Soul Snatchers (An-Naziât)

In the name of Allah, Gracious, Merciful.

¹By those who tear out with violence;¹

²And by those who gently draw out;

³And by those who glide along.

⁴Then press forward as in a race.

⁵Then arrange to do.

⁶One day everything that can be in commotion will be in violent commotion.

⁷Followed by often repeated:

⁸Hearts that day will be in agitation;

⁹Cast down will be eyes.

¹⁰They say: “What! shall we indeed be returned to former state?”

¹¹“What! When we shall have become rotten bones?”

¹²They say: “It would in that case be a return with loss!”

¹³But verily, it will be a single cry.

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

¹Wa naziati ghargan

²Wa nashithati nashthan

³Wa sabihati sabhan

⁴Fa sabiqati sabgan

⁵Fal mudabirati amran

⁶Yauma tarjufur rajifah

⁷Tatbauha radifah

⁸Qulubu yauma izi wajifat

⁹Absharuha khasyiah

¹⁰Yaquluna a inna lamarduduna filhafirat

¹¹A iza kunna izaman nakhirah

¹²Qalu tilka izan karatun khasirah

¹³Fa innama hiya zajratu wahidah

1. The theory here up to verse three is that death angels are not gentle with the wicked. On the other hand, they are gentle in their treatment of the righteous at the time of death. They yank the souls of the wicked from their bodies, but draw gently that of the believers. It seems as if Allah is describing the situation that is known to all humans everywhere. Sometimes, at the point of death, the dying victim who lived life for himself will sense the realities of hell. Like a man going down the black hole, he sees it and feels being drawn to it but lacks the power to resist. On the other hand, others slip away peacefully in death and feels no torment in death whatsoever.

The Bible says in Psalm 116:15 that “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” On the contrary, it says in Psalm 22:15; “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death.” God wants mankind to repent and accept Him for their salvation before their death. Death is traumatic both to the dying victim and those he leaves behind. To avoid going to hell, Jesus is the Way to the Father’s heaven (John 14:6).

¹⁴When behold they will be in the awakening.

¹⁵Has the story of Moses reached you?²

¹⁶Behold, your Lord did call to him in the sacred valley to Tuwa,³

¹⁷“Go to Pharaoh for he has indeed transgressed all bounds.

¹⁸“And say to him `Would you that you should be purified?

¹⁹“And that I guide you to your Lord so you should fear Him?”⁴

²⁰Then did he show him the great sign.

²¹But he rejected it and disobeyed;

²²Further he turned his back striving hard.

²³Then he collected his men and made a proclamation

²⁴Saying “I am your Lord most high.”

²⁵But Allah did punish him and made an example of him in the hereafter as in this life.

²⁶Verily, in this is an instructive warning for whosoever fears:

¹⁴Fa izahum bisahirat

¹⁵Hal ataka haditsu Musa

¹⁶Iznadahu rabbuhu bil wadil mu qadasi thuwa

¹⁷Izhab ila Firauna innahu thagha

¹⁸Faqul hallaka ila an tazaka

¹⁹Wa ahdiyaka ila rabbika fatakhsya

²⁰Fa arahul ayatal kubra

²¹Fakazaba wa asha

²²Summa adbara yasa

²³Fahasyara fanada

²⁴Faqala ana rabbukumul ala

²⁵Fa akhadzahul lahu nakalal akhirati wal ula

²⁶Inna fizalika laibratal limay yakhsya

2. Whenever you read the question, “Has the story of so and so reached you?”, it is like saying watch out, this you do not know yet. If Muhammad is the Apostle to the unlettered, and that the Qur’an has been revealed to warn a people who have had no previous revelation sent to them, does not the question like seem redundant? The other obvious confusion is that from chapter two of the Qur’an to the present, Allah has been talking about Moses and Aaron to Muhammad, to ask this question of Muhammad is to say that Allah did not remember what he had or had not told Muhammad.

3. The claim by Muslims is that Mount Sinai is in the valley of Tuwa (Towa). This is not true. Mount Sinai is in the Wilderness of Sin, which is in the Sinai Peninsula between the Gulf of Suez and Aqaba, not the direction Allah wants us to focus.

4. The message by Moses to Pharaoh was to let the Jews go so that they could worship God. It was not about Pharaoh; it was about the Jews, a point which is overlooked here. Exodus 3:5-12 gives us the essence of the call and mission of Moses:

Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

So then the Islamic claim is not based on the fact of accepted Biblical history. For more on Moses please refer to Qur’an 20.

²⁷What! are you the more difficult to create or the heaven? Allah has constructed it:

²⁸On high has He raised its canopy and He has given it order and perfection.

²⁹Its night does He endow with darkness, and its splendor does He bring out.

³⁰And the earth moreover; has He extended:

³¹He draws out therefrom its moisture and its pasture;

³²And the mountains has He firmly fixed;

³³For use and convenience to you and your cattle.

³⁴Therefore when there comes the great overwhelming event;

³⁵The day when man shall remember what he strove for;

³⁶And hell fire shall be placed in full view for all to see.

³⁷Then for such as had transgressed all bounds;

³⁸And had preferred the life of this world;

³⁹The abode will be hell fire;

⁴⁰And for such as had entertained the fear of standing before their Lord, and had restrained their soul from lower desires;

²⁷A antum asyadu khalqan amisamau banaha

²⁸Rafaa samkaha fasa waha

²⁹Wa aqhthasya lailaha wa akhraja dhuhaha

³⁰Walarha bada zalika dahaha

³¹Akhraja minha ma aha wa maraha

³²Wal jibala arsaha

³³Mataal lakum walianamikum

³⁴Faiza jaatih tammatul kubra

³⁵Yauma ya tazak karul insanu ma saa

³⁶Wa burizatil jahimu limay yara

³⁷Faamma man thagha

³⁸Wa atsaral hayatad dunya

³⁹Fainnal jahima hiyal mawa

⁴⁰Wa amma man khafa maqama rabbihi wa nahan nafsa anil hawa

⁴¹Their abode will be the garden.

⁴²They ask you about the hour ‛When will be its appointed time?’

⁴³Wherein are you concerned with the declaration thereof?

⁴⁴With your Lord is the limit fixed thereof.

⁴⁵You are but a warner for such as fear it.

⁴⁶The day they see it, it will be as if they had tarried but a single evening, or the following morning!

⁴¹Fainal janata hiyal mawa

⁴²Yas alunaka anisaati ayana mursaha

⁴³Fima anta min zikraha

⁴⁴Ila rabbika muntahaha

⁴⁵Innama anta munziru may yakhasyaha

⁴⁶Ka annahum yauma yaraunaha lamyalbatsu ila asyiyatan au duhaha