بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ
إِذَا الشَّمسُ كُوِّرَت
When the sun is wound up.
EXEGESIS
The passive perfect tense verb kuwwirat means to be gathered, to be folded up, and to be covered up in darkness. Hence this verse would mean: When the sun is shrouded in darkness. The Arabic dictionary Lisān al-Mīzān explains the expression kuwwirat al-shams as ‘the gathering together of the rays of the sun’, which means the reigning in of its light. This verb is derived from the verbal noun takwīr, which means to roll up something into a ball, or to wind up something such as a turban.
Its root letters k-w-r mean to fold, furl, twine or pleat, or to coil and wind, or curl in circular form as used in describing the winding of a turban on one’s head, as well as to harvest, to gather, and the succession of day and night.
This word also has the nuance of something overcoming, encompassing, and overwhelming another, such that the first thing vanishes entirely. This is manifested in 39:5: He winds (yukawwiru) the night over the day and winds (yukawwiru) the day over the night. Observe how the imperfect tense verb yukawwiru in 39:5 is translated as He winds, meaning to wind something over another. Here it denotes the sense of the darkness of the night overcoming and overwhelming the brightness of the day and thereby extinguishing it, and subsequently the light of the day overcoming and overwhelming the all-encompassing darkness of the night and ridding the earth of it during daytime. Therefore, when the sun is wound up, darkness and extinction will overwhelm it such that it will disappear as if it had never existed.
EXPOSITION
This surah begins by mentioning six cataclysmic events heralding the Day of Judgement, which will bring forth tremendous changes within our solar system at least.
The first eight verses of this surah, and then verses 10-13, are prefaced with the adverbial particle of time idhā, which renders the relevant sentences conditional, indicating the future. The use of this article is suggested to have a stimulating effect as it evokes an interest in that which follows or in that which is the purpose of the conditional clause, which is the consequential predicate. The consequential predicate is found in verse 14. Hence, when the listener hears such a sentence he looks forward with anticipation to that which follows, especially in light of the exaggeration in the repetition of the particle idhā, which occurs twelve times in this surah. Therefore, the purpose of repeatedly using the adverbial conditional particle idhā in these verses after the conjunctive particle wa (and) is in order to bring about the effect of exaggeration, which in turn has the purpose of invoking the effects of awe and of being overwhelmed.
The first event that this surah mentions is the winding up of the sun; that great light (10:5, 25:61, 71:16, 78:13) created to serve mankind (7:54, 13:2, 14:33, 16:12, 29:61, 31:29, 35:13, 39:5), and used for the calculation of time and for the organisation of human life (6:96, 55:5). It is obvious that the term kuwwirat has been used here as a metonym to convey the sense of extinguishing the sun. Thus, before the Day of Judgement when the sun is wound up, its light will be extinguished and made to disappear, its burning flames will die out, and it will become expunged and destroyed. Obviously this will result in the loss of heat and loss of the gravitational pull which the sun exercises over the solar system, and therefore an overwhelming change will occur in the structured order of the solar system.
Exactly how the sun will be extinguished is a phenomenon unknown to us and will become known only when this prophesied sign comes to be. Yet the theme of the eclipse of the sun is repeated once more in the Quran. The following four verses of Sūrat al-Qiyāmah depict the annihilation of the moon and the sun and the bewildered and shocked state of mankind at that time. These verses are in the context of describing the events of the eschaton. The verses are as follows: And [when] the moon is eclipsed, and the sun and the moon are brought together, that day man will say: ‘Where is the escape?’ (75:8-11). It is particularly striking that in these verses the annihilation of the sun and the moon is depicted as taking place when these two are brought together, in distinct contrast to their normal daily functioning where they flow in their specific orbits (21:33, 36:40), never touching each other (36:40). Perhaps this verse is providing extra information regarding the phenomenon of the winding up of the sun.
Ṭūsī makes an interesting observation regarding the tense of this and the succeeding thirteen verses; whereas these verses are informing us about future events heralding the Day of Judgement and the Day of Judgement itself, the verses are in the perfect tense. He explains that even though these verses are in the perfect tense, their intent is the future. This is because whatever God informs about will necessarily come to pass, and thus the perfect tense verbs in these verses denote the future. He writes that this is particularly true of conditional clauses (of which the twelve verses of this surah and verses 17 and 18 are a case in point), and clauses informing of recompense or retribution, as well as the actions of God, and repetitive expressions of prayer (in the Arabic language). Some examples of repetitive expressions of prayer are ḥafiẓaka allāhu which literally translates as ‘God preserved you’ but which actually is a prayer, meaning ‘may God preserve you’ denoting the future tense; or the prayer aṭāla baqāʾaka which is again an expression wishing well-being, and literally translates as ‘He lengthened your existence’ but which actually means ‘may God lengthen your life’.
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’ānic Usage, p. 824.
[2] Cited in Amthal, 19/446; Tabrisi, 10/673.
[3] Amthal, 19/445.
[4] Tabrisi, 10/672.
[5] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’ānic Usage, p. 824.
[6] Al-Balāgh fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bil-Qurʾān, 1/586.
[7] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’ānic Usage, p. 21.
[8] Ibn Ashur, 30/124.
[9] Fadlallah, 24/87.
[10] Irshād al-Adhhān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1/591.
[11] Al-Balāgh fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bil-Qurʾān, 1/586.
[12] Fadlallah, 24/88.
[13] Tibyan, 10/280.