077
Muhammad Asad
AL-MURSALAT (THOSE SENT FORTH)
THE
SEVENTY-SEVENTH SURAH
Total Verses: 50
Introduction
TAKING its name from
the word al-mursalat which appears in the
first verse (and which obviously refers to the gradual revelation of the Qur'an), this surah may
be placed chronologically between surahs 104
(Al-Humazah) and 50 (Qaf),
i.e., almost certainly in the fourth year of the Prophet's mission.
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:
(1) CONSIDER these [messages,] sent
forth in waves 1
(2) and then
storming on with a tempest's force!
(3) Consider
these [messages] that spread [the truth] far and wide,
(4) thus
separating [right and wrong] with all clarity, 2
(5) and then
giving forth a reminder,
(6) [promising]
freedom from blame or [offering] a warning! 3
(7) BEHOLD, all that you are told to
expect 4 will surely come to pass.
(8) Thus, [it will come to pass] when
the stars are effaced,
(9) and when
the sky is rent asunder,
(10) and when
the mountains are scattered like dust,
(11) and when
all the apostles are called together at a time appointed. . . 5
(12) For what day has the term [of all
this] been set?
(13) For the Day of Distinction [between
the true and the false]! 6
(14) And what could make thee conceive
what that Day of Distinction will be?
(15) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth!
(16) Did We not
destroy [so many of] those [sinners] of olden days?
(17) And We
shall let them be followed by those of later times: 7
(18) [for] thus
do We deal with such as are lost in sin.
(19) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth!
(20) Did We not
create you out of a humble fluid
(21) which We
then let remain in [the womb's] firm keeping
(22) for a term
pre-ordained?
(23) Thus have We
determined [the nature of man's creation]: and excellent indeed is Our power to
determine [what is to be]! 8
(24) Woe, on that Day unto those who
give the lie to the truth!
(25) Have We
not caused the earth to hold within itself
(26) the living
and the dead? 9 –
(27) and have
We not set on it proud, firm mountains, and given you sweet water to drink?
10
(28) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth!
(29) GO ON towards that [resurrection]
which you were wont to call a lie!
(30) Go on towards the threefold shadow
11
(31) that will
offer no [cooling] shade and will be of no avail against the flame
(32) which –
behold!- will throw up sparks like [burning] logs,
(33) like giant fiery ropes! 12
(34) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth –
(35) that Day
on which they will not [be able to] utter a word,
(36) nor be
allowed to proffer excuses!
(37) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth –
(38) that Day
of Distinction [between the true and the false, when they will be told]:
"We have brought you together with those [sinners] of olden times;
(39) and if you
[think that you] have a subterfuge left, try to outwit Me!"
(40) Woe on that Day unto those who give
the lie to the truth!
(41) [AS AGAINST this,] behold, the
God-conscious shall dwell amidst [cooling] shades and springs,
(42) and
[partake of] whatever fruit they may desire;
(43) [and they will be told:] "Eat
and drink in good cheer in return for what you did [in life]!" 13
(44) Thus,
behold, do We reward the doers of good;
(45) [but] woe
on that Day unto those who give the lie to the truth!
(46) EAT [your fill] and enjoy your life
for a little while, O you who are lost in sin! 14
(47) [But] woe on that Day unto those
who give the lie to the truth,
(48) and when
they are told, "Bow down [before God]", do not bow down:
(49) woe on
that Day unto those who give the to the truth!
(50) In what other tiding, then, will
they, after this, believe?
1 I.e., one
after another: an allusion to the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the Qur'an. By contrast, the next clause (verse 2) obviously
relates to the impact of the divine writ as a whole. For my rendering of
the adjurative particle wa as "Consider", see sūrah 74, first half of note 23.
2 Lit., "with [all] separation" (farqan).
Cf.
3 I.e., showing what leads to freedom
from blame - in other words, the principles of right conduct - and what is
ethically reprehensible and, therefore, to be avoided.
4 Lit., "that which you are promised", i.e., resurrection.
5 Sc., to bear witness for or
against those to whom they conveyed God's message (cf.
6 This is chronologically the
earliest occurrence of the expression yawm
al-fasl, which invariably relates to the Day of
Resurrection (cf. 37:21, 44:40, 78:17, as well as verse 38 of the present surah): an allusion to the oft-repeated Qur'anic statement that on resurrection man will gain a
perfect, unfailing insight into himself and the innermost motivation of his
past attitudes and doings (cf. 69:1 and the corresponding note 1).
7 The use of the conjunction thumma - which in this case has been rendered
as "And" - implies that suffering in the hereafter is bound to
befall the sinners "of later times" (al-akhirun)
even if God, in His unfathomable wisdom, wills to spare them in this world.
8 The process of man's coming into
being (illustrated, for instance, in
9 This refers not merely to the
fact that the earth is an abode for living and dead human beings and animals,
but is also an allusion to the God-willed, cyclic recurrence of birth, growth,
decay and death in all organic creation - and thus an evidence of the existence
of the Creator who "brings forth the living out of that which is dead, and
brings forth the dead out of that which is alive (3:27, 6:95, 10:31 and 30:19).
10 Parallel with the preceding,
this verse refers to God's creation of inanimate matter, and thus rounds
off the statement that He is the Maker of the universe in all its
manifestations, both organic and inorganic.
11 I.e., of death, resurrection
and God's judgment, all three of which cast dark shadows, as it were, over the
sinners' hearts.
12 Lit., "like yellow twisted
ropes", yellow being "the colour of
fire" (Baghawi). The conventional rendering of jimalat (also spelt jimalat
and jimalah) as "camels",
adopted by many commentators and, until now, by all translators of the Qur'an, must be rejected as grossly anomalous; see in this
connection note 32 on the second part of
13 For this symbolism of the joys
of paradise, see Appendix I.
14 Lit" "behold, you are
lost in sin (mujrimun)".