Christian Churches of God

No. Q088

 

 

 

Commentary on the Koran: Surah 88 “The Overwhelming”

 

(Edition 1.5 20180529-20201226)

 

This text follows on from the Morning Star and the Most High to show the Judgment of those who disbelieve and the reward of those who believe.

 

 

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369,  WODEN  ACT 2606,  AUSTRALIA

 

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

 

 

 

(Copyright © 2018, 2020 Wade Cox and Alan Brach)

 

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 Commentary on the Koran: Surah 88 “The Overwhelming”



Pickthall Translation with Bible Quotes from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

 

Introduction

Al-Gashiyah takes its name from the text in verse 1.  It is an early Beccan Surah like the texts before it. They point to the structure of the Host and the Resurrection to Judgement. The fruit of the labour of the sinners bears no nourishment and leads to judgment.

 

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88.1. Hath there come unto thee tidings of the Overwhelming?

88.2. On that day (many) faces will be downcast,

88.3. Toiling, weary,

88.4. Scorched by burning fire,

88.5. Drinking from a boiling spring,

88.6. No food for them save bitter thorn-fruit

88.7. Which doth not nourish nor release from hunger.

 

Refer to:

Revelation 20:11-15 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 15; Hebrews 9:27 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 18; John 5:28-29 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 21 (No. Q021) at ayat 47; Revelation 21:8 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 23 (No. Q023)  at ayat 98; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 33 (No. Q033 at ayat 2 and Ecclesiastes 11:9 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 46 (No. Q046)  at ayat 20.

 

88.8. In that day other faces will be calm,

88.9. Glad for their effort past,

88.10. In a high Garden

88.11. Where they hear no idle speech,

88.12. Wherein is a gushing spring,

88.13. Wherein are couches raised

88.14. And goblets set at hand

88.15. And cushions ranged

88.16. And silken carpets spread.

 

Cf. also Romans 8:5-6 and 13 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 87 (No. Q087) at ayat 17.

 

These are the elect in the First Resurrection and those who are redeemed from the Second Resurrection.

 

See 1Peter 1:4 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 68 (No.Q068) at ayat 34 and also Revelation 20:4-6 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 18 (No. Q018) at ayat 31; Daniel 7:18, 22 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 22 (No. Q022) at ayat 24 and Galatians 6:8 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 39 (No. Q039) at ayat 48.

 

88.17. Will they not regard the camels, how they are created?

 

Genesis 1:24-25 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 

Genesis 2:19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

 

Jeremiah 27:5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.

 

88.18. And the heaven, how it is raised?

88.19. And the hills, how they are set up?

88.20. And the earth, how it is spread?

 

Refer to Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24 and Jeremiah 51:15 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 51 (No. Q051) at ayat 48.

 

Job 9:8 who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;

 

Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

 

Psalm 104:3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;

 

Psalm 136:6 to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;

 

88.21. Remind them, for thou art but a remembrancer,

88.22. Thou art not at all a warder over them.

 

Here the church was appointed as warner to the world and here specifically, under the Prophet, to the idolaters at Becca and over Arabia.

 

Refer to Ezekiel 3:17-19 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 53 (No. Q053) at ayat 56.

 

Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

 

Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.

 

Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

 

2Timothy 1:6-8 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

 

1Thessalonians 4:1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

 

88.23. But whoso is averse and disbelieveth,

88.24. Allah will punish him with direst punishment.

88.25. Lo! unto Us is their return

88.26. And Ours their reckoning.

 

Refer to:

Revelation 20:11-15 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 15; Hebrews 9:27 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 18; 2Corinthians 5:10 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 36; Ecclesiastes 12:7 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 19 (No. Q019) at ayat 40; Daniel 12:2 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 24 (No. Q024) at ayat 42 and Isaiah 13:11 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 54 (No. Q054)at ayat 53.

 

Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

Job 34:20 In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

 

The division of the elect and the sinners is a recurrent theme of the texts and the unrepentant are destroyed in the Lake of Fire. The Most High (S 087) has decided this and given judgment to the elect under Messiah as we see from the texts in the Surahs above and from Scripture.

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