Surah 69. Al-Haqqah

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.

nor known anything of my reckoning!

  - Mustafa Khattab

"And that I had never realized how my account (stood)!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

I wish death was the end!

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Ah! would that (Death) had made an end of me! ⁵⁶⁵⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The death as from this life was but a transition into a new world. They would wish that that death had been the end of all things, but it will not be.

My wealth has not benefited me!

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Of no profit to me has been my wealth!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

My authority has been stripped from me.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"My power has perished from me!"... ⁵⁶⁵⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The intensest agony is when the soul loses power over itself, when the personality tries to realise itself in new conditions and cannot: this is life in death.

'It will be said,' 'Seize and shackle them,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(The stern command will say): "Seize ye him and bind ye him ⁵⁶⁶⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Perhaps the word for 'bind' should be construed: 'bind his hands round his neck, to remind him that his hands when they were free were closed to all acts of charity and mercy': Cf. xvii. 29.

then burn them in Hell,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"And burn ye him in the Blazing Fire.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

then tie them up with chains seventy arms long.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Further make him march in a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits! ⁵⁶⁶¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The sinful men who will be given their record on the Day of Judgment in their left hands will be in utter despair. Their power and authority which they misused to perpetrate injustice and oppression will be gone. The wealth that had made them turn a deaf ear to the call of Truth will be no more. They will cry out in agony: "O would that we were never raised again!. 0 would that death had obliterated us once for all". But their cries will be of no avail. They will be seized, bound in chains and drawn into the Blazing Fire for their crimes against Allah and man.

For they never had faith in Allah, the Greatest,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"This was he that would not believe in Allah Most High ⁵⁶⁶²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The grip of sin was fastened on sinners because they forsook Allah. They ran after their own lusts and worshipped them, or they ran after Allah's creatures, ignoring Him Who is the cause and source of all good.

nor encouraged the feeding of the poor.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"And would not encourage the feeding of the indigent! ⁵⁶⁶³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. cvii. 3; lxxxix, 18. The practical result of their rebellion against the God of Mercy was that their sympathies dried up. Not only did they not help or feed those in need, but they hindered others from doing so. And they have neither friend nor sympathy (food) in the Hereafter.

So this Day they will have no close friend here,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"So no friend hath he here this Day.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali