Sūrat al-Takāthur

Meccan. Its verses are 8 (revealed after al-Kawthar).

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

{ Competition [for more] has diverted you, until you visited the graveyards. No! You are going to know. Then no! You are going to know. No! If you only knew with the knowledge of certainty. You will surely see the Hellfire. Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty. Then you will surely be asked that Day about the pleasure. }

"Diverts you" (Alhakum): To divert someone from something means to occupy them.

"Competition" (At-Takathur): To vie in abundance and boast about it, such as one group saying, "We are more numerous," and the other saying, "We are more numerous." It is narrated that the Banu ‘Abd Manaf and the Banu Sahm boasted about which was greater in number. The Banu ‘Abd Manaf outnumbered them, so the Banu Sahm said, "Oppression destroyed us in the Age of Ignorance, so they counted against us the living and the dead." Thus, the Banu Sahm outnumbered them.

The meaning is: You competed in numbers among the living until, having exhausted their count, you turned to the graves and competed in numbers among the dead. He expressed their reaching the mention of the dead as "visiting the graves" to mock them. It is also said: They used to visit the graves and say, "This is the grave of so-and-so, and this is the grave of so-and-so" while boasting.

The meaning is: This—which neither helps you nor benefits you in your worldly life or your Hereafter—has diverted you from what would benefit you regarding the matter of religion, which is more important and more worthy of concern than any other important matter. Or, he meant: Competition in wealth and children has diverted you until you died and were buried, spending your lives seeking the world, racing toward it, and obsessing over it until death came to you—with no concern other than it—diverting you from what is more appropriate for you: striving for your final outcome and working for your Hereafter.

"Visiting the graves" is an expression for death. It is said: A friend will not remain for a decade, Having tasted the shroud or visited the grave. And it is said: Abu Malik visited the graves, And became the most wretched of their visitors.

Ibn ‘Abbas recited: (A-alhakum) as an interrogative, meaning confirmation.

"Nay!" (Kalla): A rebuke and a warning that it is not fitting for one who looks out for his own soul to make the world his entire concern and neglect his religion.

"You are going to know" (Sawfa ta‘lamun): A warning so that they may fear and be awakened from their heedlessness. The repetition is an emphasis of the rebuke and warning. The use of "then" (thumma) indicates that the second warning is more eloquent and severe than the first, just as you say to one you are advising: "I tell you, then I tell you: Do not do it." The meaning is: You will know the error of your ways when you witness the terror of meeting Allah that lies before you, and that this warning is advice and mercy for you.

Then he repeated the warning again and said: "If you only knew" (Law ta‘lamun)—the answer is omitted. It means: If you knew what lies before you with the knowledge of certainty—that is, like your knowledge of the matters you have entrusted your ambitions to—you would have done what cannot be described or fathomed. But you are astray and ignorant.

Then He said: "You will surely see the Hellfire"—clarifying for them what He warned them of and threatened them with. The clarification of a thing after it has been obscured serves to aggrandize and magnify it. It is the answer to an omitted oath, and the oath is to emphasize the threat, showing that what they are threatened with is beyond doubt. He repeated it, joined by "then," to intensify the threat and increase the terror.

It was recited as (la-tara’unna) with a hamza, though it is disliked. If you ask: "Why is it disliked when a damma-voweled waw preceded by a hamza is a standard rule?" I say: That applies to a waw whose damma is permanent, whereas this one is accidental, caused by the meeting of two quiescent letters. It was also recited as (la-turawunna) and (la-turawunnaha) in the passive voice.

"With the eye of certainty" (‘Ayn al-yaqin): That is, the vision which is the very essence and purity of certainty. It is also possible that "vision" here refers to knowledge and sight.

"About the pleasure" ( ‘An an-na‘im): About the amusement and luxury whose enjoyment distracted you from religion and its obligations. If you ask: "What is the pleasure for which a person is questioned and rebuked? For there is no one who does not have some pleasure?" I say: It is the pleasure of one who has devoted his ambition to satisfying desires, living only to eat the good, wear the soft, and spend his time in amusement and mirth, caring nothing for knowledge or action, and not burdening himself with their hardships. As for one who enjoys the bounty of Allah and His provisions—which He created only for His servants—and uses them to gain strength for studying knowledge and performing deeds, and is diligent in gratitude: he is far removed from that. To this, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) pointed in what is narrated: that he and his companions ate dates and drank water over them, and he said: "Praise be to Allah who fed us, gave us drink, and made us Muslims."

From the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Whoever recites 'Competition [in increase] diverts you,' Allah will not hold him accountable for the pleasure He bestowed upon him in the worldly life, and he will be given a reward as if he had recited a thousand verses."