56. Surah Al-Waqiah


The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:




إِذَا وَقَعَتِ الْوَاقِعَةُ ﴿١﴾  

56:1.     When the event inevitable cometh to pass.

C5222. The Event Inevitable is the Hour of Judgment.

People may doubt now whether it will come. But when it comes, as it will come, suddenly upon them, it will come with such tremendous reality that it will be burnt deep into the experience of every soul. No one can then be deceived or entertain false notions about it.

لَيْسَ لِوَقْعَتِهَا كَاذِبَةٌ ﴿٢﴾

56:2.     Then will no (soul) entertain falsehood concerning its coming.

خَافِضَةٌ ...

56:3.     (Many) will it bring low,

C5223. There will be a sorting out of Good and Evil. Or rather, (verse 7 below), there will be three main classes.

Many who were high and mighty in this life will be brought low for their sins, and many who were lowly but virtuous will be exalted to various ranks and degrees. The old landmarks will be lost in the inner world, as they will be in the outer world.

... رَّافِعَةٌ ﴿٣﴾

(many) will it exalt;

إِذَا رُجَّتِ الْأَرْضُ رَجًّا ﴿٤﴾

56: 4.     When the earth shall be shaken to its depths,

وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا ﴿٥﴾

56: 5.     And the mountains shall be crumbled to atoms,

C5224. The old physical world will disappear in the New Creation.

فَكَانَتْ هَبَاء مُّنبَثًّا ﴿٦﴾

56: 6.     Becoming dust scattered abroad,

وَكُنتُمْ أَزْوَاجًا ثَلَاثَةً ﴿٧﴾

56: 7.     And ye shall be sorted out into three classes.

C5225. See n. 5223 above.

 

فَأَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ ﴿٨﴾

56: 8.     Then (there will be) the Companions of the Right Hand --

what will be the Companions of the Right Hand?

وَأَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ ﴿٩﴾

56: 9.     And the Companions of the left hand --

what will be the Companions of the Left Hand?


Asad’s version:



ACCORDING to all available evidence, this surah was revealed about seven years before the prophet's hijrah.


In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:


56:1


WHEN THAT which must come to pass [at last] comes to pass, 1

(56:2) there will be nought that could give the lie to its having come to pass,

(56:3) abasing [some], exalting [others]!

(56:4) When the earth is shaken with a shaking [severe],

(56:5) and the mountains are shattered into [countless] shards,

(56:6) so that they become as scattered dust


56:7 [on that Day,] then, shall you be [divided into] three kinds.

(56:8) Thus, there shall be such as will have attained to what is right: 2 oh, how [happy] will be they who have attained to what is

right!

(56:9) And there shall be such as will have lost themselves in evil: 3 oh, how [unhappy] will be they who have lost themselves in evil!




[[Asad’s notes -

1 I.e. the Last Hour and Resurrection


2 Lit. 'Those [or The people'] of the left side": see note 25 on 74:39.


3 [Lit., "those [or "the people"] of the left side". Similarly to the use of the expression maymanah as a metonym for "attaining to what is right", the term mashamah is used to denote "losing oneself in evil" (e.g., in 90:19). The origin of both these metonyms is based on the belief of the pre-Islamic Arabs that future events could be predicted by observing the direction of the flight of birds at certain times: if they flew to the right, the event in question promised to be auspicious; if to the left, the contrary. This ancient belief was gradually absorbed by linguistic usage, so that "right" and "left" became more or less synonymous with "auspicious" and "inauspicious". In the idiom of the Qur'an, these two concepts have been deepened into "righteousness" and "unrighteousness", respectively.]