Surah 69. Al-Haqqah

And as for 'Ȃd, they were destroyed by a furious, bitter wind

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the `Ad they were destroyed by a furious wind exceedingly violent; ⁵⁶³⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The 'Ad were an unjust people spoilt by their prosperity. The prophet Hud preached to them in vain. They were apparently destroyed by a terrible blast of wind. See n. 1040 to vii. 65. See also xli. 15-16, n. 4483, and liv. 19, n. 5144.

which Allah unleashed on them non-stop for seven nights and eight days, so that you would have seen its people lying dead like trunks of uprooted palm trees.

  - Mustafa Khattab

He made it rage against them seven nights and eight days in succession: So that thou couldst see the (whole) people lying prostrate in its (path) as if they had been roots of hollow palm- trees tumbled down! ⁵⁶⁴⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

A graphic simile. Dead men all lying about like hollow trunks of palm-trees, with their roots exposed! The 'Ad were reputed to be of a tall stature.

Do you see any of them left alive?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then seest thou any of them left surviving? ⁵⁶⁴¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The calamity was thorough. The 'Ad were destroyed, and then the Thamud, and only the tradition of them was left behind. See the references in n. 5636.

Also, Pharaoh and those before him, and 'the people of' the overturned cities 'of Lot' indulged in sin,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Pharaoh and those before him and the Cities Overthrown committed habitual Sin. ^{5642 5643 5644}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Pharaoh's Messenger was Moses. See the story in vii. 103-137 and the notes there. Pharaoh was inordinately proud, and his fall was proportionately great: it gradually extended to his dynasty and his people.

If we follow the sequence of peoples whose sins destroyed them, as mentioned in vii. 59-158, we begin with Noah, then have the 'Ad and the Thamud, then the Cities of the Plain, then Midian, then the people whose prophet was Moses (who occupies a central place in the canvas), and then the Pagan Quraish, to whom came the last and greatest of the prophets, our holy Prophet Muhammad. This is the chronological sequence. Here there is no details, nor even complete mention. But Noah is alluded to last, and the 'Ad and the Thamud mentioned first, because the latter two belong to Arab tradition, and this is specially addressed to the Pagans of Makkah. Pharaoh is mentioned rather than Moses for the same reason, and any others are "those before Pharaoh".

The Cities Overthrown: Sodom and Gomorrah, Cities of the Plain, to whom Lot preached: see ix. 70, n. 1330; and vii. 80-84, n. 1049.

each disobeying their Lord's messenger, so He seized them with a crushing grip.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And disobeyed (each) the apostle of their Lord; so He punished them with an abundant Penalty.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Indeed, when the floodwater had overflowed, We carried you¹ in the floating Ark 'with Noah',

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., your ancestors.

We when the water (of Noah's flood) overflowed beyond its limits carried you (mankind) in the floating (Ark). ⁵⁶⁴⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It was a widespread Flood. Cf. vii. 59-64: also xi. 25-49. Noah was ridiculed for his preparations for the Flood: see xi. 38, n. 1531. But Allah had commanded him to build an Ark, in order that mankind should be saved from perishing in the Flood. But only those of Faith got into the Ark and were saved. As the Ark was built to Allah's command, Allah "carried you (mankind) in the floating (Ark)".

so that We may make this a reminder to you, and that attentive ears may grasp it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That We might make it a message unto you and that ears (that should hear the tale and) retain its memory should bear its (lessons) in remembrance. ^{5646 5647}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It was a memorial for all time, to show that evil meets with its punishment, but the good are saved by the mercy of Allah.

Cf. the biblical Phrase, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. xi. 15). But the phrase used here has a more complicated import. An ear may hear, but for want of will in the hearer the hearer may not wish, for the future or for all time, to retain the memory of the lessons he had heard, even though for the time being he was impressed by it. The penetration of the truth has to be far deeper and subtler, and this is desired here.

