Thafseer Lafzi 11 — Sūrat al-Inshiqāq (84) — the whole sūrah سُورَة الانْشِقَاق

1 · Introducing the sūrah #

• The course moves backwards through Juzʾ ʿAmma. You met Sūrat al-Burūj (85) in Lesson 10; Sūrat al-Inshiqāq (84) is the sūrah before it in the muṣḥaf.
• The whole sūrah — āyāt 1 to 25 — is taken here in order, each āyah recited and glossed, followed by nine lessons.

2 · Āyāt 1–5 — the sky, the earth, and both obeying #

Idhā s-samāʾu nshaqqat · wa adhinat li-rabbihā wa ḥuqqat · wa idhā l-arḍu muddat · wa alqat mā fīhā wa takhallat · wa adhinat li-rabbihā wa ḥuqqat

"When the sky is split open, and it listens to its Lord — and it is right that it should; and when the earth is stretched out, and casts out what is within it and empties itself, and it listens to its Lord — and it is right that it should."

The point that runs across these five āyāt: every one of these verbs comes in the feminine (muʾannath) form, because ٱلسَّمَآء and ٱلْأَرْض are both feminine. And āyah 5 is āyah 2 repeated word for word — the wording and the meaning are the same; what changes is who is obeying. In āyah 2 it is the sky; in āyah 5 it is the earth, which must bring out what is within it at its Lord's command — and it obeyed.

Everything submits to His command.

3 · Āyah 6 — man is labouring toward his Lord #

Yā ayyuhā l-insānu innaka kādiḥun ilā rabbika kadḥan fa-mulāqīh

"O man, you are labouring toward your Lord with great labour — and you will meet Him."

The whole āyah in plain words: "O man — until you reach your Lord you keep labouring with hardship at many works, good and bad. So in the hereafter, be one who will meet Him."

The ṣarf of مُلَٰقِي: it is an ism fāʿil, from لَاقَى (lāqā) — لَاقَى / يُلَاقِي — and its maṣdar is مُلَاقَاة (mulāqāh); لِقَاء (liqāʾ) also comes. On the letters: لَاقَى is written with the alif at the end in the shape of a yāʾ — the alif maqṣūrah.

4 · Āyāt 7–9 — the record in the right hand #

Fa-ammā man ūtiya kitābahu bi-yamīnih · fa-sawfa yuḥāsabu ḥisāban yasīrā · wa yanqalibu ilā ahlihi masrūrā

"As for him who is given his record in his right hand — he will be reckoned with an easy reckoning, and he will return to his family in joy."

فَسَوْفَ يُحَاسَبُ is the jawāb — the reply — to the أَمَّا that came before it.

The particles that throw a muḍāriʿ into the future:

So the one whose record is placed in his right hand is the one who gets an easy reckoning and returns, joyful, to his own household in Paradise.

5 · Āyāt 10–15 — the record from behind the back #

Wa ammā man ūtiya kitābahu warāʾa ẓahrih · fa-sawfa yadʿū thubūrā · wa yaṣlā saʿīrā · innahu kāna fī ahlihi masrūrā · innahu ẓanna an lan yaḥūr · balā inna rabbahu kāna bihi baṣīrā

"And as for him who is given his record behind his back — he will call out for destruction and burn in a Blaze. Indeed he was, among his family, joyful; indeed he thought he would never return. Yes indeed — his Lord was ever Seeing of him."

Two grammar points in this block. سَوْفَ comes again in āyah 11, doing the same work as in āyah 8. And in āyah 14, لَّن has come before the muḍāriʿ, so it is negated — لَّن يَحُورَ: he will never return. The man's own thought: "I shall never go back; we are not going back — that is what he supposed." He lived as though there were no returning at all.

The contrast between the two men: the one given his record in his right hand goes to his household among the people of Paradise; this one — given it from behind his back — calls out for destruction and goes into the Fire. And against the man's supposition stands بَلَىٰٓ, "yes indeed": his Lord "has been watching how you live, the whole time. And it is to Him that he is going back."

6 · Āyāt 16–19 — three oaths, and stage upon stage #

Fa-lā uqsimu bish-shafaq · wal-layli wa mā wasaq · wal-qamari idhā ttasaq · la-tarkabunna ṭabaqan ʿan ṭabaq

"I swear by the twilight glow, and by the night and what it gathers in, and by the moon when it becomes full — you will surely mount stage upon stage."

The three oaths are the qasam; لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقًا عَن طَبَقٍ is what is sworn to.

The nūn at-tawkīd:

7 · Āyāt 20–25 — the rejecters, and the reward that never ends #

Fa-mā lahum lā yuʾminūn · wa idhā quriʾa ʿalayhimu l-qurʾānu lā yasjudūn · bali lladhīna kafarū yukadhdhibūn · wallāhu aʿlamu bimā yūʿūn · fa-bashshirhum bi-ʿadhābin alīm · illā lladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilu ṣ-ṣāliḥāti lahum ajrun ghayru mamnūn

"So what is the matter with them, that they do not believe? And when the Qurʾān is recited to them, they do not prostrate. Rather, those who disbelieve are denying — and Allah knows best what they keep within. So give them tidings of a painful punishment — except those who believed and did righteous deeds: for them is a reward unending."

The negating particle lā. Twice in this block a muḍāriʿ is negated by لَا at the front — لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ and لَا يَسْجُدُونَ; lā is the particle that gives the sense of "not", and يُؤْمِنُ in the plural is يُؤْمِنُونَ.

Aʿlam as an ism tafḍīl. أَعْلَمُ is an ism tafḍīl, on the wazn أَفْعَل. Any word put on the أَفْعَل pattern comes out this way:

ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ can be taken generally — "the rejecters."

8 · The lessons of the sūrah #

Nine lessons close the sūrah, in this order.

In sum: the sūrah is "about the events that will take place on the Day of Resurrection" and, above all, "about the condition of receiving one's record in the right hand. May Allah grant all of us that good fortune."