(1-16) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Hā Mīm. * By the clear Book! * Indeed, We sent it down on a blessed night, for We have always been warners. * On that night every matter of wisdom is determined, * by a command from Us. Indeed, We have always sent messengers, * as a mercy from your Lord. He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, * the Lord of the heavens and earth and all that lies between them, if you are certain. * There is no deity worthy of worship except Him. He gives life and causes death—your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. * Yet they are playing about in doubt. * So await the Day when the sky brings forth a visible smoke * that will engulf the people. ‘This is a painful punishment. * Our Lord, remove the punishment from us; we will surely believe.’ * How can they now take heed when a messenger who made the truth clear had already come to them? * Then they turned away from him and said, ‘Taught by others—a madman!’ * Indeed, We will lift the punishment for a little while, but you will surely return. * On the Day We strike with the greatest blow, We shall indeed exact retribution.”
This is an oath by the Quran concerning the Quran. He swore by the Book, which makes clear everything requiring clarification, that He sent it down “on a blessed night”—that is, a night abounding in goodness and blessing. It is the Night of Decree, which is better than a thousand months. Thus He sent down the finest speech on the finest of nights and days, to the finest of humankind, in the language of the noble Arabs, so that he might warn thereby a people engulfed in ignorance and overcome by wretchedness. They might then seek light from its radiance, draw from its guidance, and follow its path, thereby attaining goodness in this world and the Hereafter. Hence He said: “Indeed, We have always been warners. On that night”—that is, on that blessed night during which the Quran was revealed—“every matter of wisdom is determined.” In other words, every matter pertaining to divine decree and religious law that Allah has ordained is distinguished, set apart, and recorded.
This recording and determination ⦗772⦘ that take place on the Night of Decree constitute one (1) of the instances in which decrees are recorded and distinguished. They accord with the first record in which Allah inscribed the decreed measures of all creatures—their lifespans, provisions, deeds, and circumstances. Allah Most High then appoints angels to record what will befall a servant while he is still in his mother’s womb. After the servant enters this world, He assigns noble recording angels to him who record and preserve his deeds. Then, on the Night of Decree, He ordains what will occur during the coming year. All of this proceeds from the completeness of His knowledge, the perfection of His wisdom, the precision with which He preserves all things, and His care for His creation.
“A command from Us”—that is, this wise matter is a command proceeding from Us.
“Indeed, We have always sent messengers,” and sent down Books. The messengers convey the commands of the One who sent them and inform people of His decrees. “As a mercy from your Lord”—that is, the sending of the messengers and the revelation of the Books, the greatest of which is the Quran, are a mercy from the Lord of all servants to His servants. Allah has shown His servants no mercy greater than guiding them through the Books and messengers. Every good they attain in this world and the Hereafter comes through this and because of it. “He alone is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing”—that is, He hears every sound and knows every matter, outward and inward. Allah Most High knew His servants’ need for His messengers and Books, so He had mercy upon them through these and bestowed His favor upon them. To Him belong all praise, gracious favor, and beneficence.
“The Lord of the heavens and earth and all that lies between them”—that is, their Creator and Master, who governs them and disposes of them as He wills. “If you are certain”—that is, if you possess knowledge of this that produces certainty, then know that the Lord of all creatures is their true God. Hence He said: “There is no deity worthy of worship except Him”—that is, nothing is worthy of worship except His Countenance. “He gives life and causes death”—that is, He alone controls the giving of life and the causing of death. He will gather you after your death and repay you for your deeds: good for good and evil for evil. He is “your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers”—that is, the Lord of the first and the last, who nurtures them with blessings and wards afflictions away from them.
After Allah Most High had established His Lordship and divinity with evidence that necessitates complete knowledge and dispels doubt, He stated that, despite this clarification, the disbelievers are “playing about in doubt.” That is, they are immersed in doubts and specious arguments, heedless of the purpose for which they were created, and occupied with futile play that brings them nothing but harm.
“So await”—that is, await the punishment that will befall them, for it has drawn near and its time has come—“the Day when the sky brings forth a visible smoke that will engulf the people.” That is, the smoke will envelop them, and they will be told: “This is a painful punishment.”
The commentators differed over what is meant by this smoke. It was said that it is the smoke that will engulf and envelop people when the Fire is brought near to the evildoers on the Day of Resurrection; that Allah threatened them with the punishment of that Day; and that He commanded His Prophet to await that Day for them.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that this is the Quran’s customary manner of threatening the disbelievers, granting them respite, terrifying them with that Day and its punishment, and consoling the Messenger and the believers by having them await what will befall those who harmed them.
It is also supported by His words in this verse: “How can they now take heed when a messenger who made the truth clear had already come to them?” This will be said to the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection when they request to return to this world, and they will be told that the time for returning has passed.
It was also said that this refers to what afflicted the disbelievers of Quraysh when they refused to believe and arrogantly rejected the truth. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed against them, saying: “O Allah, help me against them with years like the years of Joseph.” Allah then afflicted them with severe famine until they ate carrion and bones. Because of their extreme hunger, they began to perceive the space between heaven and earth as though it were smoke, although no smoke was actually there.
According to this view, His words, “the Day when the sky brings forth a smoke,” refer to how it appeared to their eyes and what they perceived, not to actual smoke.
They remained in this condition until they implored the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to take pity on them and asked him to pray that Allah remove it from them. He prayed to his Lord, and Allah removed it. According to this interpretation, His words, “Indeed, We will lift the punishment for a little while, but you will surely return,” inform them that Allah would turn the punishment away from them, threaten that they would return to arrogance and denial, and foretell that this would happen—and so it did. They also inform them that Allah would punish them with the greatest blow. Those who hold this view said that this was the Battle of Badr. This opinion, however, is plainly open to objection.
It was also said that this smoke is one of the signs of the Hour and that, near the end of time, a smoke will seize people’s breath and affect the believers among them in a manner resembling smoke.
The first view is the preferred one. The verses also allow the possibility that the words, “So await the Day when the sky brings forth a visible smoke,” mean that all of this will occur on the Day of Resurrection, ⦗773⦘ while His words, “Indeed, We will lift the punishment for a little while, but you will surely return. * On the Day We strike with the greatest blow, We shall indeed exact retribution,” refer to what befell Quraysh, as previously explained. If these verses are interpreted according to these two meanings, nothing in their wording prevents it. Rather, one finds that they accord perfectly with both. This is what appears strongest to me. Allah knows best.
(17-33) “We certainly tested before them the people of Pharaoh,” through to the end of the account.
(2) After mentioning the denial of those who rejected the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah Most High stated that they had predecessors among earlier deniers. He related the account of those people with Moses and the punishment Allah brought down upon them, so that the present deniers might desist from their conduct. He said: “We certainly tested before them the people of Pharaoh.” That is, We tried and tested them by sending Our messenger Moses son of Imrān to them—the noble messenger who possessed generosity and noble qualities of character to a degree not found in others.
“Hand over Allah’s servants to me.” That is, he said to Pharaoh and his chiefs: “Hand Allah’s servants over to me,” meaning the Children of Israel. In other words: release them and set them free from your torment and from the dreadful punishment to which you subject them, for they are my kinsfolk and were the finest people in the world during their time.
You have wronged and enslaved them without right, so release them that they may worship their Lord. “Indeed, I am a trustworthy messenger to you”—that is, a messenger from the Lord of all worlds, trustworthy regarding the message with which He sent me. I conceal none of it from you, nor do I add anything to it or subtract anything from it. This requires complete submission to him.