75: The Resurrection (Al-Qiyamah)

By the resurrection is here meant the spiritual resurrection of the Arabs, to be brought about through the Prophet. The primary significance of qiyāmah is only rising, the rising of a man all at once. Al-qiyāmah is now a term which is synonymous with the great Resurrection, but it has not lost its original significance, and means also the rising to life of those who are spiritually dead. The lā (“no”) in the beginning of v. 1 and v. 2 is used to give emphasis to the oath.

For the “self-accusing spirit” see the introductory note above.

The gathering of the bones stands for a new life.

God, Who made a complete man out of nothing, we are here told, has also the power to give life to bones or to raise him a second time.

Some great calamity is implied which would perplex the opponents. Some commentators take these to be the signs of the approach of the death of a person.

This implies the disappearance of the light of both.

What he sent on ahead implies the evil deeds which he did but ought not to have done; what he put off being the good deeds which he failed to do but which he ought to have done.

The preceding verses speak of the distress which must befall those who do not forsake the wrong course. The Prophet naturally desired to make it clear to them, and therefore, he was anxious that the warning should be given immediately in plainer words. So, he is told not to make haste with it. Hence the statement made in the verses that follow, namely, that the recitation and collection of the whole of the Quran, together with its effective explanation to the opponents, were matters which Allah had decided to bring about, and the Prophet should have no anxiety on that account. Compare 20:113–114.

There can be no clearer evidence that the collection of the verses into chapters and of the chapters into one whole is here claimed by the Quran to be a matter which, like its revelation, was to be entirely carried out under Divine guidance by the Holy Prophet himself. The Holy Book was thus from the first intended to be arranged and collected into one whole. Note that if the order of revelation were to be followed in the arrangement of its parts, its collection would not have been spoken of as something distinct from its revelation, which is implied in the word recitation.

As that day represents both the day of the breathing of the life spiritual here and the day of the Resurrection, the words looking to their Lord have also a double significance, indicating looking to the Lord for their reward in the former case, and, the highest bliss of all, the sight of the Lord in the Hereafter. It should be noted that the sight of the Lord does not imply that the Lord will have a body; it is not with the material eye that the Lord will be seen, but by the spiritual eye, which the righteous will possess on the day of Resurrection.

Note that this great disaster also befell them in this life, and thus it demonstrated the truth of the Hereafter.

Will the angels of mercy ascend with it or the angels of punishment?

The description applies to every opponent.

The haughty opponent is warned that destruction is very near. The repetition shows that the opponents were threatened with a double punishment, namely, in this life and in the Hereafter. In fact, the double punishment is spoken of throughout the chapter.

The verse draws attention to the seriousness of life and to man’s responsibility for his actions — a doctrine denied as much today as it was by the Arabs.

The giving of “life to the dead” not only signifies raising after death, but also spiritually raising a dead people to life.