Tafsir Sura Al-Qori'ah - Verse 1-11

 

الْقَارِعَةُ
(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) What is the Calamity?

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْقَارِعَةُ
(101:3) And what do you know what the Calamity is?

يَوْمَ يَكُونُ النَّاسُ كَالْفَرَاشِ الْمَبْثُوثِ
(101:4) On that Day human beings shall be like scattered moths,

وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ الْمَنفُوشِ
(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 مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
(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 رَّاضِيَةٍ
(101:7) shall have a blissful life;

فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ
(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) And what do you know what that is?

نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ
(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.