Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
وَأَصحابُ المَشأَمَةِ ما أَصحابُ المَشأَمَةِ
And there shall be such as will have lost themselves in evil: oh, how [unhappy] will be they who have lost themselves in evil!3
3. Lit., "those [or "the people"] of the left side". Similarly to the use of the expression maymanah as a metonym for "attaining to what is right", the term mashamah is used to denote "losing oneself in evil" (e.g., in 90:19). The origin of both these metonyms is based on the belief of the pre-Islamic Arabs that future events could be predicted by observing the direction of the flight of birds at certain times: if they flew to the right, the event in question promised to be auspicious; if to the left, the contrary. This ancient belief was gradually absorbed by linguistic usage, so that "right" and "left" became more or less synonymous with "auspicious" and "inauspicious". In the idiom of the Qur'an, these two concepts have been deepened into "righteousness" and "unrighteousness", respectively.
4. The above stress on the "many" and the "few" contains an allusion to the progressive diminution, in the historical sense, of the element of excellence in men s faith and ethical achievements. (See also note 16 on verses 39-40.)
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
بِأَكوابٍ وَأَباريقَ وَكَأسٍ مِن مَعينٍ
with goblets, and ewers, and cups filled with water from unsullied springs6
6. This is evidently a symbolic allusion to the imperishable quality - the eternal youthfulness, as it were - of all the experiences in the state described as "paradise". (See also next two notes.)
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
وَلَحمِ طَيرٍ مِمّا يَشتَهونَ
and with the flesh of any fowl that they may desire.7
7. Regarding this and any other Quranic description of the joys of paradise, see 32:17 and, in particular, the corresponding note 15. The famous hadith quoted in that note must be kept in mind when reading any Quranic reference to the state or quality of human life in the hereafter.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
وَحورٌ عينٌ
And [with them will be their] companions pure, most beautiful of eye,8
8. The noun hur - rendered by me as "companions pure" - is a plural of both ahwar (masc.) and hawra (fem.), either of which describes "a person distinguished by hawar", which latter term primarily denotes "intense whiteness of the eyeballs and lustrous black of the iris" (Qamus). In a more general sense, hawar signifies simply "whiteness" (Asas) or, as a moral qualification, "purity" (cf. Tabari, Razi and Ibn Kathir in their explanations of the term hawariyyun in 3:52 ). Hence, the compound expression hur'in signifies, approximately, "pure beings [or, more specifically, "companions pure"], most beautiful of eye" (which latter is the meaning of in, the plural of a'yan). In his comments on the identical expression in 52:20, Razi observes that inasmuch as a person's eye reflects his soul more clearly than any other part of the human body, in may be understood as "rich of soul" or "soulful". As regards the term hur in its more current, feminine connotation, quite a number of the earliest Qur'an-commentators - among them Al-Hasan al-Basri - understood it as signifying no more and no less than "the righteous among the women of the human kind" (Tabari) - "[even] those toothless old women of yours whom God will resurrect as new beings" (Al-Hasan, as quoted by Razi in his comments on 44:54). See in this connection also note 46 on 38:52.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
وَأَصحابُ اليَمينِ ما أَصحابُ اليَمينِ
NOW AS FOR those who have attained to righteousness - what of those who have attained to righteousness?10
10. Lit., "those on the right hand". According to some commentators, it is those who had not always been "foremost in faith and good works", but have gradually, after erring and sinning, attained to righteousness (Razi). However, though they may not have been as perfect in life as the "foremost", their ultimate achievement brings them to the same state of spiritual fulfillment as those others.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
وَفُرُشٍ مَرفوعَةٍ
And [with them will be their] spouses, raised high:13
13. Or: "[they will rest on] couches raised high". The rendering adopted by me is regarded as fully justified by some of the most outstanding commentators (e.g., Baghawi, Zamakhshari , Razi, Baydawi, etc.), and this for two reasons: firstly, because in the classical Arabic idiom, the term firash (lit., "bed" or "couch") is often used tropically to denote "wife" or "husband" (Raghib; also Qamus, Taj al-'Arus, etc.); and, secondly, because of the statement in the next verse that God "shall have brought them (hunna) into being in a life renewed". (In the context of this interpretation, Zamakhshari quotes also 36:56, which thus refers to the inmates of paradise: " in happiness will they and their spouses on couches recline". There is no doubt that the "spouses raised high" - i.e., to the status of the blest - are identical with the hur mentioned in verse 22 above as well as in 44:54, 52:20 and 55:72.
14. Lit., "and We shall have made them virgins". According to a number of authentic Traditions (quoted in full by Tabari and Ibn Kathir), the Prophet stated on several occasions that all righteous women, however old and decayed they may have been on earth, will be resurrected as virginal maidens and will, like their male counterparts, remain eternally young in paradise.
