Tafsir of Ad-Dukhan 44:29

This is a figurative expression denoting a lack of concern for their destruction and a disregard for their existence. It is an isti'ara tamthiliyya takhyiliyya (imaginative representational metaphor), where the state of their death—due to its intensity and magnitude—is likened to the state of one for whom the sky and the great celestial bodies weep. The attribute is affirmed for them, and the negation is for the purpose of establishing the metaphor, as has been verified in its proper place.

It is also said: It is an isti'ara makniyya takhyiliyya (metaphor where the vehicle is suppressed), in which the sky and the earth are likened to a human being, and weeping is attributed to them. Or, it is a tamthiliyya (representational metaphor) suggesting that their state of remaining unchanged and persisting as they were is like the state of one who does not weep. However, this is baseless, as is evident to anyone who refers to their discourse.

It has been common in the context of glorifying one who has perished to say: "The sky and the earth wept for him," "The wind wept for him," and the like. Yazid ibn Mufarrigh said: "The wind weeps for his grief, and the lightning flashes in his clouds." Al-Nabigha said: "Harith al-Jawlan wept for the loss of its master, and Hauran, because of him, is humbled and diminished"—meaning two well-known places. Jarir said: "When the news of al-Zubayr arrived, the walls of Medina and the humbled mountains bowed low."

Al-Farazdaq said in his elegy for the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz: The sun is rising, not yet fully eclipsed; The stars of the night and the moon weep for you.

One marvels at the mention of the sun rising, for it ought not to have risen, or if it did, it should have been eclipsed (kasifah). The word "stars" (nujum) is reported in both the accusative (mansuba) and nominative (marfu'a) cases. The accusative is based on the concept of surpassing (i.e., you surpass the sun in weeping, as in "I competed with him in weeping, so I overcame him in it"). Al-Jarullah said: "He (may Allah be pleased with him) would perform the night vigil, so the stars would weep for him; he would be just during the day, so the sun would weep for him—and the sun is superior in weeping because justice is better than the night prayer."

Al-Jawhari considered it accusative to "eclipsed" (kasifah), meaning: "It does not eclipse the light of the stars due to the intensity of its weeping." It is as if he considered the concealment of the stars beneath the sun's light as a metaphorical eclipse of them. But in this, the eclipse in the aforementioned sense is not clear, and the interruption of "weeps" (tabki) is not exposed. In the marginal notes of al-Sihah, it is stated: "The sun is eclipsed, not rising." It also says that "the stars of the night" is an adverbial phrase of time, i.e., "throughout the ages." It is as if it were of the type: "I will come to you at the sun and the moon," meaning at the time of their rising. It is as if it were said: "They weep for the duration that the stars and the moon rise." However, such an adverbial usage, while audible, is not established; why then resort to it when the meaning is clear?

It is also said: The implied meaning is "they weep the weeping of the stars," with the possessor (the infinitive) being omitted; yet this is something that is hardly understood. The nominative case is clear, and "the moon" (al-qamar) is in the accusative as an object. This is a digression prompted by the fame of the verse and the abundance of confusion surrounding it.

Al-Tirmidhi and a group of others narrated from Anas that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah be pleased with him and grant him peace) said: "There is no servant except that he has a gate in the sky from which his deeds ascend and a gate from which his provision descends. When a believer dies, they miss him and weep for him." He then recited this verse: {فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ}. He mentioned that because they did not perform righteous deeds on the face of the earth, it did not miss them, so it did not weep for them; and because no good speech or righteous deed ascended for them to the sky, it did not miss them, so it did not weep for them.

Al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman, and al-Hakim (who authenticated it), and others narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: "Indeed, the earth weeps for the believer for forty mornings." Then he recited the verse. Ibn al-Mundhir and others narrated from Ali (may Allah honor his face) that he said: "When a believer dies, his place of prayer on earth and the place where his deeds ascend in the sky weep for him," then he recited: {فَمَا بَكَتْ} until the end. They interpreted all of this as being in the category of tamthil (representation).

As for those who—like the Sufis—affirm for the celestial bodies and inanimate objects a consciousness appropriate to their state, they do not need to rely on the interpretation of tamthil. They affirm a real weeping for them, as necessitated by their essence and fitting for them, or they interpret it as "grief" or the like, affirming it for them accordingly.

Ibn Jarir and Ibn al-Mundhir narrated from Ata regarding the weeping of the sky that it is the redness on its edges. Ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated a similar report from al-Hasan. He also narrated from Sufyan al-Thawri that he said: "It used to be said that this redness which appears in the sky is the weeping of the sky for the believer." By my life, one who does not laugh at this ought to weep for his own intellect! I do not believe that those mentioned among the eminent scholars actually believed this.

It is said: The verse is based on an implied added noun, meaning: "The inhabitants of the sky—the angels—did not weep for them, nor did the inhabitants of the earth—the believers—but rather, they were joyful at their destruction." This is narrated from al-Hasan, and the former is better.