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

Tafsir of Surah Al-Zalzalah

And it is Makki, as stated by Ibn Abbas and others. And Qatadah and Muqatil said: It is Madani because its last part was revealed due to two men who were in Madinah.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿When the earth is shaken with its shaking﴾ ﴿And the earth brings forth its burdens﴾ ﴿And man says, 'What is [the matter] with it?'﴾ ﴿That Day, it will report its news﴾ ﴿Because your Lord has commanded it﴾ ﴿That Day, the people will depart separated [for judgment] to be shown [the result of] their deeds﴾ ﴿So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it﴾ ﴿And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it﴾

The subject of the conditional statement in: "When" according to the majority of grammarians - and this is what the analogy necessitates - is an implied verb that is necessitated by the meaning, and its estimation is: they will be gathered when, or you will be rewarded, and similar to this. It is not permissible for "is shaken" to be the subject because the meaning of the condition does not separate from it, and its counterparts have been mentioned in other Surahs.

"And is shaken" means: it is violently moved, and from it is the earthquake. And His saying, exalted is He: "its shaking" is more eloquent than saying: "an earthquake" without adding to it. This is because the noun not being added applies to any amount of shaking, and if it is added to it, it must be according to what its mass and magnitude deserve. Just as you say: "I honored Zayd with honor," that applies to any honor, even if you say: "according to Zayd." So if you say: "his honor," it necessitates that you have fulfilled his right. The majority read: "its shaking" with a kasrah on the first zay, while Asim Al-Jahdari read it with a fathah, and it is also a noun like waswas and similar.

And "the burdens" refers to the dead who are in its belly, as stated by Ibn Abbas. This is an indication of resurrection. And some of the interpreters - among them Mundhir ibn Sa'id Al-Zajjaj and Al-Naqqash - said: It brought forth its materials and treasures.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the Day of Resurrection is not a place for the treasures to be brought forth; rather, its treasures will come out at the time of the Dajjal. And the saying of man: "What is [the matter] with it?" is a statement of astonishment at the horror of what he sees. The majority of interpreters said: The human here refers to the disbeliever, and this is established because he sees what he never expected or believed. And some of the interpreters said: It is general for both the believer and the disbeliever. The disbeliever is as we have mentioned, and the believer - even if he has believed in resurrection - is astonished by the sight. And it has been said, blessings and peace be upon him: "The news is not like witnessing."

And "the news of the earth" Ibn Mas'ud and Al-Thawri and others said: It is its testimony of what was done upon it of good and evil deeds. So, the reporting - on this - is a reality, and a saying with understanding and life that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, creates. And He, glorified and exalted is He, added the news to it from where it perceived and obtained it. Some scholars derived from His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿It will report its news﴾ that the words of the reporter: "He informed us and he reported to us" are the same. Al-Tabari and others said: The reporting in the verse is metaphorical, and the meaning is that what it does by the command of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, of bringing forth its burdens, and the breaking apart of its parts, and its other states, is like the reporting of its news. The first saying is supported by the words of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Indeed, nothing hears the extent of the voice of the caller to prayer, jinn or human or anything, except that it will testify for him on the Day of Resurrection." And Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud read: "It will inform its news," and Sa'id Ibn Jubair read: "It became clear."

(p-668) His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿That your Lord has inspired it﴾, the 'ba' is the ba of cause. Ibn Abbas, Ibn Zayd, and Al-Qurtubi said: The meaning is: He inspired it. And this inspiration - on this interpretation - could be an inspiration of intuition, or it could be an inspiration through a messenger from the angels. And the poet said:

"It inspired it to settle, so it settled and bound it with the firm mountains."

And inspiration in the speech of the Arabs is the subtle conveying of meaning. Some of the interpreters said: "He inspired it" means: He inspired His closest angels to act in the earth with those actions. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "to it" means: for it, and from where the actions in it are, they are for it.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿People will emerge in groups﴾ means: they will depart from the place of their watering, differing in states. The singular of "groups" is "shatt." The majority of people said: The watering is being in the earth by death and burial, and the emergence is the standing for resurrection. And "in groups" means: a people who are believers, and a people who are disbelievers, and a people who are sinful believers, and all are heading to the presentation to see their deeds and stand upon them. And Al-Naqqash said: The watering is the gathering, and the emergence in groups is the emergence of a people to Paradise and a people to Hell.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿So that they may see their deeds﴾ could mean: The reward of their deeds will be seen by the people of Paradise with bliss and the people of Hell with punishment. Or it could mean that His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿So that they may see their deeds﴾ is related to His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿That your Lord has inspired it﴾, and His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿On that Day, people will emerge in groups."

