Tafsir of Surah Al-Fajr - Verse 30

On the Day of Judgement Everyone will be recompensed according to what He did of Good or Evil

Allah informs of what will happen on the Day of Judgement of the great horrors. He says,

كَلاَّ

(Nay!) meaning, truly.

إِذَا دُكَّتِ الاٌّرْضُ دَكّاً دَكّاً

(When the earth is flatened, Dakkan Dakka.) meaning, the earth and the mountains will be flattened, leveled and made even, and the creatures will rise from their graves for their Lord.

وَجَآءَ رَبُّكَ

(And your Lord comes) meaning, for the session of Judgement between His creatures. This is after they requested the best of the Sons of Adam -- Muhammad ﷺ-- to intercede with Allah. This will occur only after they have requested the other great Messengers, one after another. Yet, all of them will say, "I cannot do that for you." This will continue until the beseeching of the men reaches Muhammad ﷺ, and he will say, "I will do it, I will do it." So he will go and seek to intercede with Allah as the session of Judgement will have come, and Allah will allow him to intercede for that (the Judgement). This will be the first of the intercessions, and it is the praiseworthy station that has already been discussed in Surat Subhan (Al-Isra'). So Allah will come for the session of Judgement as He wills, and the angels will also come, lined up in rows upon rows before Him. Then Allah says,

وَجِىءَ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِجَهَنَّمَ

(And Hell will be brought near that Day.) In his Sahih, Imam Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj recorded that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«يُؤْتَى بِجَهَنَّمَ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَهَا سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ زِمَامٍ مَعَ كُلِّ زِمَام سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ مَلَكٍ يَجُرُّونَهَا»

(Hell will be brought on near that Day and it will have seventy thousand leashes, and each leash will have seventy thousand angels pulling it.) At-Tirmidhi also recorded the same narration. Allah said:

يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَذَكَّرُ الإِنسَـنُ

(On that Day will man remember,) meaning, his deeds, and what he did before in his past and recent times.

وَأَنَّى لَهُ الذِّكْرَى

(but how will that remembrance avail him) meaning, how can remembrance then benefit him

يَقُولُ يلَيْتَنِى قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِى

(He will say: "Alas! Would that I had sent forth for my life!") meaning, if he was a disobedient person, he will be sorry for the acts of disobedience he committed. If he was an obedient person, he will wish that he performed more acts of obdedience. This is similar to what Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal recorded from Muhammad bin Abi `Amirah, who was one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said, "If a servant fell down on his face (in prostration) from the day that he was born until the day he died as an old man, in obedience to Allah, he would scorn this act on the Day of Judgement. He would wish to be returned to this life so that he could earn more reward and compensation." Allah then says,

فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لاَّ يُعَذِّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ

(So on that Day none will punish as He will punish.) meaning, there is no one more severely punished than those whom Allah punishes for disobeying Him.

وَلاَ يُوثِقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ

(And none will bind as He will bind.) meaning, there is no one who is more severely punished and bound than those the Az-Zabaniyah punish the disbelievers in their Lord. This is for the criminals and the wrongdoers among the creatures. In reference to the pure and tranquil soul -- which is always at rest and abiding by the truth it will be said to it,

يأَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ارْجِعِى إِلَى رَبِّكِ

(O tranquil soul! Come back to your Lord.) meaning, to His company, His reward and what He has prepared for His servants in His Paradise.

رَّاضِيَةٍ

(well-pleased) meaning, within itself.

مَّرْضِيَّةً

(well-pleasing.) meaning, pleased with Allah, and He will be pleased with it and gratify it.

فَادْخُلِى فِى عِبَادِى

(Enter then among My servants,) meaning, among their ranks.

وَادْخُلِى جَنَّتِى

(And enter My Paradise!) This will be said to it at the time of death and on the Day of Judgement. This is like the angels giving glad tiding to the believer at his time of death and when he rises from his grave. Likewise is this statement here. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn `Abbas concerning Allah's statement,

يأَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ - ارْجِعِى إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً

(O tranquil soul! Come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing!) He said, "This Ayah was revealed while Abu Bakr was sitting (with the Prophet ). So he said, `O Messenger of Allah! There is nothing better than this!' The Prophet then replied,

«أَمَا إِنَّهُ سَيُقَالُ لَكَ هَذَا»

(This will indeed be said to you.)" This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Fajr, and all praise and blessings are due to Allah.

وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي (and enter My Paradise 89:30]. In this verse, Paradise is attributed to Allah, and Allah said 'My Paradise'. This is a great honour, and indicates that Paradise will not only have all sorts of eternal comfort, but above all it is a place of Allah's pleasure.

The preceding verses describe the reward of the believers in such a manner that on behalf of Allah, the angels will address their souls honourably and in a befitting manner, as in the verses. It is not clear when they will be addressed. Some commentators say that they will be addressed on the Day of Reckoning after the reckoning is over. The context of the verses confirms this. The punishment of the unbelievers was described above. That will take place in the Hereafter after the Judgment has been passed. It is obvious that the believers will be addressed at the same time. Other scholars indicate that the believers will be addressed in this world at the time of death. Many authentic traditions bear testimony to the veracity of this view. Ibn Kathir, on the other hand, reconciles the apparently conflicting statements thus: Allah will address the soul of the believers twice with these words. Once at the time of death, and again on the Day of Judgment.

Sayyidna ` Ubadah Ibn Samit's narration cited earlier supports the view that the address will be at the time of death. In a lengthy narration of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah, recorded in Musnad of Ahmad, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: "When death approaches a believer, the angels of mercy bring to him a piece of white silk and say: اخرجی راضیۃ مرضیّۃ الی روح اللہ وریحانہ 'Come out [ from this body ], well-pleased and well-pleasing, to Divine mercy and to the eternal comforts of Paradise' [ to the end of narration.] " Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that one day he recited the verse يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ (0 contented soul) in the presence of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، Abu Bakr ؓ who was present in the assembly, said: "0 Allah's Messenger, what a fine address and honour!" The Holy Prophet ﷺ said: "Behold, the angel will address you thus after your death."

A Few Strange Incidents

Said Ibn Jubair رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ reports that Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ passed away in Ta'if. After the funeral was prepared, a strange bird, the like of which was never seen before, came and entered the body, but no one saw it coming out of it. When it was lowered into the grave for burial, an invisible voice was heard reciting from the side of the grave: يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ Everyone looked around, but could not find anyone. Another incident is recorded by Hafiz Tabarani in his book Kitab-ul-` Aja'ib. He narrates with his chain of authorities, an incident about Fattan Ibn Razin Abi Hashim that once they were imprisoned in a Roman city. They were presented before their king. The king was an infidel. He coerced them to adopt his religion, and threatened them that if anyone refuses to comply with his command, he would be beheaded. They were a few people. Three of them feared for their lives, adopted his religion and thus became apostates. The fourth person refused to adopt the king's religion. He was beheaded and his head was thrown into a nearby river. When it was thrown, the head went to the bottom of the river. Later, it emerged from the water and came to the surface. Then it looked at the other three persons, and calling each one of them by name, recited:

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ﴿27﴾ ارْ‌جِعِي إِلَىٰ رَ‌بِّكِ رَ‌اضِيَةً مَّرْ‌ضِيَّةً ﴿28﴾ فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي ﴿29﴾ وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي ﴿30﴾

"0 contented. soul, [ 27] come back to your Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing [ 28] So, enter among My (special) servants, [ 29] and enter Paradise."[ 30]

After that it dived back into the water.

This was an unusual incident which everyone witnessed and heard. When the Christians of that place witnessed this, almost all of them embraced Islam which shook up the king's throne. The three persons who had become apostates reverted to Islam. Caliph Abu Ja'far Mansur had them all released from their [ enemy's ] prison.

Al-hamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah Al-Fajr

Ends here

Man has never been able to free himself from hardship. This shows that he is subordinate to some Superior Power. Similarly, man’s eyes show that there is also a Superior Eye which is watching him. His power of speech indicates that there is One capable of speech over and above him, who has bestowed upon him the power of speech and showed him the right path. If a man realizes himself in the true sense, then he will certainly recognise God.