Surah Al-Haqqah, Ayah 12

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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

Warning concerning the Greatness of the Day of Judgement

Al-Haqqah is one of the names of the Day of Judgement, because during it the promise and the threat will inevitably occur. Due to this, Allah has declared the greatness of this matter. So He says,

وَمَآ أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْحَاقَّةُ

(And what will make you know what Al-Haqqah is)

Mention of the Destruction of the Nations

Then Allah mentions the destruction of the nations that denied the Resurrection. He says,

فَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَأُهْلِكُواْ بِالطَّاغِيَةِ

(As for Thamud, they were destroyed by the Taghiyah!) It is the cry which will silence them, and the quake that will silence them. Qatadah said similar to this when he said, "At-Taghiyah is the shout." Mujahid said, "At-Taghiyah means the sins." This was also said by Ar-Rabi` bin Anas and bin Zayd. They said that it means transgression. After mentioning this, Ibn Zayd recited the following Ayat as proof for his statement,

سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ (seven nights and eight consecutive days'... 69:7). According to some of the narratives, the punishment of windstorm started on Wednesday morning, and lasted till the following Wednesday evening. In this way, it makes up eight days and seven nights.

The word husuman (in verse 7) is the plural of hasim and means 'cutting them off entirely' or 'causing them to perish completely'.

The word مُؤْتَفِكَاتُ mu'tafikat (in verse 9) means 'adjacent to one another'. The towns of Sayyidna Lut Sodom and Gomorrah, are so called because they were adjacent to each other or because when the punishment overtook the disbelievers and criminals overthrowing their towns ], they were all jumbled up.1

(1) Another possible meaning of mu'tafikat is 'overthrown' as mentioned by several exegetes. The translation in the text is based on this meaning. Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Some deny the Hereafter openly, while there are others who may not explicitly deny the Hereafter, but who in their heart of hearts attach importance solely to worldly affairs. That is why there is no difference between the way of life of these people and that of those who make open denials. In essence, these two groups are the same. In the eyes of God, both of them are rejecters of the Hereafter—one group rejecting it by word of mouth and the other doing so in practice. In accordance with the law of God, all such people are going to face destruction. In the days of the prophets, this destruction was made manifest in the present world, as for their successors it will become a reality in the Hereafter.