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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Takwir

And it is Meccan by consensus of the interpreters.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿When the sun is wrapped up﴾ ﴿and when the stars fall, losing their lustre﴾ ﴿and when the mountains are made to move﴾ ﴿and when the pregnant she-camels are abandoned﴾ ﴿and when the wild beasts are gathered﴾ ﴿and when the seas are set on fire﴾ ﴿and when the souls are paired﴾ ﴿and when the buried infant girl is asked﴾ ﴿for what sin she was killed﴾ ﴿and when the records are laid open﴾ ﴿and when the heaven is stripped away﴾ ﴿and when Hellfire is set ablaze﴾ ﴿and when Paradise is brought near﴾ ﴿a soul will [then] know what it has brought [with it].

All of these are descriptions of the Day of Resurrection. And 'the wrapping of the sun' is that it is turned and taken away to wherever Allah wills, just as the wrapping of a turban is turned. The interpreters have expressed this with various phrases. Some of them said: Its light has gone, and some of them said: It has been thrown away, as said by Al-Rabi' ibn Khaytham, and other expressions that are related to its wrapping. And 'the falling of the stars' is their falling down and descending from their places, and from this is the saying of the poet:

I saw a ruin in the wilderness, so it fell down... the falcon is finished when the falcon is broken.

And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'Fell down' means 'changed', from their saying: muddy water, meaning: changed in color. And 'the moving of the mountains' is before their being blown away, and this is at the beginning of the terror of the Resurrection. And 'the pregnant she-camels' is the plural of 'u'shrah', which is the she-camel that has been pregnant for ten months, and it is the most valuable of what the Arabs possess, and their concern for it is great due to their desire for its offspring. It will be abandoned in the most severe terrors. And Mudar read from Al-Yazidi: 'abandoned' with the lightening of the 'ta'.

And 'the gathering of the wild beasts' is their gathering. And the people have differed regarding this gathering, what it is. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: They are gathered by death; because they do not resurrect on the Day of Resurrection, and only the two weights will be present on the Day of Resurrection. And Qatadah and a group said: They are gathered for the gathering on the Day of Resurrection, and retribution will be taken from the horned for the hornless, so they made the words of this hadith a reality, not a metaphor, as an example of justice. And Ubayy ibn Ka'b said: They are gathered in this world at the beginning of the terror of the Day of Resurrection, for they flee in the land and gather to the children of Adam for comfort with them. And Al-Hasan read: 'gathered' with emphasis on the 'sheen' for exaggeration.

'And the 'sajir of the seas' means, according to Qatadah and Al-Dahhak: it has emptied of its water and has gone wherever Allah, glorified and exalted is He, willed. Al-Hasan said: it has dried up. Al-Rabi' ibn Khaytham said: it means: it has been filled and overflowed and has burst forth from its heights. Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Sufyan, Wahb, and Ibn Zayd said: it means: it has been ignited like the way an oven is ignited. Ibn Abbas said: Hellfire is in the green sea. It is possible that the meaning is: it has been controlled and its turbulence has been restrained so that it does not spill onto the earth due to the terror, thus the term is taken from 'sajur of the dog.' It is said: this is a metaphor for fire in Hell that will be ignited on the Day of Resurrection. Similar statements have been previously mentioned for the people of knowledge regarding His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And by the burning sea' [Al-Tur: 6]. Ibn Kathir and Abu Amr read 'sajarat' with a lightening of the ج (jeem), while the others read it with a strengthening of it. It is inclined to be plural due to the seas being a collection, as He, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'A book that will be laid open' [Al-Isra: 13], and as He, glorified is He, said: 'Scrolls spread out,' and similar to it: 'A lofty palace,' and 'Lofty towers,' because they are a group. A group of the atheists went to say that these mentioned things are metaphors for every child of Adam and their states at the time of their death. The sun is his soul, the stars are his eyes and senses, and the she-camels are his legs. This is a statement of evil and a wretched delusion leading to the establishment of symbols in the Book of Allah, glorified and exalted is He.

And 'the pairing of souls' is its diversification; for the pairs are the types. The meaning is: the disbeliever is with the disbeliever, and the believer is with the believer, and every form is with its form. This was narrated by Al-Nu'man ibn Bashir from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and Umar ibn Al-Khattab and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: this is similar to His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And you were three pairs' [Al-Waqi'a: 7]. In this verse, there is an encouragement for the evidence of the report, for he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'A man is with whom he loves.' And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Let each of you look to whom he befriends.' And Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'Friends on that Day will be enemies to one another, except for the righteous' [Al-Zukhruf: 67]. And Muqatil ibn Sulayman said: The souls of the believers were paired with their spouses from the houris and others. And Ikrimah, Al-Dahhak, and Al-Sha'bi said: The souls were paired with the bodies. And Asim read: 'Zuwijat' without merging.

'And the 'maw'udah' is a name whose meaning is: the one burdened upon her. From it is: 'wa la ya'uduhu', and from it: 'itta'id', meaning to be honored and burdened. This name is known for the girls whom a group of Arabs would bury alive. The man would dig a hole similar to a well or a grave, then he would drive his daughter and throw her into it. If she was very small, he would dig a hole in the ground and bury her. Some of them would do this out of fear of poverty and lack of wealth, and some out of jealousy and dislike for girls and ignorance. The majority read: 'al-maw'udah' with a hamzah from 'wa'ad' in the readings of Ibn Mas'ud: 'wa idha al-mawaddah'. Al-Bazzi read: 'al-mu'awwadah' with a hamzah (p-548) that is rounded on the waw, like 'al-mu'awwidhah'. Some readers read: 'al-mawaddah' with a rounded first waw and an eased hamzah. Al-A'mash read: 'al-mawdah' with a sukoon on the waw in the form of 'al-fa'lah'. Some of the predecessors read: 'al-mawaddah' with a fatha on the waw and a shadda on the dal, making the girl a mawaddah. The majority of the people read: 'su'ilat', and this is in the context of reproaching the Arabs who did that; because it asks to bring the matter to the questioning of the doers. It is possible that it is: 'mas'oolan 'anha matlooban al-jawab minhum', as Allah, the Most High, said: 'Indeed, the covenant was a responsibility' [Al-Isra: 34], and as the heritage and rights were questioned. Ibn Abbas, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Jabir ibn Zayd, Abu Dhuhah, Mujahid, and a large group among them including Ibn Mas'ud and Al-Rabi' ibn Khaytham read: 'sa'alat', then these differed. Most of them read: 'qatalat' with a fatha on the lam and a sukoon on the second ta. Abu Ja'far read: 'qutilat' with a shadda on the ta for emphasis. Ibn Abbas, Jabir, Abu Dhuhah, and Mujahid read: 'qataltu' with a sukoon on the lam and a dammah on the second ta. Al-A'raj read: 'silat' with a kasrah on the seen and a fatha on the lam without a hamzah. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, used this verse as evidence that the children of the polytheists are in Paradise because Allah, the Most High, has avenged them from their oppression.

And the 'suhuf al-manshurah' is said to be the records of deeds that are spread so that every person reads his book. It is said that they are the records that are scattered by the right and left for recompense. Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, Asim, Abu Ja'far, Shaibah, Al-Hasan, Abu Rajaa, and Qatadah read: 'nushirat' with a softened shīn that is broken. Ibn Kathir, Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Abu Bakr from (p-549) Asim read: 'nushshirāt' with a strengthened shīn for emphasis. And 'al-kasht' means peeling, just as the skin of the sheep is peeled when it is skinned. The peeling of the sky is its folding like the folding of a scroll. In the mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: 'qushit' with a qāf, and they have the same meaning.

And 'su'irat' means: its fire was ignited. Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, and Hafs from Asim read: 'su'irat' with a strengthened 'ayn. Ibn Kathir, Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Abu Bakr from Asim read: with a softened 'ayn, and this is the reading of Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. Qatadah said: 'It was ignited by the anger of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and the sins of the children of Adam.'

'And 'Uzlifat' means: it was brought near for the believers to enter it. Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, and a group of the commentators read: to these two, the narration has ended. This is because the intended purpose by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And when, and when' in all that we have mentioned is either completed by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'A soul will [truly] know what it has brought [forth],' meaning: what it has brought of evil, so it entered with it Hell, or of good, so it entered with it Paradise. And 'soul' here is a generic term, meaning: the souls have acted, and the individuals have occurred to alert the mind to the insignificance of a single person and the little defense of himself.