1. For my rendering of the adjurative particle wa as "Consider", see first half of note 23 on 74:32. - The early commentators differ widely in their explanations of verses 1-5 of this surah. The most popular interpretation is based on the view that the descriptive participles an-nazi'at, an-nashitat, as-sabihat, as-sabiqat and al-mudabbirat refer to angels and their activities with regard to the souls of the dying: an interpretation categorically rejected by Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, who - as mentioned by Razi - points out that the angels are never referred to in the Qur'an in the female gender, as is the case in the above five participles, and that the present passage cannot be an exception. Almost equally unconvincing - because somewhat laboured - are the explanations which link those five participles to the souls of the dying, or to warriors engaged in holy war, or to war-mounts, and so forth. The clearest and simplest interpretation is that advanced by Qatadah (as quoted by Tabari and Baghawi) and Al-Hasan al-Basri (quoted by Baghawi and Razi), who maintain that what is meant in this passage are the stars - including the sun and the moon - and their movements in space: and this interpretation is fully in tune with many other passages in the Qur'an in which the harmony of those celestial bodies in their multiform orbits and graded speeds is cited as an evidence of God's planning and creativeness. In accordance with this interpretation, the participle an-nazi'at occurring in the first verse denotes the daily "ascending" or "rising" of the stars, while their subsequent "setting" is indicated by the expression gharqan, which comprises the two concepts of "drowning" (i.e., disappearing) and, tropically, of the "completeness" of this daily phenomenon (Zamakhshari).
and yet overtake [one another] with swift overtaking:3
3. This is apparently an allusion to the different speeds of the orbiting stars (Al-Hasan and Abu Ubaydah, as quoted by Razi), as well as to the extent of their orbits in relation to one another.
6. Connecting with the preceding passage, the story of Moses (which appears in much greater detail in 20:9) is cited here as an illustration of the fact that everyone will have to answer on Judgment Day for whatever he did in life, and that it is the main function of every prophet to make man aware of this responsibility.
[If so,] then I shall guide thee towards [a cognition of] thy Sustainer, so that [henceforth] thou wilt stand in awe [of Him].'8
8. Implying that so long as man is not fully aware of the existence of God, he cannot really discern between what is morally right or wrong; and since God is just, He does not punish anyone who has not yet attained to such a discernment (or, as expressed in the preceding sentence, "to [moral] purity"): cf. 6:31- "thy Sustainer would never destroy a community for its wrongdoing so long as its people are still unaware [of the meaning of right and wrong]".
10. Cf. 28:38 and the corresponding note 36. Pharaoh's claim to divine status is the cardinal sin whereby "he has transgressed all bounds of what is right" (verse 17 above).
And thereupon God took him to task, [and made him] a warning example in the life to come as well as in this world.11
11. Lit., "in the first [life]". See last sentence of 7:137 - "We utterly destroyed all that Pharaoh and his people had wrought, and all that they had built" - and the corresponding note 100.
[O MEN!] Are you more difficult to create than the heaven which He has built?12
12. Lit., "or the heaven. . . ", etc. The "heaven" is here, as in many other places in the Qur'an, a metonym for "cosmic system" (cf. note 20 on 2:29). The above verse is an echo of an earlier, more explicit passage - namely, 40:56, which should be read together with the corresponding notes 40 and 41. Both these passages refute the "man-centred" view of the universe by pointing out man's insignificance as compared with the vastness and complexity of the whole God-created universe.
[all this] as a means of livelihood for you and your animals.15
15. Implying (as in 80:24) that man ought to be grateful to God, and should always be conscious of His being the Provider: hence the subsequent return of the discourse to the theme of resurrection and ultimate judgment.
and the blazing fire [of hell] will be lad open before all who [are destined to] see it.16
16. Cf. 26:91- "will be laid open before those who had been lost in grievous error": thus reminding man that suffering in the hereafter ("hell") is the inevitable consequence of spiritual self-destruction through deliberate wrongdoing.
On the Day when they behold it, [it will seem to them] as if they had tarried [in this world] no longer than one evening or [one night, ending with] its morn!19
19. As in many other places in the Qur'an (e.g., in 2:259, 17:52, 18:19, 20:103, 23:112, 30:55 etc.), this is a subtle indication of the illusory, earthbound nature of man's concept of "time" - a concept which, we are told, will lose all its meaning in the context of the ultimate reality comprised in the term "hereafter" (al-akhirah).