Commentary on Sūrat al-Inshiqāq

“In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.”

“When the sky splits open, obeying its Lord as it must; when the earth is spread out, casts out all that is within it and becomes empty, obeying its Lord as it must; O mankind, you are laboring relentlessly toward your Lord, and you will meet Him. As for the one who is given his record in his right hand, he will receive an easy reckoning and return joyfully to his family. But as for the one who is given his record from behind his back, he will cry out for destruction and enter the Blazing Fire. He had indeed lived joyfully among his family, thinking that he would never return. Yes indeed! His Lord was always watching him.”

The basmala has already been discussed.

“When the sky splits open.” That is, it will open up and be rent apart, as Allah Most High says:

“When the sky is torn open” [al-Mursalāt: 9].

And as He says:

“When the sky splits open and becomes rose-red like stained leather—then which of your Lord’s favors will you both deny? On that Day, neither human nor jinn will be questioned about their sin” [al-Rahmān: 39].

Thus, its splitting open will occur on the Day of Resurrection.

“Obeying its Lord” means that it listens to and obeys the command of its Lord, Mighty and Majestic, to split open, and so it does. Yet it had been as Allah Most High described it: “seven mighty heavens” [al-Nabaʾ: 12]—strong, as Allah Most High says:

“We built the sky with might” [al-Dhāriyāt: 47].

That is, with strength. Yet this mighty, immense sky will split open on the Day of Resurrection; it will be rent and torn apart by the permission of Allah, Glorious and Exalted.

“As it must” means that it is only right for it to obey—that is, to listen and submit—because the One commanding it is Allah, its Lord and Creator, Mighty and Majestic. It therefore listens and obeys,