Tafseer of The Forgiver · Ghafir · 40:32
And O my people, indeed I fear for you the Day of Calling -
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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَيَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ("And O my people, indeed I fear for you the Day of Mutual Calling") (40:32).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says this, reporting the saying of this believing man to Firʿawn and his people: ( وَيَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ ) ("And O my people, indeed I fear for you"), through your killing of Mūsā, if you kill him, the punishment of Allah ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("on the Day of Mutual Calling").
The reciters differed over the manner of reciting His saying: ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("the Day of Mutual Calling"). Most of the reciters of the lands recited it: ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) with lightening (takhfīf) of the dāl and without retention of the yāʾ, in the meaning of the reciprocal verb form (tafāʿul), from "tanādā al-qawm tanādiyan" (the people called out to one another), as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: وَنَادَى أَصْحَابُ الْجَنَّةِ أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ أَنْ قَدْ وَجَدْنَا مَا وَعَدَنَا رَبُّنَا حَقًّا فَهَلْ وَجَدْتُمْ مَا وَعَدَ رَبُّكُمْ حَقًّا قَالُوا نَعَمْ ("And the companions of the Garden call out to the companions of the Fire: 'We have found true what our Lord promised us; have you found true what your Lord promised?' They say: 'Yes'"), and He said: وَنَادَى أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ أَنْ أَفِيضُوا عَلَيْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ ("And the companions of the Fire call out to the companions of the Garden: 'Pour upon us some water'"). For this reason the reciters of that reading explained it thus.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Anṣārī related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that concerning this verse ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("the Day of Mutual Calling") he said: the day on which the companions of the Fire call out to the companions of the Garden: "Pour upon us some water."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ( وَيَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("And O my people, indeed I fear for you the Day of Mutual Calling"): the day on which the companions of the Garden call out to the companions of the Fire: أَنْ قَدْ وَجَدْنَا مَا وَعَدَنَا رَبُّنَا حَقًّا فَهَلْ وَجَدْتُمْ مَا وَعَدَ رَبُّكُمْ حَقًّا ("'We have found true what our Lord promised us; have you found true what your Lord promised?'"), and the companions of the Fire call out to the companions of the Garden: أَنْ أَفِيضُوا عَلَيْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ أَوْ مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ ("'Pour upon us some water, or something of what Allah has provided you'").
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("the Day of Mutual Calling"), he said: the Day of Resurrection, on which the companions of the Garden call out to the companions of the Fire.
And there has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, concerning the meaning of that, on this reading, another explanation, which differs from this view.
That is what 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, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, on the authority of a man of the Anṣār, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah commands Isrāfīl the first blast, and says: 'Blow the blast of terror.' Then the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth are seized by terror, except whom Allah wills. And Allah commands him to continue it and prolong it, without slackening. It is that concerning which Allah says: وَمَا يَنْظُرُ هَؤُلاءِ إِلا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً مَا لَهَا مِنْ فَوَاقٍ ('And these await only a single cry, for which there is no respite'). Then Allah causes the mountains to move, so that they become a mirage, and the earth is violently shaken with its inhabitants. It is that concerning which Allah says: يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ * تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ * قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ ('On the day the quaking one quakes, followed by the succeeding one; hearts that day will be pounding'). Then it becomes like the ship that is driven upon the sea, struck by the waves and overturned with its passengers, or like the lamp suspended from the Throne, tossed to and fro by the winds. Then it tosses the people about on its back, so that the nursing mothers neglect their infants, the pregnant ones drop their burdens, the children turn grey, and the devils fly fleeing until they reach the outer regions, where the angels meet them and strike them in the face, so that they turn back, and the people flee turning away, calling out to one another. It is that concerning which Allah says: ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ يَوْمَ تُوَلُّونَ مُدْبِرِينَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ عَاصِمٍ ) ('the Day of Mutual Calling, the day you turn away fleeing; there is for you against Allah no protector')."
According to this explanation, the meaning of the saying is: and O my people, indeed I fear for you the day on which the people call out to one another because of the terror of the blast of terror.
And others recited it: "yawma al-tanāddi" with doubling (tashdīd) of the dāl, in the meaning of the reciprocal verb form of "al-nadd" (taking flight), and that is when they flee and scatter over the earth, as the camels "taniddu" (bolt away) when they flee from their owners.
* Mention of who said that, and mention of the meaning intended by that reading:
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of al-Ajlaḥ, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim say: when the Day of Resurrection arrives, Allah commands the lowest heaven and it splits open with its inhabitants, and the angels who are in it descend and surround the earth and whoever is upon it; then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth, then the seventh, so that they stand arrayed row upon row. Then the highest Angel descends, with Hell (Jahannam) at his left side; and when the inhabitants of the earth see it, they take flight, but they approach no region of the regions of the earth except that they find there the seven rows of angels, so that they return to the place where they were. That is the saying of Allah: ( إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ يَوْمَ تُوَلُّونَ مُدْبِرِينَ ) ("indeed I fear for you the Day of Mutual Calling, the day you turn away fleeing"). And that is His saying: وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا * وَجِيءَ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِجَهَنَّمَ ("And your Lord comes, and the angels, row upon row; and on that day Hell is brought"), and His saying: يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالإِنْسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَنْ تَنْفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ فَانْفُذُوا لا تَنْفُذُونَ إِلا بِسُلْطَانٍ ("O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass through the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass through; you will not pass through except by an authority"), and that is His saying: وَانْشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَهِيَ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاهِيَةٌ * وَالْمَلَكُ عَلَى أَرْجَائِهَا ("And the heaven splits, so that it is on that day frail; and the angels at its edges").
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying: ( يَوْمَ التَّنَادِ ) ("the Day of Mutual Calling"), he said: you take flight. And it has been transmitted from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he recited it: "yawma al-tanādī" with retention of the yāʾ and lightening of the dāl.
And the correct reading herein, in our view, is that to which the reciters of the lands adhere, namely the lightening of the dāl and without retention of the yāʾ, because that is the reading upon which the authoritative transmission of the reciters of the lands is unanimous, and it is not permissible to deviate from what they have handed down by transmission. And if that is correct, then the meaning of the saying is: and O my people, indeed I fear for you the day on which the people call out to one another — whether because of the horror of what they have beheld of the tremendous sovereignty of Allah and the dismay of the affliction that befalls them on that day, or by one reminding another that Allah has fulfilled for them what He had promised them in the life of this world, and by one calling another to his aid because of the tremendous trial that he undergoes therein.