Dr. Bassam Saeh shows that Surah al-Qariʿa is filled with new words, structures, and patterns that had not been used before the Quran. Even though it has only thirty-six words, it introduces fifty-four new linguistic cases, making it one of the richest chapters in originality.
The surah uses five key words that do not appear elsewhere in the Quran: the scattered moths (الفراش المبثوث), the fluffed wool (العهن المنفوش), the abyss (هاوية), and the special form of the pronoun (هيه). It also introduces five unique expressions, such as “What is the Striker?” (ما القارعة) and “The Day when it will happen” (يوم يكون).
Many words in this surah were either completely unknown before, like المبثوث and المنفوش, or known but given a new meaning. For example, القارعة was known vaguely as a great event but the Quran transformed it into a name for the Day of Judgement. الهاوية was introduced as another name for Hell, and the pronoun form هيه added a special kind of pause not found before.
Dr. Saeh mentions how the Quran gives familiar words unexpected roles: عيشة (life), which Arabs knew only for this world, is now used for life after death. راضية (pleasant), normally an active adjective, is used passively. أمه (his mother) is reimagined to mean shelter, refuge, or even downfall.
He also shows that the chapter creates new structures. Phrases like “The Striker. What is the Striker?” (القارعة ما القارعة), the repetitive formula “And what will make you know?” (وما أدراك ما), and the vivid images of people as scattered moths and mountains as fluffed wool are all original. The use of يوم يكون (The Day When) and conditional patterns like فأما من ثقلت موازينه brings new syntax to Arabic.
A major feature of the surah is its openness. Many expressions are left without strict limits. The Striker could mean striking the heart with fear, striking enemies with punishment, or striking ears with loudness. The scattered moths could symbolise confusion, loss, and fragility. The scales could refer to deeds, proofs, or actual weighing.
Dr. Saeh shows how even short phrases from this surah entered daily speech, like “And what will make you know”, “As for the one whose scales are heavy”, and “A fiercely burning fire”, which people now use figuratively without realising they come from the Quran.
This chapter contains nothing that softens its impact on the hearts of those it addresses with warning except for two verses: “Then as for the one whose scales are heavy, he will be in a pleasant life” (al-Qariʿa: 6-7).
The chapter is the fourteenth in reverse order among the chapters of the Quran. It is composed of thirty-six words, but we can identify fifty-four new linguistic instances within it.
The linguistic character of the chapter becomes clear through five words that it uses exclusively compared to the other chapters: the scattered moths (الفراش المبثوث), the fluffed wool (العهن المنفوش), the abyss (هاوية), and the pronoun form (هيه). Similarly, five expressions belong solely to it: “What is the Striker?” (ما القارعة), “The Day when it will happen” (يوم يكون), “The scattered moths” (الفراش المبثوث), “The fluffed wool” (العهن المنفوش), and “His mother is an abyss” (أمه هاوية).
Words and Terminologies
The Striker (القارعة)
The pre-Islamic dictionary may have known this word twice, through two ancient poets who were brothers, whose poetry and transmitted epic are filled more with myths than realities: Kulayb ibn Rabiʿa (d. 134 BH) and al-Muhalhil ibn Rabiʿa (d. 94 BH). Kulayb says:
كأنهم النعام غداة خافوا بذي السلان قارعة التلاقي
“As if they were ostriches on the day they feared the strike of meeting at Dhi al-Salan.”
Despite this, given the overwhelming doubts about their poetry, it is clear that the meaning differed in their time: it meant a great event, as shown in Kulayb’s verse, or intense fear, while the Quran’s meaning is something new, referring to the Day of Judgement. It seems to have been called by this name because it strikes hearts with terror and strikes the enemies of Allah with punishment.
This doubt about its pre-Islamic use is further supported by the fact that despite its appearance five times in the Quran, three times in this chapter alone, it does not appear at all in the prophetic hadith.
The Scattered (المبثوث)
We do not find this word in pre-Islamic poetry, nor in the prophetic hadith, nor elsewhere in the Quran outside this chapter.
Its particular use here to describe the scattered moths gives it a special new meaning.
The Fluffed (المنفوش)
Another word unknown to pre-Islamic poetry and to the prophetic hadith, neither with this meaning nor any other meaning. It also appears only in this chapter.
His Scales (موازينه)
The only case where pre-Islamic poetry is said to have used this word is a verse previously mentioned among others whose attribution to Husayn ibn Hammam al-Farari (d. 10 BH) is doubtful:
“And the earth trembled with its earthquake, and the scales were light for the disbelievers.”
It is clear that words and images like “lightness of the scales,” “the disbelievers,” and “the trembling of the earth” are purely from the Qur’an, which weakens the credibility of this verse and its usefulness in proving or disproving the existence of the word “scales” (موازين) in pre-Islamic poetry. Even assuming otherwise, the “scales” here do not refer to commercial weighing tools, but to a hidden reality brought closer to us through this worldly image.
A Life (عيشة)
This word never appears in the prophetic hadith; instead, the word “livelihood” (معيشة) is used. Though the Quran’s expression has become very familiar today, even if the early Arab knew the word, what would have been unfamiliar was applying it to a kind of life unrelated to worldly life.
It is the familiar “life” that describes daily living, but what about this “life” after death? How would it be? When would it begin? For how long? Would it truly be a real life as humans understand the word?
Even if the early Arab realised it refers to life after death, the concept would remain unclear. How could there be a life after death resembling earthly life?
Pleasant (راضية)
This is a new usage of the descriptive adjective “pleasant.” It appears for the first time in the active participle form but carries a passive meaning.
Here, it is not the life that is pleased, as might be understood in ordinary usage, but the life that pleases. It is thus “pleasant,” but in the sense of “pleasing.”
