The New Nation - Internet Edition

Barrister Tamzul Haque

I was considering the sudden increase of the temperature in our country as it keeps rising progressively whether at day or at night heat is not subsiding and the effect of winter is yet to be realized by the people of Bangladesh.

In this connection I have studied Surah-99 Al-Zilzal or Al-Zalzalah. This surah is close in date to surah 98 i.e. aurah Al-Baiyina or The Clear Evidence. It is generally referred to the early Madina Period. It refers to the tremendous convulsion and uprooting which will take place when the present order of the world is dissolved and the new world of Justice and Truth takes its place. The sign used is that of an earthquake which will shake our present material and phenomenal world to its very foundations. The words in which the earthquake is described are remarkable for both power and graphic aptness. With that shaking all hidden secrets will be brought to light.

Abdullah Yousuf Ali explains ayat 1 of the said surah thus :-

To the ordinary human observer a violent earthquake is a terrifying phenomenon, in its suddenness, in its origin, and in its power to destroy and uproot the strongest buildings and to bring up strange materials from the bowels of the earth. The Overwhelming Event which ushers in the Judgement will be a bigger and more far-reaching convulsion than any earthquakes that we know. And yet the incidents of earthquakes may give us some idea of that supreme world-shaking event.

Sayyid Qutb while explaining this surah went on to suggest that " This surah gives a violent shake to drowsy hearts: the subject matter, the scene drawn and the rhythm all contribute to the effect of a violent jolt. It is a powerful blast that makes the earth and all that is on it quake and tremble. Men hardly recover their senses when they find themselves confronted with the reckoning, weighing and evaluating of actions and deeds, and with recompense. All this is expressed in a few short phrases, which is characteristic of this thirtieth part of the Holy Quran as a whole and is forcefully portrayed in this surah.

He further speaks about the Day of Judgement thus:-

It is the Day of Judgement when the firm earth trembles and quakes violently, yields up her long carried loads of bodies and metals and other matters which have weighted heavily on her.

It is a scene that makes every firm and solid object under the feet of the listeners shake and totter. They think themselves to be staggering and toddling and the earth beneath them shuddering and quaking. It is a scene which cuts the heart from everything on earth it clings to, thinking it to be firm and everlasting.

This is the first impression created by these sense which the Holy Quarn portrays. The Holy Quran imparts to them a kind of movement which is transmitted almost to the very sinews (a tendon) of the listener as soon as he hears these unique expressions. This impact is all the more forceful because man is portrayed as confronting the scene described and revealing his reaction and reflexes while beholding it "And man cries: "What is the matter with her?."

The experience of earthquake is not a new thing in any country. But I have started this treatise by explaining surah 99 just to demonstrate how the natural calamity like earthquake we experience when people continue to incur the displeasure of Allah Subhanahu Tahla by acting contrary to His Commands and Guidance as are enshrined in the Holy Quran.

On reading ayat 133 of Surah 7 i.e. surah Al-Araf (which is reproduced below), how.Allah Subhanahu Tahla had punished the sinners on their refusal to believe the Message of Allah Subhanahu Tahla revealed through the Prophet Moses (Mosa Ali His Salam). People during that era were so obstinate in resisting Allah's Message and accused Moses (A.S) that his message was nothing unusual but sorcery and magic.

So We sent on them

Wholesale Death,

Locusts, Lice, Frogs,

And Blood: Signs openly

Self-explained: but they

Were steeped in arrogance,

A people given to sin.

Again on study of surah At-Takwir-81 which is quite an early Makhan Surah, perhaps the sixth or seventh in chronological order. It opens with a series of highly graphic images portraying the break-up of the world as we know it and the enforcement of complete personal responsibility for each soul. This is followed by a passage showing how the Quranic Revelation was true, and revealed through the angel Gabriel, and not merely a rhapsody (an epic) from one possessed. Revelation is given for man's spiritual guidance.

This surah may be divided into two parts, each of them treating one major principle of faith. The first is the principle of Resurrection accompanied by a great upheaval in the universe, which affects the sun and the stars, the mountains and the seas, heaven and earth, wild and domestic animals, as well as man. The second principle, discussed in the second half of the surah, is the principle of Revelation.

The rhythm of the surah is one of violent movement which leaves nothing in its place. Everything is thrown, smashed or scattered away. The movement is so violent that it excites and frightens. It alters every familiar situation and shakes men's hearts violently for a long period so that they feel deprived of both shelter and reassurance. In such a violent destructive storm the human heart is no more than a little feather, blown in every direction. No protection and, indeed, no safety can then be found except what is granted by Allah Subhanahu Tahla, the Eternal Being.

When the sun is darkened, when the stars fall and disperse, when the mountains are made to move away, when camels, ten months pregnant, are left untended, when the wild beasts are brought together, when the seas are set alight, when men's souls are paired (like with like), when the infant girl, buried alive, is asked for what crime she was slain, when the records are laid open, when the sky is stripped bare, when Hell is made to burn fiercely, when Paradise is brought near, every soul shall know what it has put forward.

These verses sketch a scen of a great upheaval which envelops the whole universe. It is an event which reveals every guarded secret and leaves nothing hidden away. Every human being faces what he has put forward for the day of reckoning and judgement.

(To be continued)