سُورَةُ القِيَامَةِ
Surah 75 - Al-Qiyaama
The Resurrection
- 40 verses
- Juz 29
- Pages 577 to 578 of the Mushaf
Al-Qiyaama sets down two oaths in a row, the second on the soul that reproaches itself. A question follows: does anyone think bones will not be gathered? The term for the human being comes back six times in the surah, and the same questioning turn reads in the third verse and again in the thirty-sixth, closing the text on itself. Between the two: sight dazzled, two heavenly bodies joined, and the question where to flee. Four verses break into the scene to give an instruction on how a recitation is to be received. Then come two kinds of faces, then the moment when the soul reaches the collarbones. The end goes back to the body's beginning.
The main parts
The text of the surah
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ لَآ أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ
I swear by the Day of Resurrection
وَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلنَّفْسِ ٱللَّوَّامَةِ
And I swear by the reproaching soul [to the certainty of resurrection].
أَيَحْسَبُ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ أَلَّن نَّجْمَعَ عِظَامَهُۥ
Does man think that We will not assemble his bones?
بَلَىٰ قَٰدِرِينَ عَلَىٰٓ أَن نُّسَوِّىَ بَنَانَهُۥ
Yes. [We are] Able [even] to proportion his fingertips.
بَلْ يُرِيدُ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُۥ
But man desires to continue in sin.
يَسْـَٔلُ أَيَّانَ يَوْمُ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ
He asks, "When is the Day of Resurrection?"
فَإِذَا بَرِقَ ٱلْبَصَرُ
So when vision is dazzled
وَخَسَفَ ٱلْقَمَرُ
And the moon darkens
وَجُمِعَ ٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ
And the sun and the moon are joined,
يَقُولُ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ أَيْنَ ٱلْمَفَرُّ
Man will say on that Day, "Where is the [place of] escape?"
كَلَّا لَا وَزَرَ
No! There is no refuge.
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْمُسْتَقَرُّ
To your Lord, that Day, is the [place of] permanence.
يُنَبَّؤُا۟ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ يَوْمَئِذٍۭ بِمَا قَدَّمَ وَأَخَّرَ
Man will be informed that Day of what he sent ahead and kept back.
بَلِ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِۦ بَصِيرَةٌۭ
Rather, man, against himself, will be a witness,
وَلَوْ أَلْقَىٰ مَعَاذِيرَهُۥ
Even if he presents his excuses.
لَا تُحَرِّكْ بِهِۦ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِۦٓ
Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an.
إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُۥ وَقُرْءَانَهُۥ
Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its recitation.
فَإِذَا قَرَأْنَٰهُ فَٱتَّبِعْ قُرْءَانَهُۥ
So when We have recited it [through Gabriel], then follow its recitation.
ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا بَيَانَهُۥ
Then upon Us is its clarification [to you].
كَلَّا بَلْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱلْعَاجِلَةَ
No! But you love the immediate
وَتَذَرُونَ ٱلْءَاخِرَةَ
And leave the Hereafter.
وُجُوهٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ نَّاضِرَةٌ
[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant,
إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌۭ
Looking at their Lord.
وَوُجُوهٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۭ بَاسِرَةٌۭ
And [some] faces, that Day, will be contorted,
تَظُنُّ أَن يُفْعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌۭ
Expecting that there will be done to them [something] backbreaking.
كَلَّآ إِذَا بَلَغَتِ ٱلتَّرَاقِىَ
No! When the soul has reached the collar bones
وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍۢ
And it is said, "Who will cure [him]?"
وَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ ٱلْفِرَاقُ
And the dying one is certain that it is the [time of] separation
وَٱلْتَفَّتِ ٱلسَّاقُ بِٱلسَّاقِ
And the leg is wound about the leg,
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْمَسَاقُ
To your Lord, that Day, will be the procession.
فَلَا صَدَّقَ وَلَا صَلَّىٰ
And the disbeliever had not believed, nor had he prayed.
وَلَٰكِن كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ
But [instead], he denied and turned away.
ثُمَّ ذَهَبَ إِلَىٰٓ أَهْلِهِۦ يَتَمَطَّىٰٓ
And then he went to his people, swaggering [in pride].
أَوْلَىٰ لَكَ فَأَوْلَىٰ
Woe to you, and woe!
ثُمَّ أَوْلَىٰ لَكَ فَأَوْلَىٰٓ
Then woe to you, and woe!
أَيَحْسَبُ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ أَن يُتْرَكَ سُدًى
Does man think that he will be left neglected?
أَلَمْ يَكُ نُطْفَةًۭ مِّن مَّنِىٍّۢ يُمْنَىٰ
Had he not been a sperm from semen emitted?
ثُمَّ كَانَ عَلَقَةًۭ فَخَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ
Then he was a clinging clot, and [Allah] created [his form] and proportioned [him]
فَجَعَلَ مِنْهُ ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰٓ
And made of him two mates, the male and the female.
أَلَيْسَ ذَٰلِكَ بِقَٰدِرٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يُحْۦِىَ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ
Is not that [Creator] Able to give life to the dead?
Key verses of the surah
The second oath, sworn on the soul that blames itself; it gives that soul a name the text does not use again.
وَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلنَّفْسِ ٱللَّوَّامَةِ
And I swear by the reproaching soul [to the certainty of resurrection].
The verse that cuts into the description of the Day for an instruction on recitation, held over four verses.
لَا تُحَرِّكْ بِهِۦ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِۦٓ
Move not your tongue with it, [O Muhammad], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an.
The first of the two panels on faces: what they do on that day, said in two very short verses.
وُجُوهٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ نَّاضِرَةٌ
[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant,
The question that takes up the one in verse 3 and launches the last five verses on the body's beginning.
أَيَحْسَبُ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ أَن يُتْرَكَ سُدًى
Does man think that he will be left neglected?
What is surah Al-Qiyaama about?
Of an objection and its refutation. Someone doubts that remains can be gathered; the text answers with scenes, then with reasoning drawn from how the body is formed, and ends on a question that sends the doubt back to whoever raised it.
Why does surah Al-Qiyaama speak of recitation?
Verses 16 to 19 form a parenthesis. They speak to the reciter, asking him not to run ahead of what he receives, and assign the parts: the gathering, the reciting and the explaining are not his charge. Verse 20 picks up the interrupted scene.
How is surah Al-Qiyaama built?
As a loop. One question opens the text at verse 3 and closes it at verse 36, in the same form and on the same subject. Between them, short scenes, a four-verse parenthesis, and two matching series: the faces, then the gestures of a dying man.
How does surah Al-Qiyaama end?
With five verses that retrace in reverse how a body is formed, from a drop to the telling apart of the two sexes. The very last verse draws a question from it, left without a written answer: could the one who did that not do it?
Why is surah Al-Qiyaama called that?
“Al-Qiyaama” is rendered “the Rising” or “the Resurrection”. The word appears twice: in verse 75:1, as the object of the first oath, and in verse 75:6, in the question an objector puts about the date. In both cases it names a day.
How many verses does surah Al-Qiyaama have?
Surah Al-Qiyaama has 40 verses. It stands at number 75 in the order of the Mushaf, which holds 114.
The Arabic text is that of the Mushaf. The summary, the outline and the answers on this page describe the text and how it is built: they are not religious commentary.