Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 36 Ya-Sin, Ayat 45-52

وَاِذَا قِيۡلَ لَهُمُ اتَّقُوۡا مَا بَيۡنَ اَيۡدِيۡكُمۡ وَمَا خَلۡفَكُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُرۡحَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿36:45﴾ وَمَا تَاۡتِيۡهِمۡ مِّنۡ اٰيَةٍ مِّنۡ اٰيٰتِ رَبِّهِمۡ اِلَّا كَانُوۡا عَنۡهَا مُعۡرِضِيۡنَ‏ ﴿36:46﴾ وَاِذَا قِيۡلَ لَهُمۡ اَنۡفِقُوۡا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللّٰهُ ۙ قَالَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا لِلَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اَنُطۡعِمُ مَنۡ لَّوۡ يَشَآءُ اللّٰهُ اَطۡعَمَهٗٓ ۖ  اِنۡ اَنۡـتُمۡ اِلَّا فِىۡ ضَلٰلٍ مُّبِيۡنٍ‏ ﴿36:47﴾ وَيَقُوۡلُوۡنَ مَتٰى هٰذَا الۡوَعۡدُ اِنۡ كُنۡتُمۡ صٰدِقِيۡنَ‏ ﴿36:48﴾ مَا يَنۡظُرُوۡنَ اِلَّا صَيۡحَةً وَّاحِدَةً تَاۡخُذُهُمۡ وَهُمۡ يَخِصِّمُوۡنَ‏  ﴿36:49﴾ فَلَا يَسۡتَطِيۡعُوۡنَ تَوۡصِيَةً وَّلَاۤ اِلٰٓى اَهۡلِهِمۡ يَرۡجِعُوۡنَ‏  ﴿36:50﴾ وَنُفِخَ فِى الصُّوۡرِ فَاِذَا هُمۡ مِّنَ الۡاَجۡدَاثِ اِلٰى رَبِّهِمۡ يَنۡسِلُوۡنَ‏  ﴿36:51﴾ قَالُوۡا يٰوَيۡلَنَا مَنۡۢ بَعَثَنَا مِنۡ مَّرۡقَدِنَاۘهٰذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحۡمٰنُ وَصَدَقَ الۡمُرۡسَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿36:52﴾

(36:45) When it is said to such people: “Guard yourselves against what is ahead of you and what has preceded you41 that mercy be shown to you” (they pay scant heed to it). (36:46) Never does any Sign of their Lord come to them, but they turn away from it.42 (36:47) And when it is said to them: “Spend (in the Way of Allah) out of the sustenance that Allah has provided you,” the unbelievers say to the believers: “Shall we feed him whom, Allah would have fed, had He so wished?” Say: “You are in evident error.”43 (36:48) They44 say: “When will this threat (of Resurrection) come to pass? Tell us if indeed you are truthful.”45 (36:49) The Truth is that they are waiting for nothing but a mighty Blast to seize them the while they are disputing (in their worldly affairs), (36:50) and they will not even be able to make a testament, nor to return to their households.46 (36:51) Then the Trumpet shall be blown and lo! they will come out of their graves and be on the move towards their Lord,47 (36:52) (nervously) exclaiming. “Alas for us! Who roused us out of our sleeping-place?”48 “This is what the Merciful One had promised, and what (His) Messengers had said was true.”49

Notes

41. “What is behind you”: Which the peoples before you have seen and experienced.

42. “Signs”: Verses of the divine Book by which man is admonished, and the signs which are found in the universe and in man’s own self and in his history which serve as abject lessons for man, provided he is inclined to learn any lesson.

43. This means to show that disbelief has not only blinded their intellect but has destroyed their moral sense, too. They neither have the right thought about Allah nor do they adopt the right attitude towards the people. They react adversely to every admonition, follow a perverse philosophy in respite of every deviation and immorality and have a ready-made pretense for escape from every good.

44. After Tauhid the other question about which a dispute was raging between the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the disbelievers was the question of the Hereafter. Rational arguments about this have been given in the end of the discourse. Here, before giving the arguments, the Hereafter has been depicted with all its horrors so that the people should know that what they are refusing to believe in cannot be averted by their denial, but they have to meet and experience it one day inevitably.

45. The question did not mean that they wanted to know the exact date of the coming of the Hereafter, and if, for instance, they were told that it would take place on such and such a date in such and such a month and year, their doubts would have been removed and they would have believed in it. Such questions, in fact, were put as a challenge only for the sake of argument. What they meant to say was that there would be no Resurrection whatever, as if to say: You are threatening us with Resurrection without rhyme or reason. That is why in reply it has not been said that Resurrection will take place on such and such a day, but that it shall come and shall be accompanied by such and such horrors.

46. That is, the Resurrection will not take place piecemeal so that the people may leisurely watch its coming, but it will come all of a sudden when the people will be engaged in their daily business and they will have no idea whatever that the end of the world had approached. There will be a terrible blast and everyone will fall dead at the spot. Abdullah bin Amr and Abu Hurairah have related a Hadith from the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying: The people will be walking on the roads as usual, will be buying and selling in the markets, will be disputing matters in their assemblies, when suddenly the Trumpet shall be sounded. Thereupon the one who was buying cloth would collapse and he would not have the time to put down the cloth from his hand; the one who was filling a cistern to water his animals would not have the time to water; and the one who was going to eat, would not have the time to lift the morsel to his mouth and Resurrection will take place.

47. For the explanation of the blowing of the Trumpet, see (E.N. 78 of Surah TaHa). As for the length of the interval between the first blowing of the Trumpet and its second blowing, we have no information. The interval may be of hundreds and thousands of years. Abu Hurairah has related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Israfil has put the Trumpet to his mouth and is looking up to the divine Throne, awaiting orders for blowing it. The Trumpet will be blown thrice.

On the first blowing, called nafakhat al-faza, everything in the earth and heavens will be struck with terror. On the second blowing, called nafakhat as-Saaq, everyone will fall down dead. Then, when none shall remain except Allah, the One, the Everlasting, the earth will be changed altogether and will be spread flat and smooth without a crease or wrinkle on it. Then Allah will administer a rebuke to His Creation, whereupon everyone will rise at the spot where he had fallen dead, on the changed earth, and this will happen on the third blowing of the Trumpet called nafakhat al qiyam li-Rabbil-Alamin. This is supported by several allusions in the Quran also.

For example, see (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 48); (Surah TaHa, Ayats 105-108), and the E.Ns thereof.

48. That is, at that time they will not realize that they had been dead and had been raised back to life after a long period, but they will be thinking that they had fallen asleep, and had been woken up suddenly by some terrible catastrophe, and were running away from it. (For further details, see Surahs (TaHa, Ayat 103); (Al-Hajj, Ayats 1-2).

49. Here, it is not clear as to who will give this answer. It may be that they themselves would realize after some time to their horror that it was the same thing of which the Messengers of God used to inform them and they used to belie them. It may also be that the believers will remove their misunderstanding and tell them that it was not waking up from sleep but the second life after death. And it may also be that they will understand this from the general conditions prevailing on the Day of Resurrection and the angels might tell them this.