Al-Qaari'a
سُورَةُ القَارِعَةِ
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
About Surah Al-Qaari'a
Meccan · 11 verses
Main Themes
The Day of Calamity, the weighing of deeds, the two outcomes of light and heavy scales
Significance
Al-Qari'ah (The Striking Calamity) presents the Day of Judgement through one of the Quran's most vivid sets of metaphors: people scattered like moths, mountains like carded wool, a scale whose heaviness means a pleasant life and whose lightness means the fire of Hell. The surah uses the Arabic rhetorical device of repeated questioning (ma al-qari'ah? What is the Striking Calamity?) to build dramatic emphasis before answering.
Key Verse Explained
Ayah 6–9 describe the two outcomes of the scale: "As for one whose scales are heavy, he will be in a pleasant life. But as for one whose scales are light, his refuge will be an abyss. And what can make you know what that is? It is a blazing fire." Classical scholars note the economy of the surah: the pleasant life of the righteous is described simply and without excess, while the punishment of the wicked is emphasised through a further rhetorical question — because truly knowing what Hawiyah (the abyss) is exceeds human comprehension.
Related Practices
Al-Qari'ah is one of the early surahs memorised in Islamic education and is recited as a reminder of the Day of Judgement's reality. The concept of the scale of deeds (mizan) is one of the six articles of Islamic faith in some scholarly formulations, and Al-Qari'ah is one of the most direct Quranic references to this eschatological reality. The surah is paired with Az-Zalzalah in reflections on accountability.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْقَارِعَةُ 1
The Striking Calamity -
مَا الْقَارِعَةُ 2
What is the Striking Calamity?
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ 3
And what can make you know what is the Striking Calamity?
يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ 4
It is the Day when people will be like moths, dispersed,
وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنْفُوشِ 5
And the mountains will be like wool, fluffed up.
فَأَمَّا مَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ 6
Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds],
فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَاضِيَةٍ 7
He will be in a pleasant life.
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ 8
But as for one whose scales are light,
فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ 9
His refuge will be an abyss.
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ 10
And what can make you know what that is?
نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ 11
It is a Fire, intensely hot.