The 3rd verse speaks about another sign of the Day of Reckoning and this will be the Day when a dark cloud will cover the sky around the earth. It will come as a punishment. It is said:
“Then wait for the Day when the sky will bring forth a visible smoke. 11. Enveloping the people: This will be a severe chastisement.”
The commentators have debated the interpretation of this verse but only three views are worth noting:
Some commentators consider it to be a hint about the punishment on the Day of Judgment when a terrifying cloud spewing flames will hover above the heads of the sinners but this idea seems to be very far fetched because verse 15 of Surah Dukhan says the disbelievers will pray for this chastisement to be over and shall profess their belief and they will be told:
“We shall indeed remove the chastisement for a while but will truly revert to your (sinful) ways.”
This meaning cannot be attached to the Day of Reckoning because the next verse ( Verse 16 of Surah Dukhan) speaks about the Day of Judgment and the retribution and this clarifies that what ever has been said earlier is not related to the Day of Reckoning.
“The Day we shall seize you with a mighty onslaught: We will indeed exact retribution.”
The second view is that the verse speaks about famine, drought and other calamities that afflicted the pagans during the time of the Messenger. The Messenger prayed for them and the crises was averted because they requested the Messenger to pray for them. But they still did not believe.
According to this interpretation the word “smoke” has been used symbolically because it is often used to depict great calamities or punishments, as opine Fakhr Razi.(1)
Or it may be said that during drought the sky is covered with smog or dust and so has been compared with smoke here because the rains end this dusty condition (2) this year of the drought is often called the “Year of dust” or the “Year of the ashes”
The objection about is this that the word “Dukhan” has not been taken in its real meaning which is smoke and has been interpreted symbolically without valid reasons.
The third interpretation is that this verse speaks about the sign of the Day of Reckoning be close as the smoke will cover the sky and the people will reach out to God. He will lessen this chastisement but they still will not believe.
Now this interpretation is closer to the verse and is according to the traditions recorded in the Shia and Sunni archives.
One Hadith reports according to Hazifa that the messenger said:
“The things are the proof of the Day of Judgment being close: The advent of the Dajaal, the descending of Jesus, the fire coming out from the abyss of Aden, and the smoke.” A companion asked, “What is this smoke?” The Messenger then recited this verse: ““Then wait for the Day when the sky will bring forth a visible smoke”
He then added:
“It is a smoke that will spread in both the east and the west and will remain for forty days and nights.
The believer will suffer something like a cold and the disbeliever will be like a demented person. The smoke will come out from behind his eyes and ears.” (3)
The same meaning is conveyed in a hadith in Shia archives from Imam Ali who quoted the Messenger to have said that ten things will occur before the Day of Judgment and among them will be the arrival of Sufiani, Dajjaal, the smoke, the stand of the Mahdi, the sun rising from the west, the return of Jesus, the lunar eclipse in the east and the Arab peninsula, the fire from the abyss of Aden and the bewilderment of the people before the appointed Day. (4)
There are other traditions that confirm this interpretation so the third interpretation is the best.
The first part spoke about “The Signs of the Hour” as described by the Qura’n.
1. Tafsir Kabeer vol.27 page 242
2. Tafsir Ruhul Ma’ani vol.25 page 107 and Ruhul Bayan vol.8 page 406
3. Tafsir Qartabi vol.16 page 131
4. Behar-ol-Anwar vol. 52 pages 2-9, Tafsir Qartabi vol.9 page 595 etc.
