الانشقاق
Al Inshiqaq
Verses
25
Revelation
Makki
Period
Makkan
Surah No.
84 / 114
Al-Inshiqaq opens with the sky splitting open in obedience to its Lord, and the earth spreading out and casting forth what it contains – images of cosmic submission to the divine command. The surah then addresses the human being who is labouring toward his Lord and will meet his reckoning – either receiving his book in the right hand for a light reckoning, or in the left hand behind his back for a calling to perdition. The surah closes by asking why the Makkans do not prostrate before the Quran, and affirms the reality of their development through stage after stage.
أسباب النزول
Revealed in the Makkan period, associated with a famous incident where a Makkan leader refused to prostrate when the concluding verses were recited (or when Surah An-Najm was recited). This refusal led to the revelation affirming that those who hear the Quran and turn away will face a painful punishment. The verse on human development through stages was revealed to address the Makkan denial of resurrection by pointing to embryological development as evidence of divine creative stages.
“O mankind – indeed you are labouring toward your Lord with exertion and will meet Him.”
A profound summary of the human condition – all of human effort, however directed, is a journey toward the encounter with the Lord; the only question is the nature of that meeting.
“You will surely journey from stage to stage.”
Interpreted as referring both to the stages of human development (embryo, child, adult, elder) and to the stages after death, presenting all of existence as a journey of divine creative stages.