43. Sura Al-Zukhruf

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا السَّاعَةَ أَن تَأْتِيَهُم بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ ﴿٦٦﴾

43: 66. Do they only wait for the Hour --

that it should come on them all of a sudden, while they perceive not?

C4665. Cf. 12:107.

What is there to wait for?

The Hour of Judgment may come at any moment. It will come all of a sudden before they realise that it is on them. They should make up their minds to give up misleading disputations and come to the Straight Path.

الْأَخِلَّاء يَوْمَئِذٍ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ إِلَّا الْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿٦٧﴾

43: 67. Friends on that Day will be foes, one to another,

except the Righteous.

C4666. The hatred and spite, which are associated with evil, will be felt with peculiar intensity in that period of agony. That itself would be a punishment, from which the righteous will be free. The righteous will have passed all perils of falling into wrong frames of mind.

يَا عِبَادِ ...

43: 68. My devotees!

C4667. The devotion and service to Allah result in the soul being made free from all fear and sorrow, as regards the past, present, and future, if we may take an analogy from Time for a timeless state. Such devotion and service are shown by

- believing in Allah's Signs, which means understanding and accepting His Will, and

- by merging our will completely in His universal Will, which means being in tune with the Infinite, and acting in all things to further His Kingdom.

... لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ وَلَا أَنتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ ﴿٦٨﴾

no fear shall be on you that Day, nor shall ye grieve --

Asad’s Version:

43:66

ARE THEY [who are lost in sin] but waiting for the Last Hour - [waiting] that it come upon them of a sudden, without their being aware [of its approach]?

(43:67) On that Day, [erstwhile] friends will be foes unto one another 52 - [all] save the God-conscious.

43:68

[And God will say:] "O you servants of Mine! No fear need you have today, and neither shall you grieve –