Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah

Meccan. Its verses are 26 (revealed after al-Dhāriyāt).

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

{ هل أتاك حديث الغاشية }

The "Overwhelming" (al-Ghāshiyah) is one of the names of the Day of Resurrection, because it overwhelms the people with its terrors and covers them.

The interrogative form ("Has there reached you...") is intended to arouse attention and to emphasize the importance of the news, as if to say: "This is a report of such magnitude that it is worthy of being known and pondered."

Meaning: The Resurrection, based on His saying: {On the day the punishment will cover them} (Al-Ankabut: 55). It is also said: The Fire, based on His saying: {And the Fire will cover their faces} (Ibrahim: 50), and {And above them will be coverings [of fire]} (Al-A'raf: 41).

{On that day}—the day it covers them—{humbled}—abased.

{Working, weary}—toiling in the Fire with labor that exhausts them, such as dragging chains and shackles, wading through the Fire as camels wade through mud, and constantly climbing up a steep ascent of fire and descending into a deep pit of it.

It is also said: They performed evil deeds in the world, taking pleasure and luxury in them, so they are in weariness from them in the Hereafter.

Others say: They worked and toiled in deeds that did not avail them in the Hereafter, based on His saying: {And We will turn to what they have done of deeds and make them as dust dispersed} (Al-Furqan: 23), {While they think that they are doing good work} (Al-Kahf: 104), {Those are the ones whose deeds have become worthless} (Al-Imran: 22).

It is also said: These are the monks, meaning they humbled themselves for God and worked and toiled in their deeds of constant fasting and persistent night prayer.

• Note: It has been recited as (عاملةٌ ناصبةٌ) as a form of disparagement.
• Note: It has been recited as (تَصْلَى) with a fatḥa on the tā’, (تُصْلَى) with a ḍamma, and (تَصَّلَى) with a shadda.
• Note: It is said that al-maṣlā among the Arabs refers to digging a pit, gathering much coal in it, and then placing a sheep inside it. As for what is roasted over coals, on a pan, or in an oven, it is not called maṣlā.

{Boiling}—at the extreme of heat, like His saying: {And between boiling, scalding water} (Ar-Rahman: 44).

{Ad-Dari'}—the dried shibriq (a type of thorn). It is a species of thorn that camels graze upon as long as it is fresh, but when it dries, camels avoid it, and it becomes a deadly poison. Abu Dhu'ayb said:

It grazed the lush shibriq until it withered, And returned as dari', from which the healthy ones turned away. And he said: And it was trapped in the thicket of dari', and all of them Were humpbacked, bleeding-handed, and stubborn.

If you ask: How is it said {They have no food except from dari'} while in Al-Haqqah it says {No food except from ghislīn} (Al-Haqqah: 36)? I say: Punishment has many colors, and the punished are in ranks. Among them are the eaters of Zaqqum, the eaters of Ghislīn, and the eaters of Dari': {For each door of them is a portion allotted}.

{It neither nourishes}—the grammatical position is nominative (as a predicate) or genitive (as an adjective for 'food' or 'dari''). It means their food is something not among the foods of humans; it is merely thorns, and thorns are what camels graze upon and are fond of. This is a type of it that they avoid and do not approach. The two benefits of food are negated from it: satisfying hunger and providing strength and fatness to the body.

Or, it is intended that they have no food at all, because dari' is not food for beasts, let alone humans; for food is that which satisfies or fattens, and it is far from both. Just as you say, "So-and-so has no shade except the sun," intending to negate the shade emphatically.

It is said: The disbelievers of Quraysh said, "Our camels get fat on *dari'," so {It neither nourishes} was revealed. Either they are lying and being obstinate—which is the apparent meaning—so their claim is refuted by denying nourishment and satisfaction. Or, they are being truthful, and the meaning is: their food is from dari' that is not of the same species as your dari'; it is dari' that neither fattens nor satisfies hunger.

{Faces, that Day, will be humbled, * Working, weary, * They will enter a scorching Fire, * They will be given to drink from a boiling spring, * They will have no food except from a poisonous, thorny plant, * Which neither nourishes nor avails against hunger. * [Other] faces, that Day, will be blissful, * With their effort satisfied, * In an elevated garden, * Where they will hear no vain speech, * Within it is a flowing spring, * Within it are raised thrones, * And cups set in place, * And cushions lined up, * And carpets spread around.}