Topic: Knowledge Of The Hour, (Sa‘ah)

10:46.

2:168.

Important Words:

فرطنا (our neglecting) is derived from فرّط (farrata) which again is derived from فرط (farata) which means, he went before or preceded. فرط منه الکلام means, the speech or the words issued from him hastily before reflection. فرط علیه means, he acted hastily and unjustly towards him. فرّطه (farratahu) means, he made him to precede; or he made him to be before, or beforehand or first or foremost. فرطه also means, he sent it before, himself remaining behind it. فرط عنه means, he left or forsook him; or he abstained or desisted from it. فرط فیه means, he neglected it or he was remiss with respect to it; or he preferred backwardness in it; or he failed to do, or fell short of doing, what he ought to have done with respect to it. افرط فی الامر means, he exceeded due bounds or just limits in the matter. Thus تفریط (from فرط) has generally come to mean, "falling short of" and إفراط(from افرط) "exceeding proper limits" (Lane & Aqrab).

الا (surely) originally denotes an interrogation respecting a negative, or a wish or reproof, or the asking for or requiring a thing. It is also used as an inceptive particle giving the sense of "now" or "why". It also means, verily, truly or surely (Lane).

Commentary:

The pronoun in فیھا (this) may refer to the "Hour" mentioned above. In that case, "neglecting this Hour" would mean that disbelievers never believed that the Hour would come and never gave it a thought; or it may refer to الدنیا (the earth) or to حیاتنا الدنیا (our present life) occurring in 6:30 above. In this case, the sentence would mean that they acted negligently during their life on this earth.

The words, they shall bear their burdens on their backs, are intended to hint that their burdens would be exceedingly heavy.

6:48; 12:108; 43:67.

Commentary:

The word "Hour" refers to the Hour of the decisive victory of Islam, or, in other words, the Fall of Mecca. Thus, whereas "punishment" refers to ordinary afflictions, "Hour" refers to the final and decisive event of the struggle. The question put in this verse is answered in the next.

16:78; 54:51.

33:64; 78:2; 79:43.

31:35; 43:86.

Important Words:

ایان مرساھا (when will it come to pass?) مرسی is derived from رسا. They say رساالجبل i.e. the mountain was firmly based or fixed upon the ground. رست السفینة means, the ship cast anchor and became stationary. مرسی is the noun-infinitive or a noun of time or a noun of place, meaning, the act of anchoring or the time or place of anchorage; or the time and place of becoming stationary; or of coming to pass. The expression ایان مرساھا means, when will it come to pass, or what is the time of its taking place; or when will it occur or happen? (Lane & Aqrab).

حفی (well acquainted) is derived from حفی which means, he walked barefooted; or his feet became chafed by walking much. حفی به means, he showed him much honour and kindness and affection; or he behaved towards him with solicitude and manifested joy and pleasure. حفی عنه means, he asked or inquired much respecting him; he exceeded the usual bounds in making much inquiry respecting him. So حفی means, showing much honour and solicitude and manifesting joy or pleasure at meeting another; asking or inquiring much respecting another’s state or condition; going to the utmost in asking or inquiring; or knowing in the utmost degree (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the opening sentence of the verse is to 7:186. When the opponents of Islam were told that their hour had already drawn near, they inquired of the Prophet the exact time when the promised hour would come. The awarding of punishment is as painful to God as the receiving of it is to men, and this is the meaning of the words, It lies heavy on the heavens and the earth. The word "heavens" here represents God and angels, while the word "earth" represents human beings.

The word حفی signifies (1) importunate in inquiring; or (2) well acquainted. The sentence would thus mean: (1) They ask thee concerning the exact time when the hour of their punishment will come to pass, as if thou wert repeatedly inquiring of God as to its time of occurrence; or (2) they ask thee about the time of the "Hour", as if thou wert well acquainted with it. In both these cases the clause would imply that the Holy Prophet neither knew when the "Hour" would come to pass nor was he very solicitous about it.

10:51; 22:56; 43:67.

Important Words:

غاشیة (an overwhelming punishment) is derived from غشی. They say, غشیه i.e. it covered or concealed him; it overcame or overwhelmed him, etc. غاشیة means, a covering; a calamity or misfortune; a certain disease attacking the belly or the chest; a punishment that overwhelms and is general in its extent (Lane). See also 7:42.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that as disbelievers refuse to accept anything but a sign of punishment, they will indeed have a sign of punishment. But as is the way of God, they will have smaller punishments before they are visited with the final or decisive one. And so it happened in the case of the Meccan idolaters. After a series of small reverses, Mecca, which was in those days temporarily the citadel of disbelief and infidelity, fell to the victorious arms of the Muslims. This was the decisive and real sign for which they had clamoured.

