Tafseer of The Enshrouded One · Al-Muzzammil · 73:14
On the Day the earth and the mountains will convulse and the mountains will become a heap of sand pouring down.
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: يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الأَرْضُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("On the Day when the earth and the mountains shall quake and the mountains shall become a sliding heap of sand") (14).
He — exalted is His mention — says: indeed, with Us, for these, the polytheists (mushrikīn) of Quraysh who torment you, O Muḥammad, are the punishments which He has described, on the Day when the earth and the mountains quake. And their quaking is: their shaking together with whoever is upon them, and that is on the Day of Resurrection.
And His saying: وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("and the mountains shall become a sliding heap of sand"). He says: and the mountains shall become flowing, scattered sand.
And "al-mahīl" is a passive participle from the saying of him who says: "haltu al-ramla fa-anā ahīluhu" ("I made the sand slide, so I make it slide"), and that is when its lower part is set in motion, so that its upper part slides down over it. And the Arabs have two linguistic forms in this: one says "mahīl" and "mahyūl," and "makīl" and "makyūl." And of this is the saying of the poet:
Your people used to reckon you a lord, and I think that you are a lord struck by the evil eye. (3)
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of tafsīr (exegesis) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("and the mountains shall become a sliding heap of sand"). He says: the flowing sand.
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 saying: وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("and the mountains shall become a sliding heap of sand"), he said: the sliding heap of sand is: the soft sand which, when you touch it, slides down successively.
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 saying: كَثِيبًا مَهِيلا ("a sliding heap of sand"), he said: it slides down.
