36:49 Yaseen (Yaseen)

{ مَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً } وهي نفخة الصور { تَأْخُذُهُمْ } أي: تصيبهم { وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ } أي: وهم لا هون عنها، لم تخطر على قلوبهم في حال خصومتهم، وتشاجرهم بينهم، الذي لا يوجد في الغالب إلا وقت الغفلة.

قال الله عز وجل "ما ينظرون إلا صيحة واحدة تأخذهم وهم يخصمون" أي ما ينتظرون إلا صيحة واحدة وهذه والله أعلم نفخة الفزع ينفخ في الصور نفخة الفزع والناس في أسواقهم ومعايشهم يختصمون ويتشاجرون على عادتهم فبينما هم كذلك إذ أمر الله عز وجل إسرافيل فنفخ في الصور نفخة يطولها ويمدها فلا يبقى أحد على وجه الأرض إلا أصغى ليتا ورفع ليتا وهي صفحة العنق يتسمع الصوت من قِبَل السماء ثم يساق الموجودون من الناس إلى محشر القيامة بالنار تحيط بهم من جوانبهم.

The Disbelievers thought that the Day of Resurrection would never come to pass

Allah tells us how the disbelievers thought that the Day of Resurrection would never come to pass, as they said:

مَتَى هَـذَا الْوَعْدُ

("When will this promise be fulfilled...")

يَسْتَعْجِلُ بِهَا الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهَا

(Those who believe not therein seek to hasten it) (42:18). Allah says:

مَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ صَيْحَةً وَحِدَةً تَأُخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ

(They await only but a single Sayhah which will seize them while they are disputing!) meaning, they are only waiting for a single shout which -- and Allah knows best -- will be the trumpet blast of terror when the Trumpet will be blown while the people are in their marketplaces and places of work, arguing and disputing as they usually do. While in this state, Allah will command Israfil to blow into the Trumpet, so he will sound a long note and there will be no one left on the face of the earth except he will tilt his head to listen to the sound coming from heaven. Then the people who are alive will be driven to the gathering place by a fire which will surround them on all sides. Allah says:

فَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ تَوْصِيَةً

(Then they will not be able to make bequest, ) meaning, with regard to their possessions, because the matter is more serious than that,

وَلاَ إِلَى أَهْلِهِمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

(nor they will return to their family.) Numerous Hadiths and reports have been narrated about this, which we have mentioned elsewhere. After this there will be the Trumpet blast which will cause everyone who is alive to die, besides the One Who is Ever Living, Eternal. Then after that the trumpet blast of the resurrection will be sounded.

God exalted be He says They await but a single Cry namely the cry of Isrāfīl’s First Blast that will seize them while they are disputing read yakhassimūna which is actually yakhtasimūna where the vowel of the tā’ has been moved to the khā’ and it the tā’ has been assimilated with the sād in other words while they are oblivious to it busily engaged in disputes concluding bargains eating and drinking and so on; a variant reading has yakhsimūna similar in pattern to yadribūna in which case the meaning is while they dispute with one another.

Commentary

مَا يَنظُرُ‌ونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً (They are looking for nothing but for a single Cry that will seize them - 36:49). The question of the disbelievers quoted here is the one they used to'-ask the Muslims by way of mockery, and the real purpose was to deny the Day of Judgment. It was not asked for finding out the truth, nor as a serious effort to reach the reality. It was simply a way of taunting the Muslims and making fun of them. And even if it were for finding out the true nature of the event, then, the mercy of the Lord of the universe requires that the full and precise knowledge of the year and day of the coming of Qiyamah should not be given to anyone, so much so that it was not given even to any one from among His noble prophets and messengers. Even if this question asked by these dimwit people was no more than a fact-finding exercise on their part, it was patently absurd. Therefore, rather than tell them, in response, the time when Qiyamah will come, they were admonished. They were told that reasonable people, once they become aware of something that is bound to come in all certainty, should start making necessary preparations ahead of it, and not go about wasting precious time in trying to find out its precise hour and day. Common sense required that, once they had heard the foreboding of Qiyamah, they should have believed and did what it takes to achieve success in that life to come. But, so entangled they are in their heedlessness that they virtually seem to be waiting for nothing short of the time when the day of Qiyamah comes before them - and then, they would think about it. Therefore, it was said that these people were waiting for the Qiyamah - while, Qiyamah will have a scenario of its own, for it would be just one terrible sound of the Horn صُور (Sur) that will seize everyone all of a sudden in a way that people will be busy in their businesses settling their disputes and they all, in this very condition, will lie dead.

It appears in Hadith that two men will be engaged in their activity of buying and selling cloth. Stretched before them will be the yardage of the cloth pieces while, of a sudden, Qiyamah will come - and they would be unable to complete their deal of cloth. Then, there will be someone else busy plastering his water tank who will fall dead in the same state (reported by Abu Nu'aym from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ - al-Qurtubi).