Tafsir of Muhammad 47:18

"So, do they await anything but the Hour?"—that is, the Resurrection. His saying, "that it should come upon them suddenly" (bagtatan)—meaning it takes them by surprise, which is the sudden occurrence—is a substitute of inclusion (badal al-ishtimal) for "the Hour." This means: they do not take heed from the conditions of past nations, nor from the reports regarding the coming of the Hour and the tremendous states it contains. Thus, they await nothing for the sake of being reminded except the coming of the Hour itself.

His saying, "For its signs have already come"—that is, its indicators and portents, as in the words of Abu al-Aswad al-Du’ali: If you have resolved upon severing ties between us, Then you have caused the signs of its beginning to appear. "Signs" (ashrat) is the plural of shart (a sign). This is a justification for its suddenness, in the sense that there remains no matter from the things that necessitate heedfulness that they are waiting for or expecting, except for the coming of the Hour itself. Since its signs have already appeared and they have not lifted a head for them, nor considered them as the beginnings of its arrival, then its coming will inevitably be by way of surprise. This is as stated in Irshad al-‘Aql al-Salim.

The apparent meaning of al-Kashshaf is that it is a justification for the coming [of the Hour] absolutely; meaning, they await nothing but the arrival of the Hour because its signs have already come, and after their arrival, the occurrence of the Hour is inevitable. To justify the qualified without the qualifier is not without remoteness. It is said: what makes it close here is that their waiting is only for the arrival of the Hour suddenly, and this is only to clarify what is real. Some verifiers have said: It is a justification for the waiting of the Hour, because the appearance of the signs of a thing is a cause for waiting for it. Placing it as a justification for the suddenness is obscure, because it does not suit the coming of the signs except through interpretation. And you know that the substitute is what is intended; the waiting is for the arrival of the Hour suddenly, so the aforementioned justification is also a justification for the qualified without the qualifier. Therefore, that which is in the Irshad is certain, even if it contains a type of interpretation.

His saying, "How then will they have their reminder when it comes to them?"—according to what some noble scholars have indicated—is an expression of astonishment at the benefit of the reminder upon the arrival of the Hour, and a denial of their failure to prepare for it, and their waiting for it in mockery and rejection. In the Irshad: His saying, "How then will they have their reminder when it comes to them," is a judgment of their error and the corruption of their opinion in delaying the reminder until its arrival, by clarifying the impossibility of the benefit of the reminder, like His, glory be to Him, saying: "On that day, man will remember, but how will the reminder benefit him?" That is: How will they have their reminder? Here, "how" (anna) is a predicate brought forward, and "their reminder" (dhikrahum) is the subject. "When it comes to them" is a parenthetical clause inserted between them, symbolizing the utmost speed of its coming. The release of "the coming" from the condition of "suddenness" is because the pivot of the impossibility of the benefit of the reminder is its being at the time of its arrival absolutely, not qualified by the condition of suddenness.

It is said: "How" is a predicate brought forward for a hidden subject, meaning: How will they have salvation when the reminder comes to them? The thing they are informed of, which they deny, is linked to the punishment, and its state is not hidden. Abu Ja'far al-Ru'asi from the people of Mecca read it as "If it comes to them" (in ta'tihim), as a new conditional sentence whose response is "How then will they have..."—meaning, if the Hour comes to them, while its signs have already come, then how will the reminder benefit them at the time of its arrival? "If" (in) here is in the meaning of "when" (idha), because the arrival of the Hour is certain. Perhaps the usage of "if" is to taunt them, implying they are in doubt about it, or because, due to its unfixed time, it resembles that which is doubtful. When it comes to them in terms of reality, there is no contradiction between them, as is imagined in foolish views.

In al-Kashf: "When" (idha) in this reading is merely for time, so that mutual obstruction does not occur between "When it comes to them" and "If it comes to them." Using "if" (in) despite the certainty of its occurrence strengthens the matter of rebuke and denial, as is not hidden. End quote. According to what we have mentioned, there is no need to make "when" merely for time.

