Surah 84. Al-Inshiqaq

When the sky bursts open,

  - Mustafa Khattab

When the Sky is rent asunder ⁶⁰³¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The passing away of this world of sense to make way for a new World of Reality is here indicated by two Facts, which are themselves signs for a complete revolution in our whole knowledge and experience. At the beginning of S. lxxxii. and S. lxxxi, other Signs were used, to lead up to the arguments there advanced. Here the two Signs are: (1) the Sky being rent asunder and giving up its secrets, and (2) the Earth being flattened out from the globe it is, and giving up its secrets. See the following notes.

obeying its Lord as it must,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And hearkens to (the Command of) its Lord--and it must needs (do so)-- ⁶⁰³²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We may think that the heavens we see above us-high and sacred, seemingly vast and limitless, eternal and timeless-are not created matter. But they are. And they remain just so long as Allah wills it so, and not a moment longer. As soon as His Command issues for their dissolution, they will obey and vanish, and all their mystery will be emptied out. And it must necessarily be so; their very nature as created beings requires that they must hearken to the voice of their Creator, even to the extent of their own extinction.

and when the earth is flattened out,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And when the Earth is flattened out ⁶⁰³³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Earth is a globe, enclosing within it many secrets and mysteries-gold and diamonds in its mines, heat and magnetic forces in its entrails, and the bodies of countless generations of men buried within its soil. At its dissolution all these contents will be disgorged: it will lose its shape as a globe, and cease to exist.

and ejects 'all' its contents¹ and becomes empty,

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., treasures and dead bodies.

And casts forth what is within it and becomes (clean) empty

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

obeying its Lord as it must, 'surely you will all be judged'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And hearkens to (the Command of) its Lord--and it must needs (do so)--(then will come Home the full Reality). ^{6034 6035}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See n. 6032. We think the earth so solid and real. All our perishable things dissolve into the earth. But the earth itself will dissolve into a truer Reality.

The substantive clause, to follow the two conditional clauses preceding, may be filled up from the suggestion contained in lxxxii. 5.

O humanity! Indeed, you are labouring restlessly towards your Lord, and will 'eventually' meet the consequences.

  - Mustafa Khattab

O thou man! verily thou art ever toiling on towards the Lord painfully toiling but thou shalt meet Him. ⁶⁰³⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This life is ever full of toil and misery, if looked at as empty of the Eternal Hope which Revelation gives us. Hence the literature of pessimism in poetry and philosophy which thinking minds have poured forth in all ages, when that Hope was obscured to them. "Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." "To each his suffering ; all are men condemned alike a groan!" It is the noblest men that have to "scorn delights and live laborious days" in this life. The good suffer on account of their very goodness: the evil on account of their Evil. But the balance will be set right in the end. Those that wept shall be made to rejoice, and those that went about thoughtlessly rejoicing, shall be made to weep for their folly. They will all go to their account with Allah and meet Him before His Throne of Judgment.

As for those who are given their record in their right hand,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then he who is given his Record in his Right hand ⁶⁰³⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Right Hand. Cf. xvii 71. Then will be the fortunate ones, who spent their lives in goodness and truth: for them the account will be made easy; for even after the balancing, they will receive more than their merits deserve, on account of the infinite grace, and mercy of Allah.

they will have an easy reckoning,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Soon will his account be taken by an easy reckoning

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and will return to their people joyfully.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And he will turn to his people rejoicing! ⁶⁰³⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

His people: should be understood in a large sense, including of course all those nearest and dearest to him.

And as for those who are given their record 'in their left hand' from behind their backs,

  - Mustafa Khattab

But he who is given his Record behind his back ⁶⁰³⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In lxix. 24, the wicked are given the Record in their left hand. But their hands will not be free. Sin will tie their hands behind their back: and thus they can only receive their Records in their left hand, behind their back.

they will cry for 'instant' destruction,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Soon will he cry for Perdition ⁶⁰⁴⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The wicked will cry for death and annihilation: but they will neither live nor die: xx. 74.

and will burn in the blazing Fire.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And he will enter a Blazing Fire.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

For they used to be prideful among their people,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Truly did he go about among his people rejoicing! ⁶⁰⁴¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The tables are now turned. His self-complacence and self-conceit in his lower life will now give place to weeping and gnashing of teeth! Cf. n. 6036 above.

thinking they would never return 'to Allah'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Truly did he think that he would not have to return (to Us)! ⁶⁰⁴²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Most of the Evil in this world is due to the false idea that man is irresponsible, or to a mad and thoughtless indulgence of self. Man is not irresponsible. He is responsible for every deed, word, and thought of his, to his Maker, to Whom he has to return, to give an account of himself. To remember this and act accordingly is to achieve salvation; to forget or flout that responsibility is to get into Hell.

Yes 'they would'! Surely their Lord has always been All-Seeing of them.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay nay! for his Lord was (ever) watchful of him!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali