86. AT-TÂRIQ (THAT WHICH COMES IN THE NIGHT)

13/ BEHOLD, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that cuts between truth and falsehood,¹
14/ and is no idle tale.

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¹Lit., “a decisive word”, or “word of distinction”, i.e., between the true and the false–in this case, belief in a continuation of life after “death”, on the one hand, and a denial of its possibility, on the other.(Cf. 37:21, 44:40, 77:13 and 38, and 78:17, where Resurrection Day is spoken of as “the Day of Distinction”: see also note 6 on 77:13.)