044- AL-DUKHAN
SMOKE
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# Ḥā. Mīm. # By the clear Book, # truly We sent it down on a blessed night—truly We are ever warning. # Therein every wise command is made distinct, # as a command from Us—truly We are ever sending, # as a mercy from thy Lord. Truly He is the Hearing, the Knowing, # Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them; would that you were certain. # There is no god but He; He gives life and causes death, your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old. # Nay, but they are playing in doubt. # So keep watch for a day when the sky brings forth manifest smoke, # covering the people. This is a painful punishment. # “Our Lord! Remove from us the punishment; truly we are believers.” # How can there be a reminder for them, when a clear messenger had come to them? # Then they turned away from him and said, “He is taught, possessed.” # We shall indeed remove the punishment a little. Surely you will revert. # On the Day when We strike with a terrible striking, surely We are vengeful. # And indeed We tried the people of Pharaoh before them, and a noble messenger came unto them: # “Deliver God’s servants unto me! Truly I am a trustworthy messenger unto you. # And rise not against God; surely I have come to you with a manifest authority. # Truly I seek refuge in my Lord and your Lord, lest you stone me. # But if you believe me not, then keep away from me.” # Then he called unto his Lord, “These are a guilty people.” # “Set forth with My servants by night; you will indeed be pursued. # And leave the sea at rest; truly they will be a drowned host.” # How many gardens and springs did they leave behind, & sown fields and a noble dwelling, # and prosperity in which they rejoiced? # Thus it was. And We bequeathed it unto another people. # Neither Heaven nor earth wept for them, nor were they granted respite. # And We delivered the Children of Israel from a humiliating punishment— # from Pharaoh. Truly he was foremost among the prodigal. # We knowingly chose them over the worlds. # And We gave them signs wherein was a manifest trial. # Truly these say, # “There is naught but our first death, and we shall not be resurrected. # Bring us our fathers, if you are truthful.” # Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ and those before them? We destroyed them. Truly they were guilty. # And We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them in play. # We did not create them, save in truth. But most of them know not. # Truly the Day of Division is their tryst, all together. # The Day when no friend will avail a friend in any way, nor will they be helped, # save him unto whom God has been merciful. Truly He is the Mighty, the Merciful. # Truly the tree of Zaqqūm # is the food of the sinner, E like molten lead boiling in their bellies, # like the boiling of boiling liquid. # “Seize him and thrust him into the midst of Hellfire! # Then pour the punishment of boiling liquid upon his head.” # “Taste! Surely you are the mighty, the noble. # This is that which you used to doubt.” # Truly the reverent are in a station secure, # amid gardens and springs, S wearing fine silk and rich brocade, facing one another. # Thus it is. And We shall wed them to wideeyed maidens. # Therein they call for every fruit, secure. # They taste not death therein, save the first death. And He will shield them from the punishment of Hellfire— # a bounty from thy Lord; that is the great triumph. # We have only made this easy upon thy tongue, that haply they may remember. # So be on the watch, for they, too, are on the watch.
Commentary
# Ḥā. Mīm.
1 This sūrah is the fifth in a series of seven sūrahs that open with the Arabic letters ḥāʾ and mīm and are referred to collectively as the Ḥawāmīm. The Arabic letters ḥāʾ and mīm are among the separated letters (al-muqaṭṭaʿāt) that are found at the beginning of twenty-nine sūrahs (see 2:1c) and whose meaning is considered by most commentators to be known only to God. For some possible meanings of these particular letters, see 40:1c
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# By the clear Book,
2 See 43:2c.
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# truly We sent it down on a blessed night—truly We are ever warning.
