|
Recitation: Sa'ad Al
Ghamdi
|
Introduction and Summary
This Makkan Surah describes the
Judgment Day as the Day of Clamour, when men will be distracted and the
landmarks of this world will be lost, but every deed will be weighed in a just
balance, and find its real value and setting.
C.281 (The running Commentary, in
Rhythmic Prose)
How will the senses
of man stand the Noise
And Clamour of the
great Day of Account,
Whereon this life's
old landmarks will vanish,
And men will be
helpless like scattered moths?
Nay, but a Balance of
Justice will weigh
And appraise
all Deeds: and those whose good
Will show substance
and weight will achieve a Life
Of good pleasure and
satisfaction, while those
Whose good will be
light will find themselves,
Alas, in a blazing
Pit of Punishment.
الْقَارِعَةُ
﴿١﴾
1. The
(Day)
of Noise and Clamor:
C6251. The
Day of Noise and Clamour is the Day of Judgment, when the whole of the present
order of things will be overthrown with a tremendous convulsion.
Cf.
n. 6235 to 99:1, and
n. 6096 to 88:1.
All our present
landmarks will be lost. It will be a stunning experience to begin with, but it
will inaugurate a new world of true and permanent values, in which every human
deed will have its true and just consequences, as if weighed in the balance.
See
verses 6-11
below.
مَا
الْقَارِعَةُ
﴿٢﴾
2. What
is the
(Day)
of Noise and
Clamor?
وَمَا
أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ
﴿٣﴾
3. And
what will explain to thee what the
(Day)
of Noise and Clamor
is?
يَوْمَ
يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ
﴿٤﴾
4. (It
is) a
Day whereon Men will be like moths Scattered about,
C6252. Moths are frail
light things. To see them scattered about in a violent storm gives some idea of
the confusion, distress, and helplessness in which men will be at first
overwhelmed on the Day of Account.
Old memories will be like a book
almost blotted out. New hopes will be vague in a new world just rising on the
horizon. But it will be a perfectly just world, and no good action will be lost
and no evil one but will have its compensating value estimated.
وَتَكُونُ
الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنفُوشِ
﴿٥﴾
5. And
the mountains will be like carded wool.
C6253. Cf.
n. 5682 to 70:9.
The mountains are solid things,
which seem as if nothing could move them. But in that tremendous cataclysm they
will be scattered about like flakes of leased or carded wool.
This is a metaphor to show that
what we consider very substantial in this life will be as an airy nothing in the
next world.
فَأَمَّا
مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
﴿٦﴾
6. Then,
he whose
balance
(of good deeds)
will be
(found)
heavy,
C6254.
The Good
Deeds will be weighed and appraised. This appraisement will be of the nicest and
justest kind: for it will take into account motives, temptations, provocations,
surrounding conditions, antecedents, subsequent amends, and all possible
connected circumstances.
Against
them, presumably, will be deeds of the opposite kind, appraised in the same way.
If the
good predominates, the judgment will be in the man's favour, and he will be
ushered into a fife of good pleasure and satisfaction. This will of course be on
another plane. (R).
فَهُوَ فِي
عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ
﴿٧﴾
7. Will
be in a life of good pleasure and satisfaction.
C6255.
Cf. 98:8, and
n. 6233, but perhaps the Bliss is not of the
same grade for all men.
In every case it is bliss, but
bliss suited to the particular nature of the individual concerned.
وَأَمَّا
مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
﴿٨﴾
8. But
he whose balance
(of good deeds)
will be
(found)
light --
فَأُمُّهُ
هَاوِيَةٌ
﴿٩﴾
9. Will
have his home in a
(bottomless)
pit.
C6256.
Just as
grades of bliss are indicated for the righteous, so apparently we are to
understand grades of punishment suited to the sins of the individual sinners
concerned.
وَمَا
أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ
﴿١٠﴾
10. And
what will explain to thee what this is?
نَارٌ
حَامِيَةٌ
﴿١١﴾
11. (It
is) a
Fire Blazing fiercely!
|
