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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Burooj

It is a Makki surah, by consensus of the interpreters, there is no disagreement in that.

His saying, glorified and exalted is He:

﴿By the sky, having constellations﴾ ﴿and by the promised Day﴾ ﴿and by the witness and that which is witnessed﴾ ﴿Killed are the companions of the trench﴾ ﴿of the fire, having fuel﴾ ﴿when they were seated upon it﴾ ﴿and they were witnesses over what they were doing to the believers﴾ ﴿and they did not take revenge on them except that they believed in Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy﴾ ﴿to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is, over all things, Witness﴾

People have differed in the meaning of 'constellations'. Al-Dahhak and Qatadah said: They are the palaces, and from this is the saying of Al-Akhtal:

؎ It is as if it is a Roman tower built by a builder with plaster, bricks, and stones.

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The constellations are the stars because they display their light. And 'displaying' means showing and revealing. The majority and Ibn Abbas also said: The constellations are the stations that the Arabs recognized, which are twelve as the Arabs divided them, and they are those that the sun passes through in a year and the moon in twenty-eight days. Qatadah said: Its meaning is: having sand and water, meaning that it is built in the sky, and this is a weak statement.

And 'the promised Day' is the Day of Resurrection by agreement, as the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said, and its meaning is: the day that is promised.

'And His saying, exalted is He: "and the witnessed" means: upon it, or by it, or in it. This depends on the disagreement regarding the specification of the intended meaning of ﴿and the witness and the witnessed﴾. The people have differed in what is referred to by them. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The witness is Allah, exalted is He, and the witnessed is the Day of Resurrection. Ibn Abbas also said, and Al-Hasan ibn Ali, and Ikrimah: The witness is Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the witnessed is the Day of Resurrection. Allah, exalted is He, said: ﴿Indeed, We have sent you as a witness﴾ [Al-Fath: 8]. And He, exalted is He, said regarding the Day of Resurrection: ﴿And that is a witnessed Day﴾ [Hud: 103]. Mujahid and Ikrimah also said: The witness is Adam, peace be upon him, and all of his descendants, and the witnessed is the Day of Resurrection. The term "witness" is a generic name in this regard. Some who elaborated on the words of Mujahid and Ikrimah said: The "witness" refers to an individual person or a soul among the souls. In this, there is a reminder of the insignificance of the poor son of Adam. And the "witnessed" is the Day of Resurrection. Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan and Ibn Abbas also said: The witness is the Day of Arafah and the Day of Arafah and the Day of Friday, and the witnessed is the Day of Resurrection. Ali, Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurairah, Al-Hasan, Ibn Al-Musayyib, and Qatadah said: The "witness" is the Day of Resurrection, and the "witnessed" is the people. Muhammad ibn Kab said: The witness is you, O son of Adam, and the witnessed is Allah, exalted is He. Ibn Jubayr said the opposite, and recited: (And sufficient is Allah as a witness). Abu Malik said: The witness is Jesus, peace be upon him, and the witnessed is his nation. Allah, exalted is He, said: ﴿And I was a witness over them﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 117]. Ibn Al-Musayyib said: The "witness" is the Day of Tarwiyah, and the "witnessed" is the Day of Arafah. Some people mentioned in the book of Al-Naqqash: The witness is the Day of Monday, and the witnessed is the Day of Friday, and Al-Thaalabi mentioned this. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The witness is the Day of Arafah, and the witnessed is the Day of Nahr. He also said: The "witness" is the Day of Resurrection, and the "witnessed" is the Day of Arafah. Abu Hurairah reported from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The witness is the Day of Friday, and the witnessed is the Day of Arafah," which was said by Ali, Abu Bakr, and Al-Hasan. Ibrahim Al-Nakha'i said: The witness is the Day of Sacrifice, and the witnessed is the Day of Arafah. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And he described these days as a witness because they testify for their present ones with deeds. The witnessed in what has passed from the sayings means the observed - with the opening of the 'hā'. And Al-Tirmidhi said: The witness is the guarding angels, and the witnessed against them is the people. And Abdul Aziz ibn Yahya - according to Al-Thaalabi - said: The witness is Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the witnessed against them is his nation, similar to His saying, the Most High: ﴿And We brought you as a witness against these﴾ [An-Nisa: 41], meaning a witness. It was said: The witnesses are the prophets, peace be upon them, and the witnessed against them are their nations. And Al-Hasan ibn Al-Fadl said: The witness is the nation of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and the witnessed against them is the people of Noah, peace be upon him, and the other nations according to the stated hadith regarding that. Ibn Jubair also said: The witness is the limbs that will speak on the Day of Resurrection and will testify against their owners, and the witnessed against them are their owners. And some scholars said: The witness is the angels who alternate in the nation, and the witnessed is the Qur'an of Fajr, and its interpretation is ﴿Indeed, the Qur'an of Fajr was witnessed﴾ [Al-Isra: 78]. And some scholars said: The witness is the star, and the witnessed against it is the night and the day, meaning: the star testifies to the approach of this and the retreat of that. And from this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Until the witness rises," "the witness is the star." And some scholars said: The witness is Allah, the Most High, the angels, and the people of knowledge, and the witnessed by it is His oneness and that the religion with Allah is Islam. And it was said: The witness is the creations of Allah, the Most High, and the witnessed by it is His oneness. Al-Thaalabi recited in this meaning the saying of the poet:

