Аль-Вакиа 56:73–78

أَفَرَ‌أَيْتُم مَّا تَحْرُ‌ثُونَ (Well, tell Me about that [ seed ] which you sow:...56:63) In the matter of human creation, man

The last answer is summarized thus in verse [ 73] نَحْنُ جَعَلْنَاهَا تَذْكِرَ‌ةً وَمَتَاعًا لِّلْمُقْوِينَ "We have made it a reminder [ of Our infinite power, and of the fire of hell ] and a benefit for travelers in deserts....56:73) The word muqwin is derived from the infinitive iqwa' and it comes from the root-word qiwa' which means 'waste, barren land, ruin or desert'. Thus the word muqwin means 'a traveler or a wayfarer of a desert who alights to prepare his meals'. The verse purports to say that all these creations are the result of Allah's power and wisdom.

فَسَبِّحْ بِاسْمِ رَ‌بِّكَ الْعَظِيمِ (So, proclaim the purity of the name of your Lord, the Magnificent...56:74) The logical and rational conclusion of the above considerations should be for man to believe in the All-Encompassing Divine Power and in His Oneness, and declare the Purity of the Great Lord; for that is the way to express His gratitude.

Sequencing of Arguments

Preceding verses put forward rational arguments, in support of life after death, by inviting attention to Allah's infinite power. The current verses are meant to prove this fact by giving an authoritative reference, that is, the Qur'an.

Allah swears to the Greatness of the Qur’ an

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَاقِعِ النُّجُومِ (So, I swear by the setting places of the stars...56:75) The words لَا أُقْسِمُ 'I swear' are prefixed in the text by the particle لَا la [ no ] which is not translated in the text, because it is idiomatically prefixed to 'oath', as for example لَا وَاللہ la wallah [ No, by Allah ]. In pre-Islamic Arabic, we come across the idiomatic oath لَا وَ اَبَیکَ la wa-abik [ No, by your father ]. Some lexicologists say that the particle la is added only as an idiomatic expression [ zaidah ] which carries no sense, and others say that when the refutation of an addressee's hypothesis is intended, y la is used to signify that the assumption of the addressee is not correct, but the right thing is that which follows.

The word مَوَاقِعِ mawaqi` is the plural of مَوقع mawq' and refers to the points where or times when the stars set. Here, like in Surah -Najm وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَىٰ "By the star when it goes down to set, [ 1] ", the oath of stars is qualified by their setting-time. The wisdom underlying this is that when the stars set, their function seems to have been cut off from the horizon, and we witness effects of their vanishing. This is the proof of their perishability and dependence on Divine power.

إِنَّهُ لَقُرْ‌آنٌ كَرِ‌يمٌ فِي كِتَابٍ مَّكْنُونٍ لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُ‌ونَ (It is surely the Noble Qur'an (recorded already) in a protected book [ i.e. the Preserved Tablet ] that is not touched except by the purified ones [ the angels ]....77-79) Verses [ 75-76] constituted oath and the current set of verses is the subject of the oath jawab-ul-qasam ]. The Qur'an is a noble and glorious Book. The verse refutes the assumption of the pagans that this Book has been forged by a human being or that [ God forbid!] it is a speech inspired by the devil.

The phrase كِتَابٍ مَّكْنُونٍ 'a protected book' refers to lawh mahfuz [ i.e. the Preserved Tablet ].