RENAISSANCE MAY 2023

Qur’ ā nic Exegesis 26 | Monthly Renaissance May 2023 a great cataclysm will ensue but no one will know from where the sound is coming. ﴿ ` ًۡﻳﺘﺨﺎﻓﺘﻮنﺑﻴﻨﻬﻢ نﻟﺒﺜﺘﻢ ﻵﻹﻋ $ۡۡ $ $ ' ) ) & &ۡ ) $ 'ۡ & $ $ $ۡۡ $ $ $ ' ١٠٣﴾ 20 The verse implies that today these people have absolutely no fear of the Day of Judgement. In the first place they think that it is improbable. If they believe in it to any extent, they ignore it thinking that life, then death, then barzakh and then the hereafter are so far off that there is no need to worry about it and spoil the pleasures of this life. Today they may regard it to be far-fetched but when it will come, they whisper about the time of their stay in this world. I have explained at another place that people will have no awareness of their time in barzakh when they rise on the day of Judgement. They will think that they had just slept and have now awakened. As for the life of this world, as long as a person lives through it, he keeps thinking that he has a lot of time left. However, when death stares him in the eye, at that time he thinks that what he thought to be a long span turned out to be so brief. This is especially true about a life spent in indifference: it seems like a dream from which one has woken up. It is on this indifference that the Qur’ ā n has warned about here: it is not how a person feels here because that is a total deception; the real feeling will be the one when the truth comes before a person. ﻘﺔ نﻟﺒﺜﺘﻢ ﻵﻹﻳﻮﻣﺎ﴿ s ® ﻘﻮل ﻣﺜﻠﻬﻢ s ﻘﻮﻟﻮن ذ s ًۡۡۡۡۡﻧﺤﻦ ﻋﻠﻢﺑﻤﺎ $ $ ' ) ) )ۡۡ & & &ۡ ) ) $ ' $ًۡ $ $ & $ۡ $ $ & $ &ۡۡ &ۡ & $ $ $ ) $ & ١٠٤﴾ 21 The implication of this verse is that no one should think that details of what will happen on the Day of Judgement the Almighty is informing them of are baseless and are being presented to strike awe in their hearts. All this is destined to happen. The word ۡﻣﺜﻞ $ۡ $ means “better and superior.” Here it is used sarcastically. In other words, this would be the statement of the person considered the most clever and superior among them. 20. They will be secretly saying to one another: “You must have hardly stayed for ten days.” 21. We very well know what they will say when the most clever among them will say: “At most, you have must have stayed for a day.”