78:1. What are they asking one another about?

78:2. About the great tidings,

78:3. concerning which they differ.

78:4. Nay; they will come to know.

78:5. Again, nay; they will come to know.

That is, what are those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah asking one another about? Then Allah explains what they are asking one another about, as He says:

﴾About the great tidings, concerning which they differ﴿ that is, about the great news concerning which they differed for a long time, and their attitude of rejecting it and believing it to be very unlikely became well known, although it is tidings that are not subject todoubt. But those who disbelieve in the meeting with their Lord will not believe, even if all signs were to come to them, until they see the painful punishment.

Hence Allah says: ﴾Nay; they will come to know. Again, nay; they will come to know﴿ that is, they will come to know, when the punishment and what they used to deny befalls them, when they are shoved forcibly towards the fire of hell (52:13) and it is said to them, ﴾...This is the fire which you used to deny.﴿-) (at-Toor 52:14)

Then Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) explains the blessings and the proof that confirms the truthfulness of what the Messengers brought:

78:6. Have We not spread out the earth,

78:7. and made the mountains as pegs,

78:8. and created you in pairs,

78:9. and made your sleep for rest,

78:10. and made the night a covering,

78:11. and made the day for earning a livelihood,

78:12. and built above you seven firmaments,

78:13. and placed therein a blazing lamp,

78:14. and sent down from the rainclouds water in torrents,

78:15. so that We may bring forth thereby grains and vegetation,

78:16. and gardens dense with foliage?

That is, have We not bestowed upon you immense blessings, for We have ﴾spread out the earth p and made it ready for you to make use of it, by cultivating it, building dwellings on it and taking routes through it.

﴾and made the mountains as pegs﴿ to hold the earth firm lest it shake and shift.

﴾and created you in pairs﴿ that is, male and female, from one race, so that each may find comfort in the other, and there will be love and compassion, and they will produce offspring together. This includes sexual pleasure.

﴾and made your sleep for rest﴿ that is, so that you may cease your work which, if you did not stop, would cause you physical harm. So Allah has caused the night and sleep to overtake people, so that their harmful physical activities may cease and they may attain some needed rest.

﴾and built above you seven firmaments﴿ that is, seven heavens, which are very strong, solid and firm.

Allah holds them by His might and has made them a roof for the earth, and there are many benefits in them. Hence He mentions among their benefits the sun, as He says:

﴾and placed therein a blazing lamp﴿. It is referred to as a lamp so as to highlight the blessing of its light, which is something necessary for people. And it is described as blazing, which is indicative of its heat and the benefits thereof.

﴾and sent down from the rainclouds water in torrents’p that is, abundant and plentiful ﴾so that We may bring forth thereby grains﴿ such as wheat, barley, com, rice and other things that humans eat

﴾and vegetation﴿ this includes all vegetation that Allah has made as fodder for their livestock.

﴾and gardens dense with foliage﴿ That is, gardens dense with trees, in which there are all kinds of delicious fruits.

How could you disbelieve in the One Who has bestowed these great inestimable and innumerable blessings upon you, and deny what He has told you about the resurrection? Or how could you use His blessings to disobey Him and deny them?

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78:17. Verily the Day of Judgement is a time appointed,

78:18. the day when the Trumpet will be blown and you will come forth in crowds,

78:19. and the heaven will be opened and will become gateways,

78:20. and the mountains will be made to vanish, as if they had been a mirage.

78:21. Verily hell is lying in wait,

78:22. for the transgressors a destination

78:23. in which they will remain for countless aeons,

78:24. during which they will not taste any coolness nor any drink,

78:25. except scalding water and pus,

78:26. a fitting recompense.

78:27. Indeed they did not fear a reckoning.

78:28. and they rejected Our revelations outright.

78:29. We have kept an account of all things in a Book.

78:30. So taste [the punishment]; We shall not increase you in aught but torment.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) mentions what will happen on the Day of Resurrection, about which the disbelievers ask one another and which the stubborn deny. It will be a momentous day, which Allah has made ﴾a time appointed﴿ for all creatures,

﴾the day when the Trumpet will be blown and you will come forth in crowds﴿), and there will occur such troubles and turmoil that will turn children’s hair grey and cause great distress.

The mountains will be moved from their places, until they become like scattered dust, and the heavens will be rent asunder until they become like gateways. Allah will judge between all creatures, according to His rule which is never unfair. The fire of hell, which Allah has prepared for the evildoers and has made it a destination for them, will be lit, and they will remain therein for countless aeons. According to many commentators, the word haqab {pi. ahqab, translated here as ﴾aeons})), refers to a period of eighty years.

When they come to the fire, ﴾they will not taste any coolness nor any drink﴿) that is, they will find nothing to cool their skin or to ward off their thirst

﴾except scalding water﴿ that is, hot water that will scald their faces and pierce their bowels

﴾and pus﴿) - this is the pus of the people of hell, which has an extremely foul stench and horrible taste.

They will deserve these frightening punishments as a fitting recompense for what they did of deeds that brought them to it. Allah will not wrong them; rather they will have wronged themselves. Therefore Allah mentions their deeds for which they will deserve this punishment, as He says:

﴾Indeed they did not fear a reckoning﴿ that is, they did not believe in the resurrection, and they did not believe that Allah would requite people for both good and evil, so they failed to strive for the hereafter.