Al-Ju'fi and Harun from Abu 'Amr read "suddenly" (baghtatan) with a fathah on the ghayn and a shaddah on the ta’. The author of al-Lawami' said: It is an adjective, and its accusative case is as a state (hal). It has no parallel among verbal nouns or adjectives, but rather among nouns, like al-jirbah, which is a herd of wild donkeys; and strong people are sometimes called jirbah if they are a group equal to one another. And al-shurbah, which is the name of a place. Abu al-'Abbas ibn al-Hajj from the companions of Abu 'Ali al-Shalubin said the same in his book on verbal nouns. Al-Zamakhshari said: "I fear that it is a mistake by the narrator from Abu 'Amr, and that the correct reading is baghtatan with a fathah on the ghayn without shaddah, like the reading of al-Hasan mentioned previously." Abu Hayyan rebutted this, stating that this is his habit of finding errors in narrators.

The apparent meaning is that the "signs of the Hour" are the signs that have already occurred and were reported to be signs for it, such as the sending of our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi reported from Anas that he said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "I and the Hour were sent like these two," and he gestured with his index and middle fingers. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, meant the extreme closeness between his mission and the Hour, for the index finger is close to the middle finger in length, and so it is with him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Some claimed that the matter of length and shortness in his middle and index fingers, peace and blessings be upon him, is the reverse of what is in us; this is a mistake that should not be heeded, unless they meant his blessed toes, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Ahmad reported from Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying: "I and the Hour were sent together, and it almost preceded me." This is more eloquent in conveying the closeness. They count among them the splitting of the moon, which occurred for him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the smoke (al-dukhan) that occurred to the people of Mecca. As for the signs of the Hour in general, they are many; short and long books have been written about them. They are divided into "constricting" [major] signs—after which the world does not remain except for a very brief time, such as the emergence of the Mahdi, may Allah be pleased with him (according to what the Sunnis say, not what the Shi'a say who believe in the return, for in their view, the world remains for a considerable time after his appearance)—such as the descent of ‘Isa (peace be upon him), the emergence of the Dajjal, the rising of the sun from its place of setting, the emergence of the Beast, and other than that. And "non-constricting" [minor] signs—which are the majority of the signs—such as the barefoot, naked shepherds becoming the leaders of people, their competing in the construction of tall buildings, the spread of backbiting, the consumption of usury, the drinking of wine, the glorification of the wealthy, the scarcity of the noble and the abundance of the ignoble, people boasting in mosques and taking them as roads, the mistreatment of neighbors, the severing of ties of kinship, the scarcity of knowledge, the entrusting of affairs to those who are not fit for them, and that the happiest people in the world are the base ones, in addition to what would take long to mention.

Whoever examines the books authored on this subject and looks at the conditions of the times will see that most of these signs have appeared to the eye and the lands have been filled with them. Yet, despite all this, the matter of the Hour is unknown, and the cloak of concealment is draped over it. The most that should be said is that what remains of the life of the world is a very small amount relative to what has passed. In some reports, he, peace and blessings be upon him, addressed his companions after the Asr prayer when the sun was about to set and nothing remained of it except a portion, and he said: "By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the likeness of what has passed of the world compared to what remains of it is not but like what has passed of your day compared to what remains of it, and nothing remains of it but a little." It should not be said that the second millennium after the Hijrah—the millennium we are in—is a "green" millennium, meaning half of it is of the world and the other half is of the Hereafter.

Al-Jalal al-Suyuti said in a treatise he named Al-Kashf ‘an Mujawazat hadhihi al-Ummah al-Alf (The Unveiling Regarding the Exceeding of This Community of the Millennium): What the reports indicate is that the duration of this community exceeds a thousand, but the increase does not reach a thousand. He based the matter on what was reported that the duration of the world is seven thousand years, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent at the end of the sixth millennium, that the Dajjal emerges at the turn of a hundred, that 'Isa (peace be upon him) descends and kills him, then he remains on the earth for forty years, that people remain after the sun rises from its place of setting for a hundred and twenty years, and that between the two blasts [of the Trumpet] is forty years. He mentioned the hadiths and reports regarding that.

In Bahjat al-Nazirin wa Ayat al-Mustadillin, many scholars have argued for determining the closeness of its time using hadiths that are not free from criticism. Among them are those who said: "So much remains of it," and those who said: "The Dajjal will emerge at the turn of such and such, and the sun will rise at the turn of such and such." Al-Hafiz al-Suyuti devoted a treatise to all of that and said: "The Hour will occur in about fifteen hundred." All of this is rejected, and those who speak on this have nothing but conjecture and estimation for which there is no proof from Revelation. End quote. Al-Safarini transmitted it in al-Buhur al-Zakhirah fi ‘Ulum al-Akhirah.