# Therein every wise command is made distinct,
# as a command from Us—truly We are ever sending,
3–5 A blessed night refers to the Night of Power (see commentary on 97:1–3), which is understood to occur during the latter part of the month of Ramadan, or it refers to the middlemost night of the month of Shaʿbān, that is, the eve of the fifteenth of the month that precedes Ramadan (Aj, JJ). According to many commentators, the Quran was sent down from the Mother of the Book (see 3:7c; 13:39), thus from the seventh Heaven to the lowest Heaven, on the eve of the fifteenth of Shaʿbān (JJ) and was then sent from the lowest Heaven into this world on the Night of Power. Therein would thus refer to either of the two nights (JJ). Every wise command renders kullu amrin ḥakīm, which can also mean, “every definitive command” or “every definitive matter.” That each is made distinct refers to God’s sending the provision of the year and organizing the affairs for each entire year on the eve of the fifteenth of Shaʿbān, during which God ef aces what He will and establishes (13:39; Aj). Regarding the connection between the eve of the fifteenth of Shaʿbān and the Night of Power, Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have said, “God makes all of the decrees on the eve of the middle of Shaʿbān; then He delivers them to their masters [the angels who carry each Command or Decree down to this earth; see 97:4c] on the Night of Power” (Aj). Thus the process by which every wise command is made distinct begins on the eve of the fifteenth of Shaʿbān and is completed on the Night of Power (Aj), when they are transferred from the Preserved Tablet (see 85:22c) by the angels (IK), and all that occurs does so as a command that originates directly from God’s Presence, as does all revelation (IK). That God is ever sending could be seen as a reference to the Quran being sent as a mercy to everyone who believes in it (IJ) or to God sending messengers to humanity throughout history (IJ, IK, JJ).
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# as a mercy from thy Lord. Truly He is the Hearing, the Knowing,
6 As translated, as a mercy explains the reason for which God sends revelation and messengers, that is, “for the purpose of mercy,” similar to 21:107, which says of God sending the Prophet Muhammad, And We sent thee not, save as a mercy unto the worlds. In the present verse, a mercy could also be read as a continuation of the previous verse, meaning, “We are sending a mercy from thy Lord,” in which case a mercy is also understood to be a reference to the Prophet Muhammad (Q).
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# Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them; would that you were certain.
7 The idolaters among the Makkans acknowledged that there was a Lord and Creator of the heavens and the earth, but then attributed partners to Him. If, however, their acknowledgment were based upon knowledge and certainty, they would know that He is also the One who sends revelation and messengers as a mercy from Him (Aj).
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# There is no god but He; He gives life and causes death, your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old.
8 That He gives life and causes death (cf. 2:258; 3:156; 7:158; 9:116; 10:56; 22:6; 23:80; 40:68; 53:44; 57:2) indicates God’s Power over all phases of existence and nonexistence at all times; see 7:158c.
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# Nay, but they are playing in doubt.
9 The disbelievers are in doubt even when they acknowledge that God is their Creator, as they are only doing so in blind imitation of their forefathers and not on the basis of their own discernment (Q). This verse could also be read as a reference to the manner in which they reject the truth when it comes to them (IK), or to what they attribute to the Prophet, mocking him and saying that he fabricated the revelation (Q); see 10:38; 11:13; 16:101; 21:5; 32:3; 46:8.
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# So keep watch for a day when the sky brings forth manifest smoke,
# covering the people. This is a painful punishment.
10–11 Manifest smoke is understood as one of the signs that the Hour—that is, the end of the world—is at hand (Q). The smoke is said to afflict believers like a harsh cold wind (zukkām), but to penetrate into disbelievers and cause great affliction (Mw, Q). Others understand this verse as a reference to a time when the Prophet prayed for a famine to come upon the disbelievers, and the famine besieged them to such a degree that their eyes were clouded over from the severity of hunger and they saw what appeared to be smoke rising between heaven and earth (IK, JJ, Q, Ṭ), in which case covering the people would refer to the manner in which the smoke overwhelmed them (IK); see also 16:112–13c. A few commentators propose that the day when the sky brings forth manifest smoke refers to the conquest of Makkah (Q), in which case it would refer to the dust stirred up by the Muslim armies as they entered Makkah. This is a painful punishment describes the affliction to which the disbelievers will be subject or reports their own words upon receiving the punishment (Q) or what is said to them by way of rebuke (IK), similar to 52:14.
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# “Our Lord! Remove from us the punishment; truly we are believers.”
12 In this verse the disbelievers are saying, “Were you, Our Lord, to remove the punishment, we would be believers” (Q); cf. 6:27; 14:44; 23:99–100; 32:12; 35:37. When vv. 10–11 are understood as a reference to the famine that afflicted the disbelievers, this verse is understood as their plea to the Prophet (Q), similar to the passages in which Pharaoh and his followers ask Moses to remove the punishment of the plagues from them (see commentary on 7:134–35; 43:49–50). The punishment thus refers specifically to the manifest smoke or to the hunger that afflicts them (Mw, Q), which would be one and the same, since the manifest smoke arises as a result of the severe hunger resulting from famine (Q).
