56.

Sura Waqi’a (The Inevitable Event)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

When the Event Inevitable (Hour of Judgement) will come, it will

come with such tremendous reality that it will be burnt deep into the
experience of every soul. No one can then be deceived or entertain false
notions about it. There will be a sorting of Good and Evil, abasing some,
exalting others. When the earth is shaken with a shock and the hills are ground
to powder and become a scattered dust. People will be divided in 32 main
classes. Among the Good, there will be the specially exalted class, those
nearest to God (muqarrabu), and the righteous people generally called the
Companions of the Right Hand (Ashab-ul-maimana). And these will be those
in agony, the Companions of the Left Hand (Ashab-ul-mash-ama). Many who
were high and mighty in the life will brought low for their sins, and many who
were lowly but virtuous will be exalted to various ranks and degrees. Those
Foremost in Faith will be Foremost in the Hereafter, i.e. nearest to God. They
such be in the Gardens of Bliss. A number of people from those of olden times
and comparatively fewer from the later times, will be on Thrones encrusted
with gold and precious stones, reclining, facing each other. They will be
served by attendants whose freshness and youth will remain perpetual. They
shall be served, in shining bowls and cups, out of clear-flowing fountains.
Wherefrom they get no aching of the head nor any sort of madness. For them
there will be various fruits and flesh of fowls for them to select and eat
according to their will and wish. For them their will be companions of beauty,
grace and big lustrous eyes. These shall be their rewards for the deeds of their
past life. There shall be no frivolous discourse, idle boasting, foolish flattery
or moral mischief. Only the saying of “peace”, “peace” will be heard. This
shall be the life in Hereafter of the people nearest to God (muqarrabun). The
second class of people are the companions of the Right Hand. These people
shall be among the trees with flowers, fruits and the rivers flowing constantly
by the side. They shall be sitting high on the thrones and will have fair
companions, virgins and equal in age. The third group, i.e. Left Hand group
shall be in the midst of a fierce Blast of Fire and in Boiling Water and in the
shades of Black Smoke. There shall be nothing for them to refresh or to please
as are the wicked people. They never acknowledged that they, people before
them and the people who will come after them will be out of their graves on
the Day of Requital, to account before God for their wordly deeds. These
people treated truth as falsehood. Now for them is the tree of Zaqqum to eat
(very bitter) and boiling water to quench their thirst. They will drink this water
just like diseased camels raging with thirst. This shall be their entertainment
on the Day of Requital. It is He Who has created you. Will you then admit the
truth? You do not realize that the human seed which you throw out (out of
which the physical body develops), is created by the Creator into a human
body. He then assign day of death to it passing through different forms to the
ultimate. You clearly know the first form of your creation. Why then you do
not celebrate His praises? The seed which you sow in the ground, is it you
grow it into a plant or We grow it? If He wishes, it will crumble down to
powder and you be left guessing as to what happened to it. This will leave you
in debts and all your labour going to waste. It is He who causes rain to fall and
you drink. Do you bring it down from the clouds or your Lord? If He wishes
He may make it salty. He has created fire by which you have many uses. It is
God’s handiwork in nature, a symbol of physical comfort for mankind. Seeing
all these Signs in nature and their symbolical meaning in the spiritual world,
man must turn to God, the Supreme, and to His Will. Furthermore, turn your
earnest attention to the setting of the stars (i.e. what is bright or beautiful to
our senses may disappear from our ken within a few hours even though its
own existence may continue. All light is relative except the Light of God.). O
Prophet, you celebrate the praises of your Lord: You have been given Quran, a
Book of Honour, well guarded and which only clean persons can touch. The
Revelation is such that no one can ignore it or treat it with contempt. You
could not see that God is more near a dying person than yourselves. Call back
the soul if you can. If you disbelieve in the Message and a future Judgement,
and claim to do what you like and be independent of God, how is it you cannot
call back a dying man’s soul to his body when all of you congregate around
him at his death-bed? But you are not independent of Jugement. There is a
Day of Account for every soul. Thus, then, there is for him rest and
satisfaction and a Garden of Delights if he is one of those who are Nearest to
God (muqarrabun). If he be of the companions of the Right Hand, for him is
the salutation “peace be unto thee” from the companions of the Right Hand. If
he is one of those who treat Truth as Falsehood and go wrong, for him awaits
the Fire and the Boiling Water. This is the very Truth and Certainty. So,
celebrate the Praises of your Lord, The Supreme.