Tafseer of Those who drag forth · An-Naazi'aat · 79:46
It will be, on the Day they see it, as though they had not remained [in the world] except for an afternoon or a morning thereof.
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: كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا ("It will be, on the Day they see it, as though they had not remained except for an evening or the morning thereof") (79:46). He, exalted is His praise, says: it is as though these who denied the Hour, on the Day they see that the Hour has arrived — because of its tremendous terror — had remained only for an evening of a day in the worldly life, or the forenoon of that evening. The Arabs say: "I will come to you in the evening (al-ʿashiyya) or in the morning thereof," and "I will come to you in the morning (al-ghadāt) or in the evening thereof." They give to "al-ghadāt" the meaning of the beginning of the day, and to "al-ʿashiyya" the meaning of the end of the day. So too is His statement: إِلا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا ("except for an evening or the morning thereof"); its meaning is only: except for the end of a day or the beginning thereof. And this verse is recited:
We fell upon ʿĀmir in the morning in his very dwelling-place, in the evening of the new moon or in the evening of its waning darkness.
He means: the evening of the new moon, or the evening of the waning darkness (sirār) of that evening.
Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا ("It will be, on the Day they see it, as though they had not remained except for an evening or the morning thereof"): the duration of the worldly life in the eyes of the people, at the moment when they behold the Hereafter with their own eyes.
Here ends the exegesis of Sūrah al-Nāziʿāt.
Footnote: the verse is by someone from the Banū ʿUqayl; al-Farrāʾ recited it in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (357) in connection with His statement, the Exalted: إِلا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا . Someone might say: does the evening (al-ʿashī) then have a forenoon (ḍuḥā)? For the forenoon belongs to the beginning of the day. This is clear and evident in the language of the Arabs: they say "I will come to you in the evening or in the morning thereof," or "I will come to you in the morning or in the evening thereof," whereby "al-ʿashiyya" has the meaning of the end and "al-ghadāt" the meaning of the beginning. Someone from the Banū ʿUqayl recited to me: "We fell upon..." — the verse. He meant: the evening of the new moon, or the evening of the waning darkness of that evening; this is more unusual than "I will come to you in the morning or in the evening thereof." End.
