Surah 69. Al-Haqqah

The Inevitable Hour!

  - Mustafa Khattab

The Sure Reality! ⁵⁶³⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Al-haqqa: the sure Truth: the Event that must inevitably come to pass; the state in which all falsehood and pretence will vanish, and the absolute Truth will be laid bare. The questions in the three verses raise an air of wonder. The solution is suggested in what happened to the Thamud and the 'Ad, and other people of antiquity, who disregarded the Truth of Allah and came to violent end, even in this life,-Symbolically suggesting the great Cataclysm of the Hereafter, the Day of Doom.

What is the Inevitable Hour?

  - Mustafa Khattab

What is the Sure Reality?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And what will make you realize what the Inevitable Hour is?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And what will make thee realize what the Sure Reality is?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'Both' Thamûd and 'Ȃd denied the Striking Disaster.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The Striking Disaster is another name for the Day of Judgment.

The Thamud and the `Ad people (branded) as false the Stunning Calamity! ^{5636 5637}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

For these two peoples of antiquity, see n. 1043 to vii. 73, and n. 1040 to vii. 65.

Another description of the terrible Day of Judgment. This word Qari'a also occurs as the title of S. ci.

As for Thamûd, they were destroyed by an overwhelming blast.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But the Thamud they were destroyed by a terrible storm of thunder and lightning! ⁵⁶³⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Thamud were addicted to class arrogance. They oppressed the poor. The prophet Salih preached to them, and put forward a wonderful she-camel as symbol of the rights of the poor, but they ham-strung her. See n. 1044 to vii. 73. They were destroyed in a mighty calamity, an earthquake accompanying a terrible thunderstorm.

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