23:99 [al Muminun, Mecca 74]
[AS FOR THOSE who will not believe in the life to come, they go on lying to themselves] 5 ' until, when death approaches any of them, he prays: "O my Sustainer! Let me return, let me return 60 [to life],
(23:100) so that I might act righteously in whatever I have failed [aforetime]!""
Nay, it is indeed but a [meaningless] word that he utters: for behind those [who leave the world] there is a barrier [of death] until the Day when all will be raised from the dead!
23:101 Then, when the trumpet [of resurrection] is blown, no ties of kinship will on that Day prevail among them, and neither will they ask about one another.
(23: 102) And they whose weight [of righteousness] is heavy in the balance - it is they, they who will have attained to a happy state;
(23:103) whereas they whose weight is light in the balance - it is they who will have
squandered their own selves, [destined] to abide in hell:
(23:104) the fire will scorch their faces, and they will abide therein with their lips distorted in pain.
23:105
[And God will say:] "Were not My messages conveyed unto you, and were you [not] wont to give them the lie?"
Ali’s version 23:99 –
حَتَّى
إِذَا
جَاء أَحَدَهُمُ
الْمَوْتُ قَالَ
...
99. (In Falsehood will they be) until, when death comes to one of them, he says:
C2936. This verse I think connects on with 23:90 above.
Though Allah proclaims His Truth everywhere, the wicked cling to Falsehood until they face the reality of Death.
... رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ ﴿٩٩﴾
"O my Lord! send me back (to life) --
C2937. The verb for "send me back" is in the plural in Arabic, which is construed either
- as an emphatic form, as if the singular were repeated, or
- as a plural of respect, though such a plural is not ordinarily used in addressing Allah, or
- as a plural addressed to the angels, after the address to Allah in "O my Lord!"
لَعَلِّي
أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا
فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ...
100. "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." --
C2938. The unrighteous will ask for another chance. But it will be too late then. The time for repentance will then have passed.
...كَلَّا ...
"By no means!
...إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا...
it is but a word he says,
C2939. Their request will mean nothing. It will be treated merely as an empty word of excuse.
They had plenty of chances in this life. Not only did they reject them, but they did not even believe in Allah or ask for His assistance.
...وَمِن وَرَائِهِم بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ ﴿١٠٠﴾
before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.
C2940. Barzakh:
- a partition,
- a bar or barrier;
- the place or state in which people will be after death and before Judgment.
Behind them is the barrier of death, and in front of them is the Barzakh, partition, a quiescent state until the judgment comes.
فَإِذَا
نُفِخَ فِي
الصُّورِ فَلَا
أَنسَابَ بَيْنَهُمْ
يَوْمَئِذٍ
وَلَا يَتَسَاءلُون
﴿١٠١﴾
َ
101. Then when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no more relationships between them that day, nor will one ask after another!
C2941. The old relationships of the world will then be dissolved. Each soul will stand on its merits.
فَمَن
ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
فَأُوْلَئِكَ
هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
﴿١٠٢﴾
102. Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy -- they will attain salvation:
C2942. Good and evil deeds will be weighed against each other.
If the good deeds prevail, the soul will attain falah, i.e., prosperity, well-being, bliss, or salvation;
if the contrary, there will be the misery and anguish of Hell.
وَمَنْ
خَفَّتْ
مَوَازِينُهُ
فَأُوْلَئِكَ
الَّذِينَ
خَسِرُوا
أَنفُسَهُمْ...
103. But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls;
C2943. The loss or perdition will not mean that they will die and feel no more: 14:17.
The punishment will mean nothing, if there was no sensibility, but total annihilation.
...فِي جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ ﴿١٠٣﴾
in Hell will they abide.
تَلْفَحُ
وُجُوهَهُمُ
النَّارُ وَهُمْ
فِيهَا كَالِحُونَ
﴿١٠٤﴾
104. The Fire will burn their faces, and they will therein grin, with their lips displaced.
C2944. That is to say, their faces will be disfigured with anguish, and their lips will quiver and fall out of place, exposing their teeth.
أَلَمْ
تَكُنْ آيَاتِي
تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ
فَكُنتُم بِهَا
تُكَذِّبُونَ
﴿١٠٥﴾
105. "Were not My Signs rehearsed to you, and ye did but treat them as falsehoods?"
قَالُوا
رَبَّنَا
غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا
شِقْوَتُنَا
وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا
ضَالِّينَ
﴿١٠٦﴾
106. They will say:
"Our Lord! our misfortune overwhelmed us and we became a people astray!
C2945. 'The evil in us conquered us; it was our misfortune that we surrendered to evil, and went astray.'
They forget that it was by their own deliberate choice that they surrendered to evil, and they are reminded in verses 109-110 of the ridicule with which they covered godly men in their life on earth.
رَبَّنَا
أَخْرِجْنَا
مِنْهَا فَإِنْ
عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا
ظَالِمُونَ
﴿١٠٧﴾
107. "Our Lord! bring us out of this:
if ever we return (to evil), then shall we be wrongdoers indeed!"
