Al-Takwīr
Makkan Period
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
[1] When the sun shall be folded up,1 [2] when the stars shall scatter away, [3] when the mountains shall be set in motion, [4] when the ten-months pregnant camels shall be abandoned,2 [5] when the savage beasts shall be brought together, [6] when the seas shall be set boiling, [7] when the souls shall be rejoined (with their bodies),3 [8] and when the girl-child buried alive shall be asked: [9] for what offence was she killed? [10] and when the scrolls of (men’s) deeds shall be unfolded, [11] and when Heaven is laid bare; [12] and Hell is stoked, [13] and Paradise brought nigh: [14] then shall each person know what he has brought along.
[15] No indeed;4 I swear by the alternating stars [16] that hide, [17] and by the night as it recedes, [18] and the morn as it breathes. [19] Verily this is the word of a noble message-bearer;5 [20] one mighty and held in honour with the Lord of the Throne; [21] there he is obeyed6 and held trustworthy. [22] (O people of Makkah), your companion is not mad;7 [23] he indeed saw the message-bearer on the clear horizon; [24] nor does he grudge (conveying this knowledge about) the Unseen; [25] nor is it a word of an accursed Satan. [26] Where to are you then heading? [27] It is nothing but Good counsel for everyone in the world, [28] for everyone of you who wishes to follow the Straight Way; [29] but your wishing will not avail unless Allah, the Lord of the Universe, so wishes.
1. That is, when the light that is emitted by the sun and then spreads all around the world will be folded around the sun so that it will cease to radiate thereafter.
2. The Arabs held nothing as valuable as a pregnant she-camel on the verge of giving birth. When she reached that stage she received every possible protection and care. Hence, to say that people would abandon such she-camels meant that some extraordinary calamity had occurred that would totally occupy their attention, making them oblivious to the protection of their most precious property.
3. To say that “souls shall be rejoined (with their bodies)” means that human beings shall be restored to the state in which they lived in the world before their death.
4. This represents an emphatic denial of their false notions about the Qur’ān, viz. that it merely consists of the musings of a lunatic or the evil suggestions of Satan.
5. The expression “noble message-bearer” here refers to the angel who carried the revelation to the Prophet (peace be on him). This is evident from the verses that follow (see vv. 20 ff. below). The statement that “this is the word of a noble message-bearer,” however, does not mean that the contents of the Message stem from the noble angel. In fact, the use of the expression “message-bearer” itself indicates that it is the Word of the Being Who made that angel the bearer of that Message.
6. This means that he is at the head of those angels who work under his supervision.
7. The expression “your companion” here refers to the Prophet (peace be on him).