Surah Al-Zilzal - The Quaking
(Revealed at Mecca)
8 Verses in 1 Section
Sections of Surah Al-Zilzal
-
Everyone shall see his own deeds.
Al-Zilzal - Everyone Shall See His Own Deeds.
Whatever man earned of good and evil, will be shown to him on the Day of Judgment and shall be duly recompensed for it, be it even of an atom’s weight.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
“In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful”
إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا
“When the earth shall quake with her (terrible) quaking1“ (99:1)
وَأَخْرَجَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا
“And the earth bringeth forth her burdens” (99:2)
وَقَالَ الْإِنْسَانُ مَا لَهَا
“And man shall say: ‘‘What hath happened to her2?” (99:3)
يَوْمَئِذٍ تُحَدِّثُ أَخْبَارَهَا
“On that day she shall relate her news (about all that happened on her)” (99:4)
بِأَنَّ رَبَّكَ أَوْحَىٰ لَهَا
“That thy Lord hath revealed unto her3“ (99:5)
يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصْدُرُ النَّاسُ أَشْتَاتًا لِيُرَوْا أَعْمَالَهُمْ
“On that day shall come out people (from their graves) in (scattered) groups, to be shown their own deeds4“ (99:6)
فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ
“Then he who hath done an atom-weight of good shall See it5“ (99:7)
وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
“And he who hath done an atom-weight of evil shall see it6“ (99:8)
Commentary
Verse 1 & 2
These verses 1-4 refer to the violent effects of destruction and disaster the earth will suffer on the Day of Judgment. See Chapter 88.
The whole earth will be quaked and getting reduced to nothing bursting and throwing out all its contents, even the heaviest of them.
Verse 3
Since the disaster will overtake the world all of a sudden, the sudden upheaval and the uprooting of the mountains and the strongest structures on earth and the convulsion of the earth as a whole will only confound man who will be plunged into a terrific surprise.
Verse 4
The earth will declare aloud what all had happened on it.
Tamim Ibn Hatim says ‘‘Once we went to Basra and while we were about to camp, a quake of earth was felt. We were all panicky, but Ali got down from his camel and placing his hand on the ground addressing the earth, said, ‘What hast happened to thee.’ The quaking stopped.
Lady Fatimah reports that once in Madina an earthquake was felt and the people got panicky and rushed to Abu-Bakr and Omar who took the whole multitude to the door of Ali and Ali came out with perfect peace of mind and took the people outside Madina and sitting on a mound, addressed the huge crowd and asked them, saying, ‘‘Ye are panicky at this quaking of the earth, what will you do when it will quake before the Day of Judgment?” Saying this, Ali placed his hand on the ground and addressing the earth, said, ‘‘What hast happened to thee?” The quaking stopped and the shaking of the houses of Madina suddenly ceased. Then Ali turned to the multitude and asked ‘‘Do ye wonder at this? I am the one to whom the earth will speak on the Day of Judgment” and recited this Surah. (M.S.).
The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that ‘‘Save yourselves from calamities by always being clean with ablutions. Save yourselves by always being regular in your prayers. Beware of your good and evil deeds on earth, for it will disclose everything on the Day of Judgment”
Verse 5
The word of command from the Almighty Lord would have brought the dissolutive and disastrous effect and the deeds done openly or secretly will be laid bare in the full light of the day.
‘Wahi’ or the revelation or instruction or command need not always be through an angel7.
This verse indicates the extent of the divine revelation and that even the earth shall have some sort of receiving the revelation. (A.P.).
Verse 6
Since the day of the Final Judgment will be the day of sorting out the good and the evil stuff in humanity - the dead will be divided into groups of good and bad according to the various levels of their merits and demerits, and rising from their graves, rush to see to know what is there for them by way of their own earning in this world, in the records of their own deeds8.
This is the first stage of the Total Resurrection. (A.P.).
Verse 7
Note: how man is warned of the strictness with which he will he dealt with in the accounting for his deeds. Even the smallest deed, good or evil, will not escape the accounting and will be duly recompensed, and no one will be able to bear the burden of the other9.
In this state every individual will realise his own deeds - good or bad - and the last stage of the resurrection is the judging of the actions, as a whole, i.e., the last stage of ‘Shafa’at al-Kubra’.
These verses have been taken as to signify that our action here, assumes concrete forms on the resurrection day, causing pleasure or pain. (A.P.).
