Al-Inshiqāq (, "The Sundering", "Splitting Open") is the eighty-fourth chapter (''

surah A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...

'') of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

, with 25 verses ('' āyāt''). It mentions details of the

Day of Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

when, according to this chapter, everyone will receive reckoning over their deeds in this world.

Summary

*1-5 Signs of the

Judgment Day The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

*6-15 The books of the righteous and the wicked given into their hands, and the consequence thereof *16-20 Oaths attesting the doctrine of the

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

*21 ۩ 25 The unbelievers denounced and threatened The name of the chapter, ''Al-Inshiqaq'', is a noun variously translated as "The Sundering", "The Bursting Asunder", "The Splitting Open", among others. This name comes from the first verse of the chapter which reads ''When the sky is rent asunder''. The verse does not contain the word ''al-inshiqaq'' verbatim, but rather it contains a word of the same root. It is a reference to the destruction of the world at the end of days, which the chapter portend. Thematically, the chapter follows a day-of-judgement theme that is present in the preceding chapters, including

Al-Infitar The Cleaving in Sunder (, al-infiṭār, also known as "The Cleaving" and "Bursting Apart") is the 82nd sura of the Quran, with 19 ayat. The chapter is named 'Al-Infitar' because of the occurrence of the word 'unfatarat' in the first verse of t ...

(the 82nd chapter) and Al-Mutaffifin (83rd). The chapter begins (verses 1 to 5) by mentioning events that will happen on the Day of Judgment, including the sundering of the sky and the flattening of all that is on earth. Verses 6 to 15 talk about the disparity between those who in that day will be "given

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

book in

right hand" and have a joyful reckoning, and those who will not. A series of oaths (verses 16—18) follows, and then another contrast between the fate of the believers and the unbelievers in the day of judgment.

Revelation

According to the Islamic tradition, Al-Inshiqaq was most likely revealed after the 82nd chapter

, and was chronologically one of the last of the

Meccan surah A Meccan surah is, according to the timing and contextual background of their revelation ('' asbāb al-nuzūl'') within Islamic tradition, a chronologically earlier chapter ('' suwar'', singular ''sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronolog ...

s—chapters revealed before Muhammad's

migration to Medina The Hijrah, () also Hegira (from Medieval Latin), was the journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Sola ...

Prostration

According to the

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

, Muhammed was prostrated when reciting this chapter, particularly after the verse 21 which reads ''... and that when the Quran is recited unto them, they do not prostrate?'' Therefore, most Islamic scholars consider this verse one of the 15 verses in the Quran where one prostrates after reciting it. In most copies of the Qur'an these are indicated by the symbol ۩. Most

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

jurists consider it obligatory to prostrate after reciting the verse;

Malik ibn Anas Malik ibn Anas (; –795) also known as Imam Malik was an Arab Islamic scholar and traditionalist who is the eponym of the Maliki school, one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence in Sunni Islam.Schacht, J., "Mālik b. Anas", in: ''E ...

, the founder of the Maliki school, was a notable exception.

Muwatta Imam Malik ''Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ'' (, 'the approved') or ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' () of Malik ibn Anas, Imam Malik (711–795) written in the 8th-century, is one of the earliest collections of hadith texts comprising the subjects of Sharia, Islamic law, compile ...

USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 15, Number 15.5.12
; Arabic reference: Book 15, Hadith 484

References

Citation

Bibliography

* *

External links

Quran 84

Clear Quran translation Mustafa Khattab is a Canadian–Egyptian Muslim scholar, imam, and university chaplain. He holds a professional ijâzah in the Ḥafṣ style of recitation. He is known for his translation of the Quran in "The Clear Quran" series. Career He ...

{{Authority control Inshiqaq Islamic eschatology Judgment in Islam