085- AL-BURUJ
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# By the sky possessed of constellations. # By the Day promised, # and by the witness and the witnessed. # May they perish, the inhabitants of the pit, # the fire well fueled, # when they sat by it, # and were witness to what they did unto the believers, # and took vengeance on them for naught but that they believed in God, the Mighty, the Praised, # unto Whom belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth; and God is Witness over all things. # Truly those who persecute believing men and believing women, then do not repent, theirs shall be the punishment of Hell, and theirs shall be the punishment of the burning. # Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens with rivers running below: that is the supreme triumph. # Truly thy Lord’s assault is severe. # Truly it is He Who originates and brings back. # And He is the Forgiving, the Loving, # Possessor of the Throne, the Glorious, # Doer of whatsoever He will. # Hast thou heard tell of the hosts— # Pharaoh and Thamūd? # Yet those who disbelieve are in denial. # And God is behind them, All-Encompassing. # Nay, it is a glorious Quran, # upon a Preserved Tablet.
Commentary
# By the sky possessed of constellations.
1 For constellations (burūj), see 25:61c. Here the constellations are considered to refer to the stars themselves (Q), the largest stars (R, Z), lofty towers in the sky, or to the traditional twelvefold division of the belt of the sky through which the planets, including the sun and the moon, pass (Aries, Taurus, etc.; Q, R, Ṭ, Z). Owing to a lexical relation to tabarruj (“to display one’s beauty”), possessed of constellations (dhāt al-burūj) could also be read “beautiful in its creation” (Q).
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# By the Day promised,
2 The Day is the Day of Resurrection (Q, R, Ṭs, Z).
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# and by the witness and the witnessed.
3 Most commentators interpret witness and witnessed as references to Friday and the Day of ʿArafah, respectively (Bg, Q, Ṭ). Some see the Prophet Muhammad as the witness, as in 2:143 and 22:78: and that the Messenger may be a witness for you (cf. 4:41; 33:45), and human beings as the witnessed (Bg, Q). Others interpret witness as a reference to the Prophet Muhammad and witnessed as a reference to the Islamic community (ummah), while others prefer the pairing of all of the Divine messengers and their respective communities, as the messengers will bear witness for or against their communities on the Day of Judgment (cf. 4:41; 5:117; Q). Another view sees witness as the Muslim community and witnessed as all other communities, as in 2:143: Thus did we make you a middle community, that you may be witnesses for mankind (cf. 22:78). Others say that witness is human beings and witnessed is God (Q). In another interpretation witness is human beings and witnessed the black stone in the Kaʿbah that pilgrims touch in bearing witness to their covenant with God (Q, Ṭs). Others take God to be the witness, as in 4:79: God suf ices as a Witness; and 6:19: Say, “What thing is greatest as testimony?” Say, “God is Witness between you and me” (Q).
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# May they perish, the inhabitants of the pit,
4–9 Many stories attempt to identify the inhabitants of the pit. Some take it as a reference to the people of Dhū Nuwās al-Yamānī, a Yemeni king who is said to have persecuted the Christians of Yemen in pre-Islamic times (IK). The most frequently cited account in the interpretation of this verse is a ḥadīth that relates the story of a king who was enraged that the people recognized God as their Lord and as a lord above him. After he killed a young boy who was foremost among them and the people refused to renounce their religion, he ordered that ditches be dug at the entrances to the roads. It was done, and fires were kindled in them. Then the king said, “Whoever abandons his religion, let him go, and whoever does not, cast him into the fire.” So they set about casting people into the fire. Then a woman came with her son, and he said, “Be patient, mother, for truly you are following the truth” (Bg, IK, Q, R, Ṭ, Ṭs). Most say that the religion of those persecuted was Christianity; others say they were Magians (Ṭs); still others say it could refer to one of the messengers not mentioned in the Quran (Bg). Although these verses are believed to pertain to a particular historical incident, they present a universal condemnation of all who persecute believers of any faith. 4 Another reading is, “Slain were the inhabitants of the pit.”
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# the fire well fueled, j when they sat by it,
6 This verse refers to either the disbelievers sitting beside the fire while the believers burned in it (Bg, Q, Ṭ, Ṭs) or the believers, either those who were burning, and thus sitting “upon” it rather than “by” it, or the believers who were not burned because they renounced their religion and then sat by witnessing the others burn (R).
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# and were witness to what they did unto the believers,
7 This verse can refer to either the presence of the disbelievers at the burning of the believers or their bearing witness against themselves on the Day of Judgment, as in 24:24; 36:65; 41:20.
