67 Al-Mulk (Dominion)
Mecca 77
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ ...
67: 6. For those who reject their Lord (and Cherisher) ...
C5563. We have seen how the fire in the stars can suggest the beauty and order of the external world-, and yet, when it meets with resistance and disharmony, it can burn and destroy. So in the moral and spiritual world. What can be a greater sign of evil, disharmony, and rebellion than to reject the Cherisher and Sustainer, on Whom our life depends, and from Whom we receive nothing but goodness?
The Punishment, then, is Fire in its fiercest intensity, as typified in the next two verses.
... عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿٦﴾
... is the Penalty of Hell: and evil is (such) destination.
إِذَا أُلْقُوا فِيهَا سَمِعُوا لَهَا شَهِيقًا وَهِيَ تَفُورُ ﴿٧﴾
67: 7. When they are cast therein, they will hear the (terrible) drawing in of its breath even as it blazes forth.
C5564. For shahiq see n. 1607 to 11:106.
There shahiq (sobs) was contrasted with zafir (sighs): in the one case it is the drawing in of breath, and in the other the emission of a deep breath. Here the latter process is represented by the verb fara, to swell, to blaze forth, to gush forth.
In 11:40, the verb fara was applied to the gushing forth of the waters of the Flood; here the verb is applied to the blazing forth of the Fire of Punishment. Fire is personified: in its in-take it has a fierce appetite; in the flames which it throws out, it has a fierce aggressiveness. And yet in ultimate result evil meets the same fate, whether typified by water or fire.
تَكَادُ تَمَيَّزُ مِنَ الْغَيْظِ ...
67: 8. Almost bursting with fury:
... كُلَّمَا أُلْقِيَ فِيهَا فَوْجٌ سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌ ﴿٨﴾
every time a Group is cast therein, its Keepers will ask,
"Did no Warner come to you?"
قَالُوا بَلَى قَدْ جَاءنَا نَذِيرٌ فَكَذَّبْنَا وَقُلْنَا مَا نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ مِن شَيْءٍ ...
67: 9. They will say:
"Yes indeed: a Warner did come to us, but we rejected him and said, '
Allah never sent down any (Message):
إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ كَبِيرٍ ﴿٩﴾
ye are in nothing but an egregious delusion!' "
وَقَالُوا لَوْ كُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا كُنَّا فِي أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿١٠﴾
67: 10. They will further say:
"Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we should not (now) be among the Companions of the Blazing Fire!"
C5567. Man has himself the power given to him to distinguish good from evil, and he is further helped by the teachings of the great Messengers or World Teachers. Where such Teachers do not come into personal contact with an individual or a generation, the true meaning of their teaching can be understood by means of the Reason which Allah has given to every human soul to judge by. It is failure to follow a man's light sincerely that leads to his degradation and destruction.
67: 11. They will then confess their sins:
... فَسُحْقًا لِّأَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ﴿١١﴾
but far will be (Forgiveness) from the Companions of the Blazing Fire!
Asad’s Version:
(67:6) for, suffering in hell awaits all who are [thus] bent on blaspheming against their Sustainer: 6 and how vile a journey's end!
67:7 When they are cast into that [hell], they will hear its breath indrawing as it boils up,
(67:8) well-nigh bursting with fury; [and] every time a host [of such sinners] is flung into it, its keepers will ask them, "Has no warner ever come to you?"
(67:9) They will reply: "Yea, a warner did indeed come unto us, but we gave him the lie and said, 'Never has God sent down anything [by way of revelation] ! You [self-styled warners] are but lost in a great delusion!" 7
67:10 And they will add: "Had we but listened [to those warnings], or [at least] used our own reason, we would not [now] be among those who are destined for the blazing flame!""
(67:11) Thus will they come to realize their sins: but [by that time,] remote will have become all good from those who are destined for the blazing flame.
[[Asad’s notes - 6 I.e., by presuming to know what will happen in the future - a knowledge which rests with God alone. This connects with the statement in verse 4 that man can never truly unravel the mysteries of cosmic space ("the heavens"), which in its turn implies that he should not presume to foretell terrestrial events from the position and the aspects of the stars. Since only God knows "that which is beyond the reach of a created being's perception" (al-ghayb), any such attempt is a blasphemy (kufr).
7 Lit., "You are in nothing but a great error (dalal)" - thus denying the reality of divine revelation as such. ]]