At-Takaathur
سُورَةُ التَّكَاثُرِ
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
About Surah At-Takaathur
Meccan · 8 verses
Main Themes
The preoccupation with accumulating worldly goods, the distraction of rivalries, the reckoning of bounties
Significance
At-Takathur (Rivalry in Worldly Increase) is one of the Quran's most direct warnings against the competitive accumulation of worldly goods — wealth, followers, status — to the point of spiritual blindness. The Prophet ﷺ reportedly described it as equivalent in reward to reciting a thousand verses. The surah's reference to "the graves" as the end of all rivalry is a stark reminder that worldly competition has a definitive expiry point.
Key Verse Explained
Ayah 8 ("Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure") establishes that on the Day of Judgement, every bounty received in this life will be subject to divine inquiry: Was it acknowledged? Was it used gratefully and righteously? Scholars connect this to the hadith that the first thing a human will be asked about is his health, then his youth, then his wealth and how he earned and spent it — making every blessing a potential test of gratitude.
Related Practices
The Prophet ﷺ said At-Takathur is equivalent to reciting a thousand Quranic verses in terms of reward (reported in some collections), giving it special status despite its brevity. The surah is commonly recited in Islamic financial ethics courses as a foundational text on avoiding the spiritual traps of wealth accumulation. "Alhakum at-takathur" (Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you) has become a proverbial phrase in Islamic sermons on materialism.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ 1
Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you
حَتَّىٰ زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ 2
Until you visit the graveyards.
كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ 3
No! You are going to know.
ثُمَّ كَلَّا سَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ 4
Then no! You are going to know.
كَلَّا لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عِلْمَ الْيَقِينِ 5
No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty...
لَتَرَوُنَّ الْجَحِيمَ 6
You will surely see the Hellfire.
ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيْنَ الْيَقِينِ 7
Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty.
ثُمَّ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ 8
Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure.