Surah 079
An-Nāziʿāt
النازعات
46 verses · Meccan
Key structural observations
- The surah is structured to destroy the illusion of deferred reality: what we call 'tomorrow' is not a vault but a movement already underway toward extraction, exposure, and terminus.
- Its governing imagery — violent pulling out, stripping, exposure — makes hiding itself unstable: concealment is not shelter in a universe built to uncover.
- The surah therefore relocates safety from delay to truthfulness: the only protection is not to have built one's life on what must eventually be dragged into the open.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
وَالنَّازِعَاتِ غَرْقًا
By those [angels] who extract with violence
وَالنَّاشِطَاتِ نَشْطًا
And [by] those who remove with ease
وَالسَّابِحَاتِ سَبْحًا
And [by] those who glide [as if] swimming
فَالسَّابِقَاتِ سَبْقًا
And those who race each other in a race
فَالْمُدَبِّرَاتِ أَمْرًا
And those who arrange [each] matter,
يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الرَّاجِفَةُ
On the Day the blast [of the Horn] will convulse [creation],
تَتْبَعُهَا الرَّادِفَةُ
There will follow it the subsequent [one].
قُلُوبٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَاجِفَةٌ
Hearts, that Day, will tremble,
أَبْصَارُهَا خَاشِعَةٌ
Their eyes humbled.
يَقُولُونَ أَإِنَّا لَمَرْدُودُونَ فِي الْحَافِرَةِ
They are [presently] saying, "Will we indeed be returned to [our] former state [of life]?
أَإِذَا كُنَّا عِظَامًا نَخِرَةً
Even if we should be decayed bones?
قَالُوا تِلْكَ إِذًا كَرَّةٌ خَاسِرَةٌ
They say, "That, then, would be a losing return."
فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ زَجْرَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ
Indeed, it will be but one shout,
فَإِذَا هُمْ بِالسَّاهِرَةِ
And suddenly they will be [alert] upon the earth's surface.
هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ مُوسَىٰ
Has there reached you the story of Moses? -
إِذْ نَادَاهُ رَبُّهُ بِالْوَادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى
When his Lord called to him in the sacred valley of Tuwa,
اذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُ طَغَىٰ
"Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed.
فَقُلْ هَلْ لَكَ إِلَىٰ أَنْ تَزَكَّىٰ
And say to him, 'Would you [be willing to] purify yourself
وَأَهْدِيَكَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَتَخْشَىٰ
And let me guide you to your Lord so you would fear [Him]?'"
فَأَرَاهُ الْآيَةَ الْكُبْرَىٰ
And he showed him the greatest sign,
فَكَذَّبَ وَعَصَىٰ
But Pharaoh denied and disobeyed.
ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ يَسْعَىٰ
Then he turned his back, striving.
فَحَشَرَ فَنَادَىٰ
And he gathered [his people] and called out
فَقَالَ أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الْأَعْلَىٰ
And said, "I am your most exalted lord."
فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكَالَ الْآخِرَةِ وَالْأُولَىٰ
So Allah seized him in exemplary punishment for the last and the first [transgression].
إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِمَنْ يَخْشَىٰ
Indeed in that is a warning for whoever would fear [Allah].
أَأَنْتُمْ أَشَدُّ خَلْقًا أَمِ السَّمَاءُ ۚ بَنَاهَا
Are you a more difficult creation or is the heaven? Allah constructed it.
رَفَعَ سَمْكَهَا فَسَوَّاهَا
He raised its ceiling and proportioned it.
وَأَغْطَشَ لَيْلَهَا وَأَخْرَجَ ضُحَاهَا
And He darkened its night and extracted its brightness.
وَالْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ دَحَاهَا
And after that He spread the earth.
أَخْرَجَ مِنْهَا مَاءَهَا وَمَرْعَاهَا
He extracted from it its water and its pasture,
وَالْجِبَالَ أَرْسَاهَا
And the mountains He set firmly
مَتَاعًا لَكُمْ وَلِأَنْعَامِكُمْ
As provision for you and your grazing livestock.
فَإِذَا جَاءَتِ الطَّامَّةُ الْكُبْرَىٰ
But when there comes the greatest Overwhelming Calamity -
يَوْمَ يَتَذَكَّرُ الْإِنْسَانُ مَا سَعَىٰ
The Day when man will remember that for which he strove,
وَبُرِّزَتِ الْجَحِيمُ لِمَنْ يَرَىٰ
And Hellfire will be exposed for [all] those who see -
فَأَمَّا مَنْ طَغَىٰ
So as for he who transgressed
وَآثَرَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا
And preferred the life of the world,
فَإِنَّ الْجَحِيمَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ
Then indeed, Hellfire will be [his] refuge.
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ
But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination,
فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ
Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.
يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَاهَا
They ask you, [O Muhammad], about the Hour: when is its arrival?
فِيمَ أَنْتَ مِنْ ذِكْرَاهَا
In what [position] are you that you should mention it?
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ مُنْتَهَاهَا
To your Lord is its finality.
إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مُنْذِرُ مَنْ يَخْشَاهَا
You are only a warner for those who fear it.
كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَهَا لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلَّا عَشِيَّةً أَوْ ضُحَاهَا
It will be, on the Day they see it, as though they had not remained [in the world] except for an afternoon or a morning thereof.