5222 The Event Inevitable is the Hour of Judgement. People may doubt now whether it will come. But when it comes, as it will come, suddenly upon them, it will come with such tremendous reality that it will be burnt deep into the experience of every soul. No one can then be deceived or entertain false notions about it.

5223 There will be a sorting out of Good and Evil. Or rather, (verse 7 below), there will be three main classes. Among the Good there will be the specially exalted class, those nearest to Allah ( al muqarrabun, 56:11-26 ), and the righteous people generally, called the Companions of the Right Hand (Ashab al maymanah, 56:27-40 ). And there will be those in agony, the Companions of the Left Hand (Ashab al mash'amah. 56:41-56 ). Many who were high and mighty in this life will be brought low for their sins, and many who were lowly but virtuous will be exalted to various ranks and degrees. The old landmarks will be lost in the inner world, as they will be in the outer world.

5224 The old physical world will disappear in the New Creation.

5225 See n. 5223 above.

5226 Foremost (in Faith): There are two meanings, and both are implied. (1) Those who have reached the highest degree in spiritual understanding, such as the great prophets and teachers of mankind, will also take precedence in the Hereafter. (2) Those who are the first in time-the quickest and readiest-to accept Allah's Message-will have the first place in the Kingdom of Heaven . Verses 8, 9 and 10 mention the three main categories or classifications after Judgement. In the subsequent verses their happiness or misery are symbolised. This category, Foremost in Faith, is nearest to Allah.

5227 See n. 5223 above. Nearness to Allah is the test of the highest Bliss, (see also n. 3779 ). (R).

5228 Of great Prophets and Teachers there were many before the time of the Prophet Muhammad. As he was the last of the Prophets, he and the great Teachers under his Dispensation will be comparatively fewer in number, but their teaching is the sum and flower of all mankind's spiritual experience.

5229 Cf. 15:47 ; 37:44 , 52:20 , and 88:13 . [Eds.].

5230 But they will not be separate each in his own corner. They will face each other. For they are all one, and their mutual society will be part of their Bliss.

5231 Cf. 52:24 . and n. 5058 . The youth and freshness with which the attendants will serve is a symbol of true service such as we may expect in the spiritual world. That freshness will be perpetual and not subject to any moods, or chances, or changes.

5232 The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul are typified by all that is best in the feasts in this imperfect world, but there will be none of the disadvantages incident to such feasts in this world, such as satiety, aches, excess, a sense of exhaustion, or loss of senses, etc. Cf. 37:47 , and n. 4063 . A goblet is a bowl without handles; a beaker has a "lip" and a stem; "cup" is a general term.

5233 Cf. 44:54 , and n. 4729 . The companionship of Beauty and Grace is one of the highest pleasures of life. In this bodily life it takes bodily form. In the higher life it takes a higher form. (R).

5234 Cf. 52:24 , where this description is applied to the youths who serve. See also n. 5058 there. In 56:78 below the adjective maknun is applied to the Qur'an, "the well-guarded Book".

5235 Cf. 52:23 . Apart from the physical ills, worldly feasts or delights are apt to suffer from vain or frivolous discourse, idle boasting, foolish flattery, or phrases pointed with secret venom or moral mischief. The negation of these from spiritual Bliss follows as a matter of course, but it is specially insisted on to guard against the perversities of human nature, which likes to read ill into the best that can be put in words.

5236 Qil is best translated "saying", rather than "word". For the saying is an act, a thought, a fact, which may be embodied in a word, but which goes far beyond the word. The "Peace of Allah" is an atmosphere which sums up Heaven even better than "Bliss".

5237 Lote trees: see 34:16 n. 3814 . (R).

5238 Talk: some understand by this the plantain or banana tree, of which the fruit is borne in bunches, one tier above another; but the banana tree does not grow in Arabia and its ordinary Arabic name is Mawz; perhaps it is better to understand a special kind of Acacia tree, which flowers profusely, the flowers appearing in tiers one above another.

5239 As it is not like earthly fruit, its season is not limited, nor is there any prohibition by law or custom or circumstance as to when or how it is to be consumed. (R).

5240 The pronoun in Arabic is in the feminine gender, but lest grosser ideas of sex should intrude, it is made clear that these Companions for heavenly society will be of special creation-of virginal purity, grace, and beauty inspiring and inspired by love, with the question of time and age eliminated. Thus every person among the Righteous will have the Bliss of Heaven and the Peace of Allah.

5241 This class-the righteous-will be a large company in Heaven, belonging to all the ages of the world. Cf. n. 5228 to 56:13 above. Such is the unbounded Bounty of Allah,

5242 Notice the parallelism in the contrast between those in Bliss and those in Misery. The allegory in each case pursues the idea of contrast, and the allegories about Misery lose nothing by their terse brevity. The fierce Blast of Fire and the Boiling Water are in contrast to the happy Lote tree and the flowers and fruits in verses 28-29 above.

5243 Even the Shades get a different quality in the Abode of Misery: shades of black smoke in contrast to the cool and refreshing long extended shades of trees by brooks in verses 30-31 above.

5244 Cf. 34:34 , and 43:23 . We must read verses 45-46 together. They had wealth and the good things of life, but they used them in self-indulgence and shameless crime, and now they are in humiliation.

5244-A Wickedness supreme: i.e., their associating others with Allah in His divinity. [Eds.].

5245 Their want of belief and ridicule of Allah's Message contrasts with the stern reality which they see around them now.

5246 In 26:38 (see n. 3159 ) the phrase a day well-known is used for a solemn day of festival, when the multitude of people gather together. The Day of Judgement is such a day in the supreme sense of the word.

5247 This is the Cursed Tree mentioned in 17:60 , where see n. 2250 . Cf. also 37:62 . n. 4072 ; and 44:43-46 and n. 4722 .

5248 A terrible picture of Misery in contrast to the Companionship of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, on Thrones of Dignity, for the Companions of the Right Hand, in verses 34-38 above.

5249 Man is apt to forget his Creator, and even the fact that he, man, is a created being. The seed of his body, out of which his physical life starts, is not created by man, but by Allah in the process of the unfoldment of the world. Why will not man recognise and bear witness of this fact by a life of obedience to Allah's Law?

5250 Just as Allah has created this life that we see, so He has decreed that Death should be the common lot of all of us. Surely, if He can thus give life and death, as we see it, why should we refuse to believe that He can give us other forms when this life is over? The Future Life, though indicated by what we know now, is to be on a wholly different plane. (R).

5251 Having appealed to our own nature within us, He appeals now to the external nature around us, which should be evidence to us (1) of His loving care for us, and (2) of its being due to causes other than those which we produce and control. Three examples are given: (1) the seed which we sow in the soil; it is Allah's processes in nature, which make it grow; (2) the water which we drink; it is Allah's processes in nature, that send it down from the clouds as rain, and distribute it through springs and rivers; (3) the fire which we strike; it is again a proof of Allah's Plan and Wisdom in nature.

5252 The Cultivator contracts debts for seed and gives labour for ploughing, swing, watering, and weeding, in the hope of reaping a harvest. Should he not give thanks to Allah when his harvest is in?

5253 The mystery of the two streams of water, one sweet and the other salt, constantly mingling, and yet always separate, is referred to more than once. The never-ending circuit is established by streams and rivers mingling with the ocean, the ocean sending forth mists and steam through a process of evaporation which forms clouds, and the clouds by condensation pouring forth rain to feed the streams and rivers again: see notes n. 3111-3112 to 25:53 , and n. 5185 to 55:19 , and the further references given there.

5254 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.

5255 Fire is a fit memorial of Allah's handiwork in nature. It is also an emblem of man's earliest civilisation. 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 its 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 .

5256 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 traveller on the way. Lighthouses at sea and beacons in modern aerodromes serve the same purpose for mariners and airmen. Another parable about fire will be found in 2:17-18 , and n. 38 .

5257 Seeing all these Signs in nature and their symbolical meaning in the spiritual world, man must turn to Allah and do His Will.

5258 The setting of the Stars: a number of mystic meanings are attached. Here are three. (1) Cf. 43:1 and n. 5085 ; the setting of a glorious star is a symbol of humility before the power, beauty, and goodness of Allah. (2) It may refer to the extinction of the stars at the Day of Judgement, betokening the establishment of Allah's Justice and the Truth of His Revelation. (3) What is bright or beautiful to our senses may disappear from our ken within a few hours, even though its own existence may continue. All light is relative except the Light of Allah.

5259 The glory of the firmament as it exists, and the wonder of its passing away, are both evidence, to the discerning mind, of the Future which Allah has prepared, but this evidence can only be effective if men "but knew", i.e., turned their earnest attention to it.

5260 Your attention is drawn to the momentous issues of the Future by the Qur'an. It is a Revelation described by four characteristics. (1) It is most honourable, karim, which implies, besides the fact that it is worthy of receiving honour, that it confers great favours on those who receive it. (2) It is well-guarded, maknun; precious in itself, and well-preserved in its purity; see n. 5234 to 56:23 ; see also 15:9 , and n. 1944 . (3) None but the clean shall touch it-clean in body, mind, thought, intention, and soul; only such can achieve real contact with its full meaning. (4) It is a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds, and therefore universal for all.

5261 The Message being such as is described in the last note, how can anyone ignore it or treat it with contempt or refuse to allow it to improve his life?

5262 The worst indictment of an enemy of Revelation would be that he should make Falsehood a source of filthy lucre for himself, or that he should let his precious life be corrupted by such unholy occupation.

5263 There is a hiatus after why do ye not?-and two parenthetical clauses-after which the clause why do ye not? is resumed again in verse 86 below, with its complement in verse 87 . It is permissible to the translator to add some such word as intervene here, to make the translation run smoothly.

5264 The dying man's friends, relatives and companions may be sitting round him and quite close to him in his last moments, but Allah is nearer still at all times for He is nearer than the man's own jugular vein ( 50:16 ), and one of Allah's own titles is "Ever Near" ( 34:50 ).

5265 These words resume the sentence begun at verse 83 above and interrupted by the two parenthetical clauses in verses 84 and 85. See n. 5263 above.

5266 The sentence may now be briefly paraphrased. 'If you disbelieve in Revelation and a future Judgement, and claim to do what you like and be independent of Allah, how is it you cannot call back a dying man's soul to his body when all of you congregate round him at his death-bed? But you are not independent of Judgement. There is a Day of Accounts, when you will have to be judged by your deeds in this life.'

5267 See above, 56:11-26 and notes.

5268 Rayhan: sweet-smelling plants, as in 55:12 . Here used as symbolical of complete Satisfaction and Delight.

5269 See above, 56:27-38 and notes.

5270 In 56:26 above the salutation of "Peace, Peace!" is addressed to those Nearest to Allah. Here we learn that it is also addressed to the Companions of the Right Hand. Both are in Gardens of Bliss: only the former have a higher Dignity than the latter.

5271 Cf. above 56:51-55 .

5272 "The assurance of the Hereafter" is one of the strongest features of Faith. For without it the apparent inequalities and injustices of this Life cannot be satisfactorily explained.

5273 Cf. 56:74 above. That was the conclusion of the argument about the Future from the examples of Allah's goodness in nature. Now we have the conclusion of the same argument from Allah's revelation through His inspired Messengers.