Surah 75

Ustadh Asim Khan

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

USTADH ASIM KHAN

There are different styles of tafseer. One of the styles of tafseer is known as the mawduI (thematic)
style. Thematic tafseer is a little different than the regular tafseer in that we don't go through the
regular details about the meanings of the words and expressions. Rather we try to take the overall
theme of the surah. Instead of looking at the word for word analysis of the ayaat, we take the overall
meaning and try to piece it together in a thematic way what is the main theme being spoken about
here.
UNIQUE FEATURES OF SURAH QIYAMAH
THE SUBJECT MATTER is just one. Thematic tafseer is very easy to do with this surah. Because, as
the title suggests, the subject matter is just one. It is about Yawm al-Qiyamah. The day of
resurrection, the day of accountability. That theme runs through from the beginning, to the middle
up to the end.
As-Suyuti said, look at this surah, it begins with Allah making mention about bringing the dead
back to life. And it ends with mention of bringing dead back to life.




It begins and ends with the mention of qiyamah. And everything in between revolves around the
subject of qiyamah.
Allah mentions the nafs and its journey to Yawm al-Qiyamah through the gateway of death.

THE IMAGERY. The surah has much imagery in it. Allah mentions certain details that
create images in our mind. They make us imagine certain pictures.
One image is about the scene of Yawm al-Qiyamah. What people will look like on that day, what they
will experience in their hearts and also what they will be saying with their tongues as well.

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

There is another beautiful imagery as well, about the scene of a disbeliever on his deathbed and
surrounding him are his friends and family; the last moments of his life (
) . What will he

be feeling at that time? What will be said by the people around him? There is beautiful imagery that
captivates the mind when you read the surah. A picture of a disbeliever who did not believe in the
resurrection, did not believe that Allah could resurrect him. How he will experience some of the
things on that day, and even before that, when he enters, leaving this world into the world of the
unseen through the gateway of death.

THE STYLE, THE RHYTHM. It is a beautiful style that grabs the attention of the person and keeps
him wanting to listen and follow.
Therefore, the surah is very powerful.
And the spirit of the surah is that it seeks to remove any doubt in the mind of the listener about the
fact that Allah is capable of bringing back the dead to life. As you know, during the life of the Prophet
, and in Makkah in particular, the mushrikoon were there and they disbelieved in him. But they
disbelieved in him in general, and in particular, some of the beliefs that he came with. One of the
main things that they disbelieved in was the Day of Judgment.

And they say, "When we are lost within the earth, will we indeed be [recreated] in a new creation?"
Rather, they are, in [the matter of] the meeting with their Lord, disbelievers. [As-Sajdah 32:10]

Ibn Taymiyyah explained their misconception and their doubt. What was it based on? He said
that the living and the dead are very different in 2 particular ways. As for the living creatures, then
they have a warmth about them, and a moistness (water) to their being. As for the dead, a corpse is
cold and dry (it becomes decomposed). Because of this, they said that once you become
decomposed, dry cold, lifeless, it is impossible that resurrection could possibly be true. And on that
basis, they used to say that this is a joke, and something really strange. So this surah needs to be
understood in light of that misunderstanding, shortcoming and doubt.
To be honest, we all have a share of that doubt. Can anyone of us really claim that we believe that
we will be resurrected with 100% conviction? That we know for sure, definitely I will be resurrected, I
won't doubt it even if the whole world said it is not going to happen. Do we really feel like that? We
don't, do we? And that is why, Surah al-Qiyamah is not just an 'ibrah, a lesson for those that doubt
and profess that doubt. But it is also a deep lesson for all of us, to try and remove the doubt from our
minds and establish a pure conviction that yes, we will be resurrected. And everything that follows
on from resurrection - the accountability, paradise, hellfire, all of that then follows too.
Imagine that these mushrikoon in Makkah are sitting together and bickering amongst themselves.

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

They are talking about this man, Muhammad . These things that he says, that we will, after we
die, be resurrected, that we will be brought before God, and that life will come to us once again.
Some of them said, this is just ridiculous, impossible. Others said, no, in fact, that is not true, and on
the contrary, there is something known as reincarnation, that our souls will be transferred into the
body of another creature. This is mentioned elsewhere in the Quran, so this was another one of their
false beliefs - a belief in reincarnation.
In fact, imagine people from our time sitting there as well. It is something people even today
seriously doubt, if not disbelieve in. In fact, it is a source of entertainment. May films are made about
Armageddon, Day of Judgment. So this is the way they make it a mockery.
So back to the mushrikoon we discussed earlier, and what they are saying. These Muslims, they
believe there is a life to come, this is something that is a fantasy, it is not really true. That bickering,
arguing is taking place, and this surah is being revealed in that context.

