ad-Dukhan [Al-Muntakhab]

44:1
- H. (Ha), M. (Meem) the Surah opens with these introductory letters from the Arabic Alphabet to draw attention to the miracle of the Quran which though written in the people's tongue, cannot be emulated
44:2
- And by the Book which is the spirit of truth that guides people into all truth
44:3
- The Book which We began revealing at a blessed and a highly esteemed Night, it is incumbent on Us to send a Messenger as a spectacle and a warning and entrust to him an authoritative Book
44:4
- A night in which every affair proceeding from Him, the Absolute source of wisdom, is disposed of in the manner imparting knowledge, wisdom and spiritual light and displaying Allah's Omnipotence and Authority
44:5
- An ordinance set forth by Us that We send upon man Our high behests through Messengers who would illuminate the souls by divine truth
44:6
- An act of mercy vouchsafed by Allah, your Creator, to His Creatures. He is indeed AL-Sami' (with unlimited audition), AL-Alim (the Omniscient)
44:7
- The Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them, a fact acknowledged by you people if your hearts have been touched with the divine hand
44:8
- There is no Ilah but He. He gives life and inspirits the property of animate existence and He occasions death and deprives of animate existence. He is Allah, your Creator, and the Creator of your forefathers
44:9
- Yet they are objectively uncertain of the plain truth and they give occasion to uncertainty, and they follow that emotion which they think would help them attain the object from which pleasure and satisfaction are expected
44:10
- You just wait the course of events O Muhammad; there comes a Day when the heavens shall stir smoke-like dust and things end into smoke
44:11
- There and then shall your people -the Quraishites- smother out of a small danger into a great one by reason whereof ensues a great famine and they will be reduced to the painful extremities of hunger and the hungry flame devours the silent dead
44:12
- Thence they shall plead with Allah for alleviating their distress: " O Allah, our Creator ", they shall say: "deliver us from what is burdensome and exhausting to the mind and we will submit and believe with hearts reflecting religious and spiritual virtues"
44:13
- But in what way and by what means will they be brought to their senses and keep their promise of submitting to Our Authority with hearts reflecting religious and spiritual virtues once they have been delivered from distress. They have denied Our Messenger who brought them the spirit of truth guiding people into all truth
44:14
- And they turned a deaf ear and refused to listen and they turned their backs upon him, accusing him at one time of "being taught by others " and at another time "a demoniac, possessed by an evil spirit"
44:15
- But We will, for a while, allow you people to receive Our efficacious grace effecting the end for which it is given. We will help you get over your misfortune, albeit We know that you will return thereafter to the same subject of thought and to your former disposition. You will hug your old irreverent conviction to your hearts and consequently fall from grace
44:16
- There shall come the Day O Muhammad when We strike the blow that is severe, shocking, disastrous and destructive punishing wrong and avenging crime; the great instance of Our vindictive punishment. Indeed, We will take just vengeance on those wretches who had miss-spent life befooling the minds so as to cause what is false to be accepted as true
44:17
- And long before them -the Quraishites- We had tested the people of Pharaoh. There came to them a noble Messenger -Mussa (Moses)- inviting them graciously to do what was agreeable and he presented them with inducements
44:18
- (Inducements) to open their hearts' ears and their minds' eyes and listen to his religious and moral discourse. He said to them: "O you servants of Allah; you had better respond favourably to the spirit of truth guiding people into all truth; I come to you with a message which Allah has entrusted to me and in sincerity and honour do I relate it to you"
44:19
- "Nor Should you pride yourselves on disbelief in Allah, your Creator, or set off yourselves against Him with inordinate self-esteem. I come to present you with delegated authority to influence your conduct and your actions"
44:20
- "And here do I commit myself to Allah, my Creator and your Creator, counter to your hostile attitude of mind which may induce you to stone me to death"
44:21
- "And it you do not pin your faith upon me and you think I am open to suspicion then leave me alone and keep me out of harm's way"
44:22
- There and then did Mussa make devout and humble supplications to Allah his Creator, praying for His aid, setting forth in words by reference to their wicked characteristics
44:23
- "March My servants to the sea by night", he was told; "you will be followed. for their vengeance shall follow you wherever you are"
44:24
- And after you have stricken the sea with your staff and made a footpath for your people across, calm yourself and let the sea return to its settled calm. They are a multitude of men destined to drown"
44:25
- And so, how plentiful was what they left behind; they were in a condition of abundance: gardens and springs
44:26
- And all kinds of vegetal growth and products of the soil and mansions and stately homes
44:27
- And luxuriation in power and luxuriation in abundance of the necessities and comforts of life wherewith they rejoiced beyond a common joy
44:28
- Thus did We put another people of a different race and creed in possession and made them the heirs, whereas their name was the only inheritance they left
44:29
- And neither the heaven nor the earth shed tears over them; they were not going to weep at what they were glad for; nor was the wicked's just punishment meant to be put in respite
44:30
- There and then did We deliver Bani-Israel (the Children of Israel) from the suffering and the painful humiliation
44:31
- Inflicted by Pharaoh who beheld his unfortunate people from an exalted throne and was extravagant in his account of himself and was fond of his own way which he saw but the one way to erect tyrannies in all his cities
44:32
- Such prerogative as We confined to Bani-Israel was based on Our knowledge of who best deserved, among all people of the time, to be the recipient of Our mercy and blessings
44:33
- And We conferred on them what was to their need: convenience and comfort and We bestowed on them -through Mussa acts of miraculous nature serving to demonstrate divine power and authority. All together, were a sure test of their actions and reactions which would echo their true beliefs and the prevalent inclination among them
44:34
- Yet these -Quraishites- who deny Resurrection, insolently say
44:35
- "We only die once when we come to our life's end and never will we be resurrected"
44:36
- "And they add, if you Muhammad together with those who have fallen into line truly assert an Eternal Providence and justify the truth of Resurrections then bring back our forefathers"
44:37
- Are they -the Meccan infidels- the better in wordly conditions than the people of Tobba* and their predecessors? But We did away with them, and reduced them into a useless form; they were evil personified
44:38
- Nor did We create the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them in amusement and diversion
44:39
- In effect We have not created both of them but in conformity with truth and in agreement with reality with soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends; but, in darkness most of them walk on and they know not, nor do they even understand
44:40
- Indeed the Day of segregation of the rightful from the wrongful who indulged in vanity is the calculated point of time and the moment of impact eventful to them al
44:41
- This is the Eventful Day when no master shall avail his subordinates nor can a subordinate avail his master but like master, like man, nor can anyone afford them help
44:42
- Except those to whom Allah will extend His mercy; He is AL-Aziz (the Almighty), and AL-Rahim (the Merciful)
44:43
- There and then shall the ugly, the bitter and disagreeable tree of Zaqqum or (Zaqqoom)
44:44
- Be the edible food of the sinner
44:45
- Food which like molten metals. will keep boiling inside the bellie
44:46
- And like water brought to the bolting point
44:47
- The angels posted as sentinels keeping guard of the Fire are commanded, thus: "Seize him and detain him -the sinner- and take him to the depths of Hell."
44:48
- "And pour on his head torrents of painfully tormenting boiling water."
44:49
- "Now taste and see," he is told, "how just is the retribution; you had tasted the pleasure of your saw of might and you preferred might to right just as you had enjoyed and abused birthright"
44:50
- "This is the just retribution you had always doubted"
44:51
- But those who had entertained the profound reverence dutiful to Allah, shall be welcomed to where they are privileged, with safe-conduct and security
44:52
- Amid beautiful gardens and dazzling springs
44:53
- Dressed up in silk gowns and ornamented brocade and seated in opposite directions enjoying the glory of heaven
44:54
- Thus shall it be, and thus shall We join them in wedlock to beauty with attractive dark eyes whose splendour could not have been sustained in life
44:55
- Whatever fruit they ask for or they portray in their minds shall be given with surety; they have been given the security
44:56
- They shall suffer no death other than the first death they had encountered at their life's end, and now they have been saved the torment of the Fire
44:57
- An efficacious grace of Allah your Creator, effecting the supreme triumph for which it is given
44:58
- We have revealed it -the Quran - in your tongue O Muhammad; so that it takes effect and be of operative influence on your people that they may comprehend and lift to Allah their inward sight
44:59
- Events cast their shadow before, therefore await the course of events. O Muhammad you will come to know what fate awaits them and likewise they are also waiting

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IslamAwakened.com Qur'an Tafsir of Surah ad-Dukhan - Smoke, The Evident Smoke as rendered by Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim