Tafseer of The Cleaving · Al-Infitaar · 82:19
It is the Day when a soul will not possess for another soul [power to do] a thing; and the command, that Day, is [entirely] with Allah.
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.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: يَوْمَ لا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ لِنَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَالأمْرُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلَّهِ ("On the Day when no soul shall avail another soul anything, and the command on that Day belongs to Allah"): the command belongs — by Allah — to Allah today as well, but on that Day no one disputes it with Him.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed over the reading of His statement: يَوْمَ لا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ ("On the Day when no soul shall avail"). Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and of Kūfa read it with naṣb (accusative): ( يَوْمَ ), because its construct-annexation is not pure. Some of the reciters of Baṣra read it with ḍamma on ( يَوْمُ ) and with rafʿ (nominative), in accordance with the first "yawm." The rafʿ in it is more eloquent in the language of the Arabs, and that is because "yawm" is connected to an imperfect verb; and when the Arabs connect "yawm" with "tafʿalu," "yafʿalu," or "afʿalu," they put it in rafʿ and say: "this is the day on which I do thus" (hādhā yawmu afʿalu kadhā). But if they connect it with a perfect verb (fiʿl māḍin), then they put it in naṣb. To this belongs the saying of the poet:
"At the time when I rebuked gray hair for my youthful folly,
and I said: will you not come to your senses, while gray hair is a restrainer?"
End of the explanation of Sūrah Idhā al-Samāʾu infaṭarat (Al-Infiṭār).
