THE SEVENTY-FIFTH SŪRAH Al-Qiyāmah (Resurrection) Mecca Period
REVEALED during the first third of the Mecca period, this sūrah is devoted almost entirely (with the exception of the parenthetic passage in verses 16-19) to the concept of resurrection, on which its traditional “title” is based.
1. By "calling it to witness", i.e., by speaking of the Day of Resurrection as if it had already occurred, the above phrase is meant to convey the certainty its coming.
MOVE NOT thy tongue in haste, [repeating the words of the revelation:]6
6. Lit., "Move not thy tongue therewith so that thou might hasten if" - the pronoun undoubtedly referring to the contents of revelation. In order to understand this parenthetic passage (verses 16-19) more fully, one should read it side by side with the related passage in 20:114, together with the corresponding note 101. Both these passages are in the first instance addressed to the Prophet, who is said to have been afraid that he might forget some of the revealed words unless he repeated them at the very moment of revelation; but both have also a wider import inasmuch as they apply to every believer who reads, listens to or studies the Qur'an. In 20:114 we are told not to draw hasty - and therefore potentially erroneous - conclusions from isolated verses or statements of the Qur'an, since only the study of the whole of its message can give us a correct insight. The present passage, on the other hand, lays stress on the need to imbibe the divine writ slowly, patiently, to give full thought to the meaning of every word and phrase, and to avoid the kind of haste which is indistinguishable from mechanical glibness, and which, moreover, induces the person who reads, recites or listens to it to remain satisfied with the mere beautiful sound of the Qur'anic language without understanding - or even paying adequate attention to - its message.
for, behold, it is for Us to gather it [in thy heart,] and to cause it to be read [as it ought to be read].7
7. I.e., "it is for Us to make thee remember it and to cause it to be read with mind and heart". As pointed out in the preceding note, the Qur'an can be understood only if it is read thoughtfully, as one integral whole, and not as a mere collection of moral maxims, stories or disjointed laws.
Thus, when We recite it, follow thou its wording [with all thy mind]:8
8. Lit., "follow thou its recitation", i.e., its message as expressed in words. Since it is God who reveals the Qur'an and bestows upon man the ability to understand it, He attributes its "recitation" to Himself.
11. Lit., "when shank is wrapped around shank" - an idiomatic phrase denoting "the affliction of the present state of existence. . . combined with that of the final state" (Lane IV, 1471. quoting both the Qamus and the Taj al-'Arus). As pointed out by Zamakhshari, the noun saq (lit., "shank") is often used metaphorically in the sense of "difficulty", "hardship" or "vehemence" (shiddah); hence the well-known phrase, qamat al-harb ala saq, "the war broke out with vehemence" (Taj al-'Arus).
at that time towards thy Sustainer does he feel impelled to turn!12
12. Lit., "towards thy Sustainer will be the driving", i.e., with belated repentance (see next three verses). The phrase rendered above as "at the time" reads, literally, "on that day"; but the term yawm is often used idiomatically in the sense of "time" regardless of its duration.
and then went arrogantly back to what he had come from.14
14. Lit., "to his people": i.e., to the arrogant belief, rooted in the materialism of his social environment, that man is "self-sufficient" and, therefore, not in need of any divine guidance (cf. 96:6).
and thereafter became a germ-cell - whereupon He created and formed [it] in accordance with what [it] was meant to be,16
16. For this rendering of sawwa, see note 1 on 87:2 and note 5 on 91:7. The stress on God's creating man after he had been a germ-cell is a metonym for His endowing the (originally) lowly organism with what is described as a "soul".