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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Qamar

It is Meccan by consensus, except for one verse in which there is disagreement. The majority of people said: it is Meccan, and some said: it is from what was revealed on the day of Badr. It is also said: it is from Medina, which is His saying, the Exalted: "The gathering will be defeated and they will turn their backs" [Al-Qamar: 45]. The explanation of that will come.

His saying, the Exalted:

"The Hour has drawn near and the moon has split" "And if they see a sign, they turn away and say, 'This is continuous magic'" "And they denied and followed their desires, and every matter is settled" "And certainly, there has come to them from the news that which is a deterrent" "A profound wisdom, but the warnings do not avail" "So turn away from them on the Day the caller calls to a terrible thing" "Their eyes humbled, they will emerge from the graves as if they were locusts spreading" "Rushing toward the caller; the disbelievers will say, 'This is a difficult Day'"

"The Hour has drawn near" means: it has come close, but it is more emphatic, just as 'iqtadira' is more emphatic than 'qadara'. And "the Hour" is the Day of Resurrection, and its matter is unknown in specification; it is not known except that it has drawn near without specification. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I was sent forth and the Hour is like these two" and he pointed with his index and middle fingers." Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, delivered a sermon while the sun was about to set, and he said: 'What remains of this world in what has passed is like what remains of this day in what has passed.'" And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I hope that Allah will delay my nation for half a day." This is from him, blessings and peace be upon him, in the context of hope and assumption; he did not assert it as news. So Allah, the Exalted, responded to his hope and delayed his nation more than his expectation. And all that is narrated regarding the duration of this world in specification is weak and feeble.

And His saying, the Exalted: "The moon has split" is news about what occurred at that time. Al-Tha'labi mentioned regarding this that it was said: the meaning is: the moon will split on that day. This is weak, and the community is against it. This is because the Quraysh asked the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, for a sign, and it was said: it is general - and this is the saying of the majority - and it was said: rather, they specified the splitting of the moon. Al-Tha'labi mentioned it from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, "So Allah, the Exalted, showed them the splitting of the moon. The Messenger of Allah saw it, and a group of Muslims and disbelievers saw it. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Bear witness.'" Among those who said they saw it from the companions was Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Jubair ibn Mut'im. And it was reported by Abdullah ibn Umar, Anas, Ibn Abbas, and Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman. The polytheists at that time said: Muhammad has bewitched us. Some of them said: He has bewitched the moon. And the Quraysh said: Ask the travelers coming to you. No one came except that he reported the splitting of it. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said: I saw it split, and a part went behind Mount Hira. Ibn Zayd said: He saw half of it on Quqaiqan and the other on Abu Qubays. And Hudhayfah read: "The Hour has drawn near and the moon has split," and Al-Tha'labi mentioned from him that his reading was: "The Hour has drawn near, the moon has split" without 'wa'.

His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And if they see a sign, they turn away﴾, the wording has come in the future tense to encompass what has passed and what is to come. It is an indication that their state is thus. The people have differed in the meaning of "مُسْتَمِرٍّ". Al-Zajjaj said: It is said that its meaning is continuous and persistent. Qatadah, Mujahid, Al-Kisai, and Al-Farra' said: Its meaning is passing by closely and will disappear. Al-Dahhak and Abu Al-Aliyah said: Its meaning is drawn from the strands of the rope, as if it is magic that has continued, meaning: it has been tightened. From this is the saying of the poet:

Until it continued on a bitter branch, the truth of determination neither slackened nor weakened.

Then, exalted is He, informed that they have denied and followed their desires and what they wish from matters, without evidence or verification. Then He, exalted is He, said - in the context of definitive news -: ﴿And every matter is settled﴾, as if He, exalted is He, is saying: And everything has an end. The truth remains established and evident, while falsehood remains vanishing and going away. Abu Ja'far ibn Al-Qaqa' read: "And every matter is settled" with the genitive case in "مُسْتَقِرٍّ", meaning by that its signs. The majority are on the broken form of the qaf in "مُسْتَقِرٍّ". Nafi' - with a difference - and Ibn Nisah read it with a fatha. Abu Hatim said: There is no justification for the fatha.