قَالَ
اخْسَؤُوا
فِيهَا
وَلَا تُكَلِّمُونِ
﴿١٠٨﴾
108. He will say: "Be ye driven into it (with ignominy)! and speak ye not to Me!
C2946. After their flouting of Allah's Signs and their mockery of godly men on earth, they have forfeited their right to plead for mercy before Allah's Throne.
إِنَّهُ
كَانَ
فَرِيقٌ مِّنْ
عِبَادِي
يَقُولُونَ...
109. "A part of My servants there was, who used to pray,
...رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا...
'Our Lord! we believe; then do Thou forgive us, and have mercy upon us:
...وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ ﴿١٠٩﴾
for Thou art the best of those Who show mercy!'
فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ
سِخْرِيًّا...
110. "But ye treated them with ridicule,
...حَتَّى أَنسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي وَكُنتُم مِّنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ ﴿١١٠﴾
so much so that (ridicule of) them made you forget My Message while ye were laughing at them!
C2947. Literally, 'they made you forget My Message'.
The ungodly were so occupied in the backbiting and ridicule of the godly that the godly themselves became the unconscious cause of the ungodly forgetting the warnings declared by Allah against those who do not treat His Signs seriously.
Thus evil often brings about its own ruin through the instrumentality of those whom it would make its victims.
إِنِّي
جَزَيْتُهُمُ
الْيَوْمَ بِمَا
صَبَرُوا أَنَّهُمْ
هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ
﴿١١١﴾
111. "I have rewarded them this day for their patience and constancy:
they are indeed the ones that have achieved Bliss..."
قَالَ
كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ
فِي الْأَرْضِ
عَدَدَ سِنِينَ
﴿١١٢﴾
112. He will say: "What number of years did ye stay on earth?"
C2948. The Hafs reading is "Qala", "He will say". This follows the Kufa Qira'ah.
The Basra Qira'ahreads "Qul", "Say" (in the imperative).
The point is only one of grammatical construction.
See n. 2666 to 21:4. (R).
قَالُوا
لَبِثْنَا
يَوْمًا أَوْ
بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ...
113. They will say: "We stayed a day or part of a day:
C2949. The question and answer about Time imply two things.
1. The attention of the ungodly is drawn to the extremely short time of the life in this world, compared to the eternity which they face: they are made to see this, and to realise how mistaken they were in their comparative valuation of things spiritual and things material.
2. Time, as we know it now, will have faded away and appear as almost nothing. It is just a matter relative to this life of temporary probation.
Cf. the experience of the Companions of the Cave: 18:19.
...فَاسْأَلْ الْعَادِّينَ ﴿١١٣﴾
but ask those who keep account."
قَالَ
إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ
إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
لَّوْ أَنَّكُمْ
كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
﴿١١٤﴾
114. He will say: "Ye stayed not but a little -- if ye had only known!
أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ
أَنَّمَا
خَلَقْنَاكُمْ
عَبَثًا
وَأَنَّكُمْ
إِلَيْنَا لَا
تُرْجَعُونَ
﴿١١٥﴾
115. "Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?"
C2950. Allah's Creation is not without a high serious purpose. It is not vain, or for mere play or sport.
As far as man is concerned, the highest issues for him hang on his behaviour in this life. "Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal", as Longfellow truly says. We must therefore earnestly search out Allah's Truth, encouraged by the fact that Allah's Truth is also, out of His unbounded mercy, searching us out and trying to reach us.
فَتَعَالَى
اللَّهُ الْمَلِكُ
الْحَقُّ...
116. Therefore exalted be Allah, the King, the Reality;
...لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْكَرِيمِ ﴿١١٦﴾
there is no god but He, the Lord of the Throne of Honor!
وَمَن
يَدْعُ
مَعَ اللَّهِ
إِلَهًا آخَرَ
لَا بُرْهَانَ
لَهُ بِهِ فَإِنَّمَا
حِسَابُهُ عِندَ
رَبِّهِ...
117. If anyone invokes, besides Allah, any other god, he has no authority therefor; and his reckoning will be only with his Lord!
C2951. Not with any one else whatever, as Allah is the Eternal Reality. If men, out of the figments of their imagination, fancy other gods, they will be rudely undeceived.
And Allah is Lord, i.e., our Cherisher as well as our Creator. In spite of all our shortcomings and our rebellions, He will forgive us if we go to Him not on our merits but on His grace. (R).
...إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الْكَافِرُونَ ﴿١١٧﴾
And verily the Unbelievers will fail to win through!
C2952. See the same word used in describing the contrast with the Believers, in the first verse of this Surah. Righteousness must win and all opposition to it must fail. Thus the circle of the argument is completed.
وَقُل
رَّبِّ
اغْفِرْ وَارْحَمْ...
118. So say:
"O my Lord! grant thou forgiveness and mercy!
...وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ ﴿١١٨﴾
for Thou art the Best of those who show mercy!"