أَفَأَمِنوا أَن تَأتِيَهُم غاشِيَةٌ مِن عَذابِ اللَّهِ أَو تَأتِيَهُمُ السّاعَةُ بَغتَةً وَهُم لا يَشعُرونَ

Do they feel secure from being overtaken by an enveloping punishment from Allah, or being overtaken by the hour, suddenly, while they are unaware?

EXEGESIS

Ghāshiyah (enveloping) originally means a large cover thrown on the saddle of a horse. Here it means a punishment which is so encompassing that it will overcome all the wicked.[1]

Sāՙah (hour) is a term that refers to a small portion of time, but when used in the definitive often refers to the last hour of the world.[2]

EXPOSITION

Do they feel secure from being overtaken by an enveloping punishment from Allah: as discussed in the previous verses, most people will be wilfully ignorant of the reality of affairs, ignoring the signs around them, until they become unignorable and directly confront them.

This punishment of ghāshiyah is spoken of in many verses of the Quran, and refers to a punishment that befalls the criminals before the end of the world, and acts as a taste of things to come, like what is also mentioned in the verse, Say: ‘Whoever abides in error, the All-Beneficent shall prolong his respite until they sight what they have been promised: either punishment, or the hour’ (19:75).

It is described as an enveloping punishment because it comes at them from all sides, from above them and below, On the day when the punishment envelopes them (yaghshāhum), from above them and from under their feet (29:55). There will be no avoiding its destructive effects.

Or being overtaken by the hour: hour is most often used to refer to the last hour of this world, leading to the Day of Resurrection and Judgement. It includes the events leading up to the end of this world and its transition to the hereafter, as witnessed to by the verses, O mankind! Be wary of your Lord! Indeed the quake of the hour is a terrible thing. The day that you will see it, every suckling female will neglect what she suckled, and every pregnant female will deliver her burden, and you will see the people drunk, yet they will not be drunken, but Allah’s punishment is severe (22:1-2). The cataclysmic earthquake mentioned here is one of the major signs of the end of the world.

Suddenly: we are told in many verses how the coming of the final hour will take people by surprise (43:66, 47:18, 22:55). The exegetes mention how it is reported from Ibn Abbas that the final hour will arrive while people are busy in the markets.[3] They do not await but a single cry that would seize them as they wrangle. Then they will not be able to make any will, nor will they return to their folks (36:49-50). It will arrive suddenly because there is no preceding sign that will specify its time of arrival.[4]

While they are unaware: even more importantly though, the suddenness of the hour which befalls people is not due to a lack of preceding signs, but due to a wilful ignorance. The message of the prophets, the signs of God in creation, and the signs preceding the final punishment have all come to them, yet they are taken unaware because they have turned away from all those signs; Mankind’s reckoning has drawn near to them, yet they are disregardful in [their] obliviousness. There does not come to them any new reminder from their Lord but they listen to it as they play around, their hearts set on diversions (21:1-3).

[1] Nemuneh, 10/93.
[2] Raghib, p. 434.
[3] Tabrisi, 5/410; Baghawi, 2/518.
[4] Mizan, 11/277.