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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Tur

It is a Makki surah by consensus of the commentators and narrators.

His saying, glorified and exalted is He:

﴿By the Mount﴾ ﴿And by a Book inscribed﴾ ﴿In parchment spread﴾ ﴿And by the House frequented﴾ ﴿And by the elevated roof﴾ ﴿And by the sea filled﴾ ﴿Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is bound to occur﴾ ﴿There is no one to avert it﴾ ﴿On the Day the heaven will sway with a sway﴾ ﴿And the mountains will walk with a walk﴾ ﴿Woe that Day to the deniers﴾ ﴿Who are in an empty discourse, playing﴾ ﴿On the Day they will be pushed to the Fire of Hell, forcefully﴾ ﴿This is the Fire which you used to deny﴾

These are creations by which Allah swore, as a warning and an honor, and so that this may be a reason for reflection upon them and consideration of them. This leads to the oneness of Allah and the knowledge of the rights of Allah, glorified and exalted is He.

And "the Mount," some of the people of language said: every mountain is a Tur. So it is as if He, blessed and exalted, swore by the mountains, as it is a name of a genus. Others said: the Tur is every barren mountain that does not grow trees. Mujahid said in the book of Al-Tabari: the Tur is the mountain in Syriac. This is weak, as what has been narrated in Arabic contradicts this. There is no disagreement that in the Levant there is a mountain called Al-Tur, which is the Tur of Sinai. Nuf al-Bakali said: it is that which Allah, glorified and exalted, swore by for its virtue over the mountains. It has been narrated that Allah, glorified and exalted, revealed to the mountains that He would send down His command upon one of them - referring to the message of Musa, blessings and peace be upon him. All of them raised themselves except for the Tur, for it submitted to the command of Allah, glorified and exalted, and said: Allah is sufficient for me. So Allah, glorified and exalted, sent down the command upon it. It is said that it is in Midian. Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: there are two Tur.

And "the inscribed Book" means by consensus: the written one in lines. People have differed regarding this book by which Allah swore. Some of the commentators said: it is the book copied from the Preserved Tablet for the angels to know all that they do and manage in the world. Others said: rather, Allah, glorified and exalted, swore by the Qur'an, for He knew that it would be written on parchment spread. Others said: Allah, glorified and exalted, swore by the ancient revealed books, the Torah, the Gospel, and the Psalms. Al-Farra' - as narrated by Al-Rummani - said: He swore by the scrolls that will be given and taken on the Day of Resurrection with the right and left hands. Some said: He swore by the book that contains the deeds of creation, which does not leave out a small or a great thing except that it has recorded it. Some people wrote "Masṭūr" with a ص, and the intention behind that is the similarity in pronunciation with the letters, while the majority is on the س. And "the parchment": the paper prepared for writing, which is thin, and for this reason it is called parchment. The common usage has predominated regarding that which is made from the skins of animals. And "spread" is the opposite of folded. It may be possible that its spreading means its good news and its refinement and its making. Abu al-Samal read: "In parchment" with a kasra on the ر.

The people differed regarding "the Bayt al-Ma'mur". Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Basri said: It is the Ka'bah. Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ibn Abbas, and Ikrimah, may Allah be pleased with them, said: It is a house in the sky called al-Dhirah, and it is opposite the Ka'bah. It is also said: al-Dharih. Al-Tabari mentioned this, and it is what was mentioned in the hadith of al-Isra. "Gabriel said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, 'This is the Bayt al-Ma'mur, into which seventy thousand angels enter every day and do not return to it, the last of them.'" This is how it is inhabited. It is narrated that it is in the seventh heaven, and it is said: the sixth. It is said that it is directly opposite the Ka'bah; if it were to fall, it would fall upon it. Mujahid, Qatadah, and Ibn Zayd said: In every heaven, there is a Bayt Ma'mur, and in every land, likewise. They are all aligned with the Ka'bah. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The raised roof" refers to the sky. The "roof" is a length in curvature, and from it comes the roof of the Christians, and from it comes the roof, because the wall and its roof have length in curvature.

