Tafseer of The Enshrouded One · Al-Muzzammil · 73:5
Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word.
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 people of interpretation differed over the explanation of His word: (Verily, We shall send down upon you a weighty word). Some of them said: by this was meant: verily, We shall send down upon you a word that is heavy to act upon.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: (Verily, We shall send down upon you a weighty word): he said: acting upon it. He said: Verily, a man may let the sūra run smoothly off his tongue (1), but acting upon it is heavy.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (Verily, We shall send down upon you a weighty word): heavy, by Allah, are His obligations (farāʾiḍ) and His limits (ḥudūd).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (heavy): he said: heavy, by Allah, are His obligations and His limits.
And others said: Rather, by this was meant that the word itself is heavy to bear.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father: "that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when revelation came down to him while he was upon his she-camel, she would press her neck against the ground, and she was unable to move until it [the revelation] departed from him."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah: (Verily, We shall send down upon you a weighty word): he said: It is, by Allah, heavy — the blessed Qurʾān — just as it weighed heavily in this world, so will it weigh heavily in the scales on the Day of Resurrection.
And the most fitting of the statements concerning this with regard to what is correct is that one says: verily, Allah described it [the Qurʾān] as a heavy word; and so it is, just as He described it: heavy to bear, heavy to act upon according to its limits and its obligations.
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Footnotes:
(1) al-hadhdh: speed of recitation. One says: he yahudhdhu the Qurʾān hadhdhan, when he races through it and recites it in continuous succession. And this report is mentioned in (al-Tāj).
