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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Tariq

And it is Meccan, there is no disagreement among the commentators on that.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿By the heaven and the Tariq﴾ ﴿And what can make you know what the Tariq is?﴾ ﴿The star that pierces﴾ ﴿Indeed, every soul has a guardian over it﴾ ﴿So let man look to what he was created from﴾ ﴿He was created from a gushing fluid﴾ ﴿That emerges from between the backbone and the ribs﴾ ﴿Indeed, He is capable of returning it﴾ ﴿On the Day when secrets will be examined﴾ ﴿So he will have no strength nor any helper﴾

Allah, the Exalted, swore by the known heaven according to the saying of the majority of the commentators. Some said: the heaven here refers to rain, and the Arabs call what comes from the sky 'heaven' and they also call clouds 'heaven'. The poet said:

If the heaven descends upon the land of a people, we will tend to it, even if they are angry.

And Al-Nabighah said:

Like the saffron in the morning of its cloudy sky...

And 'the Tariq' is that which comes at night. It is a generic name for everything that appears and comes at night. Among it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to the people regarding their travels: 'Let not a man come to his family at night.' Among it is also the dream. The poet said:

O sleeper of the night, deceived by its beginning, indeed, events may come upon you at dawn.

Then Allah, the Exalted, clarified the Tariq that was intended from the mentioned genus, which is 'the star that pierces.' It was said: rather the meaning of the verse is: and the heaven and all that pierces in it from matters and creatures. Then He mentioned, exalted is He, after that - in a manner of indication - the most significant of the Tariqs in worth, which is the star that pierces.

As if He, exalted is He, said: And what can make you know the truth of the Tariq.

The interpreters differed regarding 'the star that pierces.' Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan said: Its meaning is that it is a generic name, because they are all remaining, that is, apparent in light: it is said: the star pierced when it shone, and the fire pierced likewise, and the scent pierced when it became bright. It is said to the one who kindles: pierce your fire, meaning, light it. Ibn Zayd said: He meant a specific star, which is Saturn, and he described it as 'piercing' because it is prominent among the stars in that. Ibn Abbas said: He meant the goat. And some of these said: the star pierced when it rose, for it was described as 'piercing' because it is the highest of the stars in position. Ibn Zayd also and others said: the star that pierces is the Pleiades, which the Arabs use as a generic name defined.

And the answer to the oath in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, every soul﴾, and the majority of the people read: 'lima' with a lightened meem. The skilled among the grammarians, who are the Basrians, said: 'In' is lightened from the heavy, and the 'lam' is the lam of emphasis that enters upon the news. The Kufans said: 'In' means 'ma' which negates, and the 'lam' means 'illa', so the estimation is: not every soul except that it has a guardian over it. And 'Asim', and Ibn Amer, and Hamzah, and Al-Kisai, and Al-Hasan and Al-A'raj, and Abu Amr, and Nafi' - with a difference from them - and Qatadah read: 'lamma' with a doubled meem. And Abu Al-Hasan Al-Akhfash said: 'lamma' means 'illa', a well-known dialect among Hudhayl and others, they say: I swear to you that you did not do such and such, meaning, except that you did such and such.

The meaning of this verse, as said by Qatadah, Ibn Sirin, and others, is that every soul is accountable, and upon it is a guardian who records its deeds and prepares them for recompense. In this way, the verse enters into the warning that deters. Al-Farra' said: The meaning is that there is a guardian who preserves it until it is delivered to destiny. This statement is flawed in meaning because the duration of preservation is limited. Abu Umamah said: The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, explained this verse by saying: "Indeed, for every soul there are guardians from Allah, the Exalted, who protect it as one protects honey. If a person were to rely on themselves for the blink of an eye, they would be seized by the whims and devils."

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Let man consider from what he was created﴾ is a reprimand to those who deny the origin of creation, indicating that resurrection is possible. Then the wording quickly moves to the answer, hastening to establish the proof; for there is no answer for anyone except this. "Dafaq" has been interpreted by many of the commentators as meaning "pushed out." Al-Khalil and Sibawayh said: It is in the form of attribution, meaning: having a push. The push is when water pushes against water, like the flow of a valley and a flood when it comes, riding over one another. It is correct that the water is dafq because some of it pushes against some of it. Thus, there is dafq and there is madfuq.

His saying, the Exalted: ﴿It emerges from between the backbone and the ribs﴾, Qatadah, Al-Hasan, and others said: Its meaning is: from between the backbone of each individual man and woman and their ribs. Sufyan, Qatadah, and a group also said: From between the backbone of the man and the ribs of the woman. The pronoun in "it emerges" may refer to the human or it may refer to the water. The majority read: "the backbone" with the lam being silent, while the people of Mecca and 'Isa read: "the backbones" with the lam being pronounced in the plural form. "The ribs" of a human are what is between the collarbone and the breast. Abu 'Ubaydah said: It is the place where jewelry hangs on the chest. The plural of that is "tarib." Al-Muthaqab Al-Abdi said:

And from gold, it is adorned on a tarib, Like the color of ivory, it is not with wrinkles.

And Imru' al-Qais said:

.......... Her ribs are polished like the sanganjal.

So he gathered the tarib and what surrounds it, making that tarayib. And Makki reported from Ibn 'Abbas: That "the ribs" are the extremities of a person, his legs, hands, and eyes. And Ma'mar said: The ribs are the plural of taribah, which is the essence of the heart, and from it the child is formed. In these statements, the language is judged. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The ribs are the place of the necklace. He also said: It is what is between the breasts of a woman. Ibn Jubayr said: It is the ribs of the man that are below the backbone. And Mujahid said: It is the chest. And he said: It is the throat. And he said: It is what is between the two shoulders and the chest.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Indeed, He is capable of returning him." The pronoun in "Indeed, He" refers to Allah, exalted is He. The interpreters have differed regarding the pronoun in "his return." Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said it refers back to the human, meaning: to his being returned alive after his death. Al-Dahhak said it refers back to the human, but the meaning is: He returns him as water was at first. Al-Dahhak also said: He returns him from old age to youth. Ikrimah and Mujahid said it refers back to the water, meaning: He returns it in the backbone, and it was said: in the loins. The agent in "on the Day" - according to these last two sayings - is an implied action, the estimation of which is: remember the Day when the secrets will be tested. And according to the first saying - which is the clearest and most evident - they disagreed about the agent in "on the Day." Some of them said the agent is "a helper" from His saying, exalted is He: "And there is no helper." It was said: the agent is "the return" from His saying, exalted is He: "on his return." They said: And in the source of strength, whereby it acts even if two reports intervene between it and its object. It was said: the agent is an implied action, the estimation of which is: "Indeed, He is capable of returning him on the Day when the secrets will be tested." And all of these groups avoided saying the agent is "capable"; because that would imply a specification of the ability on that Day alone. And if one contemplates the meaning and what the eloquent speech of the Arabs entails, it is permissible for the agent to be "capable." This is because He said: "Indeed, He is capable of returning him," meaning: absolutely, at first and last, and at all times. Then He, exalted is He, mentioned and specified from the times the most important time for the disbelievers; because it is the time of recompense and reaching punishment. So the souls gather in fear of it and fear from it.

And "the secrets will be tested" means: they will be examined and their inner aspects will be revealed. Abu al-Darda narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "Indeed, the secrets that Allah, exalted is He, tests from the servants are: monotheism, prayer, zakat, purification from major impurity, and fasting in Ramadan."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is a great matter. And Abu Qatadah said: The aspect in the verse is the generality in all secrets, and nothing prevents in this world from the disliked except by one of two ways: either by strength within the human or by a helper outside of himself. So Allah, exalted is He, informed about the human that he will lack both on the Day of Resurrection, and nothing will protect him from the command of Allah, exalted is He.