Surah 81: At-Takwir
The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and Commentary (Five Volume Commentary)
[a]In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.
[a] See 1:1.
When the sun is wrapped up,[4589]
[4589] Important Words:
کورت (wrapped up) is derived from کور. They say کور العمامة i.e. he wound round the turban upon his head. کورت الشمس means, the light of the sun became folded up or became dim or it disappeared or the sun became eclipsed (Aqrab). اذا الشمس کورت means, when the sun shall be wound with darkness like a turban; or when it shall be wrapped up and have its light taken away or shall lose its light; or shall be divested of its light; or shall be cast away. These are some of the meanings of the verse given by Jalalain, Qatadah, ‘Ikrimah and Mujahid as quoted by Lane.
Commentary:
It is generally said that this Surah deals with the Resurrection, when the laws and processes of nature as we know them, will cease to operate. But this does not appear to be plausible, the whole trend and tenor of the Surah speaks so patently of the conditions which obtain in the physical world that some of the verses will lose all sense if they are taken as referring to the Final Resurrection. In fact, the Surah speaks of the great changes that have taken place in the material world and in human life since the time of the Holy Prophet, particularly in our own time. The Surah thus makes a special reference to the present era—the era of the Promised Messiah. Some verses may equally be interpreted literally as well as metaphorically.
The Holy Prophet is described in the Holy Qur’an as the Bright Sun (25:62). The verse, therefore, may mean: When there will be spiritual darkness all over the world—the light of the Spiritual Sun having become dim or having disappeared altogether. Or the verse may refer to the eclipse of the sun and the moon, which according to a well-known saying of the Holy Prophet, was to take place in the time of the Mahdi, a phenomenon that the world had never witnessed before (Qutni, p. 188). A reference to this is also to be found in 75:10. This predicted eclipse of the sun and the moon took place in 1894 in the month of Ramadan.
And when the stars are obscured,[4590]
[4590] Commentary:
The word النجوم meaning stars, signifies religious ulema. The well-known hadith أصحابی کالنجوم بأیھم اقتدیتم اھتدیتم i.e. My Companions are like stars, whomsoever you will follow, you will receive right guidance (Baihaqi), supports this meaning. In this sense of the word, the verse means: "When religious leaders become corrupt, and cease to exercise any influence." Literally, the verse means: "When stars fall in large numbers." This may be a reference to the falling of stars in exceptionally large numbers in 1885 when the Promised Messiah, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, had already announced his claim to be a Divine Reformer.
[a]And when the mountains are made to move.[4591]
[a] 18:48; 52:11; 78:21.
[4591] Important Words:
سیرت (made to move) is derived from سار i.e. he or it went, passed away or departed. سیرہ من بلده means, he expelled him from his town (Lane & Aqrab).
الجبال (mountains) is plural of جبل which means, a mountain; a man who does not move from his place, i.e. a big man; the chief of a people; a learned man (Lane).
Commentary:
The verse means: When mountains will be blown away by dynamite and roads will be made through them; or (metaphorically) when men wielding great authority and influence will be expelled from their own countries; or when the authority of rulers will become undermined.
And when the she-camels, ten months with young, are abandoned,[4592]
[4592] Important Words:
عشار (she-camels, ten months with young) is the plural of عشراء which means, a she-camel that has been ten months with young. عشار is applied to she-camels until some of them have brought forth and others are expected to bring forth. Such she-camels were considered to be a very valuable possession by the Arabs (Lane & Aqrab).
عطلت (are abandoned) is derived from عطل. They say عطل الأجیر i.e. the hired man was without occupation. عطل الشیء (attala) means, he left the thing unattended or neglected. عطل البئر means, he left off going to the well for taking water (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
The reference in the verse is to the replacement of camels by better and swifter means of transport—railway trains, steamships, motor cars, aeroplanes, etc. Or the verse may signify that, in Promised Mahdi’s time, camels—she-camels ten months with young—will lose their importance, even in Arabia. There is a pointed reference to camels being replaced by other means of transport in a saying of the Holy Prophet which is to the effect: ولیترکن القلاص فلا یسعی علیھا i.e. the camels will be abandoned and will not be used for going from one place to another (Muslim).
And when the beasts are gathered together,[4593]
[4593] Important Words:
حشرت (gathered together) is passive voice in the fem. gen. from حشر. They say حشر الناس i.e. he collected the people. حشر الجمع means, he drove the people from one place to another. حشره عن وطنه means, he banished him from his native country. حشرت الوحوش means, the wild beasts died or were destroyed (Lane).
Commentary:
In view of different meanings of the root word حشر the verse would signify: When animals will be collected in zoos or when primitive people will be settled in organized, civil communities; or when they will be compelled to leave their homelands, as the natives in Uganda and the Kenya Colony, etc. were told to till their lands or go out; or when they will be destroyed as the Native Americans in the United States of America and the Aborigines in Australia and New Zealand, etc. have been practically annihilated.
[a]And when the seas are made to flow forth one into the other,[4594]
[a] 52:7; 82:4.
[4594] Important Words:
البحار (seas) is the plural of بحر which means, a sea; a great river; a spacious place comprising a large quantity of water. It is also the plural of بحرة which means, a town or village (Lane & Aqrab).
سجرت (made to flow forth). They say سجر الماء النھر i.e. the water filled the stream. سجر الماء (sajjara) means, he made the water to flow forth whithersoever it would. Thus اذا البحار سجرت means: When the seas are filled; when the rivers are made to flow into one another; when the seas will be set on fire; when the seas will meet together and become one; when towns or cities will swell with their populations (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
In view of different meanings of the words سجرت and البحار given under Important Words the verse signifies: When the waters of rivers will be drained away for irrigation and other purposes, and rivers will be linked up together for these purposes; when in sea battles very large ships will be set on fire and it would seem as if the seas were on fire; when large oceans will be joined together by means of canals; when the rural population will go into towns and cities and they will overflow with their inhabitants.
And when people are brought together,[4595]
[4595] Commentary:
The verse means: When the means of transport and communication will become so developed and when intercourse between peoples living in far off lands will become so easy and frequent as to make them unite into one people. Or the verse may signify that people holding analogous social or political views will form themselves into "parties." The reference may be to the Labour, Communist, Nazi and Fascist parties.
And when the girl-child buried alive is questioned about,
‘For what crime was she killed?’[4596]
[4596] Commentary:
The burying or burning alive of girls will be declared a capital crime.
And when books are spread abroad,[4597]
[4597] Commentary:
The reference clearly seems to be to the vast circulation of newspapers, journals, and books and to the system of libraries and reading rooms and such other places and means of spreading knowledge in the latter days—in the time of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.
And when the heaven is laid bare,[4598]
[4598] Important Words:
کشطت (laid bare). کشط الشیء means, he removed, took off or stripped off from the thing what had covered it. کشطت البعیر means, I skinned the camel. کشط روعه means, his fright was removed (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
The reference in the verse may be to the vast strides that the science of astronomy has made in the latter days. The advance in this branch of science during the past decade has startled the world.
The verse also signifies that with the advent of the Promised Messiah the doors of spiritual sciences will be thrown wide open.