Commentary
And when the context was for the interpretation of the intended meaning by the unveiling of the leg, the exaggeration became great by His saying: ﴿And what will make you know﴾, meaning in the past time. He restricted it so that the soul may go in every direction in it. That is, what knowledge do you have of anything among the things while you engage in searching and deliberation? Then he increased the warning from it by His saying, following the first approach, asking, and the intended meaning is the magnification and greater glorification: ﴿What is the Great Event?﴾ meaning that it is such that no one knows its essence, nor can it be comprehended, nor can his understanding reach it, and however it has been decreed, its state is greater than that. So, one does not know its true knowledge except by witnessing it.
And Imam Abu Ja'far Ibn al-Zubayr said: The Surah ﴿N and the Pen﴾ [Al-Qalam: 1] was built upon the reprimanding of the polytheists of Quraysh and the rest of the Arabs, and their reproach, and the glorification of the Prophet of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, from their vile words and ugly accusations, and between their envy and enmity. ﴿And indeed, those who disbelieve almost cause you to slip with their eyes﴾ [Al-Qalam: 51] was followed by the Surah of the Great Event as a warning to them and a clarification that their state in the evil of that which they committed has preceded others. ﴿Thamud and 'Aad denied the Great Event﴾ [Al-Haaqqa: 4] ﴿So do you see for them any remains?﴾ [Al-Haaqqa: 8] ﴿Did they not see how many We destroyed before them from a generation?﴾ [Al-An'am: 6] ﴿So are they waiting except for the like of the days of those who passed before them?﴾ [Yunus: 102] -] and ﴿And how many We destroyed before them from a generation, do you sense from them any one or hear for them a whisper?﴾ [Maryam: 98] So the Surah of the Great Event runs parallel to these verses that follow it, mentioning the obstinacy of the polytheists of the Arabs, so that whoever is granted the provision of success may take it as a reminder, and an attentive ear may comprehend it.
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