Chapter 95
ENTITLED, THE OVERWHELMING;q REVEALED AT MECCA.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.
HATH the news of the overwhelming day of judgment reached thee? The countenances of some, on that day, shall be cast down; labouring and toiling:r they shall be cast into scorching fire to be broiled: they shall be given to drink of a boiling fountain: they shall have no food, but of dry thorns and thistles:s which shall not fatten, neither shall they satisfy hunger. But the countenances of others, on that day, shall be joyful; well pleased with their past endeavor: 10 they shall be placed in a lofty garden, wherein thou shalt hear no vain discourse: therein shall be a running fountain; therein shall be raised beds, and goblets placed before them, and cushions laid in order, and carpets ready spread. Do they not consider the camels,t how they are created;
l Determining their various species, properties, ways of life, &c.1 m Guiding the rational by their reason and also by revelation, and the irrational by instinct, &c.2 n See chapter 75, p. 431. o i.e., Except such revelations as GOD shall think fit to abrogate and blot out of thy memory. See chapter 2, p. 13, and chapter 75, p. 431. p To retain the relations communicated to thee by Gabriel; or, as some understand the words, We will dispose thee to the profession and strict observance of the most easy religion, that is, of Islâm. q That is a name, or epithet, of the last day; because it will suddenly overwhelm all creatures with fear and astonishment. It is also a name, or epithet, of hell fire. r i.e., Dragging their chains, and labouring through hell fire, as camels labour through mud, &c. Or, Employing and fatiguing themselves in what shall not avail them.3 s Such as the camels eat when green and tender. Some take the original word al Darí for the name of a thorny tree. t These animals are of such use, or rather necessity, in the east, that the creation of a species so wonderfully adapted to those countries is a very proper instance, to an Arabian, of the power and wisdom of GOD. Some, however, think the clouds (which the original word ibl also signifies) are here intended; the heaven being mentioned immediately after.
1 Al Beidâwi. 2 Idem. 3 Idem.
and the heaven, how it is raised; and the mountains, how they are fixed; 20 and the earth, how it is extended? Wherefore warn thy people; for thou art a warner only: thou art not impowered to act with authority over them. But whoever shall turn back,u and disbelieve, GOD shall punish him with the greater punishment of the life to come. Verily unto us shall they return: then shall it be our part to bring them to account.
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