Important Words:

زلزلة (earthquake) is derived from زلزل. They say زلزل اللّٰه الارض i.e. God shook the earth. زلزله means, he frightened him. زلزل الابل means, he drove the camels harshly. زلزلة means, a shaking of the earth; an earthquake; a calamity; a terrible visitation; زلازل (plural) i.e. calamities, miseries, trials, afflictions (Aqrab). The word also means: a war or the effects of war. The last two World Wars were called زلزلة (an earthquake) because they shook the foundation of human society and brought about new political and social changes and also a revolutionary change in the beliefs, ideas and ideals of men. The word has been used in the Quran in the sense of a calamity (2:215) and also in the sense of war or the effects of war (33:11, 12).

الساعة (Hour) is derived from ساع. They say ساع الشیء i.e. the thing was lost, it degraded. ساعت الابل means, the camels went away grazing without a driver. ساعة means, an hour; a part of time; a while or a little while; a space; a period; an indefinite time; a watch. الساعة means, the present time; now; just now; this moment. It also means, difficulty, distress or affliction; distance; remoteness. الساعة (Hour) or القیامة is used in three senses: (a) death of a great and famous person. It is called القیامة الصغری or الساعةالصغری i.e. the small resurrection; (b) a national calamity or the doom that overtakes a whole people on account of their evil deeds. It is called الساعة الوسطی i.e. the Middle Hour; (c) the Day of Judgement. It is called القیامة الکبری or الساعة الکبری i.e. the Great Hour (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The word الساعة has been used in the Quran in the last two senses mentioned under "Important Words" above. The context shows that in the verse under comment it has been used in the second sense, i.e. in the sense of a national calamity that shakes the very foundation of a people. It may have particular reference to the impending doom of the Arabs when Mecca, the citadel of their political power, would fall and their political power and whole social system would break and crumble or it may refer to a terrible calamity that would overtake mankind in the form of a global war and would bring calamitous changes in its wake. The present verse read along with 2:213 lends further support to the inference that the words الساعة (the Hour) or یوم القیامة (the Day of Judgement) used in the Quran generally signify a great national calamity that overtakes a people.

Important Words:

تذھل (forget) is derived from ذھل. They say ذھل عنه i.e. he forgot it or neglected it; he was or became unmindful of it; he neglected it intentionally or in consequence of his being diverted by something. ذھول is the neglecting of a thing, dismissing it from the mind; or the quitting of a thing with confusion or perplexity or alienation of mind such as arises from fear etc. or being diverted from one’s constant companion so as to forget him (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse has used three metaphors or similes to express the extreme severity of "the earthquake of the Hour," referred to in the preceding verse. Nothing is dearer to a mother than the babe to which she gives suck and there could be no terror more dreadful in its effects than the one that makes a woman cast down her burden and which drives men to frenzy and yet, the verse says, the suddenness and severity of the terror inspired by the dreadful event would be such that mothers would abandon the babes at their breasts and pregnant women would cast down their burdens and people would go mad with fright and like a drunken man would lose all control over their actions. The wording of the verse incidentally implies that the "Hour" referred to in the preceding verse is not the final Day of Judgement but, as stated in the preceding verse, is the destruction of the political power of Meccans in the form of the Fall of Mecca and other calamities that would overtake them, and the victory of Islam.

Commentary:

The verse continuing the theme of the previous verse purports to say that whereas the believers are decreed to achieve eminence and glory, a dreadful punishment is in store for disbelievers. Their punishment is impending; nay it is at their very doors; but they do not see it and therefore refuse to believe it.

The word الساعة (the Hour) in the verse signifies the complete triumph of the cause of truth and the failure and frustration of disbelief. In fact the time of every Prophet has been called الساعة in the Quran, as at that time the old order dies and from its ruins emerges a new one.

30:25; 42:29.

Commentary:

The Surah ends by reverting to its basic theme, viz. the ultimate triumph of Islam; and mentions five important facts concerning it: (1) With God alone rests the knowledge of the hour of final overthrow of disbelief and the triumph of Islam. (2) He alone knows when the condition of a people demands the sending down of Divine revelation and so He has revealed the Quran in the fulness of time. (3) To God alone belongs the knowledge whether the generations yet unborn will accept Islam or stick to disbelief, i.e. the sons and grandsons of the leaders of disbelief who are now fighting Islam tooth and nail, will enter its fold and will willingly give their lives to safeguard it and further its cause. (4) No one knows what he will earn on the morrow i.e. the disbelievers do not know that all their efforts against Islam will prove futile and abortive. (5) The leaders of disbelief who have turned the Holy Prophet and Muslims out of their hearths and homes will themselves meet death away from their homes. The reference in this clause may also be to the propagation of Islam by early Muslims, signifying that they will go to far-off lands to preach the Message of Islam and the end of their earthly lives would come in places far-removed from their homeland.

