Sūrat al-Qāriʿah

Meccan. It consists of 11 verses. (Revealed after [the Sūrah of] Quraysh).

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

{ The Striking Calamity * What is the Striking Calamity? * And what will make you know what the Striking Calamity is? * The Day when people will be like scattered moths * And the mountains will be like carded wool * Then as for him whose scales are heavy * He will be in a pleasant life * But as for him whose scales are light * His refuge will be the Abyss (Hāwiyah) * And what will make you know what it is? * A scorching Fire }

1. The Striking Calamity

The adverbial phrase (the time) is in the accusative case due to an implied verb indicated by al-Qāriʿah (The Striking Calamity), meaning: "It will strike on the day when people are like scattered moths."

He likens them to moths in their multitude, their dispersion, their weakness, and their humiliation, and in how they fly toward the caller from every side, just as moths fly toward a fire. Jarīr said: Indeed, al-Farazdaq and his people, as I know them, Are like moths covering the fire of one who warms himself.

In their proverbs, they say: "Weaker than a moth," "more humiliated," and "more ignorant." It is called farāsh (moth) because of its spreading and scattering.

He likens the mountains to ʿihn (wool), which is dyed in various colors, because they have colors, and to "carded" wool because of the separation of its parts. Ibn Masʿūd recited it as: ka-l-ṣūf (like wool).

Al-mawāzīn (the scales/weights) is the plural of mawzūn, which is the deed that has weight and significance before Allah, or it is the plural of mīzān (scale). Its "heaviness" is its tipping of the scale. From this is the hadith of Abu Bakr to Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) in his testament: "The scales of those whose scales are heavy on the Day of Resurrection are only heavy because they followed the truth and because of its weight in this world; and it is fitting for a scale in which only good deeds are placed to be heavy. And the scales of those whose scales are light are only light because they followed falsehood and because of its lightness in this world; and it is fitting for a scale in which evil deeds are placed to be light."

{Fa-ummuhu hāwiyah} (Then his mother is a pit): This comes from their saying when they invoke destruction upon a man: "May his mother fall," because when he falls—meaning he perishes—his mother has fallen in bereavement and grief. It is said: May his mother fall! What does the morning send forth at dawn, And what does the night return when it gathers?

It is as if it were said: "As for him whose scales are light, he has perished."

It is also said that Hāwiyah is one of the names of the Fire, as if it were a deep abyss because the people of the Fire fall into it from a great distance, as it is narrated: "He falls in it for seventy autumns," meaning his refuge is the Fire.

It is also said that the refuge is called "mother" by way of analogy, because the mother is the refuge and sanctuary of the child. Qatādah said regarding fa-ummuhu hāwiyah: "His mother is a pit," meaning the crown of his head falls into the depths of Hell, because he is thrown into it upside down.

{Hiya} (It is): The pronoun refers to the calamity indicated by his saying fa-ummuhu hāwiyah in the first interpretation, or it refers to Hāwiyah. The hā is for silence (sakt); if the reciter connects it, he drops it. It is said that it should not be elided so that it is not lost through elision, as it is established in the Muṣḥaf. It is permitted to maintain it even when connecting.

From the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever recites Surah al-Qāriʿah, Allah will make his scale heavy on the Day of Resurrection."