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Tafsir Surat An-Naazi`aat

Ramadan Series 2015, Vol 1

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

19 June 2015 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

[Taken from Tafsir Ruh al-Bayan by Shaykh Isma`eel Hakki with interpretations from Sahaabah and al-A'immah.]

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem,

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`'een, nawaytu 'l-`'itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.

Inshaa-Allah we will try, not we will be able to do it, but we will try to explain some of Surat an-Naazi`aat.

وَالنَّازِعَاتِ غَرْقًا وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا وَالسَّابِحَاتِ سَبْحًا فَالسَّابِقَاتِ سَبْقًا فَالْمُدَبِّرَاتِ أَمْرًا يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ أَبْصَارُهَا خَاشِعَةٌ يَقُولُونَ أَإِنَّا لَمَرْدُودُونَ فِي الْحَافِرَةِ أَإِذَا كُنَّا عِظَامًا نَّخِرَةً قَالُوا تِلْكَ إِذًا كَرَّةٌ خَاسِرَةٌ فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ فَإِذَا هُم بِالسَّاهِرَةِ

(Surat an-Naazi`aat, 79:1-13)

Allah is the one who revealed that surah and the Holy Qur'an to His Prophet (s), not as they used to say in Jahiliyya and some people still say today, that the Prophet (s) wrote the Holy Qur'an, haasha, impossible. Allah revealed the Holy Qur'an to the Prophet (s) through Jibreel (a). This and every surah is great, but this will shed a little bit of something we must know in order to be concerned for our Akhirah. Look not only to dunya, Allah is saying that you have to look after your Akhirah, because there is something there waiting for you and it depends on what you are doing in dunya for Akhirah that will be your saving account, although the Prophet (s) will intercede as Rahmatan li ’l-`Alameen:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ

(O Muhammad!) We have sent you not except as a Mercy for all the Worlds. (Surat al-Anbiyaa, 21:107)

However, if Allah wants to question us there is too much to be questioned about, which is why the Prophet (s) said to Sayyida `Ayesha (r):

من حوسب عذب

Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)

The Special Powers Allah Gives to Groups of Angels

The Naazi`aat are Sent to Unbelievers

Taking Unbeliever’s Souls with Torture

If anyone is taken to account, for sure there is something they did to be punished! Allah said w ‘n-naazi`aati gharqaa, we pass through this verse, we are reading it without knowing its meaning. What does it mean? An-naazi`aat is, for example, when you hammer a nail in wood and take it out, this is naza`a in Arabic. If it is deep in the wood, then you are stuck. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an gharqaa, drowned. When you dive deeper and deeper, what will happen to you later? They cannot pull you out. If you dive below the limit [safe for humans] you lose your breath. Here He is saying the naazi`aat are divers, they dive. Who are an-Naazi`aat? Allah called them ‘naazi`aat’ because they dive to pull things out. They are a special kind of angels that Allah (swt) sends with Sayyidina Malak al-Mawt, the Angel of Death (a), to go inside the body and take out the soul.

When you hammer a nail or throw a spear or use a serrated knife (with teeth), when you pull these out flesh might come with it. These angels go down inside the body of the human beings to pull out the soul. When they are pulling the soul they go deeper and deeper, under the nails, in every vein, in every hair! They know how many hairs each person has, and they pull the soul from every individual. That is why he called them an-Naazi`aati gharqa, meaning they dive deep in the body of human beings. When they do that, you will feel punishment you have never felt in your life!

Allah Gives an Oath by These Angels

What did Allah (swt) say at the beginning of the verse? Wa ‘n-naazi`aat, waw al-qasam, the “waw” of an oath, Allah is giving an oath. When He puts “waw” it means, “For sure, I am giving an oath by My angels that pull out that this will happen!” Allah (swt), wa lillahi ta `ala an yuqsim bi maa shaa’ min makhluqaatihi, Allah can give an oath by any thing in His Creation, like He gives an oath in the Holy Qur’an by ba`ooda, the mosquito.

Taking the Souls of Unbelievers with Punishment

So, as we said, they are angels that are given power to take the souls of unbelievers from every part of their body, which is why He called them an-Naazi`aat. Another example is when you have to take out a tree with its roots, how difficult it is; today they bring bulldozers to do that. So imagine, there is no comparison between a bulldozer taking the deep, strong tree roots and an angel punishing when he pulls the soul of a human being! When you skin an animal you have to use a knife; imagine you are skinning an animal alive with that knife! Allah (swt) said that is nothing for these angels.When they go inside the body and pull the soul, “the pain is as if the human being is being beaten one-thousand times by a sword and every hit goes deeper and deeper.”

