Qur'anic imagery of Doomsday and Resurrection-I

The Holy Qur'an is very rich in imagery. Sent for the guidance of mankind, the Qur'an deals with many subjects belonging to the supersensory realm such as faith in one God, the angels, doomsday and resurrection, heaven and hell.
To endow its followers with deep rooted conviction, it presents its message in a pictographic manner. This is the assertion of Qur'anic scholars like Sayyid Qutb and Muhammad Asad. In this article, as a student of English literature, this author will look at the definition of imagery in English literature and applies it to the imagery of Doomsday and Resurrection in the Qur'an.
Consider the following Qur'anic verses:
When the sun [with its overwhelming light] is folded up; When the stars fall, losing their lustre; When the mountains vanish [like a mirage]; When the she-camels, ten months with young, are left untended; When the wild beasts are herded together [in human habitations]; When the oceans boil over with a swell; When the souls are sorted out, [being joined, like with like]; When the female [infant], buried alive, is questioned - For what crime was she killed; When the scrolls are laid open; When the world on High is unveiled; When the Blazing Fire is kindled to fierce heat; And when the Garden is brought near; [Then] shall each soul know what it has put forward. (81:1-14)
These verses give a graphic description of Doomsday and Resurrection. A terrifying scene of cosmic upheaval is painted before man. Symbols of stability such as the sun, the stars, the mountains and oceans "fold up", "lose their lustre", "vanish" and "boil over". Unprecedented events such as the herding together of wild beasts occur. A new order and world is unveiled where every soul is rewarded or punished according to its merit.
Doomsday is referred to by different names in the Qur'an such as (the day of resurrection) in 75:1, (the great news) in 78:2, (the great, overwhelming [event]) in 79:34, (the overwhelming [event]) in 88:1, and (the [day] of noise and clamour) in 101:1-3.
The last surahs of the Qur'an, which are mostly Makkan, abound in the images of Doomsday. According to Sayyid Abu al-A'la Mawdudi, the earliest message of the Prophet (sws) comprised three elements: belief in one Allah, prophethood of Muhammad (sws), and Resurrection ie men will be raised up after death in bodily form and rewarded and punished in accordance with the deeds done by them in their earthly life. Though the Makkans objected to the first two parts of the Prophet's message, it was the concept of Resurrection that was totally unacceptable to them. They ridiculed it. The disbelievers could not credit the idea that they would be raised again. Consequently, the theme of Resurrection recurs in Makkan surahs quite frequently. As Mawdudi says:
But in order to bring them to the way of Islam it was absolutely essential that the doctrine of the Hereafter should be instilled into their minds, for without belief in this doctrine, it was not at all possible that they could adopt a serious attitude with regard to the truth and falsehood, could change their standard of values in respect of good and evil, and giving up worship of the world, could be inclined to follow the way that Islam urged them to follow. (Tafhim, 6/221)
Consequently, the Qur'an presents the central concept of Doomsday and Resurrection emphatically and repeatedly. For this purpose, the Qur'an employs its characteristic pictographic style.
QUR'AN'S PICTOGRAPHIC STYLE:
The Qur'an is a book revealed by Allah through angel Gabriel to his last Prophet Muhammad (sws) for the guidance of mankind. Amongst its central concepts are faith in Allah, the Prophet Muhammad (sws) and life after death. The opening verses of Baqarah state:
A.L.M. This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah; Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them; And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and [in their hearts] have the assurance of the Hereafter. They are on [true] guidance, from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper. (2:1-5)
Faith in ie "the Unseen" is of vital importance. According to Mawdudi:
Ghayb signifies the verities which are hidden from man's senses and which are beyond the scope of man's ordinary observation and experience, for example the existence and attributes of God, the angels, the process of revelation, Paradise, Hell and so on. [. . . ] According to this verse, Qur'anic guidance can prove helpful only to those prepared to affirm the truths of the supersensory realm. (Tafhim, 46).
Muhammad Asad translates as "that which is beyond the reach of human perception". He investigates in Symbolism and Allegory in the Qur'an why the Qur'an adopts a pictographic style to convey its message, one of the appendices to his translation The Message of The Qur'an.
