Surah At-Tariq, Ayah 17

Swearing to the Truthfulness of the Qur'an and the Failure of Those Who oppose it

Ibn `Abbas said, "Ar-raj` means rain." It has also been narrated from him that he said, "It means the clouds that contain rain." He also said,

وَالسَّمَآءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْعِ

(By the sky (having rain clouds) which gives rain, again and again.) "This means that it rains and then it rains (again)." Qatadah said, "It returns the sustenance of the servants (creatures) every year. Were it not for this, they would all be destroyed and so would their cattle."

وَالاّرْضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدْعِ

(And the earth which splits.) Ibn `Abbas said, "Splitting to bring forth plant growths." This was also said by Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, Abu Malik, Ad-Dahhak, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, As-Suddi and others. Concerning Allah's statement,

إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلٌ فَصْلٌ (this is a decisive word..86:13) In other words, the Qur'an is truly a Decisive Word that decides between truth and falsehood, and there is no room for any doubt in it.

Sayyidna ` Ali ؓ says that he heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ as saying about the Holy Qur'an:

کتاب فیہ خبرما قبلکم و حکم مابعدکم وھو الفصل لیس بلھزل

'[ It is ] a book which describes the stories of past communities and [ it contains ] injunctions for future generations. It is truly a Decisive Word. It is no joke.'

Alhamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah At-Tariq

Ends here

A star shining upon a man is a symbolic reminder of the fact that an Observer is watching him. This Observer is recording man’s deeds. He will resurrect man after his death and take the reckoning of all his deeds. It is the period of respite (during which man is put to the test) which acts as a ‘wedge’ between man and the aforesaid event. As soon as the period of trial is over, he will face the consequences—from which he seems to be far away today.