Reading the Qur’an in a prose translation (as I am), it’s easy to forget that the original Arabic text is actually a work of musical poetry, meant to be recited and sung. The 77th surah, even in English prose translation, retains some of the poetic quality of the original in its use of repetition of a single phrase nine times, at evenly-spaced intervals:
“Woe, on that Day, to those who denied the truth!”
This is a Meccan surah which deals with the now-familiar subject of the Day of Resurrection or, as it’s called here, the Day of Decision, when the believers and unbelievers will be resurrected, judged, and sent to their eternal fates: heaven or hell. It’s a heavy theme, but at least it’s expressed poetically here.
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| Muhammad visits Hell. |
