Surah 88. Al-Ghashiyah

HAS THERE COME unto thee the tiding of the Overshadowing Event?¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the Day of Resurrection.

Has the news of the over shadowing event of resurrection reached you?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Has the news of the Overwhelming Event reached you 'O Prophet'?

  - Mustafa Khattab

Hath there come unto thee tidings of the Overwhelming?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Has the story reached thee of the Overwhelming (Event)? ⁶⁰⁹⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Gashiya: the thing or event that overshadows or overwhelms, that covers over or makes people lose their senses. In xii. 107, it is described as the "covering veil of the Wrath of Allah": where see n. 1790. The Day of Judgment is indicated, as the Event of overwhenning importance in which all our petty differences of this imperfect world are covered over and overwhelmed in a new world of perfect justice and truth.

Some faces will on that Day be downcast,

  - Mohammad Asad

On that Day some faces shall be downcast,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On that Day 'some' faces will be downcast,

  - Mustafa Khattab

On that day (many) faces will be downcast,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Some faces that Day will be humiliated ⁶⁰⁹⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxv. 22, 24.

toiling [under burdens of sin], worn out [by fear],

  - Mohammad Asad

in hard labor, worn out,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'totally' overburdened, exhausted,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Toiling, weary,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Laboring (hard) weary ⁶⁰⁹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

On the faces of the wicked will appear the hard labour and consequent fatigue of the task they will have in battling against the fierce Fire which their own Deeds will have kindled.

about to enter a glowing fire,

  - Mohammad Asad

scorching in the blazing fire,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

burning in a scorching Fire,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Scorched by burning fire,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The while they enter the Blazing Fire

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

given to drink from a boiling spring.

  - Mohammad Asad

given to drink from a boiling fountain.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

left to drink from a scalding spring.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Drinking from a boiling spring,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The while they are given to drink of a boiling hot spring.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

No food for them save the bitterness of dry thorns,

  - Mohammad Asad

They shall have no food except bitter thorny fruit,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They will have no food except a foul, thorny shrub,

  - Mustafa Khattab

No food for them save bitter thorn fruit

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

No food will there be for them but a bitter Dhari ⁶⁰⁹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The root-meaning implies again the idea of humiliation. It is a plant, bitter and thorny, loathsome in smell and appearance, which will neither give fattening nourishment to the body nor in any way satisfy the burning pangs of hunger,-a fit plant for Hell, like Zaqqum (lvi. 52; or xvii. 60, n. 2250).

which gives no strength and neither stills hunger.²

  - Mohammad Asad

According to Al-Qiffal (as quoted by Razi), this kind of hellish drink and food is a metonym for utter hopelessness and abasement. As regards the noun dari' - which is said to be a bitter, thorny plant in its dried state (Jawhari) - it is to be borne in mind that it is derived from the verb dara'a or dari'a, which signifies "he [or "it"] became abject" or "abased", (ibid.): hence my rendering of this (obviously metaphorical) expression as "the bitterness of dry thorns". A similarly metaphorical meaning attaches to the expression "a boiling spring" in verse {5}, which recalls the term hamim so often mentioned in the Qur'an (see note [62] on the last sentence of 6:70 ).

which will neither provide nourishment nor satisfy hunger.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

neither nourishing nor satisfying hunger.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Which doth not nourish nor release from hunger.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Which will neither nourish nor satisfy hunger.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

[And] some faces will on that Day shine with bliss,

  - Mohammad Asad

While some faces on that Day shall be radiant,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

On that Day 'other' faces will be glowing with bliss,

  - Mustafa Khattab

In that day other faces will be calm,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Other) faces that Day will be joyful.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

well-pleased with [the fruit of] their striving,

  - Mohammad Asad

well pleased with their endeavors,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'fully' pleased with their striving,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Glad for their effort past,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Pleased with their Striving ⁶¹⁰⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Notice the parallelism in contrast, between the fate of the Wicked and that of the Righteous. In the one case there was humiliation in their faces; in the other, there is joy; where there was labour and weariness in warding off the Fire, there is instead a healthy Striving, which is itself pleasurable, -a Striving which is a pleasant consequence of the spiritual Endeavour in the earthly life, which may have brought trouble or persecution from without, but which brought inward peace and satisfaction.

in a garden sublime,

  - Mohammad Asad

in a lofty garden.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

in an elevated Garden,

  - Mustafa Khattab

In a high garden

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

In a Garden on high ⁶¹⁰¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The most important point is their inward state of joy and satisfaction, mentioned in verses 8-9. Now are mentioned the outer things of bliss, the chief of which is the Garden. The Garden is in contrast to the Fire. Its chief beauty will be that they will hear there nothing unbecoming, or foolish, or vain. It will be a Garden on high, in all senses,-fit for the best, highest, and noblest.