Surah Al-Qamar (54) — Ayah 1

Ubaydullah bin Abdullah narrates that Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Abu Waqid Al-Laythi (may Allah be pleased with him): "What recitation did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recite in Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr?" He said: "He (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite {’’ قٓ وَ الْقُرْاٰنِ الْمَجِيْدِ ‘‘} and {’’ اِقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَ انْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ ‘‘} in both of them." [ مسلم، صلاۃ العیدین، باب ما یقرأ بہ في صلاۃ العیدین : ۸۹۱ ]

(Ayah 1) ➊ { اِقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ: ’’ اِقْتَرَبَتْ ‘‘ ’’قَرُبَ يَقْرُبُ‘‘} is the past tense of the form ifti‘al from (k, ‘a). By adding letters, the meaning is intensified, as in {’’قَدَرَ‘‘} and {’’اِقْتَدَرَ‘‘}, so it is translated as "The Hour has drawn very near." In reality, everything that is to come is near, but the Hour is said to be very near because, compared to the time that has passed over the world, the remaining time is very little. Now, the time for its end and the establishment of the Hour is very close. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the last Prophet; after him, there will be no other Prophet, rather the Hour itself will come. Sahl bin Sa‘d (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), while pointing with his index and middle fingers, say: [بُعِثْتُ أَنَا وَالسَّاعَةُ كَهَاتَيْنِ ] [ مسلم، الفتن، باب قرب الساعۃ : ۲۹۵۰۔ بخاري، : ۶۵۰۳ ] "I and the Hour have been sent like these two (fingers)."

➋ { وَ انْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ:} That is, the splitting of the moon is a sign that the Hour, which you have been informed about, has drawn very near, because when a great celestial body like the moon can split, then the earth and the heavens, the sun and the stars can also split and take another form, as He said: « يَوْمَ تُبَدَّلُ الْاَرْضُ غَيْرَ الْاَرْضِ وَ السَّمٰوٰتُ وَ بَرَزُوْا لِلّٰهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ » [ إبراہیم : ۴۸ ] "On the Day when this earth will be changed for another earth, and so will the heavens, and all people will appear before Allah, the One, the Overpowering."

➌ In the Noble Qur’an, verbs in the past tense are also used to indicate the future. The purpose is to show that their occurrence is certain, as He said: « وَ قَالَ الشَّيْطٰنُ لَمَّا قُضِيَ الْاَمْرُ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ وَ وَعَدْتُّكُمْ فَاَخْلَفْتُكُمْ» [إبراہیم : ۲۲ ] "And Satan will say, when the matter has been decided: Indeed, Allah promised you a true promise, and I promised you but I betrayed you." At this place, some have said that it means the moon will split, but in reality, both the Qur’an and Hadith prove that the meaning here is indeed the past, and the verse means that the moon has split. Translating one verb in the past tense as past and the other as future in the same verse seems incoherent, as if to say, "The Hour has drawn very near and the moon will split." Then, if the splitting of the moon in the future was meant, the words should have been: {’’أَتَي السَّاعَةُ وَ انْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ‘‘} "The Hour has come and the moon has split." Then, making both verbs in the past tense mean the future would be correct. The following verses also show that this event has already occurred; details will come ahead.

The splitting of the moon is also proven by authentic hadiths, and this event has been narrated with so many chains that most hadith scholars and commentators consider it mutawatir (mass-transmitted). Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "There is consensus among the scholars that the event of the splitting of the moon occurred in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and it was one of his astonishing miracles." Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) has narrated many hadiths at this place; here are a few:

(1) Abdullah bin Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: [ اِنْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ عَلٰي عَهْدِ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّي اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِرْقَتَيْنِ، فِرْقَةً فَوْقَ الْجَبَلِ وَفِرْقَةً دُوْنَهُ فَقَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اشْهَدُوْا ] [ بخاري، التفسیر، باب: «وانشق القمر…» : ۴۸۶۴ ] "In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the moon split into two parts, one part was above the mountain and the other part was on the other side. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Bear witness.'"

(2) Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: [ اِنْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ فِيْ زَمَانِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ] [ بخاري، التفسیر، باب : « وانشق القمر…» : ۴۸۶۶ ] "In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the moon split."

(3) Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [ سَأَلَ أَهْلُ مَكَّةَ أَنْ يُرِيَهُمْ آيَةً فَأَرَاهُمُ انْشِقَاقَ الْقَمَرِ ] [ بخاري، التفسیر، باب: «وانشق القمر…» : ۴۸۶۷ ] "The people of Makkah asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to show them a miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon."

