for him.” (1) Suhayl was Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qaṭaʿī, the brother of Ḥazm al-Qaṭaʿī. (2)
Surah al-Qiyamah is Makkan. (3)
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
“I swear by the Day of Resurrection, (1) and I swear by the self-reproaching soul.” (2)
“I swear by the Day of Resurrection”: al-Qawwās narrated from Ibn Kathir the reading, “I certainly swear,” in the first phrase, without an alif before the hamzah. “And I swear by the self-reproaching soul” was read with an alif. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj likewise recited it this way, on the understanding that Allah swore by the Day of Resurrection but did not swear by the self-reproaching soul. (4)
The sound view is that He swore by them both, and that lā is an additional particle in both cases; that is, “I swear by the Day of Resurrection and by the self-reproaching soul.”
Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said: “It reinforces the oath, as when one says, ‘No, by Allah.’”
Al-Farrāʾ said: “Lā is a rejection of the words of the denying polytheists. Then He begins, saying: ‘I swear by the Day of Resurrection, and I swear by the self-reproaching soul.’” (5)
Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah said: “They speak of the Resurrection, but the resurrection of each one of them is his death.” ʿAlqamah attended a funeral, and when the deceased had been buried, he said: “As for this man, his resurrection has come.”
“And I swear by the self-reproaching soul”: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrimah said: “It reproaches itself over both good and evil, and it does not patiently endure either ease or hardship.”
Qatādah said: “The self-reproaching soul is the wicked soul.”
(1) Al-Tirmidhi narrated it in al-Tafsir, under the exegesis of Surat al-Muddaththir, 9:247-248, and said: “This is a hasan gharib (fair and uncommon) hadith. Suhayl is not strong in hadith, and Suhayl alone narrated this hadith from Thabit.” It was also narrated by al-Nasai in al-Tafsir, 2:475; Ibn Majah in al-Zuhd, chapter “What may be hoped for of Allah’s mercy on the Day of Resurrection,” no. 4299, 2:1437; al-Darimi in al-Raqaiq, chapter on taqwa (God-consciousness), 2:302; Abu Yala in al-Musnad, 3:340; and Imam Ahmad, 3:142. Al-Hakim graded it sahih (authentic) in al-Mustadrak, 2:508, and al-Khatib narrated it in Tarikh Baghdad, 5:52. Its chain includes Suhayl al-Qatai. Al-Hafiz said in al-Taqrib: “Weak, from the seventh generation.”
(2) Manuscript “B” reads al-Qutaibi, while “A” reads al-Qatai, which is correct. His name was Suhayl ibn Mihran, the brother of Hazm al-Qatai; he was also called Abdullah al-Qatai, Abu Bakr al-Basri. He narrated from Thabit, and Hudbah ibn Khalid narrated from him. See Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 4:261; Mizan al-Itidal, 2:244; al-Duafa wa-l-Matrukin by al-Nasai; al-Majruhin, 1:353; and al-Jarh wa-l-Tadil, 4:247.
(3) Ibn al-Durays, al-Nahhas, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Dalail narrated, through various chains from Ibn Abbas, that Surat al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection) was revealed. In another wording: “La uqsimu bi-yawm al-qiyamah (I swear by the Day of Resurrection)” was revealed in Mecca. Ibn Mardawayh also narrated from Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr that Surat La Uqsim was revealed in Mecca. See al-Durr al-Manthur, 8:342.
(4) Omitted from manuscript “A.”
(5) See Maani al-Quran by al-Farra, 3:207.