As-salaam wa-alaikum, brothers and sisters.
Summary
Today’s selection is from Surah 78, An-Nabã’ or the Great News, verses 1-20. These short verses posit that the creation of the heavens, earth, mountains and vegetation clearly point towards the Day of Judgment.
Tafseer for this selection concerns the four groups laid out as evidence of Allah and his bounty as well as the Day that the Trumpet shall sound.
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Verses
Bis-millahi ar-rahman, ar-raheem.
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.About what are they asking?[1] About the great news[2] – about which they are in disagreement.[3] Very soon they shall come to know;[4] We repeat, very soon they shall come to know.[5] 78:[1-5]
Is it not true that We have spread the earth like a bed,[6] and the mountains as pegs,[7] created you in pairs,[8] provided you rest in sleep,[9] made the night a mantle,[10] made the day to work for earning your livelihood,[11] built above you seven firmaments,[12] placed therein a shining lamp,[13] sent down abundant water from the clouds,[14] bringing forth grain, vegetation[15] and gardens of luxurious growth?[16] 78:[6-16]
The Day of Judgment is already fixed.[17] On that Day, the Trumpet shall be sounded and you shall come forth in multitude.[18] The sky shall be opened and it will become gateways.[19] The mountains shall vanish as if they were a mirage.[20] 78:[17-20]
Ameen.
Tafseer
Concerning the “Great News”:
It is usually understood to mean the News of Message of the Resurrection [of the dead] or the Hereafter, about which there are various schools of thought among the Jews and Christians and other nations. There is practically nothing about the Resurrection in the Old Testament, and the Jewish sect of Sadducees even in the time of Christ, denied the Resurrection altogether. The Pagan ideas of a future life – if any – varied from place to place and from time to time. Even in the early Christian Church, as we learn from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, there were contentions in that little community (I Corinthians, i. 11), and some definitely denied the resurrection of the dead (ib., xv. 12).
Concerning verses 6-14:
Note how the evidences of Allah and His beneficence are set out in four groups: (1) Look to external nature on the earth around you (verses 6-7); (2) your own nature, physical, mental and spiritual (verses 8-11); (3) the starry heavens, and the glory of the sun (verses 12-13); and (4) the interdependence of earth, air, and sky in the cycle of water, clouds, rain, corn and gardens, all serving in their several ways to further the whole plan of the World as it affects us. Can you not then believe that a Creator who does this will sort out Good and Evil on an appointed Day with real justice and power?
On verse 18, concerning the Day the Trumpet shall sound:
The angel charged with the sounding of the Trumpet is Israfil. It will herald Judgment.
This concludes today’s episode of the 17 Verses Podcast. I hope that this selection has helped increase your understanding of the holy Qur’an just a little bit.
Thank you and be well.