Surah 89. Al-Fajr

Enough! When the earth is entirely crushed over and over,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay! when the earth is pounded to powder ⁶¹²⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Our attention is now called to the Day of Reckoning. Whether we failed to respect the rights of the helpless here or actually suppressed those rights in our mad love for the good things of this life, we shall have to answer in the realm of Reality. This solid earth, which we imagine to be so real, will crumble to powder like dust before the real Presence, manifested in glory.

and your Lord comes 'to judge' with angels, rank upon rank,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And thy Lord cometh and His angels rank upon rank

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and Hell is brought forth on that Day- this is when every 'disbelieving' person will remember 'their own sins'. But what is the use of remembering then?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Hell that Day is brought (face to face) on that Day will man remember but how will that remembrance profit him? ⁶¹²⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Retribution will at last come, and we shall realise it in our inmost being, all the illusions of this fleeting world having been swept away. Then we shall remember, and wish, too late, that we had repented. Why not repent now? Why not bring forth the fruits of repentance now, as a preparation for the Hereafter?

They will cry, 'I wish I had sent forth 'something good' for my 'true' life.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

He will say: "Ah! would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for (this) my (Future) Life."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

On that Day He will punish 'them' severely, like no other,

  - Mustafa Khattab

For that Day His Chastisement will be such as none (else) can inflict ⁶¹²⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Chastisement" in this verse and the "binding in bonds" in the next verse are two distinct phases of the Penalty. "Chastisement" involves pain and agony, such as cannot be imagined anywhere else, or from any other source, for it touches our inmost soul and cannot be compared with anything our bodies may suffer or others may inflict. "Bonds" imply confinement, want of freedom, the closing of a door which was once open but which we deliberately passed by. We see that others accepted in faith and entered that door. This shutting out of what might have been is worse than any other bonds or confinement we can imagine, and may be worse than actual chastisement.

and bind 'them' tightly, like no other.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Another possible translation: “None has ever punished the way He will punish on that Day, nor has anyone bound the way He will bind.”

And His bonds will be such as none (other) can bind.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'Allah will say to the righteous,' 'O tranquil soul!

  - Mustafa Khattab

(To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (thou) soul in (complete) rest and satisfaction! ⁶¹²⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The righteous enter into their inheritance and receive their welcome with a title that suggests freedom from all pain, sorrow, doubt, struggle, disappointment, passion, and even further desire; at rest, in peace; in a state of complete satisfaction. In Muslim theology, this stage of the soul is the final stage of bliss. The unregenerate human soul, that seeks its satisfaction in the lower earthly desires, is the Ammara (xii. 53). The self-reproaching soul that feels conscious of sin and resists it is the Lawwama (lxxv. 2, and n. 5810).

Return to your Lord, well pleased 'with Him' and well pleasing 'to Him'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Come back thou to thy Lord well pleased (thyself) and well-pleasing unto Him! ⁶¹²⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Note that Evil finds itself isolated, and cries out in lonely agony (verse 24), while Good receives a warm welcome from the Lord of Goodness Himself,-also that it is the soul which enters heaven, and not the gross body which perishes.

So join My servants,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Enter thou then among my Devotees!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and enter My Paradise.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Yea enter thou my Heaven"! ⁶¹²⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The climax of the whole is: "Enter My Heaven!" Men may have imagined all kinds of heaven before, and many types are used in the sacred Word itself. But nothing can express the reality itself better than "My Heaven"-Allah's own Heaven! May we reach it through Allah's grace!