According to Asad, in order to understand the Qur'anic world, the allegorical and symbolic elements in it must be linked with "a realm which is beyond the reach of human perception" ie "al-ghayb" (Asad 989). Faith in Allah, the angels, Resurrection, Hell and Heaven are all linked with "al-ghayb". Human mind, however, "cannot visualize, or form an idea of, something that lies entirely outside the realm of previously realised experiences". Therefore, the idea of "a realm which is beyond the reach of human perception" ie "al-ghayb" could be given to man only "by means of loan-images derived from our actual - physical or mental - experiences" (Asad, 990). He observes:
This being so, it is not enough for man to be told, "If you behave righteously in this world, you will attain to happiness in the life to come", or alternatively, "If you do wrong in this world, you will suffer for it in the hereafter". Such statements would be far too general and abstract to appeal to man's imagination and, thus, to influence his behaviour.
What is needed is a more direct appeal to the intellect, resulting in a kind of "visualisation" of the consequences of one's conscious acts and omissions: and such an appeal can be effectively produced by means of metaphors, allegories and parables, each of them stressing, on the one hand, the absolute dissimilarity of all that man will experience after Resurrection from whatever he did or could experience in this world; and, on the other hand, establishing means of comparison between these two categories of experience. (Asad, 990)
What he says about use of symbolism in the Qur'an is in accord with the approach Sayyid Qutb adopted in his book Taswir al-Fanni Fi al-Qur'an, translated into Urdu as Qur'an Majid Kay Fanni Mahasin by Ghulam Ahmed Hariri. According to Qutb, Qur'anic style is chiefly pictographic. Qutb starts with the assertion that the first people accepted Islam due to the magical impact of Qur'an which held the audience spellbound. He undertakes to investigate the causes behind such impact of the Qur'an on its first audience which was that of disbelievers.
According to Qutb, the chief characteristic of al-Qur'an - the essence of its magical impact on its audience is its pictographic style. The Qur'an unfolds its meaning through the use of images or mental pictures. Abstract meaning is presented in a concrete form that can be perceived by the senses. Simile and metaphor are used for this purpose. Personification is also employed. Thus meaning penetrates the depth of human psyche not just mentally but also visually and sensuously.
In the Qur'an, the hidden matters in the mind and man's inner state are presented in a form that can be felt. Scenes, incidents, human forms all are presented as pictures. Then life appears in these pictures. If sound is added, they appear as live actors on the stage. The listeners are changed into the audience watching a live performance who feel that these scenes do not just represent life. Rather they are alive. This is managed through the medium of words and has a profound impact on human psyche. (Qutb 54-55)
Qutb's approach is allied to the fine arts on one side (as he refers to pictures, tone colour, music, etc) and literature on the other (as he finds elements of drama as well as story in the Qur'an).
Doomsday and Resurrection are also presented in the Qur'an in such a way that they seem to unfold before one's very eyes. Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic images abound. Characters are not missing as well. The entire mankind falls into two groups; the believers who are successful, and the disbelievers covered with shame and humiliation. The technique of contrast is employed to highlight their plight.
This author, a student of English literature, intends to look at the Qur'anic verses regarding Doomsday and Resurrection in the light of the assertion by Qutb and Asad that Qur'anic style is pictographic. For this purpose, I intend to look at the concept of imagery in literature and apply it to the verses in the Qur'an pertaining to Doomsday and Resurrection.
IMAGERY DEFINED:
Before entering a discussion on the imagery of Doomsday and Resurrection in the Qur'an, the term imagery needs to be defined. The simplest definition of the term, given by J.A. Cuddon is:
Imagery as a general term covers the use of language to represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, states of mind and any sensory or extra-sensory experience. (442)
THIS DEFINITION IS QUITE GENERAL. THE DEFINITION BY B. BERNARD COHEN, IN CONTRAST, STATES:
The term imagery is vital to the study of poetic style, and should be used to include both images and figures of speech. An image is generally a sense impression created by a direct or recognisable sense appeal in words. Such an appeal should present a description so graphic or clear that the reader can relate it to his own senses or his own experience. (51)
The above statement by Cohen supports the foregoing description on Qur'an's pictographic style. The Qur'an gives graphic descriptions of its central concepts such as Doomsady and Resurrection so that "the reader can relate it to his own senses or his own experience".
Cohen takes imagery to mean images along with figures of speech where the figures of speech are defined by him as "images that are often intentionally indirect". These include allusion, simile, personification, etaphor, and symbol. (51)
The Qur'an employs images ie sense impressions as well as figures of speech like allusion, simile, personification, metaphor, and symbol in its portrayal of Doomsday and Resurrection.
M.H. ABRAMS DEFINES IMAGERY AS FOLLOWS:
"Imagery" [that is, "images" taken collectively] is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the analogues [the vehicles] used in its similes and metaphors. (78)
He further adds: imagery includes auditory, tactile (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or kinaesthetic (sensations of movement), as well as visual qualities. (79)
The study of the Qur'an reveals that it employs various kinds of images with regard to Doomsday and Resurrection. Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic images are the most frequently employed.
A Handbook to Literature defines an image as "a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses". It considers an image "a portion of the essence of the meaning of the literary work, never a mere decoration". (Holman and Harmon, 248)
The following analysis bears out the truth of this statement. Though Qur'anic imagery beautifies discourse, it is not merely decorative. Rather, it is an integral part of the essence of the Book of Allah.
QUR'ANIC IMAGERY OF DOOMSDAY AND RESURRECTION:
THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE IMAGES THAT OCCUR IN THE QUR'AN WITH REFERENCE TO DOOMSDAY AND RESURRECTION:
-- Visual Images
-- Doomsday imagery is chiefly visual.
-- Verily the Day of Sorting out is a thing appointed, (. . .) And the hevens shall be opened as if there were doors, And the mountains shall vanish, as if they were a mirage. (78:17-20)
The above verses bring before the eye of imagination a visual image where on the Day of Judgement, doors appear on the sky and the apparently solid mountains disappear like a mirage.
THE FOLLOWING VERSE ALSO CONTAINS A VISUAL IMAGE: The day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books [completed] - even as We produced the first Creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it. (21:104) Amongst the visual images are images of:
A. LIGHT AND DARKNESS: Imagery of light and darkness occurs frequently in the Qur'an as when faith is likened to light and disbelief to darkness (2:257). The imagery of light and darkness generally occurs with reference to the faces of the two kinds of people on the Day of Judgement:
On the day when some faces will be [lit up with] white, and some faces will be [in the gloom of] black: To those whose faces will be black, [will be said]: "Did ye reject faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting faith". (3:106)
But those who have earned evil will have a reward of like evil: ignominy will cover their [faces]: No defender will they have from [the wrath of] Allah: Their faces will be covered, as it were, with pieces from the depth of the darkness of night: they are companions of the Fire: they will abide therein [forever]! (10:27)
The darkness covering the faces of the wrong-doers is made manifest by means of a simile here. Their faces would be so dark as if pieces of dark night were covering them.
Some faces that day will be beaming, laughing, rejoicing. And other faces that day will be dust-stained; blackness will cover them: Such will be the Rejecters of Allah, the doers of iniquity. (80:38-42)
Images showing light or darkness also occur with reference to thee cosmic upheaval on Doomsday. At length, when the sight is dazed, and the moon is buried in darkness. And the sun and moon are joined together, That day will man say: "Where is the refuge?" (75:7-10)
RESURRECTION EMPLOYS SIMILAR IMAGERY: And the Earth will shine with the Glory of its Lord: the record [of deeds] will be placed [open]; the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward; and a just decision pronounced between them; and they will not be wronged [in the least]. (39:69)
KINAESTHETIC IMAGES: According to the Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, "Kinaesthesis denotes a sense of movement of muscular effort (from Gk kineein "to move" + aesthesis "sensation"). A sense of movement and effort is inherent in the rhythm, momentum and energy of words in such an image". (Cuddon, 474).
Kinaesthesia is an important element of Qur'anic Doomsday imagery as there is abundance of passages exhibiting strong movement eg When the Earth is shakento its [utmost] convulsion and the Earth throws up its burdens [from within]. (99:1-2) Here a sense of strong movement is conveyed through verbs such as "shaken" and "throws up".
