Qaaf

قٓ ۚ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْمَجِيدِ 1

{ ق } الله أعلم بمراده به { ق والقرءان } الكريم ما آمن كفار مكة بمحمد صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Qāf: God knows best what He means by this [letter]. By the glorious Qur’ān, [by] the noble [Qur’ān], the disbelievers of Mecca have [certainly] not believed in Muhammad (s).

بَلْ عَجِبُوٓا۟ أَن جَآءَهُم مُّنذِرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَقَالَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ هَـٰذَا شَىْءٌ عَجِيبٌ 2

{ بل عجبوا أن جاءهم منذر منهم } رسول من أنفسهم يخوفهم بالنار بعد البعث { فقال الكفرون هذا } الإنذار { شىء عجيب }.

Nay, but they consider it odd that there should have come to them a warner from among themselves, a messenger who is one of them, to threaten them with [the punishment of] the Fire after resurrection. So the disbelievers say, ‘This, warning, is an odd thing!

أَءِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ۖ ذَٰلِكَ رَجْعٌۢ بَعِيدٌ 3

{ أءذا } بتحقيق الهمزتين وتسهيل الثانية وإدخال ألف بينهما على الوجهين { متنا وكنا ترابا } نرجع؟ { ذلك رجع بعيد } في غاية البعد.

What! (read a-idhā pronouncing both hamzas, or not pronouncing the second, but inserting an alif between the two in both cases) When we are dead and have become dust?, shall we return [to life]? That is a far-fetched return!’, [an event that is] extremely remote.

قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا تَنقُصُ ٱلْأَرْضُ مِنْهُمْ ۖ وَعِندَنَا كِتَـٰبٌ حَفِيظٌۢ 4

{ قد علمنا ما تنقص الأرض } تأكل { منهم وعندنا كتب حفيظ } هو اللوح المحفوظ فيه جميع الأشياء المقدرة.

We know what the earth diminishes, consumes, of them, and with Us is a preserving Book, namely, the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfūz), which contains everything that has been ordained [by God].

بَلْ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ فَهُمْ فِىٓ أَمْرٍ مَّرِيجٍ 5

{ بل كذبوا بالحق } القرآن { لما جاءهم فهم } في شأن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم والقرآن { فى أمر مريج } مضطرب قالوا مرة: ساحر وسحر، ومرة: شاعر وشعر، ومرة: كاهن وكهانة.

Nay, but they denied the truth, the Qur’ān, when it came to them and so they, with regard to the Prophet (s) and the Qur’ān, are [now] in a confounded situation, a troubled [one]. [For] on one occasion they said [that he was], ‘A sorcerer!’ [cf. Q. 38:4] and [that his statements were] ‘[Nothing but manifest] sorcery!’ [cf. Q. 37:15], on another, ‘A poet!’ [cf. Q. 21:5] and ‘Poetry!’ [cf. Q. 36:69], and still on another, ‘A soothsayer!’ [cf. Q. 52:29] and [that his statements were nothing more than] soothsaying [cf. Q. 69:42].

أَفَلَمْ يَنظُرُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَـٰهَا وَزَيَّنَّـٰهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِن فُرُوجٍ 6

{ أفلم ينظروا } بعيونهم معتبرين بعقولهم حين أنكروا البعث { إلى السماء } كائنة { فوقهم كيف بنينها } بلا عمد { وزينها } بالكواكب { وما لها من فروج } شقوق تعيبها؟.

Have they not then looked, with their own eyes, at the heaven, being, above them, in order to take heed by their own minds [of the consequences for them] when they deny the Resurrection, how We have built it, without supports, and adorned it, with planets, and how there are no cracks in it?, no fissures blemishing it.

وَٱلْأَرْضَ مَدَدْنَـٰهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَٰسِىَ وَأَنۢبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍۭ بَهِيجٍ 7

{ والأرض } معطوف على موضع إلى السماء كيف { مددنها } دحوناها على وجه الماء { وألقينا فيها روسي } جبالا تثبتها { وأنبتنا فيها من كل زوج } صنف { بهيج } يبهج به لحسنه.

And the earth (wa’l-arda, is a supplement to the position of the words ilā l-samā’i, ‘at the heaven’), how, We have spread it out, [how] We have rolled it across the face of the water, and cast in it firm mountains, to fix it in place, and caused every delightful kind, [every delightful] specimen, causing delight by its [very] beauty, to grow in it,

تَبْصِرَةً وَذِكْرَىٰ لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُّنِيبٍ 8

{ تبصرة } مفعول له: أي فعلنا ذلك تبصيرا منا { وذكرى } تذكيرا { لكل عبد منيب } رجاع إلى طاعتنا.

as an insight (tabsiratan is a direct object denoting reason, that is to say, We did this to give an insight from Us) and a reminder for every penitent servant, who returns to obedience of Us.

وَنَزَّلْنَا مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً مُّبَـٰرَكًا فَأَنۢبَتْنَا بِهِۦ جَنَّـٰتٍ وَحَبَّ ٱلْحَصِيدِ 9

{ ونزلنا من السماء ماء مبركا } كثير البركة { فأنبتنا به جنت } بساتين { وحب } الزرع { الحصيد } المحصود.

And We send down from the heaven blessed water, containing much blessing, with which We cause to grow gardens, orchards, and the grain that is harvested,

وَٱلنَّخْلَ بَاسِقَـٰتٍ لَّهَا طَلْعٌ نَّضِيدٌ 10

{ والنخل بسقت } طوالا حال مقدرة { لها طلع نضيد } متراكب بعضه فوق بعض.

and the date-palms that stand tall (bāsiqātin, is an implied [future] circumstantial qualifier) with piled spathes, one [cluster of dates] sitting on top of the other,

رِّزْقًا لِّلْعِبَادِ ۖ وَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِۦ بَلْدَةً مَّيْتًا ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْخُرُوجُ 11

{ رزقا للعباد } مفعول له { وأحيينا به بلدة ميتا } يستوي فيه المذكر والمؤنث { كذلك } أي مثل هذا الإحياء { الخروج } من القبور فكيف تنكرونه؟ والاستفهام للتقرير والمعنى أنهم نظروا وعلموا ما ذكر.

as provision for [Our] servants (rizqan li’l-‘ibādi, is a direct object denoting reason); and with it We revive a dead land (baldatan may be followed equally by the masculine [maytan] or the feminine [adjective, maytatan]). So, like that manner of reviving, shall be the rising, from the graves: so how can you deny it? (the interrogative is meant as an affirmative; the meaning then is that they have indeed observed [all of these things] and are aware of what has been mentioned [yet they disbelieve]).

كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَأَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلرَّسِّ وَثَمُودُ 12

{ كذبت قبلهم قوم نوح } تأنيث الفعل بمعنى قوم { وأصحب الرس } هي بئر كانوا مقيمين عليها بمواشيهم يعبدون الأصنام، ونبيهم: قيل حنظلة بن صفوان وقيل غيره { وثمود } قوم صالح.

The people of Noah denied before them (kadhdhabat has a feminine person inflection because of the [feminine gender of the] import of qawm, ‘people’) and [so did] the dwellers at al-Rass — this was the name of a well around which they dwelt together with their livestock; they worshipped idols, and it is said that their prophet was one Hanzala b. Safwān; but some say that he was some other [person] — and Thamūd, the people of Sālih,