Tafsir of Surah al Inshiqaq - The Ripping (Surah 84)

1) When the heaven rips apart, 2) responding to its Lord as it rightly should! 3) When the earth is spread out and levelled, 4) casting out its contents and emptying, 5) responding to its Lord as it rightly should!

Allah says, explaining the changes that will occur in the huge constructs that we see around us on the Day of Rising, “When the heaven rips apart,” fragmenting, and its stars are strewn about and its sun eclipses with the moon. “Responding to its Lord,” i.e. paying attention to His command, lending its ear fully to the order, and listening to His address “as it rightly should,”since it is under the control and direction of a great king, it cannot disobey His command and it cannot oppose His ruling. “When the earth is spread out and levelled,” i.e. it shakes and trembles such that its mountains are levelled, the buildings and great landmarks on its surface are demolished, and it will become “a barren, level plain on which you see no dip or gradient.”^[1] Allah will spread it out such that it becomes large enough to accommodate the whole of mankind to stand on. “Casting out its contents,” the dead and its treasures “and emptying,” itself of them. The trumpet will be blown and all the dead will come out of their graves onto the face of the earth, and the earth will cast out its treasures. The creation will see it and despair of what they had previously been competing for. “Responding to its Lord as it rightly should.”

6) O mankind, you are toiling laboriously toward your Lord. You will meet Him. 7) Then, as for him who is given his record in his right hand, 8) he will receive a lenient reckoning, 9) and return joyfully to his family.*

“O mankind, you are toiling laboriously toward your Lord. You will meet Him,” your are journeying to Him, enacting His commands and avoiding His prohibitions, drawing closer and closer to your reckoning either by working good or by working evil. Then you will meet Allah on the Day of Rising and you will either be recompensed in accordance to the dictates of His beneficence or His justice. His beneficence if you are from the felicitous and His just punishment if you are from the wretched. “Then, as for him who is given his record in his right hand,” the felicitous “he will receive a lenient reckoning,” a presentation of his deeds, an easy presentation where Allah will make the servant acknowledge his sins to the point that he will think his perdition is assured, at which point He will say, “I concealed your sins in the world and I will conceal them on this Day.”^[2] “and return joyfully to his family” in Paradise because he has been delivered from the punishment and attained the reward of Allah.

10) But as for him who is given his record behind his back, 11) he will cry out for destruction 12) but will roast in a Scorching Blaze. 13) He once [lived] happily among his family 14) without a thought that he would return [to Allah]: 15) but yes! His Lord always had sight of him.

“But as for him who is given his Record behind his back,” in his left hand “he will cry out for destruction,” out of despair and humiliation, and because of the sins that he sent forth from which he never repented recorded in that record. “But he will roast in a Scorching Blaze,” hemmed in by it on all sides. This is because “he once lived happily among his family, without a thought that he would return (to Allah),” it never even crossed his mind that the Resurrection would occur, he committed sins and never once thought that He would return to his Lord and stand before Him. “But yes! His Lord always had sight of him,” therefore one should not imagine that He would leave him to wander directionless, not being commanded, not being prohibited, not being rewarded and not being punished.

16) No! I swear by the twilight glow, 17) by the night and all it envelops,** 18) and by the moon when full: 19) you will surely pass through state after state.*** 20) So what is the matter with them that they do not believe, 21) and when the Qur’an is recited to them, they do not prostrate?

“No! I swear by the twilight glow,” the last traces of sunlight after the sun has set, the onset of night, “by the night and all it envelops,” of animals and other things, “and by the moon when full,” this is when it is most beautiful and most beneficial. The point of the oath follows: “You” O man “will surely pass through state after state,” from stage to stage and condition to condition: from a drop of liquid, to a clinging clot, to a piece of chewed flesh, to the breathing of the soul into the foetus, to a babe, to a child able to understand and differentiate. Then the child becomes legally responsible and the commands and prohibitions become incumbent on him, then he dies and is resurrected to be recompensed for his deeds. All these distinct stages go to prove that Allah alone is deserving of worship, that He alone regulates the affairs of his servants through his wisdom and mercy, that the servant is poor and needy, regulated by the Almighty and All-Wise. Yet, despite this, “What is the matter with them that they do not believe, and when the Qur’an is recited to them, they do not prostrate?” they do not humble themselves and nor do they follow its injunctions and avoid its proscriptions.

22) But those who have disbelieved deny, 23) and Allah knows very well what they keep hidden within. 24) So give them tidings of a painful punishment, 25) not so those who believe and do righteous deeds: for them is an unfailing reward.

“But those who have disbelieved will deny,” obdurately denying the truth after it has been made plain, therefore it is not strange that they would not believe in the Qur’an nor would they comply to its injunctions. “And Allah knows very well what they keep hidden within,” what they are doing and planning in secret, for Allah knows what is apparent and what is hidden, and He will judge them for their deeds, this is why He says, “So give them tidings of a painful punishment,” the word bashara (tidings) has been called so because it affects the one who has been given these tidings either by making him joyous or by making him sorrowful. This is the state of the majority of mankind: denial of the Qur’an and not having faith in it. But there is a party amongst man whom Allah has guided, “not so those who believe and do righteous deeds,” they believed in Allah and accepted what came to them from His Messengers. Therefore they believed and worked righteousness, “for them is an unfailing reward,” permanent, a reward that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard of and no heart has ever thought of.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah.