Commentary on the Koran: Surah 78 (No. Q078)

Pickthall Translation; Bible Quotes are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Introduction

An-Naha’ takes its name from the awful tidings referred to in verse 2.

It is an early Beccan Surah as part of the initial proclamations after the commencement of the Mission of the Council of the Church, which is the Muhammad, under the Prophet.

*****

78.1. Whereof do they question one another?

78.2. (It is) of the awful tidings,

78.3. Concerning which they are in disagreement.

78.4. Nay, but they will come to know!

78.5. Nay, again, but they will come to know!

Job 14:14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

2Peter 3:4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Isaiah 5:19 who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”

Amos 5:18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light,

Joshua 21:45 Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Refer to Habakkuk 2:3 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 18 (No. Q018) at ayat 82.

78.6. Have We not made the earth an expanse,

Refer to Isaiah 42:5 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 51 (No. Q051) at ayat 48.

Psalm 136:6 to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;

Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.

78.7. And the high hills bulwarks?

Psalm 48:12-13 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. ¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. (KJV)

Psalm 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 104:18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? ²My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

78.8. And We have created you in pairs,

Genesis 7:2-3 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, ³and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

Refer to Acts 17:26 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 3; Genesis 1:28 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 45 (No. Q045) at ayat 13 and Genesis 5:2 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 51 (No. Q051) at ayat 49.

78.9. And have appointed your sleep for repose,

78.10. And have appointed the night as a cloak,

Genesis 19:2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”

Psalm 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Proverbs 3:24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

Psalm 121:5-6 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. ⁶The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

John 9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

78.11. And have appointed the day for livelihood.

Psalm 104:23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening,

Psalm 128:2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

78.12. And We have built above you seven strong (heavens),

The terms third Heaven (NT), seventh Heaven (Qur'an) are generic. The NT term refers to the classifications of the basic Atmosphere, Solar and Galactic structure of the Earth and the heavenly structure of the Throne of God in the “sides of the North.” The seven classifications of the Koran are developments of these making distinction between the Atmospheres, inner and outer space, the Solar system, the Galaxy and so on (see FAQs in Islam (No. 055))

78.13. And have appointed a dazzling lamp,

Genesis 1:16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

Psalm 19:6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

78.14. And have sent down from the rainy clouds abundant water,

78.15. Thereby to produce grain and plant,

78.16. And gardens of thick foliage.

Refer to Isaiah 55:10 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 19.

Genesis 1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Isaiah 30:23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,

Psalm 104:13-15 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. ¹⁴You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth ¹⁵and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

78.17. Lo! the Day of Decision is a fixed time,

78.18. A day when the trumpet is blown and ye come in multitudes,

78.19. And the heaven is opened and becometh as gates,

78.20. And the hills are set in motion and become as a mirage.

78.21. Lo! hell lurketh in ambush,

78.22. A home for the rebellious.

78.23. They will abide therein for ages.

78.24. Therein taste they neither coolness nor (any) drink

78.25. Save boiling water and a paralysing cold:

78.26. Reward proportioned (to their evil deeds).

78.27. For lo! they looked not for a reckoning;

78.28. They called Our revelations false with strong denial.

78.29. Everything have We recorded in a Book.

78.30. So taste (of that which ye have earned). No increase do We give you save of torment.

Refer to Revelation 20:11-15 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 15 and 2Corinthians 5:10 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 36.

1Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Refer Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 to 46 for the parable of the sheep and the goats.

Proverbs 1:27 when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Proverbs 10:24 What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

Luke 10:16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Jude 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

2John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

78.31. Lo! for the duteous is achievement -

78.32. Gardens enclosed and vineyards,

78.33. And maidens for companions,

78.34. And a full cup.

78.35. There hear they never vain discourse, nor lying -

78.36. Requital from thy Lord - a gift in payment –

Matthew 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1Corinthians 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

1Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Refer to Revelation 20:6 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 11 (Q011) at ayat 108 and 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 27 (No. Q027) at ayat 87.

The chosen elect will attain eternal life in the First Resurrection and will have the holy angels for companions (Rev. 19:10; 22:9). They will be equal together (isosaggelos) as the City of God (No. 180).

So also will the millennial system have humans who are passed into it to populate the world under Christ.

78.37. Lord of the heavens and the earth, and (all) that is between them, the Beneficent; with Whom none can converse.

78.38. On the day when the angels and the Spirit stand arrayed, they speak not, saving him whom the Beneficent alloweth and who speaketh right.

Refer to 1Chronicles 29:11 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 28.

2Chronicles 20:6 and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.

Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.

1Timothy 6:15-16 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

See Isaiah 59:16 and 1Timothy 2:5 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 42 (No. Q042) at ayat 6.

78.39. That is the True Day. So whoso will should seek recourse unto his Lord.

Refer to Isaiah 26:19 at ayat 19.71 Commentary on the Koran: Surah 19 (No. Q019) at ayat 71 and Daniel 12:2 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 24 (No. Q024) at ayat 42.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

Isaiah 45:22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

78.40. Lo! We warn you of a doom at hand, a day whereon a man will look on that which his own hands have sent before, and the disbeliever will cry: "Would that I were dust!"

Proverbs 11:21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

1Timothy 5:24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.

Refer to Revelation 20:11-15 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 15 and Isaiah 13:11 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 54 (No. Q054) at ayat 53.

Once again the number of ayats in the Surah at 40 refers to judgment and prohibition in the creation and the resurrection.

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA