الغاشية

See 1:1.

12:108.

Important Words:

الغاشیه (Overwhelming Calamity) is derived from غشی. They say غشیه i.e. it covered or overwhelmed him. غشی اللیل means, the night was dark. غاشیة means, an overwhelming calamity; a terrific misery (Lane).

Commentary:

The reference in the verse may be to the Judgement Day or to a terrific calamity that overtakes a people in this life, on account of their misdeeds. The severe famine that held Mecca in its grip for about seven years in the time of the Holy Prophet has also been referred to in the Quran as غاشیة (44:11-12). It was indeed a terrific calamity for the Meccans.

68:44; 75:25; 80:41-42.

Commentary:

وجوه meaning 'chiefs' or 'leaders' of men; the verse signifies that on the Day of Reckoning the great leaders of disbelief will be debased and humiliation will be writ large on their faces.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that all the endeavours of the leaders of disbelief against Islam will be wasted as they will fail to arrest or retard its progress.

87:13; 101:12.

47:16; 55:45.

Important Words:

ضریع (dry, bitter and thorny herbage) is derived from ضرع i.e. he (kid) took with his mouth the udder. This seems to be regarded by some as the primary signification of the word. All the three forms, viz. dara‘a & dari‘a & daru‘a mean, he was or became weak. ضریع means, a bad sort of pasture by which cattle do not become fat or fresh and which renders their condition bad; a certain dry, bitter, thorny plant (Lane).

Commentary:

Vv. 3-8 signify that the enemies of Islam will try hard to check its progress. But all their efforts will prove abortive. Before their very eyes the tender plant of Islam will grow into a mighty tree and their own power and glory will depart. Their sons and grandsons will enter the fold of Islam, and they will be consumed with rage and will burn in the fire of envy at seeing it spread fast; utter humiliation and ignominy will be their lot; they will be given hot water to drink and to eat which, instead of giving them nourishment or slaking their thirst and satisfying their hunger, will add to their weakness and hasten the withering away of their bodies—they will be utterly deprived of peace of mind, and calamities will overwhelm them in varying forms.

75:23.

Commentary:

The righteous believers will be well pleased with the marvellous results of the sacrifices they had made for the cause of Islam.

69:23.

56:26; 78:36.

56:32.

Commentary:

Like a running spring their beneficence and goodness will flow unceasingly.

43:72.

Commentary:

The Surah contains a contrast between the heavenly rewards that the righteous will receive and the severe punishment which will be meted out to the sinful for rejecting the Divine Message. The construction of this and the preceding eight verses shows that Muslims collectively will share in the gifts and rewards mentioned in them.

Important Words:

الابل (camels) used as plural means, camels; a herd of camels; clouds (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse means that the believers, like camels, going straight in a line all behind the one that leads them, give unquestioning obedience to their Leader. Or like camels which can go on for days without water in the hot sandy desert of Arabia, the believers have infinite patience under trials and go on their spiritual journey without complaining.

ابل as meaning clouds, the verse would signify that God will spread the teachings of the Quran which is spiritual water over the whole of the earth.

13:3; 55:8.

Commentary:

And just as the heaven has been raised high, so will the Holy Prophet, the spiritual heaven, be exalted. Or the verse may mean that just as God has placed the sun, the moon, the stars and planets in the physical heaven and through them He sustains the physical world, so will the spiritual sun (the Holy Prophet), the spiritual moon (the Promised Messiah), the spiritual planets and stars (Muslim divines) sustain the spiritual world.