'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Hajj

This surah is Meccan except for three verses, His saying, the Exalted: ﴿These are two adversaries﴾ [Al-Hajj: 19] to the completion of three verses. This was said by Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. It has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that they are four verses, up to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿The punishment of the blazing fire﴾ [Al-Hajj: 22]. And Al-Dahhak said: It is Medinian. And Qatadah said: Surah Al-Hajj is Medinian except for four verses, from His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And We did not send before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that there is no deity except Me, so worship Me﴾ [Al-Anbiya: 25] to His saying: ﴿The punishment of a day of despair﴾ [Al-Hajj: 55]. So they are Meccan. And Al-Naqash counted ten verses that were revealed in Medina. The majority said: The surah is mixed, some of it is Meccan and some of it is Medinian. This is the most correct - and Allah knows best - because the verses necessitate that. It has been narrated from Anas ibn Malik that he said: "The beginning of the surah was revealed during the journey to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and he called out with it and the people gathered to him. He said: Do you know what day this is? They were astonished. He said: The day when Allah will say: O Adam, bring forth the company of the fire, and he will bring forth from every thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. He said: The people were distressed. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Rejoice, for among you is a man and from Gog and Magog a thousand men...'" The hadith.

His saying, the Exalted:

﴿O mankind, fear your Lord. Indeed, the quake of the Hour is a tremendous thing﴾ ﴿The day you will see it, every nursing mother will be distracted from that which she was nursing, and every pregnant woman will drop her burden, and you will see the people as if they were drunk, yet they are not drunk, but the punishment of Allah is severe﴾.

The beginning of the verse is a warning to all of mankind. Then the news is made obligatory and confirmed by the matter of the quake of the Resurrection, which is one of its signs. He called it a thing; because it is certain to occur and its occurrence is so certain that it is easy to call it a thing while it is nonexistent; for certainty in it resembles the existent things. As for in the end, that is, if it occurs, it is a tremendous thing. It is as if the name is not applied now, but the meaning is: If it occurs, then at that time it is a tremendous thing.

And "the quake": is the great movement, and that is with the blast of terror, and with the blast of the stunning, according to what has been included in the hadith of Abu Huraira of three blasts. And from the wording of the quake is the saying of the poet:

A fool knows that in time there are calamities and quakes.

It is possible that the "quake" in the verse is an expression of the horrors of the Day of Resurrection, as He said: ﴿They were touched by hardship and adversity, and they were shaken﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 214]. And as he, peace be upon him, said: "O Allah, defeat them and shake them." (p-212) And the majority hold that the quake of the Hour is like that which is known in the world, except that it is of the utmost severity.

The interpreters have differed regarding "the earthquake" mentioned. Is it in this world for the people upon whom the Resurrection will take place, or is it on the Day of Resurrection for all of the world? The majority said: It is in this world, and the pronoun in "you will see it" refers back to the earthquake. They strengthened their statement by saying that nursing and pregnancy only occur in this world. A group said: "the earthquake" is on the Day of Resurrection, and they argued with the hadith of Anas mentioned earlier; when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, recited the verse, he then said: "Indeed, it is the day in which He will say to Adam: Bring forth the people of the Fire."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This hadith is not a proof; because it is possible that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, recited the verse that includes the beginning of the Hour, then intended in his reminder and warning to refer to a section of the events of the Day of Resurrection, and thus he mentioned it. This is from eloquence, and the pronoun according to this group refers back to the Hour, meaning: the day they see its beginning in this world. Thus, it is valid for them with this interpretation that the existence of nursing and pregnancy on the Day of Resurrection is not required. If they return it to the earthquake, then their statement is invalidated by what is required of them. Although Al-Naqash mentioned that what is meant by "every pregnant one" is a female who has died and her child is in her womb.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is weak.

And "the distraction": is the neglect of something due to the occurrence of something that occupies one from it, such as worry or pain or otherwise. Ibn Zayd said: The meaning is: she leaves her child due to the distress that has befallen her. Ibn Abi Abla read: "you will be distracted" with a damm on the ta and a kasra on the ha and the accusative of "all." He added the ha in "nursing woman" because he intended the doers of that on that day, so he made it follow the verb. However, if she informs about the woman that she has a child she is nursing, then she says: "nursing" like "pregnant." Ali ibn Sulaiman said: This ha in "nursing woman" refutes the claim of the Kufans that the ha cannot be in what does not wear it with men. Al-Tabari reported that some grammarians of Kufa said: The mother of the child is a nursing woman, and the hired one for him is a nursing man.

And "the pregnancy" with a fatha on the ha: is what is in the womb or on the top of a tree. And His saying, exalted is He: "And you will see the people as if they were drunk" is a comparison for them; meaning: from the worry, then He negated the real drunkenness that is from wine, as said by Al-Hasan and others.

And the majority of the reciters read: "Sukara" with a dammah on the sīn and the alif being present, and likewise in the second instance. This is the rule. Sibawayh made it a plural once, and made it a collective noun another time. Abu Huraira read it with a fatha on the sīn in both instances. This may also occur in these plurals. Abu al-Fath said: it is a broken plural. Abu Hatim said: it is a dialect of Tamim. Hamzah and al-Kisai read: "Sakra" in both places. It was narrated by Imran ibn Husayn and Abu Sa'id al-Khudri from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. This is the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, Hudhayfah, and the companions of Abdullah. Sibawayh said: And some people say "Sakra," making it like "Mardha" because both are things that befall a person. Then they made "Rawba" like "Sakra"; they are those who are burdened by sleep from drinking the doubtful. Abu Ali said: It is correct that "Sakra" is the plural of "Sukr" like Zamani and Zaman. And Sibawayh narrated: A man is drunk meaning he is intoxicated, so "Sakra" would then come for the feminine of the plural, like the sign in "Taa'ifah" for the feminine of the plural. Sa'id ibn Jubair read: "And you see the people as if they are intoxicated, while they are not intoxicated" with a dammah and the alif. Al-Mahdawi narrated from al-Hasan that he read: "And you see the people as intoxicated, while they are not intoxicated." Al-Hasan, al-A'raj, and Abu Zar'ah ibn Amr ibn Jarir read in both instances: "Sakra" with a dammah on the sīn. Abu al-Fath said: It is a singular noun like "Bushra," and with this, Abu Ali informed me, and I asked him about this. Abu Zar'ah ibn Amr ibn Jarir, Abu Huraira, and Abu Nahik read: "And you see" with a dammah on the tā, "the people" in the accusative. He said: And it is according to him, and this reading was narrated: "And you see the people" with a dammah on the tā and the sīn; meaning: you see a group of people.