| Chapter 75 : Al-Qiyamah |
(Revealed before Hijrah) Date of Revelation, Context and Subject-Matter The Surah opens with a solemn affirmation that the Resurrection undoubtedly will take place, and significantly enough adduces man's spiritual resurrection as evidence in support of this affirmation. As a further proof, it swears by Nafs Lawwamah (the Self-Accusing Spirit) which in action is the first stage of the process of moral regeneration of man. Then an oft-repeated objection of disbelievers is mentioned that when they are dead and reduced to dust, how will they be raised again to life? The Surah refutes this objection by saying that in their heart of hearts they know that man's sins never go unpunished and, therefore, there must be a day when they will be called to account for all their actions. Next, the collection of the Qur'an and the Divine protection of its text are offered as further arguments in the same connection, since of all revealed Scriptures the Qur'an has laid the greatest emphasis on the inevitability of Resurrection. Then, a brief but graphic description is given of the agony of death and man's intense desire to be spared of it. This shows that at the moment of death the fear that one will have to render an account of one's actions gnaws at one's heart. Towards its close disbelievers are admonished that man has not been created without purpose or responsibility and that he will have to account for his failure to discharge it. The disbelievers are further reminded that man's physical development from a sperm-drop into a full-fledged human being, endowed with unique powers and faculties, constitutes an irrefutable argument that his life is intended to serve a sublime purpose and that it will not end with the departure of the soul from its physical tabernacle.
[75:36] ‘Then woe unto thee! and woe again!’[3187]
3176. La here may signify, 'It is not like what they think.' Sometimes it is used as an answer to some objection or in repudiation of what is said before (Lane). 3177. The Qur'an has mentioned three stages of development of the human soul. The first stage is called Nafs Ammarah (the uncontrollable spirit), when the animal in man is predominant. The second stage is that of Nafs Lawwamah (the self-accusing spirit), when man's awakened conscience upbraids him for doing bad deeds and restrains his passions and appetites. At this stage the human in man gets the upper hand. It is the beginning of his moral resurrection and therefore has been cited here in evidence of the Final Resurrection. If man has no responsibility, and if he is not to account for his actions in an afterlife, then why this pricking of conscience at the doing of an evil deed? The third and the highest stage of 3178. Banan represents man's power and strength, as by means of his fingers he grasps an object and defends himself. The word may stand also for the whole human body as part of a thing sometimes represents the whole. The verse signifies that God has the power to restore all the powers of man, or even of a whole people when, to all intents and purposes, they are dead and defunct. 3179. The expression, 'the sun and the moon are brought together,' may signify that the whole solar system will be completely disrupted. Or, the verse may signify the destruction of the political power of the Arabs and of the Iranian empire, the moon being the symbol of the political power of the former and the sun that of the latter. Or. the reference may be to the lunar and solar eclipses which, according to a Hadith, were to occur in the time of the Promised Mahdi in the month of Ramadan (Baihaqui), it being quite an unusual natural phenomenon. Strangely enough, both the sun and the moon were eclipsed in the month of Ramadan in 1894 when the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement had already made the claim that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. 3180. The words mean: The evil actions which man did but which he should not have done, and the good ones which he should have done but failed to do, i.e., his sins of omission and commission. 3181. Bukhari reports that in the beginning when a certain portion of the Qur'an was revealed to the Holy Prophet, in his anxiety lest he should forget it; he would start hurriedly repeating it. It is this practice that the Prophet was enjoined in the preceding verse to give up, since as stated in the following three verses, God has taken upon Himself not only to safeguard the text of the Qur'an from being tampered with, but also to see that it was collected in the form of an immaculately arranged Book (see "Introduction to the Study of the Holy Qur'an") and also that its Message was conveyed and explained to the whole world (15:10). Or, the significance of the verses may be that, because the preceding verses referred to a day of reckoning for disbelievers; the Holy Prophet was naturally anxious that the revelation bearing upon the promised punishment should come soon. He is here told that he need have no anxiety on that score, as it was God's responsibility when a relevant revelation should come and what form the punishment should take; and also that the Qur'an should be collected, read and explained to the world. Besides the meaning given in the text, the verse has also been interpreted as follows: 'It is Our responsibility that We should explain the Quranic revelation through your tongue' (Ruh al-Ma'ani). This stresses the inviolability of the Holy Prophet's Sunnah and its indispensability as a safe and sure guide, next only to the Qur'an itself. 3182. The righteous believers will look to their Lord; expecting to be rewarded for their good deeds, or they will be endowed with special spiritual eyes to see God. The sight of God will be a special Divine manifestation which will be unfolded to the human soul, untrammeled by its earthly raiment. 3183. The Arabs say, Faqarat-hu al-Dfihiyatu, i.e., the calamity broke the vertebrae of his back (Lane). 3184. The verse means; (a) who will ascend with the soul of the dying man; the angel of mercy, who will take him to Paradise, or the angel of punishment, who will drag him to Hell? (b) Where is the wizard or charmer who will avert the approaching death, or relieve the dying man of his agony? 3185. The word, Saq, literally meaning shank, metaphorically signifies a calamity or affliction. See 2177. The verse signifies that one affliction will be joined to another for the departed soul-the agony of leaving his near and dear ones behind will be joined to the agony of death and the punishment awaiting the disbeliever in the next world. 3186. Saddaqa stands for right belief and Salla for good conduct, the two basic principles of Islam. Prayer is the essence of 'Ibadah which is total submission and conforming one's conduct to Divine laws. Thus the verse means that both the mind and the body of disbelievers rebelled against God. 3187. The repetition of the words, 'woe unto thee,' signifies mental agony and physical punishment, or punishment in this world and in the next. Or, the words are used for the purpose of intensification. 3188. The whole idea is inconsistent with God's wisdom that He should have created man from an insignificant thing-from a sperm-drop-and should have endowed him with such great natural powers and faculties as to make him the centre and pivot of all His creation and then should have left him alone to eat, drink and be merry. 3189. The Lord, Who created man from such an insignificant beginning, possesses the power to give him a new life, when he is dead and is reduced to crumbled bones and dust, to make spiritual progress which will know no end.
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