His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Do not move your tongue with it to hasten it. Indeed, upon Us is its gathering and its recitation. So when We have recited it, then follow its recitation. Then indeed, upon Us is its explanation." "No! But you love the immediate and leave the Hereafter. Faces, on that Day, will be radiant, looking at their Lord. And faces, on that Day, will be gloomy, expecting that there will be done with them something backbreaking. No! When it has reached the collarbones, and it is said, 'Who can cure?' And he thinks that it is the parting. And the leg is wrapped about the leg. To your Lord, on that Day, will be the procession."

The pronoun in "with it" refers to the Book of Allah, the Most High, and there is no mention of it, but the indications clarify it. This is like His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Until it had disappeared behind the veil." And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "No! When it has reached the collarbones," means the soul.

The interpreters have differed regarding the reason that necessitated the command for the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. Al-Sha'bi said: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, due to his eagerness to convey the message and strive in the cause of Allah, perhaps wanted to utter some of what was revealed to him before the completion of the revelation. So he was commanded not to make any mention of the Quran before his revelation was completed to him. This verse was revealed in this context. Al-Dahhak said: The reason for it was that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, feared that he would forget the Quran, so he would study it until it became overwhelming for him and difficult. Thus, the verse was revealed regarding that. Many of the interpreters have said, and it is in Sahih al-Bukhari from Ibn Abbas: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was struggling with the revelation intensely, and he would move his lips out of fear that what was revealed to him would be lost at the time. So the verse was revealed because of that, and Allah, the Most High, informed him that He would gather it for him in his heart."

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And its recitation" can mean: its reading, meaning you, O Muhammad, will read it. The Quran is a source like reading. From it is the poet's saying regarding Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him:

"They sacrificed the gray-haired one, the title of prostration, with it the night is cut off, in glorification and Quran."

And it can mean: Upon Us is its gathering and its compilation in your heart. It is a source from your saying: "I have read," meaning I have gathered. From it is their saying regarding a woman who has not given birth: "I have never read offspring." And from it is the poet's saying:

"My arm is a heifer of red, a heifer whose color has not read a fetus."

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So when We have recited it," means the recitation of the king, the Messenger, on Our behalf. And His saying, glorified is He: "Then follow" can mean: with your mind and thought, meaning listen to its recitation. This was said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them. And it can mean: follow in the commands and prohibitions. This was also said by Ibn Abbas, as well as Qatadah and Al-Dahhak. Abu al-Aliya read: "And its recitation, so when it is recited, follow its recitation," with the opening of the qaf, ra, and ta without hamzah or alif in the three.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Then indeed, upon Us is its explanation," Qatadah and a group with him said: Its meaning is that We will explain it to you and preserve it for you. And many of the interpreters said: Its meaning is that you will explain it. Qatadah also said: Its meaning is that We will clarify its lawful and unlawful, its general and specific.

And His saying, exalted is He: "No! But you love the immediate" is a return to addressing Quraysh. It responds to them and to their words in rejecting the Shari'ah by His saying, exalted is He: "No!" That is, it is not as you say. Rather, you are a people who have been overcome by the world with its desires. So you love it with a love that makes you leave the Hereafter and consider its matter. The majority read "you love" with a ت (taa) indicating direct address. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, Ibn 'Amir, Al-Hasan, Mujahid, Al-Jahdari, and Qatadah read "they love" with a ي (yaa) indicating the mention of the absent, and likewise "you will leave."

And when He mentioned the Hereafter, He informed about something of the condition of its people. So His saying, exalted is He: "Faces" is raised as a subject, and the subject is indefinite because it is specified by His saying, exalted is He: "On that Day." And "radiant" is the predicate of "faces." And His saying, exalted is He: "To their Lord, they are looking" is a sentence that is in the position of a predicate after a predicate. Some grammarians said: "radiant" is an adjective for "faces," and "to their Lord, they are looking" is a predicate about "faces." On this basis, the specification of "faces" is abundant, so it is good to begin with it, and "radiant" means pleasant. And "radiance" refers to the blessing and beauty of the complexion. Al-Hasan said: It is right for them to be radiant while looking at the Creator, glorified and exalted is He.

