S69. SURATUL HAAQ’QAH
Introduction
NAME : The Surah begins with the description of “AL -HAAQ’QAH” (the moment which is bound to be true) which gives this name to it.
TIMES OF REVELATION: It is Makkan and a revelation of its initial days.
CENTRAL THEME : Generating the fright of the Day of Resurrection and the fear of Divine Torment, so that people may beware and believe in the final Reward and Punishment.
ORDER OF VERSES : Ayah 1 to 3 are preliminary verses which inform of Qiyamat’s being a certainty and an inevitable event.
Ayah 4 to 12 furnish admonition by describing how those people were punished who, had denied Resurrection and had disbelieved the Messengers.
Ayah 13 to 18 pictures the frightfulness of the Day of Resurrection.
Ayah 19 to 37 describe the different ends of the righteous and the evil-doers separately.
Ayah 38 to 51 is an address to the unbelievers wherein the truth of the Holy Quran and Holy Messenger has been explained to them.
Ayah 52 is the concluding ayah of the Surah which asks the holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) to hallow his LORD.
69. SURATUL HAAQ’QAH Ayah : 52
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
1. That which is bound to be true! 1
2. What is that which is bound to be true?
3. And what would you know what is that which is bound to be true ! 2
4. Thamood and Aad denied that clattering calamity. 3
5. So the Thamood were destroyed by a tremendous shriek. 4
6. And the Aad were destroyed by a severe roaring wind-storm. 5
7. Allah imposed it on them for seven nights and eight days to mow them down6 you might have seen them dumped as if they were the trunks of palm-trees uprooted.7
8. Can you see any of them remaining? 8
9. And Firaun and people before him9 and the overturned dwellings committed a serious crime.10
10. They disobeyed the Messenger of their LORD”11 Hence HE held them tightly.
1. ‘Al Haaq’qah’ is one of the names of Qiyamat (Resurrection). It means that which is bound to be true, which is an inevitable event, a time when truth will come up quite clearly.
2. This style explains the importance of the point under discussion and it is that it will be a very extra-ordinary event. So be well aware.
3. Here a mention has been made by way of example of some of those communities who had falsified their prophets as a result of which divine wrath descended upon them. This is to make people take a lesson there from.
In this ayah Qiyamat has been called ‘Al Qariah’ (A severely shattering calamity).For explanation please see Surah ‘ Al Qariah’.
4. As it has been made clear elsewhere in the Quran the people of Thamood were annihilated by ‘Rajafah’ (shuddering) and ‘Saihah’ (terrible shriek). It seems the unusual thunder of clouds and extraordinary blazes of lightning had made them extremely restless so they tumbled down and died.
5. “Reeh Sarsar” means a cold and speedy wind. It seems the ruin of the people of Aad was caused by the storms of cold wind.
6. That is, that storm dashed them continuously for seven nights and eight days. On the eighth day they were ruined so totally that no trace of them could remain on earth.
7. The trunks of palm-trees are very strong. But when they are uprooted by storms their sight makes man wonder-struck and spellbound. Similar was the fate of Aad. They were very strong but devastating winds felled them in such a way that their corpses were scattered everywhere.
8. The deniers were annihilated so thoroughly that not one from them remained alive. Their progeny was thus ended.
9. There had been many rebellious communities who lived before Firaun too.
10. Means the habitations of the people of Loot who were turned upside down by earthquakes.
11. Not to obey the commands of the Messenger of God is a very big sin.
11. WE loaded you on the ark when the flood crossed limit.12
12. So as to make the event a lesson for you13 and remembring ears may remember it.14
13. Then when a breath will be blown once into the trumpet.15
14. And the earth, along with the mountains, will be lifted up all at once and turned into dust. 16
15. That day what was to happen will happen. 17
16. And the sky will split asunder and it will be extremely feeble that day. 18
17. Angels will be on its borders 19 and eight angels will bear the Throne of your LORD that day above them.20
18. That Day you will be mustered 21 none of your affairs will remain secret.
19. So whosoever will be given his record in his right hand 22 will say: Ah here! Read my record. 23
20. I knew that I had to face my reckoning. 24
21. So he will be in a pleasing life.
22. In a high paradise.
23. Fruit clusters where of will be bent down 25
24. Eat and drink delightfully, as a reward for which you did in days past.
12. This refers to Noah’s event. When a huge flood was unleashed his community was drowned. But those who had believed were made to ride the ark with Noah and were saved. You are from his progeny. Hence saving them was like saving all of you. So this is a great Divine mercy upon all of you.
13. This event provides a lesson as to how severe is the punishment of rebelling against God and of disobeying His Messenger.
14. This event of human history is the most important event and a happening which is full of lessons. It is a memorable episode. But only those people will remember its lesson who have ears capable of hearing.
15. It means just one blow in the trumpet will cause Resurrection. Allah will not need any preparation to bring about Qiyamat. Just a blow here and everything in the universe will be topsy-turvy instantly. That blow will be like an alarm of Resurrection.
16. None should remain in an illusion that this earth with huge mountains thereon will remain forever. No, they will be reduced to dust at a single shaking of Qiyamat. It is quite easy for Almighty Allah to raise the mountains and to make them dust. And this destruction will be caused so that another earth which will be suitable for the grand gathering of Resurrection may come into existence.
17. That is, the Resurrection will have been established.
18. The sky is a very strong ceiling. But no sooner the trumpet of Resurrection is blown it will become frail. Qiyamat will be established not only on the earth but it will envelop skies also. All these destructions and devastations will be caused in order to bring forth a new universe as planned by the Almighty. But this destruction and demolition will be so catastrophic that its very thought sends a sensation through spines.
19. That is, the angels will concentrate on the borders of skies and there will be a sort of a huge tumult in the entire space between them.
20. This ayah is one of the ‘Mutashabihat’ (ambiguous) passages and to try to elucidate it would be like falling in entanglement. What is desired by the wording of the verse is to present an idea of the Divine Court of Justice which will be established on the Day of Resurrection when the LORD SOVEREIGN of the universe will issue HIS Decrees. What all of it will be like cannot be fully understood before Resurrection. For the explanation of ‘Mutashabihat’ please see Surah Aal-e-Imran Note: 13.
21. That is, all of you will be presented before Almighty Allah on that Day for the reckoning of your deeds.
22. For explanation please see Surah Waqiah, Note: 7.
23. He will be a good-doer and he will become delighted by getting his book of deeds in his right hand, as it is a sign of success. He will like to show it to others too. When a student passes his examination successfully he likes to show his result sheet to others. But the one who fails does not like to show his result sheet to others. Likewise, on the Day of Resurrection, only those people will like to show their Record of Deeds to others who will have been successful in, their worldly examination.
24. I was dead sure that I shall have to give an account of my deeds on the Day of Resurrection and therefore, I spent my life with that thought in my mind.
25. They will come so near that they can be plucked easily.
25. And whosoever will be given his record in his left hand 26 will say: Oh, would that my record were not given me.
26. And would that I knew nothing of my account.
27. Oh, would that very death of mine would have been decisive. 27
28. My wealth availed me not.
29. My power (strength and ruling potency) has ended. 28
30. Seize him and put fetter in his neck. 29
31. Then hurt him in the Hell.
32. Then with a chain seventy cubits long 30 fasten him.
33. He did not believe in Allah, the Great.31
34. Nor urged the feeding of the poor.32
35. So he has no friend here today.
36. Nor any food for him except pus. 33
37. Which only sinners will eat.
38. No, 34 I swear by the things you see.
39. And also by those you do not see. 35
26. For explanation please see Surah Waqiah, Note: 8.
27. That it would have been better if my death would have destroyed me for ever so that I would not have to see this terrible Day. It can be imagined from this as to how despairing words will the deniers utter on the Day of Resurrection. God Almighty has warned all beforehand so that man may beware and so that he may not have to repent fruitlessly.
28. In this world man becomes proud with the intoxication of ruling power etc. But on the Day of Resurrection he will feel that he is all alone in the Field of Grand Gathering (Al-Hashr). Neither his armies are with him nor his government is in existence. All the ruling powers have been snatched away from him.
What a heart-shaking narration for kings and rulers ! Would it that they read attentively.
29. The denier would yet be uttering such despairing words when the Divine Decree will be issued ordering the angels to catch hold of him and to put fetters in his neck. This fetter will be the punishment for his false pride. Thereafter he will be ordered to be hurled in Hell as has been mentioned hereafter.
