Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:1
O mankind, fear your Lord. Indeed, the convulsion of the [final] Hour is a terrible thing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted says: O people, fear the punishment of your Lord by obeying Him — obey Him and do not sin — for His punishment of those whom He punishes on the Day of Resurrection is severe.
Then He describes, exalted be His praise, the awesomeness of the phenomena of that day, and says: إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ ("Verily, the earthquake of the Hour is a tremendous thing").
The scholars differed concerning the time of the earthquake which Allah the Exalted describes as exceedingly severe. Some said: it occurs in this world before the Day of Resurrection.
Mention of who said that: Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama — concerning the saying إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ: "before the Hour."
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, he said: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of ʿĀmir — concerning يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ: "This is in this world before the Day of Resurrection."
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — concerning the saying إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ: "its earthquake is the portents. The verses: يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْضَعَتْ وَتَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا وَتَرَى النَّاسَ سُكَارَى وَمَا هُمْ بِسُكَارَى."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of ʿĀmir — يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ: "This is in this world, among the signs of the Hour."
There has also been transmitted a narration from the Prophet ﷺ in line with what these said, but in its isnād there is a point of criticism — and that is: Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ al-Madanī, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, on the authority of a man from the Anṣār, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurẓī, on the authority of a man from the Anṣār, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When Allah finished creating the heavens and the earth, He created the ṣūr (ram's horn) and gave it to Isrāfīl; he holds it to his mouth, his gaze fixed intently upon the Throne, awaiting the command. Abū Hurayra said: O Messenger of Allah, what is the ṣūr? He said: a horn. He said: What does it look like? He said: A great horn upon which it is blown three times: the first blast is the blast of terror, the second is the blast of swooning, and the third is the blast of standing up before the Lord of the Worlds. Allah the Almighty commands Isrāfīl the first blast, and says: Blow the blast of terror; then the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are seized with terror, except whom Allah wills; Allah then commands him to continue and prolong it without stopping. And this is what Allah means by: وَمَا يَنْظُرُ هَؤُلاءِ إِلا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً مَا لَهَا مِنْ فَوَاقٍ. Then Allah sets the mountains in motion so that they become a mirage; the earth shakes with its inhabitants, and this is what Allah means by: يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ * تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ * قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ. The earth becomes like a ship lost at sea, battered by the waves while the people in it are tossed about, or like a lamp suspended from the Throne, swung to and fro by the winds; the people are tossed upon its back, the nursing mothers forget, the pregnant women give birth prematurely, the children turn grey-haired, and the devils flee to the far corners of the earth, but the angels intercept them and strike them in the face so that they return; and the people flee, some calling out to others, and this is what Allah means by: يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ * يَوْمَ تُوَلُّونَ مُدْبِرِينَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ عَاصِمٍ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ. While they are thus, the earth splits from one side to the other, and they see something tremendous and are seized by such distress as none but Allah knows; then they look to the sky and see that it is like molten metal; the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars scatter apart; then it is taken away from them." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The dead know nothing of all this." Abū Hurayra said: Then whom does Allah mean by the exception in His word فَفَزِعَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ إِلا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ? He said: "Those are the martyrs; the terror reaches only the living; these are alive with their Lord and are provided for; Allah has spared them the terror of that day and secured them in safety. And this is the punishment of Allah which He sends down upon the worst of His creation; and this is what Allah says: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ... up to His word: وَلَكِنَّ عَذَابَ اللَّهِ شَدِيدٌ."
This position which we mentioned from ʿAlqama, al-Shaʿbī, and those whom we cite, is a position that we would only adopt if there were no authentic narrations from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ contradicting it; and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is more knowledgeable of the meanings of Allah's revelation and sending down.
The correct position on this matter is what is confirmed by reliable narrations from him.
Mention of the narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on this matter: Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām related to me, he said: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, he said: I heard my father relate, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of a companion of his who related it to him, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn: "While the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was on one of his campaigns and his companions had spread out, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called out this verse: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ. They drove on their mounts until they were around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: Do you know what day that is? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: That is the day on which Ādam is called; his Lord calls him: Bring forth the contingent for the Fire — out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine to the Fire. The people were seized with dismay, so that none of them smiled any longer; the Prophet ﷺ said: Be righteous, hold fast, and rejoice — for among you are two creatures that are present with any group whatsoever, making that group more numerous: those of the children of Adam who are destroyed, and those of the children of Iblīs; and Yāʾjūj and Māʾjūj. He said: Rejoice — for you are among the people like a mole on the flank of a camel, or like a marking on the foreleg of a beast."
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, he said: Hishām ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ. And Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, he said: my father related to us; and Ibn Abī ʿAdī, on the authority of Hishām, both on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — with the same import.
Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Bishr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ziyād, on the authority of ʿImrān, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — with the same import.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "It has reached me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, after he returned from the campaign of al-ʿUsra while his companions were with him, when he was near Medina, recited: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ * يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا... the verse; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Do you know what day that is? It was said: Allah and His Messenger know best." Then the same as before, but with the addition: "There have never been two messengers without a period of ignorance between them; these are destined for the Fire; and you are amid two creatures that, when they are with any matter, make it more numerous than all the other inhabitants of the earth: those are Yāʾjūj and Māʾjūj, and they are destined for the Fire; and the number is completed with the hypocrites."
Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to me, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "It is said to Ādam: bring forth the contingent for the Fire. Then he says: What is the contingent for the Fire? It is said: out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine. Then the young child turns grey-haired, the pregnant woman gives birth, and you see the people as drunk while they are not drunk, but Allah's punishment is severe." He said: We asked: Where then is the one who is saved, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "Rejoice — out of every thousand, one of you and a thousand of Yāʾjūj and Māʾjūj." Then he said: "I truly hope that you will be a quarter of the inhabitants of Paradise." We said the takbīr and praised Allah. Then he said: "I truly hope that you will be a third of the inhabitants of Paradise." We said the takbīr and praised Allah. Then he said: "I truly hope that you will be half of the inhabitants of Paradise. You are among the people like a white hair on a black bull, or like a black hair on a white bull."
Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah says to Ādam on the Day of Resurrection..." then the same as before.
ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā al-Ramlī related to me, he said: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, who said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the Resurrection and said: Allah says on the Day of Resurrection: O Ādam; he says: Labbayk wa-saʿdayk, and the good is in Your two hands; Allah says: Send forth the contingent to the Fire." Then the same as before.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas: "يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ... up to: عَذَابَ اللَّهِ شَدِيدٌ... was sent down upon the Prophet ﷺ while he was on a journey; he raised his voice with it until his companions gathered around him. He said: Do you know what day this is? This is the day on which Allah says to Ādam: O Ādam, stand up and send forth the contingent to the Fire — out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine! This weighed heavily upon the Muslims; the Prophet ﷺ said: Strive for what is right, hold fast, and rejoice! By the One in Whose hand is my soul, you are among the people only like a mole on the flank of a camel, or like a marking on the foreleg of a beast; and with you are two creatures that, when they are with any matter, make it more numerous: Yāʾjūj and Māʾjūj, and those who have perished of the unbelievers among the jinn and mankind."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; Ibn Thawr, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn: "I entered upon Ibn Masʿūd in the treasury (bayt al-māl); he said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: Are you content to be a quarter of the inhabitants of Paradise? We said: yes. He said: Are you content to be a third of the inhabitants of Paradise? We said: yes. He said: By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I truly hope that you will be half of the inhabitants of Paradise; and I shall tell you why: none enters Paradise except a Muslim soul, and the smallness of the number of the Muslims in relation to the unbelievers on the Day of Resurrection is like a black hair on a white bull, or like a white hair on a black bull."
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning the saying إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ: "This is the Day of Resurrection."
The zilzāl (earthquake) is a verbal noun of the verb "I shook the earth to and fro beneath someone — azalziluhā zilzalatan and zilzālan" — with kasra of the z in zilzāl — as Allah said: إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا. Likewise is the verbal noun of every sound verb when it comes upon the pattern faʿlān, with kasra at the beginning — as waswasa (to whisper) gives waswasatan and wiswāsan. But when it is a proper noun, it has fatḥa at the beginning: al-zalzāl and al-waswās — which is what whispers to man — as the poet said: "The foolish, blinded man knows that fate harbors therein malice and al-zalzāl (a shaking)."
The saying يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا: Allah the Exalted says: on the day when you, O people, see the earthquake of the Hour, every nursing mother, through the tremendousness of it, becomes forgetful of her child, and Allah means by تَذْهَلُ: she forgets and abandons her child out of the severity of her affliction. One says: "dhahaltu ʿan kadhā adhalu ʿanhu dhuhūlan and dhahiltu adhalu — the latter is less common; the best usage is with fatḥa of the h; in the imperfect tense the h in both forms is with fatḥa, nothing else has been transmitted." A poet said: "His heart became sober, O ʿAzza, or it was about to forget it."
As for the tāʾ-hāʾ in كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ: the Arabic linguists differed on this. Some Kufan grammarians said: if you include the hāʾ in "murḍiʿa" then you mean the mother of the child who is being nursed; if you drop it you mean the woman who has with her a child she nurses, because it concerns the action. They said: if it concerned the attribute, it would read "murḍiʿ." And likewise is every "mufʿil" or "fāʿil" that is used for the feminine and not for the masculine meaning, without hāʾ — such as muqrib, mūqir, mushdin, ḥāmil, and ḥāʾiḍ.
Abū Jaʿfar says: This position seems to me to be the most correct interpretation, for the practice of the Arabs is to drop the hāʾ of the feminine gender in every fāʿil and mufʿil when they thereby indicate a feminine meaning, even if the man has no share in it; but when they mean that she will do something which she has not yet done, they add the hāʾ of the feminine gender to distinguish between attribute and action. Of this is the verse of al-Aʿshā concerning something that is yet to take place and has not yet taken place: "O neighbor-woman, depart, for you are divorced! Thus go the affairs of people: an attacker by day and a nocturnal one." But in a descriptive usage, as the verse of Imruʾ al-Qays: "Many a pregnant woman have I visited at night and a nursing one (murḍiʿ) — and I distracted her from the amulet-wearing child, a year old." Sometimes they added the hāʾ in both situations and sometimes they dropped it in both situations, but the most correct expression is what I have described.
The meaning of the saying is then: on the day when you, O people, see the earthquake of the Hour, every mother who has her child at the breast forgets and abandons what she was nursing.
[Footnotes: (1) He probably means that in the isnād there are two unknown men from the Anṣār. (2) A verse as proof that the verbal noun of a reduplicated quadriliteral verb, when it comes upon the pattern "faʿlā," is with kasra of the first letter; but when the first letter is with fatḥa, it is a proper noun and not the verbal noun — as in this verse. (3) This is the opening of an ode by Kathīr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Khuzāʿī (known as Kathīr ʿAzza) in praise of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; the second hemistich reads: "and he had resolved to separate or to exchange the wife." (4) Consult here the Lisān al-ʿArab for a more extensive treatment. (5) A verse by Aʿshā ibn Qays ibn Thaʿlaba concerning his wife of the Huzān tribe. (6) A verse from the Muʿallaqa of Imruʾ al-Qays ibn Ḥujr al-Kindī; the commentator explains: "ṭaraqtu" means "I visited at night"; al-tamāʾim are amulets hung upon a child; "muḥwil" means that a year has passed.]