بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ
لا أُقسِمُ بِيَومِ القِيامَةِ
وَلا أُقسِمُ بِالنَّفسِ اللَّوّامَةِ
I swear by the Day of Resurrection!
And I swear by the self-blaming soul!
EXEGESIS
The construction lā uqsimu (nay, I swear) is a particular formula of oath used eight times in Meccan chapters of the Quran (56:75, 69:38, 70:40, 81:15, 84:16, 90:1, and verses 1-2 of this surah). Exegetes have offered various explanations for the function of lā in these phrases, since its literal sense ‘I do not swear’ appears at odds with the intended meaning ‘I swear’. The principal views may be summarised as follows:
- Negation to refute disbelief: the lā denies the false claims of the unbelievers. The sense thus becomes: It is certainly not as you allege; rather, I swear by … This is the meaning we have preferred (see the Exposition section).
- Negation implying no need for the oath: the lā signals that there is no necessity to swear by something as exalted as the Day of Resurrection or the self-blaming soul, since its greatness is self‑evident.
- Negation for emphasis: some suggest that the lā of negation intensifies the force of the oath itself.
- Not a negation but a rhetorical intensifier: in this view, the lā is akin to its use in phrases like lā wallāhi (by God!), functioning purely as emphasis without any negative meaning.
- Additional particle (zāʾidah): many exegetes consider that the lā here to be grammatically superfluous, leaving the core meaning simply as ‘I swear’. It should be borne in mind that the superfluity in such cases serves a rhetorical function, enhancing the force and emphasis of the statement. As such, this interpretation is similar to the views outlined in points 3 and 4, all of which see the lā as a device for intensifying the oath rather than altering its essential meaning.
Qiyāmah (resurrection) is an emphatic verbal noun on the form fiʿālah from the verb qāma, meaning to rise up. The Day of Resurrection is called qiyāmah because people will rise up from their graves en masse to face judgement.
Lawwāmah (self-blaming): lawwām is the emphatic active participle from lāma, and means someone who is constantly and repeatedly blaming. The hāʾ at the end is for making the word feminine because it is describing al-nafs, which is grammatically feminine in Arabic. The soul (nafs) is named self-blaming here because it blames itself for what it has done and opportunities it has lost, either in this world or on the Day of Judgement.
Others have said it means one who is very blameworthy because it cannot patiently bear the tribulations of this world, but this is not a correct meaning of the active participle, which refers to one who is actively engaging in blaming, not the object of blame.
The purpose of the oath (jawāb al-qasam) is omitted here, because it is obvious from the oaths themselves and contained within them: man will certainly be resurrected, and he will certainly be judged.
EXPOSITION
The surah begins with two powerful oaths and is the only surah where God swears by the Day of Resurrection, or by the self-blaming soul. These oaths set the stage for the rest of the surah, as we discussed in the Introduction. Just as the human soul acts as an internal judge against itself, so too there exists in the external world a Judge that presides over all matters.
The two oaths are preceded with the negative lā (no), which allows to understand that it is addressed to those who would deny the resurrection, and functions as a rhetorical tool rebuffing the claims of the deniers. It is as if the oaths are saying: It is not as you think, I swear by the Day of Resurrection; it is not as you think, I swear by the self-blaming soul. The tone of the surah is hence an address to those deniers, supplying them with thought-provoking examples that allow them to reconsider their position more carefully.
The second verse draws our attention to that aspect of the soul which acts as this internal judge, namely al-nafs al-lawwāmah (the self-blaming soul). This self-blaming soul is the voice inside a person that is critical of his own words and actions, questioning him about their propriety. This voice is what in English would be called the conscience.
The second oath is similarly preceded with the negative lā, as if to say that the one who wishes to deny resurrection and the Day of Judgement is the same who would wish to ignore the voice of their own conscience.
The negative lā which precedes the oaths also subtly evokes the self-blaming soul which whispers refrains to a person, trying to stop him from committing misdeeds: ‘No, don’t do this, it is evil and unjust.’
