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اَلْغَاشِيَةِ
The Pall

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ۔

هَلْ اَتٰىكَ حَدِيْثُ الْغَاشِيَةِ۔ؕ وُجُوْهٌ يَّوْمَىِٕذٍ خَاشِعَةٌ۔ عَامِلَةٌ نَّاصِبَةٌ۔ تَصْلٰى نَارًا حَامِيَةً۔ تُسْقٰى مِنْ عَيْنٍ اٰنِيَةٍ۔ؕ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ اِلَّا مِنْ ضَرِيْعٍ۔ لَّا يُسْمِنُ وَ لَا يُغْنِيْ مِنْ جُوْعٍ۔ؕ وُجُوْهٌ يَّوْمَىِٕذٍ نَّاعِمَةٌ۔ لِّسَعْيِهَا رَاضِيَةٌ۔ فِيْ جَنَّةٍ عَالِيَةٍ۔ لَّا تَسْمَعُ فِيْهَا لَاغِيَةً۔ؕ فِيْهَا عَيْنٌ جَارِيَةٌ۔ فِيْهَا سُرُرٌ مَّرْفُوْعَةٌ۔ وَّ اَكْوَابٌ مَّوْضُوْعَةٌ۔ وَّ نَمَارِقُ مَصْفُوْفَةٌ۔ وَّ زَرَابِيُّ مَبْثُوْثَةٌ۔ؕ اَفَلَا يَنْظُرُوْنَ اِلَى الْاِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ۔ؕ وَ اِلَى السَّمَآءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ۔ؕ وَ اِلَى الْجِبَالِ كَيْفَ نُصِبَتْ۔ؕ وَ اِلَى الْاَرْضِ كَيْفَ سُطِحَتْ۔ؕ فَذَكِّرْ ؕ اِنَّمَآ اَنْتَ مُذَكِّرٌ۔ؕ لَسْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِمُصَ٘يْطِرٍ۔ اِلَّا مَنْ تَوَلّٰى وَ كَفَرَ۔ فَيُعَذِّبُهُ اللّٰهُ الْعَذَابَ الْاَكْبَرَ۔ؕ اِنَّ اِلَيْنَآ اِيَابَهُمْ۔ ثُمَّ اِنَّ عَلَيْنَا حِسَابَهُمْ۔

In the name of God—the most compassionate, the most merciful.

Has the story of the Pall ever reached you? Some faces will be downcast on that day, laboring, toiling. They will roast in a scorching fire; offered a boiling spring to drink from, they will have no food except some cactus which will neither fatten (them) nor satisfy their hunger. 

Other faces will be blissful on that day, pleased with their effort, (dwelling) in a lofty garden. No loose talk will be heard in it. There will be a flowing spring there; by it couches will be raised up, glasses set in place, cushions lined up and carpets spread around. 

Do they not consider how camels have been created? Nor how the sky has been lifted up? Nor how the mountains have been erected? Nor even how the earth has been flattened out? 

So remind: you need only to remind! You are no taskmaster set up over them, except for someone who turns away and disbelieves; God will punish him with the worst torment. Toward Us lies their retreat; then their reckoning will fall on Us.

Here Muhammad’s divine charge or prophetic commission is announced. The chapter gives a clear picture of the final Judgment and its ultimate reward. It ends somewhat like the passage “to the hills around do I lift up my longing eyes” found in Psalm 121.

Man observes that a serviceable animal like the camel is obedient to him. The sky in all its majesty is well disposed towards him. The earth, without any effort on our part, is subservient to our interests. All these phenomena remind a thoughtful man of God and the Hereafter. Those who derive the nourishment of remembrance from these arrangements of the world have established their entitlement to God’s eternal bounties, while those who have remained lost in forgetfulness and neglect, have proved that they deserve to be deprived of every kind of bounty—forever.

Calling people to God aims at exhorting people through peaceful persuasion, to make them realize their Creator, the one and only God; to understand the purpose of their creation; the coming of the Hereafter, of their accountability to their Creator, etc.

The purpose of this exhortation is to awaken souls from their slumber. It is to put a lost person on to the right path leading towards God. It is to awaken man’s insight so that he begins to see glimpses of God in the signs of the vast universe. It is to unveil the Creator in the mirror of His creation.