22. Sura al-Hajj

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ...  

22: 1.     O mankind!

fear your Lord!

...إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ ﴿١﴾

For the convulsion of the Hour (of Judgment) will be a thing terrible!

C2770. The serious issues involved are indicated by showing how terrible the consequences will be for those who disobey Allah's Will.

The terror will only be for those who rebel and disobey: the righteous will not suffer from it, but on the contrary will be greeted by angels with joy (21:103).

يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْضَعَتْ...  

22: 2.     The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling-babe,

...وَتَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا ...

and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed):

...وَتَرَى النَّاسَ سُكَارَى...

thou shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot,

C2771. Three metaphors are used for the extreme terror which the Awful Day will inspire,

1.     No mother abandons the baby at her breast in the greatest danger; yet that will happen in this Dreadful Hour.

2.     An expectant mother carries the young life within her with great pride and hope: yet the terror will overpower the hope at this "Hour", and nature's working will be reversed,

3.     Men ordinarily retain their self-possession except under intoxication: here, without intoxication, they will be driven to frenzy with terror.]]

...

Asad’s Version:

22:1 [al-Hajj, Mecca]

O MEN! Be conscious of your Sustainer: for, verily, the violent convulsion of the Last Hour will be an awesome thing!

(22:2) On the Day when you behold it, every woman that feeds a child at her breast will utterly forget her nursling, and every woman heavy with child will bring forth her burden [before her time]; and it will seem to thee that all mankind is drunk, 1

although they will not be drunk - but vehement will be [their dread of] God's chastisement. 2

[[ Asad’s note - 1 Lit., "thou shalt see [or "behold"] mankind drunk", i.e., behaving as if they were drunk. The illusory, purely subjective character of this "seeing" - implied in the use of the singular

form tara ("thou shalt see") after the plural "you" employed in the first clause of this verse - justifies the rendering "it will seem to thee that...", etc.

2 My interpolation of the words "their dread of" is based on the statement in 21 : 103 that, as far as the righteous are concerned, "the supreme awesomeness [of the Day of Resurrection] will cause them no rief despite the dread with which it will overwhelm every human being. ]]