Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:87
And [warn of] the Day the Horn will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will be terrified except whom Allah wills. And all will come to Him humbled.
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.
The exegetes differed concerning the interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: وَيَوْمَ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ . We have already discussed their disagreement earlier and set forth, with documented proofs, what is in our view the correct view concerning it. However, in this place we wish to mention some of the reports that were not mentioned there. Some said: it is a horn into which the blast is blown.
Mention of some of those reports that were not previously mentioned concerning that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both together — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ويوم يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ — he said: like a trumpet in form.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: the Ṣūr is the trumpet. He said: it is the trumpet; its bearer holds it with his two fists, his two palms clasping around the end of the horn, with a distance of about a fist's width or so between the end and his mouth. He has knelt down upon the knee of one of his legs — he pointed to it and knelt upon his left knee, sitting upon its sole, his heel beneath his thigh and his buttock, and the tips of his fingers in the sand.
He said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbdullāh, who said: the Ṣūr is like a horn in form; he has raised one of his knees toward the heaven and lowered the other; he has never closed his eyelids for a sleep since Allah created the heavens — watchful and ready. He has placed the Ṣūr upon his mouth and awaits the moment when he will be commanded to blow into it.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: 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 Ziyād — Abū Jaʿfar said: the correct form is Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād — on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, on the authority of a man from the Anṣār, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that he asked the Prophet ﷺ: "O Prophet of Allah, what is the Ṣūr?" He said: "A horn." He asked: "What is it like?" He said: "A tremendous horn, into which three blasts are blown: the first: the blast of terror, the second: the blast of swooning, the third: the blast of rising before Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Allah commands Isrāfīl with the first blast, saying: blow the blast of terror. He blows the blast of terror, and the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are seized with severe terror, except whom Allah wills. Allah commands him and he prolongs it and draws it out, without ceasing. This is what Allah says: وَمَا يَنْظُرُ هَؤُلاءِ إِلا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً مَا لَهَا مِنْ فَوَاقٍ . Allah sets the mountains in motion, so that they become mirages, and the earth quakes violently with its inhabitants — this is what Allah says: يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ * تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ * قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ . The earth becomes like a ship moored at sea, struck by the waves and tossed about with its inhabitants, or like a lamp hanging from a thread, swung back and forth by the winds. The people are tossed upon its back, so that nursing women forget [their infants] and pregnant women cast their burdens and children turn gray. The devils flee until they reach the borders, where the angels meet them and strike their faces, so that they turn back. The people turn away in flight, calling to one another — this is what Allah says: 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 open from one edge to the other, and they witness a tremendous matter, and a dread overtakes them at it — as Allah knows best. Then they look toward the heaven, and behold: it is like molten metal; then its sun and its moon are eclipsed and its stars scattered, and after that it is torn away from them." The Prophet ﷺ said: "The dead know nothing of all this." Abū Hurayra asked: "O Prophet of Allah, whom has Allah excepted when He says: فَفَزِعَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأرْضِ إِلا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ ?" He said: "Those are the martyrs (shuhadāʾ). The terror strikes only the living; they are alive with their Lord and are provided for. Allah has spared them from the terror of that day and has brought them to safety. This is the punishment of Allah which He sends down upon the worst of His creatures."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Rāfiʿ related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: the Prophet ﷺ said: "Verily Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, after He had finished creating the heavens and the earth, created the Ṣūr and gave it to an angel. He placed it upon his mouth, with his gaze fixed upon the Throne, awaiting the moment when he will be commanded [to blow]." He said: I asked: "O Prophet of Allah, what is the Ṣūr?" He said: "A horn." I asked: "What is it like?" He said: "Tremendous. By Him in whose hand is my soul, the size of its circumference is like the breadth of the heavens and the earth. He is commanded and he blows the blast of terror, and the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are seized with severe terror, except whom Allah wills." Then he mentioned the rest of the report, resembling the report of Abū Kurayb by way of al-Muḥāribī, with the difference that in his report he said: "like a ship lying in the harbor of the sea."
Others said: its meaning is that the blast is blown into the forms of creation.
Mention of those who said this:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: يَوْمَ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ — that is: into creation. His word: فَفَزِعَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأرْضِ — that is: the inhabitants of the heavens among the angels and the inhabitants of the earth among the jinn, mankind, and devils are seized with severe terror, on account of the dreadful thing they witness on that day.
If someone asks: how is it said فَفَزِعَ , in the perfect tense, while it is connected to يُنْفَخُ , which is in the imperfect tense? The answer is: the Arabs do this in places where "idhā" (when) is fitting, because "idhā" is compatible with both the perfect and the imperfect tense — as one says: azūruka idhā zurtanī (I visit you when you visit me) and azūruka idhā tazūranī. When "yawm" (the day) is placed in the position of "idhā," it then runs along the same track. If it is asked: where is the response (jawāb) of وَيَوْمَ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ فَفَزِعَ ? The answer is: it is possible that it is elided at the "wāw," as though it says: and the Word fell upon them on account of their wrongdoing, so that they do not speak, and that is the day on which the blast is blown into the Ṣūr. It is also possible that it is omitted, the indication of the text toward it being deemed sufficient — as it is said: وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا , where the response is omitted.
His word: إِلا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ — it is said that those whom Allah has excepted in this place from being reached by the terror on that day are the martyrs, and that is because they are alive with their Lord and are provided for, even though they are counted among the dead by the people of the world. This is what the report from the Prophet ﷺ mentions, and we have mentioned it in the preceding report.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: al-ʿAwwām informed us, on the authority of the one who related to him, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that he recited this verse: فَفَزِعَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأرْضِ إِلا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ — he said: those are the martyrs.
His word: وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَاخِرِينَ — that is: all came to Him in humility and abasement.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَاخِرِينَ — he said: abased ones.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَاخِرِينَ — he said: abased ones.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَاخِرِينَ — he said: the dākhir (daakhir) is the one who is abased and disgraced. He said: for the man who is terrified, when he is terrified, directs all his attention to fleeing from the thing at which he is terrified. He said: but when the blast was blown into the Ṣūr and they were terrified, there was no escape from Allah for them.
The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَاخِرِينَ . The general body of reciters of the great cities read: "وَكُل آتَوهُ" with a lengthened alif in "ātawhu" on the pattern of fāʿilūhu — with the exception of Ibn Masʿūd, who read: "وكُلٌّ أتُوهُ" on the pattern of faʿalūhu. The later reciters al-Aʿmash and Ḥamza followed him in that reading. Those who read on the pattern of fāʿilūhu argued this on the basis that the reciters are unanimous concerning وَكُلُّهُمْ آتِيهِ — they said: likewise is آتَوهُ in the plural. Those who read as ʿAbdullāh recited connected it back to فَفَزِعَ , as though they directed the meaning of the words to: and on the day the blast is blown into the Ṣūr, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are seized with severe terror, and all came to Him abased — as one says in common speech: he saw, fled, returned, and was abased.
The correct view concerning this, in my opinion, is that these are two readings that are widely current in the readings of the great cities and that are close to one another in meaning. Whichever of the two readings the reciter chooses, he has hit the mark.