I swear by the Day of Resurrection {1}
Allah began by mentioning no, as if to say all of that is wrong, and not true at all. Everything you are
claiming is false. On the contrary, Allah took an oath. Allah, the Lord and Master of everything that
exists took an oath. Allah does not need to take an oath by anything - whatever Allah mentions is
true. Yet, He took an oath, and not one, but two oaths. By what? Firstly, yawm al-Qiyamah. To
reemphasize that, without a shadow of doubt, took an oath to say it is a reality. It is true. Yawm alQiyamah will come to pass.

And I swear by the reproaching soul [to the certainty of resurrection].{2}
And again, no. What you say is absolutely false. Again Allah took an oath, this time by the soul that is
lawwamah. La'im is a person who feels blame. So a person who feels blame, guilt is la'im. Lawwamah
is the more intense form of that. The soul that continually feels a lot of blame, guilt all the time is
called lawwamah. When a person blames themselves for doing something wrong, that is classed as a
particular emotion. What emotion would you say this is? What emotion would he experience? Guilt
and regret. These are the emotions that Allah took an oath by.
What do you think is the connection here? Allah first took an oath by al-Qiyamah, and then He took

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

an oath by an emotion, a human emotion known as guilt or regret. What is the connection, what is
the link the second has with the first?
1.

They doubted Yawm al-Qiyamah, but when Yawm al-Qiyamah comes to pass and they are there,
they will feel an immense amount of regret. They will feel such guilt and regret and how they
lived and how they doubted Allah's messenger and Yawm al-Qiyamah, that every one of us will
feel regret, even the prophets.
Have you not read the hadith of shafaa (intercession), where the people, mankind will come to
the best of the best, Eesa , Adam , Ibraheem , and they will ask them, just
intercede for us, just start this whole thing. And they will say, I cannot, go to so-and-so, and they
will offer a reason about which they regret, they feel guilt.
The best of the best! What then, about us? Of course, we will regret.
The believers will regret and feel that should have done more ibadah, they should
have worshiped Allah more, they should have read His book more, they should have prayed to
Him more, they should have called out to Him more, they should have sacrificed more for Him.
When they see the delights of paradise, and even though that is confirmed that we are going
there, they will feel they should have done more than that.
As for the disbeliever, he will regret disbelieving in Allah and His prophet. He will regret having
rejected, denied and ridiculed those that called them to the truth.
So everyone will feel guilt. Guilt itself points to an accountability. That emotion of guilt is your
mind telling you that you shouldnt have done that, either now or in the aakhirah. Now you
should feel guilty and if it doesnt happen now, it will come to you on yawm al-Qiyamah. This is a
universal emotion in human beings.

2. There is another link between the two qasms. What is the link between the emotional guilt and
blame and the first oath by Yawm al-Qiyamah?
With regards to emotional guilt, Ibn Taymiyyah said that some claim that it is possible for
the human being to destroy his emotional guilt, it is possible to suppress guilt so much so that he
doesnt even feel it anymore, meaning he is so evil and corrupt that one day comes and he
doesn't feel guilty anymore.
In fact, Allah took an oath on guilt, and therefore every human being, no matter how corrupt and
bad they are, they still will feel guilt. In the emotional guilt, there is a sign pointing towards
Yawm al-Qiyamah because when you feel bad for doing something wrong, that is your own
conscience telling you that you will be trouble for that one day. If it is not that, that bad feeling,
that regret, that is Allah placing some feeling inside of us to tell us that there is some
accountability to come your way.

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

So they mention that this is the second link between the two.

Does man think that We will not assemble his bones? {3}
Does man think that we will not be able to construct back together their bones?
Najmau means assemble. Is this what you really doubt? This is what they claimed. In their words,
there was doubt, that it is not possible for this to happen, we mentioned what Ibn Taymiyyah
mentioned about their doubt.
Or is it something else? Is it something not to do with an ideology or this reasoning? God can't do this
because this thing is impossible. Or is it to do with shahwah? Base desire, loving other things, or
wanting to do other things? That desire or whim is the real reason why you say I don't believe in
Yawm al-Qiyamah. We are going to find out.
After Allah mentioned that do they really think that we will not be able to bring their bones
together?
On the contrary...

