089- AL-FAJR
THE DAWN
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# By the dawn, # by the ten nights, # by the even and the odd, # and by the night as it recedes; # Is there an oath therein for one who is mindful? # Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with ʿĀd, # Iram the pillared, # the like of which was never created in all the land, # Thamūd who hollowed the rocks in the valley, # and Pharaoh of the tent poles, # who tyrannized the land # and increased corruption therein? # So thy Lord poured upon them the scourge of punishment. # Truly thy Lord lies in ambush. # As for man, whenever his Lord tests him, then honors him and blesses him, he says, “My Lord has honored me.” # And as for whenever He tries him and straightens his provision, he says, “My Lord has abased me.” # Nay, but you honor not the orphan, # nor urge you the feeding of the indigent. # You devour inheritance with rapacious devouring, # and love wealth with abounding love. # Nay, but when the earth is ground up, grinding upon grinding, # and your Lord comes with the angels, row upon row; # and Hell is brought forth that Day; that Day man will remember; yet whence will that remembrance avail him? # He will say, “Would that I had sent forth for my life!” # That Day none punishes as He punishes, # and none binds as He binds. # O thou soul at peace! # Return unto thy Lord, content, contenting. # Enter among My servants. # Enter My Garden.
Commentary
# By the dawn,
# by the ten nights,
1–2 Some see these verses as a reference to the break of dawn at the beginning of Muḥarram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and to its first ten nights. Others see them as a reference to the break of dawn at the Feast of Sacrifice at the end of the ḥajj and the first ten nights of the sacred month of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah, the month of the ḥajj (see 2:196–97; 22:27–29). Others see them as a reference to the break of dawn during Ramadan and the last ten nights of Ramadan, the period during which the Quran is said to have first been revealed (see the introduction to Sūrah 97; R, Ṭs).
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# by the even and the odd,
3 Commentators have given this verse up to thirty-six different interpretations (Ṭb). Some interpret even as a reference to all of creation, for as 78:6–8 says, Did We not . . . create you in pairs, and odd as a reference to God, Who is One without peer, hence odd (R, Ṭs). According to a saying attributed to the Prophet, this verse refers to the prayers, most of which have an even number of prayer cycles, and one of which, the sunset prayer (maghrib), has an odd number of cycles (R, Ṭs). Others say that odd refers to the Day of ʿArafah, which is the ninth day of the ḥajj, and that even refers to either the eighth day, when the pilgrims travel to Mt. ʿArafāt, or the tenth day, which is the Feast of Sacrifice (Ṭs). According to other interpretations, the odd refers to Adam, and the even to Eve (R, Ṭs); the even refers to Ṣafā and Marwah, between which the pilgrims pass during the pilgrimage, and the odd refers to the Kaʿbah (Ṭs). One Shiite interpretation maintains that the even refers to ʿAlī and Fāṭimah and the odd refers to the Prophet himself (Ṭs).
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# and by the night as it recedes;
4 Most commentators interpret this verse as a reference to night in general (Q, R), in which case it is seen to indicate the Wisdom of God’s measuring between night and day (R). Some say that it could be a specific reference to the night of the ḥajj when the pilgrims gather on the plain of Muzdalifah before moving to Minā (Q, R, Ṭs). Others say it could be seen as a reference to the Night of Power (see 97:1–2; Q).
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# is there an oath therein for one who is mindful?
5 One who is mindful (dhī ḥijr) is derived from the verb ḥajara, meaning “to prevent” or “to prohibit.” Ḥijr is thus understood to indicate the intellect, because it prevents one from falling into error and confusion (R, Z). Ḥijr can also be taken to imply self-control (ḥilm; Ṭ). *** j Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with ʿĀd, 6 For the account of the ʿĀd, a pre-Islamic southern Arabian tribe who rejected the Prophet Hūd, see 7:65–72; 11:50–60; 41:15–16; 54:18–21.
