Tafsir of Maryam 19:88

• "Iddan" (إدا): Read with both kasra and fatha. Ibn Khalawayh said: al-idd and al-add mean "the wondrous/astonishing." It is also said to mean "the great and abominable." Al-adda means "severity." The phrase "adḍani al-amr" (أدني الأمر) means "it burdened me and became too great for me."
• "Yakad" (يكاد): Read by al-Kisa’i and Nafi’ with a ya (masculine).
• "Yanfatirna" (ينفطرن): Infitar (splitting) comes from fatara (to split). Tafattur (shattering) comes from fattara (to split repeatedly/intensively). Ibn Mas’ud read it as yansadi’na (to crack/split).
• "Hadda" (هدا): It is either a noun meaning "a collapse," or a passive participle, or a verbal noun for the cause (i.e., because they collapse).

If you ask: What is the meaning of the heavens splitting, the earth cracking, and the mountains crumbling? How does this word affect inanimate objects?

I say: There are two interpretations:

1. Divine Wrath: Allah is saying: "I almost did this to the heavens, earth, and mountains upon hearing this word, out of My anger toward those who uttered it, were it not for My forbearance and dignity, and that I do not hasten the punishment," as He said: "Indeed, Allah holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease..." (Fatir: 41).
2. Hyperbole: It is a way of magnifying the gravity of the statement, depicting its horror, and illustrating its destructive effect on the religion and its foundations. It suggests that if this impact were manifested in the physical world, it would cause these massive bodies—which sustain the world—to split, crack, and crumble.

• "Laqad ji'tum" (لقد جئتم): The shift from the third person (they said) to the second person (you have come) is called iltifat (apostrophe) in the science of rhetoric. It serves to further condemn their audacity against Allah, their exposure to His wrath, and to alert them to the magnitude of what they have said.
• "An da'aw" (أن دعوا): There are three grammatical possibilities:
  1. Genitive (majrur): As a substitute (badal) for the pronoun in minhu (from it).
  2. Accusative (mansub): Assuming the omission of the preposition lam, meaning: "This is because they claimed..."—attributing the crumbling to the collapse, and the collapse to the claim of a child for the Most Merciful.
  3. *Nominative (marfu'):* As the subject of hadda, meaning: "The claim of a child for the Most Merciful caused its collapse."

• The Specification of "The Most Merciful" (al-Rahman): Repeating this name emphasizes that He alone is the Most Merciful; no one else deserves this name. All blessings, both fundamental and derivative, originate from Him: the creation of the worlds and everything within them. As someone said: "Let the veil be lifted from your sight; you and everything you possess are His gift." Whoever attributes a child to Him makes Him like some of His creation, thereby removing Him from the entitlement to the name "The Most Merciful."
• "Da'aw" (دعوا): It is either from da'a (to name/call), which takes two objects, but here it is limited to one to imply generality and encompass everything they claimed as a child. Or, it is from da'a meaning "to attribute lineage," as in the Prophet’s saying: "Whoever claims lineage to other than his masters," and the poet’s saying: "We, the sons of Nahshal, do not claim lineage to a father," meaning we do not attribute ourselves to him.

"And it is not appropriate for the Most Merciful that He should take a son."