Ad-Dukhān

Ad-Dukhān: the cards as text

Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 44. Awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    They swore they would believe if the smoke lifted. It lifted.

  2. Card 2

    A town that jokes about it

    Makkah's leaders have heard the message: one God, and the dead will rise.

    They are not sure it is false. So they joke. He was coached, they say. He is mad.

    This surah is what they are told next.

  3. Card 3

    The story, in six moves

    1. 1-8: The night. Where the message comes from: a Book sent down on a blessed night, when the affairs of the year are settled. A mercy, from the Lord of their forefathers.
    2. 9-16: The smoke. Makkah plays. A smoke covers the people. They swear to believe. It lifts for a while, and they go back.
    3. 17-33: Pharaoh. It has happened before. Musa asks, is refused, and leaves by night. The sea is left open. Gardens and palaces change hands, and nothing weeps.
    4. 34-42: The challenge. "Bring back our fathers." The reply is a question about Yemen's fallen kings, and a claim: the world was not made as a game.
    5. 43-57: Two endings. A bitter tree and a mocking title for one side. A safe place, silk and no second death for the other.
    6. 58-59: Wait. The Book was made easy in the Prophet's own language. Now both sides wait to see who was right.
  4. Card 4

    Ad-Dukhān 44:3: First, where the message came from.

    إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَٰهُ فِي لَيۡلَةࣲ مُّبَٰرَكَةٍۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا مُنذِرِينَ ۝٣

    3 Indeed, We sent it down during a blessed night. Indeed, We were to warn [mankind].

  5. Card 5

    One night, then 23 years

    Which night? The Night of Decree, in Ramadan, most commentators say. That night the Qur'an was brought down to the lowest heaven. Then it was revealed in parts, over about 23 years.

  6. Card 6

    Ad-Dukhān 44:9: And what is Makkah doing with the message?

    بَلۡ هُمۡ فِي شَكࣲّ يَلۡعَبُونَ ۝٩

    9 But they are in doubt, amusing themselves.

  7. Card 7

    Ad-Dukhān 44:10: So the Prophet [saw] is told to watch.

    فَٱرۡتَقِبۡ يَوۡمَ تَأۡتِي ٱلسَّمَآءُ بِدُخَانࣲ مُّبِينࣲ ۝١٠

    10 Then watch for the Day when the sky will bring a visible smoke

  8. Card 8

    Ad-Dukhān 44:12: Under the smoke, the people make a promise.

    رَّبَّنَا ٱكۡشِفۡ عَنَّا ٱلۡعَذَابَ إِنَّا مُؤۡمِنُونَ ۝١٢

    12 [They will say], "Our Lord, remove from us the torment; indeed, we are believers."

  9. Card 9

    Ad-Dukhān 44:15: The reply is dry.

    إِنَّا كَاشِفُواْ ٱلۡعَذَابِ قَلِيلًاۚ إِنَّكُمۡ عَآئِدُونَ ۝١٥

    15 Indeed, We will remove the torment for a little. Indeed, you [disbelievers] will return [to disbelief].

  10. Card 10

    A sky like smoke

    The smoke had already come, said Ibn Mas'ud. Famine struck Quraysh until they ate bones. A man would look up, weak with hunger, and see a haze like smoke. Rain came. They went back to mocking.

  11. Card 11

    Past, or still to come?

    Ibn Mas'ud: the smoke was the famine in Makkah. 'Ali and Ibn 'Abbas: a sign before the Last Hour. Ibn Kathir leans to the second, because the smoke covers "the people", not one town.

  12. Card 12

    "Allah knows best"

    A storyteller in Kufa is guessing at the smoke. Ibn Mas'ud is told. He sits up and says: part of knowledge is to say "Allah knows best" when you do not know.

  13. Card 13

    Ad-Dukhān 44:17: It has happened before, to richer people.

    ۞ وَلَقَدۡ فَتَنَّا قَبۡلَهُمۡ قَوۡمَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَجَآءَهُمۡ رَسُولࣰ كَرِيمٌ ۝١٧

    17 And We had already tried before them the people of Pharaoh, and there came to them a noble messenger [i.e., Moses],

  14. Card 14

    "Leave the sea as it is"

    Musa crosses by night. The water still stands open behind him, and he wants to close it. He is told to leave it. The road that saved his people will bring the army in.

  15. Card 15

    "In stillness" or "parted"?

    The Arabic word in ayah 24 is rare. One translation says leave the sea "in stillness", another says "parted". An early gloss: a dry path, just as it is.

  16. Card 16

    Ad-Dukhān 44:25: The drowning of Pharaoh's army is not shown. This is:

    كَمۡ تَرَكُواْ مِن جَنَّٰتࣲ وَعُيُونࣲ ۝٢٥

    25 How much they left behind of gardens and springs

  17. Card 17

    Ad-Dukhān 44:29: Then the line the surah is known for.

    فَمَا بَكَتۡ عَلَيۡهِمُ ٱلسَّمَآءُ وَٱلۡأَرۡضُ وَمَا كَانُواْ مُنظَرِينَ ۝٢٩

    29 And the heaven and earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved.

  18. Card 18

    Do sky and earth weep for anyone?

    A man asked Ibn 'Abbas. Yes, he said. Each person has a gate in the sky where their good deeds rise, and a place where they prayed. Both miss a believer. Pharaoh's people left neither.

  19. Card 19

    Ad-Dukhān 44:36: Back in Makkah, the deniers make a demand.

    فَأۡتُواْ بِـَٔابَآئِنَآ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَٰدِقِينَ ۝٣٦

    36 Then bring [back] our forefathers, if you should be truthful."

  20. Card 20

    Tubba', king of Yemen

    The reply asks about Tubba', the title of Yemen's kings. Ibn Kathir tells of one who spared Madinah, then honoured the Ka'bah and covered it in cloth. His people were still destroyed.

  21. Card 21

    Ad-Dukhān 44:38: Makkah is playing. The universe is not.

    وَمَا خَلَقۡنَا ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَمَا بَيۡنَهُمَا لَٰعِبِينَ ۝٣٨

    38 And We did not create the heavens and earth and that between them in play.

  22. Card 22

    Ad-Dukhān 44:49: One ending. A man in the Fire is told:

    ذُقۡ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡكَرِيمُ ۝٤٩

    49 [It will be said], "Taste! Indeed, you are the honored, the noble!

  23. Card 23

    His own words, handed back

    Reports say Abu Jahl boasted he was the mightiest man between Makkah's two mountains. Ibn Kathir adds a caution: the ayah includes him, but is not about him alone.

  24. Card 24

    Ad-Dukhān 44:51: The other ending starts with one word: safe.

    إِنَّ ٱلۡمُتَّقِينَ فِي مَقَامٍ أَمِينࣲ ۝٥١

    51 Indeed, the righteous will be in a secure place:

  25. Card 25

    "The first death"

    • The deniers: A denial. There is nothing but our first death, and we will not be raised. (44:35)
    • The righteous: A promise. They will not taste death there, except the first one. (44:56)
  26. Card 26

    The day death dies

    Ibn Kathir quotes a hadith here: death is brought out in the form of a ram and slaughtered between Paradise and the Fire. Then both are told: for ever, no more death.

  27. Card 27

    Ad-Dukhān 44:59: The surah ends before the story does.

    فَٱرۡتَقِبۡ إِنَّهُم مُّرۡتَقِبُونَ ۝٥٩

    59 So watch, [O Muḥammad]; indeed, they are watching [for your end].

  28. Card 28

    Reflect: Ayah 15 says the torment will be lifted for a little. What does it say happens next?

    Answer: They will go back. "We will remove the torment for a little. You will go back." On Ibn Mas'ud's account that is what happened after the famine.

  29. Card 29

    Narrations encourage reciting Ha Mim ad-Dukhan at night and on the eve of Friday. They are graded weak: recite it for its message.

    Tirmidhi 2888 to 2889. Da'if (weak). Grader to be confirmed.
  30. Card 30

    The end of Ad-Dukhān.

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