SURAH AL-QARI’AH (THE CLATTERING CALAMITY)

Introduction

NAME: The Surah takes its name from the word “Al-Qari’ah” occurring in the first verse.

TIME OF REVELATION: It was revealed in Makkah, in the earlier stages of the mission, as is clear from the central theme.

CENTRAL THEME: To warn about the great calamity of the Doomsday, and to intimate that on that day the standard for deciding a man’s success or failure will be the righteousness of his deeds.

ORDER OF THE VERSES: Verses Nos. 1 to 5 warn about the calamitous condition of the Doomsday and its consequences. In Verses Nos. 6 and 7 is mentioned the good results awaiting those whose scale of the virtuous deeds in the balance of deeds will be tilted in their favor. In Verses Nos. 8 to 11 is mentioned the bad results which await those whose scale of good deeds will be lighter.

SURAH AL-QARI’AH (THE CLATTERING CALAMITY) Ayah: ¹¹ Parah ³⁰ S. ¹⁰¹

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

1.The Clattering Calamity.¹

2. What is the Clattering Calamity?²

3. And what do you know what the Clattering Calamity is?³

4. The Day when men will be like moths scattered about, ⁴

5. And the mountains will become like carded wool. ⁵

6. Then, he whose balance will be heavy,⁶

7. Will be in a life of good pleasure.

8. And he whose balance will be light,⁷

9. His dwelling will be in “Haviah”

10. And what do you know what it is?

11. Blazing Fire ! ⁹

1. In the text the word ‘Al-Qari’ah’ is used, which is one of the many names for the literal meaning is clamoring or clattering calamity. The reason for calling the Doomsday with this name is that it will appear in the form of great calamity. When in the night a visitor knocks at the door, those who are sleeping suddenly wake up, similarly this calamity will also befall suddenly which will create a terror in the hearts of the people.

2. This question is asked so that the people should wake up from their slumber of negligence.

3. This question is asked to intimate about the reality of the Doomsday and to express its calamitous results. The idea is to warn the people not to consider it an ordinary event. The confidence and certainty with which Quran relates the occurrence of the Doomsday and in this connection the details that it mentions are the clear proof of its truth. Today there is no other revealed book available which presents such a clear idea about the Doomsday and that too with such details.

4. That is: On the Doomsday, people will come out from their graves separately and in scattered groups. They will be like scattered moths. The picture of the peoples scattering on this Day has been drawn in Surah Qamar in this way:

“With downcast eyes they will come out of the graves as If they are scattered locusts.” (Al- Qamer. 7 ).

When man will rise from the grave, there will be no members of his family with him nor any relatives. He will find himself among a scattered mob of strangers and in a new environment. Seeing the changed condition of the earth and the skies, he will be extremely terrified.

5. That is: As the carded wool flies in the air in minute particles, similarly these big and huge mountains will fly in small particles in the air. When mountains like Himalaya will be flying, then what castle, what palace and what building will remain aloof on the ground? The rejecters of the belief in the Doomsday would wonder how strong and huge things like mountains could be uprooted. Their doubt is on account of their inability to correctly appraise the might of Allah. It is obvious that the God who has the ability to create mountains and to fix them in the ground, why can He not have the power to turn them into small particles and make them fly in the air? In the modern times of scientific discoveries it has become quite easy to understand these things. If there is so much energy in the atom that by splitting it great explosion and havoc can be caused, then by splitting the atoms of the mountains why the calamitous Doomsday cannot be caused?

6. On the Doomsday the deeds will be weighed, and for weighing them a Balance will be installed. In this balance only those deeds will be shown to be heavy which were performed on the basis of truth, because on the Day of Judgment weight will be for the Truth, as is mentioned in Surah A’raf:

“Weight that Day will be the Truth.” -(Al- A’raf. 8) And the condition for success will be that the balance should be heavy, and a man’s balance, will be heavy only when he must have lived his practical life on the basis of truth. The more a man’s deeds of virtue, the heavier will be his balance.

This balance of justice is connected with the condition obtaining in the Hereafter. And the measure of time and space and the standard of measurement in the Hereafter will be quite different from those of this world. Therefore, we are unable to understand fully the nature of that balance of justice. Accordingly, we should rest content with Quran’s mention of the salient points only.

If there is anything astonishing in the matter of weighing of man’s deeds, then the scientific inventions have ended this astonishment, because now a number of instruments have been invented to measure the states or conditions, for example to measure the heat of the body, which is a state, thermometer is used, similarly to measure the pressure of the air barometer is employed. When it has been possible for man to measure the state of a thing then what is the difficulty for the Creator of the heavens and earth in installing a balance for weighing the deeds of man?

7. The light balance will be of those persons who had been living their lives on the basis of falsehood. Their deeds, however good they may appear outwardly, will be weightless in the balance of justice of the Hereafter, because falsehood itself has no weight whatsoever. Similar will be the case of the evils and sins. Today when this thing has been physically observed that whatever thing has weight on this earth becomes weightless in space, then what difficulty is there to believe that the stupendous achievements of the worshippers of the falsehood, however weighty and magnificent they may be in the eyes of the world, will prove to be quite weightless in the conditions of Hereafter.

8. ‘Haviah’ means a deep pit. This is another name of the hell, as it is very deep, and in this the sinners will be thrown from the above.

9. That is: This deep pit of the hell, will be full of the blazing fire.

The vastness of the hell, its depth, and its extraordinary fire are such things about which many people heard and thought them to be unbelievable. Today also many people do not believe that there can be such a thing as hell. But in reality it is their narrow-mindedness and shortsightedness, because the existence of the hell is not at all astonishing and unbelievable. We have the example of the sun before us. Its temperature is 15 million degree Celsius. Its diameter is 109 times bigger than that of the earth, and its volume is 333000 times greater than that of the earth. The sun is composed of highly heated gases, in which great magnetic storms occur every now and then. From the information collected by Science, an idea of sun’s great vastness, its fathomless depth and its terrific heat can be had. In other words the sun is in this world a living model of the hell, and looking at it, the hell of the Hereafter not only appears to be possibly existing but its existence seems to be certain.