Yes. [We are] Able [even] to proportion his fingertips. {4}
They doubted that Allah could bring back the bones together. You would expect that the next ayah
will be, We can bring back the bones together. But Allah did not mention that next. Allah mentioned
that He is capable to piece back, not just the bones, but the whole body, part by part, including
bananah. Bananah can refer to one of 2 things:
And He said I will bring you back to that very fine point.
1.

THE FINGERS. He can piece us back down to the fingers. And in that, is an amazing sign,
because the bone structure of the fingers is so intricate that if you were to break your finger,
they cannot put a cast around it, because the bone structure is so complicated that the cast
would stop the bone from fusing together as it are supposed to do.

2.

THE TIPS OF THE FINGERS. That is even more amazing. Because on the tips of our fingers
they have what are called friction ridges. Friction ridges are the print. And this print is unique for
every single one of us.

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

Allah mentions, do you think that I cannot bring you back to life? I will bring your whole body
back as it once was, right down to the fingerprint. How Allah destroyed the doubt in such an
emphatic, amazing way.
This fingertip is so unique that is has been used since the early 20th century in crime
investigation. It is one of the main pieces of evidence that has brought about more convictions,
even today, than any other piece of evidence. In fact, they say that the imprint of ours is so
unique, that if you were to leave one, and then momentarily take your finger off and leave
another one, they will be even differences between the 2.
The amazing detail through which Allah created us! And with which he refuted their
doubt.

But man desires to continue in sin.{5}
It is not that you doubt Allahs power. Allah is saying that it is not really that you intellectually doubt
resurrection. This applies to them and anyone after them. They don't doubt that there is any
possibility of resurrection.
Rather, man wants to explode. This comes from the root fajra. Fajra means to explode. At fajr time,
the light explodes and breaks the darkness. This refers to the impulsive nature of man. He wants to
act on impulse. He wants to do whatever he wants. Whatever he feels like doing at that moment,
that is the type of lifestyle he desires. Whatever is in front of him, he just wants to do it. Allah is
mentioning, you don't doubt my qudrah, rather, you love to live by your impulses. That is why you
deny al-Qiyamah.
Because if a person really believes there is a hereafter, it means he believes there is an accountability.
If there is an accountability, one has to live by a certain code of conduct, some guidelines. So they
can't, therefore, live according to impulse, doing whatever you want to do. So this is the real
underlying reason. Hawa. Desire. Shahwah. It is just a person's whim that is leading them on to
negate the consequences of resurrection.
This is how Allah uncovers for us that it is not an intellectual argument in disbelieving in resurrection,
rather it is about hawa (desire).

He asks, "When is the Day of Resurrection?" {6}

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

If you were to ask some of the mushrikoon, or someone on the street who really doubts about
resurrection, give them some dawah that look, there is a life in the hereafter and this life is just a
test, afterwards we will be taken to account; why do you doubt this; many of them will ask you,
when is Yawm al-Qiyamah.
Mata means when. They dont say mata. They say ayyan. Ayyan is a form of mockery. It is istihza, a
mocking type of question, as if to say, oh, tell us, when is Yawm al-Qiyamah?

So when vision is dazzled {7}
Allah did not answer that question. Rather, Allah took the attention of that person making that insult
to the Prophet , that look at him on Yawm al-Qiyamah. His eyes will be bariq. Bariq comes from
barq. Barq refers to lightening, like a thunderbolt. His eyes will be dazzled that day, as if he is seeing
a thunderbolt before his eyes. He will be in a state of terror, shock. Shock and terror will grip their
hearts and you will be able to see that in their eyes.

And the moon darkens {8}
What is he looking at? His eyes will be looking at the moon as it eclipses. Khasaf can either mean the
eclipsing of the moon or the light of that full moon, when it is shining bright, is suddenly ripped
away, torn away, the brightness is taken away and it loses its colour.
The second meaning of khasaf is something he sees, he witnesses the moon shining bright, either it
will lose all of its colour all of a sudden, or it begins to cave in.
This is what people will be seeing and thats why their eyes will become dazzled, bulging out in shock
and terror at what they are witnessing. Imagine the scene on that day!

And the sun and the moon are joined, {9}

And then he sees that the shams and the qamar are brought together.

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

2 tafseers here:

The first is that Allah will fold up the sun and the moon. Imagine seeing that great
big ball of fire all of a sudden being folded up, and the moon being folded up. These are
tremendous scenes.
The second view is that Allah will smash together the sun and the moon. What will we be
seeing on that day?!

He asked out of mockery, but look at him now - terror has gripped his heart with what he sees now.
Another question now.

