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Tafsir Ishraq al-Ma'ani

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Introduction | Wiki
1. Al-Fatihah
2. Al-Baqarah
3. Al-Imran
4. Al-Nisa
5. Al-Maidah
6. Al-Anam
7. Al-Araf
8. Al-Anfal
9. Al-Taubah
10. Yunus
11. Hud
12. Yusuf
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14. Ibrahim
15. Al-Hijr
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19. Maryam
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25. Al-Furqan
26. Ash-Shuara
27. An-Naml
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30. Ar-Rum
31. Luqman
32. As-Sajdah
33. Al-Ahzab
34. Saba
35. Fatir
36. Yasin
37. As-Saffat
38. Saad
39. Az-Zumar
40. Al-Mumin
41. Ha-Meem-As-Sajdah
42. AShura
43. Az-Zukhruf
44. Ad-Dukhan
45. Al-Jathiyah
46. Al-Ahqaf
47. Muhammad
48. Al-Fath
49. Al-Hujurat
50. Al-Qaf
51. Adh-Dhariyat
52. At-Tur
53. An-Najm
54. Al-Qamar
55. Al-Rahman
56. Al-Waqiah
57. Al-Hadid
58. Al-Mujadalah
59. Al-Hashr
60. Al-Mumtahinah
61. As-Saff
62. Al-Jumuah
63. Al-Munafiqun
64. Al-Taghabun
65. At-Talaq
66. At-Tahrim
67. Al-Mulk
68. Al-Qalam
69. Al-Haqqah
70. Al-Maarij
71. Nuh
72. Al-Jinn
73. Al-Muzzammil
74. Al-Muddhththir
75. Al-Qiyamah
76. Ad-Dahr
77. Al-Mursalat
78. An-Naba
79. An-Naziat
80. Abas
81. At-Takwir
82. Al-Infitar
83. At-Tatfif
84. Al-Inshiqaq
85. Al-Buruj
86. At-Tariq
87. Al-Ala
88. Al-Ghashiyah
89. Al-Fajr
90. Al-Balad
91. Ash-Shams
92. Al-Lail
93. Ad-Duha
94. Al-Inshirah
95. At-Tin
96. Al-Alaq
97. Al-Qadr
98. Al-Bayyinah
99. Az-Zilzal
100. Al-Adiyat
101. Al-Qariah
102. At-Takathur
103. Al-Asr
104. Al-Humazah
105. Al-Fil
106. Al-Quraish
107. Al-Maun
108. Al-Kauthar
109. Al-Kafirun
110. An-Nasr
111. Al-Lahab
112. Al-Ikhlas
113. Al-Falaq
114. An-Nas
Surah 82. Al-Infitar
Verses [Section]: 1-19[1]

Quran Text of Verse 1-19
82. Al-Infitar Page 58782. Al-Infitarبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِاِذَاWhenالسَّمَآءُthe skyانْفَطَرَتْۙ(is) cleft asunder وَ اِذَاAnd whenالْكَوَاكِبُthe starsانْتَثَرَتْۙscatter وَ اِذَاAnd whenالْبِحَارُthe seasفُجِّرَتْۙare made to gush forth وَ اِذَاAnd whenالْقُبُوْرُthe gravesبُعْثِرَتْۙare overturned عَلِمَتْWill knowنَفْسٌa soulمَّاwhatقَدَّمَتْit has sent forthوَ اَخَّرَتْؕand left behind یٰۤاَیُّهَاOالْاِنْسَانُman!مَاWhatغَرَّكَhas deceived youبِرَبِّكَconcerning your Lordالْكَرِیْمِۙthe Most Noble الَّذِیْWhoخَلَقَكَcreated youفَسَوّٰىكَthen fashioned youفَعَدَلَكَۙthen balanced you فِیْۤInاَیِّwhateverصُوْرَةٍformمَّاthatشَآءَHe willedرَكَّبَكَؕHe assembled you كَلَّاNay!بَلْButتُكَذِّبُوْنَyou denyبِالدِّیْنِۙthe Judgment وَ اِنَّAnd indeedعَلَیْكُمْover youلَحٰفِظِیْنَۙ(are) surely guardians كِرَامًاNobleكَاتِبِیْنَۙrecording یَعْلَمُوْنَThey knowمَاwhateverتَفْعَلُوْنَ you do اِنَّIndeedالْاَبْرَارَthe righteousلَفِیْ(will be) surely inنَعِیْمٍۚbliss وَ اِنَّAnd indeedالْفُجَّارَthe wickedلَفِیْ(will be) surely inجَحِیْمٍۚۖHellfire یَّصْلَوْنَهَاThey will burn (in) itیَوْمَ(on the) Dayالدِّیْنِ (of) the Judgment وَ مَاAnd notهُمْtheyعَنْهَاfrom itبِغَآىِٕبِیْنَؕ(will be) absent وَ مَاۤAnd whatاَدْرٰىكَcan make you knowمَاwhatیَوْمُ(is the) Dayالدِّیْنِۙ(of) the Judgment ثُمَّThenمَاۤwhatاَدْرٰىكَcan make you knowمَاwhatیَوْمُ(is the) Dayالدِّیْنِؕ(of) the Judgment یَوْمَ(The) Dayلَاnotتَمْلِكُwill have powerنَفْسٌa soulلِّنَفْسٍfor a soulشَیْـًٔا ؕanythingوَ الْاَمْرُand the Commandیَوْمَىِٕذٍthat Dayلِّلّٰهِ۠(will be) with Allah
Translation of Verse 1-19
In the name of Allah, The Kind, The Compassionate

(82:1) When the heaven is split open,

(82:2) When the stars scatter,

(82:3) When the oceans are suffered to burst forth,1

(82:4) And the graves hurled over,2

(82:5) (Then) Shall a soul know what it has sent forward and what it left behind.3

(82:6) O Man! What has deceived you as to your Gracious Lord?4

(82:7) Who created you, shaped you and wrought you in symmetry,5

(82:8) In whatever form He wished, He cast you.6

(82:9) No indeed, you deny the Judgement.

(82:10) But, lo! Over you are preservers (of your deeds),7

(82:11) Honored (scribes) writing down (everything that you do, and),8

(82:12) Who are aware of all that you do.9

(82:13) Surely, the pious shall be in bliss;

(82:14) And surely the wicked shall be in a fiery furnace;10

(82:15) Into which they shall enter on the Day of Judgement,

(82:16) Nor shall they be able to get away from it.

(82:17) And what will explain you what the Day of Judgement is?

(82:18) Again, what will explain you what the Day of Judgement is?

(82:19) A day when no soul shall have any power (of interference) on behalf of any other soul.11 Rather, the affair shall be entirely Allah’s.


Commentary

1. That is, they will burst forth, cross boundaries and join up with each other (Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah, Hasan and others: Ibn Jarir). Hasan’s opinion is that the sea (beds) will split open, devour the waters, and the whole of the land will become a single flat dry bed (Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

2. Ibn `Abbas has interpreted these words as: “When the graves shall be searched” (Ibn Jarir).

3. To Ibn `Abbas, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and others it means, “What a man fulfilled of his obligations and what he left undone.” But to Qurazi it means, “What a man did in his life and what he left behind as his example” (Ibn Jarir).

A hadith reported by Hudhayfah, classified authentic by Hakim, says: مَنْ اسْتَنَّ خَيْرًا فَاسْتُنَّ بِهِ كَانَ لَهُ أَجْرُهُ كَامِلًا وَمِنْ أُجُورِ مَنْ اسْتَنَّ بِهِ وَلَا يَنْقُصُ مِنْ أُجُورِهِمْ شَيْئًا وَمَنْ اسْتَنَّ سُنَّةً سَيِّئَةً فَاسْتُنَّ بِهِ فَعَلَيْهِ وِزْرُهُ كَامِلًا وَمِنْ أَوْزَارِ الَّذِي اسْتَنَّ بِهِ وَلَا يَنْقُصُ مِنْ أَوْزَارِهِمْ شَيْئًا وصحيح سنن ابن ماجة “Whoever left behind him a good example is rewarded for his good deed as well as for those who followed him in that good example after him, without they suffering the least loss. In contrast, whoever left behind a bad example will have the sin upon him as well as that of those who followed his example, without their sin suffering the least loss.” Hudhayfah then recited this verse (Shawkani).