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# and took vengeance on them for naught but that they believed in God, the Mighty, the Praised,
# unto Whom belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth; and God is Witness over all things.
9 For God is Witness over all things, see also 4:33; 5:117; 22:17; 33:55; 34:47; 41:53; 58:6.
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# Truly those who persecute believing men and believing women, then do not repent, theirs shall be the punishment of Hell, and theirs shall be the punishment of the burning.
10 This verse could apply only to the inhabitants of the pit or to all who persecute believers simply for their belief (R). Hell and burning may refer to two forms of punishment suffered by those who persecute believers, or to the contrast between the eternal punishment of Hell suffered by the inhabitants of the pit and the temporary punishment of burning they inflicted upon the believers (R). Some say the punishment of Hell is for their disbelieving and the punishment of burning is for persecuting others (Ṭs).
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# Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens with rivers running below: that is the supreme triumph.
11 The supreme triumph (al-fawz al-kabīr) most likely refers to Paradise, similar to the great triumph (al-fawz al-ʿaẓīm), which commentators usually identify as a reference to the Garden, indicating that it is greater than any triumph one can attain in this world (Al). For the blessings of Paradise, see commentary on 5:119; 44:51–57. Ī Assault renders baṭsh, which indicates a sudden seizing by God, similar to 11:102: Such is the seizing of thy Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong. Surely His seizing is painful, severe (R). Some interpret this verse as the response to the oath begun in v. 1, with what lies between constituting an affirmation of the oath (Q).
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# Truly thy Lord’s assault is severe.
# Truly it is He Who originates and brings back.
13 God originates and brings back, that is, causes things to come into being and then to return to Him, thereby giving them a new life after their life on this earth.
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# And He is the Forgiving, the Loving,
# Possessor of the Throne, the Glorious,
15 For God as Possessor of the Throne, see 17:42; 40:15; 81:20. Elsewhere in the Quran God is described as Lord of the Throne (9:129; 21:22; 23:86; 23:116; 27:26; 43:82), which is borne by angels (40:7; 69:17). If Glorious is read in the nominative, it describes Possessor; if in the genitive, it describes the Throne.
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# Doer of whatsoever He will.
16 Cf. 22:18: Truly God does whatsoever He will. One of the basic themes of the Quran is that God is Omnipotent and His Will is supreme, as in 5:17: Unto God belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them. He creates whatsoever He will, and God is Powerful over all things (cf. 24:45; 30:54).
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# Hast thou heard tell of the hosts—
# Pharaoh and Thamūd?
17–18 Hosts here refers to earlier peoples who denied prophets and were vanquished. Pharaoh provides an older example from the Biblical tradition, and the Thamūd would have likely been a more resonant example for the Arabs. These examples show that the situation faced by the Muslims is the same as the one all believers face and that the Muslims, like those who were oppressed before them, will prevail (R), whether in this life or the next. For the Quranic account of Pharaoh, see 7:103–41; 20:24–79. For the account of the Thamūd, a pre-Islamic northern Arabian tribe who rejected the Prophet Ṣāliḥ, see 7:73–79; 11:61–68.
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# Yet those who disbelieve are in denial.
# And God is behind them, All-Encompassing.
20 Although He is “unseen,” God encompasses whatsoever they do (4:108; 8:47) and is able to inflict upon the hosts of the disbelievers what He inflicted upon the hosts of Pharaoh, the Thamūd, and others (Q).
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# Nay, it is a glorious Quran,
#upon a Preserved Tablet.
21–22 According to some, glorious (majīd) indicates the utmost in nobility, magnanimity, and grace (Q). Others say that it indicates the uncreatedness of the Quran (Q). In light of 15:9, Truly it is We Who have sent down the Reminder, and surely We are its Preserver, the present verses are understood to indicate that the Quran is guarded by God from any increase, decrease, distortion, or change (IK, Q, R, Ṭ, Ṭs,). Some say that the Book concealed (56:78) and the Preserved Tablet are the same (R). Others say that the Preserved Tablet refers to a book recited by the angels nigh unto God (Aj, Q, R), while others relate it to the Mother of the Book (3:7; 13:39; 43:4), said to be the source of all revelation, from which the Quran and all other revealed Books are derived (Q, Ṭs). Some commentators describe the Tablet (lawḥ) as one made of white pearls that is as high as the distance between Heaven and earth and as wide as the distance between the east and the west (JJ, Q, Ṭs). Others say that it is located to the right of God’s Throne (Q, R, Ṭs). In keeping with the predominant theme of the sūrah, believers prevailing over persecution from disbelievers, al-Qushayrī relates the Preserved Tablet to 29:49, Nay, it is but clear signs in the breasts of those who have been given knowledge, indicating that the Quran is preserved in the hearts of true believers. For further discussion of the Preserved Tablet, see the essay “The Quran and Schools of Islamic Theology and Philosophy.”
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