Ad-Dukhan

Hā mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

By the Book, the Qur’ān, that clarifies, the one that distinguishes what is lawful from what is unlawful.

Indeed We revealed it on a blessed night, the Night of Ordainment (laylat al-qadr), or the eve of the middle of Sha‘bān, in which it was revealed from the Mother Book, from the seventh heaven to the heaven of this world. Indeed We have been warning, We have been causing [people] by it to have fear [of God].

In it, that is to say, on the Night of Ordainment, or on the eve of the middle of Sha‘bān, every definitive matter, that has been fixed, with regard to the provisions and the terms of life and other things [decreed by God] for the entire year until that same night again [the following year], is distinguished, is decided.

As an ordinance, a distinguishing, from Us. Indeed We have been sending from your Lord, messengers, [such as] Muhammad (s) and those before him,

as a mercy, out of compassion for those to whom these [messengers] have been sent. Surely He is the Hearer, of their sayings, the Knower, of their actions.

Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them (read rabbu’l-samāwāti, in the nominative [to understand it] as a third predicate; or read rabbi’l-samāwāti as a substitution for rabbika, ‘your Lord’), if you should be certain, O people of Mecca, that God, exalted be He, is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, then also be certain that Muhammad (s) is His Messenger.

There is no god except Him. He gives life and brings death. Your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers.

Nay, but they linger in doubt, concerning the Resurrection, playing, in mockery of you, O Muhammad (s), and so he said, ‘My God, assist me against them with seven [years of drought] like the seven of Joseph’.

God, exalted be He, says: So watch out for the day when the heaven will produce a visible smoke. Thus the earth became barren and famine became so severe that they began to see what looked like smoke rising between the heaven and the earth,

that will envelop the people, and so they said: ‘This is a painful chastisement!

Our Lord, relieve us from the chastisement; indeed we have believed’, we have [now] affirmed the sincerity of Your Prophet.

God, exalted be He, says: How can there be a reminder for them, that is to say, faith will not benefit them once the chastisement has been sent down, when already there has come to them a manifest Messenger, whose Message is plain [to understand],

but they turned away from him and said, ‘He has been taught — that is, a human being is teaching him the Qur’ān — [he is] a madman!’

‘Indeed We will remove the chastisement, the famine from you [for], a little, time; and so it was removed from them. [But] you will indeed revert!’, to your disbelief — and they did.

Mention, the day when We shall assault with the most mighty assault — this was the day of [the battle of] Badr — [then] indeed We shall take vengeance, on them (al-batsh, means ‘to seize violently’).

And certainly We tried, We tested, before them the people of Pharaoh, together with him, when a messenger came to them, namely, Moses, peace be upon him, who was honoured, before God, exalted be He,

[saying], ‘Give over to me, what I summon you to in the way of faith, that is, manifest your faith to me, O, servants of God; indeed I am for you a messenger [who is] faithful’, in what he has been sent with,

and, ‘Do not rebel, [do not] try to act strong, against God, by neglecting obedience to Him. Lo! I bring you a clear warrant’, [clear] proof of [the sincerity of] my Mission — but they threatened to stone him to death.

So he said, ‘And truly I seek refuge in my Lord and your Lord, lest you should stone me, [to death] with rocks.

And if you do not believe me, then stay away from me’, [that is] then refrain from harming me — but they did not refrain from such [action].

So he called to his Lord, saying, ‘These are indeed a guilty, an idolatrous, lot!’

God, exalted be He, said: ‘Then set out (read fa-asri or fa’sri) with My servants, the Children of Israel, by night; for you will assuredly be pursued, [surely] Pharaoh and his people will pursue you.

And leave the sea behind, once you and your companions have crossed it, at rest, still and calm, until the Egyptians enter it: indeed they will be a drowned host’ — he [Moses] was reassured by this [statement] — and they were [indeed] drowned.

How many gardens, orchards, and, flowing, fountains did they leave behind,

as well as sown fields and many a glorious residence, [many] a splendid court,

and the bounty, the comforts, in which they rejoiced!, [in which] they lived luxuriously.

So [it was] (kadhālika is the predicate of a subject [that is missing], such as ‘the matter was [so]’) and We made these an inheritance, that is to say, their riches, for another people, namely, the Children of Israel.

So neither the heaven nor the earth wept for them — in contrast to the [case with] believers, at the point of whose death weep both their places of prayer on earth and the route by which their deeds ascend the heaven; nor were they reprieved, [nor] were they deferred [until they were able] to make repentance.

And verily We delivered the Children of Israel from the humiliating chastisement, of having their children slain and their womenfolk taken as servants,

from Pharaoh (min Fir‘awna, is said to be a substitution for al-‘adhābi, on the basis of an implied annexation, that is to say, [min] ‘adhābi [Fir‘awna]; or it is said to be a circumstantial qualifier referring to al-‘adhāb, ‘the chastisement’). Truly he was a tyrant of the wanton ones.

And verily We chose them, that is, the Children of Israel, with a knowledge, that We had of their state, over [all] the worlds, that is, the worlds of their time, [those of] the rational beings.

And We gave them signs in which there was a manifest trial, an obvious grace, such as the parting of the sea, [the sending down of] manna and quails and other such [signs].

Indeed these ones, that is, the Meccan disbelievers, say,

‘It, that death after which there is life, is nothing more than our first death, that is, when they were sperm-drops, and we shall not be resurrected, [we shall not be] raised alive after the second one.

Bring us then our fathers, alive, if you are being truthful’, about our being resurrected after we have died, that is to say, that we will be given life [again].

God, exalted be He, says: Are they better, or the people of Tubba‘ — [he was] a prophet or a righteous man — and those, communities, before them? We destroyed, because of their disbelief. In other words: they are not mightier than those, and yet they were destroyed; indeed they were criminals.

And We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, [intending] to play, by creating all that (lā‘ibīna, ‘to play’, is a circumstantial qualifier).

We did not create them, and all that is between them, except with the truth, that is to say, [We created them] rightfully so that one might infer thereby Our power and Our Oneness and other matters; but most of them, that is, the Meccan disbelievers, do not know.

Assuredly the Day of Decision, the Day of Resurrection, in which God will decide between servants, will be the tryst for all of them, for everlasting chastisement;

the day when a friend will not avail a friend, on account of kinship or friendship, that is to say, [the day when] he will not [be able to] ward off from the other, anything, of the chastisement, nor will they be helped — [nor will they] be protected from it (yawma, ‘the day’, is a substitution for yawma’l-fasl, ‘the Day of Decision’),

except for him on whom God has mercy — and these are the believers, for they will intercede for one another with God’s permission. He is indeed the Mighty, the Victor in His retribution of the disbelievers, the Merciful, to believers.

Lo! the tree of Zaqqūm, one of the vilest of the bitter trees of the Tihāma region: God, exalted be He, will make it grow forth in the Hell-fire,

will be the food of the sinful, Abū Jahl and his companions, the gravest of sinners.

Like molten copper, that is to say, like the dregs of black oil (ka’l-muhli, is the second predicate) it will boil inside the bellies ([if] read taghlī, then it is a third predicate; [if] yaghlī, then it is a circumstantial qualifier referring to al-muhl, ‘molten copper’),

as the boiling of boiling water, [hamīm means] water of the most extreme temperature.

‘Seize him, it will be said to the Zabāniya [the Guards of Hell], ‘seize the sinner’, and drag him (read fa‘tilūhu or fa‘tulūhu), haul him away violently and brutally, to the midst of Hell-fire, [al-jahīm means] the centre of the Fire.

Then pour over his head the torture of boiling water!’, that is to say, the boiling water which is ever-torturous (this [use of ‘the torture of boiling water’] is rhetorically more intense than what is stated by the verse: boiling water will be poured over their heads [Q. 22:19]).

And it will be said to him: ‘Taste!, that is, [taste] the chastisement. Indeed you are the mighty, the noble one!, as you claimed when you used to say, ‘There is nothing between its two mountains [sc. Mecca] that is mightier or nobler than me!’

And it will be said to them: This, that you see of the chastisement, is indeed that which you used to doubt’, about which you used to be uncertain.

Assuredly the God-fearing will be in a secure place, a seat in which there will be security from [all] fear,

amid gardens, orchards, and springs,

dressed in fine silk and [heavy] silk brocade, that is to say, in fine and thick silks (sundusin wa’stabraqin, respectively), sitting face to face (mutaqābilīna is a circumstantial qualifier), that is to say, they do not look upon each other backs, since the couches revolve with them in them.

So [shall it be] (an implied al-amru, ‘the matter’, should be read as preceding this); and We shall pair them, either in conjugality or [meaning] We shall join them, with houris of beautiful eyes, women of the fairest complexion with wide and beautiful eyes.

They will call, they will request from servants, therein, that is, in Paradise, to bring, every fruit, thereof, [remaining] secure, [in their knowledge] that it will not come to an end or cause harm and [secure] from all danger (āminīna, ‘secure’, is a circumstantial qualifier’).

They will not taste death therein, other than the first death, namely, the one [that came] in this world after they had lived in it (some [scholars] think that illā, ‘other than’, here means ba‘da, ‘after’). And He will shield them from the chastisement of Hell-fire —

a bounty from your Lord (fadlan is a verbal noun, with the sense of tafaddulan, and is in the accusative [dependent status] because of an implied [preceding] tafaddala). That is the supreme triumph.

For We have made it easy, We have facilitated the Qur’ān, in your tongue, in your language, so that the Arabs may understand it from you, that perhaps they may remember, [that perhaps] they may be admonished and become believers — but they do not believe.

So be on the look out, await their destruction. Indeed they [too] are on the look out, for your death — this was before the revelation of the command to struggle against them.