This is a late Sura of the early Meccan period, perhaps close in date to Sura 52. Its subject matter is the contrast between the destinies of the Good and the Evil in the Hereafter, -- on the Day when the true balance will be restored: The Signs of Allah even in this life should remind us of the Day of Account, for Allah is good and just, and His creation is for a just Purpose.
C.268-(Verses 1 to 26)-Have you heard of that Tremendous Day when the Good from the Evil will be separated?
There will be Souls that Day will burn and grovel in the Blazing Fire of Wrath! No Food can fill their Hunger: No Drink, alas, can slake their fierce Thirst!
There will be Souls that Day will shout with Joy to the glory of their Lord! Their past Endeavor will now be Achievement. Raised high on Thrones of Dignity they will be Guest at the sumptuous Feast of Bliss.
Let man but look at his dominion over the beasts of the field, or his glorious Canopy of stars, or the Eternal Hills that feed his streams, or the wide expanse of Mother Earth that nurtures him, and he will see the ordered Plan of Allah. To Him must he return and give account! Let him, then, learn his Lesson and live!
88:1 SURA 88. Gashiya, or The Overwhelming Event. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Has the story reached thee, of The Overwhelming (Event)?
88:2 Some faces, that Day, will be humiliated,
88:3 Laboring (hard), weary, --
88:4 The while they enter the Blazing Fire, --
88:5 The while they are given, to drink, of a boiling hot spring,
88:6 No food will there be for them but a bitter Dhari
88:7 Which will neither nourish nor satisfy hunger.
88:8 (Other) faces that Day will be joyful,
88:9 Pleased with their Striving, --
88:10 In a Garden on high,
88:11 Where they shall hear no (word) of vanity:
88:12 Therein will be a bubbling spring:
88:13 Therein will be Thrones (of Dignity), raised on high,
88:14 Goblets placed (ready),
88:15 And Cushions set in rows,
88:16 And rich carpets (all) spread out.
88:17 Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made? --
88:18 And at the Sky, how it is raised high? --
88:19 And at the Mountains, how they are fixed firm? --
88:20 And at the Earth, how it is spread out?
88:21 Therefore do thou give admonition, for thou art one to admonish.
88:22 Thou art not one to manage (men's) affairs.
88:23 But if any turn away and reject Allah, --
88:24 Allah will punish him with a mighty Punishment.
88:25 For to Us will be their Return;
88:26 Then it will be for Us to call them to account.
