89:23

وَجِاْيٓءَ يَوۡمَئِذِۭ بِجَهَنَّمَۚ يَوۡمَئِذٖ يَتَذَكَّرُ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُ وَأَنَّىٰ لَهُ ٱلذِّكۡرَىٰ

Wajeea yawmaithin bijahannama yawmaithin yatathakkaru alinsanu waanna lahu alththikra

And brought [within view], that Day, is Hell - that Day, man will remember, but what good to him will be the remembrance?

Word by word
  1. وَجِاْيٓءَAnd is brought
  2. يَوۡمَئِذِۭthat Day
  3. بِجَهَنَّمَۚHell
  4. يَوۡمَئِذٖThat Day
  5. يَتَذَكَّرُwill remember
  6. ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُman
  7. وَأَنَّىٰbut how
  8. لَهُ(will be) for him
  9. ٱلذِّكۡرَىٰthe remembrance
Al-Fajr · 89:23Makkah

That Day man remembers, but it is too late to help.

Remembering after the chance has gone


That Day
Hell brought near
then
man remembersall his deeds
how will it help?too late
When remembering works
remembering thenno use
remembering nowcan still change things

Hell is brought near, and Ibn Kathir: man will remember his deeds, what he did in his past and recent times. How can remembrance then benefit him?

You keep saying you will sort your prayers out when life calms down. You remember, nod, and forget. Today the remembering still works. One day it will only be regret.

I know I should change. I will get around to it.

Remembering only helps while I can still act on it. That is now.

Try this

Act on one thing you remembered today that you have been meaning to do for Allah.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 89:21)

Nay! When the earth is flatened, Dakkan Dakka (21)And your Lord comes with the angels in rows (22)And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance avail him (23)He will say: "Alas! Would that I had sent forth for my life! (24)So on that Day none will punish as He will punish (25)And none will bind as He will bind (26)"O tranquil soul! (27)"Come back to your Lord, – well-pleased and well-pleasing! (28)"Enter then among My servants, (29)"And enter My Paradise! (30)

On the Day of Judgement Everyone will be recompensed according to what He did of Good or Evil

Allah informs of what will happen on the Day of Judgement of the great horrors. He says,

كَلَّا

(Nay!) meaning, truly.

 إِذَا دُكَّتِ الْأَرْضُ دَكًّا دَكًّا

(When the earth is flatened, Dakkan Dakka.) meaning, the earth and the mountains will be flattened, leveled and made even, and the creatures will rise from their graves for their Lord.

وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ

(And your Lord comes) meaning, for the session of Judgement between His creatures. This is after they requested the best of the Sons of Adam – Muhammad ﷺ – to intercede with Allah. This will occur only after they have requested the other great Messengers, one after another. Yet, all of them will say, "I cannot do that for you." This will continue until the beseeching of the men reaches Muhammad ﷺ, and he will say, "I will do it, I will do it." So he will go and seek to intercede with Allah as the session of Judgement will have come, and Allah will allow him to intercede for that (the Judgement).

This will be the first of the intercessions, and it is the praiseworthy station that has already been discussed in Surat Subhan (Al-Isra'). So Allah will come for the session of Judgement as He wills, and the angels will also come, lined up in rows upon rows before Him. Then Allah says,

وَجِيءَ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِجَهَنَّمَ

(And Hell will be brought near that Day.) In his Sahih, Imam Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj recorded that 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

يُؤْتَى بِجَهَنَّمَ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَهَا سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ زِمَامٍ مَعَ كُلِّ زِمَام سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ مَلَكٍ يَجُرُّونَهَا

(Hell will be brought on near that Day and it will have seventy thousand leashes, and each leash will have seventy thousand angels pulling it.)

At-Tirmidhi also recorded the same narration. Allah said:

يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَذَكَّرُ الْإِنسَانُ

(On that Day will man remember,) meaning, his deeds, and what he did before in his past and recent times.

 وَأَنَّىٰ لَهُ الذِّكْرَىٰ

(but how will that remembrance avail him?) meaning, how can remembrance then benefit him

يَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي

(He will say: "Alas! Would that I had sent forth for my life!")

meaning, if he was a disobedient person, he will be sorry for the acts of disobedience he committed. If he was an obedient person, he will wish that he performed more acts of obdedience.

This is similar to what Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal recorded from Muhammad bin Abi 'Amirah, who was one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said, "If a servant fell down on his face (in prostration) from the day that he was born until the day he died as an old man, in obedience to Allah, he would scorn this act on the Day of Judgement. He would wish to be returned to this life so that he could earn more reward and compensation."

Allah then says,

فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا يُعَذِّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ

(So on that Day none will punish as He will punish.) meaning, there is no one more severely punished than those whom Allah punishes for disobeying Him.

وَلَا يُوثِقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ

(And none will bind as He will bind.) meaning, there is no one who is more severely punished and bound than those the Az-Zabaniyah punish the disbelievers in their Lord. This is for the criminals and the wrongdoers among the creatures. In reference to the pure and tranquil soul – which is always at rest and abiding by the truth it will be said to it,

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ - ارْجِعِي إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ

(O tranquil soul! Come back to your Lord.) meaning, to His company, His reward and what He has prepared for His servants in His Paradise.

رَاضِيَةً

(well-pleased) meaning, within itself.

مَّرْضِيَّةً

(well-pleasing.) meaning, pleased with Allah, and He will be pleased with it and gratify it.

فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي

(Enter then among My servants,) meaning, among their ranks.

وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي

(And enter My Paradise!) This will be said to it at the time of death and on the Day of Judgement. This is like the angels giving glad tiding to the believer at his time of death and when he rises from his grave. Likewise is this statement here.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn 'Abbas concerning Allah's statement,

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ - ارْجِعِي إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً

(O tranquil soul! Come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing!)

He said, "This Ayah was revealed while Abu Bakr was sitting (with the Prophet ﷺ). So he said, 'O Messenger of Allah! There is nothing better than this!' The Prophet ﷺ then replied,

أَمَا إِنَّهُ سَيُقَالُ لَكَ هَذَا

(This will indeed be said to you.)"

This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Fajr, and all praise and blessings are due to Allah.