SURAH (101) AL-QARI'AH (AYA 1 to 11)

Sura (101) AL-QARI’AH (The Calamity) Aya 1 to 11 verse in 1 Section

Revealed at Makka

SECTION 1

Deeds weight

Those whose good deeds weigh heavy will rejoice in a pleasant life, and those whose good deeds weigh light will have the abyss as their abode.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ 

الْقَارِعَةُ {101:1}

[Q101:1] Al qaari'ah 
[Q101:1] Al-Qari'ah (the striking Hour i.e. the Day of Resurrection),

The dawn of the Day of Resurrection and Judgment has been described in al Ghashiyah and al Zilzal. [1] A tremendous stunning noise will be heard before the Day of Judgment. [2] The whole of the present order of existence will be overthrown. [3] All our present landmarks will be lost.

Ü  It will inaugurate a new existence of true and permanent values, in which every human deed will have its just recompense as if weighed in balance, as stated in verses 6 to 9 below.

NO ONE CAN HAVE THE IDEA OF THE CONFUSION, DISTRESS AND HELPLESSNESS WITH WHICH MEN WILL FIND THEMSELVES OVERWHELMED ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, because nothing even near to the terrible convulsion has ever been experienced by man on the earth. Moths are frail light things. To see them scattered about in a violent storm gives some idea of the nature of calamity men will encounter on the Day of Judgment when the mountains will scatter about like flakes of carded wool. See Ma-arij 70:9

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(101:1) The Calamity! *1

*1 "Qari'ah " literally means the "striking one" . Qar ` is to strike one thing upon another so severely as to produce a noise. In view of this literal meaning, the word qari'ah is used for a dreadful disaster and a great calamity. At another place in the Qur'an this word has been used for a great affliction befalling a nation. In Surah Ar-Ra`d 31, it has been said: "As for the disbelievers, because of their misdeeds, one affliction or the other dces not cease to visit them every now and then." But, here the word al-Qari'ah has been for the Resurrection and in Surah AI-Haaqqah too the Resurrection has been described by this very epithet (v.4). One should remember that here the whole Hereafter, from the first stage of Resurrection to the last stage of judgement and meting out of rewards and punishments, is being depicted together. 

مَا الْقَارِعَةُ {101:2}

[Q101:2] Mal qaari’ah? 
[Q101:2] What is the striking (Hour)?

FOR VERSES 2 & 3.

Since anything similar to the terrible experience of the clamorous noise mentioned here, has never been experienced by anyone in the world, it is an impossibility even to correctly imagine what the noise would be like.

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(101:2) What is the Calamity?

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ {101:3}

[Q101:3] Wa maa adraaka mal qaari'ah? 
[Q101:3] And what will make you know what the striking (Hour) is?

 (see commentary for verse 1)

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(101:3) And what do you know what the Calamity is?

يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ {101:4}

[Q101:4] Yawma yakoonun naasu kal faraashil mathooth, 
[Q101:4] It is a Day whereon mankind will be like moths scattered about,

Out of terror, the clamorous voice will create in the minds of the people they will be running bewildered on all sides in tumultuous multitude---out of the fear and the tumult each falling over the other, like the tiny insignificant being, the moths scattered by a violent stormy wind.

THIS IS TO GIVE AN IMAGINABLE VIEW OF THE CONFUSION AND DISTRESS AND HELPLESSNESS MAN WILL BE THROWN INTO, ALL OF A SUDDEN.

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(101:4) On that Day human beings shall be like scattered moths,

وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنْفُوشِ {101:5}

[Q101:5] Wa ta koonul jibalu kal 'ihnil manfoosh. 
[Q101:5] And the mountains will be like carded wool,

When even the solid and immovably and unshakably fixed mountains will be scattered in the atmosphere, like the insignificant flakes of the carder’s wool. See also verse 70:9.

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(101:5) and the mountains shall be like fluffs of carded wool in varying colours. *2

*2 This will be the tirst stage of Resurrection, when in consequence of the Great Disaster the whole of the present order of the world will be overthrown; the people then will be running about in confusion and bewilderment like so many scattered moths around a light; and the mountains will be flying about like carded wool of different colours. The mountains have been compared to wool of different colours because of the existence of a variety of colours in them. 

فَأَمَّا مَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ {101:6}

[Q101:6] Fa-amma man thaqulat mawa zeenuh, 
[Q101:6] Then as for him whose balance (of good deeds) will be heavy,

THE GOOD DEEDS OF THE BELIEVERS WILL BE WEIGHED AND ASSESSED. THE ASSESSMENT WILL BE JUST, STRICTLY CORRESPONDING TO THE REAL VALUE OF EACH DEEDS and deed means any deed of the physical body given to man and as well as the activity of the mind, i.e., the various faculties he has been endowed with.

EVERY ACTION PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WILL BE WEIGHT viz., *motives, *temptations, *provocations, *surrounding conditions, *the degree of faith in ALLAH (SWT), *repentance AND subsequent amends and the relevant connected circumstances.

ß  Those whose good works predominate over their evil deeds will receive a favourable judgment and they will be admitted to the eternal life of bliss and satisfaction.