30. In his worldly life he had become a slave of his desires and the chain of his wishes was very long. Therefore he will be fastened with a seventy cubits long chain. Thus the punishment will be proportionate to his sins.
31. That is, just see his audacity. He did not recognize Allah’s Majesty and refused to believe in Him. It is no ordinary crime. It is a very serious offence as it is an open rebellion against the Almighty.
32. When man becomes careless about his Lord, he loses all interest in the deeds liked by the Almighty. One of such deeds is feeding the poor and to urge others to do so. Not doing so is a very big offence in the words of the Quran as it is an extremely unsympathetic attitude toward fellow human beings. The poor has a right in whatever is granted by Allah to the wealthy.
33. For drinking, a dirty thing like pus will be given to the people of the Hell. It will be so because the thoughts and deeds of the offender were also very dirty.
34. The word ‘Laa’ used here is to contradict the thought of the deniers. It is to say that your imagination that there will be no Resurrection is not correct. It is against reality.
35. The oath is in the sense of testimony. It means the signs of the occurrence of the Day of Judgment or Resurrection (Qiyamat) are very obvious in whatever you see. The Holy Quran has also explained them in detail. Regarding the things which are invisible to you now, the information has been given to you by the Holy Book. (for example angels, paradise, hell etc). Certainty about the Resurrection is created by pondering over these unseen things.
40. That this is the word of an honourable messenger. 36
41. Not a word of any poet 37 little it is that you believe.38
42. Nor is this the word of any soothsayer, 39 little it is that you understand.
43. It is a revelation from the LORD of the Worlds. 40
44. And had this (messenger) concocted a saying and attributed it to US.
45. WE surely had lain hold his right hand
46. Then severed his life-vein. 41
47. Then none of you could have prevented (US) from that act.
48. And verily it 42 is an admonition to the God-fearing.
49. And WE know there are also among you who deny this.
50. And it will be a cause of sorrow for the unbelievers. 43
51. And this is an absolutely certain truth. 44
52. So hallow (glorify) the Name of your LORD Almighty.45
36. That is, these are the words uttered by Jibreel who is an honourable message-courier of Almighty Allah. In his capacity of the Divine Courier he is revealing God’s Word to His Prophet. This attribute about angel Jibraeel has been mentioned in Surah Takveer (ayah:19) also.
37. The Word being presented by the prophet is the Message brought by Jibraeel. It is no poetry.
38. It means you accept a part of Faith and leave some of it. The words of Quran, being the Truth, do appeal your conscience and they also create certainty in your hearts. But overwhelming worldly wishes and desires come in the way of your acceptance.
39. The explanation of ‘Kahin’ (sooth-sayer) has been given in Surah Shu’ara, Note: 180.
40. Quran is neither the whims of a poet nor the murmer of a sooth-sayer. But it is the word of God revealed to the Holy Prophet by the arch angel Jibraeel.
41. The prophet, while remaining on the high position held by him, can never attribute any false thing to God. He is responsible for conveying God’s Word as it is to people. Had he added anything of his own to the Divine word it would have been a big offence and a misuse of his position and hence WE would have killed him then and there so that people may not be misled. A picture of this punishment has been so drawn as if a king holds the hand of his courier who had attributed falsity to him, and then mows down his neck. This punishment is for him who may, despite being a prophet, make up something himself and then attribute it to God. However it does not mean that a false claimant to prophethood will get such punishment instantly and that if a liar does not get this punishment at once it is a proof of his being true. No such thing has been Said in this ayah. Hence the false imposters to prophethood cannot get any shelter thereby. What to talk of false claimants to prophet, some liars have claimed to be God too! Some have even abused God!! But Allah gives them time so that their cup of sins may be filled to brim.
42. That is the Holy Quran.
43. The unbelievers will repent on the Day of Resurrection and will realise that they made a very big mistake by disbelieving in the Holy Quran.
44. It means this Quran which enlightens us about the Resurrection presents a total and certain truth which is beyond any doubt. Why then don’t you accept it?
45. This is a Guidance to the Holy Prophet and, through him, to his followers that when truth has been described here in this Surah, do not care for the talks of the disbelievers and get engaged in the worship and hallowing of your LORD. For further clarification please see Surah Waqiah, note: 58 & 76