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# Iram the pillared,
# the like of which was never created in all the land,
7–8 Iram is believed to refer to either a particular people or the city of the ʿĀd. Several sources cite the Arabian legend that this city was built by Shaddād, the son of ʿĀd, with gold and silver and trees full of jewels. Some say ʿĀd was a son of ʿAwṣ, the son of Iram, the son of Sham, the son of Noah, and since the name of the ancestor of a tribe was used for the tribe, the tribe of ʿĀd was also called Iram (Z). Iram is then taken as a reference to ʿĀd the Former (53:50), while ʿĀd the Latter were simply referred to as ʿĀd. According to this interpretation, pillared refers to the tall stature of the people. If taken as a reference to a city where they lived, pillared refers to the architecture of their city. Pillared can also be seen as a reference to the quality of their stature, as in Arabic to say individuals are rafīʿ al-ʿimād, literally “with raised pillar,” means that they are of a noble stature. *** | Thamūd who hollowed the rocks in the valley, 9 For the account of the Thamūd, a pre-Islamic northern Arabian tribe who rejected the Prophet Ṣāliḥ, see 7:73–79; 11:61–68; 26:141–58; 54:23–31.
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# and Pharaoh of the tent poles,
10 For the possible meanings of tent poles (awtād) in relation to Pharaoh, see 38:12c.
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# who tyrannized the land
# and increased corruption therein?
11–12 These verses refer to all three groups mentioned in vv. 6–10.
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# So thy Lord poured upon them the scourge of punishment.
13 Poured indicates the continuous nature of the punishment that is realized in this life and the next. Scourge translates sawṭ, which indicates something that is mixed in various ways. Thus it also means a “whip,” which is woven of various materials. Here it indicates either the nature of the punishment in which blood and flesh are said to be mixed together or to the various punishments that afflicted the three peoples (Q, R): a howling, raging wind for the tribe of ʿĀd (69:6; cf. 41:16; 51:41; 54:19), an “overwhelming” earthquake for the tribe of Thamūd (69:5; cf. 7:78), and the drowning of Pharaoh and his host (2:50; 7:136c; 8:54; 10:90; 17:102–3; 28:40; 43:55; 44:23–24; 51:40).
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# Truly thy Lord lies in ambush.
14 Nothing escapes God, for He is ever watchful, hearing what people say in public and private, seeing what they do publicly and privately, and rewarding or punishing them accordingly (Q; cf. 78:21). The point is that no matter what respite God may allow for tyrants to work corruption, they will be punished for it in due time, as in 3:178; 7:182–83; 22:48.
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# As for man, whenever his Lord tests him, then honors him and blesses him, he says, “My Lord has honored me.” Ū And as for whenever He tries him and straitens his provision, he says, “My Lord has abased me.” 15–16 Cf. 22:11; 23:55–56; 30:36; 41:51. Human beings are inclined to think that wealth and status are marks of true worth or signs of one’s standing with God, forgetting that God outspreads and straitens provision for whomsoever He will (13:26; 17:30; 28:82; 29:62; 30:37; 34:36, 39; 39:52; 42:12; see 34:39c) and that surely the most noble of you before God are the most reverent of you (49:13). Al-Rāzī connects the present verses to 30:7: They know some outward aspect of the life of this world, but of the Hereafter they are heedless; and to 22:11: And among mankind some worship God upon a brink: if good befalls him, he is content thereby, but if a trial befalls him, he is turned over upon his face. The implication is that human beings forget the balance between the things of this world and those of the next. What appears to be a benefit in this world may in fact be a detriment in the next, and one who appears abased here may in fact be honored in the Hereafter, and vice-versa. With regard to the balance between this world and the next, the more people incline to the sensory things of this world, the more difficult will be their passage from it (R). According to a ḥadīth qudsī, “God says, ‘Truly I do not honor one whom I have honored with worldly abundance; and I do not abase one whom I have abased with paucity thereof. I only honor one whom I have honored with obedience unto Me; and I only abase one whom I have abased with disobedience unto Me’” (Q).
