Tafsir of An-Naba' 78:38

It is said that the Spirit (al-Ruh) is a creation greater than the angels, more noble than them, and closer to the Lord of the Worlds. It is also said that it is an angel, and God, the Exalted and Majestic, created no creation after the Throne greater than it. Ibn Abbas reported that when the Day of Resurrection arrives, it will stand alone in a row, and the angels will stand in a row. Ad-Dahhak stated that if it were to open its mouth, it would encompass all the angels, peace be upon them.

Ibn Abi Hatim, Abu al-Shaykh in al-Azamah, and Ibn Marduyah narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: "The Spirit is an army from the armies of God, the Exalted; they are not angels. They have heads, hands, and feet." In one narration, it says: "They eat food." Then he recited, "The Day the Spirit and the angels stand in rows," and added, "These are one army and those are another." This opinion is also narrated from Mujahid and Abu Salih.

Some say they are the elite of the angels; others say they are the guardians of the angels; and some say it is an angel tasked with the spirits. In al-Ihya, it is stated: "The angel known as the Spirit is the one who introduces the spirits into the bodies. It breathes, and in every breath of its breaths, a spirit enters a body." This is a reality witnessed by the masters of hearts with their inner insights (basa’ir).

Abu al-Shaykh narrated from Ad-Dahhak that it is Gabriel, peace be upon him. This is also an opinion of Ibn Abbas, as he (Ibn Abbas) also stated: "Gabriel, peace be upon him, will stand on the Day of Resurrection before the Compeller, his shoulders trembling in fear of God’s punishment, saying, 'Glory be to You, there is no god but You, we have not worshipped You as You deserve to be worshipped.' The distance between his shoulders is like that between the East and the West. Have you not heard the words of God, the Exalted: 'The Day the Spirit and the angels stand in rows'?"

In a narration by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat, it is narrated from him (Ibn Abbas) that the intended meaning is the spirits of the people, and their standing with the angels occurs between the two blastings of the Trumpet, before they are returned to the bodies. This is very contrary to the apparent meaning of the verse, and perhaps it is not authentic as attributed to the scholar (Ibn Abbas).

It is also said that it is the Quran, and its "standing" is a metaphor for the manifestation of its effects resulting from believing in it or denying it. This interpretation combines the literal and the metaphorical, alongside implications that are not hidden. Nothing in this regard has been verified as authentic by me here.

"The Day they do not possess" — "in rows" is a state (hal), meaning they are arrayed in lines. It is said there are two rows: the Spirit constitutes one row or multiple rows, and the angels constitute another. It is also said there are multiple rows, which is more consistent with the verse: "And your Lord has come, and the angels, rank upon rank." Others say that the Spirit and the angels together form a single row.

It is permitted for "The Day" to be an adverbial qualifier for the verse: "They will not speak," and the verse: "Except for whom the Most Merciful has permitted and who says what is correct." "Except for whom..." is a substitute for the pronoun in "They will not speak," which refers back to the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, among whom are the Spirit and the angels. Their standing in rows is mentioned to manifest the greatness of His sovereignty, the pride of His Lordship—Exalted and Majestic is He—and to create awe for the Resurrection, which is the axis upon which the discourse revolves from the beginning of this noble Surah to its end.

The sentence is an initiation that establishes the meaning of His statement: "They will not possess [the power to speak]," and confirms it, in the sense that if the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth cannot speak anything of any kind of speech at that time, except for the one whom God has permitted to speak, and that permitted person says, after permission, only what is correct—meaning truth, such as intercession for whom He is pleased with—then how could they possess the power to address the Lord of Might, whose status is more specific than absolute speech and more difficult to attain?

It is also permitted that the pronoun in "They will not speak" refers to the Spirit and the angels, and the discourse confirms the meaning of His statement, "They will not possess," in the sense that if the Spirit and the angels, despite being the best of creation and the closest to God, the Exalted, cannot speak anything that is correct (such as intercession for whom He is pleased with) except by His permission, then how could anyone else possess that power?

This was mentioned by some of the Ahl al-Sunnah, but it was critiqued on the grounds that it is based on the Mu'tazili doctrine that the angels, peace be upon them, are absolutely superior to humans. However, you know that there are those among the Ahl al-Sunnah who held this view, such as Abu Abdullah al-Halimi, Qadi Abu Bakr al-Baqillani, and Imam al-Razi; it is also attributed to Qadi al-Baydawi. His own words in the commentary here are not free of ambiguity, which those who attempted to explain have struggled with and written at length about. Furthermore, the disagreement regarding their superiority—in the sense of the abundance of reward and the resulting being more honored and beloved to God—is different from the superiority in the closeness of status, entering the sanctified precincts, and lifting the veil of the Kingdom (Malakut) to witness what is hidden from us. In terms of purity, the scarcity of intermediaries, and such, they are superior without disagreement. The statement of that group (the Ahl al-Sunnah who favor angels) may be based on the latter. This is like what we observe regarding the servants of a king and his private entourage; they are closer to him than his ministers or his relatives, yet they are not all on the same level, even if the latter have more familiarity and boldness.

From Ibn Abbas, it is said that the pronoun in "They will not speak" refers to mankind. It is permitted for "Except for whom the Most Merciful has permitted..." to be accusative based on the rule of exception. The meaning is: They will not speak, except for a person whom the Most Merciful has truly permitted, and who said something correct—that is, the truth, which is Monotheism and the saying of La ilaha illa Allah—as is narrated from Ibn Abbas and Ikrima. Based on this, it is said that it is permissible for "says what is correct" to be in the position of a state (hal) for the one who says it, by estimating a "has" (qad) or without it, not as a conjunction to "has permitted."

Some people permitted the state interpretation (haliyyah) on the first reading as well, but from the pronoun in "They speak," either considering each individual or the group as a whole. One might think that the saying of some that "the meaning is that they will not speak the truth except by His permission" cannot be completed without this. There is more to be said about this.

The sentence "They will not speak" is a state from "the Spirit and the angels," or from their pronoun in "in rows." The majority adhere to what has preceded. The mention of "the Most Merciful" in place of a pronoun is to indicate that the basis for permission is His absolute mercy, not that anyone deserves it from Him, the Exalted and Majestic, just as its mention earlier is to indicate that mercy is the basis for His nurturing (rububiyyah), may He be exalted.