(Revealed before Hijrah)

Date of Revelation and Context
This Surah was revealed at Mecca in the first few years of the Call. Its connection with the preceding Surah, AI-Inshiqaq, is indicated by the fact that in that Surah the full moon was invoked as a witness, and in the present Surah mansions of stars and the promised day have been invoked to serve the same purpose. The ''Buruj" or mansions of stars may represent the twelve Divine Reformers (Mujaddids), each of whom was raised at the beginning of every century of the Hijrah, and the Promised Day stands for the 14th century of the Hijrah. The Surah seems to point to the severe persecution to which the followers of the Promised Messiah would be subjected, ending appropriately on the note that because in his time the integrity of the Qur'an as God's revealed Word would be assailed from all quarters, particularly by Christian writers, he would devote all his energies and his great God-given powers to rebut their attacks and to prove its infallibility and inviolability.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم
[1] In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.

وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْبُرُوجِ
[2] By the heaven having mansions of stars,[3307]

وَالْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُودِ
[3] And by the Promised Day,[3308]

وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ
[4] And by the Witness[3309] and that about whom witness has been borne,

قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الأُخْدُودِ
[5] Cursed be the Fellows of the Trench[3310] —

النَّارِ ذَاتِ الْوَقُودِ
[6] The fire fed with fuel —

إِذْ هُمْ عَلَيْهَا قُعُودٌ
[7] As they sat[3311] by it,

وَهُمْ عَلَى مَا يَفْعَلُونَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ شُهُودٌ
[8] And they witnessed what they did to the believers.[3312]

وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلاَّ أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ
[9] And they hated them not but because they believed in Allah[3313], the Almighty, the Praiseworthy,

الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
[10] To Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is Witness over all things.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ
[11] Those who persecute the believing men and the believing women and then repent not, for them is surely the punishment of Hell, and for them is the punishment of burning.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْكَبِيرُ
[12] But those who believe and do good works, for them are Gardens through which streams flow. That is the great triumph.

إِنَّ بَطْشَ رَبِّكَ لَشَدِيدٌ
[13] Surely the seizing of thy Lord is severe.

إِنَّهُ هُوَ يُبْدِئُ وَيُعِيدُ
[14] He it is Who originates and reproduces;[3314]

وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ
[15] And He is the Most Forgiving, the Loving;

ذُو الْعَرْشِ الْمَجِيدُ
[16] The Lord of the Throne, the Lord of honour;

فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ
[17] Doer of whatever He wills.

هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ الْجُنُودِ
[18] Has not the story of the hosts come to thee?

فِرْعَوْنَ وَثَمُودَ
[19] Of Pharaoh and Thamud?

بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي تَكْذِيبٍ
[20] Nay, but those who disbelieve persist in rejecting the truth.

وَاللَّهُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ مُحِيطٌ
[21] And Allah encompasses them from before them and from behind them.

بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ
[22] Nay, but it is a glorious Qur’an,

فيِ لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ
[23] In a well guarded tablet.[3315]

3307.  Mujaddids, or twelve mansions in the spiritual firmament of Islam, who will keep its light burning after the Spiritual Sun will have set, i.e., after the first three best centuries of Islam will have passed, resulting in the spread of spiritual darkness over the whole world. These Reformers will bear witness to the truth of Islam, and of the Qur'an and to that of the Holy Prophet.

3308. "The Promised Day" may signify the day when the Promised Messiah will be raised to bring about the renaissance of Islam. In fact, there have been many such days in the history of Islam which could be called the promised day namely, the day of the Battle of Badr, the day when the Battle of the Trench came to a glorious end and the day of the Fall of Mecca. But the Promised Day par excellence is the time of the Second Advent of the Holy Prophet in the person of his Deputy in the 14th century A.H., when Islam is to receive a new life and to prevail over all other religions. The "Promised Day" may also mean the day when the righteous will enjoy the bliss of meeting with their Lord.

3309.  Every Prophet or Divine Reformer is a Shahid, i.e., bearer of witness, because he is a living witness to the existence of God, and he is also Mashhud (to whom witness is borne) because God bears witness to his truth by showing Signs and miracles at his hands. But here, as the text shows, the Shahid is the Promised Messiah and Mashhud is the Holy Prophet, and the verse signifies that the Promised Messiah will bear witness to the truth of the Holy Prophet by his speeches, discourses and writings and by the Signs that God will show at his hands. He will also bear witness in the sense that in his person the prophecy of the Holy Prophet about the appearance of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi in the 14th century A.H. will be fulfilled. The Promised Messiah is also Mashhud in the sense that the Holy Prophet himself has borne witness to his truth. Thus the Holy Prophet and the Promised Messiah are both Shahids (bearers of witness) and Mashhuds (to whom witness is borne).

3310. By some Commentators of the Qur'an the verse is taken to refer to the burning to death of some Christians by the Jewish King, Dhu Nuwas of Yemen; by some others to the casting into a burning furnace of some Israelite leaders by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Dan. 3:19-22). The verse may more fittingly apply to those enemies of truth, who in the time of every Divine Reformer bitterly oppose and persecute believers. It is not intended here to refer to any past incident of doubtful authenticity. Nowhere in the Qur'an has God sworn by past incidents. In v. 3 God swears by the "Promised Day." In the present and the next few verses it seems to be hinted that the followers of the Promised Messiah will have to suffer great hardships to usher in that great day.

3311.  In vv. 5-9 mention is made of those enemies of truth who kindle the fire of persecution against righteous believers in all ages and constantly keep it ablaze. Their end is predicted in v. I I.

3312.  The enemies of truth know in their heart of hearts that their opposition is cruel and unjustified and that the victims of their tyranny are innocent.

3313. The verse is full of pathos. Is belief in God really such a heinous crime, it asks, that its holders should be subjected to cruel persecution?

3314.  God will punish the cruel and tyrannical persecutors of believers in this world and in the life to come.

3315.  The verse constitutes a challenging prophecy about the Qur'an being guarded against every kind of interference and distortion. See also 1482.