56. Surah Al-Waqiah (That Which Must Come To Pass)
Mecca Period
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ
النَّارَ الَّتِي
تُورُونَ ﴿٧١﴾
56: 71. See ye the Fire which ye kindle?
أَأَنتُمْ
أَنشَأْتُمْ
شَجَرَتَهَا
...
56: 72. Is it ye who grow the tree which feeds the fire,
C5254. The relation of Fire to Trees is intimate. In nearly all the fire that we burn, the fuel is derived from the wood of trees. Even mineral coal is nothing but the wood of prehistoric forests petrified under the earth through geological ages. Fire produced out of green trees is referred to in 36:80; and n. 4026 there gives instances.
... أَمْ نَحْنُ الْمُنشِؤُونَ ﴿٧٢﴾
or do We grow it?
نَحْنُ
جَعَلْنَاهَا
تَذْكِرَةً
...
56: 73. We have made it a memorial (of our handiwork),
C5255. Fire is a fit memorial of Allah's handiwork in nature. It is also an emblem of man’s earliest civilization. It can stand as a symbol of physical comfort and convenience to man, of the source of spiritual light, and also of the warning to Evil about the destruction.
In the same way the sower’s seed has a symbolical meaning in the preaching of the Message: see 48:29, and n. 4917:
and the Rain and the Streams of Water have a symbolical meaning; see notes 2404-5 to 18:60.
... وَمَتَاعًا لِّلْمُقْوِينَ ﴿٧٣﴾
and an article of comfort and convenience for the denizens of deserts.
C5256. Cf. 20:10 and n. 2541, where the mystic meaning of the Fire which Moses saw in the desert is explained.
Even ordinarily, a fire in a desert is a sign of human habitation; by following it you may get human society and human comfort.
A fire, or light, or beacon in many places directs a traveler or the way. Lighthouses at sea and beacons in modem aerodromes serve the same purpose for mariners and airmen.
Another parable about fire will be found in 2:17-18, and n. 38.
فَسَبِّحْ
بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ
الْعَظِيمِ
﴿٧٤﴾
56: 74. Then celebrate with praises the name of the Lord, the Supreme:
C5257. Seeing all these Signs in nature man must turn to Allah and do His Will.
Asad’s Version:
56:71 Have you ever considered the fire which you kindle?
(56:72) Is it you who have brought into being the tree that serves as its fuel 23 - or are We the cause of its coming into being?
56:73 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
(56:74)Extol, then, the limitless glory of thy Sustainer's mighty name !
Yuksel’s version
56:71 Have you noted the fire you kindle?
56:72 Did you initiate its tree, or was it We who initiated it?
56:73 We rendered it a reminder, and a useful tool for the users.
56:74 You shall glorify the name of your Lord, the Great.
[[Asad’s notes -
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.
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. ]]