Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
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1
١
al-qāriʿatu
The Striking Calamity -
2
٢
mā l-qāriʿatu
What is the Striking Calamity?
3
٣
wamā adrāka mā l-qāriʿatu
And what can make you know what is the Striking Calamity?
4
٤
yawma yakūnu l-nāsu kal-farāshi l-mabthūthi
It is the Day when people will be like moths, dispersed,
5
٥
watakūnu l-jibālu kal-ʿih'ni l-manfūshi
And the mountains will be like wool, fluffed up.
6
٦
fa-ammā man thaqulat mawāzīnuhu
Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds],
7
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fahuwa fī ʿīshatin rāḍiyatin
He will be in a pleasant life.
8
٨
wa-ammā man khaffat mawāzīnuhu
But as for one whose scales are light,
9
٩
fa-ummuhu hāwiyatun
His refuge will be an abyss.
10
١٠
wamā adrāka mā hiyah
And what can make you know what that is?
11
١١
nārun ḥāmiyatun
It is a Fire, intensely hot.
Surah Al-Qari'ah (The Calamity) — Full Text
Ayah 1
ٱلْقَارِعَةُ
The Striking Calamity -
Al-Qari'ah — The Striking Calamity. This is one of the names for the Day of Judgment, and it literally means something that strikes or hammers with overwhelming force. Allah opens this surah by just dropping the name, no explanation yet, like the dramatic pause before someone tells you the most intense news of your life. It's meant to immediately grab your attention and make your heart skip a beat.
Ayah 2
مَا ٱلْقَارِعَةُ
What is the Striking Calamity?
What is the Striking Calamity? Allah is asking a rhetorical question here, and the point isn't that you should try to answer it — the point is that you can't. This is Allah's way of saying this event is so far beyond anything you've ever experienced that no human description can do it justice. It's like being told something so massive is coming that your brain literally cannot process how big it is.
Ayah 3
وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا ٱلْقَارِعَةُ
And what can make you know what is the Striking Calamity?
And what could possibly make you understand what it really is? Allah repeats the question to drive it deeper — this isn't something you can just skim past. The repetition is intentional, building a sense of gravity and urgency. By the third verse, you should be fully locked in, waiting for the answer, because whatever this event is, it's clearly going to change everything.
Ayah 4
يَوْمَ يَكُونُ ٱلنَّاسُ كَٱلْفَرَاشِ ٱلْمَبْثُوثِ
It is the Day when people will be like moths, dispersed,1
On that Day, people will be like moths scattered around a flame — confused, disoriented, bumping into each other with no sense of direction. Think about how moths swarm a light at night, flying in every direction with zero coordination. That's humanity on the Day of Judgment: completely bewildered, stripped of all the confidence and control they thought they had in this world.
Ayah 5
وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ ٱلْمَنفُوشِ
And the mountains will be like wool, fluffed up.1
And the mountains — those massive, solid structures we think of as the most permanent things on Earth — will be like fluffy, carded wool floating in the wind. If mountains, the literal symbol of strength and stability, get reduced to nothing, imagine how small everything you stress about in this life really is. The entire physical world as you know it will be completely dismantled.
Ayah 6
فَأَمَّا مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ
Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds],
Now here's where it gets personal — whoever's scale of deeds is heavy, they're good. On the Day of Judgment, your actions get placed on an actual scale, and what matters isn't how many good deeds you racked up but how much weight they carry. Sincerity is what adds real weight; a few genuine, heartfelt actions done purely for Allah's sake will outweigh a mountain of deeds done for show or clout.
Ayah 7
فَهُوَ فِى عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ
He will be in a pleasant life.
That person with the heavy scale? They'll be living a life of pure contentment and bliss in Paradise. After all the terror and chaos of that Day, they'll land somewhere where there's nothing but peace and satisfaction. All the patience, the struggles, the times they chose to do the right thing when no one was watching — it all pays off here, big time.
Ayah 8
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ
But as for one whose scales are light,
But whoever's scale is light — meaning their good deeds didn't carry enough weight, maybe because they lacked real faith or sincerity — they're in serious trouble. In this world, you can fake it and people might be impressed, but on that Day, only what's genuinely real counts. Appearances mean nothing; it's the inner truth of your actions that gets measured.
Ayah 9
فَأُمُّهُۥ هَاوِيَةٌ
His refuge1 will be an abyss.2
Their destination is called the Hawiyah — a bottomless pit. The Arabic literally means a place you fall into headfirst with nothing to catch you. It's called their 'mother' because just like a child runs back to their mother for comfort and shelter, the Hellfire will be the only home this person has. There's nowhere else for them to go, and that's one of the most chilling images in the entire Quran.
Ayah 10
وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا هِيَهْ
And what can make you know what that is?
And what could make you understand what that pit really is? Again, Allah uses this question to signal that whatever you're imagining, the reality is worse. Just like the Striking Calamity itself was beyond human comprehension, so is the punishment. This pattern of building suspense before the reveal is Allah's way of making sure you don't take this lightly.
Ayah 11
نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌۢ
It is a Fire, intensely hot.
It is a blazing, intensely hot Fire. That's the final answer — short, blunt, and terrifying. No sugarcoating, no softening. The surah that started with an earth-shattering event ends with the consequence for those who wasted their chance. The whole surah is really a wake-up call: this life is temporary, a Day is coming that will shake everything apart, and the only thing that will matter is what your deeds actually weigh when it's all said and done.