(4) Abdullah bin Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [ اِنْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ بِمَكَّةَ حَتّٰی صَارَ فِرْقَتَيْنِ، فَقَالَ كُفَّارُ قُرَيْشٍ أَهْلُ مَكَّةَ هٰذَا سِحْرٌ، يَسْحَرُكُمْ بِهِ ابْنُ أَبِيْ كَبْشَةَ، انْظُرُوا السُّفَّارَ، فَإِنْ كَانُوْا رَأَوْا مَا رَأَيْتُمْ فَقَدْ صَدَقَ وَ إِنْ كَانُوْا لَمْ يَرَوْا مِثْلَ مَا رَأَيْتُمْ فَهُوَ سِحْرٌ سَحَرَكُمْ بِهِ۔ قَالَ فَسُئِلَ السُّفَّارُ قَالَ وَ قَدِمُوْا مِنْ كُلِّ وَجْهٍ فَقَالُوْا رَأَيْنَاهُ ] [ دلائل النبوۃ للبیہقي : ۲ /۲۶۶،۲۶۷، و سندہ صحیح ] "The moon split in Makkah until it became two pieces, so the disbelievers of Quraysh said: 'This is magic that Ibn Abi Kabsha has performed on you. Wait for those who have gone on a journey; if they have seen what you have seen, then he has spoken the truth, and if they have not seen what you have seen, then it is magic that he has performed on you.' He said: 'So those who came from journeys from all directions were asked, and they said: We have seen it.' The researcher of Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Hikmat bin Basheer, wrote about this that Ibn Kathir said: 'Ibn Jarir also narrated it and added these words: [ فَأَنْزَلَ اللّٰهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ : «اِقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَ انْشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ» ] "That is, Allah revealed these verses about it.'"

➍ Some preachers say that the moon split into two at the gesture of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) finger; there is no proof of the gesture of the finger. Similarly, some say that one piece of the moon passed through his collar, which is completely absurd.

➎ Regarding the doubts and objections raised about the splitting of the moon, the words of the commentator Abdul Rahman Kilani are very excellent; they are quoted here: "It is also understood from the verse that the relationship between the Hour and the splitting of the moon is that the splitting of the moon is a sign of the nearness of the Hour, which has already occurred, so now consider it very near. When the disbelievers saw this miracle with their own eyes, they said that either magic has been done to the moon or our eyes have been closed so that we see it like this. In this confusion, one person said that if our eyes have been closed, then ask the people around. So the people around confirmed it, but these disbelievers did not desist from their stubbornness. Many objections are raised by the deniers of miracles on this verse. The first objection relates to the interpretation of the meaning. They say that the past tense in this verse should be taken as future, and the meaning would be: 'When the Hour draws near and the moon splits,' as {’’ اِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ ‘‘} and other similar verses are translated. In our view, this interpretation and reasoning are wrong because wherever the events of the Hour are mentioned, such as the sky splitting, the stars losing their light and falling, severe earthquakes on the earth, mountains flying about, etc., there is no connection of the disbelievers calling these things magic, nor is magic mentioned in the Qur’an with such verses. The disbelievers calling the splitting of the moon magic and their repeated denial is clear evidence that this was a sensory miracle that had already occurred.

The second objection is that if this event really happened, then a large number of people should have known about it. The answer is that this event happened at night, not during the day, when most people are asleep. Then, at that time, half the world had the sun up, where this event could not be seen, and in the remaining half, it could only be seen in places east of Mina. Then, there was no announcement of this event, as nowadays is known from calendars and newspapers, or observatories make announcements, so people were not sitting waiting for the moon to split so they could see it with their own eyes. Moreover, we see that a lunar eclipse lasts for several hours, people are informed beforehand, but most people remain unaware of the eclipse, and this splitting of the moon happened only for a moment—who would see it? And the people around did give testimony.

The third objection is that such an important event should have been mentioned in history. There are several answers to this objection: first, the most authentic history can be found in the books of hadith, and this event is present in them. Second, everyone knows the attention given to history writing in that era. Third, when most people in the world and such historians did not see it, what would they write? And fourth, history is not completely devoid of mention of this event. It is mentioned in Tarikh-e-Firishta that the Maharaja of Malabar saw this event with his own eyes, and eventually, this event became the reason for his accepting Islam.

The fourth objection is that astronomers and astrologers have not mentioned this event anywhere. The answer is that if the splitting of the moon had changed its speed, or it had changed its orbit, or started moving out of its orbit, then these things would have been worth mentioning by astronomers, but when none of these things happened, what would they mention?