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# Nay, but you honor not the orphan,
17–20 Nay is a rebuke to those who make the errors implied in vv. 15–16 (Q, R). The accusation that they devour inheritance and do not honor the orphan alludes to the abuse of the inheritance bequeathed to orphans, a point that is addressed in 2:220; 4:2–3, 8–10, 127; 6:152 (cf. 107:1–3). Some read all of these verses in the third-person plural rather than the second-person plural (Q, Ṭ). Either reading is accepted. Following upon vv. 15–16, the implication of vv. 17– 20 is that failure to appreciate the true nature of God’s honoring and abasing leads people to act inequitably toward those who are less privileged (Ṭs).
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# nor urge you the feeding of the indigent.
18 There is disagreement about how urge you should be read. It can be read in two ways in the second-person plural: transitive, taḥuḍḍūna, meaning “nor urge you,” or reflexive, taḥāḍḍūna, meaning “nor urge you one another.” And it can be read two ways in the third-person plural: transitive, yaḥuḍḍūna, meaning “nor do they urge,” or reflexive, yuḥāḍḍūna, meaning “nor do they urge one another” (Q, Ṭ). When read in the third person, it is seen as applying to those mentioned in vv. 15–16 (cf. 69:34).
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# You devour inheritance with rapacious devouring,
19 This verse means that people consume whatever they can find without knowing or questioning whether it is permitted (ḥalāl) or forbidden (Ḥarām; Ṭ). Here it implies that they consume both their own share of an inheritance and that of others (Ṭ).
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# and love wealth with abounding love.
20 Cf. 102:1–2; 104:1–3.
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# Nay, but when the earth is ground up, grinding upon grinding,
21 Nay is a response to those who commit the sins mentioned in vv. 17–20. Ground up implies that all things have been destroyed and reduced to sand, as if by a great earthquake (Q, R; cf. 20:105–7; 56:5; 69:14; 79:6–7). According to some this grinding will prepare the plain on which all human beings and jinn will then be gathered for the Reckoning on the Day of Judgment (IK, Ṭ; see 18:47c; 20:106; 79:14c).
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# and your Lord comes with the angels, row upon row;
22 As God is not considered to have a body or be a “thing” that can be said to be in a particular place or to move from one place to another, some commentators read this verse as an allusion to God’s Power, Decree, or Command (Q, R). Others say that it indicates God’s Presence, because true knowledge (maʿrifah) of God will come on that Day, even if some had denied God before it (R, Ṭs). It is said that the angels will be lined up like Muslims in prayer (Ṭs). Others say the angels will descend from every heaven forming lines around the believers (R; cf. 78:38).
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# and Hell is brought forth that Day; that Day man will remember; yet whence will that remembrance avail him?
# He will say, “Would that I had sent forth for my life!”
23–24 With regard to Hell . . . brought forth, a ḥadīth says, “Hellfire will be brought forth that Day and it will have seventy thousand leashes, and each leash will have seventy thousand angels pulling it” (IK, Q). These verses indicate that people will remember how they conducted themselves in this world, but there will be no opportunity for repentance or to make up for lost time. Most commentators say Would that I had sent forth for my life means, “Would that I had sent forth good deeds that would save me from the Fire” (Q, R). Yet even believers will have some regret, since as a ḥadīth says, “There is no time wherein the son of Adam does not remember God, but that it will be a source of regret for him on the Day of Judgment.”
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# That Day none punishes as He punishes,
# and none binds as He binds.
25–26 Ultimately, God will be the only one who punishes anyone on the Day of Judgment, meaning that there is no punishment like the punishment inflicted on that Day. The binding alludes to the chains and shackles mentioned in 13:5; 34:33; 36:8; 40:71; 76:4. Others read, “He punishes none with his punishment, and He binds none with his binding” (Āl, Qu, R), meaning that God will not punish anyone with the punishment of another or that God will not punish anyone as severely as He punishes the disbelievers (Qu). This interpretation could be general, meaning that no one suffers the punishment or binding due another, since none shall bear the burden of another (6:164; 17:15; 35:18; 39:7; 53:38; Āl, R, Z). It could also be specific, applying to a particular individual (Āl, Q, Z) or to Satan (Āl).
