أَزِفَتِ ٱلْءَازِفَةُ · لَيْسَ لَهَا مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ كَاشِفَةٌ
Azifati'l-āzifa · Laysa lahā min dūni'llāhi kāshifa "The approaching has drawn near. None but God can disclose it."
And here the sound of the sūra breaks. The verse-ending that has closed on -ā for fifty-six verses passes in this verse to the -a sound. It was recorded above in the section "The structure of the sūra", and there the coincidence of the break with the change of subject was presented as a reading.
- أَزِفَ ٱلرَّحِيل — the time of departure drew near, the parting was at hand. This is the example the lexicographers give most often.
- آزِف — what draws near, whose time is running out.
- أَزَف — another sense recorded by the lexicographers: narrowness, constriction.
How the two senses join is worth dwelling on, and I record it as an observation about the language: as the time of a thing draws near, the time remaining for that business narrows. Drawing near and narrowing are two sides of one fact — one looks to distance, the other to time.
| د-ن-و (danā) | أ-ز-ف (azifa) | |
|---|---|---|
| What draws near | Something in place | A time in time |
| What comes with it | (neutral) | Narrowing, constriction |
| Its place in the sūra | Verses 8-9: danā fa-tadallā | Verse 57: azifati'l-āzifa |
At the eighth verse something drew near from above (danā fa-tadallā), and that was a kindness. At the fifty-seventh a time draws near (azifati'l-āzifa), and that is a narrowing.
Both are a "drawing near", and the sūra uses two different roots for the two. The choice of root is data of the text; establishing the contrast between them is my reading.
آزِفَة is an active participle (feminine): "the one that is drawing near." And this is one of the names of the resurrection.
"And warn them of the day that draws near." (Ghāfir 40/18 — wa andhirhum yawma'l-āzifati)
The names the Qurʾān uses for the resurrection each bring forward one aspect of that day, and many of them were treated in this commentary: al-Qāriʿa (the striker — al-Qāriʿa), al-Wāqiʿa (the one that comes to pass — al-Wāqiʿa), al-Ḥāqqa (the one that proves true — al-Ḥāqqa), al-Ṣākhkha (the one that deafens the ears), al-Ṭāmma (the one that overwhelms everything — al-Nāziʿāt), al-Ghāshiya (the one that covers — al-Ghāshiya).
And ٱلْءَازِفَة is unique among these names: the others name what will happen on that day; this name names how far off that day is.
I record this as an observation; the senses of the names are lexical data and have been recorded in the separate sections of this commentary.
The whole sentence consists of two words and both are from the same root: azifat (a verb) + al-āzifa (an active participle).
This is a strong pattern of emphasis in Arabic, and the sūra has used it twice already: waḥyun yūḥā (4), asmāʾun sammaytumūhā (23). Its third instance is here.
The verse does not say "will draw near" or "is drawing near". It says "has drawn near" — as of a thing finished and done.
Using a perfect verb in Arabic for a certain future event is a known technique and is widespread in the Qurʾān: "The command of God has come" (al-Naḥl 16/1: atā amru'llāh) — there too the event has not yet occurred but is recounted in the past tense.
The work of the technique is this: to convey certainty by the tense. What has happened is not disputed; the verse makes the event grammatically indisputable.
Root: ك-ش-ف. Concrete sense: to lift the covering off a thing, to open, to bring to light. Kashafa — he uncovered; kishf — an uncovering.
| View | What kāshifa is | Sense | Its ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| An active participle, with an intensive tāʾ | "One who uncovers, who brings to light" | "None but God can uncover it / make known its time" | The feminine tāʾ coming for intensification, as in rāwiya, ʿallāma, is a known usage in Arabic |
| A verbal noun | "An uncovering" | "There is no uncovering of it apart from God" | Verbal-noun patterns such as ʿāfiya, ʿāqiba, kādhiba exist in Arabic — and kādhiba occurs at al-Wāqiʿa 56/2 |
| "One who removes, who averts" | The one who lifts the punishment | "None but God can turn it back" | The root's sense of "to lift a thing off"; the Qurʾān: "one who removes the harm" (al-Anʿām 6/17: fa-lā kāshifa lahu illā hū) |
For the third view al-Anʿām 6/17 is strong evidence and should be recorded:
"If God touches you with harm, there is no one to remove it but He." (al-Anʿām 6/17)
The same root, the same active participle — there without the feminine tāʾ (kāshif) — and there the sense is plainly "to remove".
Against that, the first and second views look towards "making known its time" and agree with the Qurʾān's general stance on the time of the resurrection: "Knowledge of it is only with my Lord" (al-Aʿrāf 7/187).
I make no choice, and the ground is this: by its root the word carries both senses (to open the cover of a thing = to make known; to lift a thing off = to remove), and the Qurʾān does not disclose which it means in this sūra.
But this can be recorded: both senses come out at the same result — no other party has any authority over this business. There is neither one who knows its time nor one who can turn it back.
مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ — "apart from God, leaving God aside." This expression is used regularly in the Qurʾān in refusing claims of mediation. And its link with verse 26 of the sūra is plain: there the intercession of the angels was made conditional; here too the authority is gathered into one hand.