أَولىٰ لَكَ فَأَولىٰ
ثُمَّ أَولىٰ لَكَ فَأَولىٰ
So, woe to you! Woe to you!
Again, woe to you! Woe to you!
EXPOSITION
Awlā laka literally means ‘you deserve it’ or ‘it serves you right’. Thus, there is no doubt that it is a word of threat and its repetition is for emphasis. It is not farfetched that the sentence awlā laka is actually a predicate of an omitted subject, that subject being a pronoun referring to ‘the condition of the person mentioned earlier’. The intent would then be to affirm for that person that he deserves the same qualities previously described – namely, not praying, not affirming the truth, denying it, and then returning to his people in a swaggering manner. Thus, awlā laka is a command or a curse uttered by God against that person, by which He sanctions those consequences by sealing his heart, rendering faith and piety forbidden to him, and decreeing that he shall be among the people of hell. Hence, the offered translation, woe to you, is an implied meaning, not a literal translation.
In other words, these two verses act as a summary reference to all the bleak descriptions of the difficult moments of death and the Day of Judgement that the wicked will have to face. It is as if to say that all of that difficulty is absolutely deserved, given the descriptions of the type of person mentioned in the preceding verses and earlier verses such as 3, 5-6, and 20-21.
It is said that these verses were revealed concerning Abū Jahl after he boasted to the Prophet: ‘I am the most powerful man of this valley!’ The preceding verses 31-33 are also considered a description of him. Notably, the swaggering walk mentioned in verse 33 is said to have been characteristic of Abū Jahl and his clan, the Banī Makhzūm.
Regarding the repeated denunciation awlā laka, the exegetes have offered several interpretations. Some suggest that it intends that the woe will befall the addressee in both this world and the hereafter, or that it is simply for emphasis. Another suggestion is that as there are a total of four denouncements, they should mirror the four transgressions described in verses 31-32: lack of faith, lack of prayer, insistence on disbelief, and turning away. Or that it means: Woe to you when you are cursed and killed in this world, and woe to you at the moment of your death, and woe to you when you are resurrected, and woe to you when you enter hell.
Shaʿrāwī argues that the usage of thumma (translated as Again, but literally meaning ‘then’) indicates a gap in time, specifically that verse 35 refers to the time after death.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- ‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord.’
- ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.’
[1] Mizan, 20/114.
[2] Related in Tabrisi, 10/606; Tabari, 29/124.
[3] Related in Alusi, 15/164.
[4] Related in Tabrisi, 10/606.
[5] Alusi, 15/164. Related in Tabrisi, 10/606.
[6] See Qurtubi, 19/114.
[7] See Sharawi, p. 16587. It is said that with regards to Abū Jahl the verse intends ‘Woe to you Abū Jahl, due to what you have witnessed. Woe to you on the day of Badr. Woe to you in the grave. Woe to you on the Day of Judgement’, (related in Tabrisi, 10/606).
[8] Ezekiel 16:23.
[9] Luke 6:24-26.