Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL INSYIQAAQ [1]

1. When the heaven is split asunder, 2. And listens to and obeys its Lord -- and it must do so. 3. And when the earth is stretched forth, 4. And has cast out all that was in it and became empty. 5. And listens to and obeys its Lord -- and it must do so. 6. O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions, a sure returning, and you will meet. 7. Then as for him who will be given his Record in his right hand, 8. He surely will receive an easy reckoning, 9. And will return to his family Masrur (in joy)! 10. But whosoever is given his Record behind his back, 11. He will invoke destruction, 12. And he shall enter a blazing Fire, and made to taste its burning. 13. Verily, he was among his people in joy! 14. Verily, he thought that he would never return! 15. Yes! Verily, his Lord has been ever beholding him! Allah says,

(When the heaven is split asunder,) This refers to the Day of Judgement.

(And listens to and obeys its Lord) meaning, it listens to its Lord and obeys His command to split apart. This will occur on the Day of Judgement.

(and it must do so.) meaning, it is right for it to obey the command of its Lord, because it is great and cannot be rejected, nor overcome. Rather it overpowers everything and everything is submissive to it. Then Allah says,

(And when the earth is stretched forth,) meaning, when the earth is expanded, spread out and extended. Then He says,

(And has cast out all that was in it and became empty.) meaning, it throws out the dead inside of it, and it empties itself of them. This was said by Mujahid, Sa`id, and Qatadah.

(And listens to and obeys its Lord, and it must do so.) The explanation of this is the same as what has preceded. Allah says,

(O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions, a sure returning,) meaning, `verily you are hastening to your Lord and working deeds.'

(and you will meet.) `Then you will meet that which you did of good or evil.' A proof for this is what Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi recorded from Jabir, that the Messenger of Allah said,

(Jibril said, ”O Muhammad! Live how you wish, for verily you will die; love what you wish, for verily you will part with it; and do what you wish, for verily you will meet it (your deed).) There are some people who refer the pronoun back to the statement ”your Lord.'' Thus, they hold the Ayah to mean, ”and you will meet your Lord.'' This means that He will reward you for your work, and pay you for your efforts. Therefore, both of these two views are connected. Al-`Awfi recorded from Ibn `Abbas that he said explaining,

(O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions, a sure returning,) ”Whatever deed you do, you will meet Allah with it, whether it is good or bad.''   Then Allah says,

(Then as for him who will be given his Record in his right hand, he surely, will receive an easy reckoning,) (84:7-8) meaning, easy without any difficulty. This means that he will not be investigated for all the minute details of his deeds. For verily, whoever is reckoned like that, he will certainly be destroyed. Imam Ahmad recorded from `A'ishah that the Messenger of Allah said,

(Whoever is interrogated during the reckoning, then he will be punished.) `A'ishah then said, ”But didn't Allah say,

(He surely will receive an easy reckoning,)'' The Prophet replied,

(That is not during to the Reckoning, rather it is referring to the presentation. Whoever is interrogated during the Reckoning on the Day of Judgement, then he will be punished.) This Hadith has also been recorded by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa'i and Ibn Jarir. In reference to Allah's statement,

(And will return to his family Masrur!) This means that he will return to his family in Paradise. This was said by Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak. They also said, ”Masrur means happy and delighted by what Allah has given him.'' Allah said;

(But whosoever is given his Record behind his back,) meaning, he will be given his Book in his left hand, behind his back, while his hand is bent behind him.

(He will invoke destruction,) meaning, loss and destruction.

(And he shall enter a blazing Fire, and made to taste its burning. Verily, he was among his people in joy!) meaning, happy. He did not think about the consequences, nor feared what (future) was in front of him. His light happiness will be followed by long grief.

(Verily, he thought that he would never return!) meaning, he used to believe that he would not return to Allah, nor would Allah bring him back (to life) after his death. This was said by Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and others. Allah then says,

(Yes! Verily, his Lord has been ever beholding him!) meaning, certainly Allah will repeat his creation just as he began his creation, and He will reward him based upon his deeds, whether they were good or bad. He was ever watchful of him, meaning All-Knowing and All-Aware.