The following excerpt is taken from “The Holy Quran: Text, Translation, and Commentary” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali pg. 1432-1433:
Quran 52:1-6:
By the Mount (of Revelation); By a Decree inscribed, In a Scroll unfolded; And the House (Kaaba) that is visited, By the Canopy Raised High; And by the Ocean filled with Swell;-
By the Mount (of Revelation); The adjuration is by five things which we shall presently explain. An appeal is made to these five Signs in verses 1 to 6, and the certainty of future events is asserted in the most emphatic terms in verses 7 to 28, in three parts, viz.,the coming of judgment and the passing away of this phenomenal world (verses 7-10);the future ill consequences of ill-deeds done (verses 11-16);and future attainment of bliss and complete realisation of Allah’s love and mercy (verses 17-28).
By a Decree Inscribed, See last note. The five Signs to which appeal is made are:
the Mount (of Revelation), verse 1;
the Book Inscribed, verses 2-3;
The Much-frequented House, verse 4;
the Canopy Raised High, verse 5; and
the Ocean filled with Swell, verse 6. Let us examine these in detail. Each of them has a figurative meaning. • The Mount is the sublime world of Revelation. In the case of Moses it is typified by Mount Sinai: Cf. 95:2, where it is mentioned in juxtaposition to the sacred territory of Makkah, 95:3. 4 In the case of Jesus it is the Mount of Olives: Cf. 95:1, and also Matt. 24:3-51, where Jesus made his striking pronouncement about the Judgment to come. In the case of Muhammad it is the Mountain of Light, where he first received the revelation: Cf. n. 11 • The Book Inscribed is Allah’s Eternal word. When it becomes Revelation to man, it is figured forth as something “inscribed”, reduced to writing; and as it is made clear to the intelligence of man, 3. In a Scroll unfolded; it is further described as “in a parchment unfolded”, that is, spread out so that everyone who has the will can seek its guidance. 4. By the much-frequented Fane; C5039. See the last two notes. • “The much-frequented Fane” (or House) is usually understood to mean the Ka’bah, which the holy Prophet purified and re-dedicated to true worship. 5. By the Canopy Raised High;
• “The Canopy Raised High” is the canopy of heaven, to whose height or sublimity no limit can be assigned by the mind of man. It is Nature’s Temple in which all Creation worships Allah – the Symbol in which the material and the visible merges into the the spiritual and the intuitional. 6. And by the Ocean…
• The Ocean-the vast, limitless, all encircling Ocean. It is expressed to be masjur, full of a mighty swell, boiling over, poured forth all over the earth, as if overwhelming all landmarks; Cf. 81:6:- a fitting description of the final disappearance of our temporal world in the supreme establishment of the Reality behind it.
… filled with Swell — This completes the five Signs by which man may know for certain of the Judgment to come. Note that they are in a descending order; –
the highest, or most remote from man’s consciousness, being mentioned first,
and that nearest to man’s consciousness being mentioned last.
The truth of Revelation; its embodiment in a Prophet’s Message given in human language;
the universal appeal of divine worship;
the starry world above; and the encircling Ocean, full of life and motion below,- all are evidences that the Day of Allah will finally come, and nothing can avert it. (R).
In Sufi interpretation each of these Symbols further typifies an aspect of the final Preacher of Unity: the Mount signifying his tremendous Personality; the Decree inscribed in a Scroll Unfolded, the perspicuous Quran: the much frequented Fane, his heart open to every living creature; the Canopy Raised on High, his spiritual eminence; and the Swelling Ocean, the vast sea of his living knowledge.
