بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ
إِذَا السَّماءُ انشَقَّت
When the sky is split open.
EXEGESIS
Samāʾ (sky) (pl. samāwāt) is also translated as heaven, firmament, or ceiling, depending on the context. It comes from the root sumuww (highness, elevation), which denotes the higher part in relation to something lower. It is used, for example, in reference to a building’s roof, a ceiling, or a cloud. It appears very frequently in the Quran, in the singular (samāʾ) and plural (samāwāt), to denote many related matters, including rainfall (6:6, 11:52, 71:11), the sky and space above the earth (2:144, 14:24, 15:16, 25:61, 69:16, 85:1), celestial bodies (2:164, 51:47), and, in the metaphysical sense, the ‘heavens’ or that which is ‘above the physical realm’, and the lowest of the seven heavens, what is visible to physical sight (7:40).
Often, the singular samāʾ in the Quran refers to the al-samāʾ al-dunyā, the physical world, i.e. the observable universe. The samāwāt or sabʿa samāwāt (seven heavens) refers to the various metaphysical dimensions beyond the physical world, such as the realms of the angels.
Inshaqqat (is split open) is the feminine seventh form past tense verb of shaqqa, which is used to refer to something split open or torn open.
EXPOSITION
The surah begins with a powerful description of the sāʿah, the final hour, the events leading up to the end of the world, and the Day of Judgement. Many other surahs have similar usage of the declaration When (idhā) to imply the Day of Judgement or preceding events (c.f. 99:1, 81:1, 77:8, 82:1).
The predicate (jawāb) to the conditional When is omitted in the opening verses, apparently because Sūrat al-Infiṭār and Sūrat al-Takwīr already began with the same formulation and then answered it by declaring, Then a soul shall know what it has readied [for itself] (81:14), and, Then a soul shall know what it has sent ahead and left behind (82:5). By omitting it here, the Quran calls upon the reader to pause and reflect what they had read earlier, and note the connections between the surahs. The choice of the verb ʿalimat (shall know) in the preceding surahs is also meaningful. The soul is not ‘informed’, but rather it ‘knows’, as if witnessing the events of the Day of Resurrection will result in a person inevitably deducing what is going on and what awaits him, and he will realise that soon he must answer for his deeds and so he will reflect on his actions. Here, too, the omission results in a person inevitably realising what God intends, even without it being said.
When the sky is split open: in Quranic usage, the sky does not mean only the atmosphere surrounding the earth, but literally the sky that we look up at as well, which includes all the stars and planets and celestial phenomena that we witness when we gaze above. It hence includes the whole observable physical universe. Accordingly, the sky splitting open does not necessarily have to relate to the earth’s atmosphere. What it alludes to is the collapse of the current order in the universe, which will be then replaced with a new world, The day the earth is transformed into another earth and the heavens [as well] (14:48).
The Quran emphasises that God has disposed not just this earth, but the whole vast physical universe for the benefit of mankind, He has disposed for you[r benefit] whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth; all is from Him (45:13). Of the celestial bodies, the most important to man are the sun and moon, which God repeatedly emphasises are a blessing created by Him, He disposed the night and the day for you, and the sun, the moon, and the stars are disposed by His command. There are indeed signs in that for a people who apply reason (16:12).
We know that without the orderly orbits of the earth, sun, and moon, there would be no possibility of human life on earth. The warmth and light provided by the sun, earth’s orbit and rotation resulting in day and night and seasons, the presence of the moon resulting in tides and stabilising earth’s axial tilt and other benefits, are all critical for life as we know it. This relative stability in a chaotic and dangerous universe has allowed for life to flourish on this planet. God emphasises that it is He who has designed this to allow for our peaceful existence, He disposed the sun and the moon for you, constant [in their courses] (14:33), and It is He who created the night and the day, the sun and the moon, each swimming in an orbit (21:33).
Modern cosmology and astronomy have taught us that our planet and solar system was not always so relatively orderly and it had very chaotic origins. God speaks of the origin of the universe, saying Have the faithless not regarded that the heavens and the earth were interwoven and We unravelled them (21:30). This initial sudden expansion and decompression was followed by an early nascent stage when the physical universe was mostly in a gas-like state. God describes in Sūrat Fuṣṣilat the early stages of creation: Then He turned to the heaven, and it was smoke (41:11). From this nebulous proto-state, God, through invisible natural forces (such as gravity, perhaps), formed an orderly universe which He then presided over and managed in order that humans and other living beings could fulfil their purpose; It is Allah who raised the heavens without any pillars that you see, and then presided over the Throne. He disposed the sun and the moon, each moving for a specified term (13:2).
For now, our solar system, and to a great extent the larger observable universe, remains in this relatively orderly and predictable state: Have they not, then, observed the sky above them, how We have built it and adorned it, and that there are no cracks in it? (50:6). However, this state of affairs is temporary until the aforementioned specified term (13:2) arrives. At that moment in time, the heavens will begin to undergo a violent set of changes in preparation for the transition from the current world (ʿālam al-dunyā) to the hereafter (ʿālam al-ākhirah). The sky which for now has no cracks (50:6) will begin to split apart as the natural forces governing it will inevitably deteriorate towards entropy, And the sky will be split open – for it will be frail that day – and the angels will be all over it, and the Throne of your Lord will be borne that day by eight [angels] (69:16-17). This ‘weakening’ of the sky results in it being split open, with various cataclysmic consequences. The celestial bodies will smash into one another, On the day when the sky whirls violently (52:9). This will result in disrupted orbits and the current celestial configurations to be thoroughly upset, the sky is rent apart, when the stars are scattered (82:1-2). Many stars will expend their fuel or drift away into the lonely void of intergalactic deep space, when the stars are blotted out (77:8).
