Surah 99. Az-Zalzalah

WHEN THE EARTH quakes with her [last] mighty quaking,

  - Mohammad Asad

When the earth will be shaken to her utmost convulsion,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

When the earth is shaken 'in' its ultimate quaking,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

When the Earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion ⁶²³⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

To the ordinary human observer a violent earthquake is a terrifying phenomenon, in its suddenness, in its origin, and in its power to destroy and uproot the strongest buildings and to bring up strange materials from the bowels of the earth. The Overwhelming Event (S. lxxxviii.) which ushers in the Judgment will be a bigger and more far-reaching convulsion than any earthquakes that we know. And yet the incidents of earthquakes may give us some idea of that supreme world-shaking Event.

and [when] the earth yields up her burdens,¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., all that was hitherto hidden in it, including the bodies - or the remnants - of the dead.

and the earth shall bring out all her inner burdens,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and when the earth throws out 'all' its contents,¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., burdens (i.e., treasures and dead bodies).

And Earth yieldeth up her burdens,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And the Earth throws up her burden (from within) ⁶²³⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

An earthquake, if accompanied by a volcanic eruption, throws up enormous boulders and lava from beneath the crust of the earth. They are thrown up as if they were a burden to the Earth personified. They may be all kinds of minerals, or treasures buried for secrecy. So in the great and final Convulsion, the dead who had been buried and forgotten will rise; and will be brought to the light of day, and justice will be done in the full glare of absolute Truth.

and man cries out, "What has happened to her?"

  - Mohammad Asad

the man shall say: "What is happening to her?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

and humanity cries, 'What is wrong with it?'-

  - Mustafa Khattab

And man saith: What aileth her?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And man cries (distressed): `What is the matter with her?' ⁶²³⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The puzzled agony suffered by the victims of violent earthquakes is as nothing compared to the experience of the new and wonderful world which will then open out of the gaze of man.

on that Day will she recount all her tidings,

  - Mohammad Asad

On that Day she shall report whatever had happened on her,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

on that Day the earth will recount everything,

  - Mustafa Khattab

That day she will relate her chronicles,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

On that Day will she declare her tidings:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

as thy Sustainer will have inspired her to do.²

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., on the Day of Judgment the earth will bear witness, as it were, to all that has ever been done by man: an explanation given by the Prophet, according to a Tradition on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (quoted by Ibn Hanbal and Tirmidhi).

for your Rabb shall have commanded her to do so.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

having been inspired by your Lord 'to do so'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Because thy Lord inspireth her.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For that thy Lord will have given her inspiration. ⁶²³⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The present order may be personified as the earth. It will pass away, but the Deeds done therein, even the most secret, will be brought to the full light of day. And this will be because Allah will give the Command, the inspiration or Word, by which alone all events do proceed. The "inspiration" is the Command or direction conveyed by instruction breathed into the Earth personified: she is directed to tell the whole story of what she knows. Cf. xvi. 68, n. 2097.

On that Day will all men come forward, cut off from one another,³ to be shown their [past] deeds.

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "as separate entities" (ashtatan). Cf. 6:94 - "And now, indeed, you have come unto Us in a lonely state, even as We created you in the first instance": thus stressing the individual, untransferable responsibility of every human being.

On that Day men shall proceed in sorted out groups to be shown their 'Book of Deeds'.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On that Day people will proceed in separate groups¹ to be shown 'the consequences of' their deeds.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The believers will head to Paradise and the disbelievers will head to Hell.

That day mankind will issue forth in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

On that Day will men proceed in companies sorted out to be shown the Deeds that they (had done). ⁶²³⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In this world good and evil are mixed together. But then they will be sorted out, and each grade of good and evil will be sorted out. So they will proceed in companies to receive judgment. And they will be shown the exact import of everything that they had thought, said, or done, in this life of probation, however they may have concealed or misinterpreted it in this life. Everything will be considered in taking the account, and the account will convince the persons concerned themselves.

And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it;

  - Mohammad Asad

Then, whoever has done an atom's weight of good shall see it there,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And whoso doeth good an atom's weight will see it then,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good see it! ⁶²⁴⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Zarrat: the weight of an atom, the smallest living weight an ordinary man can think of. Figuratively the subtlest form of good and evil will then be brought to account, and it will be done openly and convincingly: he "shall see it".

and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it.

  - Mohammad Asad

and whoever has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it there.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And whoso doeth ill an atom's weight will see it then.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali