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Surah 81. At-Takwir

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بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Bismi All a hi a l rra h m a ni a l rra h eem i
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:1
  - Mohammad Asad

According to most of the authorities, this invocation (which occurs at the beginning of every surah with the exception of surah 9) constitutes an integral part of "The Opening" and is, therefore, numbered as verse {1}. In all other instances, the invocation "in the name of God" precedes the surah as such, and is not counted among its verses. - Both the divine epithets rahman and rahim are derived from the noun rahmah, which signifies "mercy", "compassion", "loving tenderness" and, more comprehensively, "grace". From the very earliest times, Islamic scholars have endeavoured to define the exact shades of meaning which differentiate the two terms. The best and simplest of these explanations is undoubtedly the one advanced by Ibn al-Qayyim (as quoted in Manar I,48): the term rahman circumscribes the quality of abounding grace inherent in, and inseparable from, the concept of God's Being, whereas rahim expresses the manifestation of that grace in, and its effect upon, His creation - in other words, an aspect of His activity.

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
In the Name of Allah- the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
  - Mustafa Khattab
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful. 19
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Arabic words "Rahman" and "Rahim" translated "Most Gracious" and "Most Merciful" are both intensive forms referring to different aspects of God's attribute of Mercy. The Arabic intensive is more suited to express God's attributes than the superlative degree in English. The latter implies a comparison with other beings, or with other times or places, while there is no being like unto God, and He is independent of Time and Place. Mercy may imply pity, long-suffering, patience, and forgiveness, all of which the sinner needs and God Most Merciful bestows in abundant measure. But there is a Mercy that goes before even the need arises, the Grace which is ever watchful, and flows from God Most Gracious to all His creatures, protecting the, preserving them, guiding them, and leading them to clearer light and higher life. For this reason the attribute Rahman (Most Gracious) is not applied to any but God, but the attribute Rahim (Merciful), is a general term, and may also be applied to Men. To make us contemplate these boundless gifts of God, the formula: "In the name of God Most Gracious, Most Merciful": is placed before every Sura of the Qur-an (except the ninth), and repeated at the beginning of every act by the Muslim who dedicates his life to God, and whose hope is in His Mercy.

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81:1
إِذَا ٱلشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ I tha a l shshamsu kuwwirat
WHEN THE SUN is shrouded in darkness,
  - Mohammad Asad
When the sun will cease to shine;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
When the sun is put out,
  - Mustafa Khattab
When the sun is overthrown,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; 5969 5970
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Verses 1 to 13 are conditional clauses, and the substantive clause is in verse 14. The time will come when nature's processes as we know them will cease to function, and the soul will only then know by self conviction the results of its actions. With reference to an individual soul, its resurrection is its supreme crisis: the whole world of sense, and even of imagination and reason, melts away, and its whole spiritual scroll is laid bare before it.

The conditional clauses are twelve, in two groups of six. The first six affect the outer or physical life of man; the last six, his inmost spiritual life. Let us take them one by one. (1) The biggest factor affecting us in the external physical World is the light, heat, and perhaps electric or magnetic energy of the sun. The sun is the source of all the light, heat, and energy, and indeed the source and support of all the physical life that we know. It is the biggest factor and yet most remote from us in our solar system. Yet the sources of our inner spiritual life will be greater and more lasting, for they will survive it. The sun as the center of our solar system also stands as a symbol of the present order of things. The physical forces, as defined in Newton's laws of Matter and Attraction, will also break up with the break-up of the sun.

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81:2
وَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ ٱنكَدَرَتْ Wai tha a l nnujoomu inkadarat
and when the stars lose their light,
  - Mohammad Asad
when the stars will loose their luster;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and when the stars fall down,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And when the stars fall,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When the stars fall losing their luster; 5971
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

(2) Next after the sun, we can derive faint lights from the innumerable stars in the firmament. For all the ages of which we have any record, these stars have remained fixed. Nothing can be more fixed; yet they can and will fail.

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81:3
وَإِذَا ٱلْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ Wai tha aljib a lu suyyirat
and when the mountains are made to vanish,1
  - Mohammad Asad

See {20:105-107} and the corresponding note [90]; also note [63] on 14:48 .

when the mountains will be blown away;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and when the mountains are blown away,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And when the hills are moved,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When the mountains vanish (like a mirage); 5972
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxviii. 20. (3) On our own earth the mountains-the "eternal hills"-seem the most striking examples of stability; yet they will be swept away like a mirage, as if they had never existed.

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81:4
وَإِذَا ٱلْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ Wai tha alAAish a ru AAu tt ilat
and when she-camels big with young, about to give birth, are left untended,
  - Mohammad Asad
when the ten-month pregnant she-camels will be left unattended;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and when pregnant camels are left untended,1
  - Mustafa Khattab

 Ten-month pregnant camels were the most precious thing for nomadic Arabs. These camels were always cared for and treasured.

And when the camels big with young are abandoned,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When the she-camels ten months with young are left untended; 5973
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

(4) The type of Arab property, as well as the type of the Arab pet, was the camel, and the most precious camel was the she-camel just about to be delivered of her young. She would in normal times be most sedulously cared for. But when all our landmarks of this life vanish, even she would be left untended. Nothing would then be as it is now.

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81:5
وَإِذَا ٱلْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ Wai tha alwu h ooshu h ushirat
and when all beasts are gathered together,2
  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., when they crowd together in terror of the manifestation of the Last Hour, or - as Mu'tazili commentators maintain - in order to be indemnified by God for man's cruelty to them (Razi). It is also said that the animals which were loved by human beings will live in the hereafter together with those who loved them (Zamakhshari). This interpretation is evidently based on 6:38 - "there is no beast that walks on earth and no bird that flies on its two wings which is not [God's] creature like yourselves" - followed almost immediately by the words, "Unto their Sustainer shall they [all] be gathered."

when the wild beasts will be brought together;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and when wild beasts are gathered together,1
  - Mustafa Khattab

 All animals will be brought together for judgment and then they will be reduced to dust.

And when the wild beasts are herded together,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When the wild beasts are herded together (in human habitations); 5974
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

(5) In the present world, the wild animals fear each other, and they all fear man and normally keep away from human habitations. But when this order passes away, there will be scarcely any differentiation between human habitations and the wilds of the forests.

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