His saying, exalted is He: "To their Lord, they are looking" has been understood by the people of the Sunnah to imply the vision of the believers of Allah, exalted is He. And it is a vision without proximity, without how, and without limitation, as He, exalted is He, is known to exist and does not resemble created beings. Likewise, He is seen and does not resemble the seen in anything. For there is nothing like Him. There is no deity except Him. And 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I have told you about the Dajjal that he is one-eyed, and indeed your Lord is not one-eyed, and you will not see your Lord until you die." And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, you will see your Lord on the Day of Resurrection as you see the moon on the night of the full moon; you will not be harmed in seeing Him." And Al-Hasan said: You will look at Allah, exalted is He, without encompassing Him. As for the Mu'tazilah who deny the vision of Allah, exalted is He, they interpreted this verse to mean: "To the mercy of her Lord, they are looking," or to His reward or His dominion. They estimated a missing addition. And this is a permissible interpretation in Arabic, as you say, "So-and-so is looking at you in such and such," meaning to your action in such and such. And the narration is only established by definitive evidence other than this verse. If it is established, then the interpretation of the people of the Sunnah in this verse is good and strong. And some of the Mu'tazilah in this verse went to say that His saying, exalted is He: "To" is not a preposition, but rather it is "to" one of the blessings. So it is as if He, exalted is He, said: The blessing of her Lord is awaited or looked at, from looking with the eye. And it is said: "I looked for you" meaning "I awaited you." And from this is the saying of Al-Hatimi:

And you have looked at them from the source of their water, For five, it has long been in its possession and its abundance.

............. *** It soared with it, Huzayy and Tansasi.

With the letter 'noon', and it is the intense journey, so contemplate it.

And "Al-Basirah": the frowning, the troubled souls, and "Al-Busur" are the most frowning. Allah, the Most High, mentioned the faces because what is in the souls of joy or sorrow appears in them, and the intended are the people of the faces.

And His saying, the Most High: "You think"—if we take it to mean "You are certain," then it has not yet occurred as we have explained. But if we take the thought here as predominant, then that is possible. And "Al-Faqirah": the calamity that breaks a person's vertebrae. Ibn Al-Musayyib said: It is the backbreaker. Abu Ubaidah said: It is from "Faqartu Al-Ba'ira" when I branded its nose with fire.

And His saying, the Most High: "No" is a rebuke to Quraysh and a confirmation for them in a place of horror and the command of Allah, the Most High, from which no human can escape. It is the state of death and the struggle that He has decreed upon every living being. And "It has reached" refers to the soul, and "At-Taraqiy" is the plural of "Tarquwah," which are the bones at the top of the chest. Each person has two tarquwahs, but in terms of these individuals, there is a multitude; for the intended soul is a generic name, and the taraqiy are parallel to the throat. Thus, the entire matter is a metaphor for the state of choking and the struggle of death. May Allah make it easy for us.

People have differed in the meaning of His saying, the Most High: "Who can cure?" Ibn Abbas, Al-Dahhak, Qatadah, and Abu Qilabah said: Its meaning is: Who can ascend and heal and cure, and similar to this is what the family of the sick desires. Ibn Abbas also said, and Sulayman Al-Taymi and Muqatil Ibn Sulayman: This saying is for the angels, and the meaning is: Who ascends with his spirit—meaning: who rises—to the heavens? The angels of mercy or the angels of punishment? Hafs read from Asim by pausing at "Who" and beginning "the healer," while the majority merged it. Abu Ali said: I do not know the reasoning behind Asim's reading, and likewise he read "But it has overwhelmed."

His saying, the Most High: "And he thought that it was the separation" means: And the sick person was certain that it was the separation from loved ones, family, wealth, and life. This is certainty in what has not yet occurred, and that is why the word 'thought' was used. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, read: He was certain that it was the separation, and he said in his interpretation: The thought has departed.

And there has been a difference in the meaning of His saying, the Most High: ﴿And the leg is wrapped by the leg﴾. Ibn Abbas, Al-Hasan, Al-Rabi' ibn Anas, and Ismail ibn Abi Khalid said: This is a metaphor for the severity of the troubles of this world at the end of a day of it, and the severity of the troubles of the Hereafter at the beginning of a day of it. This is because the two states have mixed for him. This is as they say: 'The war has bared its leg.' And according to some interpretations of His saying, the Most High: ﴿On the Day when the leg is uncovered﴾ [Al-Qalam: 42]. Ibn Al-Musayyib and Al-Hasan said: It is a reality, and what is meant is the leg of the deceased at the time of his shrouding, meaning: the shroud has wrapped them. And Al-Shabi, Abu Malik, and Qatadah said: It is their wrapping due to the severity of the illness, as he contracts and stretches, and this one rides upon that one. And Al-Dahhak said: What is meant is the gathering of those present from humans and angels; for these prepare his soul to ascend to the heavens, and those prepare his body for the grave. And His saying, the Most High: 'To your Lord' means: to the judgment of your Lord and His justice, either to Paradise or to Hell, and 'the gathering' is a source from the act of gathering.