.
بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَٰذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ٢
(50:2) Rather they consider it odd that a warner should have come to them from among themselves. So the faithless say, “This is an odd thing.”
The transition with rather (bal) signifies a shift away from the sense of the oath’s implicit object, as if to say: “Indeed We sent you as a warner but they did not believe in you, rather they considered it odd that a warner should have come to them from among themselves.” Or: “Indeed the Resurrection which you warn them of is real but they do not believe in it, rather they consider it odd and are sceptical of it.”
Themselves in from among themselves could mean they consider it odd that a warner should be a human being from their own species. This is because the idolaters denied that human beings could be prophets, as we have mentioned previously. Alternatively, themselves could mean they consider it odd that a warner should be an Arab like them. In other words, they find it odd that a warner should come from their own people and expound the truth to them in their own language. This is more profitable to the meaning of the verse and also a more eloquent repudiation of them.
So the faithless say, “This is an odd thing.” God describes them as faithless here rather than polytheists to show that they covered the truth when it came to them. This refers to the idea that there will be a resurrection and they will return to God, as indicated by the following verse.
أَإِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ۖ ذَٰلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ٣
(50:3) What! When we are dead and have become dust? That is a far-off return!
Rajʿ (“return”) means the same as rujūʿ. Far-off (baʿīd) means far from good sense.
The consequent phrase of their statement What! When we are dead and have become dust? is left implicit. Its sense is indicated by the next sentence: That is a far-off return! In other words: “What! When we are dead and have become dust, will we be brought back to life and returned?” This is a rhetorical question expressing amazement. The latter part is left implicit to suggest that they find it so odd they think it improper to mention aloud, as no sensible person would accept it. This verse is in the same vein as the verse: They say, “When we have been lost in the dust, shall we be indeed created anew?” ().
Therefore, we can understand these verses as follows: They say in astonishment: “What! When we are dead and have become dust—when there is nothing left of us—you mean to say we will be brought back to life?” Then it is as though someone says to them: “What is so astonishing about that?” And they reply: “That is a far-fetched return. It makes no sense!”
قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا تَنْقُصُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْهُمْ ۖ وَعِنْدَنَا كِتَابٌ حَفِيظٌ ٤
(50:4) We know what the earth diminishes from them, and with Us is a preserving Book.
In this verse, God responds to their scepticism about the Resurrection. They base this on the fact that their bodies will decay to dust when they die so that no discernible part of them will remain. God answers this by saying that He knows whatever the earth consumes and takes away from their bodies. No part of them, however miniscule, escapes His knowledge, so there is no difficulty in bringing them back to life. Alternatively, this could be read as meaning “We know which of them die, are buried in the earth and gradually consumed by it. In the first instance from (min) signifies partition (tabʿīḍ), while in the second instance it signifies exposition (tabyīn).
And with Us is a preserving Book—meaning a book which preserves everything, along with its effects (āthār) and states (aḥwāl), or a book that records everything that happens and which is protected from change or alteration. This refers to the Guarded Tablet (lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) which contains everything that is and will be until the Day of Resurrection.
Some say that this refers to the Record of Deeds (kitāb al-aʿmāl), but this is incorrect for two reasons. First, God says that this book is preserving (ḥafīẓ) of what the earth diminishes from them, and this cannot mean their deeds. Secondly, because in the Qur’an God describes the Guarded Tablet as preserving but not the record of deeds, so there is no evidence to suggest that the “preserving book” mentioned in this verse means the record of deeds.
To summarize, they claim: When they die and decay into dust, there is no way for God to identify their parts; therefore, it is impossible for Him to bring them back to life. However, this claim is false because God has knowledge of everyone who dies and what becomes of every part of their bodies and where it ends up. And God has a preserving Book, namely the Guarded Tablet.
بَلْ كَذَّبُوا بِالْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي أَمْرٍ مَرِيجٍ ٥
(50:5) Rather they denied the truth when it came to them; so they are now in a perplexed state of affairs.
Marīj (perplexed) means to be confused and muddled. The previous verse suggested that the polytheists were astonished by the idea of the Resurrection because they were not aware that God is all-knowing. In other words, they did not understand that nothing of His creation and the events that take place therein escapes His notice, and that all of that is inscribed upon the Guarded Tablet with God. So no one should find this strange.
