Ан-Наба

About what, about what thing, are they, the people of Quraysh, questioning one another?

About the awesome tiding ([this is] the explication of that ‘thing’; the interrogative is meant to emphasise its magnitude) — this [awesome tiding] is the Qur’ān, comprising [news of] the Resurrection and so on, which the Prophet (s) brought —

concerning which they are at variance, for the believers affirm it, while the disbelievers repudiate it.

No indeed! — a disavowal — they will come to know, what will befall them for their rejection of it.

Again, no indeed! They will come to know! ([reiterated] for emphasis; thumma is added here to declare that the second threat of chastisement is more severe than the first). God, exalted be He, then alludes to His power to resurrect, saying:

Have We not made the earth a cradle, a bed, like a cradle,

and the mountains pegs?, with which the earth is tied down like tents are tied down with pegs (the interrogative is meant as an affirmative).

And created you in pairs?, males and females,

and made your sleep for rest?, repose for your bodies,

and made the night a cloak?, to cover you with its darkness,

and made the day for livelihood?, a time for seeking livelihood,

and built above you seven mighty ones?, seven heavens (shidād is the plural of shadīda) that is to say, strong and sturdy unaffected by the passage of time,

and set a radiant lamp?, namely, the sun,

and sent down from the rain-clouds (mu‘sirāt), the clouds due to give rain (similar to [the term] mu‘sir, which denotes a girl nearing menstruation) cascading water?, pouring forth,

that with it We may bring forth grains, such as wheat, and plants, such as figs,

and gardens, orchards, of intertwining foliage? (alfāf is the plural of lafīf, similar [in pattern] to sharīf, ‘noble’, [plural] ashrāf).

Verily the Day of Decision, for creatures, is the tryst, a time [fixed] for reward and punishment,

the day the Trumpet, the Horn, is blown (yawma yunfakhu fī’l-sūri is either a substitution for, or an explication of, yawma’l-fasli, ‘the Day of Decision’, the blower being Isrāfīl) and you come, forth from your graves to the site [of the Resurrection], in droves, in diverse groups,

and the heaven is opened (read futtihat or futihat), sundered for the descent of the angels, and becomes as gates, it becomes [a heaven] with gates,

and the mountains are set in motion, dislocated from their positions, and become as a mirage, as fine dust, that is to say, like it in terms of its levity when in motion.

Verily Hell lurks in ambush (mirsādan, in the sense of rāsidatan or mursidatan, ‘lying in wait’)

for the rebellious, the disbelievers, who will not be able to avoid it, [it is] a resort, a retreat for them, and so they will enter it,

to remain (lābithīna is an implied circumstantial qualifier, in other words, their remaining therein will be decreed [to be]) therein for ages, for endless epochs (ahqāb is the plural of huqb),

tasting in it neither coolness, [neither] sleep, [something] which they will not taste [therein], nor drink, [nor] anything that is imbibed for the sake of its delightful taste,

except boiling water, of extreme temperatures, and pus (read ghasāqan or ghassāqan, which is the vile matter that is emitted by the [bodies of the] inhabitants of the Fire), which is what they will [indeed] taste. They are given this pair [of tortures],

as a fitting requital, one that accords with [the nature of] their deeds, for there is no sin greater than disbelief, and no chastisement greater than the Fire.

Indeed they never feared any reckoning, given their rejection of the Resurrection,

and they denied Our signs, the Qur’ān, mendaciously,

and everything, in the way of deeds, have We kept count of, have We recorded precisely, in a Book, as [individual] written records in the Preserved Tablet, in order to requite [creatures] in accordance with them, including [the record of] their denial of the Qur’ān.

‘So [now] taste! — in other words, it will be said to them in the Hereafter, when the chastisement has befallen them: taste [now] your requital! For We will increase you in nothing but chastisement’, in addition to your [due] chastisement.

Truly for the God-fearing there will be a triumph, a place of triumph, in Paradise:

gardens, orchards (hadā’iqa is either a substitution for, or an explication of, mafāzan, ‘a triumph’) and vineyards (wa-a‘nāban is a supplement to mafāzan, ‘a triumph’),

and buxom maidens (kawā‘ib is the plural of kā‘ib) of equal age (atrāb is the plural of tirb),

and a brimming cup, wine filling the vessels in which it is in; in sūrat al-Qitāl [it is said], and rivers of wine [Q. 47:15].

They will not hear in it, that is, [in] Paradise, when they drink wine and in other situations, any vain talk, any words of falsehood, or lies, between one another (read kidhāban, to mean kadhiban, ‘lies’, or kidhdhāban to mean takdhīban, ‘lying’), in contrast to what happens in this world when wine is drunk,

[this will be] a reward from your Lord, in other words, God has rewarded them with this reward as, a gift (‘atā’an substitutes for jazā’an, ‘reward’) that is sufficing, [that is] abundant (hisāban, [as meaning ‘abundant’] derives from their saying a‘tānī fa-ahsabanī, ‘he gave me so abundantly that I said, “that is enough for me”’ [hasbī]),

[from] the Lord of the heavens and the earth (read rabbi, ‘[from] the Lord of’, or rabbu, ‘[He is] the Lord of’) and all that is between them, the Compassionate One (likewise [read rahmāni or rahmānu], or read rahmānu with rabbi [for the preceding]), Whom, exalted be He, they, that is, creatures, will not be able to address, that is to say, not one of them will be able to address Him for fear of Him,

on the day (yawma is the adverbial qualifier for lā yamlikūna, ‘they will not be able to’) when the Spirit, Gabriel, or God’s hosts, and the angels stand arrayed (saffan is a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, mustaffīna). They, creatures, will not speak, except him whom the Compassionate One permits, to speak, and who says what is right, from among the believers and the angels: as if [meaning] that they will intercede for he whom He approves of.

That is the True Day, whose coming to pass is definite, namely, the Day of Resurrection. So whoever wishes [to], let him seek resort with his Lord, a return [to Him], that is to say, [let him] return to God by being obedient to Him, so that he may be secure from chastisement in it.

Lo! We have warned you, O disbelievers of Mecca, of a chastisement that is near, the chastisement of the impending Day of Resurrection — for anything that is impending is [also] near — the day (yawma adverbially qualifies ‘adhāban, ‘a chastisement’, by describing it) when a person, [when] every person, will behold what his hands have sent ahead, of good and evil, and the disbeliever will say, ‘O (yā is a particle used to call attention to something) would that I were dust!’, in other words, and not be chastised. He says this when God, exalted be He, says to the beasts, after each of them has retaliated against the other, ‘Be dust!’.