ß  Those whose good works do not counterbalance their evil deeds will have their abodes in a bottomless pit, the abyss, described in the next two verses.

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(101:6) Then *3 he whose scales weigh heavier

*3 From here begins description of the second stage of Resurrection when after having been resurrected men will appear in the Court of God. 

فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَاضِيَةٍ {101:7}

[Q101:7] Fahuwa fee 'ishatir raadiyah. 
[Q101:7] He will live a pleasant life (in Paradise).

 (see commentary for verse 6)

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(101:7) shall have a blissful life;

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ {101:8}

[Q101:8] Wa amma man khaffat mawa zeenuh, 
[Q101:8] But as for him whose balance (of good deeds) will be light,

FOR VERSES 8 & 9.

AND WHOSOEVER’S EVILS WILL EXCEED HIS GOOD DEEDS will be thrown into the abyss---and ‘Hawiyah’ is interpreted to be the abyss or the depth the bottom being immeasurable depth.

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(101:8) but he whose scales weigh lighter, *4

*4 The word mawazin in the original can be plural of mauzun as well as, of mizan. In the first case, mawazin would imply the deeds which might have some weight in the sight of Allah and be, thus, worthy of appreciation; in the second case, mawazin would imply scales of a balance. In the first case, the meaning of the mawazin's being heavier or lighter is that the good deeds will be heavy or light as against the evil deeds, for in the sight of Allah only good deeds have any weight and worth. In the second case, the meaning of the mawazin's being heavy is that the scale of the good deeds will be heavier than the scale of evil deeds, in Allah Almighty's Balance of Justice, and their being light means that the scale of good deeds will be lighter than the scale of evil deeds. Besides, in Arabic idiom the word mizan is also used for weight (wazan); accordingly, the weight's being heavy of light implies the good deeds being heavy or light. In any case, whether mawazin is taken in the meaning of mauzun or of mizan, or of wazan, the intention remains the same, which is that the basis of judgement in the Divine Court will be whether the provision of the deeds that a matt has brought is weighty or weightless, or whether his good deeds are heavier than his evil deeds or lighter. This theme has occurred at several places in the Qur'an which explains the meaning fully well. In Surah Al-A'raf it has been said: "On that Day the weight will be identical with the Truth: accordingly, those whose scales, will be heavy will alone come out successful; and those whose scales are light will be the ones who will have incurred loss upon themselves." (w.8-9). In Surah Al-Kahf, it was said: 'O Prophet, say to them: Should we tell you who are the most un-successful people and miserable failures in regard to their deeds? They are those whose all endeavours in the worldly life had gone astray from the Right Way, but they were under the delusion that everything they were doing, was rightly directed: these are the people who rejected the Revelations of their Lord and did not believe that they would ever go before Him. Therefore, all their deeds were Lost, for We will assign no weight to them on the Day of Resurrection." (vv. 103-105). In Surah Al-Anbiya': "On the Day of Resurrection, We will set up just and accurate balances so that no one will be wronged in the least in any way; even if it be an act equal in weight to a grain of mustard seed, We will bring it forth (to be weighed) and We suffice for reckoning". (v.47). These verses show that kufr and denial of the truth is in itself such a stupendous evil that it will certainly lower the scale of evils, and there will be no good act of the disbelievers, which may have any weight in the scale of good deeds so that its scale of goodness may become heavy. However, in the scales of the believer there will be the weight of Faith as well as the weight of the good deeds which he performed in the world. On the other hand, every evil done by him will be placed in the scale of evil deeds and then it will be seen whether his scale of the good deeds is heavier or his scale of the evil deeds. 

فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ {101:9}

[Q101:9] Fa-ummuhu haawiyah. 
[Q101:9] He will have his home in Hawiyah (pit, i.e. Hell).

 (see commentary for verse 8)

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(101:9) his shall be the deep pit for a dwelling. *5

*5 The words in the original a"re: ammu hu hawiyah: "his mother will be hawiyah." Hawiyah is from hawa, which means to fall from a height to a depth, and bawiyah is the deep pit into which something falls. Hell has been called Hawiyah because it will be very deep and the culprits will be thrown into it from the height. As for the words, "his mother will be Hawiyah ", they mean: Just as the mother's lap is the child's abode, so Hell will be the culprits' only abode in the Hereafter. 

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ {101:10}

[Q101:10] Wa maa adraaka maa hiyah. 
[Q101:10] And what will make you know what it is?

As man in this life cannot rightly imagine of what the ‘Qariah’ mentioned in the verse 1 above, will be, he cannot correctly visualize the likeness of the abyss called ‘Hawiyah’ which will be the abode of the wicked.

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(101:10) And what do you know what that is?

نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ {101:11}

[Q101:11] Naarun haamiyah. 
[Q101:11] (It is) a hot blazing Fire!

The simplest note of description of the abyss ‘Hawiyah’ is that it is a blazing fire and the rest of it to be experienced and known when it is given to the wicked on the Day of Judgment.

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(101:11) A Blazing Fire! *6

*6 That is, it will not merely be a deep pit but will also be full of raging fire.

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