shall belie its occurrence!
These two lines are among the most unforgettable opening verses of any
chapter in the Quran. They belong, of course, to the chapter of Al-
Waaqi `ah. The Arabic word 'waaqi'ah' means `event,' 'happening,' or
`occurrence'.
The revelation of this chapter took that meaning, made it definite,
and transformed it for all time into an explicit name for the end of
time - and what a name it is! For it tells us that despite all our
trepidation, doubts, or misgivings, this cataclysmic close to all life
in the world and to the world we all livein is surely coming. By the
definition of the word that names this chapter, as well as according
to its Divine promise, ready or not, this event is"happening."
But an Arabic word is not all this chapter alters. Anyone who measures
out its meanings in thechant of a still night, his heart will change,
and change utterly."If one would know the fateful tidings of the
foremost and the least of humanity, of Heaven's inhabitants and the
tenants of Hell, of this world's denizens and the dwellers of the
Hereafter, let him read the chapter of Al-Waaqi'ah." So said Masrooq,
the famed savant of the Quran from the generation that succeeded that
of the Prophet thus known as the Successors.
Truly spoken are Masrooq's words, sum¬ming up the chapterbrilliantly
in its message, capturing also the indelible impression it left upon
its Messenger, Muhammad for it is known that he remained specially
preoccupied with this chapter for the duration of his mission.
A Bridge Between
In the sequence of the Quran's gradual revelation to the Prophet the
chapter of Al-Waaqi'ah (56) came after the chapter of TaaHaa (20) and
before the chapter of Ash-Shu'araa' (26).
Both these chapters form a strong, nearly continuous exhortation to
the Prophet totwo ends: (1) To persevere in delivering Allaah's
Message, like the prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, who
preceded him—and above all, Moses whose Divine charge the Prophet's
own mission would spectacularly fulfill and to whose commission his
own was so closely linked; (2) These illustrations seek to uplift and
spur on the spirit of the Prophet up from his acute distress and out
of the profound sense of sorrow he felt for a deluded people, blindly
implacable in theiropposition to his call to no other end but
Hellfire.
Yet just before its own close, the chapter of Taa Haa turns from its
attentive account of the life-struggle of Moses first against Pharaoh,
tyrant of the earth, and then against the recalcitrant among his
delivered but soon-fallen people. Up and away it suddenly whisks us to
theshattering event of the flatteningof the earth and the ensuing
resurrection. Swiftly it summons us to the pulverized plane of the
Judgment Day, utterly leveled without curve or wave.
The chapter of Ash-Shu'araa', in a brief verse after its opening,
picksup this same theme: Forever separated in the next life are the
beliers from the believers by the most damning of Divine Judgments
gone forth in the world.
In between these two chapters and linking up their worldly themes
descends the chapter of Al-Waaqi`ah as an extended exposition spanning
the event of the end of this world and the beginning of the next. It
suspends in time, before our minds for consideration, the decisive
epoch of life we are all destined to live in the Hereafter based upon
our earthly reaction to Divine Revelation and the brotherhood of
prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, who have delivered it.
In literary terms, the chapter of Al-Waaqi'ah forms an otherworldly
interlude between the breathless scenes of life's drama and trauma
that emerge almost without intermission in the chapters of Taa Haa and
Ash-Shu'araa'. Their two narratives saturate the heart with heavy
concern for the harrowing earthly days that conspire to daunt all who
would carry the mission of the prophetsand don the mantle of Muhammad
. Yet even these anxious illustrations simply fade to insignificance
in the face of thealmost matter-of-fact case for the life to come made
by the chapter of Al-Waaqi'ah. In the idiom of the soul, the chapter
of Al-Waaqi'ah lays it all down for the believers. It gives them an
ironclad and relentlessly awe-inspiring rationale for enduring the
most shocking descent of unbelieving man into brutal bestialism; for
it rivets the believers' attention, with anticipation and trepidation,
on the beginning of an everlasting bliss that lies exalted, beyond
theabasing end of a hasty world.
Little wonder, then, that when Abu Bakr, the Prophet's great friend to
the end pointed to the silver traces that seemed so suddenly to shine
from the Prophet's head, Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam, said:
"Grey have [the revelations of] Hood and Al-Waaqi'ah rendered me."
Ever in his prayer, and especially before morning would break upon the
world in the fading hour of the dawn office, the Prophet was moved to
recite Al-Waaqi'ah. For, indeed, it bears to the human ear the very
uttermost end of intelligence reports about the Afterlife that the
heart of man beats so restlessly to know.
Human beings aspire to discover the secrets of life and death, to
uncover the origins of our own existential mystery. We would unfurl
the scrolls of all time if we could and replay the events of history.
To unravel the wonders that wheel through the heavens, to sunder the
foundations of an earth old beyond ancient, to know intimately the
orders that unleash life's complexity ¬¬– upon this all the might of
the human intellect has ever been. In its quest, time out of mind, and
sums of wealth and resources above the calculable have been spent.
How, then, are the thoughts of sovast a number of people turned away
from what Heavenly Revelation unveils for them freely, concerning the
great truths of life and their own inevitable destiny, and about the
conditions that will prevail at the ending of the world and the
beginning of eternity?
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