Surah 82. Al-Infitar

When the sky splits open,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When the Sky is cleft asunder; ^{5997 5998}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. the passage lxxxi. 1-14 and notes. For the three parallel interpretations, see the Introduction to the Sura. There are four conditional clauses here, and the substantive clause is in verse 5. In S. lxxxi, there were 12 conditional clauses, and the conclusion was, similar, but not expressed in precisely the same terms. See lxxii. 5. n. 6002 below. The physical world as we see it now will be destroyed before the final Day of Judgment, establishing the true Reality. In the following four clauses we have a reference to the Lesser Judgment, the individual dawn of the true Reality at Death.

Cf. lxxiii. 18, n. 5769. The beautiful blue sky overhead, which we take for granted in sunshine and storm, will be shattered to pieces before the New World is established. The partition which seems at present to divide things divine from this phenomenal world has to be shattered before each soul knows the reality about itself.

and when the stars fall away,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When the Stars are scattered; ⁵⁹⁹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxxi. 2, where the word for "stars" (Nujum) is different, and the verb is different. Najm has reference to brightness, and the verb 'losing their lustre" was appropriate there, to show the opposite, Kaukab (used here) has more the meaning of a star as fixed in a costellation; and the opposite of a fixed and definite order is "scattered", the verb used here. In fact, throughout this passage, the dominating idea is the distrubance of order and symmetry. The metaphor behind the scattering of the constellations is that in the present order of things we see many things associated together, e.g., rank with honour, wealth with comfort, etc. In the New World this will be seen to have merely fortuitous.

and when the seas burst forth,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When the Oceans are suffered to burst forth; ⁶⁰⁰⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxxi. 6, "when the oceans boil over with a swell". Here, "are suffered to burst forth" expresses the end of the present order of things. This may be in two ways, (1) The barrier which keeps within their respective bounds the various streams of salt and fresh water (lv. 20, n. 5185) will be removed; (2) the Ocean will overwhelm the whole Globe.

and when the graves spill out,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And when the Graves are turned upside down ⁶⁰⁰¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This item is not mentioned in lxxxi. 1-14. Here it is introduced to show that the whole order of things will be so reversed that even Death will not be Death. We think there is tranquillity in Death: but there will be no tranquillity. Literally, and figuratively, Death will be the beginning of a new Life. What we think to be Death will bring forth Life.

'then' each soul will know what it has sent forth or left behind.

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Then) shall each soul know what it hath sent forward and (what it hath) kept back. ⁶⁰⁰²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Sent Forward and kept back: may mean: the deeds of commission and omission in this life. Or the Arabic words may also be translated: sent forward and left behind: i.e., the spiritual possibilities which it sent forward for its other life, and the physical things on which it prided itself in this life, but which it had to leave behind in this fife. Or else, the things it put first and the things it put last in importance may change places in the new world of Reality. "The first shall be last and the last shall be first".