Sūrat al-Ḥajj

Classification: Meccan, except for six verses: from "These two are two opponents..." to "...to the path of the Praiseworthy."

Verse Count: Seventy-eight verses.

1. O mankind, fear your Lord; indeed, the convulsion of the Hour is a momentous thing.

The Zalzala (Convulsion): The intensity of movement and disturbance, and the displacement of things from their places and centers.

The term al-Sa‘a (the Hour) is interpreted in two ways:

1. As the active agent: As if the Hour itself is what causes the things to convulse, using a metaphorical attribution of the action (al-majaz al-hukmi). Thus, zalzala is a verbal noun (masdar) attributed to its agent.
2. As the location of the action: Based on the linguistic expansion (ittisa‘) of the adverbial of time, treating it as a direct object, similar to the Almighty’s saying: "Nay, [it was your] plotting by night and by day" (Saba: 33).

This is the same zalzala mentioned in His saying: "When the earth is shaken with its [final] earthquake" (Al-Zalzala: 1).

Regarding its timing:

• Al-Hasan: It occurs on the Day of Resurrection.
• Alqama and Al-Sha‘bi: It occurs when the sun rises from the west.

He commanded the children of Adam to have taqwa (piety), then justified this obligation by mentioning the Hour and describing it with the most terrifying description. This is so they may contemplate that description with their insights and visualize it with their intellects, that they might spare and have mercy upon themselves from the hardships of that day by complying with what their Lord commanded them: to clothe themselves in the garment of taqwa, for nothing secures them from those terrors except by being clothed in it.

It is narrated: These two verses were revealed at night during the expedition of Banu al-Mustaliq. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited them, and there was never a night with more weeping than that one. When morning came, they did not remove the saddles from their mounts, nor did they pitch their tents, nor did they cook any pots; they were all either grieving, weeping, or deep in thought.

{The Day you see it, every nursing mother will be distracted from that which she was nursing, and every pregnant woman will abort her pregnancy, and you will see the people as if they were intoxicated, while they are not intoxicated; but the punishment of Allah is severe.}