Name
The Sura takes its name from the word al-waqi'ah of the very first verse.
Period of Revelation
According to the chronological order that Hadrat Abdullah bin Abbas has given of the
Suras
first Sura TaHawas sent down
then Al-Waqi'ah and then Ash-Shuara. The same sequence has been reported from
Ikrimah. This is supported also by the story that Ibn Hisham has related from Ibn Ishaq
about the affirmation of the Faith by Hadrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). It
say's that when Hadarat Umar entered his sister's house
Sura TaHawas being recited. Hearing his voice the people of the house hid the pages
of the Qur'an. Hadrat Umar first seized his brother-in-law and then his sister rose in
defence of her husband
he hit her also and wounded her on the head. When Umar saw blood on his sister
he was sorry for what he had done
and said to her: "Show me the manuscript that you have concealed so that I may see
what it contains." The sister said: "You are unclean because of your polytheism: "Only a
clean person can touch it." So
Hadrat Umar rose and washed himself
and then took up the manuscript to read it. This shows that Sarah Al-Waqi'ah had been
sent down by that time for it contains the verse: La yamassu hu ill al mutahharun; and it
had been established historically that Hadrat Umar embraced Islam after the first
migration to Habash
in the fifth year of the Prophethood. Theme and Subject Matter Its theme is the
Hereafter
Tauhidand refutation of the Makkan disbelievers' suspicions about the Qur'an. What
they regarded as utterly incredible was that Resurrection would ever take place
then the entire system of the earth and heavens would be upset
and when all the dead would be resurrected and called to account
after which the righteous would be admitted to Paradise and the wicked cast into Hell.
They regarded all this as imaginary
which could not possibly happen in actual fact. In answer to this
it was said: "Wben tha inevitable event will take place
there will be none to belie its happening
nor will anyone have the Power to avert it
nor prove it to
be an unreal happening. At that time all peoples will be divided into three classes: (1)
The foremost in rank and position; (2) the common righteous people and (3) those who
denied the Hereafter and persisted in disbelief and polytheism and major sins till the
last." How these three classes of the people will be rewarded and punished has been
described in detail in vv. 7-56. Then
in vv. 57-74 arguments have been given
one after the other
to prove the truth of the two basic doctrines of Islam
which the disbelievers were refusing to accept
viz. the doctrines of Tauhidand the Hereafter. In these arguments
apart from every thing else that exists in the earth and heavens
man's attention has been drawn to his own body and to the food that he eats and to the
water that he drinks and to the fire on which he cooks his food
and he has been invited to ponder the question : What right do you have to behave
independently of
or serve any other than
the God Whose creative power has brought you into being
and Whose provisions sustain you And how can you entertain the idea that after having
once brought you into existence He has become so helpless and powerless that He
cannot recreate you once again even if he wills to? Then
in vv. 75-82 their suspicions in respect of the Qur'an have been refuted and they have
been made to realize how fortunate they are that instead of deriving any benefit from
the great blessing that the Qur'an is
they are treating it with scant attention and have set only this share of theirs in it that
they deny it. If one seriously considers this matchless argument that has been
presented in two brief sentences about the truth of the Qur'an
one will find in it the same kind of firm and stable system as exists among the stars and
planets of the Universe
and the same is the proof of the fact that its Author is the same Being Who has created
the Universe. Then the disbelievers have been told that this Book is inscribed in that
Writ of Destiny which is