And the fifth objection is that this event is against the natural order, and in fact, this is their main objection which prevents them from accepting it, and they keep making various objections and doubts, and in reality, their denial is a denial of Allah’s perfect power. In any case, this is no longer beyond reason today. In the core of every planet, there are fiery substances or molten and boiling metals whose temperature is thousands of degrees Celsius. These massive lavas can split these huge celestial bodies at any time. Then their central magnetic force, which in today’s language is called gravity, can join these separated pieces together, and such processes keep happening in the vast universe. This is how galaxies came into existence, and even today this process has not stopped but continues. Moreover, a meteorite is the name of such a separated piece of a planet which sometimes rejoins, sometimes falls and disappears in the atmosphere, and sometimes falls on the earth. If man truly understood what is happening in the vast universe, he would never be surprised at the event of the splitting of the moon. What does man know about how vast the scope of Allah’s powers is and with what perfect wisdom He is running this system of the universe." (Tayseer al-Qur’an)

➏ An important question here is that when the disbelievers of Makkah did not believe after seeing such a great miracle in response to their request, then, like the previous nations, a punishment should have come upon them, as it did upon those who did not believe after seeing the miracles of the Prophets. One answer is that the miracles shown to previous nations were shown on the condition of their believing, upon their conditional demand, whereas in our Ummah, none of the miracles demanded as a condition for belief were fulfilled, rather the command was to say: «قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيْ هَلْ كُنْتُ اِلَّا بَشَرًا رَّسُوْلًا » [ بني إسرائیل : ۹۳ ] "Say: My Lord is pure; I am only a human being, a Messenger." See also the commentary of Surah Bani Isra’il (90–93). For this purpose, you were commanded to present only one miracle, and that is the Noble Qur’an: if you are able, then bring a surah like it. And this is Allah’s mercy upon this Ummah that no punishment of total destruction has come or will come upon those who do not believe in this miracle or any other miracle. For details, see the commentary of Surah Al-‘Ankabut (50, 51). However, without such a condition, many miracles have occurred at people’s requests, such as in Surah Bani Isra’il (90–93), the miracles which the disbelievers demanded as a condition and were not fulfilled, one of which was that you should cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us, but without such a condition, this miracle has occurred many times, such as water flowing from the fingers of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the incident at Hudaybiyyah when water gushed from the well after he threw an arrow into it, which everyone knows. Abdullah bin Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [ إِنَّكُمْ تَعُدُّوْنَ الْآيَاتِ عَذَابًا وَ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهَا عَلٰی عَهْدِ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَرَكَةً لَقَدْ كُنَّا نَأْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَنَحْنُ نَسْمَعُ تَسْبِيْحَ الطَّعَامِ قَالَ وَ أُتِيَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِإِنَاءٍ فَوَضَعَ يَدَهُ فِيْهِ فَجَعَلَ الْمَاءُ يَنْبُعُ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَصَابِعِهِ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ حَيَّ عَلَی الْوَضُوْءِ الْمُبَارَكِ وَالْبَرَكَةُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ حَتّٰی تَوَضَّأْنَا كُلُّنَا ] [ترمذي، المناقب، باب فی قول علي في استقبال کل جبل و شجر النبی صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم بالتسلیم: ۳۶۳۳، و قال حسن صحیح و قال الألباني صحیح ] "You consider signs as punishment, whereas we used to consider them blessings in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We used to eat food with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we would hear the food glorifying Allah." Abdullah bin Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "And a vessel was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he put his hand in it, and water started gushing from his fingers, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Come to this blessed water for ablution, and the blessing is from the sky.' Until we all performed ablution." The miracle of the splitting of the moon indeed occurred in response to the request of the people of Makkah to show them a sign, but it did not occur in response to their demand that you split the moon into two for us (the narrations in which this is mentioned are all weak), rather it was shown to them as a sign, which they called magic and refused to accept, as He said: «وَ اِنْ يَّرَوْا اٰيَةً يُّعْرِضُوْا وَ يَقُوْلُوْا سِحْرٌ مُّسْتَمِرٌّ » [ القمر : ۲ ] "And if they see a sign, they turn away and say: (This is) passing magic."

The second answer is that even in this Ummah, those who did not believe after seeing miracles were punished, but the method was changed, and that is that Allah decided that now such people would be punished at the hands of the Muslims, and in fact, all such deniers had to face humiliating punishment at Badr and other places. Allah said: « قَاتِلُوْهُمْ يُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللّٰهُ بِاَيْدِيْكُمْ وَ يُخْزِهِمْ وَ يَنْصُرْكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَ يَشْفِ صُدُوْرَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِيْنَ (14) وَ يُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوْبِهِمْ وَ يَتُوْبُ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مَنْ يَّشَآءُ وَ اللّٰهُ عَلِيْمٌ حَكِيْمٌ » [ التوبۃ : ۱۴، ۱۵ ] "Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the hearts of the believing people. And He will remove the anger of their hearts. And Allah grants repentance to whom He wills, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise."