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# How can there be a reminder for them, when a clear messenger had come to them?
# Then they turned away from him and said, “He is taught, possessed.”
13–14 These are among several verses indicating that once the punishment has come upon the disbelievers there will be no opportunity for them to repent or hear another reminder, since they had already denied the messenger or messengers that God had sent to them in this world (JJ); see also 34:52–53c; 35:37; 89:23. Some denied the Prophet by saying that he was taught, he was merely uttering words that he learned from someone else, as in 16:103: Indeed, We know that they say, “He has merely been taught by a human being.” Others said that he was possessed by a jinn; see 15:6; 26:27; 37:36; 51:39; 52:29; 54:9; 68:2, 51; 81:22. Similarly, when the disbelievers are called to prostrate in the Hereafter, they will not be able to do so, since they had not heeded the call to prostrate while they were yet sound (68:43).
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# We shall indeed remove the punishment a little. Surely you will revert.
15 When vv. 10–11 are understood as a reference to the drought and famine that afflicted the Makkan idolaters, this verse can be understood as a reference to the manner in which God dealt with disbelieving communities in the past, relieving them of the punishment for a brief period, after which they reverted to disbelief. Revert renders ʿāʾidūn, which could also be understood to mean “return,” in which case this verse would refer to the punishment of the Hereafter, meaning that the disbelievers will return to the Fire over and again (Mw, Q), as in 22:22: Whensoever they desire, in their grief, to leave it, they shall be returned unto it, while [being told], “Taste the punishment of the burning!” (cf. 32:20). This verse could also be read as a more general reminder that they will return to God (Q) or to mean that if the disbelievers are granted respite, they will return to their immoral behavior.
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# On the Day when We strike with a terrible striking, surely We are vengeful.
16 This verse is understood as referring to either an event in the future or an event that has passed. If the latter, the last sentence would be rendered, “surely We were vengeful.” Given the tense of the sentence and the overall Quranic context, this verse would appear to refer to the Day of Resurrection (IK, Mw, Q) or to the Hour (Mw, Q). Nonetheless, as with other Makkan verses that refer to an impending punishment, many commentators understand this verse as an allusion to the Battle of Badr, in which the Muslims defeated the Makkan army (IK, Mw, Q, Ṭ).
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# And indeed We tried the people of Pharaoh before them, and a noble messenger came unto them:
17–31 As with other sūrahs that feature the story of Moses (see also 40:23–45; 43:46–56; 51:38–40; 79:15–25), the account given here provides a spiritual example reflecting aspects of the Prophet Muhammad’s challenge rather than an in-depth historical account. The more detailed accounts of Moses’ mission are found in 2:49–61; 7:103–55; 10:75–93; 17:101–4; 20:9–97; 26:10–66; 27:7–14; 28:3–46.
17 That the people were tried alludes to the manner in which all people are tested by the nature of their reaction to the prophets God sends them (R).
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# “Deliver God’s servants unto me! Truly I am a trustworthy messenger unto you.
18 Here Moses’ words echo those spoken by Moses in 7:105, So send forth with me the Children of Israel, and those spoken by Moses and Aaron in 20:47, So send forth with us the Children of Israel and punish them not. The declaration I am a trustworthy messenger unto you indicates that he does not conjecture and has been entrusted by God with revelation (Aj). Such a declaration is also made by the prophets Noah (26:107), Hūd (26:125), Ṣāliḥ (26:143), Lot (26:162), and Shuʿayb (26:178) to their respective communities. “The Trustworthy One” (al-Amīn) is also a name by which the Prophet Muhammad was known.
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# And rise not against God; surely I have come to you with a manifest authority.
19 Rise not against God could also be rendered, “Exalt not yourselves against God,” meaning, “Do not be too arrogant to follow Him, accept His proofs, and believe in His signs” (IK). A manifest authority (cf. 4:153; 11:96; 23:45; 40:23) refers to the clear signs and definitive proof with which Moses was sent (IK).
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# Truly I seek refuge in my Lord and your Lord, lest you stone me.
20 Some understand lest you stone me as a reference to a verbal assault (IK, R, Ṭ); others understand it more literally (IK, Ṭ) to mean, “lest you kill me” (R); see 26:116c.
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# But if you believe me not, then keep away from me.”