Descriptions of the Angel’s Torture of Unbelievers

That is for those who are not obeying Allah and His Prophet (s). If you say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah” you will not receive this punishment; if you are mu’min and Muslim there are other angels that will take your soul. He said that in every moment the Angel of Death (a) with his helper angels are taking the soul of a kaafir as if they are being cut by a sword millions of times. Allah (swt) ordered Malak al-Mawt (a) to stab them with poisoned knives and the poison goes inside the person who is going to die, a sign that this person has to go to Hellfire. I am not trying to frighten you, I am frightening myself, but this is to tell you how much our ancestors explained and they knew this from the Sahaabah (r) or from al-A'immah.

When Allah (swt) sends poison to that person, he feels as if his stomach is filled with thorns, and when the soul is coming out with all that pain, Allah morders the angel to squeeze him until he becomes slimmer than a dot that can pass through the eye of a needle! Wa ka-anna as-samaa antabaqat `alaa ‘l-`ard, “When he is passing through that opening of the needle he will feel that power as if the skies are falling on the Earth!” When the soul of the unbeliever is taken away it will tar`ud, sound like thunder coming out of that person and he is the only one who can hear it; not living ones, that person and those who are dead will hear his soul coming out like thunder. Like when an airplane is hit by thunder and it blows up, that person will blow up. You will look at his dead body and think he is okay, but maybe he is not okay!

Allah (swt) will create Jahannam in his grave, make his grave to be part of Jahannam that he will be under `adhaab until the Day of Judgment and then the Day of Judgment is something different. So his body now has no soul, the soul is somewhere else, but both of them are being punished, the body is punished and the soul is punished. After punishment, Allah sends the soul in the body for both to be punished at the same time. Allahu Akbar!

These are angels as we said, an-Naazi`aati gharqa. Just like when you dive in an ocean, for them the body of the person becomes so huge like an ocean and they are diving, pulling out that soul from every smallest element of the human body. How many angels are needed to do that? Allah knows how many He sends, but so many to take the soul of one person.

The Naashitaat are Sent to Believers

Glad Tidings to the Believers, Whose Souls are Taken with Tenderness:

the Dressing in Heavenly Silks and Lights

Wa ‘n-naashitaati nashtaa. These are the angels for the believers, an-Naashitaat, the ones who are trying to help that dead person feel good. Nashtu ash-shay bi rifqin wa leen, if he is a mu’min and Muslim, they have the power to bring the soul of that deceased person with a lenient, tender way. In this second verse, wa ‘n-naashitaati nashtaa, Allah(swt) is giving good tidings that the angels will come and take the soul in a nice, easy way and cover it with fabrics, not the fabrics we know but the silk of Paradise, we don’t know what kind of silk it is, and they wrap the deceased.

Aqsam Allahu bi tawaa'if al-malaaika allatee tunshit arwaah al-mumineen, Allah (swt) gave an oath another time using the waw, waw al-qasam. Wa ‘n-naashitaati nashta, they are the ones who have energy, nasheet, the opposite of being lazy: they are active, energetic, happy angels, running to immediately fulfill the order to take the mu’min's soul in the best way and to clean him from everything. Like when you lower the pot in the well and bring it out full of water, you will be dressed with that Water of Youth when you are on your deathbed. The Naashitaat are active and happy to take out the soul of the mu’min without resistance, like taking a hair from ghee, smoothly. That is how the souls of the Believers come out with the baraka of an-Naashitaat.

So now we discussed two groups of angels, an-Naazi`aat and al-Naashitaat. He said the Naashitaat also dive in the body of the deceased and put heavenly light in every smallest particle of the body so it fills with light and the soul will run after that light and go out with the Angel of Death (a), and that person does not feel any pain like the unbeliever.

