89- Surat Alfajr

 89- Surat Alfajr

30 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)

A'auzu Bellahi mena ash-shytani ar-rajim

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan

Bismi Ellahi Ar-rhmani Ar-rahim

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Wa Alfajr (1).

By the dawn.

Wa layalin ashr (2).

And by ten nights.

Wa Alshaf'e wa Alwatr (3).

And by Alshaf' and Alwatr.

Wa al-layli iza yasr (4).

And by the night when it passes.

Hal fee zaleka qasamun lezi hejr (5).

Is there in that an oath for he who has a mind.

Alam tara kayfa fa'ala Rabuka be-Ad (6).

Did not you see how your lord dealt with Ad?.

Erama zati alemad (7).

Erama, possessors of columns.

Allati lam youkhlaq meth-loha fee albilad (8).

Which had not been created like them in the lands.

Wa Thamuda allazina jabuo alsakhra be-lwad (9).

And Thamud who carved out the rocks in the valley.

Wa Fera'wna zee alawtad (10).

And Pharaoh, lords of pegs.

Allazina taghaw fee albelad (11).

Who transgressed in the lands.

Fa aktharuo feha alfasad (12).

And they increased therein the corruption.

Fa sabba alayihim Rabbuka sawta azab (13).

So Your Lord poured out a whip of torment on them. 

Inna Rabbaka labil-mersad (14).

Verily, Your Lord is monitoring.

Fa amma alinsanuo iza ma ebtalahu Rabbuhu fa akramahu wa na'amahu fa yaqulu Rabbi akraman (15).

And as for man, when His Lord tests him, and honors and favors him, he says: My Lord honored me.

Wa amma iza ma ebtalahu faqadara alayihi rezqahuo fa yaqulu Rabbi ahanan (16).

But when He tests him, and straitens his provision, he says: My Lord humiliated me.

Kalla bal la tukremuona alyateem (17).

Nay! but you do not honor the orphan.

Wa la tahadduona ala ta'amee almiskeen (18).

And do not encourage one another to feed the needy.

Wa ta'kuluona alturatha akllan lamma (19).

And you devour the inheritance, eating it altogether.

Wa tuhebuona almala hubban jamma (20).

And you love wealth, immense love.

Kalla iza dukkati alarduo dakkan dakka (21).

Nay! when the earth has been crushed, complete crushing.

Wa ja'a Rabbuka wa almalakuo saffan saffa (22).

And Your Lord has come, and the angels rows by rows.

Wa jee'a yawma-izin be-jahanama, yawma-izin ytazakaruo alinsanuo wa anna lahu alzekra (23).

That day Jahanam will be brought; man will remember that day, but how the remembrance is for him. 

Yaquluo yalaitani qaddamtuo lehayati (24).

He will say: O I wish, I had sent forth for my life.

Fa yawma-izin la you'azebuo azabahuo ahad (25).

So that day, none will punish as His punishment.

Wa la youthequo wathaqahuo ahad (26).

And none will cuff as His shackling.

Ya ayatuha alnafsuo almutma'enah (27).

O reassured soul.

Erje-e ela Rabbiki radiatan mardiah (28).

Return to Your Lord well-satisfied, well-pleasing.

Fadkhuli fee ebadi (29).

Then enter among My servants.

Wadkhuli jannati (30).

And enter My paradise.

Simplified interpretation:

 Surat Alfajr begins with five oaths, and Allah swears by them for what they have of superiority over other things, where He swears by Alfajr, and the ten nights, and Alshaf' and alwatr, and the night when it passes. But there is a great controversy between the commentators in determining what the ten nights is, and according to it they determined the other four oaths.

 Allah swears by Alfajr prayer (the Dawn), then swears by the first ten nights of the month of zul hijjah, which includes the day of Arafah (the ninth day), and Our prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said about them in narration of Ibn Abbas: "There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these days", Then He swears by Alshaf' "the even" and by Alwatr "the odd", and it was said that they refers to the prayers in general, or the night prayer for when a man asked the Messenger of Allah about the prayer at night, the Messenger said: "prayer during the night should consists of pairs of rakhahs (the even), but if one of you fears the morning is near (AlFajr prayer time), he should pray one rakhah which will make his prayer on odd number for him (the odd). Then Allah swears by the night when it moves away.

 Allah says in the fifth verse as an acknowledgment that these oaths are sufficient for he who has a mind, because his mind will prevent him from committing sins that deserve the painful torment that Allah has inflicted on the previous nations. Where Allah mentioned three previous nations in the verses (6-12), and they are: Ad, Thamud, and Pharaoh.

