كَلّا إِذا دُكَّتِ الأَرضُ دَكًّا دَكًّا
No indeed! When the earth is pounded [to dust], pounded and pounded.
EXEGESIS
The noun dakk, which occurs in this verse twice, one after the other in succession, means severe pounding, crushing, grinding, levelling up, and flattening out, such that Ibn Abbas is attributed to have explained this verse to mean: fattata fattan – to crumble and break into small pieces, while Imam al-Bāqir (a) is reported to have explained this verse as: ‘It is the shaking.’
EXPOSITION
The particle of emphatic negation and rebuke kallā, occurs here again, with one interpretation suggesting it to mean a rejection and a negation of the evil practices mentioned in the immediately preceding verses, as if the verse wishes to say: No, no, do not engage in those sorry acts! However, Tabatabai interprets it as a repeat of the rebuke and rebuttal of the misconception of man regarding human trials described in verses 15 and 16. Thus when the earth will be levelled to a plain, that is the moment when mankind will realise the reality and the truth of the blessings and deprivations, that they were insignificant in and of themselves and were rather meant to serve as a test and as a means to prepare for the hereafter. At that moment the unfortunate shall wish that they had done otherwise but that wishing will be useless and will not ward off any punishment.
Hence, after having criticised those who behave impolitely towards orphans and ignore the poor, who accumulate wealth in any way possible and love it inordinately, and after having criticised the incorrect understanding of the phenomenon of tests and trials in the life of mankind, there come these verses which warn and remind them, and all people, of the horrendous events which will signal the end of this world and the coming forth of the Day of Judgement. Additional verses that describe the quaking of the earth and its levelling are 99:1, 73:14, 56:4, 20:105-107, and 69:13-14.
The verse under discussion initially seems to contradict 69:13-14, which mention a single levelling: When the trumpet is blown with a single blast, and the earth and the mountains are lifted and levelled with a single levelling. Indeed, a reading of the Arabic of the verse under discussion reveals a possible contradiction, and this is also reflected in the exegetical literature. The Arabic of the verse reads idhā dukkat al-arḍu dakkan dakkan, literally translated as: When the earth is pounded [to dust], pounded and pounded. This seems to suggest repeated and sustained pounding, crushing, and levelling of the earth. A perusal of the exegetical literature also illustrates that this verse was understood to mean repeated pounding. Fayḍ Kāshānī explained this verse to mean dakkan baʿda dakkin – pounding after pounding. Ṭabrisī, along with Zamakhsharī, Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybānī, Rāzī, and Mughniyyah, among others, mention the very same point. Sayyid Shubbar wrote that it means mutakarraran (repeatedly, till the mountains collapse), and the same is repeated by Thaʿlabī who wrote marratun baʿda marratin (again and again).
Furthermore, when a sentence containing a verb is followed by a verbal noun of the same verb, as in this verse, where the verb is dukka (third person, singular, passive, perfect tense verb) while the verbal noun is dakkan (so both are from the same root letters – d-k-k) then it may have little or no addition in meaning, or at times it may serve to balance the sentence from a musical point of view, or to add a sense of finality, or to give some stress. Hence if this verse had been idhā dukkat al-arḍu dakkan (when the earth is levelled, a levelling), then the verbal noun could be understood to mean a sense of finality and stress, which would not contradict 69:14. However, the verse has a second noun from the same root letters, which acts as an adjective for the first noun, thus qualifying it. Consequently, when the verbal noun is qualified by an adjective it either occurs as added emphasis or describes the manner of the action. In light of the latter, the second noun, functioning as an adjective, suggests repeated poundings, and so the literal translation of this verse would be: When the earth is pounded [to dust], pounded and pounded. This understanding is also reflected in the writings of the aforementioned exegetes.
However, reconciliation between the two verses may be effected as follows: mountains are known geographically to serve as pegs and stakes, holding down the earth and keeping it firm and stable. This is also acknowledged in the Quran (31:10, 21:31, 16:15, 50:7, 15:19, 13:3). Once the mountains have been destroyed and no longer exist, the things supposed to hold the earth stable will be non-existent and so the earth could experience subsequent violent movements and earthquakes. These subsequent violent movements and earthquakes could augment and exacerbate the crushing and grinding of the earth, leading to repeated poundings. Thus Imam al-Bāqir (a) is reported to have explained this verse, saying: ‘It is the shaking.’
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Imam al-Riḍā (a) transmits from his forefathers, from Imam Ali (a), where the latter reported the Messenger of God as saying: ‘Do you know the meaning of this verse: No indeed! When the earth is levelled to a plain?’ Then he said: ‘When the Day of Judgement shall occur, hell will be led by means of 70,000 reins at the hands of 70,000 angels. A stray spark would break loose, which if left alone and not contained would burn everything in the heavens and the earth.’
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 311.
[2] Qummi, 2/420.
[3] Burhan, 5/655; Nur, 5/573.
[4] Razi, 31/158; Tabrisi, 10/741.
[5] Mizan, 20/28.
[6] Al-Aṣfā fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 2/1440.
[7] Tabrisi.J, 6/489.
[8] Zamakhshari, 4/751.
[9] Nahj al-Bayān ʿan Kashf Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, 5/364.
[10] Razi, 31/159.
[11] Mubin, 1/807.
[12] Shubbar, 1/557.
[13] Thalabi, 10/201.
[14] A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language, p. 138.
[15] Burhan, 5/655; Nur, 5/573.
[16] Or ‘crumbled into fragments’.
[17] Nur, 5/574.