بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمـٰنِ الرَّحيمِ وَالسَّماءِ وَالطّارِقِ

CONSIDER the heavens and that which comes in the night!¹

1. 1.  Some commentators assume that what is described here as at-tariq ("that which comes in the night") is the morning-star, because it appears towards the end of the night; others - like Zamakhshari or Raghib - understand by it "the star" in its generic sense. Now if we analyze the origin of this noun, we find that it is derived from the verb taraqa, which primarily means "he beat [something]" or "knocked [at something]"; hence, taraqa 'l-bab, "he knocked at the door". Tropically, the noun signifies "anything [or "anyone"] that comes in the night", because a person who comes to a house by night is expected to knock at the door (Taj al-'Arus). In the Qur'anic mode of expression, at-tariq is evidently a metaphor for the heavenly solace which sometimes comes to a human being lost in the deepest darkness of affliction and distress; or for the sudden, intuitive enlightenment which disperses the darkness of uncertainty; or, finally, for divine revelation, which knocks, as it were, at the doors of man's heart.. and thus fulfils the functions of both solace and enlightenment. (For my rendering of the adjurative wa as "Consider", see surah 74, first half of note 23.)

وَما أَدراكَ مَا الطّارِقُ

And what could make thee conceive what it is that comes in the night?

النَّجمُ الثّاقِبُ

It is the star that pierces through [life's] darkness:

إِن كُلُّ نَفسٍ لَمّا عَلَيها حافِظٌ

[for] no human being has ever been left unguarded.²

1. 2.  Lit., "there is no human being without a guardian [or "without a watch being kept] over it". See in this connection note 7 on 82:10.

فَليَنظُرِ الإِنسانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ

LET MAN, then, observe out of what he has been created:

خُلِقَ مِن ماءٍ دافِقٍ

he has been created out of a seminal fluid

يَخرُجُ مِن بَينِ الصُّلبِ وَالتَّرائِبِ

issuing from between the loins [of man] and the pelvic arch [of woman].³

1. 3.  The plural noun tara'ib, rendered by me as "pelvic arch", has also the meaning of "ribs" or "arch of bones"; according to most of the authorities who have specialized in the etymology of rare Quranic expressions this term relates specifically to female anatomy (Taj al-'Arus).

إِنَّهُ عَلىٰ رَجعِهِ لَقادِرٌ

Now, verily, He [who thus creates man in the first instance] is well able to bring him back [to life]

يَومَ تُبلَى السَّرائِرُ

on the Day when all I secrets will be laid bare,

فَما لَهُ مِن قُوَّةٍ وَلا ناصِرٍ

and [man] will have neither strength nor helper!

وَالسَّماءِ ذاتِ الرَّجعِ

Consider⁴ the heavens, ever-revolving,

1. 4.  Sc., "And, finally, in order to grasp more fully God's power of creation and re-creation, consider. . .", etc.

وَالأَرضِ ذاتِ الصَّدعِ

and the earth, bursting forth with plants!

إِنَّهُ لَقَولٌ فَصلٌ

BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that between truth and falsehood,⁵

1. 5.  Lit., "a decisive word", or "word of distinction", i.e., between the true and the false - in this case, belief in a continuation of life after "death ", on the one hand, and a denial of its possibility, on the other. (Cf. 37:21, 44:40, and 38, and 78:17, where Resurrection Day is spoken of as "the Day of Distinction"; see also note 6 on .)

وَما هُوَ بِالهَزلِ

and is no idle tale.

إِنَّهُم يَكيدونَ كَيدًا

Behold, they [who refuse to accept it] devise many a false argument⁶ [to disprove its truth];

1. 6.  Lit., "devise [many] an artful scheme (kayd)"; see note 41 on 34:33, where "the almost synonymous term makr is used in the same sense.

وَأَكيدُ كَيدًا

but I shall bring all their scheming to nought.⁷

1. 7.  Lit., "I shall devise a [yet more subtle] scheme", sc., "to bring theirs to nought". The paraphrase adopted by me gives, according to all the authorities, the meaning of the above sentence.

فَمَهِّلِ الكافِرينَ أَمهِلهُم رُوَيدًا

Let, then, the deniers of the truth have their will: let them have their will for a little while.