However, this verse transitions from this suggestion and says instead that the real reason is not their ignorance, even though they are ignorant. Rather the real reason for this is their denial of the truth when it came to them; they could see plainly that it was true but they obstinately rejected it. It is not the case that they were merely ignorant and unable to comprehend the truth, but now they are in a confused state: On the one hand they see it is the truth, but on the other they deny it, while normally to know something means to believe in it.
It is said: In a perplexed state of affairs means that they became confused after denying the truth and do not know what to say. Sometimes they say: “He has invented a lie about God.” Sometimes: “It is magic!” And others: “It is poetry!” Sometimes: “It is soothsaying!” And others: “He is mad!” That is why God follows on from this by mentioning the signs of His knowledge and power as a rebuke to them. Then God warns the idolaters by mentioning those previous nations who He punished for their denial by destroying them utterly.
أَفَلَمْ يَنْظُرُوا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِنْ فُرُوجٍ ٦
(50:6) Have they not then observed the heavens above them, how We have built them and adorned them, and that there are no clefts in them?
Furūj (“clefts”) is the plural of farjah, meaning a gap or crack. God describes the heavens as above them to indicate that these are visible to them and not hidden from sight. Adorned them refers to the striking beauty of the stars that have been created within them. The artifice of this wondrous creation, filled as it is with beauty and utterly without flaw, is the clearest evidence of God’s absolute power and boundless knowledge.
وَالْأَرْضَ مَدَدْنَاهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَأَنْبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ٧
(50:7) And We spread out the earth, and cast in it firm mountains (rawāsī), and caused every delightful kind to grow in it.
Spread out the earth means to expand it in a way that is suitable for human life. Rawāsī is the plural of rāsiyah which literally means “firm.” The word “mountains” does not appear in the Arabic and is left implicit. Bahīj (“delightful”) is from bahjah. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read: “Bahjah means something pleasant which is wonderful to behold, such as flowers, blossoming trees and lush gardens.” It is said: “Bahīj means that which delights and gladdens onlookers.” And caused every delightful kind to grow in it means all kinds of beautiful plants.
Therefore, the creation of the earth and the astonishing signs of divine providence that pervade it are the best rational evidence for God’s perfect knowledge and power.
تَبْصِرَةً وَذِكْرَىٰ لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُنِيبٍ ٨
(50:8) An insight and admonition for every penitent servant.
This sentence fulfils the role of a purposive object (mafʿūl lahu), meaning: “We built the heavens, spread out the earth and filled it with amazing signs of Our providence to be an insight by which every servant who wishes to return to God might see, and an admonition they might reflect upon.”
وَنَزَّلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً مُبَارَكًا فَأَنْبَتْنَا بِهِ جَنَّاتٍ وَحَبَّ الْحَصِيدِ ٩
(50:9) And We send down from the heavens salubrious water, with which We grow gardens and the grain which is harvested
Samāʾ (“heavens”) means “high above” and salubrious water (māʾ mubārak) is rain. It is described as “salubrious” (mubārak) because of the abundant goodness it brings to the earth and its inhabitants.
وَالنَّخْلَ بَاسِقَاتٍ لَهَا طَلْعٌ نَضِيدٌ ١٠
(50:10) and tall date palms with regularly set spathes
Bāsiqāt (“tall”) is the plural of bāsiqah, meaning extremely tall. “Spathes” (talʿ) are the first traces of the fruit to appear, and naḍīd (“regularly set”) means layered one on top of another.
رِزْقًا لِلْعِبَادِ ۖ وَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتًا ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ الْخُرُوجُ ١١
(50:11) as a provision for servants; and with it We revive a dead country. Likewise will be the rising.
“Provision” (rizq) means: that which enables a person to survive. As a provision for servants is a purposive object for what has been mentioned in previous verses. In other words: “We caused these gardens, grains and tall date palms with their spathes to grow so that they would be a provision for the servants.” And given that this displays a truly mind-boggling level of design and intentionality, whoever created these plants to provide sustenance for the servants must have infinite knowledge and power, and therefore there is no difficulty for Him to bring the human being back to life after death, even if his body has turned to dust and scatted across the earth.
