Sūrah Al-Qāriʿah The Striking Calamity
سورة القارعة
A Makkan sūrah of 11 verses depicting one of the terrifying names of the Day of Judgment. People will be like scattered moths, mountains like fluffed wool, and then the weighing of deeds heavy scales lead to pleasant life, light scales to the Pit of Fire.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
The sūrah opens with three rhetorical questions about al-Qāriʿah (the Striking Calamity) one of the many names of the Day of Judgment. The word suggests something striking violently, making hearts pound. Ibn Kathīr explains the two images: mankind scattered like farāsh (moths or locusts without direction) indicates total disorientation; mountains like ʿihn manfūsh (carded/fluffed wool) indicates the dissolution of the most solid worldly landmarks.
The decisive outcome rests on the mawāzīn (scales of deeds). Those whose scales are heavy with good deeds will have a pleasant, satisfying life (ʿīshatin rāḍiyah). Those whose scales are light Ibn Kathīr explains will have their abode in Hāwiyah. The verse "wa-mā adrāka mā hiyah" (what will make you know what it is?) followed by "nārun ḥāmiyah" (a blazing fire) leaves no ambiguity: Hāwiyah = Hellfire, and it becomes like a mother to the disbeliever his only resting place.
- Al-Qāriʿah: A striking, pounding calamity the name evokes the visceral shock of the Day, hearts pounding before it arrives.
- Scattered moths: Human beings who think themselves orderly and in control will be as directionless as scattered moths on that Day.
- Fluffed wool mountains: Mountains that anchor the earth will become light and scattered the most permanent landmarks of this world dissolve instantly.
- The scale (mīzān): Ibn Kathīr records the ḥadīth of the card (biṭāqah) where lā ilāha illā Allāh outweighs 99 scrolls of sins affirming the mercy in the scales.
- Hāwiyah: The light-scaled sinner falls into Hāwiyah described as "his mother" meaning his only home and resting place is this Pit of blazing fire.