Tafsir of Ad-Dukhan 44:10

The particle fa (so) in His saying, "So watch," is for the sequential ordering of the act of watching—or the command to perform it—relative to what preceded it. For the fact that they are in doubt, playing, is what necessitates this. That is: wait for them on "the day the sky will bring a clear smoke."

This means a day when it brings drought and famine. For the starving person sees between himself and the sky something like smoke; it is a darkness that assails the vision due to its weakness, so he imagines it to be smoke. The application of "smoke" to that visual phenomenon is based on the viewer imagining it as smoke. Its description as "clear" does not contradict this, and intending drought and famine by it is a metaphor of the type where the effect is mentioned while intending the cause. Alternatively, the atmosphere becomes turbid during a year of drought due to the abundance of dust, because of the scarcity of rain that would settle it, so it is a metonymy for drought. Abu Ubaidah interpreted "smoke" as this, and al-Qutabi said: The dryness of the earth is called smoke because what rises from it is like smoke. Some Arabs said: We call the overwhelming evil "smoke," the rationale being that smoke is something from which one suffers harm, so it is applied to every harmful thing that resembles it, and what is meant by it here is drought. Its literal meaning is well-known. The analogy of its plural for paucity is adkhinah, and for abundance is dukhun, like ghurab (crow) with aghribah and ghurban. They deviated from the rule in its pluralization to fawa'il, saying dawakhin, as if it were a plural of dakhinah by estimation. The contextual indicator for the figurative usage here is circumstantial, as you will know, God willing, from the reports.

"The day" refers to time in the absolute sense, and it is an object of "watch" or an adverb of time for it. The explicit object is omitted, meaning: await God’s promise of that day. "The sky" refers to the direction of height. Attributing the bringing [of the smoke] to these two is of the category of attributing an action to its cause, because it occurs due to the lack of its rain. It was not attributed to Him—Exalted is He—even though He, glory be to Him, is the actor in reality, so that the speech may correspond with its predecessor, containing the attribution of that which is a mercy to the Exalted, in the manner of His saying: "Those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not those who have incurred Your wrath." This interpretation of smoke as we have explained is narrated from Qatadah, Abu al-Aliyah, an-Nakha'i, ad-Dahhak, Mujahid, and Muqatil; it is the choice of al-Farra' and az-Zajjaj.

It has been narrated through many chains from Ibn Mas'ud—may God be pleased with him—that Ahmad, al-Bukhari, and a group narrated from Masruq, who said: A man came to Abdullah and said: I left a man in the mosque saying this verse: "The day the sky will bring a clear smoke..." until the end. [He said:] "A smoke will overtake the people before the Day of Resurrection, taking the hearing and sight of the hypocrites, while the believer will be afflicted by it like the state of a cold." He (Ibn Mas'ud) became angry, for he was reclining, so he sat up and said: "Whoever among you knows something, let him speak of it, and whoever does not know, let him say 'God knows best,' for it is part of knowledge to say 'God knows best' regarding what one does not know. I will tell you about the smoke: When the Quraysh defied the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) and were slow to accept Islam, he said: 'O God, help me against them with seven [years] like the seven of Joseph.' So they were struck by a famine and effort until they ate bones. A man would look toward the sky and see, because of hunger, what was between him and it like the appearance of smoke. Then God revealed: 'So watch for the day...' until '...painful.' The Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) was approached and it was said: 'O Messenger of God, pray to God for Mudar,' so he prayed for them, and they were given rain. Then God revealed: 'Indeed, We will remove the torment a little; indeed, you will return.'"

In another authentic narration, it is said that when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) saw the people turning away, he said: "O God, seven [years] like the seven of Joseph." So they were seized by a drought until they ate carrion, hides, and bones. Abu Sufyan and a group of the people of Mecca came to him and said: "O Muhammad, you claim that you were sent as a mercy, and your people have perished, so pray to God." The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) prayed, and they were given rain. This lasted for seven [years]. The people complained: "O God, around us and not upon us," so the cloud retreated from his head, and the people around them were given rain. He said: "The sign of the smoke has passed, which was the hunger that afflicted them." The literal appearance of the narration indicates, as in the history of Ibn Kathir, that the event was in Mecca, so the verse is Meccan. In some narrations, the story of Abu Sufyan occurred after the Hijrah, so perhaps it happened twice; what pertains to this has already been mentioned in Surah al-Mu'minun.

Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from the path of Abu Lahi'ah from Abd al-Rahman al-A'raj that he said regarding this smoke: "It was on the day of the conquest of Mecca in the sea." And from him that he said: "The day the sky brings [it] is the day of the conquest of Mecca, when the dust obscured the sky." In a narration of Ibn Sa'id, al-A'raj narrates from Abu Hurairah that he said: "It was on the day of the conquest of Mecca, there was smoke, and it is the saying of God: 'So watch for the day the sky will bring a clear smoke.'" It is fitting, according to this opinion, that it be a metonymy for the fear, humiliation, and the like that befell the people of Mecca on that day.

Ali—may God honor his face—Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Zayd bin Ali, and al-Hasan said: It is a smoke that comes from the sky before the Day of Resurrection, entering into the hearing of the disbelievers until the head of one of them is like a roasted head, and it afflicts the believer like the state of a cold, without causing him harm. Ibn Jarir narrated from Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman in a marfu' (raised) report: "The first of the signs are the Dajjal, the descent of Jesus, and a fire that exits from the bottom of Aden, driving the people to the place of gathering, taking a midday nap with them when they nap." And the smoke? Hudhayfah asked: "O Messenger of God, what is the smoke?" The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) recited: "So watch for the day the sky will bring a clear smoke," and said: "It will fill what is between the east and the west, remaining for forty days and nights. As for the believer, he will be afflicted by it like the state of a cold; as for the disbeliever, he will be like the intoxicated, it will exit from his nostrils, ears, and anus." Thus, the smoke is taken according to its literal meaning, and the meaning is: Watch for the day the smoke appears.

As-Safarini narrated in Al-Budur al-Zakhirah from Ibn Mas'ud that he used to say: "They are two smokes. One has passed, and the one that remains will fill what is between the sky and the earth, and it will not afflict the believer except with a cold. As for the disbeliever, it will split his hearing. Then God will send the south wind from Yemen, which will seize the soul of every believer, and the worst of people will remain." I do not consider the authenticity of this narration from him to be established.

Applying what is in the verse to what encompasses both smokes is a matter whose state is not hidden. It has been said: What is intended by "the day the sky brings" is the Day of Resurrection, meaning by it—metaphorically—tribulation and evil, or meaning it literally. Al-Khafaji said: The apparent reading is that His saying "the sky brings" to the end is a representational metaphor, for there is no "sky" [as we know it] because it is a day in which the sky will split asunder, so its constituents are literal. You know that there is no objection to saying that the sky, as you heard initially, means the direction of height. Even if we concede that it means the known celestial body, there is no objection to the smoke being before it splits, such as when people emerge from the graves. Also, there is no objection to saying that what is meant by the sky bringing smoke is its transmutation after splitting and its return to what it was initially, as He, the Exalted, said: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke." Its annihilation would be after it becomes smoke.

This is so, and it is more apparent to interpret the smoke as that which was narrated from Ibn Mas'ud primarily, as it is more suitable for the context, given that it is about the disbelievers of Quraysh and an explanation of their evil state, especially since there is that which is more fitting to it in the subsequent verses. The way of connection is that when He, the Exalted, mentioned their state of responding to mercy with disbelief and that they did not benefit from the sender or the sent, He followed it with His saying: "So watch for the day..." to indicate that they are people of torment and abandonment, not people of honor and forgiveness.