…and with it We revive a dead country is another proof for the resurrection (in addition to the one we have just mentioned) which we can derive from the text. The previous passage responded to their scepticism that God could bring them back to life after they had turned to dust and no visible trace of them remained, and the response was to demonstrate God’s limitless power and knowledge. The second argument, contained in the words and with it We revive a dead country, seeks to establish the possibility of the Resurrection by pointing out that something similar has already happened; bringing people out of their graves alive after they have died is no different to bringing the dead plants out of the earth after they have died and they have lost their ability to grow and spread. We have already laid out this argument several times when commenting on those verses which argue for the Resurrection by pointing to the revival of the earth after its death, so interested readers can seek these passages out elsewhere in this commentary.
كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَأَصْحَابُ الرَّسِّ وَثَمُودُ ١٢ وَعَادٌ وَفِرْعَوْنُ وَإِخْوَانُ لُوطٍ ١٣ وَأَصْحَابُ الْأَيْكَةِ وَقَوْمُ تُبَّعٍ ۚ كُلٌّ كَذَّبَ الرُّسُلَ فَحَقَّ وَعِيدِ ١٤
(50:12–14) The people of Noah denied before them, and the inhabitants of Rass and Thamūd, and ʿĀd, Pharaoh, and the brethren of Lot, and the inhabitants of Aykah and the people of Tubbaʿ. Each impugned the Messengers, and so My threat became due.
These verses are a threat and a warning to the polytheists for denying the truth when it came to them out of obstinacy, even though it was clear to them, as we mentioned above. We have already discussed the inhabitants of Rass in our commentary on Sūrah al-Furqān; the inhabitants of Aykah, who are the people of Jethro (Shuʿayb), in our comments on Sūrah al-Ḥijr, al-Shuʿarāʾ and Ṣād; and the people of Tubbaʿ have been mentioned in Sūrah al-Dukhkhān.
Each impugned the Messengers, and so My threat became due implies that there is a threat of destruction which is accomplished when people deny the messengers. Elsewhere, God says: So travel over the land and then observe how was the fate of the deniers ().
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is narrated from Ibn Abī Ḥātim, from Ibn ʿAbbās:
Beyond this earth, God created an ocean that encompassed it. Then beyond that ocean, He created a mountain called Qāf, upon which hovers the heaven of this world. Beyond that mountain, He created an earth like this. Beyond that, God created an ocean that encompassed it. Beyond that ocean, He created a mountain called Qāf, upon which hovers the second heaven… and so on, until he had created seven earths, seven seas, seven mountains and seven heavens. That is the meaning of the verse: …and the sea replenished with seven more seas… ().
- In the same source, it is narrated from Ibn Mundhir, Ibn Mardawayh, Abū al-Shaykh and al-Ḥākim from ʿAbd Allāh b. Buraydah concerning the verse Qāf ():
It is an emerald mountain that surrounds this world, upon which rests the edges of the heavens.
- In the same source, it is narrated from Ibn Abī Dunyā in his ʿUqūbāt and Abū Shaykh in his ʿUẓmah, from Ibn ʿAbbās:
God created a mountain called Qāf that surrounds this world. Its roots reach to the rock upon which the earth rests. Whenever God wishes to destroy a town with an earthquake, He commands that mountain to shake, and it shakes the root that extends beneath that town. That is why one town shakes but not another.
Author’s comments: Qummī narrates something similar to the words of ʿAbd Allāh b. Buraydah from Yaḥyā b. Maysirah al-Khathʿamī. He also narrates a tradition of a similar meaning that is discontinued (mursal) and implicit (muḍmar). It reads: “…it is a mountain that surrounds this world, behind which lurk God and Magog.”
In any case, we cannot rely on such narrations and by today’s standards their falsity is almost self-evident.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, about the verse So the faithless say, “This is an odd thing…” (), we read:
It was revealed about Ubayy b. Khalf, who said to Abū Jahl: “Come and I will show you how to deal with Muḥammad!” Then he took a bone and crushed it, saying: “O Muḥammad! Do you claim this will live again?” So God said: Rather they denied the truth when it came to them; so they are now in a perplexed state of affairs.