088
Muhammad Asad
AL-GHASHIYAH (THE OVERSHADOWING EVENT)
THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH
SURAH
Total Verses: 26
Introduction
REVEALED most
probably about the middle of the
IN THE NAME OF
GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:
(1) HAS THERE COME unto thee the tiding of the Overshadowing Event?'*
* I.e.,
the Day of Resurrection.
(2) Some faces will on that Day be downcast,
(3) toiling [under burdens of sin],
worn out [by fear],
(4) about to enter a glowing fire,
(5) given to drink from a boiling
spring.
(6) No food for them save the
bitterness of dry thorns,
(7) which gives no strength and neither stills hunger.*
* According to Al-Qiffal (as quoted by Razi), this
kind of hellish drink and food is a metonym for utter hopelessness and
abasement. As regards the noun dari’ -
which is said to be a bitter, thorny plant in its dried state (Jawhari) - it is to be borne in mind that it is derived
from the verb dara‘a or dari‘a, which signifies "he [or
"it"] became abject" or "abased" (ibid.): hence
my rendering of this (obviously metaphorical) expression as "the
bitterness of dry thorns". A similarly metaphorical meaning attaches to
the expression "a boiling spring" in verse 5, which recalls the term hamim so often mentioned in the Qur'an (see note 62 on the last sentence of 6:70).
(8) [And] some faces will on that Day shine with bliss,
(9) well-pleased with [the fruit of]
their striving,
(10) in a garden sublime,
(11) wherein thou wilt hear no
empty talk.
(12) Countless springs* will flow therein,
* Lit., "a spring" -
but, as Zamakhshari and lbn
Kathir point out, the singular form has here a generic
import, implying "a multitude of springs". This metaphor of the
life-giving element is analogous to that of the "running waters" (anhar) frequently mentioned in Qur'anic
descriptions of paradise.
(13) [and] there will be thrones [of happiness] raised high,*
* See note 34 on
(14) and goblets placed ready,
(15) and cushions ranged,
(16) and carpets spread out…
(17) DO, THEN, they [who deny resurrection] never gaze at the clouds pregnant with water, [and observe] how they are created?*
* Implying that a denial of
resurrection and life in the hereafter renders the concept of a conscious
Creator utterly meaningless; hence my interpretation of the words "who
deny resurrection" in the first part of this verse. - As regards the noun ibil, it denotes, as a rule,
"camels": a generic plural which has no singular form. But one must
remember that it also signifies "clouds bearing rain-water" (Lisan al-‘Arab, Qamus, Taj al-Arus) - a meaning
which is preferable in the present context. If the term were used in the sense
of "camels", the reference to it in the above verse would have been
primarily - if not exclusively - addressed to the Arabian contemporaries of the
Prophet, to whom the camel was always an object of admiration on account of its
outstanding endurance, the many uses to which it could be put (riding,
load-bearing, and as a source of milk, flesh and fine wool) and its indispensability
to people living amid deserts. But precisely because a reference to
"camels" would restrict its significance to people of a particular
environment and a particular time (without even the benefit of a historical
allusion to past events), it must be ruled out here, for the Qur'anic appeals to observe the wonders of the God-created
universe are invariably directed at people of all times and all environments.
Hence, there is every reason to assume that the term ibil
relates here not to camels but to "clouds pregnant with water":
the more so as such an allusion to the miraculous, cyclic process of the
evaporation of water, the skyward ascension of vapour,
its condensation and, finally, its precipitation over the earth is definitely
more in tune with the subsequent mention (in verses 18-20) of sky, mountains
and earth, than would be a reference to "camels", however admirable
and noteworthy these animals may be.
(18) And at the sky, how it is raised aloft?
(19) And at the mountains, how firmly they are reared?
(20) And at the earth, how it is spread out?
(21) And so, [O Prophet,] exhort them; thy task is only to
exhort:
(22) thou canst not compel them [to believe].*
* Lit., "thou hast no power over
them".
(23) However, as for him who turns away, being bent on
denying the truth,
(24) him will God cause to suffer
the greatest suffering [in the life to come]:
(25) for behold, unto Us will be
their return,
(26) and verily, It is for Us to
call them to account.