Tafseer of The Enshrouded One · Al-Muzzammil · 73:18
The heaven will break apart therefrom; ever is His promise fulfilled.
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 word: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"). He, exalted is His mention, says: the heaven will be burdened by that day, split open and torn asunder.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of 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 word: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), namely: the heaven splits when the All-Merciful, mighty and exalted, descends.
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 word: مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("splitting apart thereby"), he said: burdened thereby.
Abū Ḥafṣ al-Ḥīrī related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Abū Mawdūd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: burdened and grieved on the Day of Resurrection.
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Abū Mawdūd Baḥr ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: I heard Ibn Abī ʿAlī speaking about this āyah, and he then mentioned something similar.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: burdened thereby.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Abū Rajāʾ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: weighed down and burdened.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he says: burdened by that day.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: this is the Day of Resurrection, on which the children are made grey-haired, and the day on which the heaven splits, and he recited: "When the heaven splits asunder," and he said: all of this is the Day of Resurrection.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaḥyā, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: filled therewith, in the language of the Abyssinians (al-Ḥabasha).
Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrima — and he did not hear it from Ibn ʿAbbās —: السَّمَاءُ مُنْفَطِرٌ بِهِ ("The heaven will split apart thereby"), he said: filled therewith.
The heaven (al-samāʾ) is mentioned in this place in the masculine, because the Arabs use the word as both masculine and feminine. Whoever makes it masculine directs it to the meaning "ceiling," as one says: "this is the samāʾ of the house," for its ceiling. And it may also be that their masculine use of it arises because it belongs to the nouns in which no distinction is made between masculine and feminine. Of the masculine usage is the verse of the poet:
"If the heaven were to raise up a people to itself, we would reach the heaven together with the clouds."
His word: كَانَ وَعْدُهُ مَفْعُولا ("His promise shall be fulfilled"). He, exalted is His mention, says: what Allah has promised to carry out of matters shall be fulfilled, for He does not break His promise; and what He has promised to do is His bringing it about on the day when the children are made grey-haired. He says: so fear that day, O people, for it comes inevitably.
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Footnotes:
(4) The verse belongs to the witness-verses of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 346). He said: and His word: السماء منفطر به ("the heaven will split apart thereby"), namely: by that day. The heaven is used as masculine and feminine, and it is here in the masculine form; the poet said: "And if the heaven were to raise up..." the verse. And Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 181): السماء منفطر به , Abū ʿAmr said: he dropped the hāʾ, because its meaning is "ceiling"; one says: "this is the samāʾ of the house." And some said: the Arabs sometimes drop the hāʾ-endings of the feminine because they can do without them there; one says: "a lean filly (muhra ḍāmir)" and "a divorced woman (imraʾa ṭāliq)," and the meaning is: "munfaṭira" (splitting apart, in the feminine form).
