Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:7

(And that the Hour is coming): Meaning, it will surely come. The expression is used in the nominal form rather than a verbal form to signify the certainty of its arrival and its absolute fixity, as it is necessitated by Wisdom without fail. His saying, exalted is He, (there is no doubt about it) is either a second predicate for "that" (anna), or a state (hal) belonging to the pronoun in "the Hour" within the predicate. The negation of doubt regarding it means that its affair is so manifest and its proofs so clear that there is no room for it to be suspected or doubted.

"And" in the clauses that follow is in the interpretation of a verbal noun (masdar), conjoined to the verbal noun governed by the causal 'B' (in dhalika bi-anna - "that is because"), thus entering into the scope of its causality, just like the two verbal nouns derived from His sayings: (And that He brings the dead to life), and His saying, glorified is He, (And that He is over all things competent), and likewise His saying, mighty and majestic is He: (And that Allah will resurrect those in the graves).

This is not because the arrival of the Hour and the resurrection of those in the graves are, in themselves, effective factors—in terms of the aforementioned acts of Allah, exalted is He—upon which the influence of His Power depends. Rather, it is because each of them occurs due to a motive from Him, exalted is He, necessitated by His mercy toward His servants—mercy built upon profound wisdom—leading to what was mentioned of their creation and the revival of the dead earth in a wondrous manner, suitable to be used as evidence for the possibility of these two events. This is so that they may contemplate this and use it to infer those events—or to confirm their occurrence—and believe in them, so as to attain eternal happiness. Were it not for this, He would not have done so; indeed, He would not have created the world at all. This is, as you can see, among the rulings of the truthfulness of His acts and their foundation upon dazzling wisdom, just as what preceded it pertains to the rulings of the truthfulness of His attributes and their being in the ultimate state of perfection.

This is what the distinguished scholar Abu al-Sa’ud chose in his interpretation, and it is a view to which a sound nature inclines. The author of al-Kashshaf also makes an allusion to what was mentioned, except that, ostensibly, he rendered the arrival of the Hour and the resurrection of the graves—since they are concomitants of Wisdom—as a metonymy for it. It is as if the root meaning is: "That is achieved because Allah, exalted is He, is the Truth (the Constant, the Existing), and that He is capable of reviving the dead and capable of all things, and that He is Wise." Thus, he sufficed with the implication of Wisdom instead of explicitly describing it, due to the rhetorical point contained in such metonymy, especially since the discourse is directed at the deniers of the resurrection to strike back at their arguments. However, this is not free from remoteness.

Al-Nisaburi reported the phrasing of al-Kashshaf and objected to it in a manner whose rebuttal is apparent. He proposed a perspective on the verse, stating that it had not occurred to anyone else, and hoped it to be correct. Yet, with its requirement to interpret the causal 'B' as encompassing both efficient causality and teleological causality, its flaws are evident.

It has been said: "That" refers to what was mentioned, but the saying of Allah, exalted is He, (And that the Hour is coming), etc., is not conjoined to the noun governed by the 'B', nor is it within the realm of causality. Rather, it is a predicate for a deleted subject for the sake of understanding the meaning; the estimation is: "The affair is that the Hour is coming..." Abu Hayyan limited himself to this, though it results in breaking the continuity of the discourse.

It has also been said: "That" refers to what was mentioned, but the 'B' is a connection to a specific state of being, not causality—meaning: "It is an indication that Allah is the Truth..." But there is no evidence for this "specific state of being."

It has also been said: The meaning is, "That is so they may know that Allah is the Truth..." This contains a slight suggestion of the meaning of the Hadith Qudsi famous upon tongues and in the books of the Sufis—even if not established among the scholars of Hadith—which is: "I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be known, so I created the creation in order to be known." It is as you see.

It has been said: The reference is to the Resurrection, which is inferred from what preceded it; some have preferred this, though the artifice required for it is not hidden from you. It is recorded in al-Bahr that "that" is in the accusative case due to a hidden verb, meaning: "We did that because..." Abu Ali limited himself to the view that it is in the nominative case as an initial (mubtada') and the prepositional phrase is its predicate, saying: "Nothing else is permissible." It seems he meant by "nothing else" what was mentioned, and what al-Ukbarī reported—that it is a predicate for a deleted subject, meaning "The matter is that..."—is also possible, though it is contrary to the apparent meaning.

