70:8 Al-Ma'aarij (The Ascending Stairways)

أي: { يَوْمِ } القيامة، تقع فيه هذه الأمور العظيمة فـ { تَكُونُ السَّمَاءُ كَالْمُهْلِ } وهو الرصاص المذاب من تشققها وبلوغ الهول منها كل مبلغ.

العامل في "يوم" "واقع"; تقديره يقع بهم العذاب يوم. وقيل: "نراه" أو "يبصرونهم" أو يكون بدلا من قريب. والمهل: دردي الزيت وعكره; في قول ابن عباس وغيره. وقال ابن مسعود: ما أذيب من الرصاص والنحاس والفضة. وقال مجاهد: "كالمهل" كقيح من دم وصديد. وقد مضى في سورة "الدخان", و "الكهف" القول فيه.

Terrors of the Day of Judgement

Allah says that the torment will befall the disbelievers.

يَوْمَ تَكُونُ السَّمَآءُ كَالْمُهْلِ

(The Day that the sky will be like the Al-Muhl.) Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ata, Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, As-Suddi and others have all said, "Like the residue of oil."

وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ

(And the mountains will be like `Ihn.) meaning, like fluffed wool. This was said by Mujahid, Qatadah and As-Suddi. This Ayah is similar to Allah's statement,

وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنفُوشِ

(And the mountains will be like carded wool.) (101:5) Concerning Allah's statement,

وَلاَ يَسْـَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيماً يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ

(And no friend will ask a friend, though they shall be made to see one another.) Meaning, no close friend will ask his close friend about his condition while he sees him in the worst of conditions. He will be worried about himself and will not be able to think of others. Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas, "Some of them will know others and they will be acquainted with each other. Then, they will flee from each other after that, as Allah says,

لِكُلِّ امْرِىءٍ مِّنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ

(Every man that Day will have enough to make him careless of others.)" (80:37) This honorable Ayah is similar to Allah's statement,

يأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمْ وَاخْشَوْاْ يَوْماً لاَّ يَجْزِى وَالِدٌ عَن وَلَدِهِ وَلاَ مَوْلُودٌ هُوَ جَازٍ عَن وَالِدِهِ شَيْئاً إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ

(O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, and fear a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, and nor a son avail aught for his father. Verily the promise of Allah is true.) (31:33) and He also says,

وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَى حِمْلِهَا لاَ يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَى

(And if one heavily laden calls another to (bear) his load, nothing of it will be lifted even though he be near of kin.) (35:18) and He says,

فَإِذَا نُفِخَ فِى الصُّورِ فَلاَ أَنسَـبَ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَلاَ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ

(Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another.) (23:101) and similarly He says,

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ - وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ - وَصَـحِبَتِهُ وَبَنِيهِ - لِكُلِّ امْرِىءٍ مِّنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ

(That day shall a man flee fom his brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children. Every man that Day will have enough to make him careless of others.) (80:34-37) Then Allah's saying here

يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ يَوَدُّ الْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِي مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍ بِبَنِيهِ - وَصَـحِبَتِهِ وَأَخِيهِ - وَفَصِيلَتِهِ الَّتِى تُـْوِيهِ - وَمَن فِى الاٌّرْضِ جَمِيعاً ثُمَّ يُنجِيهِ كَلاَّ

(the criminal would desire to ransom himself from the punishment of the Day by his children, and his wife and his brother, and his Fasilah (kindred) who sheltered him, and all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. By no means!) means, no ransom will be accepted from him even if he brought all of the people of the earth (as ransom), and the greatest wealth that he could find, even if it was enough gold to fill the entire earth. Even the child that he had who was dearer to him than the last beat of his heart in the life of this world, he would wish to use the child as a ransom for himself against the torment of Allah on the Day of Judgement when he sees the horrors. However, even this child would not be accepted from him (as a ransom). Mujahid and As-Suddi both said,

وَفَصِيلَتِهِ

(and his Fasilah) "This means his tribe and his kin." `Ikrimah said, "This means the subdivision of his tribe that he is from." Ashhab reported from Malik that he said, "His Fasilah is his mother." Allah said,

إِنَّهَا لَظَى

(Verily, it will be the fire of Hell,) Here He is describing the Hell- fire and the severity of its heat.

نَزَّاعَةً لِّلشَّوَى

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid both said, "It is the skin of the head." Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Thabit Al-Bunani both said,

نَزَّاعَةً لِّلشَّوَى

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) "This means respectable parts of the face." Qatadah said,

نَزَّاعَةً لِّلشَّوَى

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) "This means removing his important organs, and the respectable parts of his face, his creation and his limbs." Ad-Dahhak said, "This means it will scrape the flesh and the skin off of the bone until it leaves nothing of it remaining." Ibn Zayd said, "The Shawa is the marrow of the bones." As for,

نَزَّاعَةً

(Nazza`ah) Ibn Zayd said, "It is cutting their bones and transformation of their skins and their form." Concerning Allah's statement,

تَدْعُواْ مَنْ أَدْبَرَ وَتَوَلَّى - وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَى

(Calling (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces. And collect and hide it.) meaning, the Fire will call out to its children whom Allah created for it, determining that they will perform the deeds deserving of it in the worldly life. So it will call them on the Day of Judgement with an eloquent and articulate tongue. Then it will pick them out from the people of the gathering just as birds pick seeds. This is because they were, as Allah said, of those who turned their backs and turned away. This means they denied with their hearts and abandoned the performance of deeds with their limbs.

وَجَمَعَ فَأَوْعَى

(And collect and hide it.) meaning, he gathered wealth piling it up, and he concealed it, meaning he hid it and refused to give the obligatory right of Allah that was due on it of spending and paying the Zakah. It has been recorded in a Hadith that the Prophet said,

«لَا تُوعِي فَيُوعِيَ اللهُ عَلَيْك»

(Do not hold back (your wealth) or else Allah will hold back from you.)

The day when the heaven will be yawma takūnu’l-samā’u is semantically connected to an omitted clause implicitly taken to be yaqa‘u ‘it will take place’ as molten silver

إِنَّهُمْ يَرَ‌وْنَهُ بَعِيدًا وَنَرَ‌اهُ قَرِ‌يبًا (They see it far off, and We see it near....70:6-7). In this context, the expressions 'far off and 'near' do not refer to time or space, but 'far off in terms of possibility and occurrence. The verse purports to describe that the pagans see the occurrence of Resurrection as impossible, and Allah sees its occurrence not only possible, but a certain reality.