al-Maʿārij 70:8-9

Yawma takūnu's-samāʾu ka'l-muhl · Wa takūnu'l-jibālu ka'l-ʿihn "On the day the sky becomes like molten metal, and the mountains become like wool."

Here the sūra opens the scene, and it opens it with two similes. This structure was present in Sūrat al-Qāriʿa too, and was treated in detail there.

This verse was already mentioned in the section on al-Qāriʿa, where the following was recorded: "Al-Maʿārij 70/9 and al-Qāriʿa 101/5 are almost identical: 'and the mountains become like wool.' Al-Qāriʿa adds a single word: ٱلْمَنفُوش."

And there ʿihn and manfūsh were analysed in detail:

• عِهْن — wool; according to the majority, specifically dyed wool. Some lexicographers say there is no qualification of colour; the disagreement was recorded.
• ٱلْمَنفُوش — carded, teased apart; root ن-ف-ش. When raw wool is carded the fibres separate, the volume grows, the weight stays the same, the density falls.
• The conclusion recorded in the section on al-Qāriʿa: "Al-Maʿārij 70/9 was content with the first stage. Al-Qāriʿa adds the second… the sūra reduces the weight of the mountain to nothing in two steps."

I do not repeat these. What is to be added here is al-Maʿārij's own pairing — because al-Qāriʿa's pairing was a different one.

Al-Qāriʿa's pairing was the living and the lifeless; al-Maʿārij's is the sky and the earth.

And the direction of the two similes is opposite — this is peculiar to al-Maʿārij and worth recording:

• The sky becomes muhl: from solid to liquid. Melting is a dissolution downward; what melts flows, and sinks.
• The mountains become ʿihn: from solid to fluffed. Wool is air; it lifts, it flies.

So both bodies lose their firmness, but in two different directions: one flows, the other flies.

I record this as my own reading. The physical properties of the two substances (molten metal flows, carded wool flies) are beyond dispute; the conclusion I draw from the opposition of the two directions is my own.

Root: م-ه-ل. And the root's primary sense in Arabic seems not to be at work here, so attention is needed.

مَهْل — to act slowly, not to hurry. Muhla (granting a term), imhāl and tamahhul are from the same root. In the Qurʾān: "Grant the disbelievers a respite" (al-Ṭāriq 86/17 — amhilhum).

ٱلْمُهْل, on the other hand, is described in the classical sources thus: molten metal, melted copper or lead; and according to some lexicographers the dregs of olive oil, a thick, dark liquid.

The link between the two senses: molten metal flows heavily. Water flows fast; molten metal flows slowly and heavily. The "acting slowly" in the root mahl and the "heavily flowing liquid" of muhl meet in the same idea.

I transmit this explanation; I issue no ruling on the historical development of the root. The sense at work in the verse is, according to the majority of the lexicographers, molten metal.

Its other occurrences in the Qurʾān make the field of the word clear:

• "…they will be given relief with water like molten metal that scalds their faces." (al-Kahf 18/29)
• "[The zaqqūm] boils in the bellies like molten metal." (al-Dukhān 44/45)

In both, muhl is a substance of punishment: a liquid drunk or poured.

And here the sky is likened to it.

That is, the verse takes the substance of the punishment and gives it to the sky. The thing above you turns into the thing given to drink in the Fire.

I record this as my own reading; the wordings of the three verses can be verified.

The sky melting and changing colour is told once more in the Qurʾān:

"When the sky is split open and becomes a red rose like molten oil…" (al-Raḥmān 55/37)

The word ٱلدِّهَان here likewise conveys a melted, thick substance, and belongs to the same field as muhl. The two verses give the same image with two different substances.

In the section on al-Ḥāqqa a table was given of the states of the sky at the resurrection (kushiṭat, infaṭarat, tushaqqaq, ṭuwā, wāhiya, wardatan ka'd-dihān). Al-Maʿārij adds one more item to this list: ka'l-muhl.

And the measure recorded in the section on al-Ḥāqqa works here too: the sky's chief attribute in the Qurʾān is firmness (shidād, maḥfūẓ, lā fuṭūr). The scenes of the resurrection tell of the loss of that firmness. Al-Ḥāqqa said wāhiya (its fabric slackened); al-Maʿārij says ka'l-muhl (melted).

Two neighbouring sūras describe the same loss in two different states: one a slackening, the other a melting.

I record this as my own reading.

And a grammatical observation: the two verses are on exactly the same pattern.

wa takūnu + definite noun + ka + definite noun

In the section on al-Qāriʿa it was recorded that the two similes there were matched on the pattern "ka + definite noun + definite passive participle". Al-Maʿārij's pattern is plainer: there is no passive participle.

And its verse-endings are accordingly: al-muhl / al-ʿihn — short, single-syllable closes. Al-Qāriʿa's al-mabthūth / al-manfūsh were longer and denser.

So al-Maʿārij passes through the same scene faster. The reason may be plain: the subject of al-Maʿārij is not the landscape but the human relations in the middle of the landscape. Indeed the next verse goes straight there.

I record this as my own reading.