Tafseer of The Splitting Open · Al-Inshiqaaq · 84:5
And has responded to its Lord and was obligated [to do so] -
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 saying: وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ ("And it hearkened to its Lord, and it was made its duty") (84:5). He says: and the earth hearkened, in casting out what was in its interior of the dead, onto its surface as living, to the command of its Lord, and obeyed وَحُقَّتْ . He says: and Allah made it obligatory upon it to hearken to His command therein and to proceed to His obedience.
The grammarians differed concerning the place of the answer (jawāb) to His saying: إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ ("When the heaven is split asunder") and His saying: وَإِذَا الأرْضُ مُدَّتْ ("and when the earth is spread out"). Some of the grammarians of Basra said: إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ has as its meaning His saying: يَا أَيُّهَا الإِنْسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلاقِيهِ ("O man, indeed you are toiling toward your Lord with toil and shall meet Him") when the heaven is split asunder — by means of fronting and postponing (preposing and postposing).
Some of the grammarians of Kufa said: a number of the exegetes have said: the answer to إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ is His saying: وَأَذِنَتْ . He said: and we hold that this is an opinion which the exegete maintained, and he likened it to the saying of Allah, the Exalted: حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءُوهَا وَفُتِحَتْ أَبْوَابُهَا ("until, when they come to it, its gates are opened"), for we have not heard an answer with the wāw with idhā when it stands at the beginning, without preceding words, nor with idhā when it is begun with. He said: the Arabs answer with the wāw only in the expression ḥattā idhā kāna ("until, when it was") and fa-lammā an kāna ("and when it was"); beyond that they did not go. He said: the answer to إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ and to إِذَا الأرْضُ مُدَّتْ is as it were omitted, for the meaning is known and has recurred in the Qurʾān, so it is known. And if you wish, its answer may be: yā ayyuhā al-insān ("O man"), as when one says: "when such-and-such happens, then, O people, you shall see what good or evil you have done" — whereby you make يَا أَيُّهَا الإِنْسَانُ the answer and omit therein the fāʾ. The answer to إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ has already been explained as that which man meets of reward and punishment, as though the meaning is: you shall see the reward and the punishment when the heaven is split asunder.
The correct view concerning this, in our judgement, is: that its answer is omitted, left out because one could be content with the knowledge of those addressed regarding its meaning. The meaning of the saying is: إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ ("when the heaven is split asunder") man sees what he has sent forward of good or evil. This is made clear by His saying: يَا أَيُّهَا الإِنْسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلاقِيهِ ("O man, indeed you are toiling toward your Lord with toil and shall meet Him") and the verses after it.