15. I.e., equal in dignity with all other inmates of paradise. As regards the term atrab (sing. tirb), rendered above - as well as in 38:52 and 78:33 - as "well-matched", there is no doubt that it primarily denotes "[persons] of equal age" (a meaning adopted by most of the commentators); however, as pointed out by all philological authorities, this term is also used in the sense of "[persons] equal in quality", that is, "well-matched": a significance which, to my mind, is eminently appropriate here inasmuch as it is meant to stress the equal excellence of all who have attained to righteousness, whether they be men or women; or, alternatively, the equal attraction towards one another and, thus, a mutual fulfillment of their spiritual and emotional needs; or both of the above meanings.
16. In contrast with "the foremost", who have always been "drawn close unto God" - and of whom there are less and less as time goes on (see note 4 above) - there will always be many of those who attain to righteousness after initial stumbling and sinning (see note 10.).
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
عَلىٰ أَن نُبَدِّلَ أَمثالَكُم وَنُنشِئَكُم في ما لا تَعلَمونَ
from changing the nature of your existence22 and bringing you into being [anew] in a manner [as yet] unknown to you.
22. Lit., "changing your likenesses (amthal)". However, the term mathal signifies also, tropically, the state, condition and the qualities (sifat) of a thing or person - in brief, "the nature of his [or its] existence".
Is it you who have brought into being the tree that serves as its fuel23 - or are We the cause of its coming into being?
23. Lit., "its tree": a metonym pointing to the plant-origin, direct or indirect, of almost all the known fuels, including mineral fuels like coal, which is but petrified wood, or petroleum, which is a liquefied residue of plant-nourished organisms buried in the earth for millions of years.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
نَحنُ جَعَلناها تَذكِرَةً وَمَتاعًا لِلمُقوينَ
It is We who have made it a means to remind [you of Us],24 and a comfort for all who are lost and hungry in the wilderness [of their lives].25
24. Inasmuch as "fire" (in the widest sense of this word) is the source of all light known to man, it is apt to remind him that "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" (see 24:35 and the corresponding notes).
25. The participial noun muqw is derived from the verb qawiya, "it became deserted" or "desolate". From the same root is derived the noun qawa (or qiwa), which signifies "desert", "wilderness" or "wasteland" as well as "hunger" or "starvation". Hence, muqw denotes "one who is hungry" as well as "one who is lost [or "who wanders"] in a deserted place". In the above verse this expression is evidently used tropically, for it is difficult to imagine that, as some commentators assume, it relates merely to "wayfarers in the desert". My composite rendering of al-muqwin as "all who are lost and hungry in the wilderness", on the other hand, is literal and tropical at the same time, inasmuch as it describes people who are lonely, unfortunate and confused, and who hunger after human warmth and spiritual light.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
فَلا أُقسِمُ بِمَواقِعِ النُّجومِ
NAY, I call to witness the coming-down in parts [of this Qur'an]26
26. Or: "the setting [or "orbiting"] of the stars". The term mawqi (of which mawaqi' is the plural) denotes the "time [or "place" or "manner"] at which something comes down". Although many of the commentators think that the phrase mawaqi an-nujum relates to the break-up of the stars at the Last Hour, Ibn Abbas, lkrimah and As-Suddi were definitely of the opinion, strongly supported by the subsequent verses, that this phrase refers to the step-by-step revelation - or "coming-down in parts (nujum )" - of the Qur'an (cf. Tabari and Ibn Kathir; see also note 1 on 53:1). By "calling to witness" the gradual manner of its revelation, the Qur'an points implicitly to the astounding fact that it has remained free of all inconsistencies and inner contradictions (cf. 4:82 and the corresponding note 97) despite all the dramatic changes in the Prophet's life during the twenty-three years of the "unfolding" of the divine writ: and this explains, too, the subsequent parenthetic clause (verse 76).
27. I.e., which only the pure of heart can truly understand and derive benefit from. As for the preceding reference to "a well-guarded [i.e., incorruptible] divine writ" (kitab maknun), see 85:21 and the corresponding note 11.
Surah: Al-Waqi'a (الواقعة) Number: 56 Order: 46 Type: Meccan Note: Except 81 and 82, from Medina
فَلَولا إِذا بَلَغَتِ الحُلقومَ
Why, then,29 when [the last breath] comes up to the throat [of a dying man],
29. The elliptic implication is: "If, then, as you claim, you are really independent of any Supreme Power, why do you not, etc., thus connecting with verses 57-74.
32. Lit., "a truth of certainty", i.e., a truth most certain. The pronoun "this" in the above sentence relates not merely to the announcement of resurrection and life after death, but also - and primarily - to the stress on man's utter dependence on God.