The Quran has a verse in the Arabic language — Surah Al-Qalam describes a future event on the Day of Judgment.
Some translations miss the main point altogether. The word is "saqin", usually meaning "shin", but not in this case.
"The Day the 'shin' is uncovered, and they will be called to prostrate, but they aren't able to do so."
This is an idiom, meaning: Extreme difficulty!
"While believers prostrate in awe, the disbelievers can't prostrate, due to their disbelief, they refused to bow in life."
(Yukshafu 'an Saqin): An Arabic idiom for extreme distress, a horrific event, stark reveling of truth, impossible to escape.
An “idiom” is a phrase whose meaning isn’t obvious from the literal words, but it is understood as a figure of speech, by speakers of the language.
Figurative meaning: Overall meaning, different from the words.
Cultural/Linguistic specific: Unique to the language, difficult to translate directly.
Examples from English:
“raining cats and dogs” — (hard rain) “peace of cake” — (real easy); “Bite the bullet” — (put up with hard times); “spill the beans” — (reveal a secret); “under the weather” — (not feeling well).
The non-literal phrases are common in all languages. They add color and cultural context — but, they give translators a hard time.
Especially translations of the Quran (Recitation).
For example, there’s a verse in Quran, chapter Al Qalam (the Pen), verse 42 — if you translate it exactly by words, it might be like: “when the shin is exposed”.
However, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, knew it was an idiom, meaning: “The 'horrible day' when people who didn’t bow down to Allah in this life, are not be able to bow down to Allah.”
