Tafsir of Al-Qiyamah 75:7-15

{فَإِذَا بَرِقَ الْبَصَرُ} It becomes bewildered out of terror. Its root is from the phrase "the man bariqa" (blinked/stared) when looking at lightning, becoming dazed. It is also read as bariqa (from bariq), meaning it shines due to the intensity of its fixed gaze. Abu al-Samal read it as balaq, meaning to open and widen; it is said balaqa al-bab (he opened the door).

{وَخَسَفَ الْقَمَرُ} Its light vanishes, or it itself disappears. It is also read as khusifa (passive voice).

{وَجُمِعَ الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ} God will cause them to rise from the West. It is also said they are joined in the loss of their light, or that they are joined as two blackened, shriveled spheres, as if they were two hamstrung bulls in the Fire. Others say they are joined and then cast into the sea, becoming the Great Fire of God.

{الْمَفَرُّ} With a fatha (al-mafarr), it is the verbal noun (the act of fleeing). With a kasra (al-mafirr), it is the place of flight. It is also permissible for it to be a verbal noun like al-marji’. Both readings exist.

{كَلَّا} A rebuke against seeking a place of flight.

{لَا وَزَرَ} There is no refuge. Everything you seek refuge in—a mountain or otherwise—to save yourself is your wazar (refuge).

{إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْمُسْتَقَرُّ} The place of stability for the servants. It means they cannot find stability with anyone else. It means that to Him, or to His judgment, the affairs of the servants return; no one else judges therein, as in His saying: "To whom belongs the sovereignty this day?" (Ghafir: 16). Or, it means their place of settlement—whether Paradise or Hell—is with your Lord; meaning, the matter is delegated to His will: whom He wills, He enters into Paradise, and whom He wills, He enters into the Fire.

{بِمَا قَدَّمَ} Of the deeds he performed.

{وَأَخَّرَ} Of what he did not perform, or what he left behind of his wealth and gave in charity, or what he left behind as a legacy. It refers to what he advanced of good or evil deeds, and what he delayed of a good or bad tradition (sunnah) that was practiced after him. Mujahid said: "His first deeds and his last." Similar to this is: "He will inform them of what they did; God has enumerated it, while they forgot it."

{بَصِيرَةٌ} A clear proof. It is described as basirah (insight/vision) metaphorically, just as the verses are described as mubsirah (enlightening) in His saying: "But when Our verses came to them, enlightening" (An-Naml: 13), or it means "a discerning eye." The meaning is that he is informed of his deeds, and even if he were not informed, he possesses that which suffices in place of an announcement, for his own limbs bear witness to what he did: "On the day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to what they used to do" (An-Nur: 24).

{وَلَوْ أَلْقَىٰ مَعَاذِيرَهُ} Even if he brings every excuse with which he tries to defend himself and argue his case. Al-Dahhak said: "Even if he lets down his veils." He said: Ma’adhir are veils, the singular of which is mi’dhar. If this is correct, it is because a veil prevents the sight of the one hidden, just as an excuse prevents the punishment of the sinner. If you ask: "Is not the analogy of ma’dhira (excuse) that its plural should be ma’adhir (not ma’adhir with a long vowel)?" I say: Ma’adhir is not the plural of ma’dhira; rather, it is a collective noun for it, similar to manakir (reprehensible things) for munkar.