1. The allusion is to the Day of Judgment. Some scholars have said that “al-haqqah” is one of the names of the Day of Judgment (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Yusuf Ali expands: “Al-haqqa: the sure Truth; the Event that must inevitably come to pass; the state in which all falsehood and pretence will vanish, and the absolute Truth will be laid bare. The questions in the three verses raise an air of wonder. The solution is suggested in what happened to the Tham ud and the ‘A ad, and other people of antiquity, who disregarded the Truth of Allah and came to violent end, even in this life, symbolically suggesting the great Cataclysm of the Hereafter, the Day of Doom.”

At the conceptual level, we might hear Asad’s comments: “The Day of Resurrection and Judgment, on which man will become fully aware of the quality of his past life and, freed from all self-deception, will see himself as he really was, with the innermost meaning of all his past doings – and thus of all his destiny in the hereafter – blindingly revealed.”

2. “Al-Qari`ah” is a name for the Hour (Ibn Jarir); because it will literally knock people down with its grave events (Qurtubi and others).

3. This is how Qatadah explained the word “taghiyyah.” However Mujahid’s interpretation was “sin”, i.e., “they were destroyed because they were covered by sins” (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Yet another possible meaning is: “They were destroyed because of a rebellious group (taghiyyah) which had hamstrung the camel” (Razi, Qurtubi).

4. “Sarsar” has also been explained as a bitterly cold wind (Ibn Jarir, Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

5. We have the famous hadith of the Sahihayn. The Prophet said,

“I was helped by an easterly wind, while the nation of `A ad was destroyed by a westerly wind” (Ibn Kathir).

6. That is, the nation of L ut (asws) – Ibn Jarir.

7. That is, the great error of polytheism, rejection of Allah and His Messengers (Au.).

8. That is, mankind.

9. To what does the pronoun “it” refer to. Ibn Kathir thinks it refers to the boat: not Nuh’s boat, but the generic noun.

10. That will be the first blast (Ibn Jarir). But some say it will be the last blast, there being three in all. The first blast will be of fright that will frighten every living being. The second blast will destroy all life on earth, and the third will resurrect (Ibn Kathir).

11. That is, at the edges, or borders, of the heaven (Mujahid, Sa`eed, Dahhak, etc. - Ibn Jarir).

12. Ibn `Abbas is widely reported to have said that the allusion is to eight rows of angels whose numbers no one knows (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi).

Some reports suggest that the bearers of the `Arsh are angels in the shape of wild goats. However, all such reports are weak (Au.).

Ibn Kathir quotes a hadith from Abu Da’ud:

The Prophet said, “I have been allowed to mention to you an angel of Allah who bears the `Arsh, between whose ear-lobe and the shoulder, the (travel) distance is seven hundred years.”

Another version, slightly different, is in Tirmidhi which he declared Sahih (Au.).

Qurtubi comments: The angels bear the `Arsh, and none bears the carriers of `Arsh but Allah.

In other words, it will be outlandish to think that the `Arsh would then be occupied by the Most High. There is nothing to this effect in the Qur’an or hadith, and in fact, some scholars have suggested that we are not even sure whether it is the same `Arsh that the Qur’an has spoken of in other places as associated with Allah. To conclude, this is another of the mutashabihat (Au.).

13. Another possible connotation as suggested by some of the Salaf is: none will be able to hide his deeds.

Sayyid comments: “So, everyone is exposed .. exposed in body .. exposed in spirit .. exposed in deeds .. exposed to the ultimate end. All veils that used to cover the secrets will fall down, and the people shall stand bare and naked. Man will be stripped of his cunning, schemes, and (false) perceptions. Even that which he wished to remain unexposed to his own self will stand exposed. Allah sees all, at all times. But man did not take account of it. Now he stands fully exposed. The earth has been leveled. There are no ups and downs. The heaven is rendered asunder concealing nothing behind it. And the bodies of men are naked.

“It is a horrendous situation for man, more horrible than the leveling up of the earth, or rendering asunder of the heaven .. his standing naked: naked of body, naked of the soul, naked of perceptions .. his deeds exposed, good or evil .. in front of the creations.”

14. The grammatical suffix “um” lends the meaning of “you all.” That is, “come on, you all, read my Record” (Ibn Kathir).

According to a hadith in Tirmidhi,

When a bedouin called out in a loud voice “O Muhammad”, the Messenger answered him almost in the same pitch, “HaaUmu”. We told the man, “Woe unto you man, lower down the pitch of your voice” (Qurtubi).

15. This is how Ibn `Abbas and Qatadah understood the word. Ibn Zayd added that a believer’s “zann” is certainty (Ibn Jarir).

16. That is, the good deeds that you sent forward from the previous life (Ibn Jarir).

17. That is, he would wish that the death, which he hated most in the world, could swallow him now (Qatadah, Ibn Zayd: Ibn Jarir). Dahhak has said that every “zann” from a believer as used in the Qur’an is in the sense of “certainty” while every “zann” from an unbeliever as used in the Qur’an is “uncertainty” (Qurtubi).

Another possible meaning, and, quite a legitimate one, has been pointed out by Razi which would render the verse as, “I wish my first death was the last one.”

18. According to another understanding, “sultan” here alludes to arguments (that he could put forth that day to defend his erstwhile response to the call of truth) - Ibn Jarir.

19. The chain will be inserted through his one orifice and brought out of another; according to some others, brought out of the nostrils – and then roasted in Hell (like chicken) - Ibn Jarir and others.

20. The importance in Islam, of feeding the poor cannot be exaggerated (Au.).