Perhaps the first such significant changes will be seen in our solar system, which the Quran also describes in many verses, such as: The day when the sky will be like molten copper (70:8); When the sky is split open, and turns crimson like tanned leather (55:37); The hour has drawn near and the moon is split (54:1).
The sun will enter the end of its life cycle and collapse in on itself, When the sun is wound up (81:1). Before this it will expand into a ‘red giant’ and swallow many of those celestial bodies in its orbit, And the sun and the moon are brought together (75:9). While scientific models provide an estimated time frame for this occurrence, the possibility remains that it could be precipitated at any point by unpredictable events or interventions. This will, of course, result in cataclysmic consequences for the earth, which will also undergo significant changes, that are referred to in other verses of the Quran, including some of the following verses of this surah, but it is not clear if human life will still be remnant on earth at that point as the end times of human life may well have occurred long before that (note that the final hour (al-sāʿah) includes both the events leading up to the first blowing of the trumpet by Isrāfīl and all the events that occur between the two blowings). Most of the cosmic changes will apparently take place in this interval between the two; that is the most apparent meaning of 69:17. Once the trumpet is blown for the first time, whoever is in the heavens will swoon and whoever is on the earth, except whomever Allah wishes (39:68). This means that the angels, jinn, and humans – whether alive, or dead and in barzakh – will die or be rendered unconscious and will not notice the passage of time, as the interval between the two blowings might well range into millions or billions of years. Once those changes are complete, the earth is transformed into another earth and the heavens [as well] (14:48), and Then it will be blown a second time, behold, they will rise up, looking on (39:68). At that point the world of the hereafter, with its entirely new set of natural laws, will have set in, and the Day of Judgement will begin.
The informed and attentive reader will have noted how much of what current scientific theories expound about the origin of the universe and the end of the solar system is congruent and sometimes strikingly similar to what the Quran describes.
The changes are not merely physical though, and not only limited to the observable universe, but rather a complete overhaul of all the dimensions/heavens (all seven samāwāt). What this means is that the barriers separating these worlds will weaken and be stripped off (81:11). This means that the ‘sky’ separating the physical world – in which man and his five senses are currently contained – will be removed, and the realities which hitherto were hidden to man will be revealed to him. Hence, on the Day of Judgement human beings will see angels and jinn as easily as they can see other humans, and no one will doubt in the existence of God; The day when the sky with its clouds will split open, and the angels will be sent down [in a majestic] descent (25:25). This is also the apparent meaning of And the sky will be opened and become gates (78:19), allowing for easy travel and access between the various dimensions. See also the commentary on 82:1 for more on this metaphysical aspect.
We may now return to some of the passages we quoted earlier about how all that is in the heavens and earth has been placed at man’s disposal. We might wonder how those far off galaxies, billions of light years away, are for the benefit of mankind who can never reach them. Once the world has transitioned into the hereafter, the whole vast universe and indeed all the even vaster higher dimensions, will be transformed into the paradise of the believers, who will have an eternity to benefit from it: Take the lead towards forgiveness from your Lord and a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who have faith in Allah and His apostles (57:21).
Finally, we may note the final rhymes in verses 1-5, which end with a harsh and sharp sound, evoking the cataclysmic events which shake and upend the very foundations of the cosmos.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Imam Ali (a): ‘The sky will be rent away from the Milky Way (tanshaqqu al-samāʾu min al-majarrah).’
Note: Makārim Shīrāzī says this report is amazing for pointing out that many of the stars we see in the night sky are actually part of the Milky Way.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- ‘Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.’
- ‘Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming … Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine … The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’
- ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare … as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.’
- ‘All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shrivelled figs from the fig tree.’
- ‘And the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.’
[1] Lisan, s-m-w; Tahqiq, s-m-w.
[2] Raghib, p. 459, sh-q-q.
[3] See Zamakhshari, 4/725; Mizan, 20/241.
[4] With the stars and celestial bodies. See 67:5.
[5] See the commentary on 75:8-9 for a detailed explanation of this phenomenon.
[6] Many of the verses we have quoted here can be understood as referring to both physical phenomena (for example, 81:11 can also be understood as earth’s atmosphere being stripped off during the sun’s ‘red giant’ phase), and metaphysical phenomena.
[7] Suyuti, 6/329; Razi, 31/96; Qurtubi, 19/269; Safi, 5/304; Bihar, 55/82.
[8] Nemuneh, 26/304.
[9] Isaiah 13:13. See also Joel 3:15-16 and Acts 2:20.
[10] Joel 2:1-31.
[11] 2 Peter 3:10-13.
[12] Isaiah 34:4.
[13] Revelation 6:13-14.