'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Qari'a

And it is Meccan without disagreement.

His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿The Calamity﴾ ﴿And what is the Calamity?﴾ ﴿And what will make you know what the Calamity is?﴾ ﴿On the Day the people will be like scattered moths﴾ ﴿And the mountains will be like wool, fluffed up﴾ ﴿So as for he whose scales are heavy﴾ ﴿He will be in a pleasant life﴾ ﴿And as for he whose scales are light﴾ ﴿His refuge will be an abyss﴾ ﴿And what will make you know what that is?﴾ ﴿A Fire, intensely hot﴾

It was recited: "The Calamity, and what is the Calamity" with the accusative case by 'Isa. The majority of the commentators said: The Calamity refers to the Day of Resurrection itself; because it strikes the hearts with its terror. And a group of the interpreters said: The Calamity is the sound of the blowing of the trumpet; because it strikes the ears, and within that, the hearts. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And what will make you know﴾ is a glorification of its matter, and a similar phrase has preceded.

And "On the Day" is an adverbial phrase, and the acting verb in it is "the Calamity." Abu 'Amr inclined towards "the Calamity" in the accusative case. And "the moths" are small birds that fall into the fire and seek it, and they keep rushing towards the lamp and similar things until they burn. And from this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "And I will hold you back from the Fire while you rush into it like the rushing of moths and locusts." Al-Farra' said: The moths in the verse refer to the throng of locusts, which are the small ones that spread in the earth and air. And "scattered" here means: their gathering is present and connected. And some scholars said: The people on the Day of Resurrection will rise from their graves like scattered moths; because they come and go without order. Then the caller will call them, and they will head towards the gathering place, and at that time they will be like the spreading locusts; because the locusts are always directed towards a specific destination.

The linguists differed regarding "the wool." It was said: It is wool in general, and it was said: It is red wool, and it was said: It is wool of various colors. These have supported their claim with the saying of Zuhayr:

Like the fragments of wool in every dwelling we have settled in, the grapes of the vineyard have not been crushed.

And "the vineyard" refers to the grapes of the fox, and its seeds before being crushed are green, red, and yellow. Likewise, the mountains are new, white, red, yellow, and black. Thus, the analogy is fitting. And the mountains being like wool is only before the time of being crushed, before being blown away, and their state here is degrees. And "fluffed up" means the loosening of the parts and their separation from their compactness. In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Jubayr: "like fluffed wool."

And "the scales" are those on the Day of Resurrection. The majority of scholars, jurists, and hadith scholars said: The scale of the Day of Resurrection has a beam and two pans to clarify the matter of the servants by what they have been entrusted with and what they have certainty in. Mujahid said: There is no scale; rather, it is justice mentioned as a metaphor for the scale; for it is the most just that people know. And the scales are gathered for the human being as he has many varying weights. The heaviness of this scale is by faith and deeds, and its lightness is by their absence and scarcity. And the scale of a believer will not be light in a way that leads to destruction.

'A pleasant life' means a life of satisfaction, according to lineage. This is the saying of Al-Khalil and Sibawayh. And His saying, the Most High: 'So his mother is Hellfire.' Many of the interpreters said that the intended meaning of 'mother' is the self of Hellfire, which is the lowest place of one who has reached the Fire. This is as it is said about the earth: 'the mother of people' because it shelters them. And as 'Utbah ibn Abi Sufyan said in war: 'We are her sons and she is our mother.' So Allah, the Most High, made Hellfire the mother of the disbeliever since it is his abode. Others said it is an optimistic expression of evil, as they said: 'His mother is bereaved' and 'His star has fallen.' Abu Salih and others said the intended meaning is the top of his head because they fall on their heads. Talhah read: 'So his mother' with a broken hamzah and a stressed 'm.' Then the Most High affirmed to His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, the knowledge of her matter and His glorification of it. Then He informed him that it is a blazing Fire. And he read: 'What is it' by dropping the 'h' in connection, according to Ibn Ishaq and Al-A'mash. Al-Mubarrid narrated that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said to a man: 'You have no mother.' The man said: 'O Messenger of Allah, you call me to guidance and say: You have no mother?' He said: 'I only mean you have no Fire.' Allah, the Most High, said: 'So his mother is Hellfire.' The interpretation of [Al-Qari'a] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.