Man will say on that Day, "Where is the [place of] escape?"{10}
He says, where is the escape route?
Mafar comes from the root of firar. Firar means to run. It doesn't just mean to run. In fact, it means
to flee. The farrar is the fugitive. When the fugitive runs, he doesn't look back. He is running out of
terror and doesn't even look back to see who is coming, he just keeps running.
Mafar is the place of fleeing to, meaning it is the escape route. This man, in a panic, he says where is
the place I can go to to get out of this problem now? He realizes now that certain things are about to
come his way and he is looking for mafar. The way out.

No! There is no refuge.{11}
Either Allah says to this person, there is no wazar today.
Wazar refers to a shelter. The Arabs would refer to the cave as a wazar. A cave in a mountain when
there is a thunderstorm. Or the fortress as a wazar. When the soldiers are on the back foot, they
retreat and go into the fortress. If you were out there, living like a nomad, that would be your shelter
in a storm, the cave. Or the army, when it is being attacked and are on the back foot and they want
to retreat, that would be their wazar.
Another interpretation is the man himself, the kaafir, after looking for the mafar, he says there is no

Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

shelter today. There is no place for me to go today for shelter. Ibn Kathir said he said that
because he sees all around him the fire, jahannum and he comes to a realization, there is no way out
of this.
Imagine the anguish, the guilt, that day.

To your Lord, that Day, is the [place of] permanence. {12}
Because the only place he is going to go, the mustaqarr, the stopping place is before his very Lord.
We are all going to go before our Lord. That is where we are going to end up, every single one of us.

Man will be informed that Day of what he sent ahead and kept back. {13}
Why? Because Allah will make inba. Inba means being told. You went here, you watched this, you
spoke to this person. There is a difference between naba and khabar. In English we can translate
both to be informed about something. But there is a difference in Arabic. The difference is that, as arRaghi (?) mentioned, that Naba refers to information that has a great deal of certainty. Everything it
is speaking about is so true, so accurate, so real. As for khabar, it could be true, it could also contain
some falsehood.
As Allah mentioned in Surah Zalzalah, the earth will be (akhbar) told what happened. But the earth
only knows what happened on its surface. It doesn't know the reality of things, that is why ikhbar. As
for what Allah knows, it is Inba.
Meaning Allah will question us about every single thing we did. Every place we went to, every act we
did, even the thoughts that crossed our minds. Though Allah will pardon much of that, He has the
knowledge to take us to account for every single thing we said and did, even the thoughts that
passed our minds.
Allah will ask us about 2 things. 2 interpretations:
1.

Qaddama is what we did during our life. Deeds. Good deeds, evil deeds, everything. Allah will ask
us about that. Akhkhar refers to the legacy. The legacy that we left behind after we died. The
way after our lives impacted on others.

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Thematic Tafseer of Surah al-Qiyamah

Ustadh
Asim Khan

After we died, little do we know the effect of our lives on the lives of other people. Imagine a
beautiful scenario, then a man, a worshiper of Allah, he raised a pious family, he taught his kids
how to worship Allah . Little did he know that after he died, those children grew up to
be worshipers of Allah. They grew up to get married themselves and have their own children.
And those children also grew up in the worship of Allah and the generation began to rise. On
Yawm al-Qiyamah, that legacy of all those worshipers is going to be put on your scale. All of
them. It is going to be put on your scale as well.
The opposite scenario. Imagine a man is doing haram business. He is a mortgage broker. He is
helping other people deal with riba (wa iyazu billah). His business is a small business. He earns
some money, and then he died. Little did he know that the business became a large empire, like a
power house for riba, helping so many people do haram. That is his evil legacy, that is how
he impacted the lives of others.
2.

The second interpretation of ma qaddama wa akhkhar refers to prioritization. If you were to ask
anyone, they will say I should be studying tajweed, or Arabic, or going for Hajj. Anyone asked
would agree. But the reality is we procrastinate. We neglect, we put it off. We wait until we are
pure and we can do it. We had time to watch television, we put that forward (qaddama), but
what we put on the back burner is Allah, His messenger and the deen (akhkhar)

Whatever happened as a consequence of what you started, Allah will bring all of that. He will ask you
about all of that. How Allah is teaching us about his All-Encompassing nature - nothing is left. Yawm
al-Qiyamah is a reality, and these are some of the details of that reality.