In everything, there is a sign for Him That indicates that He is the One.

And "killed" means: Allah did that to them because they are deserving of it. So it is in the context of supplication according to humans, not that Allah, the Most High, calls upon anyone. And it was said - from Ibn Abbas -: Its meaning is: cursed. And this is an interpretation by meaning. And it was said: It is news that the fire killed them, as said by Al-Rabi ibn Anas, and its explanation will come.

And the people differed regarding the companions of the trench. It was said: they were a people who were upon a religion, and they had a king. He committed adultery with his sister, then some people urged him to legislate the marriage of sisters and daughters among the people. The people were compelled to do that, so many obeyed him while a group disobeyed him. He dug for them trenches, which are long pits like ditches, and he set fire for them and threw them into it. Then the Magian religion continued among his followers. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The companion of the trench was a king from Himyar, who was in a farm in Yemen. He fought against the disbelievers alongside the believers, then he prevailed in the end and burned them for refusing his religion. Among them was the woman with the child who hesitated, and the child said to her: 'Go into the fire, for you are upon the truth.' Al-Naqqash narrated from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that the prophet of the companions of the trench was Ethiopian, and that the Ethiopians remained the companions of the trench. It was said: the companions of the trench were Dhul-Nuwas in the story of Abdullah ibn Thamir, which occurred during the journey. It was also said: the companions of the trench were among the Children of Israel.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I saw in some books that the companion of the trench is Al-Muharriq, and that he was the one who burned a hundred from Banu Tamim. This statement is opposed by His saying, the Exalted: 'And they are witnesses over what they do to the believers.' This objection can be separated from this statement by saying that this speech is disconnected from the story of the companions of the trench, and that what is meant by His saying, the Exalted: 'They' refers to the Quraysh who were tempting the believing men and women.

The people differed regarding the answer to the oath. Some grammarians said: it is omitted because the listener knows it. Others said: it is His saying, the Exalted: 'Killed,' and the estimation is: 'For he was killed.' Qatadah said: it is in His saying, the Exalted: 'Indeed, the grip of your Lord is severe.' Others said: it is in His saying, the Exalted: 'Indeed, those who have tortured the believers.'

And His saying, the Exalted: 'the fire' is a substitute for 'the trench,' and it is a substitute of inclusion. This is the reading of the majority: 'the fire' with the genitive case of the 'ra.' A group read 'the fire' with the nominative, meaning: 'the fire killed them.' And 'the fuel' with the damma is a source from: 'the fire was ignited when it blazed,' and 'the fuel' with the fatha is what is used to ignite. The majority read with the fatha, while Al-Hasan, Abu Rajaa, and Abu Haywah read with the damma. Among the story of these is that the disbelievers sat, and the believers were gathered, and they offered them to enter into disbelief. Whoever refused was thrown into the trench of fire and burned. It was narrated that twenty thousand were burned. Al-Rabi ibn Anas, Ibn Ishaq, and Abu Al-Aliya said: Allah, the Exalted, sent upon the believers a wind that took their souls, or something like that, and the fire emerged and burned the disbelievers who were on the edges of the trench. And thus comes 'killed' as a report of the claim. Qatadah said: 'When they were sitting upon it,' meaning the believers.

'And 'naqamu' means: they transgressed. The majority of people read 'naqamu' with a fathah on the qaf. Abu Haywah and Ibn Abi Ablah read 'naqimu' with a kasrah on the qaf.