"الأنْباءِ" is the plural of "نَبَأٍ", and this includes all that the Qur'an has brought of admonitions, stories, and examples of the disbelieving nations. "مُزْدَجَرٌ" means: a place of deterrence and cessation. Its origin is "مُزْتَجَرٌ", the ta has been changed to a dal to match its articulation with that of the zay. Likewise, the ta of "افْتَعَلَ" is replaced from every verb whose first letter is zay, such as "ازْدَلَفَ" and "ازْدادَ" and the like.

And His saying, exalted is He: "حِكْمَةٌ" is elevated either as a substitute for "ما" in His saying, exalted is He: "ما فِيهِ", or as a news of an implied subject, the estimation of which is: This is wisdom. And "بالِغَةٌ" means: it reaches its intended purpose of admonishing souls and clarifying for those who have intellect. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So what will the warnings avail﴾, it is possible that "ما" is negating, meaning: it does not avail with the obstinacy of these people. It is also possible that it is an interrogative in the sense of affirmation, meaning: So what is the benefit of the warnings with these disbelievers?

Then Allah, the Most High, instructed His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, by saying: "So turn away from them," meaning: do not let your soul be burdened with regret for them. And the saying of Allah, the Most High, "from them," has been completed. Then He began their warning. The operative part of the saying of Allah, the Most High, "on the Day" is His saying: "they will emerge." And "humble" is a state of the pronoun in "they will emerge." The verb's form necessitates the precedence of the state. Al-Mahdawi said: It is permissible for it to be a state of the pronoun in "from them." Al-Rummani said: The meaning is: So turn away from them and remember the Day. Al-Hasan said: The meaning is: So turn away from them today, and the 'waw' was omitted from "he calls" because the scribes of the mushaf followed the wording, not what is necessitated by the spelling. As for the omission of the 'ya' from "the caller" and similar, Sibawayh said: They omitted it for ease. Abu Ali said: It was omitted with the 'alif' and 'lam' because it is omitted with their counterpart, which is the tanween. The majority of the reciters read: "to something unknown" with a dammah on the kaf. Ibn Kathir, Shibl, and Al-Hasan read: "unknown" with a sukoon on the kaf. Mujahid, Al-Jahdari, and Abu Qalabah read: "was made unknown" with a kasrah on the kaf and a fatha on the ra, as it is built for the passive voice. The meaning in all of this is that it is something denied, not known, and cannot be seen like it. Al-Khalil said: "unknown" is an adjective for a severe matter and a cunning man. Malik ibn Awf Al-Nadri said: (p-140)

"Advance, O challenger, for it is a Day of unknown, Like me against like you, it protects and charges."

And "unknown" is a form of fa'ul, and it is an adjective, and that is rare in adjectives. Among it is "a walk that is smooth." The poet said:

"Leave the stumbling and walk with a smooth walk, Indeed, men are of strength and remembrance."

And similar to it is "a man who is lame" and "a she-camel that is agile."

The majority of the reciters read: "humble," which is the reading of Al-A'raj, Abu Ja'far, Shaybah, Al-Hasan, and Qatadah. Abu Amr, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "humbled," which is the reading of Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jubair, Mujahid, and Al-Jahdari, and it is singular with the meaning of the plural. Its counterpart is the saying of the poet:

"And youth with handsome faces from Iyad ibn Nizar ibn Ma'ad."

(p-141) And Abu Hatim preferred this reading and mentioned that a man from the volunteers said before he was martyred: I saw the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in a dream and asked him about "humble" and "humbled," and he said: "humbled," with the 'alif.' In the mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them both, it is "humbled." And Allah, the Most High, specified the eyes with humility because it is more apparent in it than in other limbs. Likewise, whatever is in a person's soul of shyness, arrogance, fear, and the like is only apparent in the sight.

And "the graves" is the plural of "grave," and He likened them to locusts that are spread out. He has also likened them elsewhere to scattered moths. In them is a resemblance to all of this. Some of the interpreters went to say that they were first like moths when they surge into one another, then in another order like locusts when they head towards the gathering and the caller. And in the hadith, "Maryam bint 'Imran, peace be upon her, prayed for the locusts and said: 'O Allah, let her live without nursing and follow her children without sharing.'"

'The one who is rushing' is the one who hurries in his walking towards something with a shaking and a strain, and with a gaze directed towards the goal, either out of fear or greed or something similar. And the disbelievers say: 'This is a difficult day' because of what they see of the terrifying visions and the signs of its hardship.