Tafseer of The letter Qaaf · Qaaf · 50:22
[It will be said], "You were certainly in unmindfulness of this, and We have removed from you your cover, so your sight, this Day, is sharp."
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.
His statement لَقَدْ كُنْتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَذَا (Indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this): the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says — it is said to him: indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this which you witness today with your own eyes, O man, of terrors and calamities ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (so We have removed from you your covering) — He says: We have clarified that for you and made it visible to your eyes, until you saw it and witnessed it, so that the heedlessness was removed from you.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl at-taʾwīl) have spoken, although they differed concerning the one to whom this is said. Some of them said: the one to whom this is said is the unbeliever (kāfir).
Others said: it is the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.
Still others said: it is the entire creation, jinn and mankind.
Mention of those who said: it is the unbeliever:
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 statement ( لَقَدْ كُنْتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (Indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this, so We have removed from you your covering): and that is the unbeliever.
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 — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (so We have removed from you your covering), he said: to the unbeliever on the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (so We have removed from you your covering), he said: concerning the unbeliever.
* Mention of those who said: it is the Prophet of Allah ﷺ:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( لَقَدْ كُنْتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَذَا ) (Indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this), he said: this is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this matter, O Muḥammad, you were among the people in their time of ignorance (jāhiliyya). ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ ) (so We have removed from you your covering, so your sight today is sharp).
According to this interpretation which Ibn Zayd has given, this address must be an address from Allah to His Messenger ﷺ, namely that he was in heedlessness during the jāhiliyya concerning this religion with which He sent him; and He removed from him the covering that lay over him during the jāhiliyya, so that his sight penetrated with faith (īmān) and it became clear to him, until this became established with him, and he became sharp of sight concerning it.
* Mention of those who said: it is the entire creation, jinn and mankind:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān az-Zuhrī related to me, saying: I asked al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās about that, and he said: He means by it the pious and the sinful ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ ) (so We have removed from you your covering, so your sight today is sharp). He said: and the covering was removed from the pious and the sinful, so that each one saw where he is going.
In accordance with what we have said about the meaning of His statement ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (so We have removed from you your covering), the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement ( فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (so We have removed from you your covering), he said: the life after death.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement ( لَقَدْ كُنْتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنْكَ غِطَاءَكَ ) (Indeed, you were in heedlessness concerning this, so We have removed from you your covering), he said: he witnessed the Hereafter.
His statement ( فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ ) (so your sight today is sharp): He says: you today are sharp of sight, knowing what you passed by heedlessly in the worldly life. This is derived from their expression: "so-and-so is sharp-sighted (baṣīr) in this matter", when he has knowledge of it, and "he has baṣar in this matter", that is to say: knowledge.
And it is reported from aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk that he said: the meaning of this ( فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ ) (so your sight today is sharp) is the pointer (lisān) of the scale. I suspect that he meant by it that his knowledge and awareness of what he did in the worldly life is a just witness against him; and he compared his sight concerning it to the pointer of the scale by which justice in weighing is established, and by which one recognizes the due weight that belongs to those entitled to it, apart from what is in excess or deficient thereof. Likewise, the knowledge of the one who arrives on the Day of Resurrection concerning what he acquired in the worldly life is a witness against him, like the pointer of the scale.
