VERSES
60
PAGES
520-523

Name

It is derived from the very first word wadh-dhariyat, which implies that it is a Surah which begins with the word adh-dhariyat.

Period of Revelation

The subject matter and the style clearly show that it was sent down in the period when although the Holy Prophet's invitation was being resisted and opposed with denial and ridicule and false accusations stubbornly, persecution had not yet started. Therefore, this Surah also seems to have been revealed in the same period in which the Surah Qaf was revealed.

Subject Matter and Topics

The Surah mostly deals with the Hereafter, and in the end it presents the invitation to Tauhid. In addition, the people have also been warned that refusal to accept the message of the Prophets and persistence in the concepts and creeds of ignorance have proved to be disastrous for those nations themselves which have adopted this attitude and way of life in the past.

About the Hereafter what this Surah presents in short but pithy sentences is this: The people's different and conflicting beliefs about the end of human life are themselves an express proof that none of these beliefs and creeds is based on knowledge; everyone by himself has formed an ideology on the basis of conjecture and made the same his creed. Someone thought that there would be no life-after-death; someone believed in the life- after-death, but in the form of the transmigration of souls someone believed in the life hereafter and the meting out of the rewards and punishments but invented different sorts of props and supports to escape retribution. About a question of such vital and fundamental importance a wrong view of which renders man's whole life-work wrong and waste and ruins his future for ever, it would be a disastrous folly to build an ideology only on the basis of speculation and conjecture, without knowledge. It would mean that man should remain involved in a grave misunderstanding, pass his whole life in the heedlessness of error, and after death should suddenly meet with a situation for which he had made no preparation at all. There is only one way of forming the right opinion about such a question, and it is this: Man should seriously ponder over the knowledge about the Hereafter that the Prophet of Allah is conveying to him from Him, and should study carefully the system of the earth and heavens and his own existence: and should see whether the evidence of that knowledge's being sound and correct is afforded by everything around him or not. In this regard, the arrangement of the wind and rain, the structure of the earth and the creatures found on it, man's own self, the creation of the heavens and of everything in the world in the form of pairs have been presented as evidence of the Hereafter, and instances have been cited from human history to show that the temper of the empire of the Universe requires that the law of retribution must operate here.

After this, giving the invitation to Tauhid briefly, it has been said : "Your Creator has not created you for the service of others but for His own service. He is not like your false gods, which receive sustenance from you and godhead of which cannot function without your help, but He is a God Who is the Sustainer of all, Who does not stand in need of sustenance from anyone and Whose Godhead is functioning by His own power and might.

In this very connection, it has also been stated that whenever the Prophets of Allah have been opposed and resisted, they have not been opposed and resisted on the basis of any rational ground but on the basis of the same obduracy and stubbornness and false pride that is being shown against the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and there is no other motive for it than rebellion and arrogance. Then the Holy Prophet has been instructed not to bother about the rebels but to go on performing his mission of invitation and admonition, for it is useful and beneficial for the believers although it may not be so for the other people. As for the wicked people who still persist in their rebellion, they should know that their predecessors who followed the same way of life, have already received their shares of the punishment, and these people's share of the punishment has been made ready for them.

Source: Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Quran

ﭑﭒﭓ

وَالذَّارِيَاتِ ذَرْوًا

Sahih International

By those [winds] scattering [dust] dispersing

فَالْحَامِلَاتِ وِقْرًا

Sahih International

And those [clouds] carrying a load [of water]

فَالْجَارِيَاتِ يُسْرًا

Sahih International

And those [ships] sailing with ease

فَالْمُقَسِّمَاتِ أَمْرًا

Sahih International

And those [angels] apportioning [each] matter,

إِنَّمَا تُوعَدُونَ لَصَادِقٌ

Sahih International

Indeed, what you are promised is true.

وَإِنَّ الدِّينَ لَوَاقِعٌ

Sahih International

And indeed, the recompense is to occur.

وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْحُبُكِ

Sahih International

By the heaven containing pathways,

إِنَّكُمْ لَفِي قَوْلٍ مُّخْتَلِفٍ

Sahih International

Indeed, you are in differing speech.

يُؤْفَكُ عَنْهُ مَنْ أُفِكَ

Sahih International

Deluded away from the Qur'an is he who is deluded.

قُتِلَ الْخَرَّاصُونَ

Sahih International

Destroyed are the falsifiers

الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي غَمْرَةٍ سَاهُونَ

Sahih International

Who are within a flood [of confusion] and heedless.

يَسْأَلُونَ أَيَّانَ يَوْمُ الدِّينِ

Sahih International

They ask, "When is the Day of Recompense?"

يَوْمَ هُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ يُفْتَنُونَ

Sahih International

[It is] the Day they will be tormented over the Fire

ذُوقُوا فِتْنَتَكُمْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ

Sahih International

[And will be told], "Taste your torment. This is that for which you were impatient."

ﭿ

إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ

Sahih International

Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and springs,

آخِذِينَ مَا آتَاهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَبْلَ ذَٰلِكَ مُحْسِنِينَ

Sahih International

Accepting what their Lord has given them. Indeed, they were before that doers of good.

كَانُوا قَلِيلًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ

Sahih International

They used to sleep but little of the night,

وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ

Sahih International

And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness,

وَفِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ لِّلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ

Sahih International

And from their properties was [given] the right of the [needy] petitioner and the deprived.

وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِّلْمُوقِنِينَ

Sahih International

And on the earth are signs for the certain [in faith]

وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ ۚ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ

Sahih International

And in yourselves. Then will you not see?

وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ

Sahih International

And in the heaven is your provision and whatever you are promised.

فَوَرَبِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِّثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنطِقُونَ

Sahih International

Then by the Lord of the heaven and earth, indeed, it is truth - just as [sure as] it is that you are speaking.

هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ ضَيْفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْمُكْرَمِينَ

Sahih International

Has there reached you the story of the honored guests of Abraham? -

إِذْ دَخَلُوا عَلَيْهِ فَقَالُوا سَلَامًا ۖ قَالَ سَلَامٌ قَوْمٌ مُّنكَرُونَ

Sahih International

When they entered upon him and said, "[We greet you with] peace." He answered, "[And upon you] peace, [you are] a people unknown.

فَرَاغَ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهِ فَجَاءَ بِعِجْلٍ سَمِينٍ

Sahih International

Then he went to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf

فَقَرَّبَهُ إِلَيْهِمْ قَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ

Sahih International

And placed it near them; he said, "Will you not eat?"

ﯿ

فَأَوْجَسَ مِنْهُمْ خِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا لَا تَخَفْ ۖ وَبَشَّرُوهُ بِغُلَامٍ عَلِيمٍ

Sahih International

And he felt from them apprehension. They said, "Fear not," and gave him good tidings of a learned boy.

فَأَقْبَلَتِ امْرَأَتُهُ فِي صَرَّةٍ فَصَكَّتْ وَجْهَهَا وَقَالَتْ عَجُوزٌ عَقِيمٌ

Sahih International

And his wife approached with a cry [of alarm] and struck her face and said, "[I am] a barren old woman!"

قَالُوا كَذَٰلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ ۖ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْعَلِيمُ

Sahih International

They said, "Thus has said your Lord; indeed, He is the Wise, the Knowing."

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