القيامة
Al Qiyamah
Verses
40
Revelation
Makki
Period
Makkan
Surah No.
75 / 114
Al-Qiyamah opens with two oaths – by the Day of Resurrection and by the self-accusing soul – to affirm the reality of resurrection against the denial of the disbelievers. The surah describes the terrifying signs of the Last Hour: the blinding of sight, the eclipsing of the moon, the joining of moon and sun. It then addresses the Prophet directly, reassuring him that Allah will make him memorise and recite the Quran, before turning to the moment of death and the faces of the righteous and condemned. The origin of the human being from a fluid is cited as proof of Allah's power to resurrect.
أسباب النزول
Revealed in the Makkan period primarily to address the Quraysh's denial of bodily resurrection. The opening oath by the "self-accusing soul" introduces the Quranic psychology of conscience – the innate moral voice that accuses the self. The parenthetical verses (16-19) assuring the Prophet of divine memorisation were revealed because early in his prophethood he would repeat words of revelation as they came, fearing he might forget.
“Do not move your tongue with it to hasten it. Indeed, upon Us is its collection and recitation.”
The divine reassurance to the Prophet not to rush the recitation of revelation – Allah Himself guarantees its preservation in the Prophet's memory, laying the foundation of the Quran's oral transmission tradition.
“Does man think that he will be left neglected?”
A piercing rhetorical challenge – the assumption that human beings are morally unaccountable is demolished in a single question, affirming that purposeful creation implies purposeful judgement.