21 This verse says, “Refrain from harming me, even if you do not believe me,” though the Egyptians did in fact seek to harm Moses (JJ). It can also be understood to mean, “I have nothing to do with you, and you have nothing to do with me (R, Z), so let us each live in peace until God judges between us” (IK), similar to many verses that allude to the Prophet Muhammad’s relationship with the idolaters among the Quraysh; see the introduction to Sūrah 109.
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# Then he called unto his Lord, “These are a guilty people.”
22 After Pharaoh and his followers would not permit Moses and the Israelites to practice their religion, Moses implored God to take vengeance upon them, as also described in 10:88: Moses said, “Our Lord! Truly Thou hast given Pharaoh and his notables ornament and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, so that they may lead astray from Thy way. Our Lord! Blot out their wealth and harden their hearts, so that they will not believe till they see the painful punishment.”
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# “Set forth with My servants by night; you will indeed be pursued.
# And leave the sea at rest; truly they will be a drowned host.”
23–24 Cf. 20:77. Moses is commanded to leave the sea as it is (IK), with a dry path through it (20:77) and to not command it to go back, as he may have been inclined to do (Z), until the last of Pharaoh’s host had entered it (IK, Ṭ). This is one of several references to the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; see also 2:50; 7:136c; 8:54; 10:90; 17:102–3; 28:40; 43:55; 51:40.
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# How many gardens and springs did they leave behind,
# sown fields and a noble dwelling,
# and prosperity in which they rejoiced?
# Thus it was. And We bequeathed it unto another people.
25–28 Cf. 26:57–59. The abundance that Pharaoh and his people enjoyed in this world was taken from them in a single morning and left behind for others to enjoy. Prosperity translates naʿmah, which refers generally to pleasures and luxuries. But it could also be read niʿmah, meaning “blessing,” and thus refer to all that God had provided for Pharaoh and his people (R, Z).
This passage serves as an admonition to the idolaters among the Quraysh that their wealth and property could be taken from them at any moment for their opposition to the Prophet. In this sense it is similar to those passages that speak of the wealth and power of past generations who were nonetheless destroyed for their iniquities; see 6:6c; 7:4; 17:17; 19:74, 98; 21:11; 22:45; 28:58; 38:3; 44:37; 47:13; 50:36. The property of the Egyptians, or something similar to what they had been granted, was then bequeathed to those whom they had oppressed, as in 26:59: So it was, and We made the Children of Israel to inherit them; see also 7:137c; 28:5c.
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# Neither Heaven nor earth wept for them, nor were they granted respite.
29 This verse can be understood as an allusion to the inhabitants of Heaven and earth (Mw, Q, R, Ṭ) or a direct reference to Heaven and earth. According to Islamic tradition, every individual has a gate to Heaven through which provision descends and good deeds ascend. When a believer dies, the gate closes and weeps because it misses the believer, as does the place on earth where the person would pray and remember God. But as the people of Pharaoh left no trace of righteousness on earth and had no good deeds that would ascend to Heaven, neither Heaven nor earth wept for them (IK, Mw, Q, Ṭ). That they were not granted respite means that the punishment came upon them suddenly and without warning.
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# And We delivered the Children of Israel from a humiliating punishment—
# from Pharaoh. Truly he was foremost among the prodigal.
30–31 Regarding the delivery of the Children of Israel from Egypt, see 2:49–50; 7:141; 10:90; 20:80; 26:65.
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# We knowingly chose them over the worlds.
32 The Children of Israel were chosen above the other people of their own time (IK, Q, Ṭ) in receiving revelation and religion (Mw); see 45:16c. Maybudī maintains that this verse can also be understood as an allusion to God’s having chosen human beings above all other animals, as in 17:70: We have indeed honored the Children of Adam; and to human beings being the most beautiful of God’s creations, as in 95:4: Truly We created man in the most beautiful stature.
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# And We gave them signs wherein was a manifest trial.
33 The signs in this verse can be understood as a reference to the deliverance of the Children of Israel from their enemies, the splitting of the sea for them, and the manna and quails they received (see 2:57c; 7:160–62c; 20:80; Mw, Q, Ṭ) or as a reference to the miracles that Moses performed for Pharaoh, such as when his hand turned white and his staff became a snake (Mw, Q). The manifest trial refers to a clear test that would demonstrate who was rightly guided and who was not (IK, Mw); a clear blessing (Mw, Q, Ṭ), which would then become a trial to those who were not thankful; or a severe punishment (Mw, Q, Ṭ), which would then be a punishment for those afflicted with it. When viewed in light of 21:35 —We try you with evil and with good, as a test, and unto Us shall you be returned—the manifest trial can be understood as a general reference to the manner in which human beings react to both good and evil with either faith or disbelief (Ṭ). Alternately, it can be understood as a reference to the oppression that the Israelites endured at the hands of Pharaoh, as in 7:141: And when We saved you from the House of Pharaoh, who inflicted terrible punishment upon you, slaying your sons and sparing your women. And in this was a great trial from your Lord.
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# Truly these say,
# “There is naught but our first death, and we shall not be resurrected.
# Bring us our fathers, if you are truthful.”
34–36 These verses present a way of denying the Resurrection also employed by the Makkan idolaters in 45:25 and 56:47–48.
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# Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ and those before them? We destroyed them. Truly they were guilty.
37 Tubbaʿ was the title given to a succession of Ḥimyārī kings who ruled for centuries over southern Arabia and were defeated by the Abyssinians in the fourth century AD. Some understand Tubbaʿ to be the title that the people of Sheba, who were in Yemen (see 34:15–19), gave their kings (IK). In 50:14 the people of Tubbaʿ are mentioned as among those who denied God’s messengers and the Resurrection. According to some, Tubbaʿ refers to a righteous king who had called his people to God, but they denied him (JJ on 50:14). Some debate whether this Tubbaʿ to whom reference is made in the Quran was a prophet, since the Prophet is reported to have said, “I know not whether Tubbaʿ was a prophet” (Aj, Bḍ, IK, Q). Although the people of Tubbaʿ were stronger than the Quraysh, they were destroyed for their disbelief (JJ). In this sense, the reference to them is similar to verses that speak of previous generations or “towns” that were destroyed for their wrongdoing, despite being stronger in their earthly provision and material situation than were the Quraysh of Makkah; see 6:6; 7:4; 17:17; 19:74, 98; 21:11; 22:45; 28:58; 38:3; 47:13; 50:36.
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# And We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them in play.
# We did not create them, save in truth. But most of them know not.
38–39 Cf. 21:16; 38:27. Similar to v. 38, in 23:115, the denizens of Hell are asked, Did you suppose, then, that We created you frivolously, and that you would not be returned unto Us? Similar to v. 39, other verses say, And We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, save in truth (15:85: 46:3). All such verses indicate that, contrary to the pre-Islamic understanding of creation in Arabia, creation has a definite purpose. With regard to human beings, this means that they are created for faith and obedience (Aj), as in 51:56, I did not create jinn and mankind, save to worship Me, and to be resurrected and requited in accord with the degree to which they fulfilled their purpose.
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# Truly the Day of Division is their tryst, all together.
40 That creation is not made frivolously or in play (v. 38) alludes to the consequences of its being created for a purpose and thus to Resurrection and the Day of Judgment (R), which is here called the Day of Division (37:21; 77:13–14, 38; 78:17; see also 10:28; 30:14, 43), indicating the manner in which people will be divided from relatives and loved ones (Aj) and the manner in which the Judgment will divide believers and disbelievers from one another for eternity.
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# The Day when no friend will avail a friend in any way, nor will they be helped,
# save him unto whom God has been merciful. Truly He is the Mighty, the Merciful.
41–42 Concerning the Day of Judgment, the Quran states, There shall be no kinship between them that Day, nor will they question one another (23:101) and that none can avail another against God’s Punishment (2:48, 123; 3:10, 116; 26:88; 31:33; 86:10); see 40:18c; 43:67c. They will in fact be so consumed by terror regarding their own fate that no loyal friend shall ask about a loyal friend, [though] they will be made to see them. The guilty would wish to ransom himself from the punishment of that Day at the price of his children, his spouse, and his brother, his kin who had sheltered him, and all who are on the earth, that it might save him (70:10–14). Nothing will be of any avail on that Day except God’s Mercy (IK).
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# Truly the tree of Zaqqūm
# is the food of the sinner,
43–44 Just as the people of Paradise receive fruits that befit their station, so too the people of Hell receive fruits that befit theirs; Zaqqūm (cf. 37:62; 56:52) is foremost among these. Zaqqūm is one of the vilest and most bitter trees of the Tihāmah region of Arabia (JJ). Some understand its use in the Quran to be a metaphor for and an allusion to the ignorance, doubts, and demonic suggestions that people allow to fill their hearts (Aj on 56:52). The Prophet is reported to have said of the Zaqqūm referred to in the Quran, “If but one drop of Zaqqūm were to fall into the oceans of this world, it would pollute them for all its inhabitants. How shall it be, then, for the one whose nourishment it has become?” (IK, Z).
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# like molten lead boiling in their bellies,
# like the boiling of boiling liquid.
45–46 Some read boiling as taghlī rather than yaghlī, in which case it applies to the tree of Zaqqūm rather than the food of the sinner or the molten lead (IJ, Z). According to this reading, v. 45 could also be rendered, “Like molten lead it boils in their bellies.” Regarding molten lead, which is also said to scald faces (18:29), see 18:29c; 70:8c. Boiling liquid (cf. 6:70; 10:4; 37:67; 38:57; 40:72; 47:15; 56:42, 54; 78:24–25) renders ḥamīm, which indicates something that has reached its maximum temperature, but can also indicate severe, painful cold.
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# “Seize him and thrust him into the midst of Hellfire!
47 Seize him—that is, the sinner—is God’s command to the angels who serve as the guardians of Hell (al-zabāniyah; see 96:17–18c; IJ, JJ). Elsewhere the Day of Judgment is referred to as a day when the disbelievers are thrust into the Fire of Hell with [violent] thrusting (52:13).
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# Then pour the punishment of boiling liquid upon his head.”
48 V. 46 and other verses say that those in Hell will drink a boiling liquid, but this is one of two verses (cf. 22:19) that say that it will be poured upon their heads. That this is the punishment of boiling liquid implies that it is only one of many other punishments (Aj).
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# “Taste! Surely you are the mighty, the noble.
# This is that which you used to doubt.”
49–50 These verses represent either God’s direct address to the disbelievers or the words of the guardians of Hell to the inhabitants of Hell while the guardians are carrying out God’s Command (IK, Q). These words are spoken by way of ridicule and rebuke for the exalted image that the disbelievers had of themselves while in this world (IJ, Ṭ, Z). Some say that these verses refer specifically to Abū Jahl, one of the leaders of the Quraysh, who is reported to have held himself in high esteem, claiming to be mighty and noble among his people (Aj, IJ, Q, Ṭ). Taste implies, “Taste the punishment that you have brought upon yourselves through your disbelief and your actions” (JJ; see 3:106, 181; 4:56; 6:30; 7:39; 8:35, 50; 10:52; 22:22; 32:14, 20; 34:42; 46:34). Surely you renders innaka, which is read by some as annaka, meaning, “because you are” (IJ, Q, Ṭ, Z); that is, they used to doubt because of their attitude of haughtiness. This refers specifically to the punishment that they receive (Q, R, Z) or more generally to the whole affair of judgment, reckoning, and punishment (Z), regarding all of which they were playing in doubt (v. 9). While here the disbelievers are mocked for doubting, elsewhere they are chastised for denying the punishment of the Hereafter; see also 32:20; 34:42; 52:13–16; 83:17.
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# Truly the reverent are in a station secure,
# amid gardens and springs,
51–52 In contrast to those described in vv. 41–50, the reverent (see 2:2c) are in a station where they are secure from death and from Satan (as well as from the fear of leaving that station) and from all worry, grief, terror, and exhaustion (IK). Station secure translates maqām amīn, which can also be read muqām amīn (Q, R, Ṭ, Z), in which case it would be rendered, “Abide in security.” Whereas in vv. 25–26 Pharaoh and his followers had to leave behind the fleeting gardens and springs of this world, the reverent are secure among gardens and springs that are everlasting.
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# wearing fine silk and rich brocade, facing one another.
53 For fine silk and rich brocade, see 18:31c; 76:21. That the inhabitants of Paradise are facing one another (cf. 15:47; 37:44; 56:16) implies that none shall need to sit behind another (JJ), since all will be equally exalted. In other instances, this description is joined with a reference to reclining upon couches (e.g., 15:47; 37:44).
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# Thus it is. And We shall wed them to wide-eyed maidens.
54 Thus it is renders kadhālika, which can mean, “This is how it is” (Q, Ṭ), and which is understood by some as an expression of wonder and incomparability, as if to say that the like of this is beyond description (Aj). Kadhālika can also be understood to mean “similarly” or “likewise” (Q, R, Ṭ, Z). In this context it would then mean, “Just as we made them enter the Garden and did to them what was mentioned previously, likewise We have honored them by wedding them to wideeyed maidens” (Q). Wide-eyed maidens translates ḥūr ʿīn (see also 52:20; 56:22), which literally means someone with eyes whose whites are extremely white and whose pupils are extremely black (Āl, Q, R). Others say that it indicates “the appearance of little white in the eye around the black,” which was considered the height of beauty for the eye (Iṣ). It also conveys the notion of purity; thus Ḥasan al-Baṣrī is reported to have said that ḥūr ʿīn means the righteous women among human beings (Ṭ). In the commentary on 52:20, al-Rāzī observes that inasmuch as the eye reflects the soul more clearly than any other part of the body, the use of “eye” (ʿīn) in this phrase may be understood to mean “rich of soul.” A minority say that wide-eyed maidens refers to the state of the women of this world in Paradise (Āl, R). But most commentators agree that the wide-eyed maidens are not the women of this world (Āl, R). According to various aḥādīth they are maidens made from musk, camphor, and saffron (Āl). Another ḥadīth says, “The creation of the wide-eyed maidens is from glorifications made by angels” (Āl). Nonetheless, the pious women of this world are thought to be of a higher station (Aj). For additional references to the maidens who await the righteous in Paradise, see 38:52; 55:56; 78:33.
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# Therein they call for every fruit, secure.
55 The inhabitants of Paradise will receive whatsoever souls desire (43:71; cf. 41:31; 52:22; 56:20–24; 77:41–44), whatsoever they will (16:31; 25:16; 39:34; 42:22; 50:35), and whatsoever they call for (36:57; cf. 41:31), and they are secure from it ever being cut off (IJ, Q). In contrast, for the disbelievers a barrier is set between them and that which they desire (34:54).
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# They taste not death therein, save the first death. And He will shield them from the punishment of Hellfire—
56 The reverent experience only the physical death of this world and experience no death in Paradise (Q, R, Z). They will be spared the punishment of the Hereafter, but the disbelievers will experience it continually, as if they were forced to die again and again (see 14:18c). In this sense, that the reverent taste not death stands in contrast to the claim posed by the disbelievers in v. 35 that they will taste but one death. That God will shield them from the punishment of Hellfire (cf. 52:18) is integral to the Mercy of the Divine Nature, which precedes God’s Wrath. Upon seeing a woman clutch her child to her breast, the Prophet asked his Companions, “Do you think this woman would allow her child to be thrown into the fire?” They replied, “By God, insofar as she is able, she would never allow the child to be thrown into a fire.” The Prophet then said, “And God is more tender toward His servants than is this woman toward her child.”
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# a bounty from thy Lord; that is the great triumph.
57 Everything the reverent attain in the preceding verses comes from God’s Bounty (R). Many understand this verse to mean that none of the rewards mentioned here are deserved by the reverent as such; rather, they are bestowed out of God’s Bounty, because the good deeds that people do and the faith they have attained have themselves arisen from God’s Bounty (R).
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# We have only made this easy upon thy tongue, that haply they may remember.
58 This verse harkens back to the reference to the Quran in vv. 2–3. That it is easy upon thy tongue explains in part how it is a clear Book (R). It is similar to the refrain of Sūrah 54: And indeed We have made the Quran easy to remember (54:17, 22, 32, 40). The ease with which the Quran can be recited and remembered is said to be not only for oneself, but also for the purpose of conveying it to others, that they might be admonished and then become believers (JJ), as in 19:97: We have only made this easy upon thy tongue that thou mayest give glad tidings unto the reverent thereby, and that thereby thou mayest warn a contentious people.
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# So be on the watch, for they, too, are on the watch.
59 This verse instructs the Prophet, “Be on the watch for the disbelievers’ destruction, just as they are on the watch for yours” (JJ), “Await the aid against them that I have promised you. They await your death” (Q), or “Await the victory from your Lord. They await the destruction they claim will befall you” (Q); see also 6:158; 7:71; 9:52; 10:20, 102; 11:122; 32:30; 52:31.
Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others
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