Tafseer of Muhammad · Muhammad · 47:18
Then do they await except that the Hour should come upon them unexpectedly? But already there have come [some of] its indications. Then what good to them, when it has come, will be their remembrance?
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.
And His statement ( فَهَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلا السَّاعَةَ أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمْ بَغْتَةً فَقَدْ جَاءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا — "Do they then await anything but the Hour, that it should come upon them suddenly? Its portents have already come"): He, exalted is His mention, says: do these who deny the signs of Allah — among the people of unbelief and hypocrisy — await anything but the Hour, in which Allah has promised His creatures that He will raise them up alive from their graves, that it should come upon them suddenly without their perceiving its coming? The meaning is: do they await anything but the Hour, do they await anything but that it should come upon them unawares? And ( أَنْ ) in His statement ( إِلا أَنْ ) stands in the accusative position by reference to "the Hour." And the reading with the fatḥa on the alif of ( أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمُ ) and the accusative of ( تأتيهم ) thereby is the reading of the people of Kūfa.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Farrāʾ, he said: Abū Jaʿfar al-Ruʾāsī related to me, he said: I said to Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ: what is this fāʾ that occurs in His statement ( فَقَدْ جَاءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا )? He said: it is the answer to the conditional. He said: I said: but it is "in taʾtihim" [if it comes upon them], is it not? He said: and he said: Allah forbid! It is only "in taʾtihim." Al-Farrāʾ said: I supposed that he had taken it from the people of Mecca, because of the way he recited. Al-Farrāʾ said: and it also occurs in some of the codices of the Kūfans with a single yāʾ [i.e. written with one letter] as "taʾtihim," but none of them recited it thus.
And the exposition of the wording according to the reading of whoever reads this with a kasra on the alif of "in" and with jazm on "taʾtihim" is: do they await anything but the Hour? Thereby the report concerning the awaiting of these unbelievers regarding the Hour is reckoned as completed at His statement ( إِلا السَّاعَةَ ), and then one begins the wording anew, so that it is said: if the Hour comes upon them suddenly, then its portents have already come. Thus the fāʾ of His statement ( فَقَدْ جَاءَ ) becomes the answer to the conditional.
And His statement ( فَقَدْ جَاءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا — "Its portents have already come"). He says: to these who disbelieve in Allah the Hour and its indications and harbingers have already come. The singular of "al-ashrāṭ" is "sharaṭ," as Jarīr said:
"You see the refuse of the goats as the bride-prices of their women, and in the refuse of the goats they have bride-prices." (2)
It is also related: "tarā qazama al-miʿzā" [you see the trifles of the goats]. From this one says: "ashraṭa fulānun nafsahu" — when he furnishes himself with a sign, as Aws ibn Ḥajar said:
"So therein he set a mark upon himself, while he held fast, and cast himself upon his means and placed his trust [in Allah]." (3)
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of exposition said.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( فَقَدْ جَاءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا ), that is to say: the portents of the Hour.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His statement ( فَهَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلا السَّاعَةَ أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمْ بَغْتَةً ): the Hour has already drawn near, and the end of [the term of] the servants with Allah has already drawn near.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement ( فَقَدْ جَاءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا ), he said: its portents are its signs.
And His statement ( فَأَنَّى لَهُمْ إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ ذِكْرَاهُمْ — "But how can their reminder avail them, when it has come upon them?"): He, exalted is His mention, says: from what direction would there be of any avail to these who deny the signs of Allah a remembrance of that which they lost and neglected of obedience to Allah, when the Hour comes upon them? He says: that is not a moment in which remembrance and regret will avail them, for it is a moment of recompense, not a moment for seeking forgiveness or for showing [repentance].
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of exposition said.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His statement ( فَأَنَّى لَهُمْ إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ ذِكْرَاهُمْ ), he says: when the Hour comes upon them, how then could they remember and take heed and become sensible?
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda ( فَأَنَّى لَهُمْ إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ ذِكْرَاهُمْ ), he said: how could they still remember or repent when the Hour comes upon them?
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement ( فَأَنَّى لَهُمْ إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ ذِكْرَاهُمْ ), he said: [at] the Hour their remembrance does not avail them at the Hour. And "al-dhikrā" stands in the nominative position through His statement ( فَأَنَّى لَهُمْ ), for the exposition of the wording is: from what direction would their remembrance avail them when the Hour comes upon them?
------------------------
Footnotes:
(2) The verse is by Jarīr ibn al-Khaṭafā, the Islamic poet (Dīwān, 226), and in his recension it reads: "wa-fī qazami l-miʿzā lahunna muhūru." It is among the evidentiary verses of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 223); he said concerning His exalted statement "fa-qad jāʾa ashrāṭuhā": its signs. And the "sharaṭ" is, as it appears to us, only so named because they furnished themselves [with a sign]. And the "ashrāṭ" of property are the small and the worst of the livestock. And Jarīr said: "tarā sharaṭa ... [the verse]." And in (al-Lisān: sharṭ): and the "sharaṭ" (with the vowelling [fatḥa]) is the inferior; the singular and the plural and the masculine and the feminine are alike therein. Jarīr said:
"From the goats the bride-prices of their women are brought forth, and from the refuse of the goats they have bride-prices."
And "sharaṭ al-nās" is their refuse.
(3) The verse is by Aws ibn Ḥajar (al-Lisān: sharṭ). Al-Aṣmaʿī said: the "ashrāṭ" of the Hour are its signs. He said: and from it is derived the "ishtirāṭ" which people mutually agree upon among themselves, that is to say: they are signs which they fix among themselves. For this reason the "shuraṭ" [police/guards] were so named, because they have set up for themselves a sign by which they are recognized. And al-Khaṭṭābī related from one of the lexicographers that he rejected this exposition and said: the "ashrāṭ" of the Hour are the trivial matters that people detest, before the Hour arrives. And "shuraṭ al-sulṭān" are the elite of his companions whom he sets above the rest of the soldiers. And the statement of Aws ibn Ḥajar "fa-ashraṭa fīhā ... [the verse]" means: he made himself a marked sign for this matter.