 Ad was the people of the Prophet "Huod", they are possessors of columns, and had not been created like them in the lands. And Allah says about them in Surat Fusilat Aya (15): "As for Ad, they were arrogant upon the earth without right, and said who is greater than us in the strength?". And Thamud was the people of the Prophet Saleh, they carved out the rocks in the valley, and they used that rocks for building their homes, where Allah says in Surat Ala'araf Aya (74): "And carve from the mountains homes", and Allah says about them in Surat Fusilat Aya (17): "And as for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance". Pharaoh people, the lords of pegs, Who transgressed in the lands And they increased therein the corruption, where Pharaoh was the most arrogant and he said to his people as mentioned in Surat Alnazi'at Aya (24)  "I am your lord , the most high", and he afflicted the children of Israel with the worst torment.

 So Allah poured out a whip of torment on them, that is, Allah punished them with various kinds of torment, as for Ad, they were destroyed by a violent windstorm (Alhaqqah:6), and Thamud were destroyed by the overpowering blast (Alhaqqah: 5) so spared none (Alnajm:51), And Allah seized Pharaoh and his hosts and throw them into the sea (Alqassas: 40). 

 So Allah is monitoring (Aya 14) that is, He monitors His creation in what they do, and He rewards each of them for his efforts in the worldly life, and in the hereafter, then Allah describes in the next two verses (15,16) a false belief about the provision, where man thinks that his provision is an honor from Allah upon him, and when Allah straitens his provision, he thinks that Allah humiliated him, but in fact, it is nothing but a test from Allah for man, and then the truthful will be distinguished from the liar.

 The provision is a source of arrogance and tyranny for some people, where Allah says in Surat Alshura Aya (27): "And if Allah had expanded the provision for His servants, they would spread tyranny throughout the earth, But He sends down in an amount which He wills. Indeed, He is, of His servants, All-Aware, All-Seeing", therefore, preventing a person from obtaining provision is better for him, and Allah does not humiliated him as he thinks in Aya (16).

 Perhaps that explains the beginning of the verse (17) by nay, then Allah shows us four forms of man's transgression, which are related to provision in verses (17-20), Where He said "but you do not honor the orphan, and do not encourage one another to feed the needy", And Allah described the one who commit these two sins in Surat Alma'uon and said that he denies the Judgment.

 The third sin is that man devour the inheritance, eating it altogether, and he does not care if it is his right or someone else's right, and Allah commanded us not to eat up each others property by false means in many verses of the Holy Quran (e.g. Surat Albaqarah 188, Surat Alnesa'a 10, 29), Whereas the fourth sin is that man love wealth, immense love, and he does not spend in the way of Allah, and Allah says in Surat Altawbah Aya (34): "And those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, give them the tiding of a painful punishment".

  Then Allah describes some scenes of the day of resurrection in the verses (21-23) where he says: "Nay! when the earth has been crushed, complete crushing, and Your Lord has come, and the angels rows by rows, that day Jahanam will be brought; man will remember that day, but how the remembrance is for him", that is, the earth will be crushed into pieces and it will be leveled, then Allah will come to judge between His creation, and the angels will come rows by rows, and Jahanam will be brought, and Our prophet (PBUH) said in narration of Ibn Mas'uod: "Hellfire be brought on that day with seventy thousand reins, with each rein seventy thousand angels dragging it". And then man will remember what he did in his life, but the remembrance will not benefit him that day. And then, He will say: O I wish, I had sent forth for my life (Aya 24), he will wish that he had offered some righteous deeds to avail him from Hellfire.

 So that day, none will punish as His punishment, and none will cuff as His shackling (Ayat 25,26), on that day, no one is more tormented than Allah's torture for the infidels, and there is no one more cuffing than the angels of Hell for those who disbelieved in their Lord, and Allah describes them in Surat Altahreem Aya (6): "Over which are appointed angels, harsh, and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded".

 But as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, it will be said to them (Ayat 27-30): "O reassured soul, return to Your Lord well-satisfied, well-pleasing, then enter among My servants, and enter My paradise", this soul was reassured by faith, certified by resurrection and reward, and they did not do what Allah forbade them, and they did not commit the four sins which were mentioned above. Therefore as it was also mentioned in Surat Albayyinah Aya (8) Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him, so they will enter among the righteous slaves and their reward will be the paradise.

   

No one Knows its interpretation except Allah