4. `Umar and Ibn `Umar have said that it is ignorance that has deceived man (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Ghalib al-Hanafi and Saleh b. Mismar have reported a hadith also to this effect. Nevertheless, this does not rule out Shaytan’s seductions. In addition, some have said that it is the Graciousness of our Lord, who does not punish at the first instance of sin that deceives man (Qurtubi).

5. That is, He balanced you. So that He did not make one of your limbs longer than the other, or made part of your body dark and part fair, or one of the eyes larger than the other (Razi). It could also mean that He straightened you up so that you can stand erect in contrast to the animals (Ibn `Abbas: Razi).

6. It is reported that the Prophet (saws) asked one of his Companions what he thought his wife would give birth to? The man said he was not sure whether it would be a male or a female. He asked him whom he thought he or she would resemble. The man replied that it was obvious that the child would resemble either of the two parents. The Prophet told him: “Do not say that. With pregnancy Allah brings back all (the shapes and forms) that have passed earlier since Adam (to choose from). Have you not read in the Qur’an: 'In whatever shape He wished, He cast him’” (Ibn Jarir). This particular hadith is, however, weak. But there are authentic traditions in Bukhari and Muslim that speak of man inheriting from beyond his parents (Ibn Kathir).

Inherited Traits

The statement about man inheriting from beyond his parents is very near to today’s knowledge of biological inheritance. Each human cell has 46 chromosomes, half of which are contributed by each parent. Therefore, there is every likelihood of the earliest chromosome being there in every new fertilized egg. And the likelihood of inheritance from distant ancestors will increase if it is discovered that - by some complex mechanism - genes are also inherited directly and not merely whole chromosomes, since each cell carries anything between a hundred thousand to five million genes, the exact number being undetermined.

Another amazing discovery of modern science is that every newly fertilized egg receives a cellular organelle called mitochondria, from the mother's side alone (although occasionally, a male mitochondria might also slip through, but that perhaps is abnormal). And mitochondria has its own DNA within it, whose exact function is not very well understood. Thus, the mitochondria that each human has in every of his cell, could have been coming down from Hawwa' (asws).

Further, there is no difference in opinion among the scientists that since instructions at the cell level for all surviving life forms are written in similar language, they must have one origin. To which statement we can add the correction that the sudden appearance of Adam (asws) at the behest of Allah (swt), in the middle of the chain of evolutionary development, is not a remote impossibility. Currently, it is known to the scientists that the so called evolution of life on earth does not take place in gradual steps, as thought earlier, rather by a process - named by some as “Punctuated Equilibria” - in which new life forms, with new designs and advanced organs, appear abruptly and quite suddenly, all set to confront new life conditions. Consequently, the Being that is capable of such big steps in mutations that result in a new species, is also capable of giving rise to one independent of the chain (Au.).

A report of Bishr b. Jahsh says that, أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَصَقَ يَوْمًا فِي كَفِّهِ فَوَضَعَ عَلَيْهَا أُصْبُعَهُ ثُمَّ قَالَ قَالَ اللَّهُ ابْنَ آدَمَ أَنَّى تُعْجِزُنِي وَقَدْ خَلَقْتُكَ مِنْ مِثْلِ هَذِهِ حَتَّى إِذَا سَوَّيْتُكَ وَعَدَلْتُكَ مَشَيْتَ بَيْنَ بُرْدَيْنِ وَلِلْأَرْضِ مِنْكَ وَئِيدٌ فَجَمَعْتَ وَمَنَعْتَ حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَتْ التَّرَاقِيَ قُلْتَ أَتَصَدَّقُ وَأَنَّى أَوَانُ الصَّدَقَةِ Once the Prophet spat in his palm and pointing at it with his finger said: “Allah says, 'Son of Adam. Do you think you will be able to frustrate Me when I have created you from a thing like this? When I shaped you and gave you symmetry you began to strut about, clad in two cloaks, while the earth is going to swallow you! Then you amassed (wealth) and refused to spend it until you approached death. Then you say, "I give (so much) in charity (to so and so)." But this is not the time for acceptance of charity.’" The report is in Musnad of Ahmad, of Hasan status, and another, similar, is in Ibn Majah (Ibn Kathir).

