Al-Wāqiʻa (; "The Inevitable" or "The Event") is the 56th

surah A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...

(chapter) of the Quran.

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

believe it was revealed in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

(see

Meccan surah A Meccan surah is, according to the timing and contextual background of their revelation ('' asbāb al-nuzūl'') within Islamic tradition, a chronologically earlier chapter ('' suwar'', singular ''sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronolog ...

), specifically around 7 years before the

Hijrah The Hijrah, () also Hegira (from Medieval Latin), was the journey the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the e ...

(622), the migration of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

to Medina. The total number of verses in this surah is 96. It mainly discusses the afterlife according to Islam, and the different fates people will face in it.

Summary

The

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

(''

akhirah al-Ākhirah (, derived from ''Akhir'' which means last, ultimate, end or close) is an Arabic term for "the Hereafter". In Islamic eschatology, on Judgment Day, the natural or temporal world (''dunya'') will come to an end, the dead will be re ...

'') is the main topic discussed in the chapter. Picking up from the preceding chapter,

Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahman (; the Merciful; Most Gracious; Most Merciful) is the 55th Chapter (''Surah'') of the Qur'an, with 78 verses; ('' āyāt''). The Surah was revealed in Mecca and emphasizes themes of mercy, creation, and the relationship between Alla ...

, which discusses the rewards of

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

(''

jannah In Islam, Jannah (, ''jannāt'', ) is the final and permanent abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Qur'an. Belief in the afterlife is one of the Iman (Islam)#The Six Articles of Faith, six article ...

''), this chapter also mentions them and then contrasts them with the punishment of

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

. The chapter also distinguishes the three classes of people in the afterlife, "the foremost", "the companions of the right" and "the companions of the left": the first two groups will enter paradise while the companions of the left will go to hell. Here, "the right" is associated with goodness, the righteous will be seated to the right of God's throne and receive their records of deeds in their right hand. The "foremost" refers to a special group of people who will have an even better fate than the companions of the right in the afterlife. Quranic commentators differ on understanding who the foremost is. They variously identify the foremost with the prophets, the saints, the truthful, the martyrs, the first to accept Islam, and others.

Ayat (verses)

*1-2 The coming of the

Judgment Day The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

inevitable *3-7 Its terrors described *8-11 Its coming shall separate men into three classes *12-39 Joys of the Muslim heaven described *40-56 The punishment of the

wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

depicted *57-73 Arguments for the resurrection of the dead drawn from God’s work in creation and providence *74-81 Oath by the stars that the Qurán is divinely-inspired *82-96 Men should believe in God since they cannot save the dying from death

Revelation history

According to Quranic

commentators Commentator or commentators may refer to: * Commentator (historical) or Postglossator, a member of a European legal school that arose in France in the fourteenth century * Commentator (horse) (foaled 2001), American Thoroughbred racehorse * The ...

, the chapter is a

Meccan sura A Meccan surah is, according to the timing and contextual background of their revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl'') within Islamic tradition, a chronologically earlier chapter ('' suwar'', singular ''sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronologi ...

, that is, it was revealed during the

Meccan period A Meccan surah is, according to the timing and contextual background of their revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl'') within Islamic tradition, a chronologically earlier chapter (''suwar'', singular ''sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronologic ...

of Muhammad's prophethood. Some commentators, although not in the majority, argue that part of it was revealed during the Medinan period. Some of such commentators maintain that verses 39–40 are the verses that was from the Medinan period, while some say 81–82, and others say 83. The traditional Egyptian chronology puts the chapter as the 41st chapter by the order of revelation (after

At-Tur At-Tur (, ; The Mount) is the 52nd chapter (''sūrah'') of the Quran with 49 verses ('' ayat''). The surah opens with the oath of Allah swearing by the Mount, which some believe is Mount Sinai, where the Tawrat was revealed to Musa. The chapt ...

), while the Nöldeke Chronology (by the orientalist

Theodor Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar, originally a student of Heinrich Ewald. He is one of the founders of the field of Quranic studies, especially through his foundational work titled ...

) puts it as the 46th. The chapter's position in the Quran, which is not determined by the revelation order, is as the 56th chapter, right after

which discusses partly related topic.

Exegesis

Q56:22 Houri

According to

Ibn Kathir Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...

, in

paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

there will be, In ''

The Message of The Qur'an ''The Message of The Qur'an'' is an English language, English translation and Tafsir, interpretation of the 1924 Cairo edition of the Qur'an by Muhammad Asad, an Austrians, Austrian Jew who converted to Islam. It is considered one of the most in ...

'', Muhammad Asad asserts that the "noun hur - rendered as 'companions pure' - is a plural of both ahwar (masculine) and hawra' (female), either of which describes a person distinguished by hawar', which latter term primarily denotes 'intense whiteness of the eyeballs and lustrous black of the iris'. Asad as well as Yusuf Ali and

Marmaduke Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called '' The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Q ...

translate this verse as: The ''Enlightening Commentary into the Light of the Holy Qur'an'' says, "the people of Paradise shall have spouses from amongst

houri In Islam, a houri (; ), or houris or hoor al ayn in plural form, is a maiden woman with beautiful eyes who lives alongside the Muslim faithful in Jannah, paradise. They are described as the same age as the men in paradise. Since hadith states ...

with fair complexions and wide black eyes who are preserved like pearls in shells".

References

External links

Surah Al Waqiah Complete recitation with translation

Surah Al Waqia

Read Surah Waqiah

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Waqia Islamic eschatology