Sūrah al-Ghāshiya: The Design Argument

Sūrah al-Ghāshiya is a Makkan Surah comprised of 26 verses. This Sūrah has two main themes. It begins with a description of the Last Day, and the fate of both disbelievers and believers on that day. Allah then draws our attention to the proofs of His Existence i.e. the perfection of His Creation. It concludes by circling back to the original topic, preparing for the Last Day.

The word al-Ghāshiya is mentioned in the first verse of this Sūrah. It is one of the names of the Last Day. It means the Overwhelming Event. The Last Day has many names in the Quran. Each of these names gives us a different description of that day. The name al-Ghāshiya teaches us that on that day people will be overwhelmed by stress and anxiety. Worrying about whether they will enter Paradise or Hell will drive people crazy. It is an overwhelming event the likes of which nothing we experience on earth can be compared to.

The Balance between Hope and Fear

This Sūrah balances between hope and fear in a profound way. Allah describes the state of mind and the punishment of the disbelievers for six verses. Then He describes the state of mind and reward of the believers for nine verses. In this way, the warning is done clearly while leaving the reader on a high note reflecting on Paradise and hoping in Allah’s Mercy.

It is common throughout the Quran to find descriptions of Hellfire followed by descriptions of Paradise. The descriptions of Paradise are usually longer and more detailed. In this way, the focus is primarily on hope while providing enough fear to motivate people towards righteousness. This balance is essential for establishing a pious mindset.

When the focus is only on warnings and punishment, it can cause both hopelessness and extremism. Some people may be so overwhelmed by the warnings that they lose hope in Allah’s Mercy. While others grow so accustomed to fear that it is the only paradigm from which they can preach Islam. Both of these attitudes are not healthy and can be avoided by balancing fear with hope.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is focusing only on hope. This too can lead to either laxity or liberalism. Some people become so comfortable in their hope in Allah’s Mercy that they stop taking sin seriously. This opens the door to mass sins. Others may build a liberal paradigm out of hope in which everything is fine and everything is permissible because God is All-Loving and Merciful. This false understanding of Allah’s Love and Mercy has led many modernists astray.

Balance lies in grounding one’s faith in love of Allah, and balancing that love with both fear of His Punishment and hope in His Forgiveness. When this balance is established, a believer can grow in his love of Allah, and worship Allah with a healthy balanced mindset. To facilitate this, the Quran often follows up its warnings with good news.

Reflecting on the signs of Allah

The middle section of this Sūrah calls on us to study the Creation and reflect on the signs of Allah in His Creation. These verses have inspired many Muslim scientists to study various creations and make breakthrough discoveries.

“Do they not look at the camels, how they were created? And at the sky, how it is raised? And at the mountains, how they are established? And at the earth, how it is spread out?” (88:17-20)

This is one of many sets of verses throughout the Quran that call on us to reflect on the creation as assigns of the existence of the Creator. This is the main Islamic argument for the existence of the Creator; the perfect design of every creation in existence is proof itself that the Creator exists. From the unique design of the camel to the vastness of space, to the majesty of the mountains, and the homeliness of earth. All of these are signs that the Creator is real and All-Powerful.

One of the reasons why humans are straying from belief in Allah is because we spend too much time surrounded by the inventions of man. And we do not spend enough time with the Creation of Allah. People who spend more time in nature are more likely to be firm in their belief in a Creator, and have a deeper sense of spirituality.

If a believer begins to experience doubts in Allah’s existence, there are two common remedies; recite and reflect on the Quran, or spend time in nature and reflect on the creation. Both the verses of the Quran and the creation of Allah are called āyāt (signs) because reflecting on either of these causes an increase in faith. Just as we take time to reflect on the book of Allah, we should also make time to reflect on the creations of Allah.

A reminder of our ending

The Sūrah begins with a description of the Last Day, then calls on us to reflect on the signs of Allah around us. It ends where it begins with a reminder that we all will return to Allah. And that every human will be held accountable to Allah for their lives.

Accountability is one of the core themes of early Makkan revelation. The pagans of Makkah were not accustomed to the idea of an Afterlife or the idea of being held accountable for their lives after death. This concept was foreign to many of them, and so this theme is repeated many times over throughout these Sūrahs. The goal is to drive home the importance of this concept and establish a consciousness of the Afterlife in the believers.

Many of the Sūrahs towards the end of the Quran focus on the theme of the Afterlife. Whenever we recite these Sūrahs, we should reflect on these descriptions. This reflection should create a consciousness in us that leads to deeper piety, practice, and purpose. The belief in the Afterlife should make us people who live Islam and live with purpose, knowing that; “To Us is their return. Then upon Us is their reckoning.” (88:25-26)