With reference to the wonders of the body, Sayyid Qutb quotes A.C. Morrison: “A part of the human ear is a series of some four thousand minute but complex arches graduated with exquisite regularity in size and shape. These may be said to resemble a musical instrument, and they seem adjusted to catch, and transmit in some manner to the brain, every cadence of sound or noise, from the thunderclap to the whisper of the pines and the exquisite blending of the tones and harmonies of every instrument in the orchestra. If in forming the ear the cells were impelled to evolve strict efficiency only that man might survive, why did they not extend the range and develop a superacuteness? Perhaps the power behind these cells’ activities anticipated man’s coming need of intellectual enjoyment, or did they by accident build better than they knew?” (Man Does Not Stand Alone, London, 1962, pp. 63-64)

7. Ibn `Abbas has said that these are four angels, two during the day and two during the night, who record everything that a man does (Shawkani).

One of them is on the right side and the other on the left. The Qur’an said (50: 17-18): {إِذْ يَتَلَقَّى الْمُتَلَقِّيَانِ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ قَعِيدٌ (17) مَا يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ } [ق: 17، 18] “When the two angels meet together, one sitting on the right and another on the left, not a word does he utter, but by him is an observer ready (to jot down).”

It is also known (from a hadith: Au.) that they do not write down an evil deed for the first six hours after it has been committed, in the hope that the man will repent. If he does, it is not recorded at all (Alusi).

Shanqiti adds: An additional possible meaning is that they guard him, as in verse (6: 61):

{وَيُرْسِلُ عَلَيْكُمْ حَفَظَةً} [الأنعام: 61]

“And He sends guards over you.”

8. It is reported that the Prophet said: أكرموا الكرام الكاتبين الذين لا يفارقونكم إلا عند إحدى حالتين: الجنابة والغائط. فإذا اغتسل أحدكم فليستتر بحرم حائط أو ببعيره، أو ليستره أخوه “Honor the honored scribes. Those, who do not part company except in two situations: in the water closet and during intercourse. Therefore, when one of you takes a bath let him either get behind a wall, or a camel, or seek a brother’s help in shielding him with a piece of cloth” (Qurtubi).

The report is in Sahih of Ibn Hibban (Ibn Kathir).

Also see ch. 6, note 97 of this work.

9. Thanwi observes: Their knowledge includes people’s intentions. As for the hadith in Suyuti that they do not hear the dhikr ‘l-khafiyy (sub-vocal remembrance), taken as a special case, it does not contradict the general rule that they are aware of intentions.

10. It is said that Sulayman b. Abdul Malik passed by Madinah on his way to Makkah. When Abu Hazim met him, he asked him: حكي أن سليمان بن عبد الملك مر بالمدينة وهو يريد مكة ، فقال لأبي حازم : كيف القدوم على الله غداً ؟ “What kind of presentation will it be tomorrow before our Lord?” Abu Hazim replied: قال : أما المحسن فكالغائب يقدم من سفره على أهله ، وأما المسيء فكالآبق يقدم على مولاه ، قال : فبكى ، ثم قال : “As for the virtuous, it will be like a man returning home after a journey. But for the evil-doer, it will be like a runaway slave (arrested) and brought before his lord.” Sulayman wept and said:

ليت شعري ما لنا عند الله

“Only if we knew how we will be treated.” Abu Hazim told him: فقال أبو حازم : أعرض عملك على كتاب الله ، قال : في أي مكان من كتاب الله؟ > “You can know that from the Qur’an.” “From which part?” Sulayman asked anxiously. Abu Hazim recited these verses: قال : {إِنَّ الابْرَارَ لَفِى نَعِيمٍ * وَإِنَّ الْفُجَّارَ لَفِى جَحِيمٍ} “Surely, the pious shall be in bliss; and surely the wicked shall be in a fiery furnace” (Razi, Sabuni).

11. This does not negate intercession. Rather, it negates an independent interference on the part of the intercessors. When Allah wishes, He will allow intercession for a deserving person (Ma`arif).

Relationship

Suyuti has said that Allah’s grace inspired in him the key to a subtle connection between this chapter, the two earlier ones and the one that follows it. Most of the two preceding chapters, i.e.., surah Al-Takwir and Al-Inshiqaq dealt with the breaking in of the Day of Judgment. When that would have taken place, there will be a lull. That is referred to in this surah Al-Mutaffifin. The next major event on that Day will be that of the handing over of Records of deeds to the people, either in the right or the left hand. This theme is taken up in the next surah i.e. Al-Inshiqaq (Alusi).