The people differed regarding "the masjur". Mujahid and Shamr ibn Atiyyah said its meaning is: the place of the fire (p-87). It was narrated: "The sea is Hell." Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said to a Jew: Where is Hell? He said: It is the sea. Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I do not think he is anything but truthful. He recited: "By the sea that is masjur." And from what was narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The sea is Hell." Al-Thalabi said: It was narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "No one should ride the sea except for a pilgrim, or a person performing Umrah, or a warrior, for beneath the sea is fire, and beneath the fire is a sea." In another hadith, he said: "The sea is fire in fire." Qatadah said: The masjur is the one filled with water, and this is well-known in the language. Al-Tabari preferred this due to the presence of water in the sea as well. Thus, the first saying returns, because their saying: "I filled the oven" means: I filled it with what burns and ignites. The masjur sea is the one filled with water, and thus it is exposed to reflection. From the saying of al-Namir ibn Talab:

If it wishes, it sees a masjur,∗∗∗ you see around it the spring and the greenery.

It watered it with rains from summer,∗∗∗ and if from autumn, it will not be absent.

He describes a bull or an eye filled with water. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: The 'masjur' is that which has lost its water; thus, the 'masjur' is the empty one. It is narrated that the seas will lose their water on the Day of Resurrection, and this is known in the language, for it is among the opposites. It is said that the sea will ignite a fire on the Day of Resurrection; that is the 'sajr'. Ibn Abbas also said: The 'masjur' is the confined one, and from it is 'sajur' of the dog, which is the collar made of wood or iron that holds it. Likewise, if it were not for the sea being held back, it would overflow onto the land. Ali ibn Abi Talib and Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, said: The sea that is sworn by is in the sky beneath the Throne, and the majority hold that it is the sea of this world. This is supported by His saying, the Most High: "And when the seas are set ablaze" [Al-Takwir: 6]. Al-Mundhir ibn Sa'id said: The meaning is the oath by Hell, and it is called a sea due to its vastness and its waves, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said regarding the horse: "And if we find it, it will be a sea."

And the oath is based on His saying, the Most High: "Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is bound to occur," and He means the punishment of the Hereafter for the disbelievers. Qatadah said, and the doer in "on the Day" is "bound to occur," and it is permissible that the doer in it is "pushing away," but the first is clearer. Al-Makki said: "Pushing away" does not work in it. His saying, the Most High: "It will surge" means: it goes and comes with winds that are intermittent and fragmented, and the swirling dust is that which gathers and goes and comes with the wind. Then all of it is toward going away, and from it is the saying of the Bedouin: "And the dust left a swirling," describing a year of drought. And Ma'mar ibn Al-Muthanna recited:

"The swirling of the cloud is neither delay nor haste,"

He meant its passing. Al-Dahhak said: "It will surge" means it will wave. Mujahid said: It will revolve. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It will split. And all of these are interpretations of the meaning, for this all occurs in the high sky.

And the movement of the mountains is at first, then they will crumble during the movement until they finally become like wool that is fluffed. The 'fa' in His saying, the Most High: "So woe" is a conjunction linking one sentence to another, and it includes the connection of the meaning and the confirmation of woe for the deniers. And "woe" means: evil, hardship, and the longest distress. It is narrated that in Hell there is a valley called: Woe. And "the plunging" means: stumbling in falsehoods, likened to plunging in water. From it is His saying, the Most High: "And when you see those who plunge into Our verses, turn away from them" [Al-An'am: 68]. And the second "Day" is a substitute for "that Day." And "they will be pushed" means, according to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them and others: they will be driven harshly and with humiliation and stumbling. And from it is His saying, the Most High: "So that is the one who drives away the orphan" [Al-Ma'un: 2]. And in the speech, there is a deleted summary, its estimation is: it is said to them: "This is the fire," and informing them of this is in the context of reproach and reprimand. Abu Rajaa Al-Uttaridi recited: "On the Day they will call" from the supplication, with the dal being silent and the 'ain being opened.