When Iblees Promised Rasoolullah that He Will Trick the Weak Believers

It is said one day Iblees the Cursed One, whom Allah cursed, appeared in front of the Prophet (s) with qaarooratu maa, a pitcher of water, and he said, “I sell this water for people’s faith; when the soul of the person is coming out they are thirsty and I will offer this water to the dying one in exchange for him giving his soul to me and believing in me.” Then the Prophet (s) cried with such emotion until his whole family (a) also cried, then Allah (swt) revealed to Prophet (s), Innee ahfazh `ibaadee fee tilka ’l-haala min kaydihi, “I will save My servant from his [Iblees’] schemes!”

Allah is The Most Merciful of the Merciful and Promised to Save Believers

Allah (swt) is Arham ar-Raahimeen! Habeeb an-Najjar, who died in Antakya, was mentioned in Surat Yaseen:

جَاءَ مِنْ أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اتَّبِعُوا الْمُرْسَلِينَ

A man came running from the furthest part of the city, he said “O my people, follow the messengers!”

(Surat Yaseen, 36:20)

That man, Habeeb an-Najjar, was running from the kuffaar and went into a cave, saying,

“I wish my community knew about me and how Allah (swt) has forgiven me.”

قَالَ يَا لَيْتَ قَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ بِمَا غَفَرَ لِي رَبِّي وَجَعَلَنِي مِنَ الْمُكْرَمِينَ

He said, “If only my people knew for what my Lord has granted me forgiveness and made me among the honored ones.” (Surat Yaseen, 36:26-27)

Explanation of the Pain Prophet Felt When His Soul was Taken

Qad thabuta `an an-nabi ukhidha roohuhu ‘t-tayyib bi ba`di shiddatin, it is established that the Prophet’s pure soul was taken with some pain. This is for Prophet (s), and from this we can understand where we stand! His soul was taken out with some force, bi shiddah, with some pain, until he said, “Wa karbaa! What an affliction, my soul is being taken with pain!” Fa qaala laa ilaaha illa-Llah inna li ’l-mawti sakaraat, allahumma a`innee `an sakaraat al-mawt, he said, “There is no God but Allah, death has pains! O Allah! Help me to pass them.” He put his holy hand in water and rubbed his face shining face.

His daughter Fatima (a) came and saw him crying and he was saying, "O Allah! Help me, save me, death is not easy!” She said, “O my father, you have this?” because the Prophet (s) was sweating and sweating when the soul was coming out. “If you have this, what happens to us?”

It is said the Prophet (s) told her, “What is happening to you, I carried it, I carried the whole Ummah, asking Allah (swt) to give me that pain and to save them from the pain of that death. I will carry it.”

Prophet (s) asked Allah to make the death for his Ummah easy and he carried some of that pain that his Ummah is going to face!

Summary Notes

These are two kinds of angels: an-Naazi`aat, and an-Naashitaat, and tomorrow we will continue with the others. Why did I select that surah? Because we are in the first ten days of Ramadan in which Allah grants His Mercy, so I selected this surah for us to say, "Yaa Rabb, we need Your Mercy!"

Many people don't pay attention to when the soul is being removed. Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani, may Allah bless his soul, said, “If the grave of the unbeliever were opened and Allah gave everyone the ability to know what will happen in the grave and to see what kind of pain they will experience and smell the stench of that deceased unbeliever, that would make everyone on Earth faint!” but Allah covered that.

Death is not easy! We ask for Rahmah from Allah (swt) that we not face something like that. Yaa Rabbee, rahmatak bi jaahi Sayyidina Muhammad (s) arhamnaa bi rahmatik al-waasi`ah, mil’ as-samaawaati wa ‘l-ard! You are The One with all the treasures of Rahmah and these treasures never end, even if You dump all that on us it doesn’t finish, it comes more and more! Send for us from that Rahmah, and from wa maa arsalnaaka illaa Rahmatan li ’l-`Alameen, from the rahmah of Prophet, and from the mercy of Ramadan to be witness for us that we are trying our best to fast, which is very difficult in these western countries where people are fasting 18-20 hours. We must keep faith in Allah (swt) and know that will be a difficult day, but with the baraka of Prophet (s), as he said to Sayyida Fatima (a), he carried the difficulty and pain that will come to the Ummah, he felt some of that pain then.

It is said when the Angel of Death (a) comes to take the soul of the Believer there is some pain, but when Allah orders the Angel of Death (a) to take his own soul by himself, he will say, “If I had known the pain was such, I would have been lenient on the Believers, but Allah hid it from me!” We ask that after long life that Allah will grant us to go from our body smoothly, like a hair from ghee.

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

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