Rather, man, against himself, will be a witness, {14}
In fact insaan is ala nafsihi baseerah. Meaning he is a witness against his own self. Is it really
necessary to die, be resurrected and brought before Me in order for you to know your sins,
shortcomings and deficiencies? Is it really necessary? It is not. You have it within your own self to
know what are your own shortcomings, what are your own bad habits, what are your own misdeeds.
No one knows our potential better than our own selves.
That is so true. No one knows about our history better than our own selves after Allah, isn't that a
fact? Who is going to come to us and tell us that look, you know, last year, you did that thing, and
you regretted it. Don't you think you should make tawbah for that now? Don't you think you should
be asking Allah to forgive you for that? Who is going to come to you? No one. We know our own
selves.
Ash-Shawkani said, look Allah is saying He gave us an aql. An aql (intellect) that helps us to discern
right from wrong. On top of that, Allah gave us a fitrah, something ingrained within us, like a moral

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Asim Khan

compass that teaches us that these things are not really right, that thing I did is not really right.
Baseerah in your own self. Besides sending us Muhammad , besides giving us this Quran, you
have it within your own selves to know, to a certain degree, by My grace, that certain things you
shouldn't have been doing. You have it within yourself to take yourself to account before you were
here in this mustaqarr before Me.
That is telling us that we need to confess our sins to Allah. That we need to admit before Allah,
things that we have done wrong. Because we know about them in a way that no one else does. We
need to say Ya Allah, I did this and I regret it. Forgive me and correct me. Cry before Allah. And if we
turn to Allah and ask Him to forgive us, without a shadow of doubt, He would even erase that. So
when we come to this place in our life, we will not even see them. Allah encouraging us to make
tawbah to Him. By calling out, by crying out to Him about all of the things that we have done in our
past. You are the one who knows those things. Use them to make dua to Allah with sincerity.

Even if he presents his excuses. {15}
Because on that day people will be casting out their excuses.
Ma'azeer from ma'zara. The excuses. In behavioural psychology, they have a term for making
excuses. It is called rationalization. They call it rationalization because when a person does
something that they know others will look at and say this is probably right, he tries to reason away
what he did by offering an explanation. Because the person feels and knows he has done something
wrong and needs to cover it up, so they look at it as a defence mechanism. They defend themselves
with excuses. Allah is saying on that day, people will be offering their excuses, why they did what
they did.
Wa law alqa means that will not come to their aid at all. It will not help them whatsoever. I know
exactly what you did and why you did and what you did.
This is a lesson that we learn from our father Adam . Adam did something wrong. He
slipped, he made a mistake. He did an act of disobedience to Allah. But look, the moment that he
found out that he did something wrong, did he make an excuse?

They said, "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us,
we will surely be among the losers." [7:23]
He immediately turned back to Allah, O Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. He admitted
wholeheartedly. He didn't say, I did this because Shaytan came to me, I don't even know who
Shaytan is, this is the first I came to know of him, and he whispered to me that it is okay to do this,

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Asim Khan

and it is the first time I have sinned, let me off. No. He acknowledged he was wrong and begged
Allah for forgiveness and mercy.
The opposite scenario when it came to Iblees. Iblees also did something wrong. He refused to bow
down to the command of Allah. Allah asked him, what prevented you from bowing down even
though you know that I have ordered you to do that? What did he say? Did he say ? He said I
am better than him. Defence mechanism. The reason I did not do that is because I am made of fire,
he is made of clay, fire is better than clay, therefore I shouldn't be bowing down to him. He offered
an excuse.
Never make excuses for yourself before Allah. Make excuses for your family, friends, relatives. Don't
make excuses for yourself before Allah. Hold yourself to account before Allah holds you to account.
Now something strange happens. All of this about the Yawm al-Qiyamah, about the worst time for
people. And now, a shift towards the best of all creation, Muhammad .

Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an. {16}

Don't move your tongue in order to hasten towards it.

What does this mean? Ibn Kathir explains it. He said, when Jibreel would come to the
Prophet and reveal to him the Quran. The Prophet would start to move his lips and his
tongue to recite it, in order, out of eagerness to memorize it. He wanted to memorize it even before
Jibreel had left. This is what the Prophet used to do out of eagerness, and in fact, out of haste,
to try and memorize it. Allah is saying, you don't need to do that. You don't need to move your
tongue like that.
What is the connection between the Prophet being speedy and hastening to recite and what
came before? They seem like totally different subjects. One mentions the Prophet and revelation
and reciting and the other is speaking about resurrection. What is the connection?
Earlier we see that man acts hastily, but for what? For sharr. For evil. To do things that are wrong.
The exact opposite. The Prophet is hasty in doing khayr. Hasty in obedience to Allah. Sometimes
too hasty.

Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its recitation.{17}

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Ustadh
Asim Khan

Because upon us is to do jama' (Ibn Kathir said to collect it and place it within your chest, meaning
your heart) and preserve its recitation on your tongue.
What is the relationship between this passage about the Prophet being hasty in wanting to
memorize the Quran out of obedience to Allah and the previous passage which is to do
with disbelievers, people that doubted al-Qiyamah, who would say these mockery kinds of
questions? What is the link between the two? It seems like they are very distant.
In fact, there is a link between the 2. People are hasty towards sin, about going against Allah. The
Prophet was so eager, that Allah had to tell him, not this much eagerness. This much eagerness
was expressed by the Prophet in doing khair. And some people have so much haste to do evil.

So when We have recited it [through Gabriel], then follow its recitation. {18}
When it is recited, just follow the recitation. Just listen to Jibreel. Listen and wait for it to be
revealed.
About 2/3 of the Quran was revealed in Makkah. It wasnt revealed in the order of the mushaf. It
would be some verses here and some there. Now he has to remember where each set of verses go.
He has to memorize and remember the order.

Then upon Us is its clarification [to you]. {19}
Allah said firstly that He is going to preserve it with the Prophet . After that Allah is saying,
thumma, and We are the Ones that are going to do the bayan (to explain) of it.
Isn't that already included in what Allah mentioned previously that We are going to preserve it? So
what is bayanah here? What is the extra thing that We are going to do with this Quran's revelation?
Bayanah refers to the ma'ani, the meanings. The meaning is something the Prophet was
endowed with to explain. That was his responsibility. The tafseer. Allah is mentioning that We are
not just going to leave this book, this text. No. What the text means, what are intended by My
words, I will even preserve that.
Amazing. Allah is telling us that this book and what He meant by the words lives on after the Prophet
. That when we learn what our book says, we know for sure that we are learning the right thing if
we go to the correct sources. This gives us tremendous confidence in our religion. Not only do we

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Asim Khan

have the Quran, the text, preserved immaculately, we also have the meaning preserved as well. That
the Prophet explained the meaning to his companions, all of it. And they explained it to those
who came after. And those meanings have been preserved by Allah up until today! No religion can
make such a claim.
Who else can claim to have this? They cannot even claim the first thing, which is to have the scripture
intact. But to have the scripture and the language, and the meaning, this is something only unique
for Islam.
Look how Allah preserves this deen in its entirety, by keeping alive the text, even the
language, the same language in which the Quran was revealed 1400 years ago. And on top of that, if
they were ever confused about what these words mean, they can find out what they mean by going
through the books of tafseer.
The first full book of tafseer every written was by Imam at-Tabari , and that was in the year
270H, just 270 years after the Prophet made hijrah. Those manuscripts are still with us even until
today. If you wanted to know what the early Muslims understood of the Quran, you can do that. You
can gain access to that. Even the meanings of the words are there with us today.

No! But you love the immediate {20}
The subject matter changes to the resurrection again. Those that doubted the life to come, those
that doubted being resurrected again.
Again, Allah addressing the root cause of people's disbelief and denial.
The reality is to the contrary. It is not that you find resurrection an impossibility. On the contrary, and
rather, you love ajila (hastiness). You love the enjoyment of the temporary world. In this context, it
refers to what is here and now in front of you, what this person wants to get hold of and loves as
opposed to that which is further away i.e. dunya. Love of dunya = shahwah is what is preventing you
and stopping you from accepting the message of this man Muhammad .
And this is the lesson for everyone who does dawah. Sometimes we perceive that people don't really
want to accept Islam because they don't understand the message of Islam. That is sometimes true.
However, there is another very substantial reason, and that is, even if you make clear the core
concepts of Islam, the reason that they don't want to accept it is because of a base desire - love of
dunya, not an intellectual reason.
This should not be a deterrent to do dawah, no, rather, bear this in mind. You can give the best
ideological argument about why Islam is true. Very eloquent arguments. But that will only go so far.

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The dislike to want to submit to Allah and the love for the enjoyments of this life. This is something
different. This is not about the rationale, reasoning, this is about base desire.
The warning drives home the message. Dont give in to your base desires. Submit yourselves. I know
the reality. The reality is you love the temporary enjoyment of this world. And you have thrown the
akhirah behind your back, you have totally disregarded it.
A person may not accept Islam, not because you have not done a good job in explaining what Islam
is, but because you haven't done a good job in warning them of the consequences of rejecting Islam.
What destroys the love of something is to warn them about the consequences of that love. What will
it lead them to? What pain awaits those that disbelieve?
That is why there is so much warning in Quran. Allah knows that what will bring people to Islam is
not really intellectual proofs, though they are needed and necessary. It is warning given with wisdom
and in a beautiful way.

And leave the Hereafter.{21}
And so they have cast behind themselves the akhirah. Meaning, this is why you have disbelief in
Yawm al-Qiyamah.

[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant, {22}
Allah gives us a tremendous image about the scene of Yawm al-Qiyamah. If we were there, what
would we see? We would see all of mankind gathered before Allah . And those people, you
will be able to distinguish the good of them from the bad of them. Two groups of people. One way
that you will be able to distinguish is because wujuhu yawma izin nathira.
Nadhira comes from the root nadhr. Nadhr refers to gold and purity and freshness. Nadhira is
glowing, shining, beaming. Allah mentions that their face will be glistening, shining, illuminating
like pure gold. This is the way some faces will be on that day.
Why oh why are their faces glowing like this?

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Looking at their Lord. {23}
Because they are looking at their Lord. Nathirah doesn't just mean to look, it means to stare. That
they will be in amazement and staring upon the face of Allah and the enjoyment and the
pleasure will be so intense that it will manifest itself on their faces, that their faces will become
nadhirah because of nathirah to Allah .
The companions read this and were delighted to find that this is one of their rewards if they were
true to Allah. Yet, they wanted to hear more. They wanted to hear the Prophet confirm that to
them. So in one narration, in Sahih Muslim and Bukhari they said Ya Rasoolullah, will we see Allah in
the hereafter? The Prophet gave an amazing response. He did not just say, have you read Surah
al-Qiyamah? He said, do you have any difficulty in looking at the full moon on a cloudless night? They
said no. He said do you have any difficulty looking at the sun on a cloudless day? They said no. He said
in that way will you see your Lord.
A beautiful way in explaining to them that not only will you see Allah, but you will see Allah without
any difficulty. Because the person may think, all of the believers will be there on that day, and we
need to look at Allah, maybe we will have to move to a place where we can see Allah, maybe we will
have to fight with someone else because we want space. No, the way you look at the moon, you
don't have to struggle with anyone. You just look up, and you see the moon. And in the same way
will you see Allah with tremendous pleasure and with great ease. May Allah make us of those
people.

And [some] faces, that Day, will be contorted,{24}
And then is the other group, the other side, the disbelievers. Allah mentions about them, again, their
faces. If you look at their faces you will be able to see a distinguishing mark. What is that mark?
Baasirah comes from busoor, which refers to frowning. Baasirah also refers to darkness, a gloomy
nature. Their faces are going to be exactly the opposite. Their faces are going to be dark, gloomy.
You are going to see sadness on their faces.
People who are imprisoned and tortured, when they go in they look a particular way and when they
come out they look different. If you see some of the prisoners, when they went in and
when they come out, grey hair, skeleton like features, bags under their eyes, faces totally pale,
because of the pain that they endured was so intense, so hard on them that it manifests itself on

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their outer appearance. Allah mentions about their faces. Tathunnu can mean conjecture, but in
another context it may mean certainty as well. Here, it means certain.

Expecting that there will be done to them [something] backbreaking. {25}
Tathunnu means to think but in tafseer it means to be certain. They will be certain that something is
about to happen to them. What is about to happen to them? Faaqirah comes from the root of faqr.
Faqr means to be reduced down to something. Thats why the poor person is called a faqeer,
because he has been reduced down to a position where he has no money whatsoever.
Faqr also has another word, which is fiqr. Fiqr refers to the vertebrates in your back. What is the
tafseer of that? The tafseer is that at that moment they will be certain that a calamity is about to
come down. They will be so hard on them it will break their very backs.
Allah mentions about the misery that they will feel on that day that I should have believed in the
messenger and accepted the message of the book. That time will be too late. That time they will
know for sure that a calamity is about to come their way. That will be so difficult on them, it will be as
if it will break their very backs, may Allah save us from that.

No! When the soul has reached the collar bones {26}
After speaking going from this dunya to the akhirah, and describing the scene from Yawm alQiyamah that we will all see, Allah then goes back a little bit, to the point of death. Because death is
the beginning of qiyamah for that person who died. The moment a person is buried, they say that is
when the qiyamah begins for this person. So Allah mentions that moment when qiyamah will start
for all of us. But this is in the context of the disbeliever.
Allah mentions that when the soul (implied) reaches between the collar bone, meaning the pangs of
death, this person is in the last moments of his life. He disbelieved in Allah and rejected Muhammad
.
It will be said. Not qaal, but qeela. Somebody is saying. This is the image of that man on his deathbed,
that wicked individual, now terror is coming to him and he is about to experience death. Now,
certain things are becoming obvious to him, and he doesn't want to go there. So he is panicking.
When he is panicking, his friends and family start to see that he is panicking.

