Surah Adh-Dhariyat, Ayah 2

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Affirming the News of the Resurrection The Commander of the faithful,

`Ali bin Abi Talib may Allah be pleased with him, ascended the Minbar in Kufah and declared, "Any Ayah in the Book of Allah the Exalted and any Sunnah from Allah's Messenger ﷺ you ask me about today, I will explain them." Ibn Al-Kawwa stood up and said, "O Leader of the faithful! What is the meaning of Allah's statement,

وَالذَرِيَـتِ ذَرْواً

(By the scattering Dhariyat)," and `Ali said, "The wind." The man asked,

فَالْحَـمِلَـتِ وِقْراً

"(And the laden Hamilat)" `Ali said, "The clouds." The man again asked,

Affirmation of After-Life

The subject-matter of Surah Adh-Dhariyat, like its predecessor Surah Qaf, is mainly the Hereafter, Resurrection, Reckoning, Judgment, and Allah's reward and punishment. The first few verses contain an oath from Allah that the promise of Resurrection is true, and shall come to pass. In these verses Allah swears an oath by four phenomena, as follows:

وَالذَّارِ‌يَاتِ ذَرْ‌وًا ﴿1﴾ فَالْحَامِلَاتِ وِقْرً‌ا ﴿2﴾ فَالْجَارِ‌يَاتِ يُسْرً‌ا ﴿3﴾ فَالْمُقَسِّمَاتِ أَمْرً‌ا ﴿4﴾

(I swear) by those (winds) that scatter dust, then by those (clouds) that bear loads, then by those (boats) that sail with ease, then by those (angels) who distribute things, (51:1-4)

There is a Hadith whose attribution to the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been held by Ibn Kathir as da` eef [ weak ], but it is also reported as a saying of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ and Ali ؓ . It explains these four things as follows: The expression Dhariyat [ scatterers ] refers to the wind that blows up dust; the expression hamilat-i-wiqran literally denotes burden-bearers and contextually refers to the clouds that carry the burden of water or rain; the expression jariyat-i-yusran refers to the ships that sail smoothly and with ease in the water; and the expression muqassimat-i-amran refers to the angels who distribute to all creatures their sustenance and water, and different kinds of difficulties and comfort as determined by Allah's orders and decrees (Ibn Kathir, Qurtubi and Ad-Durr-ul-Manthur quote these narrations both as mar' mawquf).