Surah 82. Al-Infitar

O MAN! What is it that lures thee away from thy bountiful Sustainer,³

  - Mohammad Asad

A rhetorical question implying that no human being is ever entirely immune against "that temptation to evil (fitnah) which does not befall only those among you who are bent on denying the truth" (see 8:25 and the corresponding note [25]). The answer is given in verse {9} below.

O man! What has lured you away from your gracious Rabb,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O man! What hath made thee careless concerning thy Lord, the Bountiful,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

who has created thee, and formed thee in accordance with what thou art meant to be,⁴ and shaped thy nature in just proportions,⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "endowed thee with all the qualities and abilities relevant to the exigencies of thy individual life and thy environment".

Lit., "made thee proportionate", i.e., a being subject to physical needs and emotional urges, and at the same time endowed with intellectual and spiritual perceptions: in other words, a being in whom there is no inherent conflict between the demands of "the spirit and the flesh", since both these aspects of the human condition are - as stressed in the next verse - God-willed and, therefore, morally justified.

Who created you, fashioned you, proportioned you,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who created thee, then fashioned, then proportioned thee?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

having put thee together in whatever form He willed [thee to have]?

  - Mohammad Asad

and moulded you in whatever form He pleased?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Into whatsover form He will, He casteth thee

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Nay, [O men,] but you [are lured away from God whenever you are tempted to] give the lie to [God's] Judgment!⁶

  - Mohammad Asad

In view of the fact that the whole of this passage is addressed to "man" or "men" in general, and not merely to deniers of the truth, I believe that the expression "you give the lie" does not, in this context, necessarily imply a conscious denial of God's ultimate judgment but, rather, a tendency inherent in most human beings to close one's mind - occasionally or permanently, as the ease may be - to the prospect of having to answer before God for one's doings: hence my rendering, "you are tempted to give the lie".

Nay! In fact you deny the Day of Judgement!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Nay, but they deny the Judgment.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And yet, verily, there are ever-watchful forces over you,

  - Mohammad Asad

You should know that guardian angels have indeed been appointed over you,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo ! there are above you guardians,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

noble, recording,

  - Mohammad Asad

who are noble writers,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Generous and recording,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

aware of whatever you do!⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

The classical commentators are of the opinion that we have here a reference to the guardian angels who record, allegorically, all of men's deeds. However. another explanation has been suggested by me in my rendering of {50:16-23} and elaborated in the corresponding notes [11-16]. In consonance with that interpretation, the "watchful force" (hafiz) set over every human being is his own conscience, which "records" all his motives and actions in his subconscious mind. Since it is the most precious element in man's psyche, it is described in verse {11} as "noble".

they know all that you do.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Who know (all) that ye do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, [in the life to come] the truly virtuous will indeed be in bliss,

  - Mohammad Asad

On that Day the righteous will surely be in bliss;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! the righteous verily will be in delight

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

whereas, behold, the wicked will indeed be in a blazing fire -

  - Mohammad Asad

while the wicked will indeed go to hell,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo! the wicked verily will be in hell;

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[a fire] which they shall enter on Judgment Day,

  - Mohammad Asad

they shall enter it on the Day of Judgment,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They will burn therein on the Day of Judgment,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and which they shall not [be able to] evade.

  - Mohammad Asad

and they shall not be able to escape from it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And will not be absent thence.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And what could make thee conceive what that Judgment Day will be?

  - Mohammad Asad

What will explain to you what the Day of Judgment is?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And once again: What could make thee conceive what that Judgment Day will be?⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

For my rendering of thumma at the beginning of this verse as "And once again", see surah {6} note [31]. The repetition of this rhetorical question is meant to indicate that man's intellect and imagination cannot possibly answer it, since what is described as the Day of Judgment will usher in a reality which as yet is wholly outside our human experience and, therefore, cannot be grasped conceptually: hence, only allegory - and our own emotional response to it - can give us an inkling of what that reality might be.

Again, what will explain to you what the Day of Judgment is?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Again, what will convey unto thee what the Day of Judgment is!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[It will be] a Day when no human being shall be of the least avail to another human being: for on that Day [it will become manifest that] all sovereignty is God's alone.

  - Mohammad Asad

It will be the Day when no one shall have the power to do anything for another: for, on that Day, Allah shall keep the entire command to Himself.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

A day on which no soul hath power at all for any (other) soul. The (absolute) command on that day is Allah's.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall