[1] (In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful)

The meaning

More explanation

[2] 1. [I swear for the future] by the sun and the severe heat of its noon-time^a!

[3] 2. And by the moon when it will follow the [sun!]^b

[4] 3. And [by] the [everlasting] day^c, when it shall clear it away!^d

[5] 4. And [by] the [everlasting] night^e, when it shall [with its darkness] enshroud that [region!]^f

[6] 5. And [by] the [gaseous] firmament^g and [the matter] which structured it!

[7] 6. And [I swear by] the earth and [the matter] which enlarged it [and increased the thickness of its cold crust!]^h

[8] 7. And [by] the soul and [the body] that shaped it!ⁱ

[9] 8. And [the body] inspired into the [soul, by means of accompanying and friendship] its lewdness and its God-fearing.^j

[10] 9. He will be successful, who purifies it.^j^j

[11] 10. And he will be disappointed [about the Next Life^k], who corrupts it^l.

^{1 a} When the sun is in the middle of the sky at noon time.

The meaning: I swear by that long day in which the sun will shine and will not set afterwards, but will remain for one thousand years searing the earth with its heat, evaporating the sea water, burning the trees and killing the living animals and cattle.

So there will not remain for you any food to eat or water to drink other than only the bitter and salt underground water of wells.

Then who will save you from the chastisement of that day and from its heat? It is the day when the earth will stop its axial rotation.

^{2 b} Similar to this is His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 75: 9, which means:

(And the sun and moon are joined together.)

The reason for this is that the moon is gravitated by the earth, and it circles around it; the reason for the gravity is the heat which is in the core of the earth; so when this heat will finish by the passing of years, the earth gravity will also finish, and so [the influence of] the sun gravity on the moon will increase, and it will draw the moon towards itself and the moon will unite with it.

Anyhow, I have fully explained about this topic in my book The Universe and the Quran

^{3 c} It is that long day in which the sun will shine and will not set down afterwards.

^{3 d} It means:

Ø It will clear away the darkness from that region, so there will not be any night afterwards.

Ø Moreover, it will drive people away from that region with its extreme heat, so that some of them will die and others will migrate from it, then heat will increase more and more until they will die from the extreme heat, starvation and thirst.

Ø The third function: it will remove the water from seas, so the water will evaporate, and will rise up in the space as clouds. Therefore, fishes and all living creatures in the seas will die; and the sea bottoms, with all its pearls, coral and others, will be exposed.

^{4 e} It is that long night which will last for one thousand years.

^{4 f} It means: It will overwhelm that region with its darkness, when there will be no moon to give light to the inhabitants of that region, and it will not be followed by day so they may see the sun with their eyes; therefore, the coldness will increase leading to the freezing of their water which will become ice, so they will stay in their homes, and cannot cultivate or harvest so that their food will be depleted and as a result they will die because of the extreme coldness and starvation.

^{5 g} i.e. the gaseous layers.

So the meaning is: I swear by the sky or the firmament and the matter of which it is constituted and compacted.

The Arabic word in the aya مَا i.e. ‘which’, describes the material, the inanimate and animals; while the Arabic word مَنْ or ‘who’ describes the intelligent like man, angels and the genie.

So this in fact is a swearing of threatening and warning about that day.

The meaning: your sky or firmament will tear up on that day, and its gaseous layers will mix with each other and become like the smoke, so it will harm people and suffocate them with its suffocating and poisonous gases; so what will you do if you live at that time?

^{6 h} This also is a swearing, implying the threatening and warning, which means: The earth will tear up on Doomsday and its parts will scatter away in the space; so where will you go, and to which place will you resort so as to hide yourselves from Our sight and escape from Our chastisement: for there will be neither a shelter for you nor a way to escape!?

^{7 i} It means: And by the body which formed the soul; that is because the soul consists of ethereal particles which enter into the pores of the body to build inside it a new ethereal structure that is exactly similar to the body.

Therefore, this ethereal structure is the soul that is known to people as the ‘spirit’.

So the body is only a mold for formation of the soul.

