Surah Az-Zumar 39:71-75 - Quran Translation Commentary

71.And the disbelievers will be driven to the Hell in groups ¹²⁴ till, when they reach it and its gates are opened,¹²⁵ and its warders will ask them: “Did there not come to you the messengers of your own reciting to you the revelations of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this your Day?”¹²⁶ They will say: “Yes surely.” But the word of punishment for disbelievers is fulfilled.¹²⁷

72.It will be said to them: “Enter the gates of Hell and dwell therein for ever.” What an evil dwelling place is for the arrogants!¹²⁸

73.And those who fear their Lord will be led to the Paradise in groups ¹²⁹, till when they reach it, and its gates will be opened,¹³⁰ and its warders will say to them: “Peace be to you! You are good, so enter you (the Paradise), to dwell therein for ever.”¹³¹

74.They will say: “Praise be to Allah,¹³² who has made good to us His promise and given us the earth to inherit ¹³³ that we may dwell in Paradise wherever we please.”¹³⁴ What a blissful reward for the righteous! ¹³⁵

75.And you will see the angels thronging round the Throne (Arsh) glorifying their Lord.¹³⁶ And they will be judged in fairness.¹³⁷And it will be said: “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!”¹³⁸

Commentary

124. These are the last verses of the Surah, in which a scene of that time is presented when the Divine Court would have given its judgment, and when the disbelievers would be driven towards the Hell and the God-fearing towards the Paradise. Quran has presented this scene in such a way as if the picture of the Paradise and the Hell has been unveiled in the world. The state of belief which is created by this is such that a like picture is not possible to present with logical argument.

In view of the topic at the beginning of the Surah and at its end by disbelievers are meant for those people who declined to accept the message of monotheism and to worship sincerely Allah, who used to deny Quran and its messenger, who did not care for the fate in the Hereafter and persisted in their polytheism and idolatry.

125. Hell is a prison whose gates will be opened when the guilty will reach there.

126. The angels who will be manning the gates of the Hell, will ask these guilty people whether the Divine message had not reached them convincingly through His messengers, and whether they were not warned about the presence before Allah on that day. Why then did they persist in remaining disbelievers?

127. They will admit that they had received the divine message through Allah’s messengers, but the punishment was destined for them. And therefore, they had been denying the true religion of God. They will blame their luck for it.

128. The punishment for those acting arrogant before Allah is Hell and that too for good. Hearing about this severe punishment also does not make any impression on them. Such people will come to their senses when they will actually see this punishment with their eyes.

129. The condition of the God-fearing men has been narrated as against that of the disbelievers and the arrogant people. It may be noted that those who fear their Lord, their attitude is quite different from that of the arrogant and proud people. They try to save themselves from every act of sin, while the arrogant people are not careful about sins. When the God-fearing people will hear Divine Judgment, they will be led towards the Paradise. They will proceed in grand style in groups. In other words the procession of the God-fearing people will proceed in the company of the angels towards their destination of eternal bliss in great splendour. What a pleasant scene will it be!

130. The gates of the Paradise will be opened even before their reaching there to welcome them, as if the Paradise has been waiting for them.

131. The keepers or the warders of the Paradise will welcome them with open arms. They will greet them with the salutation of ‘Peace’ and will appreciate them by referring to their purity and goodness. They will ask them to enter the Paradise and to remain there for ever.

132. Those who enter the Paradise will have the words of Allah’s praises on their lips and they will be thanking Allah for His bounty.

133. The earth means the earth of the Paradise and to inherit it means to own it or to be its master.

134. The Paradise will be very vast, therefore, there will be very many chances and Opportunities for them to go out for a walk and sight seeing outside their palaces.

135. About the Paradise there are many people under the wrong impression that it will be gained free of cost, but this ayah informs of this principle of reality that it will be given as a reward to people for their good and righteous deeds.

136. On the Day of Resurrection you will see with your physical eyes that the angels are engaged in worshipping Allah. They will be busy in forming a circle round the Divine Arsh and singing hymns and reciting His ‘tasbeeh’ What a soul-nourishing scene will that be!

137. That is: Judgment in the case of the entire human kind will have been declared, and this judgment will be on the basis of fairness and truth. Whoever will be deserving of whatever is his due according to his acts will get it in return. No injustice will be done to anybody.

138. That is: After declaration of the Judgment of everyone a voice will call: There is Praise for the Lord of the Worlds, for real worthy of praises is Allah alone, and for this reason also that by establishing His court and giving judgments which were based on fairness and justice, And also beside on this occasion not only His grandeur as a Just Ruler became manifest, but his grandeur and majesticity also were seen. He holds attributes of perfect goodness. He holds all the best and perfect attributes.