Al-Infiṭār
Makkan Period
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
[1] When the heaven is split asunder, [2] when the stars are scattered, [3] when the seas are made to burst forth, [4] and when graves are laid open,1 [5] everyone shall know all his deeds, both the earlier and the later.
[6] O man! What has deceived you about your generous Lord [7] Who created you, shaped you, and made you well-proportioned, [8] and set you in whatever form He pleased? [9] No indeed;2 (the fact is that) you deny the Reckoning, declaring it a lie;3 [10] you do so the while there are watchers over you; [11] noble scribes, [12] who know what you do.
[13] Surely the virtuous shall be in Bliss, [14] and the wicked shall be in the Blazing Fire. [15] They shall enter it on the Day of Recompense [16] and then shall never come out of it. [17] What do you know what the Day of Recompense is? [18] Again, what do you know what the Day of Recompense is? [19] It is the Day when no one shall have the power to do anything for another, and all command shall be Allah’s.
1. “When the graves are laid open” alludes to the resurrection of the dead.
2. This is meant to negate the unbelievers’ opinion about the Hereafter and to vehemently stress that there is no reason why human beings will be raised to life after death and that there will be anything like a Next Life.
3. People who miscomprehend the Hereafter do so not because of any persuasive rational argument in support of their standpoint. They entertain the false notion that reward and punishment will not follow people’s actions. This false and baseless assumption has made them heedless of God, impervious to the fact that He will call them to account and mete out justice, and has fostered in them an irresponsible moral attitude.