Al-Balad

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

1. Allah takes an oath on the sacred city i.e. Makkah Al-Mukarramah

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: [90:1] I swear (la is extra) by this land, of Mecca, [90:2] and you, 0 Muhammad (s), have free disposal of, sanction for, this land, in that you will be given permission to fight in it — and indeed God fulfilled this promise to him on the day of the Conqued [of Mecca] (thus this is a parenthetical Statement intervening between that by which the oath has been sworn and that which is a supplement thereto). [90:3] And [by] the begetter, that is, Adam, and that which he begat, that is, his descendants (met, ‘that which’, [actually] means man, ‘wh…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

2. O Messenger! It is permissible for you to do whatever you wish on the Day of the Conquest of Makkah, from capital punishment to those whom are deserving of it, to taking captive whomsoever deserves it.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

3. And Allah takes an oath on the father of humanity, also taking an oath on the offspring reproduced from him.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

4. Verily, I have created the human in tiredness and difficulty, because of the severities he experiences in the world.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

5. Does the human think that when he sins, no one is in a position to be able to do anything to him, nor take retribution from him, even if it is his Lord who created him?

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

l and hardship, Struggling with the tribulations of this world and the calamities of the Hereafter. [90:5] Does he suppose, does the Strong man of Quraysh, namely, Abu’l-Ashadd b. Kalada, presume, on account of his Strength, that (an: softened in place of the hardened form, its subjed omitted, that is to say, annahu ) no one will have power over him? Yet God has power over him. [90:6] He says, ‘I have exhausted, in enmity of Muhammad (s), vaCt wealth!’, great [wealth], piles and piles of it.

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

6. He says: “I spent a lot of wealth, heaped up.”

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

7. Does this person boastful over the wealth he has spent think that Allah does not see him? And that He will not take him to account over his wealth: how he earned it and where he spent it?

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

‘I have exhausted, in enmity of Muhammad (s), vaCt wealth!’, great [wealth], piles and piles of it. [90:7] Does he suppose that (an, in other words, annahu ) no one has seen him?, with regard to what he has expended to know the quantity thereof; God knows the quantity thereof; but it is not [in reality that much so as] to be considered a great amount, and [in any case] He will requite him for his evil conducft. [90:8] Have We not given (an interrogative meant as an affirmative, in other words, ‘We have [certainly] given) him two eyes, [90:10] and guided him to the two paths?, [did We not…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

8. Did I not create eyes for him with which he can see?

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

9. And a tongue and lips with which he can speak?

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

10. And I made the paths of goodness and evils known to him.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

11. He will be required to cross the valley that separates him from Paradise, which he will cross.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

that of evil? [90:11] Yet why does he not assault the obstacle?, [why] does he [not] surmount it? [90:12] And what will show you, [what will] make known to you, what the obstacle is?, that he is to surmount — intended to emphasise its enormity (this statement is a parenthetical one). He explains the way to surmount it by saying: [90:13] the freeing of a slave, from bondage, [90:14] or to give food on a day of hunger, [90:15] to an orphan near of kin (maqraba means qaraba),

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

12. O Messenger! Do you know what the valley is that he has to cross, in order to enter Paradise?

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

13. It is to free a male or female slave.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

14. Or to feed on a day of drought, in which food is scarce.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

15. A child who has lost his father, whom he is related to.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

90:14] or to give food on a day of hunger, [90:15] to an orphan near of kin (maqraba means qaraba), [90:16] or a needy person in misery (matraba: [literally means] clinging to the dud [turdb]’ because of his poverty; a variant reading has two verbal nouns in place of the two verbs \fakka, ‘he freed’, and at‘ama, ‘he fed’], the fird being in a genitive condru<ftion,/akkn raqabatin, ‘the freeing of a slave’, and the second with nunation, it’dmun, ‘to give food’, in which case there is an implied iqtihamu before al-’aqaba, of which the said reading becomes the explication); 1 1 In this case…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

16. Or a poor person who has no possessions.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

17. Then he is required to be from those who have faith in Allah and advise each other to remain steadfast on act of obedience and refraining from sins, and bearing patience over difficulties, together with advising one another to show mercy to the servants of Allah.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

ranslation has adopted the commentator s variant reading, which is, in fadt, the more usual reading. [90:17] while being ( thumma kdna is a supplement to iqtahama, ‘he assaulted’; thumma is for the or¬ dering of things to be mentioned) in other words, [what is meant is that] at the point of the assault he was: one of those who believe and enjoin one another to steadfastness, in [pursuing] obedience and in refraining from disobedience, and enjoin one another to compassion ( marhama means rahma ), towards creatures. [90:18] Those, the ones described by the said attributes, are the ones of t…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

18. Those are the people of the right.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

19. As for those who disbelieve in My verses that were revealed to My Messenger, they are the people of the left.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

—

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

20. A closed fire will be set upon them on the Day of Judgement, with which they will be punished.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

who disbelieve in Our signs, they are the ones of the left [side] ( al-mash’ama means al-shimdl ). [90:20] Over them will be an enclosing Fire (read mu’sada or musada ), closed on top [of them]. In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: [91:2] and [by] the moon when it follows her, rising after she has set, [91:3] and [by] the day when it reveals her, as it rises [high], [91:4] and [by] the night when it enshrouds her, covering her up with its darkness (idha, ‘when, in all three instances is an absolute adverbial, operated by the verbal adtion of the oath). [91:5] By the heav…