Surah 89. Al-Fajr

They all transgressed throughout the land,

  - Mustafa Khattab

(All) these transgressed Beyond bounds in the lands.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

spreading much corruption there.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And heaped therein Mischief (on mischief).

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

So your Lord unleashed on them a scourge of punishment.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., so your Lord poured on them a whip of punishment.

Therefore did thy Lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastisement:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'For' your Lord is truly vigilant.

  - Mustafa Khattab

For thy Lord is (As a Guardian) on a watch-tower. ⁶¹¹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Even though Allah's punishment is delayed, it is not to be supposed that He does not see all things. Allah's providence is ever vigilant: His punishment of evil doers is a form of justice to the weak and the righteous whom they oppress. It is part of the signification of His title as Rabb (Cherisher).

Now, whenever a human being is tested by their Lord through 'His' generosity and blessings, they boast, 'My Lord has 'deservedly' honoured me!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Now as for man when his Lord trieth him giving him honor and gifts then saith he (puffed up) "My Lord hath honored me." ⁶¹¹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Contrast with Allah's justice and watchful care, man's selfishness and pettiness. Allah tries us both by prosperity and adversity: in the one we should show humility and kindness; and in the other patience and faith. On the contrary, we get puffed up in prosperity and depressed in adversity, putting false values on this world's goods.

But when He tests them by limiting their provision, they protest, 'My Lord has 'undeservedly' humiliated me!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

But when He trieth him restricting his subsistence for him then saith he (in despair) "My Lord hath humiliated me!" ⁶¹²⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Subsistence, in both the literal and the figurative sense. Allah provides for all, but people complain if the provision is measured and restricted to their needs, circumstances, and antecedents, and does not come up to their desires or expectations, or is different from that given to people in quite different circumstances.

Absolutely not! In fact, you are not 'even' gracious to the orphan,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay nay! but ye honor not the orphans! ⁶¹²¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Even at our own valuation, if we are favoured with superfluities, do we think of the fatherless children, or the stuggling poor? On the contrary, too many men are but ready to embezzle the helpless orphan's inheritance, and to waste their own substance in worthless riot instead of supplying the people's real needs.

nor do you urge one another to feed the poor.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nor do ye encourage one another to feed the poor! ⁶¹²²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Kindness and generosity set up standards which even worldly men feel bound to follow out of social considerations even if they are not moved by higher motives. But the wicked find plausible excuses for their own hard-heartedness, and by their evil example choke up the springs of charity and kindness in others.

And you devour 'others'' inheritance greedily,¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 They take over the inheritance of orphans and women.

And ye devour inheritance all with greed. ⁶¹²³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Inheritance is abused in two ways. (1) Guardians and trustees for the inheritance of minors or women or persons unable to look after their own interests should fulfil their trusts with even more care than they devote to their own interests. Instead of that they selfishly "devour" the property. (2) Persons who inherit property in their own rights should remember that in that case, too, it is a sacred trust. They must use it for the purposes, objects, and duties which they also inherit. It gives them no licence to live in idleness or waste their days in riotous show.

and love wealth fervently.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And ye love wealth with inordinate love!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Enough! When the earth is entirely crushed over and over,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Nay! when the earth is pounded to powder ⁶¹²⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Our attention is now called to the Day of Reckoning. Whether we failed to respect the rights of the helpless here or actually suppressed those rights in our mad love for the good things of this life, we shall have to answer in the realm of Reality. This solid earth, which we imagine to be so real, will crumble to powder like dust before the real Presence, manifested in glory.

and your Lord comes 'to judge' with angels, rank upon rank,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And thy Lord cometh and His angels rank upon rank

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and Hell is brought forth on that Day- this is when every 'disbelieving' person will remember 'their own sins'. But what is the use of remembering then?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Hell that Day is brought (face to face) on that Day will man remember but how will that remembrance profit him? ⁶¹²⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Retribution will at last come, and we shall realise it in our inmost being, all the illusions of this fleeting world having been swept away. Then we shall remember, and wish, too late, that we had repented. Why not repent now? Why not bring forth the fruits of repentance now, as a preparation for the Hereafter?

They will cry, 'I wish I had sent forth 'something good' for my 'true' life.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

He will say: "Ah! would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for (this) my (Future) Life."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

On that Day He will punish 'them' severely, like no other,

  - Mustafa Khattab

For that Day His Chastisement will be such as none (else) can inflict ⁶¹²⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Chastisement" in this verse and the "binding in bonds" in the next verse are two distinct phases of the Penalty. "Chastisement" involves pain and agony, such as cannot be imagined anywhere else, or from any other source, for it touches our inmost soul and cannot be compared with anything our bodies may suffer or others may inflict. "Bonds" imply confinement, want of freedom, the closing of a door which was once open but which we deliberately passed by. We see that others accepted in faith and entered that door. This shutting out of what might have been is worse than any other bonds or confinement we can imagine, and may be worse than actual chastisement.

and bind 'them' tightly, like no other.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Another possible translation: “None has ever punished the way He will punish on that Day, nor has anyone bound the way He will bind.”

And His bonds will be such as none (other) can bind.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'Allah will say to the righteous,' 'O tranquil soul!

  - Mustafa Khattab

(To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (thou) soul in (complete) rest and satisfaction! ⁶¹²⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The righteous enter into their inheritance and receive their welcome with a title that suggests freedom from all pain, sorrow, doubt, struggle, disappointment, passion, and even further desire; at rest, in peace; in a state of complete satisfaction. In Muslim theology, this stage of the soul is the final stage of bliss. The unregenerate human soul, that seeks its satisfaction in the lower earthly desires, is the Ammara (xii. 53). The self-reproaching soul that feels conscious of sin and resists it is the Lawwama (lxxv. 2, and n. 5810).

Return to your Lord, well pleased 'with Him' and well pleasing 'to Him'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Come back thou to thy Lord well pleased (thyself) and well-pleasing unto Him! ⁶¹²⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Note that Evil finds itself isolated, and cries out in lonely agony (verse 24), while Good receives a warm welcome from the Lord of Goodness Himself,-also that it is the soul which enters heaven, and not the gross body which perishes.

So join My servants,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Enter thou then among my Devotees!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

and enter My Paradise.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Yea enter thou my Heaven"! ⁶¹²⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The climax of the whole is: "Enter My Heaven!" Men may have imagined all kinds of heaven before, and many types are used in the sacred Word itself. But nothing can express the reality itself better than "My Heaven"-Allah's own Heaven! May we reach it through Allah's grace!