Thafseer Lafzi 5 — Sūrat al-Fajr (89) — introduction and āyāt 1–15 سُورَة الْفَجْر

Sūrat al-Fajr (89), taken as tafsīr lafẓī: the meaning of every word, plus the ṣarf (word-form) parse of nearly every verb. This lesson covers the sūrah's introduction and āyāt 1–15; āyah 16 onward follows in the next lesson. Alongside the words come two long ṣarf digressions — jazm on a defective verb and the classification of verbs — and both are exam material.

1 · The sūrah at a glance #

Order in the muṣḥaf vs order of revelation. These two are not the same and must be kept apart. In the muṣḥaf, Sūrat aḍ-Ḍuḥā stands after Sūrat al-Layl; but in the order in which the sūrahs were actually sent down, al-Fajr came in between. In the Qurʾān's arrangement, al-Fajr is the 89th sūrah.

Why it is called al-Fajr: because of its opening words —

"By the dawn" — by the fajr I swear. That is the usual way sūrahs are named, and we have seen the same thing with many sūrahs.

The sūrah in three parts #

Read that table as the map of what is still to come. This lesson reaches only the first āyah of part 2. Parts 2 and 3 are almost entirely ahead.

2 · Āyah 1 — the oath by the dawn #

وَٱلْفَجْرِ

Wal-fajr

"By the dawn I swear."

3 · Āyah 2 — and by ten nights #

وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ

Wa layālin ʿashr

The wāw is one thing and layāl is another — take them separately.

"By the nights I swear" — and with ʿashr: "by ten nights I swear."

Which ten nights? #

The first ten [days and nights] of the month of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. It is those nights that are being singled out here.

4 · Āyah 3 — the even and the odd #

وَٱلشَّفْعِ وَٱلْوَتْرِ

Wash-shafʿi wal-watr

"By the even, I swear; and by the odd, I swear." So: by the even and by the odd.

5 · Āyah 4 — by the night when it passes #

وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا يَسْرِ

Wal-layli idhā yasr

"And by the night when it passes away." The meaning carried by yasr here is that of going, moving on — the night travels on and departs.

6 · Āyah 5 — hal, fī, dhālika, and dhī ḥijr #

هَلْ فِى ذَٰلِكَ قَسَمٌ لِّذِى حِجْرٍ

Hal fī dhālika qasamun li-dhī ḥijr

All three of the first words together give hal fī dhālika: "Is there not in that…?"

So the āyah: "Is there not in that a full and sufficient oath for one who has understanding?" — an oath that gives certainty to a person of intellect.

7 · Āyah 6 — the interrogative hamzah, and lam tara #

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ

A-lam tara kayfa faʿala rabbuka bi-ʿĀd

"Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the people of ʿĀd?"

Ṣarf of رَأَىٰ #

8 · The first digression — jazm on a defective (nāqiṣ) verb #

But with a verb like raʾā, whose last letter is a weak letter, something more happens: the final weak letter drops away altogether rather than merely taking a sukūn.

That is how the paradigm runs, and the form in our āyah is lam tara. With the interrogative hamzah in front: a-lam tara — "have you not seen?"

Mark the feminine forms specially.

9 · Āyah 7 — Iram of the lofty pillars #

إِرَمَ ذَاتِ ٱلْعِمَادِ

Irama dhāti-l-ʿimād

So a-lam tara is a verb — a muḍāriʿ verb — and then comes إِرَم Iram: the mighty people Iram, possessors of the lofty pillars (dhāt al-ʿimād) — a people of great strength.

10 · Āyah 8 — the like of which was never created #

ٱلَّتِى لَمْ يُخْلَقْ مِثْلُهَا فِى ٱلْبِلَٰدِ

Allatī lam yukhlaq mithluhā fī-l-bilād

Connect this with the āyah before it — "Did you not see how your Lord dealt with them?"

"The like of that people was never created in [any of] the lands" — no people of such strength were ever created.

Ṣarf of خَلَقَ, and the passive (majhūl) #

We know makhlūq well: al-Khāliq and al-makhlūq — and al-Khāliq is one of the attributes (ṣifāt) of Allah.

But in our āyah the verb has been put into the majhūl — the passive. The muḍāriʿ passive is يُخْلَقُ yukhlaqu.

Then, because lam comes before that verb, it becomes لَمْ يُخْلَقْ lam yukhlaq. That is how this verb has been arrived at.

11 · Āyah 9 — Thamūd, who hewed the rock #

وَثَمُودَ ٱلَّذِينَ جَابُوا۟ ٱلصَّخْرَ بِٱلْوَادِ

Wa Thamūda-lladhīna jābū-ṣ-ṣakhra bil-wād

"And Thamūd, those who hewed out the rock in the valley."

What the wāw is doing: it joins this onto the earlier question. Āyah 6 asked "Have you not seen what your Lord did to the people of ʿĀd?" — and to that is now joined the people of Thamūd, the three [peoples] being taken together.

Ṣarf of جَابَ #

Why the forms shift: the ʿayn of the verb — the middle radical — is a weak letter. In jāba that middle radical is a wāw, and a sukūn has fallen on it, so you must not take the form as it stands. Compare قَالَ — يَقُولُ qāla — yaqūlu, which we have already seen.

12 · Āyah 10 — Pharaoh of the stakes #

وَفِرْعَوْنَ ذِى ٱلْأَوْتَادِ

Wa Firʿawna dhī-l-awtād

"And Pharaoh, possessor of the stakes (al-awtād)" — Pharaoh, master of the tent-pegs, of great hosts. And here too the question still stands: "Did you not see what your Lord did to him?"

13 · Āyah 11 — those who transgressed in the lands #

ٱلَّذِينَ طَغَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْبِلَٰدِ

Alladhīna ṭaghaw fī-l-bilād

"Those who transgressed all bounds in the lands."

Ṣarf of طَغَىٰ #

14 · A short digression — the defective noun and its cases #

Sometimes with a word like ṭāghin the ending changes according to case. Take a noun: if I say زَيْدٌ Zaydun, that is a name, and there are three cases — rafʿ, naṣb and jarr. It is the same here:

An example: ذُو مَالٍ dhū māl — "one who possesses wealth", a man of means.

15 · Āyah 12 — and multiplied corruption there #

فَأَكْثَرُوا۟ فِيهَا ٱلْفَسَادَ

Fa-aktharū fīhā-l-fasād

"And they spread much corruption in them."

Ṣarf of أَكْثَرَ #

16 · Āyah 13 — the scourge of punishment #

فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ

Fa-ṣabba ʿalayhim rabbuka sawṭa ʿadhāb

"Your Lord poured upon them the scourge of punishment."

Why the word "pouring". Ṣabb is used here deliberately. Because of their sins the whip of punishment was laid on them: their misdeeds went beyond all limit — the corruption grew and grew — and it was on account of that that Allah poured out on them the lash of punishment.

17 · The second digression — how verbs are classified #

The word ṣabba is what prompts this. Start from the root.

Every verb has three root letters, and we name them by position:

So in the model فَعَلَ you have fāʾ, ʿayn, lām — and that is how the positions are named.

The types #

Mahmūz falls into three categories, according to where the hamzah stands (mahmūz al-fāʾ, al-ʿayn, al-lām).

What weakness does to the ṣarf #

You can still carry the ṣarf through such verbs, but small differences will show up:

1. one letter changes into another;
2. the vowel (ḥarakah) on a letter is not given as you would expect;
3. in some cases a letter is dropped altogether.

And where the letter at the beginning is removed, the next letter still has to be given a vowel so that the word can be pronounced. The same care applies when applying jazm — and there are places where two sukūns would come together, which is not allowed; a vowel is given instead.

18 · Āyah 14 — your Lord is ever watchful #

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِٱلْمِرْصَادِ

Inna rabbaka la-bil-mirṣād

"And indeed your Lord is ever on the watch." Truly, your Lord is observing every single deed of His servants.

19 · Āyah 15 — as for man, when his Lord tests him #

فَأَمَّا ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِذَا مَا ٱبْتَلَىٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَأَكْرَمَهُۥ وَنَعَّمَهُۥ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّىٓ أَكْرَمَنِ

Fa-ammā-l-insānu idhā mā-btalāhu rabbuhu fa-akramahu wa naʿʿamahu fa-yaqūlu rabbī akraman

Take it word by word — the fā is one thing, ammā another, and al-insān another:

Who tests, and who is tested? — his Lord tests; man is tested. And the ‑hu in rabbuhu refers back to man.

The form أَكْرَمَنِ #

That final ‑ni is the yāʾ of the speaker in its shortened form. So what we have is أَكْرَمَنِ akramani — "He has honoured me" — and the man says: "My Lord has honoured me."

The whole āyah: "And as for man, when his Lord tests him and then honours him and bestows blessings upon him, he says: My Lord has honoured me."