Verses 1–11
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful
This sūrah was revealed in Mecca and consists of 11 verses. It presents both glad tidings and warnings of the resurrection, though there is more emphasis on warning.
Commentary
الْقارِعَةُ ١
(101:1) The Pounder (al-qāriʿah)!
This verse offers a subject, while the next verse is its predicate. The word qāriʿah is one of the Qur’anic names for the resurrection, derived from qarʿ, meaning “a severe blow, a massive strike.” Some exegetes say that the resurrection is given this name because it will knock on the hearts with fear, and will also knock out the enemies of God with punishment.
مَا الْقارِعَةُ ٢
(101:2) What is the Pounder?
Even though it is clear what the Pounder is, this verse asks a rhetorical question about it, indicating how immense and terrifying it is. The verse also shows that one cannot fathom the reality of the Pounder.
وَ ما أَدْراكَ مَا الْقارِعَةُ ٣
(101:3) What shall teach you what is the Pounder?
This verse emphasizes the immensity of the Day of Resurrection.
يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَراشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ ٤
(101:4) The day people will be like scattered (mabthūth, from bathth) locusts (kal-farāsh).
Bathth means “dispersion, scattering, spreading.” The day acts as a temporal container (ẓarf) qualifying an elided verb, such as “remind them” (udhkur, in the imperative), “it strikes” (taqraʿu) or “it comes” (taʾtī). It is narrated from al-Farrāʾ:
Farāsh means a a mob of locusts. It is a swarm of locusts that would carpet (yanfarish) the land and mount upon one another.
Some exegetes have explained: When locusts take off, they fly around aimlessly, unlike other flying animals. That is why people on the Day of Resurrection are likened to locusts. When people emerge from their graves, terror will overtake them, and they will turn hither and thither. Alternatively, they will head for different destinations—that is, their abodes of happiness or misery.
وَ تَكُونُ الْجِبالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنْفُوشِ ٥
(101:5) And the mountains will be like carded (al-manfūsh, from nafsh) wool (kal-ʿihn).
ʿIhn means “multi-colored wool.” Nafsh refers to the process of spreading out wool on a card or a similar tool. Carded wool, therefore, means multi-colored wool which has been spread out. This indicates how the mountains—in all their diverse colors—will crumble upon the quaking of the earth when the Hour sets in.
فَأَمَّا مَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازِينُهُ ٦
(101:6) As for him whose deeds weigh heavy in the scales,
This refers to the weighing of deeds. It indicates that some deeds will weigh heavily on the scales, including faith and various acts of obedience, which are valuable to God. Others deeds will have no weight or status before God, namely kufr (disbelief, ingratitude) and various forms of disobedience. The two types of deeds differ in their consequences. The weighty deeds will result in happiness, while the light ones will produce misery. We already discussed the meaning of scales in the previous chapters.
فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ راضِيَةٍ ٧
(101:7) he will abide in a pleased (rāḍiyah) life (ʿīshah).
The word ʿīshah means “a special type of life.” The adjective pleased is used for life metaphorically, because it is the person who is in fact pleased [with that life]. Alternatively, it involves an omission: dhāt riḍá (full of pleasure, possessed with pleasure, characterized by pleasure).
وَ أَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوازِينُهُ ٨ فَأُمُّهُ هاوِيَةٌ ٩
(101:8-9) But as for him whose deeds weigh light in the scales, his home (fa-ummuhu) will be the Abyss (hāwiyah).
Apparently the word hāwiyah (lit. falling, plunging) refers to hell. It is called hāwiyah because oe who is cast into it plunges down (yahwī) into its deepest depths. God says: Then We relegated them to the lowest of the low. Except for those who believe (). Therefore, the fire is metaphorically called hāwiyah (falling, plunging) just like a pleased life (). The verse refers to hellfire as the umm (lit. mother) of the person in the sense that it is the final abode and returning place of the individual, just as a child has recourse to their mother.
Some exegetes have said: Umm here means umm al-raʾs (the crown of the head). What is meant is that people will be cast headlong into hell.
However, this interpretation is unlikely, because then there would be no antecedent for the pronoun “it” in the next verse.
وَ ما أَدْراكَ ما هِيَهْ ١٠
(101:10) And what will show you what it is (hiyah)?
This verse serves an interpretative role for the last verse, and emphasizes the enormity of the fire. The pronoun “it” refers back to hāwiyah (). The suffix h at the end of hiyah provides a pause (waqf).
نارٌ حامِيَةٌ ١١
(101:11) It is a scorching (ḥāmiyah) fire.
This is a reply to the question in the previous verse and explains what is meant by hāwiyah (). Ḥāmiyah means “scorching hot.”
Examining Narrations
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says: like carded (kal-ʿihn) wool (): ʿIhn is wool. Whose deeds weigh light in the scales (): This is being light for the lack of good deeds. His home (fa-ummuhu) will be the Abyss (): This refers to one’s umm al-raʾs (the crown of the head). The person will be cast into the fire headlong.
- The Messenger of God said: When a believer dies, he is greeted by those servants of God who have been granted divine mercy, just like people surround someone bringing good news in this world. They will say, “Let your friend rest, for he has just passed tremendous pangs.” Then they will ask him, “What did this man do? What did that woman do? Did she get married?” If they ask him about someone who has already died, the newcomer will say, “Alas, he died before me,” whereby the others will say, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him we return (). He has gone to his mother, the Abyss (al-hāwiyah). What an evil mother it is, and a wretched nurse.”
This is like when a teacher mentions a concept (as God does in the first verse), and then asks the students what it means (as He does in the second). (Ed.) ↩︎
In the first case (udhkur), the subject would be the Prophet. In the other two cases (taqraʿu and taʾtī), the subject would be the Pounder. (Ed.) ↩︎
See volume 15, pp. 8ff of the English translation, under verses . (Ed.) ↩︎
It is constructed in a manner which expresses a specific type (like jilsah). (Auth.) ↩︎
This means that those who have been granted divine mercy have not seen the deceased, which shows that the person is destined to hell. That is why they lament. (Trans.) ↩︎
Al-Durr al-manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Mardawayh, on the authority offrom Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī. Al-Durr al-manthūr has narrated the same idea from the Prophet on the authorities of Anas b. Mālik, al-Ḥasan and al-Ashʿath b. ʿAbd-Allāh al-Aʿmá. ↩︎