About Surah Al-Inshiqaq

Reading the twenty-first verse of Al-Inshiqaq demands a physical response: a prostration, a practice established by the Prophet himself. Known as "The Splitting Asunder" or by its opening phrase, "When the Heaven is Split Asunder," this Makkan text arrived eighty-third in the revelation order, falling between Sūrat al-Infiṭār and al-Rūm. Across its twenty-five verses—counted as twenty-three in the Basrah and Sham traditions—it confronts a polytheist audience that consistently denied the Hereafter.

The text opens with a dramatic cosmic collapse signaling the Hour, then immediately centers on the human condition, defining life as a continuous, hard struggle toward a meeting with God. From this shared reality, two stark paths emerge. The righteous receive their records in their right hands, returning to their families in eternal joy. Those who sought only worldly pleasure and lived heedless of judgment are handed their records from behind their backs.

The certainty of this reckoning rests on a divine witness who observes every deed. Those who persist in denial face an agonizing punishment, set directly against the boundless, eternal reward guaranteed for the believers.

Surah 84 Juz 30 25 verses

Al-Inshiqaq

The Sundering Meccan

084

Surah Info Reflections Layers

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

When the sky is ripped apart,

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obeying its Lord as it rightly must,

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when the earth is levelled out,

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casts out its contents, and becomes empty,

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obeying its Lord as it rightly must,

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you humans, toiling laboriously towards your Lord, will meet Him:

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whoever is given his record in his right hand

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will have an easy reckoning

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and return to his people well pleased,

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but whoever is given his record from behind his back

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will cry out for destruction––

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he will burn in the blazing Fire.

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He used to live among his people well pleased.

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He thought he would never return [to his Lord]––

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indeed he will! His Lord was watching him.

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I swear by the glow of sunset,

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by the night and what it covers,

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by the full moon,

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you will progress from stage to stage.

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So why do they not believe?

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Why, when the Quran is read to them, do they not prostrate themselves [to God]?

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No! The disbelievers reject the Quran––

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God knows best what they keep hidden inside––

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so give them news of a painful torment.

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But those who believe and do good deeds will have a never-ending reward.

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End of Al-Inshiqaq

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