2. 1. That is, the Quraysh, instead of believing, declared it to be magic and continued their attitude of turning away.

1. The Hour (of Judgment) has drawn near, and the moon has split [1].

[1] Once, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in Mina, and the disbelievers of Makkah were also present there. They demanded a sign from you ﷺ, so you ﷺ said: Look towards the sky. Suddenly, the moon split into two pieces, as is clear from the following hadiths:
1. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud ؓ narrates that in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the moon split into two pieces. One piece remained above the mountain and the other came down below. The Prophet ﷺ said (to those who were present at that time): "Look, bear witness." [بخاري۔ كتاب التفسير]
2. Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas رضی اللہ عنہما said that in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the moon split. [حواله ايضاً]
3. Sayyiduna Anas ؓ narrates that the disbelievers of Makkah said to you: Show us a sign. So you ﷺ showed them the splitting of the moon. [حواله ايضاً]
From the verse, it is also understood that the relationship between the Day of Judgment and the splitting of the moon is that the splitting of the moon is a sign of the nearness of the Day of Judgment, which has already occurred, so now consider it very near. When the disbelievers saw this miracle with their own eyes, they said that either magic has been done on the moon or our eyes have been bewitched so that we are seeing it like this. In this confusion, one person said that if our eyes have been bewitched, then ask the people nearby. So, the people nearby confirmed it, but these disbelievers did not desist from their stubbornness. The deniers of miracles raise several objections to this verse. The first objection relates to the interpretation of the meaning. They say that in this verse, the past tense should be taken in the future sense, and the meaning would be: "When the Day of Judgment draws near and the moon splits," as is translated in ﴿اِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ﴾ and other similar verses. In our view, this interpretation and reasoning are wrong because wherever the events of the Day of Judgment are mentioned, such as the sky will be split, the stars will lose their light and begin to fall, severe earthquakes will occur on the earth, the mountains will fly about, etc., there is no connection of these things with the disbelievers calling them magic, nor is magic mentioned in the Quran alongside such verses. The disbelievers calling the splitting of the moon magic and their repeated denial is clear evidence that this was a sensory miracle that had already occurred. The second objection is that if this event actually took place, then a large number of people should have known about it. The answer is that this event happened at night, not during the day, when most people are asleep. Then, at that time, in half the world, the sun was up anyway, where this event could not have been seen, and in the remaining half of the world, it could only be seen in those places that were east of Mina. Furthermore, there was no announcement of this event, as nowadays it is known through calendars and newspapers or announced by observatories, so people were not even waiting for the moon to split so that they could see it with their own eyes. Besides, we see that a lunar eclipse lasts for several hours, people have already been informed, but the majority of people remain unaware of the eclipse, and this splitting of the moon happened only for a moment. Who would have seen it? And the people nearby did give their testimony. The third objection is that such an important event should have been mentioned in history as well. There are several answers to this objection. The first is that the most authentic history can be found in the books of hadith, and this event is present in them. The second is that the attention given to historiography in that era is well known to everyone. The third is that when the majority of the people of the world and such historians did not see it, what would they write? And the fourth is that history is not entirely devoid of the recording of this event. It is mentioned in Tarikh-e-Farishta that the Maharaja of Malabar saw this event with his own eyes, and eventually, this event became the reason for his accepting Islam.

Objections to the Splitting of the Moon and Their Answers:

The fourth objection is that astronomers and astrologers have not mentioned this event anywhere. The answer is that if the splitting of the moon had caused a change in its speed, or it had changed its orbit, or started moving out of its orbit, then these things were such that astronomers would have mentioned them. But when none of these things happened, what would they mention? And the fifth objection is that this event is against the natural order, and in fact, this is their most important objection, which prevents them from accepting it, and they keep making various objections and doubts. In reality, their denial is a denial of the perfect power of Allah. In any case, this is no longer beyond reason today. In the core of every planet, there are fiery substances or molten and boiling metals whose temperature is thousands of degrees centigrade. These terrible lavas can split these huge spheres at any time. Then, the magnetic force of their center, which is called gravity in today's language, joins and merges these separated pieces together, and such processes continue to occur in the vastness of space. These galaxies have come into existence in this way, and even today this process has not stopped but continues as before. Moreover, a meteor is the name of such a separated piece of a planet, which sometimes, after separating, joins again, sometimes falls and disappears in space, and sometimes falls on the earth. If man truly knew what is happening in the vastness of space, he would never be surprised at the event of the splitting of the moon. What does man know about how vast the domain of Allah's power is and with what perfect wisdom He is running this system of the universe?