Surah 56. Al-Waqia

This will be their accommodation on the Day of Judgment.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Such will be their entertainment on the Day of Requital!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

It is We Who created you. Will you not then believe 'in resurrection'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

It is We Who have created you: why will ye not witness the Truth? ⁵²⁴⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Man is apt to forget his Creator, and even the fact that he, man, is a created being. The seed of his body, out of which his physical life starts, is not created by man, but by Allah in the process of the unfoldment of the world. Why will not man recognise and bear witness of this fact by a life of obedience to Allah's Law?

Have you considered what you ejaculate?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Do ye then see? The (human seed) that ye throw out,

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Is it you who create 'a child out of' it, or is it We Who do so?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Is it ye who create it or are We the Creators?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We have ordained death for 'all of' you, and We cannot be prevented

  - Mustafa Khattab

We have decreed Death to be your common lot and We are not to be frustrated ⁵²⁵⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Just as Allah has created this life that we see, so He has decreed that Death should be the common lot of all of us. Surely, if He can thus give life and death, as we see it, why should we refuse to believe that He can give us other forms when this life is over? The Future Life, though indicated by what we know now, is to be on a wholly different plane.

from transforming and recreating you in forms unknown to you.

  - Mustafa Khattab

From changing your Forms and creating you (again) in (Forms) that ye know not.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

You already know how you were first created. Will you not then be mindful?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And ye certainly know already the first form of creation: why then do ye not celebrate His praises?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Have you considered what you sow?

  - Mustafa Khattab

See ye the seed that ye sow in the ground? ⁵²⁵¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Having appealed to our own nature within us, He appeals now to the external nature around us, which should be evidence to us (1) of His loving care for us, and (2) of its being due to causes other than those which we produce and control. Three examples are given : (1) the seed which we sow in the soil; it is Allah's processes in nature, which make it grow; (2) the water which we drink; it is Allah's processes in nature, that send it down from the clouds as rain, and distribute it through springs and rivers: (3) the fire which we strike; it is again a proof of Allah's Plan and Wisdom in nature.

Is it you who cause it to grow, or is it We Who do so?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Is it ye that cause it to grow or are We the Cause?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If We willed, We could simply reduce this 'harvest' to chaff, leaving you to lament,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Were it Our Will we could crumble it to dry powder and ye would be left in wonderment

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'We have truly suffered a 'great' loss.

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Saying) "We are indeed left with debts (for nothing): ⁵²⁵²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The cultivator contracts debts for seed and gives labour for ploughing, sowing, watering, and weeding, in the hope of reaping a harvest. Should he not give thanks to Allah when his harvest is in?

In fact, we have been deprived 'of our livelihood'.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Indeed are we shut out (of the fruits of our labor)."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Have you considered the water you drink?

  - Mustafa Khattab

See ye the water which ye drink?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Is it you who bring it down from the clouds, or is it We Who do so?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Do ye bring it Down (in rain) from the Cloud or do We?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If We willed, We could make it salty. Will you not then give thanks?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Were it Our Will We could make it salt (and unpalatable): then why do ye not give thanks? ⁵²⁵³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The wonder of the two streams of water, one sweet and the other salt, constantly mingling, and yet always separate, is referred to more than once. The never-ending circuit is established by streams and rivers mingling with the ocean, the ocean sending forth mists and steam through a process of evaporation which forms clouds, and the clouds by condensation pouring forth rain to feed the streams and rivers again: see notes 3111-2 to xxv. 53, and n. 5185 to lv. 19, and the further references given there.