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And it is said, "Who will cure [him]?"{27}
They say, call the raaqi. The raaqi is the one who comes and treats the person when he is possessed
by a jinn. They call out for him. They don't call out for the doctor or a nurse or his children. They call
out for the raaqi.
Ibn Taymiyyah is telling us that in fact ruqyah is the greatest form of medicine. It is the greatest form
of remedy because at this point of desperation, even the kafir knows that ruqyah is really what he
needs at this time. Ruqyah is the greatest form of medicine because it operates on the very soul itself.
Never mind the body.
And therefore, it shows how much this person fears death, that they are calling for ruqyah because
they fear what awaits them of death and because of hubb ad-dunya (love of dunya), not wanting to
leave, holding on to it.

And the dying one is certain that it is the [time of] separation {28}
He will be certain that firaq (separation) is about to happen. What is being separated? The soul and
the body. He knows that now the soul is about to come out and be separated from his body.

And the leg is wound about the leg, {29}
An amazing expression. In ancient Arab poetry, a camel, when its water in its water source (hump)
becomes to deplete, it begins to slow down in how it walks because it is dehydrated. In the last
moments of dehydration, its legs wrap around and it falls on its side because it is dead due to
dehydration.
And the person in the pangs of death is like this, how the person will squirm. And even people who
experience a lot of pain towards the end of their live, their bodies begin to wrap around their arm
and even their legs begin to intertwine because of the sheer and severe pain, may Allah have mercy
on us.

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To your Lord, that Day, will be the procession. {30}
Because he knows that masaq is about to happen to him. He will be driven and he does not want to
be driven. Allah is mentioning that you are going to come to me and you are going to come to me
driven to me, the angels will drag your soul and force you.

And the disbeliever had not believed, nor had he prayed. {31}
Now Allah mentions the reasons. Why so much pain? Why so much terror? Why is he being tortured
in this way? Allah mentions 2 things:
He never affirmed and believed in the truth that Allah sent.
2. He never did one particular good deed. Imagine all the good deeds and virtues and actions,
Allah selected one. Salah. He did not pray.
1.

Because he did not do these 2 things, that is why he is going through this.
This is the status and significance of prayer. The Prophet said that prayer is a covenant between
us and Allah that makes us different to them. The one who thinks he does not need to pray, neglects,
abandons it, has disbelieved.
This waw between wa la salla is an atf bayan. He never prayed and the fact that he never prayed is
the reason why he didn't believe. He fell into disbelief because he refused to pray.
That is something mentioned elsewhere in Quran. That the people of jahannum are asked, what led
you here? What is the reason they give? Qaalu lam naku min al musalleen. We were never of those
who used to pray.
Disbelievers recognize that the worst thing that they did after disbelieving is not wanting to pray.
This is the lofty nature of salah in this religion.

But [instead], he denied and turned away.{32}

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He belied and turned away. Different forms of disbelief.

And then he went to his people, swaggering [in pride]. {33}
The reason he doesnt worship Allah is arrogance. Deep seated arrogance is in the heart of the kafir.
His arrogance shows in his walk.

Woe to you, and woe! {34}
This is a curse.

Then woe to you, and woe!{35}
Four times, a curse.

Does man think that he will be left neglected? {36}
Suda refers to the farmer who leaves the camel to roam freely.
Did you perceive you would be left to do whatever you want?

Had he not been a sperm from semen emitted?{37}

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Nutfah refers to the reproductive fluid. When it is mentioned in this way it points to the
unsophisticated and lowly origin of humans.

Then he was a clinging clot, and [ Allah ] created [his form] and proportioned [him] {38}
Then he was a clot. Allah nurtured us in the womb of the mother. Allah pieces us together.

And made of him two mates, the male and the female. {39}
We made you in pairs. That in itself is a blessing. Everyone wishes to have a partner, a companion.
This is part of human nature. This is part of our human nature.
The act of intimacy, if you think in an objective way is disgusting. But Allah placed in us a desire to do
those things so that we would survive as a race. How Allah blesses human beings!

Is not that [Creator] Able to give life to the dead?{40}

If Allah can do all of this dont you think He has the power and ability to do the thing you doubt to
resurrect the lifeless bodies once again?
Ibn Abbas said that the Prophet would say after this ayah, Subhanaka bala. Allah can surely do
this.
~*~*~*~*~

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