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Surah Al-Inshiqaq - The Rending Asunder

(Revealed at Mecca)

25 Verses in 1 Section

Sections of Surah Al-Inshiqaq

  1. The Day of Reckoning.

Al-Inshiqaq – The Day Of Reckoning

The receivers of the Deed-Book in their right hand and those who will receive their Deed-Book from behind them, the happenings on the Day of Judgment, Respect and obeisance to Qur’an, Announcement of severe punishment to the disbelievers and the righteous getting an unending reward.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

“In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful”

إِذَا السَّمَاءُ انْشَقَّتْ

“When the heaven shall rend asunder1“ (84:1)

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ

“And it shall hearken unto its Lord, and (as) it ought to do!” (84:2)

وَإِذَا الْأَرْضُ مُدَّتْ

“And when the earth shall be stretched out (flattened)2“ (84:3)

وَأَلْقَتْ مَا فِيهَا وَتَخَلَّتْ

“And shall cast forth whatever is in it and becometh empty3“ (84:4)

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ

“And it shall hearken unto its Lord, and as it aught to do!” (84:5)

يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنْسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ

“O’ man! Verily thou art in strive unto thy Lord, (with) a striving, and thus thou art meeting Him!” (84:6)

فَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ بِيَمِينِهِ

“And he who is given his Book in his right hand.4” (84:7)

فَسَوْفَ يُحَاسَبُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا

“Soon shall he be reckoned (with) an easy reckoning” (84:8)

وَيَنْقَلِبُ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهِ مَسْرُورًا

“And he shall return unto his people delighted” (84:9)

وَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ وَرَاءَ ظَهْرِهِ

“And he who is given his Book (from) behind5his back” (84:10)

فَسَوْفَ يَدْعُو ثُبُورًا

“He shall invoke destruction” (84:11)

وَيَصْلَىٰ سَعِيرًا

“And shall be committed to the flaming fire” (84:12)

إِنَّهُ كَانَ فِي أَهْلِهِ مَسْرُورًا

“Verily he was joyous6among his people” (84:13)

إِنَّهُ ظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ يَحُورَ

“Verily he thought that never will he return (unto God)” (84:14)

بَلَىٰ إِنَّ رَبَّهُ كَانَ بِهِ بَصِيرًا

“Yea! Verily his Lord was always vigilant of him” (84:15)

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالشَّفَقِ

“And I swear by the Glow of the sunset” (84:61)

وَاللَّيْلِ وَمَا وَسَقَ

“And (by) the night and what it enshroudeth” (84:17)

وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا اتَّسَقَ

“And (by) the moon when at her full” (84:18)

لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقًا عَنْ طَبَقٍ

“That ye shall certainly march7from state to state” (84:19)

فَمَا لَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

“But what then hath happened unto them that they believe not?” (84:20)

وَإِذَا قُرِئَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقُرْآنُ لَا يَسْجُدُونَ

“And when is recited unto them the Qur’an, they prostrate not in obeisance8?” (84:21)

Sunnat Sajdah – Prostration Recommended

بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُكَذِّبُونَ

“Nay! those who disbelieve belie (the Truth)” (84:22)

وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يُوعُونَ

“And Verily God knoweth best what they hide (in their hearts)” (84:23)

فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

“So announce thou unto them the tidings of a painful chastisement!” (84:24)

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ

“Save those who believe and do good deeds, for them shall be a recompense unending9“ (84:25)

Commentary

Verse 1

Refers to what will happen to the sky at the dawn of the Day of Judgment, i.e., when the sky will be rent asunder - to manifest the state of reality.

Verse 2

The heavens with their greatness, and limitless extent, only await the command of the Lord which shall be carried out.

Verse 3

The earth will be changed from its global form to a flat levelled plain.

Verse 4

All the things - minerals, metals and the bodies of the innumerable generations buried in it, i.e., all its contents, will be thrown out, i.e., the earth will vanish with all its contents destroyed, and reduced to nothing.

In this verse and 99:2 points out the time for the disintegration, i.e., when the earth’s productive capacity gets exhausted, and this principle is applicable to all growing and evolutionary movement in every part and particle of the Universe. (A.P.)

Verse 6

The path of righteousness, i.e., the path of those who earnestly wish to get nearer to the Lord, is full of toil and misery. It is the godly ones that scorn and forego the pleasures of this life and choose the life of want and difficulties. Those who toil in the sincere hope of meeting the Lord, are assured of their success so that they may not fall victims to dejection and give up their quest for Him.

Verse 7

Those who suffered, and yet led pure lives of faith and righteousness and suffered miseries in the way of the Lord 10and yet toiled continuously to earn His pleasure for which they avoided the pleasures of this life and chose for themselves and remained contented with the miseries and sufferings. They avoided evil in spite of its strong attractions and earned goodness at all costs.

Verse 8

The reckoning will be affected without the least difficulty. The Holy Prophet said that he who has these three qualities shall meet a very easy accounting at the judgment. He said: -

  1. To provide the one who hath deprived thee of the legitimate due.

  2. Meet the one who shuns you.

  3. Pardon him who has been unkind to you.

Verse 9

To his people, i.e., to his kith and kin and the others spiritually on the same level with him without the restriction of the age, i.e., preceding or succeeding him in time.

Verse 10

The disbelievers and the wicked will have their hands tied at their back and hence they will be given their records from behind them. He would wish that he had not been given any record at all11.

Verse 11

The wicked would wish for death and annihilation once for all but they will be in a state which will be neither life nor death12.

Verse 13

While in this life the wicked one was happy rejoicing and enjoying the pleasures of the world among his people, i.e., relatives and friends, without any regard to the pleasure or the displeasure of the Lord.

Verse 14

Man is led into the evil ways of life mostly of his self-complacence and self-conceit and getting himself intoxicated of the enjoyment of his carnal desires in his lower life, forgetting his personal responsibility and his accountability on his return to the Lord in the ultimate. He must remember the inevitability of his return to Him.

Verse 15

Man forgets that the Lord is ever watchful of him for his motives as well as his deeds.

Verse 16

The beautiful and wonderful show of the radiance of the sun in the evening which is the work of nature.

The note on this verse by a commentator13 is another example of a wishful distortion of the Qur’an narrowing its original significance to the rise and the fall of the Arabs in power. (A.P.)

Verse 17

Man’s attention is drawn to the mystic functioning of the great and the wonderful phenomena of nature in the daily life in this world, the functioning of the wonderful organization of the universe being before man’s eyes all the while he takes these great events of the life, to be so common and so easy that he does not think of ever pondering over the secret of the genetic factors in the functions of nature which every moment passes from one stage or state into another or regulated and controlled that the daily repetition is maintained with perfect success without the least failure.

Verse 20

With so much of the guidance from heaven through the wonderful manifestation of the Might, and the Wisdom and the Existence of God and so much of the exertion to bring home to man the Truth, through a long line of God’s inspired men, His apostles, if man still fails to believe in the reality, it is naturally a matter of wonder and surprise.

Verse 21

The Prostration means respect, reverence and the humble submission to God14 - Prostration on the part of the reciters of this verse is only ‘Sunnat’, traditional, and not ‘Wajib’, i.e., compulsory.

Verse 22-24

It is said that when above verse 21 was revealed, the Holy Prophet went into prostration and the believers present there followed his example. The disbelievers got over the backs of the believers lying in prostration and standing on the heads began clapping their hands. It was then these verses were revealed.

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