Surah An-Naba', The Announcement

Surah 78 · 40 verses · revealed at Mecca

An-Naba' opens the thirtieth and final part of the Qur'an, the part most people learn first and know best. That position gives it a particular role: for many readers it is where the last stretch of the book begins.

It starts with a question asked about the people, not to them. What are they asking one another about? About the great announcement — the thing they cannot agree on. The Qur'an does not immediately say what it is. Instead it turns away to describe the world.

The earth is spread out to live on. The mountains are set in it like pegs. Human beings are made in pairs. Sleep is given as rest, night as a covering, day as the time to earn a living. Above, seven strong structures and a blazing lamp. From the clouds, water that brings out grain and gardens. The passage takes only a few verses and every item in it is something anyone can see.

Only then does the surah return to the question and answer it. The announcement is the Day of Decision, and the description that follows is of mountains moving and the sky opening.

It closes with a verse that has stayed with readers for fourteen centuries: that a person will look at what their own hands sent ahead, and the one who denied will say — would that I were dust.

The surah is short, rhythmic and heavily rhymed, and it is among the first passages taught to children learning to recite.

Surah An-Naba' on this site

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Surah An-Naba', The Announcement

Surah An-Naba' on this site

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