7:188; 79:43.

Commentary:

In verse 25 the disbelievers and hypocrites were warned that they would be punished. In the present verse they are told that the time of their punishment has drawn very near. The reference in "the Hour" may be to the Battle of the Ditch.

13:9; 35:12.

18:53; 28:63.

Commentary:

The "Hour" signifying the hour of the disbelievers’ doom, the verse means to say that God alone knows how the seed that the Holy Prophet has sown in the soil of Arabia would grow, and what kinds of fruit it would bear. If the fruits were rotten they would be destroyed but if they were wholesome and delicious they would be preserved with care, i.e. God alone knows whether the future Arab generations would accept or reject Islam, because on their attitude towards the new Faith would depend their salvation or destruction. The verse also seems to imply a prophecy that idolatry would completely disappear from Arabia and the future generations of the disbelieving Quraish would accept Islam.

13:7; 27:47.

Commentary:

Disbelievers do not believe in the Day of Judgement, so they demand its speedy coming; but with true believers, the case is quite different. They know that on the Day of Judgement they will have to render an account of their actions and, therefore, while they make every preparation for it, they are also afraid to face it.

Commentary:

The "hour" here may denote the time of the end of Mosaic Dispensation and of the rise of a new Shari‘ah, and the pronoun ہ in the expression إنه may refer to Jesus. The verse may thus signify that Jesus was the last Prophet of the House of Israel. His fatherless birth symbolised the total spiritual sterility of the Israelite people. It also constituted a warning to the Jews that by their persistent rejection of truth and opposition to heavenly Messengers, they had forfeited the Divine blessing of prophethood and, therefore, no Prophet would henceforth spring from the loins of a Jewish father. It was in this sense that Jesus was a "sign of the Hour." Jesus himself realized this. He said to his people:

"Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21:43).

If the pronoun ہ in the expression إنه be taken to refer to the Quran, as some commentators have done, the verse would mean that the Quran is "a sign of the Hour" i.e. a sign that the Israelites are about to be deprived of the Divine gift of prophethood and that another Dispensation—Islamic Dispensation—will now take the place of Mosaic Dispensation. Or the verse may signify that all the great calamities and catastrophes that will overwhelm the world, or the great changes that will take place in future, have been mentioned specifically or by implication in the Quran.

10:51; 12:108; 22:56; 47:19.

Commentary:

The verse refers to the original theme of the Surah and means to say that disbelievers, by rejecting the Holy Prophet, are inviting the hour of punishment to come suddenly upon them.

2:108; 7:159; 57:6.

Commentary:

The words "and with Him is the knowledge of the Hour" embody another argument in repudiation of Jesus’ "sonship". Here God is said to possess the knowledge of the Hour but Jesus confessed his ignorance of it (Matt. 24:36).

15:86; 18:22; 20:16; 22:8.

Commentary:

This verse further makes it clear that the "Hour" mentioned in this and the preceding verse refers also to the hour of the complete defeat and discomfiture of disbelievers in this life.

Important Words:

الازفة (The Hour) is fem. act. part. from أزف which means, he was or became or drew near; he hastened or was quick. الازفةmeans, the Hour of Judgement; the Resurrection; the near event; death (Lane).

Commentary:

The idolaters of Mecca, says the verse, have persisted in denying the Divine Message and as a result of their denial the hour of the overthrow of their power has drawn very near; nay it is knocking at their very door.

Important Words:

أدھٰی (most calamitous) is derived from دھٰی. They say مادھاک i.e. what has befallen thee. The Arabs say دھته داھیة i.e. acalamity befell him. أدھٰی means, more or most calamitous (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The defeat at Badr was indeed a most formidable and calamitous misfortune for the Quraish. Their power and prestige sustained a crushing blow. Most of their leaders and prominent chiefs were killed. Having suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a handful of inexperienced and ill-equipped Muslims, they felt deeply humiliated and mortified. The prophecy was fulfilled to the very letter.

The الساعة (Hour) mentioned in this and the opening verse of the Surah refers to the Battle of Badr.

22:50; 26:116; 29:51.