﴾and they rejected Our revelations outright﴿ that is, they rejected them clearly and blatantly, and when clear proofs came to them, they stubbornly denied them.

f﴾We have kept an account of all things﴿ small and great, good and evil,

﴾in a Book﴿ that is. We have recorded it in al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh, so the evildoers should not be concerned that We will punish them for sins that they never did, or think that any of their deeds will go to waste or that even an atom's weight of them will be forgotten.

This is like the verse in which Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾And the record of deeds will be placed [in their hands] and you will see the evildoers fdled with dread at what it contains. They will say: Woe to us! What sort of record is this, that leaves no deed, small or great, unaccounted for? They will find all they did recorded there, and your Lord will not wrong anyone.﴿ (al-Kahfl8: 49)

﴾So taste﴿, O disbelievers, this painful punishment and eternal requital,

﴾We shall not increase you in aught but torment﴿ and at all times and every moment their punishment will increase.

This verse is the sternest of those verses that describe the severity of the punishment for the people of hell; may Allah protect us from it.

78:31. Verily for the righteous there will be salvation,

78:32. gardens and vineyards,

78:33. and youthful [companions], of equal age,

78:34. and a cup that is full.

78:35. They will not hear therein any vain talk or lies -

78:36. a recompense from your Lord, a generous gift

78:37. [from] the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, the Most Gracious, Whom they will have no power to address.

Having described the situation of the evildoers, Allah now describes the destination of the righteous, as He says:

Verily for the righteous there will be salvation﴿ that is, for those who feared the wrath of their Lord by consistently obeying Him and refraining from that which He dislikes, there will be salvation and they will be kept far away from the fire.

By virtue of that salvation, they will have ﴾gardens﴿ containing all kinds of trees, colourful and bearing fruit, through which rivers run. Vineyards or grapevines are singled out for mention because of their high quality and abundance in those gardens.

And there they will have wives as they would like, ﴾youthful [companions], of equal age﴿ that is, all close in age. Usually people who are close in age get along and are in harmony. The age in question is thirty-three years, which is the prime of youth.

c-(and a cup that is full﴿ that is, full of nectar that is delicious for those who drink it.

﴾They will not hear therein any vain talk﴿ that is, talk in which there is no benefit

﴾or lies﴿ that is, sin. This is like the verse in which Allah te) says: ﴾They will not hear therein any vain talk or sinful speech, but only the salutation: Peace, peace.﴿ (al-Wdqi'ah 56: 25-26)

Rather Allah will give them this great reward by His grace and bounty, as e(a recompense from your Lord﴿ to them,

?(a generous gift﴿ that is, because of the good deeds that Allah enabled them to do and which He made the price of admittance to paradise and its delights.

The One Who will bestow these gifts upon them is their Lord, ﴾the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them﴿ that is, the One Who created them and controls them,

﴾the Most Gracious﴿ Whose mercy encompasses all things. So He took care of them, had mercy on them and showed kindness to them until they attained what they attained.

78:38. On the day when the Spirit [Jibreel] and the angels stand in rows, none will speak except those to whom the Most Gracious gives permission, and they will say only what is right.

78:39. That day is sure to come. So let him who will seek a way back to his Lord.

78:40. Verily We have warned you of a punishment that is approaching, the day when a man will see what his hands had wrought, and the disbeliever will say: Would that I were mere dust!

Then Allah mentions His greatness and mighty power on the Day of Resurrection, and tells us that on that day, all creatures will be silent and will not speak: ﴾none will speak except those to whom the Most Gracious gives permission, and they will say only what is right﴿. Sono one will speak unless he meets these two conditions: that Allah has given him permission to speak, and that what he says is right.

That is because «fThat day﴿ is true and ﴾jis sure to come﴿; it is a day on which falsehood will never prosper and lying will be of no benefit.

On that day, ﴾the Spirit﴿ namely Jibreel (عليه السلام), who is the noblest of the angels, ﴾and the angels﴿ will ﴾stand in rows﴿, submitting to Allah e)none will speak﴿ any words except what Allah gives them permission to say.

After offering encouragement to strive for paradise and mentioning frightening news of hell, after giving glad tidings and warnings, Allah says:

﴾So let him who will seek a way back to his Lord﴿ that is, let him do righteous deeds, so that he may return with that on the Day of Resurrection.

﴾Verily We have warned you of a punishment that is approaching﴿ - the word translated here as ﴾approaching﴿ literally means near, for everything that is approaching is near.

﴾the day when a man will see what his hands had wrought﴿ that is, this is what will concern him and alarm him, so let him think about that in this world. This is like the verse in which Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾fO you who believe, fear Allah, and let every soul consider what it has sent forth for tomorrow.^{1This is urging all people to reflect on their deeds and what the outcome thereof may be on the Day of Judgement.} And fear Allah, for verily Allah is well aware of all that you do.﴿ (al-Hashr 59. 18)

If he finds that his deeds are good, then let him praise Allah, but if he finds otherwise, let him blame no one but himself. Hence the disbelievers will wish for death because of the intensity of their regret and remorse.

We ask Allah to keep us safe from disbelief and all evil, for He is Most Generous, Most Kind.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat an-Naba'.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.