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# O thou soul at peace!
27–30 It is said that these verses are an address from the angels to human beings (Āl, Q, R, Sy) or directly from God Himself (Āl, R), delivered either at the moment of death, when the soul leaves the body, or on the Day of Resurrection (Q, R, Ṭs). They play an important role in Muslim piety, as they are often recited in eulogies for the dead and are seen by Sufis and others as a reference to the true nature of the soul when it is purified of all defilements.
27 The soul at peace is said to be the soul that has certainty (Q, Qu, R); this is the meaning of Abraham’s request to God in 2:260, So that my heart may be at peace (R). The soul at peace is also said to possess true knowledge, or gnosis (maʿrifah; Qu, R). Elsewhere the soul is said to be at peace in the remembrance of God (13:28; Q, Qu, R). From one perspective, the degree of remembrance is in accord with the strength of certainty (Āl), both of which are in accord with the degree of peace. Others speak of the soul so illuminated by the heart that all blameworthy character traits have been removed and all praiseworthy character traits are manifest (Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, 239). It is reported that Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (d. 29/649), one of the leading authorities on the Quran among the Prophet’s Companions, read this verse as “O thou soul secure (āminah), at peace” (Q, R), implying the soul that is not fazed by fear or sorrow (Aj, R), unlike those described in vv. 15–16. The soul is said to have three levels: the soul at peace (v. 27), which is in command of its lusts and desires and has attained certainty; the blaming soul (75:2), which strives to overcome its lusts and desires; and the soul that commands to evil (12:53), which is at the mercy of its lusts and desires; see 75:1–2c; 12:53c. The soul at peace is said to be “that which issues from the light of the first [Divine] Address, through which it was brought into being out of nonexistence by the light of pretemporality (nūr al-qidam) and it is at peace with the Real [i.e., God], with His Address, and in union with Him (wa bi wiṣālihi). Then its Lord calls it to its first origin (maʿdin), wherein it inclines, from the first to the last, toward nothing other than witnessing God, content with God through God and content in the Presence of God” (Aj).
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# Return unto thy Lord, content, contenting.
28 That the soul returns to its Lord is understood to imply that it was with its Lord in the Garden before creation (R). Many interpret this verse to mean content with the reward of God and contenting to God for having performed good deeds (Q, R). Others understand it as an indication that one is content with everything that God has decreed for all matters. Still others take it as an indication that the soul returns to the Divine Essence in a state of complete contentment (Aj, K), in which case, content, contenting could be read as two different levels of contentment: the first is the contentment experienced from God through God, and the second, the contentment experienced when standing before God (Aj). Some emphasize that there can be no contentment with God until God is content with souls, as in 5:119; 9:100; 58:22; and 98:8: God being content with them and they being content with Him (K). Contentment is seen by some as one of the most important virtues; it has been described as “the greatest gate of God and the paradise of this world” (Qu, Risālah).
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# Enter among My servants.
# Enter My Garden. 29–30 Among My servants means among the righteous servants, as in the supplication of Solomon in 27:19: My Lord, . . . cause me to enter, through Thy Mercy, among Thy righteous servants! (Aj; cf. 29:9). In this sense it is read as an address to the spiritual elect (K). Some read, “Enter into My servants,” meaning their bodies, thus alluding to spirits returning to bodies for the bodily resurrection (Q, R, Sy, Ṭs). Some say it can mean both at the same time (Āl). According to several aḥādīth, the Hereafter has progressive levels with lower and higher gardens. Thus, while most take My Garden as an allusion to Paradise in general, some take it as an allusion to the highest Garden, the Garden of the Divine Essence, in the very Presence of God (K); see the essay “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.”
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