When the earth shall be shaken to its depths and the mountains shall be crumbled to atoms, becoming dust scattered abroad (56:4-6) In the verse above pertaining to Doomsday, it is difficult to conceive the violent commotion when the mountains [ordinarily so stable and strong] will be reduced to dust. A scene of cosmic upheaval abounding in kinaesthetic images is painted in these verses:
When the sky is cleft asunder; When the stars are scattered; When the oceans are suffered to burst forth; And when the graves are turned upside down (82:1-4)
GUSTATORY IMAGES: Such images generally occur with reference to reward in paradise or punishment in hell. They also occur metaphorically as? is generally referred to by invoking the sense of taste, often in an ironic manner.
FOR EXAMPLE: But We will certainly give the unbelievers a taste of a severe penalty, and We will requite them for the worst of their deeds (41:27) [Allah will say]: "Now have they proved you liars in what ye say: so ye cannot avert [your penalty] nor [get] help." And whoever among you does wrong, him shall We cause to taste of a grievous penalty. (25:19) Such images also occur in 3:106, 78:30 and 3:181.
TACTILE IMAGES: Many kinaesthetic images are also tactile ie they also evoke the sense of touch. For example: And the earth is moved, and its mountains; and they are crushed to powder at one stroke. (69:14) One day the earth and the mountains will be in violent commotion. And the mountains will be as a heap of sand poured out and flowing down. (73:14) Nay! When the earth is pounded to powder (89:21)
1.4.5. THERMAL IMAGES: Doomsday would occur with the destruction of the natural order. Some thermal images occur in this context: The day that the sky will be like molten brass. (70:8) When the oceans boil over with a swell. (81:6)
AUDITORY IMAGES Auditory images and Doomsday go hand in hand. In fact, Doomsday is frequently alluded to by words that evoke auditory images. For example, (a single [compelling] cry) in 36:53, (the deafening noise) in 80:33, (the [day] of noise and clamour) in 101:1-3, (a [mighty] blast) in 50:42.
The day when they will hear a [mighty] blast in [very] truth: that will be the Day of Resurrection. (50:42) At length, when there comes the deafening noise. (80:33) An oft-repeated auditory image is the blowing of the trumpet: The day that the trumpet shall be sounded, and ye shall come forth in crowds. (78:18) Finally, when the trumpet is sounded, That will be - that day - a day of distress. (74:8-9) Such images also occur in 69:13 and 27:87.
SYNAESTHETIC IMAGES: Synaesthesia (Gk "perceiving together") is defined as "The mixing of sensations; the concurrent appeal to more than one sense (. . .)" (Cuddon, 943). Qur'anic nature imagery exhibits synaesthesia as a number of senses are invoked simultaneously, for example: Then, when one blast is sounded on the trumpet, and the earth is moved, and its mountains, and they are crushed to powder at one stroke. (69:13-14)
A number of senses are invoked here. First is auditory, the sounding of the blast. Second is kinaesthetic as well as visual embodied in the movement of the earth and the mountains and their crushing to powder. Moreover, crushing to powder also evokes a tactile image. Last, but not the least, the whole picture is very powerful and full of movement. All this helps to cement the truth of the Doomsday in the mind of the listener or the reader.
SIMILES: Simile is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two unlike objects on the basis of some common quality. It makes a "direct comparison between two elements" (Cohen 195). In the Qur'an, similes are frequently employed with regard to Doomsday. How close the Doomsday might be is brought home to man by such verses:
To Allah belongeth the mastery of the heavens and the earth. And the decision of the hour [of Judgement] is as the twinkling of an eye, or even quicker (16:77) The crumbling of the apparently solid mountains is brought home by some similes:
The day that the sky will be like molten brass; and the mountains will be like wool. (70:8-9) [It is] a day whereon men will be like moths scattered about, and the mountains will be like carded wool. (101:4-5)
THE SORRY PLIGHT OF MEN IS DESCRIBED THROUGH THIS SIMILE: The day whereon they will issue from their sepulchres in sudden haste as if they were rushing to a goal-post [fixed for them]; Their eyes lowered in dejection; ignominy covering them [all over]! Such is the day the which they are promised! (70:43-44)
-Courtesy Renaissance
(To be concluded)