This also is a swearing of threatening and warning, which means: Souls will get out of bodies at the time of death, so bodies will tear up after death, and will vanish and become dust; while souls will be in Our grasp, and no way for the guilty to escape from Our chastisement.

^{8 j} So anyone befriends with the indecent, becomes indecent like them; and anyone accompanies the God-fearing, becomes a God-fearing like them.

Therefore, the body of man teaches the soul and let it acquire habits and customs; so if the boy accompanies some evil people, he will become evil like them; and if he accompanies righteous people, he will become righteous like them. And it is not God – be glorified – that decree for them to be evil or good, but He made them free to choose that.

God – be glorified – said in the Quran 76: 3, which means:

(We have shown to him the [correct] way; [and have given to him the free choice] whether to be grateful or ungrateful.)

Therefore, fathers should prevent their sons from accompanying the evil people and those with bad manners of behavior, lest they may acquire their manners and be like them.

^{9 j j} It means: He will be successful, who prevents himself from the forbidden and unlawful things, and who gives, to the poor, the zakat-alms out of his money.

^{10 k} For he says: God is All-Forgiving and will forgive all my sins, even thought my sins are so many, but he does not repent.

^{10 l} i.e. who instills bad habits into himself, gradually until his soul becomes wicked and evil-doer.

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[Then God – be glorified – started to tell about the stories of the ancient who denied the messengers, so God – be glorified – terminated them because of their denial, and He said:]

[12] 11. [The tribe of] Thamood disbelieved in their [promised] 'extremely severe' [punishment^a.]

[13] 12. When the [man] most unfortunate among them was deputed [to hamstring the she-camel.]^b

[14] 13. And God’s messenger [Salih] said to them: "[Do not hamstring] the she-camel of God^c, but give her water to drink^d."

[15] 14. And they disbelieved him^e; and they hamstrung the [she-camel]^f; so God buried them under the wreck^g, because of their sins, and leveled the [earth over them^h.]

[16] 15. Yet He fears not the consequence thereof.ⁱ

^{11 a} i.e. they disbelieved in the extremely severe punishment, which their messengers threatened them with, in case they did not believe.

Similar to this is His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 69: 5, which means:

(As to Thamood: they were terminated by the 'extremely severe and successive' [earthquake.])

The tribe of Thamood: their messenger was Salih, so when they denied him and hamstrung the female camel, God sent on them the thunderbolts out of the sky, and the earth was quaked with them.

The thunderbolts were for those who were not present, and whom the earthquake did not involve at that time.

So they were terminated by the thunderbolts and the earthquake.

^{12 b} The man most unfortunate out of the people of Thamood who denied Prophet Salih; that man was the one who hamstrung the female camel; his name was Qaidar son of Salif; he was sent by a woman whom he loved; he asked her for water, and she said: “The female camel did not spare for us any water; for it is one day for her and one day for us.”

So he got out and left her while he was drunken, and came to the female camel to hamstring it.

^{13 c} Lest the punishment should come on you, and you should then perish.

^{13 d} And do not prevent her from the water.

^{14 e} i.e. they believed not God’s messenger, concerning the coming of the punishment on them.

^{14 f} i.e. they killed it and distributed its meat among them.

^{14 g} In their houses which collapsed on their heads.

The meaning: He buried each family of them under the wreck of their house by effect of the earthquake.

Similar to this in meaning is His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 47: 10, which means:

(Have they not traveled throughout the earth to see the end of those [peoples] before them [when they had denied their apostles?] God demolished [their homes] upon them.)

It means: God demolished their homes, so that He buried them under their wreckage by the earthquake.

^{14 h} i.e. He afterwards leveled the earth over them, by means of the factors of erosion and denudation because of the wind and rain and others.

The meaning: their habitations were obliterated and blotted out, and the earth was leveled over them later on.

^{15 i} It means: God does not fear that the earth may be without people to worship Him if He terminates them with the earthquake, but He will create others.

This is confirmed by His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 6: 6, which means:

(So We destroyed them because of their sins, and produced after them another generation.)

By God's help, the interpretation of the soora 91 of the Quran is completed;

So (praise be to God: Lord of the worlds.)