Al-Suyuti mentioned several reports regarding the duration of the world being seven thousand years, the first of which is what al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi reported in Nawadir al-Usul with his chain of transmission from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Intercession on the Day of Resurrection is only for those who committed major sins from my community, then died upon them, for they are in the first gate of Hell." He narrated the rest of the hadith, in which it says: "And the longest of them in stay in it is the one who stays in it like the world since it was created until the day it is ended, and that is seven thousand years." Al-Safarini refuted this by saying: "Hafiz Ibn Rajab mentioned in his book Sifat al-Nar (Description of Hell) that this hadith was reported by Ibn Abi Hatim and others, and al-Isma'ili reported it in detail. Al-Daraqutni said in his book al-Mukhtalif: It is a rejected hadith, and he mentioned its flaws." Among what al-Suyuti mentioned in that regard, he himself noted the weakness of its chain of transmission. It may also be rebutted by the fact that one thousand two hundred and sixty-eight years have passed from the time of the Prophetic mission to our day. If one adds to that the years of the stay of 'Isa (peace be upon him), the remaining of the world after the rising of the sun from its place of setting, and what is between the two blasts—which is two hundred years—it becomes one thousand four hundred and seventy-eight. Thus, twenty-two years remain of the duration he mentioned. To this moment, the sun has not risen from its place of setting, nor has the Dajjal emerged—whose emergence is several years before the rising [of the sun] from its place of setting—nor has the Mahdi appeared—whose appearance is seven years before the Dajjal—nor have the signs that precede the appearance of the Mahdi occurred. One can hardly say that he appears after fifteen years and the Dajjal appears after him by seven years at the turn of the third century of the second millennium, because before that there are introductions that occur over many years.

The truth is that no one knows what remains of the duration of the world except Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and that although it may seem long, it is the shortest of the short, and "the enjoyment of the life of the world is but little." Likewise, as I see it, the beginning of its creation is known only to Allah, may He be exalted. What they mention regarding the beginning, if it were sound, pertains only to the beginning of the creation of the Caliph Adam (peace be upon him), not the beginning of the creation of the heaven, the earth, the mountains, and the like.

The Sheikh Muhyi al-Din (may his secret be sanctified) narrated from Idris (peace be upon him)—having met him in a spiritual gathering and asked him about the world—that he said: "We, the community of prophets, know that the world is originated, but we do not know when it originated." Philosophers, as is famous, claim that there is a part of the world that is eternal in essence and eternal in species, despite their belief in essential origination, and in their view, it does not perish. Mulla Sadra al-Shirazi went to the view that they only speak of the eternity of the abstract intellects, not the world of bodies at all; rather, they believe in their origination and perishing. He spoke at length about this in al-Asfar and brought forth texts from their masters, such as Aristotle and others.

Some narrated from them that this world we are in—the world of generation and corruption—was created and will perish after the passage of seventy-eight thousand years. That is upon the passing of the duration of the dominion of each of the twelve zodiac signs, and the arrival of the matter to the sign of Libra. They claimed that the duration of the dominion of Aries is twelve thousand years, and the duration of Taurus is less by a thousand, and so on until Pisces. Al-Bakri transmitted from Hermes that he claimed there was no animal on earth during the dominion of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini. When the dominion of Leo arrived, the water creatures and insects of the earth were formed. When the dominion of Virgo arrived, the first two humans, Adamanus and Hawanus, were born. Some claimed that the duration of the world is the amount of the movement of the fixed stars through the degrees of the firmament, which are three hundred and sixty degrees, and their movement through each degree, according to many of them, is in one hundred years, so its duration is thirty-six thousand years. All of this is confusion for which there is no evidence.

Among the most strange things I have seen is what some Islamists claimed, that the Hour will occur after one thousand four hundred and seven years, taking it from His saying: "So, do they await anything but the Hour, that it should come upon them suddenly" and His saying, "It will not come to you except suddenly." They based this on the numerical value (abjad) of the letters of "suddenly" (baghtatan), which is one thousand four hundred and seven. Another might say: It is one thousand eight hundred and two, and according to the ta of femininity, four hundred, not five, for he saw it as some calculators did, as in the Fatawa of Khayr al-Din al-Ramli. Then another comes and says: It is more than that as well, and spreads the letters out in the manner they said regarding the name of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that it contains the number of the messengers, peace be upon them. You know that such things are not for a rational person to rely upon or pay attention to. Caution lies in being certain that none knows that except the Subtle, the Aware.