(p-669) An objection between the statements. And the majority of people read: "So that they may see" with a damma on the ya, based on the action for the object. And Al-Hasan, Al-A'raj, Hamad Ibn Salamah, Al-Zuhri, and Abu Haywah read: "So that they may see" with a fatha on the ya, based on it being for the subject.

Then Allah, the Most High, informed that whoever does an action, whether he sees it as little or much, the expression regarding that is in the example of minimizing. This is what the people of speech call the concept of discourse, which is that what is mentioned and what is omitted are in one ruling. Among this is His saying, "So do not say to them [even] 'uff'" [Al-Isra: 23]. This is common. Ibn Abbas and some of the interpreters said: The vision of these deeds is in the Hereafter. This is necessary from the wording of the Surah and its narration. The believer will see all good, while the disbeliever will not see any good in the Hereafter, because his good has been hastened for him in this world. Likewise, the believer also has his minor sins hastened for him in this world through calamities, diseases, and the like. From the totality of this, it follows that whoever among the believers does an atom's weight of good or evil will see it. It follows from this that the disbeliever will not see any good in the Hereafter. Among this is the narration of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "I said, O Messenger of Allah, what about Abdullah ibn Jud'an and his righteousness, maintaining family ties, and feeding the hungry? Does he have any reward for that? He said: No, for he never said, 'O Lord, forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment.'" The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, called this verse 'the comprehensive verse.' He indicated this when he was asked about the red-haired... the narration. And Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas gave two fruits to a beggar, and the beggar took his hand. Sa'd said to him: What is this? Indeed, Allah, the Most High, accepted from us the weight of atoms. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, did something similar with a grape. And this verse was heard by Sa'sa'a ibn 'Iqal al-Tamimi at the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, who said: 'That is enough for me; I do not care to hear anything else.' And a man heard it at al-Hasan, and he said: The sermon has ended. Al-Hasan said: The man understood well.

And Hisham read from Ibn 'Amir, and Abu Bakr from Asim: "He sees it," with the first and last 'h' being silent. Ibn Kathir, Hamza, al-Kisai, and Nafi' - as narrated by Warsh - and al-Halwani from Qalun read in the first "He sees it." As for the last, it is a silent pause. And whoever made the first silent, it is according to the dialect of those who lighten. Among this is the saying of the poet:

........... ∗∗∗ And my heart longs for him.

And this is a dialect that Sibawayh did not report, but al-Akhfash reported it. Abu 'Amr read alone with the 'h' in it being pronounced, with two emphatic sounds. And Aban read from Asim, and Ibn Abbas, and Abu Haywah, and Humayd ibn al-Rabi' from al-Kisai: "He sees it" with the 'y' pronounced, which is the vision of his sight, meaning: he makes it so that he perceives it with his sight. The meaning is that he sees his reward and recompense, for past deeds are never seen by the eye. And this action is all from "I saw" meaning I perceived with my sight. Its transitive nature is only to one object. And Ikrimah read: "Good that he sees" and "Evil that he sees," and al-Naqqash said: It is not a vision of sight; rather, the meaning is that he attains and receives it.

It is narrated that this surah was revealed while Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was eating with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, left off eating and wept. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to him: "O Abu Bakr, what makes you weep?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, will I be asked about the weight of atoms?" The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "O Abu Bakr, what I have seen in this world of what you dislike, is the weight of the atoms of evil, and Allah will store for you the weight of the atoms of good."

And "the atom" is a small, thin red ant that cannot be weighed. It is said that it moves after a year has passed, and this has been interpreted in the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

"If a transformer were to crawl from the atom above the following, it would leave a mark."

And al-Naqqash reported that they said: There were two men in Medina, one of whom did not care about the small sins he committed, while the other wanted to give charity but found only a little and felt shy about giving it. Then the verse was revealed concerning them, as if it were said to one of them: "Give charity with the little you have, for the weight of an atom of good will be seen," and it was said to the other: "Refrain from the small sins, for the measures of the atoms of evil will be seen."

The interpretation of Surah [Al-Zalzalah] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.