Surah An-Naba, Ayah 16

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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

Refutation against the Idolators' Denial of the Occurrence of the Day of Judgement

In rejection of the idolators' questioning about the Day of Judgement, due to their denial of its occurrence, Allah says,

عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ - عَنِ النَّبَإِ الْعَظِيمِ

(What are they asking about About the great news,) meaning, what are they asking about They are asking about the matter of the Day of Judgement, and it is the great news. Meaning the dreadful, horrifying, overwhelming information.

الَّذِى هُمْ فِيهِ مُخْتَلِفُونَ

(About which they are in disagreement.) meaning, the people are divided into two ideas about it. There are those who believe in it and those who disbelieve in it. Then Allah threatens those who deny the Day of Judgement by saying,

وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُعْصِرَ‌اتِ مَاءً ثَجَّاجًا (And We have sent down from the rain-laden clouds abundant water,...78:14). The word mu'sirat is the plural of mu` sirah 'rain-laden cloud'. This indicates that rain comes down from the cloud. There are verses, however, that indicate that rain comes down from the sky. Those verses too probably refer to 'upper atmosphere'. There are many verses in the Qur'an where the word sama' is used in that sense. Having mentioned these Divine blessings, the Surah reverts to its original theme of Resurrection and Judgment:

The Arab people were not disbelievers in the Hereafter. But they did not believe in a Hereafter of such a nature as is mentioned in the Quran. In other words, they doubted that by rejecting Muhammad, they would face degradation and humiliation in the world of the Hereafter.