At last, when the Trumpet will be blown with one blast,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then when one Blast is sounded on the Trumpet ⁵⁶⁴⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We now come to the Inevitable Event, the Day of Judgment, the theme of this Sura. This is the first Blast referred to in xxxix. 68, n. 4343.

and the earth and mountains will be lifted up and crushed with one blow,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the earth is moved and its mountains and they are crushed to powder at one stroke ⁵⁶⁴⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The whole of our visible world, as we now know it, will pass away, and a new world will come into being. The mountains are specially mentioned, because they stand as the type of hardness, size, and durability. They will be "crushed", i.e., lose their form and being at one stroke.

on that Day the Inevitable Event will have come to pass.

  - Mustafa Khattab

On that Day shall the (Great) Event come to pass

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The sky will then be so torn that it will be frail,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the sky will be rent asunder for it will that Day be flimsy

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

with the angels on its sides. On that Day eight 'mighty angels' will bear the Throne of your Lord above them.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the angels will be on its sides and eight will that Day bear the Throne of thy Lord above them. ^{5650 5651}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The whole picture is painted in graphic poetical images, to indicate that which cannot be adequately described in words, and which indeed OUT human faculties with their present limited powers are not ready to comprehend. The angels will be on all sides, arrayed in ranks upon ranks, and the Throne of the Lord on high will be borne by eight angels (or eight rows of angels). That will be the Day when Justice will be fully established and man be mustered to his Lord for reckoning.

The number eight has perhaps no special significance, unless it be with reference to the shape of the Throne or the number of the angels. The Oriental Throne is often octagonal, and its bearers would be one at each corner.

You will then be presented 'before Him for judgment', and none of your secrets will stay hidden.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That Day shall ye be brought to Judgment: not an act of yours that ye hide will be hidden.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

As for those given their records in their right hand, they will cry 'happily', 'Here 'everyone'! Read my record!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then he that will be given his Record in his right hand will say: "Ah here! read ye my Record! ⁵⁶⁵²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xvii. 71, where the righteous are described as those who are given their record in their right hand at Judgment. In lvi. 27, 38, and other passages, the righteous are called "Companions of the Right Hand".

I surely knew I would face my reckoning.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"I did really understand that my Account would (one Day) reach me!" ⁵⁶⁵³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The righteous one rejoices that the faith he had during this world's life was fully justified, and is now actually realised before him. He quite understood and believed that good and evil must meet with their due consequences in the Hereafter, however much appearances may have been against it in the life in the lower world, "in the days that are gone".

They will be in a life of bliss,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And he will be in a life of Bliss

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

in an elevated Garden,

  - Mustafa Khattab

In a Garden on high

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

whose fruit will hang within reach.

  - Mustafa Khattab

The Fruits whereof (will hang in bunches) low and near. ⁵⁶⁵⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The description is that of ripe, luscious grapes, hanging low in heavy bunches, so near that they could be gathered and enjoyed in dignified ease. Cf. also lv. 54; lxxvi. 14.

'They will be told,' 'Eat and drink joyfully for what you did in the days gone by.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Eat ye and drink ye with full satisfaction; because of the (good) that ye sent before you in the days that are gone!" ^{5655 5656}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. ii. 110: "Whatever good ye send forth for your souls before you, ye shall find it with Allah: for Allah sees well all that ye do."

It will be a wholly new world, a new earth and a new heaven, when the blessed might well think with calm relief of "the days that are gone". Cf- xiv. 48, and n. 1925. Even Time and Space will be no more, so that any ideas that we may form here will be found to have become wholly obsolete by then.

And as for those given their record in their left hand, they will cry 'bitterly', 'I wish I had not been given my record,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And he that will be given his Record in his left hand will say: "Ah! would that my record had not been given to me! ⁵⁶⁵⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is in contrast to the righteous ones who will receive their record in their right hand. Cf. lxix. 19, n. 5652. The righteous are glad when they remember their past: their memory is itself a precious possession. The unjust are in agony when they remember their past. Their memory is itself a grievous punishment.