Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah

Meccan. Its verses are 52 (revealed after al-Mulk).

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

{The Inevitable Reality. * What is the Inevitable Reality? * And what can make you know what the Inevitable Reality is? * Thamūd and ‘Ād denied the Striking Calamity. * As for Thamūd, they were destroyed by the overwhelming [blast]. * And as for ‘Ād, they were destroyed by a roaring, violent wind. * Which He imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so you would see the people therein fallen as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees. * Then do you see any remnant of them?}

{Al-Ḥāqqah}: The Hour that is bound to occur and certain to arrive, which is coming without doubt. Or, it is that in which the realities (ḥawāq) of matters—of reckoning, reward, and punishment—are established. Or, it is that in which matters are verified (tuḥaqqu), meaning: they are known in their true reality, from your saying "I do not uḥaqqu this," meaning: I do not know its reality. The verb is attributed to the Hour, though it belongs to the people, and it is in the nominative case as an initial subject (mubtada’), with its predicate being {What is the Ḥāqqah?}. The original structure is: "The Ḥāqqah, what is it?"—meaning: what thing is it? This is to emphasize its status and magnify its terror. The explicit noun was placed in the position of the pronoun because it is more terrifying.

{And what will make you know what the Ḥāqqah is?}: What thing could inform you what the Ḥāqqah is? This means you have no knowledge of its essence or the extent of its greatness. It is of such magnitude and severity that no one’s knowledge or imagination can reach it. However you estimate its state, it is greater than that. "Ma" (what) is in the nominative position as an initial subject, and "adrāka" (made you know) is suspended from it because it contains the meaning of an interrogative.

{The Striker (al-Qāriʿah)}: The one that strikes people with panic and terror, the sky with splitting and rupturing, the earth and mountains with leveling and uprooting, and the stars with dimming and darkening. It was placed in the position of the pronoun to indicate the meaning of "striking." In "Al-Ḥāqqah," there is an increase in the description of its severity. When He mentioned it and magnified it, He followed it with the mention of those who denied it and what befell them due to that denial, as a reminder to the people of Mecca and a warning to them of the consequence of their denial.

{With the "Ṭāghiyah" (the Overwhelming)}: With the event that exceeds all bounds in severity. There is disagreement regarding it: it is said to be the earthquake (rajfah). From Ibn Abbas: the thunderbolt (ṣāʿiqah). From Qatādah: Allah sent a cry upon them that silenced them. It is also said that Ṭāghiyah is an infinitive like ʿĀfiyah, meaning: "because of their tyranny (ṭughyānihim)." But this is weak because there is no correspondence between it and His saying:

{With a "Ṣarṣar" (roaring) wind}: Ṣarṣar means a wind with a loud sound, having a roaring (ṣarṣarah). It is also said to be the cold wind, from ṣarr, as if it is the wind in which the cold is repeated and multiplied; it burns due to the intensity of its cold.

{ "ʿĀtiyah" (violent)}: Intense in its blowing; "ʿutū" (violence) is a metaphor. Or, it rebelled (ʿatat) against the people of ʿĀd, so they could not repel it with any stratagem—neither by hiding in a building, nor by seeking refuge in a mountain, nor by concealing themselves in a pit; for it would extract them from their hiding places and destroy them. It is also said that it rebelled against its keepers, so it emerged without measure or weight. It is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Allah has not sent a ship of wind except by measure, nor a drop of rain except by measure, except on the day of ʿĀd and the day of Noah. For the water on the day of Noah rebelled against the keepers, so they had no way to control it—then he recited: {Indeed, when the water rebelled (ṭaghā), We carried you in the ship} (11:11). And the wind on the day of ʿĀd rebelled against the keepers, so they had no way to control it—then he recited: {With a roaring, violent wind}." Perhaps it is an expression of intensity and excess.

{ "Ḥusūman" (successive)}: It must either be the plural of ḥāsim (like shuhūd and quʿūd), or an infinitive (like shakūr and kafūr). If it is a plural, the meaning of {ḥusūman} is: "ill-omened," which cut off every good and eradicated every blessing. Or, "successive" in the blowing of the winds: it did not quiet down for an hour until it finished them off, a simile for their succession like the succession of the action of a cauterizer (ḥāsim) in reapplying the cautery to a wound, time after time, until it is healed/cut off. If it is an infinitive, it is either governed by an implied verb—meaning: "it cuts them off with a cutting off" (taḥsimu ḥusūman)—or it is an adjective, like saying "possessing ḥusūm," or it is a mafʿūl lahu (causative object), meaning: He subjected it for the purpose of eradication.

Al-Suddī read it as ḥusūman (with a fatḥah), as a state (ḥāl) of the wind, meaning: He subjected it upon them as an eradicating force. It is said these are the "days of the old woman," for an old woman of ʿĀd hid in a tunnel, and the wind extracted her on the eighth day and destroyed her. It is also said they are the "days of the end" (ʿajz), which are the end of winter.

{He subjected it upon them}: He empowered it over them as He willed. {In it}: In its blowing, or in the nights and days. {As if they were hollow trunks of palm trees}. {So do you see any of them remaining?}: Any remnant, or any soul remaining, or any "remaining" (baqiyah)—like ṭāghiyah—in the sense of "remaining" (baqā’).