As for the "Hour": it is said to mean the Day of Resurrection, which includes the dissemination and the gathering and other things. Sa‘di Chelebi said that what is meant here is the total annihilation of the world so that it does not repeat with the Resurrection.

Al-Tibi’s statement—that the path of His saying, exalted is He, (That the Hour is coming), from His saying, glorified is He, (That Allah will resurrect those in the graves), is the same as the path of His saying, mighty and majestic is He, (That Allah is over all things competent), from His saying, exalted is He, (And that He brings the dead to life), but he placed it before or after to observe the ending of the verses—is apparent in the first instance.

Furthermore, in al-Itqan by Jalal al-Suyuti, it is stated that the Muslim logicians claimed that at the beginning of Surah al-Hajj, up to His saying, exalted is He, (And that Allah will resurrect those in the graves), there are five conclusions derived from ten premises. He then explained that in a way that necessitates astonishment and indicates the insufficiency of his capacity in that science.

It may be said in clarifying this: The five conclusions are the conjoined clauses within the scope of the 'B'.

1. The derivation of the first: If Allah were not the Truth—meaning the Necessary Existent by His Essence—some contingent beings, such as humans, plants, and others, would not be witnessed. The consequent is false by necessity; therefore, Allah is the Truth. The proof of the entailment is the reductio ad absurdum.
2. The derivation of the second: If He were not capable of reviving the dead, man would not have developed in various stages until he became alive, nor would He have sent down rain from the sky and revived the earth with it after its death. The consequent is false by necessity, for the opponent does not deny that He revived man and revived the earth. Thus, Allah is capable of reviving the dead.
3. The derivation of the third: If Allah is capable of reviving the dead, He is capable of all things. But He is capable of reviving the dead; therefore, He is capable of all things. The entailment is that the "thing" meant is the possible, and reviving the dead is possible; power over some possibles and not others contradicts His essential necessary existence. Moreover, reviving the dead is the most difficult of matters to the argumentative opponent—to the point that he claims it is impossible—so if it is proven that He is capable of it, it is proven by the a fortiori argument (tariq al-awla) that He is capable of all other possibles.
4. The derivation of the fourth: The Hour is a possible matter, and the Truthful One has promised its arrival. Everything possible that the Truthful One has promised will arrive, therefore the Hour is coming.
5. The fifth is derived similarly.

It is not definitive that the conclusions are exactly these; others are possible. The one tested is because it comes quickly to the mind. Sometimes only three of these five are cited, based on what you have learned regarding the relationship between His saying, (And that He brings the dead to life), and His saying, (And that He is over all things competent), and similarly between His saying, (And that the Hour is coming), and His saying, (And that Allah will resurrect those in the graves).

Also counted among the five is His saying, (Indeed, the earthquake of the Hour is a terrible thing), and its derivation is said: "The earthquake of the Hour makes every nursing mother forget her suckling, and everything of this nature is a terrible thing; therefore, the earthquake of the Hour is a terrible thing." And "Righteousness (taqwa) is obligatory upon you," indicated by His saying, (And fear your Lord), and its derivation is said: "Righteousness wards off the harm of the Hour, and everything by which harm is warded off is obligatory upon you; therefore, righteousness is obligatory upon you."

It is not hidden that what was mentioned first is more appropriate. However, if that were their intent, the apparent thing would be for them to say: "There are five conclusions in the saying of Allah, (That is because Allah is the Truth), up to His saying, (And that Allah will resurrect those in the graves)," rather than saying: "In the beginning of Surah al-Hajj to the end." The second statement matches the latter, but the objection to it is that what is understood from their speech is that each of the conclusions is explicitly mentioned, and there is no doubt that "Righteousness is obligatory upon you" is not mentioned as such; rather, what is mentioned is what indicates it in a general sense, and it is not a proposition either, as is not hidden. Some people have struggled to clarify this in ways other than what we have mentioned, and we believe it is better to leave it unsaid. So contemplate.