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

Tafsir of Surah An-Nazi'at

And it is Meccan by consensus of the interpreters.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿By those who violently pull out the soul﴾ ﴿and gently release it﴾ ﴿and swiftly glide﴾ ﴿then precede﴾ ﴿and manage affairs﴾ ﴿the Day the quaking will quake﴾ ﴿followed by another quake﴾ ﴿hearts that Day trembling﴾ ﴿their eyes humbled﴾ ﴿they will say, 'Are we indeed to be raised back up after we have become decayed bones?'﴾

Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Abbas said: "The 'pulling out' refers to the angels pulling out the souls of the children of Adam, and 'violently' - according to this saying - may either be a source meaning drowning and exaggeration in action, or it may be as Ali and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: the souls of the disbelievers drown in the fire of Hell. And Al-Suddi and a group said: the 'pulling out' refers to the souls being taken by death to their Lord, and 'violently' here means drowning, meaning they drown in the chests. And Ata' - as narrated from him - said: the 'pulling out' refers to groups that pull with bows, and 'violently' means drowning. And Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Abu Ubaidah, Ibn Kaysan, and Al-Akhfash said: the 'pulling out' refers to the stars because they pull from horizon to horizon. And Qatadah said: the 'pulling out' refers to the souls that long for their homelands and pull towards their destinations, and they have a struggle at death. And Mujahid said: the 'pulling out' refers to death because it pulls the souls of living beings. And Ata' and Ikrimah said: the 'pulling out' refers to arrows as their souls are taken by the arrows.

And there is disagreement regarding 'the gently releasing'. Ibn Abbas and Mujahid said: it is the angels because they invigorate the souls at death, meaning they release them like untying a rope, and they invigorate by the command of Allah, the Exalted, to wherever He wills. And Mujahid said: the 'gently releasing' refers to death. And Ibn Abbas also, Qatadah, Al-Akhfash, and Al-Hasan said: the 'gently releasing' refers to the stars because they move swiftly from horizon to horizon, meaning they go and travel quickly. (p-526) And from this, it is said to the wild cow: the 'gently releasing'; because they move quickly from one place to another. And Ata' said: the 'gently releasing' in the verse refers to the wild cow and whatever is similar to it from the animals that move from region to region. And from this meaning is the saying of the poet:

'Yesterday my worries invigorated the invigorators, the Levant was with me at times and at times Wasit.'

And it seems that this term in this interpretation is taken from invigorating. And Ata' also and Ikrimah said: the 'gently releasing' refers to the weak, saying: 'the camel and the human invigorated when it is tied, and it is invigorated when it is untied,' as narrated by Al-Farra. And there is disagreement regarding it, and from it is the hadith: 'as if he was invigorated from a rope.' And Ibn Abbas also said: the 'gently releasing' refers to the believing souls that invigorate at death for departure.

And swimming is the act of swimming in water. It may also be used metaphorically for moving through the air and turning in it. There is a difference of opinion regarding "the swimming ones" in the verse. Qatadah and Al-Hasan said: They are the stars because they swim in their orbit. Ali and Mujahid, may Allah be pleased with them, said: They are the angels because they move in the horizons by the command of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, coming and going. Abu Ruwq said: The swimming ones are the sun, the moon, the night, and the day. Some of the interpreters said: The swimming ones are the clouds because they are like swimmers in the air. Ata and a group said: The swimming ones are the horses, and it is said for a horse: it is a swimmer. Others said: The swimming ones are the fish, the creatures of the sea and what is below them. It is reported that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, spread in the world a thousand types of animals, four hundred of which are on land and six hundred in the sea. Ata also said: The swimming ones are the ships. Mujahid also said: The swimming ones are the deaths that swim in the souls of the animals.

And people differed regarding "the preceding ones." Mujahid said: They are the angels. It was said: They are the winds. Ata said: They are the horses. It was said: They are the stars. It was said: The deaths precede hopes. The poet said: (p-527)

I do not see that death is preceded by anything.

As for "the managing ones," I do not recall any disagreement that they are the angels. Their meaning is that they manage the affairs that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made subservient and directed in them, like the winds, the clouds, and other creatures.

Ibn Zayd said: "The shaking one" is the earth with its people, shaking at the blowing of the first trumpet. It was said that the shaking one is the blowing itself, and "the following one" is the second blowing. It is reported that there is a span of forty years between them. Ata said: The shaking one is the Day of Resurrection, and the following one is the resurrection. Ibn Zayd said: "The shaking one is death, and the following one is the Hour." Ubayy ibn Ka'b said: "The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, when a quarter of the night had passed, would stand and say: 'O people, remember Allah, the shaking one has come, followed by the following one, death has come with what is in it.'"

Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed about hearts that tremble on that day, meaning they tremble in fear and dread of the punishment. The trembling of the heart can be from fright and can be from apprehension, and from it is the saying of the poet Qays ibn Al-Khatheem:

Indeed, the children of Jahjabah and their family, our hearts are trembling behind them.

And "hearts" is raised in the beginning, and this is permissible as it is indefinite because it has been specified by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "On that day."

(p-528) And the people differed regarding the answer to the division, which is it? Al-Farra' and Al-Zajjaj said: It is omitted, and the apparent meaning indicates it. Its estimation is: 'You will certainly be resurrected or punished on the Day of Resurrection.' Some grammarians said: It is in His saying, the Most High: ﴿Indeed, in that is a lesson for whoever fears﴾ [An-Nazi'at: 26]. This is weak due to the distance of the saying, and because the meaning there deserves 'that.' Others said: It is in His saying, the Most High: 'On the Day' with the estimation of omitting the 'lam,' as if He, the Most High, said: 'For a Day.' Others said: It is present in the entirety of His saying, the Most High: ﴿The Day the quaking will quake﴾.... ﴿Hearts that Day trembling﴾, as if He, the Most High, said: 'So that the hearts tremble on that Day.' And when the hearts indicated their owners, He then mentioned after that their sight and humility, their submission and what appears from them of worry in the situation.

And His saying, the Most High: 'They say' is a narration of their state in this world. Its meaning is: They are the ones who say. And their saying: 'Are we' is in the context of mockery, astonishment, and denial. Ibn Abi Ishaq and Ibn Yamur read: 'Are we' with two hamzah and a prolongation, in the context of questioning. The majority of the reciters read: 'Are we' with two hamzah and a prolongation, in the context of questioning. The majority of the reciters read: 'Are we' with a single hamzah in the context of questioning.

And 'the hāfirah' is a term used by the Arabs for the first matter that returns to it from its end. It is said: So-and-so returned to the hāfirah if he fell back into a state of affairs. From this is the saying of the poet:

'Are we to return to a state of baldness and gray? ∗∗∗ May Allah protect us from folly and disgrace.'

And the meaning is: 'Are we to be returned to life after departing from it by death?' Mujahid and Al-Khalil said: The hāfirah is the earth, an active form meaning a place of digging. It is said: Rather, it is in relation, meaning a place of excavation, and the intended meaning is the graves because they have been dug for the dead. So the meaning is: 'Are we to be returned alive in our graves?' Zayd ibn Aslam said: The hāfirah is the fire. Abu Haywah read: 'In the hufrah' without the alif, and it was said: It is in the meaning of the hāfirah. It was said: It is the foul, changing earth due to the bodies of its dead, from their saying: 'His teeth were dug out' when they decayed and its smell changed.

And 'the nākhirah' is that which makes a sound with the hollow wind, and from this is the saying of the poet:

It is narrated: 'Tasfar.' And 'nakhirah' is the reading of Hamzah and Asim, in the narration of Abu Bakr, and Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Ibn Mas'ud, and Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Ibn Abbas, and Ibn al-Zubair, and Masruq, and Mujahid, and a group besides them. The others read, and Hafs from Asim, and Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Ibn Mas'ud, and al-Hasan, and al-A'raj, and Abu Rijah, and Abu Ja'far, and Shaybah, and Abu Abd al-Rahman, and Ibn Jubayr, and the people of Mecca, and Shibl, and Qatadah, and Ayyub, and al-Nakha'i, and Ibn Wathab: 'nakhirah' without an 'alif' after the noon. Its meaning is: decayed, rotten, that has become dust. It is said: 'Nakhar' the wood and the bone if it has decayed and begun to crumble. It has been reported from Abu Ubaydah, and Abu Hatim, and al-Farra', and others that 'nakhirah' and 'nakhirah' have the same meaning, like 'tam'i' and 'tama'a', and 'hadhr' and 'hadhar'. Most of the people are on what we have presented. Abu Amr ibn al-Ala said: 'Nakhirah' is that which has not yet decayed, and 'nakhirah' is that which has decayed.