Al-Waqi'a الواقعة

Holy Quran

Al-Waqi'a الواقعة; "The Inevitable" or "The Event") is the 56 chapter of the Quran. Muslims believe it was revealed in Mecca (see Meccan surah), specifically around 7 years before the (622), the migration of Muhammad to Medina

The total number of verses in this surah is 96. It mainly discusses the afterlife according to Islam, and the different fates people will face in it

The afterlife (akhirah) is the main topic discussed in the chapter. Picking up from the preceding chapter, Ar-Rahman, which discusses the rewards of Paradise (jannah), this chapter also mentions them and then contrasts them with the punishment of hell. The chapter also distinguishes the three classes of people in the afterlife, "the foremost", "the companions of the right" and "the companions of the left": the first two groups will enter paradise while the companions of the left will go to hell.[3] Here, "the right" is associated with goodness, the righteous will be seated to the right of God's throne and receive their records of deeds in their right hand.[5] The "foremost" refers to a special group of people who will have an even better fate than the companions of the right in the afterlife. Quranic commentators differ on understanding who the foremost is. They variously identify the foremost with the prophets, the saints, the truthful, the martyrs, the first to accept Islam, and others.[6]

Ayat (verses)

1-2 The coming of the judgment-day inevitable

3-7 Its terrors described

8-11 Its coming shall separate men into three classes

12-39 Joys of the Muslim heaven described

40-56 The punishment of the wicked in hell depicted

57-73 Arguments for the resurrection of the dead drawn from God’s work in creation and providence

74-81 Oath by the stars that the Qurán is divinely-inspired

82-96 Men should believe in God since they cannot save the dying from death [7]

Theme and Subject Matter

Then, in vv. 57-74 arguments have been given, one after the other, to prove the truth of the two basic doctrines of Islam, which the disbelievers were refusing to accept, viz. the doctrines of Tauhid and the Hereafter. In these arguments, apart from every thing else that exists in the earth and heavens, man's attention has been drawn to his own body and to the food that he eats and to the water that he drinks and to the fire on which he cooks his food, and he has been invited to ponder the question : What right do you have to behave independently of, or serve any other than, the God Whose creative power has brought you into being, and Whose provisions sustain you And how can you entertain the idea that after having once brought you into existence He has become so helpless and powerless that He cannot recreate you once again even if he wills to?

Then, in vv. 75-82 their suspicions in respect of the Qur'an have been refuted and they have been made to realize how fortunate they are that instead of deriving any benefit from the great blessing that the Qur'an is, they are treating it with scant attention and have set only this share of theirs in it that they deny it. If one seriously considers this matchless argument that has been presented in two brief sentences about the truth of the Qur'an, one will find in it the same kind of firm and stable system as exists among the stars and planets of the Universe, and the same is the proof of the fact that its Author is the same Being Who has created the Universe. Then the disbelievers have been told that this Book is inscribed in that Writ of Destiny which is beyond the reach of the creatures, as if to say "You think it is brought down by the devils to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), whereas none but the pure angels has any access to the means by which it reaches Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from the well guarded Tablet."