'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And leave Me and the deniers, those of luxury, and give them respite for a little." "Indeed, with Us are chains and Hellfire." "And food that chokes and a painful punishment." "The Day the earth and the mountains quake, and the mountains become a heap of sand." "Indeed, We have sent to you a Messenger as a witness against you, just as We sent to Pharaoh a Messenger." "But Pharaoh disobeyed the Messenger, so We seized him with a severe seizing." "So how will you protect yourselves if you disbelieve on a Day that will make the children gray-haired?" "The heaven will be torn apart thereby; His promise is certainly fulfilled." His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And leave Me and the deniers" is a warning to them. No one has prevented Him from them, but it is a conveying meaning: do not occupy your thoughts with them; leave them to Me. And "the luxury" refers to the comfort of life and the abundance of wealth. The ones referred to are the disbelievers of Quraysh, the companions of the well at Badr. It is narrated that there was only a short period, about a year, between the revelation of this verse and Badr, but the matter is not as such. The estimation supported by evidence from the reports of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, indicates that there were about ten years between the two matters, but that is little; give them respite. And "with Us" is equivalent to: with Us, and "the chains" is the plural of ankāl, which is the iron shackles. It is narrated that they are black chains made of fire. And "food that chokes": is the tree of Zaqqum, as said by Mujahid and others. It is said: thorns of fire that obstruct in their throats, neither coming out nor descending, as said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him. And every morsel there is choking. It is narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, recited this verse and fell unconscious. The operative in His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "The Day" is the action implied in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Indeed, with Us," which is stability or permanence. And "the quaking" is the shaking and disturbance from fear and horror, and "the heap" is the soft loose sand that is carried by the wind and comes; it is a heap. The original is mahyūl; the heavy diacritic on the letter yā has been made silent, and two silent letters have come together, so the wāw has been omitted, and the hā has been broken due to the yā. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Indeed, We have sent" the verse... is an address to the scholars, but the ones confronted are Quraysh. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "as a witness against you" is similar to His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And We brought you as a witness against these" [An-Nisa: 41]. And His comparison of them to Pharaoh is a warning, as if He, exalted and glorified is He, is saying: their state of punishment and retribution if they disbelieve is similar to the state of Pharaoh. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "But Pharaoh disobeyed the Messenger" refers to Moses, peace be upon him. The definite article is for the covenant, and "the severe seizing" is the severe and bad consequence. It is said: pasture is severe and harmful to what it grazes.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So how will you protect yourselves﴾ means: how will you make a shield for yourselves? And "a day" is the object of "protect yourselves." It is said that it is the object of "you disbelieved" as if to make it equivalent to "you denied." Thus, "you protect yourselves" - on this - is from the meaning of piety, meaning you protect yourselves from the punishment of Allah. It is permissible that "a day" is an adverb, and the meaning is that you protect yourselves from the punishment of Allah on a day. And "He will make" can be correctly attributed to the name of Allah, exalted is He, and it can also be correctly attributed to the day. And His saying, exalted is He: "the boys" refers to small children. And a group said: this is a reality, so their heads will turn gray from the intensity of the horror. They see gray hair in this world from excessive worry like the horror of the sea and the like. And others from the interpreters said: it is a metaphor and an exaggeration in describing the horror of that day. And one of the boys is a lad, and one of the gray hair is gray-haired.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿The sky is split open by it﴾ it is said: this is in relation, meaning having a split, like a menstruating woman and a divorced one. And it is said: the sky is masculine and feminine, and it is sought in the masculine:

If He raised the sky to Him a people ∗∗∗ we would join the sky with the clouds.

And it is said: since its femininity is not real, it is permissible that the mark of femininity falls for it. And it is said: He did not intend by the word the sky itself, but rather what is above from the creations of Allah, exalted is He, as if He intended the ceiling, so He mentioned it in this meaning. This was said by Mundhir ibn Sa'id, and Abu Ubaidah Ma'mar, and Al-Kisai. And "the splitting" is the cracking and the splitting in a way that is not systematic that is intended. And the pronoun in "by it" said Mundhir and others: it refers back to the day. And Mujahid said: it refers back to Allah, exalted is He. And this is similar to His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And the day the sky will be split open with clouds﴾ [Al-Furqan: 25], meaning with the clouds that will shade, Allah, exalted is He, will come in them. And the meaning is: His command and His power will come. And likewise, "split open by it" means by His command and His authority. And the pronoun in His saying, exalted is He, "His promise" is apparent that it is for Allah, exalted is He, and it is possible that it is for the day because it is attributed to it in that it is in it.