Tafsir Surah Al-Qiyamah ayah 23 | Learn Quran Tafsir

How the Prophet received the Revelation

This is Allah teaching to His Messenger that how to receive the revelation from the angel. For verily, he (the Prophet) was rushing in his attempts to grasp the revelation and he would be reciting the revelation with the angel while he was reciting it. Therefore, Allah commanded him that when the angel brings some revelation to him he should just listen. Allah would make sure to collect it in his chest, and He would make it easy for him to recite it in the same way that it was revealed to him. Allah would explain it, interpret it and clarify it for him. So

the first phase was gathering it in his chest,

the second phase was recitation and

the third phase was its explanation and clarification of its meaning.

Thus, Allah says,

لَاا تُحَرِّكۡ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعۡجَلَ بِهِ

Move not your tongue concerning to make haste therewith.

meaning, with the Qur'an.

This is as Allah says,

وَلَا تَعۡجَلۡ بِالۡقُرۡءانِ مِن قَبۡلِ إَن يُقۡضَى إِلَيۡكَ وَحۡيُهُ وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدۡنِى عِلۡماً

And be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation is completed to you, and say:

My Lord! Increase me in knowledge. (20:114)

Then Allah says

إِنَّ عَلَيۡنَا جَمۡعَهُ

It is for Us to collect it,

meaning, `in your chest.'

وَقُرۡانَهُ

and that it be recited.

meaning, `that you recite it.

فَإِذَا قَرَأۡنَاهُ

And when We have recited it to you,

meaning, `when the angel has recited it to you from Allah,'

فَاتَّبِعۡ قُرۡانَهُ

then follow its recitation.

meaning, `listen to it then recite it as he taught you to recite it.'

ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيۡنَا بَيَانَهُ

Then it is for Us to make it clear.

meaning, `after memorizing it and reciting it, We will explain it to you, clarify it and inspire you with its meaning according to what We intended and legislated.'

Imam Ahmad recorded from Ibn `Abbas that he said that

the Messenger of Allah used to struggle very hard to grasp the revelation and he used to move his lips (rapidly with the recitation).

The narrator, Sa`id, then said, Ibn `Abbas said to me, `I will move my lips like the Messenger of Allah used to move his lips (in order to show you).'

Then, the sub narrator said, And Sa`id said to me, `I will move my lips like I ﷺ Ibn `Abbas moving his lips (in order to show you).'

Then Allah revealed,

لَاا تُحَرِّكۡ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعۡجَلَ بِه

إِنَّ عَلَيۡنَا جَمۡعَهُ

وَقُرۡانَهُ

Move not your tongue concerning to make haste therewith. It is for Us to collect it and that it be recited.)

Ibn `Abbas said,

This means He will collect it in his chest to recite it.

فَإِذَا قَرَأۡنَاهُ

فَاتَّبِعۡ قُرۡانَهُ

And when We have recited it to you, then follow its recitation.

meaning, listen to it and pay attention.

ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيۡنَا بَيَانَهُ

Then it is for Us to make it clear (to you).

So after this, when Jibril would leave, he would recite it as Jibril had taught him to recite it.

This has also been recorded by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Al-Bukhari's wording says,

So whenever Jibril would come to him he would be silent, and when Jibril had left he would recite it just as Allah, the Mighty and Sublime had promised him.

The Cause of rejecting the Day of Judgement is Love of the World and Heedlessness of the Hereafter

Concerning Allah's statement,

كَلَّ بَلۡ تُحِبُّونَ الۡعَاجِلَةَ

وَتَذَرُونَ الاۡخِرَةَ

But no! Rather you love the present life of this world. And neglect the Hereafter.

meaning, the only thing that has caused them to reject the Day of Judgement and oppose the true revelation and the Mighty Qur'an Allah revealed to His Messenger is that their only concern is the present worldly life. They are preoccupied and distracted from the Hereafter.

Seeing Allah in the Hereafter

Then Allah says,

وُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ

Some faces that Day shall be Nadirah.

which comes from the word Nadarah, which means splendid, radiant, glowing, delighted with goodness.

إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ

Looking at their Lord.)

meaning, they will see Him with their very eyes.

This is just as was recorded by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih,

إِنَّكُمۡ سَتَرَوۡنَ رَبَّكُمۡ عِيَانًا

Verily, you all will see your Lord with your own eyes.

The believers seeing Allah in the abode of the Hereafter has been confirmed in the authentic Hadiths from numerous routes of transmission with the scholars of Hadith. It is not possible to deny this or refuse it. Examples would be the Hadiths of Abu Sa`id and Abu Hurayrah, and they are both recorded in the Two Sahihs. They both mentioned that some people said,

O Messenger of Allah! Will we see our Lord on the Day of Judgement

The Prophet said,

هَلۡ تُضَارُّونَ فِي رُوۡيَةِ الشَّمۡسِ وَالۡقَمَرِ لَيۡسَ دُونَهُمَا سَحَابٌ

Are you harmed by seeing the sun and the moon when there are no clouds beneath them?

They replied, No.

The Prophet then said,

فَإِنَّكُمۡ تَرَوۡنَ رَبَّكُمۡ كَذَلِك

Then you will surely see your Lord like that.

In the Two Sahihs it is recorded from Jabir that he said,

The Messenger of Allah looked at the moon on a night when it was full, and he said,

إِنَّكُمۡ تَرَوۡنَ رَبَّكُمۡ كَمَا تَرَوۡنَ هَذَا الۡقَمَرَ فَإِنِ اسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ أَنۡ لَا تُغۡلَبُوا عَلَى صَلَةٍ قَبۡلَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمۡسِ وَلَا قَبۡلَ غُرُوبِهَا فَافۡعَلُوا

Verily, you will see your Lord just as you see this moon! So if you are able to avoid missing a prayer before the rising of the sun (Fajr prayer) or before its setting (`Asr prayer) then do so.

Among the Hadiths, which Muslim was alone in recording, is a narration from Suhayb that the Prophet said,

إِذَا دَخَلَ أَهۡلُ الۡجَنَّةِ الۡجَنَّةَ قَالَ يَقُولُ اللهُ تَعَالى تُرِيدُونَ شَيۡيًا أَزِيدُكُمۡ فَيَقُولُونَ أَلَمۡ تُبَيِّضۡ وُجُوهَنَا أَلَمۡ تُدۡخِلۡنَا الۡجَنَّةَ وَتُنَجِّنَا مِنَ النَّارِ قَالَ فَيَكۡشِفُ الۡحِجَابَ فَمَا أُعۡطُوا شَيۡيًا أَحَبَّ إِلَيۡهِمۡ مِنَ النَّظَرِ إِلَى رَبِّهِمۡ وَهِيَ الزِّيَادَة

When the people of Paradise enter the Paradise, Allah will say, `Do you want me to give you anything extra'

They will say, `Haven't You whitened our faces, haven't You entered us into Paradise and saved us from the Fire'

Then He will remove the veil and they will not be given anything more beloved to them than looking at their Lord, and that will be the extra (Ziyadah).

Then he recited this Ayah,

لِّلَّذِينَ أَحۡسَنُواۡ الۡحُسۡنَى وَزِيَادَةٌ

For those who have done good is the best and extra (Ziyadah). (10:26)

Also among the Hadiths, which Muslim was alone in recording, is the Hadith of Jabir in which the Prophet said,

إِنَّ اللهَ يَتَجَلَّى لِلۡمُوۡمِنِينَ يَضۡحَك

Verily, Allah will appear before the believers while He is laughing.

This will take place on the open plains of the Resurrection place.

In some of these Hadiths, it mentions that the believers will be looking at their Lord on the open plains and some mention that this will occur in the Gardens of Paradise.

If it were not due to fear of taking up a lot of space, we would present all of these Hadiths with their routes of transmission and wordings from those that are in the Sahih collections, the collections of good narrations, the Musnad collections and the Sunan collections. However, we have mentioned this in separate places in this Tafsir, and Allah is the Giver of success. This issue is something that the Companions, the Successors and the Salaf of this nation have agreed upon, and all praise is due to Allah. It is something that is agreed upon between the Imams of Islam and the guides of all mankind.

Blackening of the Faces of the Disobedient People on the Day of Judgement

Allah says,

وَوُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ بَاسِرَةٌ

تَظُنُّ أَن يُفۡعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ

And some faces that Day will be Basirah. Thinking that some calamity is about to fall on them.

These are the faces of the sinners that will be Basirah on the Day of Judgement.

Qatadah said, This means gloomy.

As-Suddi said, Their (the faces) color will change.

تَظُنُّ

Thinking, meaning, they will be certain.

أَن يُفۡعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ

that some calamity is about to fall on them.

Mujahid said, A disaster.

Qatadah said, An evil.

As-Suddi said, They will be certain that they are going to be destroyed.

Ibn Zayd said, They will think that they are going to enter into the Hellfire.

This situation is similar to Allah's statement,

يَوۡمَ تَبۡيَضُّ وُجُوهٌ وَتَسۡوَدُّ وُجُوهٌ

On the Day when some faces will become white and some faces will become black. (3:106)

Similarly Allah says,

وُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ مُّسۡفِرَةٌ

ضَـحِكَةٌ مُّسۡتَبۡشِرَةٌ

وَوُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ عَلَيۡهَا غَبَرَةٌ

تَرۡهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ

أُوۡلَـيِكَ هُمُ الۡكَفَرَةُ الۡفَجَرَةُ

Some faces that Day will be bright. Laughing, rejoicing at the good news.

And other faces, that Day will be dust-stained; darkness will cover them, such will be the disbelieving, wicked. (80:38-42)

Allah also says,

وُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ خَـشِعَةٌ

عَامِلَةٌ نَّاصِبَةٌ

تَصۡلَى نَاراً حَامِيَةً

Some faces, that Day will be humiliated. Laboring, weary. They will enter in the hot blazing Fire. (88:2-4)

until Allah says,

وُجُوهٌ يَوۡمَيِذٍ نَّاعِمَةٌ

لِّسَعۡيِهَا رَاضِيَةٌ فِى جَنَّةٍ عَالِيَةٍ

(Other) faces that Day will be joyful. Happy with their endeavor. In a lofty Paradise. (88:8-10)

And there are other similar Ayat and discussions (in the Qur'an)

Al-Qiyamah: 23

Ayah

Translation

Tafsir

Al-Qiyamah: 23