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Surah 78. An-Naba

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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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78:1
عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ AAamma yatas a aloon a
ABOUT WHAT do they [most often] ask one another?
  - Mohammad Asad
About what are they asking?
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
What are they asking one another about?
  - Mustafa Khattab
Whereof do they question one another?
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Concerning what are they disputing?
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:2
عَنِ ٱلنَّبَإِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ AAani a l nnabai alAAa th eem i
About the awesome tiding [of resurrection],
  - Mohammad Asad
About the mighty event
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
About the momentous news,
  - Mustafa Khattab
(It is) of the awful tidings,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Concerning the Great News 5889
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Great News: usually understood to mean the News or Message of the Resurrection or the Hereafter, about which there are various schools of thought among the Jews and Christians and other nations. There is practically nothing about the Resurrection in the Old Testament, and the Jewish sect of Sadducees even in the time of Christ denied the Resurrection altogether. The Pagan ideas of a future life-if any-varied from place to place and from time to time. Even in the early Christian Church, as we learn from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, there were contentions in that little community (1, Corinthians, i. 11), and some definitely denied the resurrection of the dead (ib., xv. 12). Great News may also be translated Great Message or a Message Supreme as I have translated at xxxviii. 67. In that case it would refer to the Qur-an, or the Message of Revelation, or the Message of the Holy Prophet, about which there was great contention in those days. As this Message also lays great stress on the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection, the practical result by either mode of interpretation amounts to the same.

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78:3
ٱلَّذِى هُمْ فِيهِ مُخْتَلِفُونَ Alla th ee hum feehi mukhtalifoon a
on which they [so utterly] disagree.1
  - Mohammad Asad
- the theme of their disputes.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
over which they disagree.1
  - Mustafa Khattab

 The pagans used to mock the teachings of the Quran (e.g., resurrection and judgment). They disagreed whether the Quran was magic, poetry, or fortune-telling.

Concerning which they are in disagreement.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
About which they cannot agree.
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:4
كَلَّا سَيَعْلَمُونَ Kall a sayaAAlamoon a
Nay, but in time they will come to understand [it]!
  - Mohammad Asad
Very soon they shall come to know;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
But no! They will come to know.
  - Mustafa Khattab
Nay, but they will come to know!
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Verily they shall soon (come to) know!
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:5
ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَيَعْلَمُونَ Thumma kall a sayaAAlamoon a
And once again:2 Nay, but in time they will come to understand!
  - Mohammad Asad

For this rendering of the particle thumma, see surah {6}, note [31].

We repeat, very soon they shall come to know.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Again, no! They will come to know.
  - Mustafa Khattab
Nay, again, but they will come to know!
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Verily verily they shall soon (come to) know!
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:6
أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ ٱلْأَرْضَ مِهَـٰدًا Alam najAAali alar d a mih a d a n
HAVE WE NOT made the earth a resting-place [for you],
  - Mohammad Asad
Is it not true that We have spread the earth like a bed,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Have We not smoothed out the earth 'like a bed',
  - Mustafa Khattab
Have We not made the earth an expanse,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse 5890
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See n. 2038 to xvi. 15. Cf. also xiii. 3 and xv. 19. The spacious expanse of the earth may be compared to a carpet, to which the mountains act as pegs. The Signs of Allah are thus enumerated: the great panorama of outer nature (verses 6-7); the creation of Man in pairs, with the succession of rest and work fitting in with the succession of night and day (verses 8-11); the firmaments above, with their splendid lights (verses 12-13); and the clouds and rain and abundant harvests, which knit sky and earth and man together (verses 14-16). These point to Allah, and Allah's Message points to the Future Life.

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78:7
وَٱلْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا Wa a ljib a la awt a d a n
and the mountains [its] pegs?3
  - Mohammad Asad

See 16:15 - "He has placed firm mountains on earth, lest it sway with you" - and the corresponding note [11], which explains the reference to mountains as "pegs". - The whole of this passage (verses {6-16}) is meant to illustrate God's almightiness and creativeness, as if to say, "Is not He who has created the universe equally able to resurrect and re-create man in whatever form He deems necessary?"

and the mountains as pegs,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and 'made' the mountains as 'its' pegs,1
  - Mustafa Khattab

 Just like tent pegs and icebergs, mountains go deep below the surface, slowing tectonic movement.

And the high hills bulwarks?
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And the mountains as pegs?
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:8
وَخَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا Wakhalaqn a kum azw a j a n
And We have created you in pairs;4
  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "with the same creative power We have created the miraculous polarity of the two sexes in you and in other animated beings". The phenomenon of polarity, evident throughout the universe (see 36:36 and the corresponding note [18]), is further illustrated in verses {9-ll}.

created you in pairs,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and created you in pairs,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And We have created you in pairs,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And (have We not) created you in pairs
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:9
وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا WajaAAaln a nawmakum sub a t a n
and We have made your sleep [a symbol of] death5
  - Mohammad Asad

Thus Zamakhshari, stressing the primary significance of subat as "cutting-off" (qat'), i.e., "death"; also the famous second-century philologist Abu 'Ubaydah Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna, who (as quoted by Razi) explains the above Qur'anic phrase as an "analogue (shibh) of death".

provided you rest in sleep,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and made your sleep for rest,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And have appointed your sleep for repose,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And made your sleep for rest
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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78:10
وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا WajaAAaln a allayla lib a s a n
and made the night [its] cloak
  - Mohammad Asad
made the night a mantle,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and made the night as a cover,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And have appointed the night as a cloak,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And made the night as a covering 5891
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The darkness of the night is as a covering. Just as a covering protects us from exposure to cold or heat, so this covering gives us spiritual respite from the buffets of the material world, and from the tiring activities of our own inner exertions. The rest in sleep (in verse 9) is supplemented by the covering of the night with which we are provided by Allah.

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