In contrast to this positive aspect of the soul, there is an aspect that whispers to man and tempts him to do actions that he knows to be wrong. As the Quran states: Certainly We have created man and We know to what his soul tempts him (50:16). The ‘whispering soul (nafs waswāsah)’ is also referred to as nafs ammārah, as in the verse, the [carnal] soul (al-nafs) indeed prompts (ammārah) [men] to evil (12:53), indicating its propensity to incite base or carnal desires.
An internal battle is raging within man between these two aspects of the soul: one prompting him to evil, the other to good; one that drives him to submit to his base desires and vices, the other to morality and righteousness. This internal battle is what has been described in the reports from the Prophet as the ‘greatest jihad’. The virtue of man is in trying to master his base desires and be in control of himself. By combatting his own self, with every victory he emerges stronger and better equipped to face the next. Hence, the voice of the self-blaming soul is not silenced as a believer grows in their faith and good actions and leaves more and more sins behind. On the contrary, this progress only strengthens the self-blaming soul, which constantly urges the believer to climb to ever higher levels of faith. The inverse is true for the sinful person who is never satisfied in his quest to follow his desires, and his nafs ammārah only commands him to further vices and depravities. The more he submits to it, the deeper it plunges him into darkness; Allah took away their light, and left them sightless in a manifold darkness. Deaf, dumb, and blind, they will not come back (2:17-18). They cannot hear, see, or verbalise their own mistakes and follies, for they are completely blind to them.
On the other hand, the one who masters his own self and manages to overcome the nafs ammārah will unlock a higher aspect of the soul, which the Quran deems the soul at peace (al-nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah) (89:27). This person is no longer a tumultuous sea of currents pulling him in one direction and then the other, but rather a calm and tranquil soul, secure in its faith and unshaking in its certainty. Any trials and tribulations that he faces will wash over him like a wave crashing on a rock, never managing to shake the firm foundation of his faith. For more on this, see 89:27 and see also the discussion under verse 12:53.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Wābiṣah ibn Maʿbad al-Asadī, that the Prophet said to him: ‘You have come to ask about righteousness and sin?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ The Prophet gathered his fingers and tapped them on his chest, saying: ‘Seek the answer from your soul; ask your heart, O Wābiṣah,’ and he repeated this thrice. ‘Righteousness is what the soul and heart finds confidence in. Sin is what wavers in the soul and causes hesitance in the chest, even if people issue rulings to you one after another.’
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some have said the al-nafs al-lawwāmah is the human soul in general, which will blame man on the Day of Resurrection. If he was a disbeliever, he will blame himself for his disbelief. If he was a believer, he will blame himself for the insufficient obedience and good deeds that he managed to acquire. Others have said it is only the soul of the disbeliever that will blame itself in this way on the Day of Judgement.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- ‘They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.’
[1] Tabrisi, 10/596; Qurtubi, 18/223.
[2] Mizan, 20/289.
[3] Zamakhshari, 4/658.
[4] Tibyan, 10/189.
[5] Nemuneh, 27/7.
[6] Tibyan, 10/190.
[7] See Tibyan, 10/190; Razi, 30/721.
[8] Tabari, 29/109-110.
[9] Attributed to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr (Tibyan, 10/190; Baghawi, 5/182), and similarly from Qatādah (Tabari, 29/110; Thalabi, 10/82). Tustarī has a similar conclusion, saying that the nafs lawwāmah is the same as the nafs ammārah bil-sūʾ (Tustari, 1/182). Qummī also argues that the nafs lawwāmah is the soul of Prophet Adam (a) who disobeyed God and because of that God criticised it (Qummi, 2/396; related in Zamakhshari, 4/659).
[10] Nemuneh, 25/276.
[11] Darimi, h. 2453.
[12] Tabrisi, 10/597; related in Mizan, 20/103; Nemuneh, 25/276.
[13] Related in Tabrisi, 10/597; Nemuneh, 25/276.
[14] Romans 2:15.