Rhetoricians might call this a type of metaphor, where the active form is used although the intended meaning is passive. This is a new metaphor unique to the Quran.
His Mother (أمه)
There is nothing new in the word itself, but new meanings have been proposed by the commentators, who were confused between the traditional meaning, “his actual mother,” and other meanings specific to this chapter, such as “shelter,” “refuge,” “the top of the head,” “the place of falling,” “the birthplace,” “the ending,” and others.
Although the word “mother” (أم) appears twenty-three times in the Quran, this chapter alone gives it these new special meanings. It is not found with these meanings in the prophetic hadith.
The Abyss (هاوية)
Commentators differed on the precise meaning of this word, but all agree that it is another name for Hell, or something related to it, unknown to the Arabs before Islam, just like another name for Hell, “the blazing fire” (الجحيم) mentioned earlier.
The word appears only in this chapter and is absent from the prophetic hadith except when quoting the verse.
Hiya (هيه)
This “h” at the end of the pronoun puzzled linguists, because it is not found in pre-Islamic poetry nor in the prophetic hadith.
This chapter uniquely uses the word “hiya” (هيه), though this type of “h” is found elsewhere in the Quran, especially in Surah al-Haqqa, where it occurs six times in close succession:
“For the one who is given his book in his right hand, he will say: ‘Here, read my book!'” (al-Haqqa: 19-20), and so on.
They called it “the ha of pause” (هاء السكت), because it was used to aid in pronouncing the final vowel sound when pausing. Some Arabs would not need it because they silenced the final vowel. Others insisted on keeping it whether pausing or continuing.
Quran’s Expressions and Unique Structures
The Striker. What is the Striker? (القارعة. ما القارعة)
It is clear that this linguistic structure, made up of two verses where the same word is repeated, with the addition of the interrogative “what” at the beginning of the second verse, forms a distinct and clear style, especially as the same construction is repeated at the beginning of Surah al-Haqqa, as we have already seen.
And What Will Make You Know What the Striker Is (وما أدراك ما القارعة)
This is another distinct expression based on the special structure “And what will make you know” followed by a second “what” and then a definite noun introduced by “al” (the Striker here).
This structure repeats itself in the Quran exactly in the same way four times, one of which is in Surah al-Haqqa.
The Day When People Are Like Scattered Moths, and the Mountains Are Like Fluffed Wool (يوم يكون الناس كالفرَاشِ المبثوث وتكون الجبال كالعهن المنفوش)
This is another very clear and distinctive structure, beginning with the expression “The Day When” which, as we have learned, does not repeat itself elsewhere in the Arabic tradition or even elsewhere in the Quran.
The structure continues with a visible subject for the incomplete verb “to be” (people) and concludes with the particle of comparison “like,” which acts as a predicate, meaning: people become like…
A similar expression follows in the next verse “and the mountains are like fluffed wool,” but this one lacks the temporal adverb “the day,” which gives the first structure an extra level of uniqueness, even though grammatically the second verse remains dependent on the same adverb.
As for the One Whose Scales Are Heavy, and As for the One Whose Scales Are Light (فأما من ثقلت موازينه وأما من خفت موازينه)
These two very similar expressions repeat almost word for word three times in the Quran.
What distinguishes their style is that they begin with the conditional particle “As for” followed by “who,” which functions as a relative pronoun (meaning “the one who”) to avoid the difficulty of two consecutive conditional structures, followed by a verb and its subject, with the subject linked back to the relative pronoun.
And What Will Make You Know What It Is (وما أدراك ما هيه)
Again, the structure opens with the distinctive phrase “And what will make you know,” but here it ends with the unique construction “what it is,” adding even greater specificity to this expression.
The Striker (القارعة)
This word gains its openness from two aspects:
First: Its grammatical position.
Some said it is a subject with its predicate being the next verse “What is the Striker?”
Others said it is raised due to an implied verb preceding it, meaning: “The Striker will come.”
Others said it is for warning, meaning: “The Striker is coming,” making it a subject with a deleted predicate.
I personally prefer the last view, and even more, that it is actually a predicate for an omitted subject, meaning: “It is the Striker” or “Indeed it is the Striker.”
This gives the word an even stronger warning force, achieved by creating an element of suddenness and surprise, as if it were a cry of alarm from someone warning us about something about to fall upon us, leaving no time for a complete sentence, and therefore no time for a subject, facing us instead directly with the predicate.
It is like if you saw someone about to be hit by a car, you would simply shout “Car!” without having time to say, “Watch out, my friend, a car is about to hit you,” because the car would have already struck before you could finish your speech.
Second: The new meaning given to the term.
Although Arabs knew the root of this word and maybe the word itself, the Quran gave it a new designation as one of the names for the Day of Judgement, granting it new and profound meanings.
Why is the Day of Judgement called the Striker?
Is it because it strikes hearts with terror?
Or because it strikes the enemies of Allah with punishment?
Or because it strikes ears with its events, its tremors, and its tremendous noise?
Or because Arabs used to call every great event a “Striker”?
All of these possibilities are valid and add even more richness and depth to the word.
The Repeated “What is the Striker?” (ما القارعة مكررا)
Beyond what we already discussed about the grammatical and semantic richness of the word “the Striker,” the use of the interrogative “what” here adds a new layer of meaning.
Is it a warning question?
Or a question meant to magnify and dramatise the greatness and horror of the event?
Or is it a real question left to the listener’s imagination to comprehend the possible reality of the Striker?
All of these possibilities, and maybe more, remain open.
The Day When (يوم يكون)
We have seen the many grammatical possibilities offered to interpret the adverb “the day,” and naturally, the more interpretations available, the more expansive and rich the expression becomes.
The People Like Scattered Moths (الناس كالفراش المبثوث)
What imagery, hints, and dimensions does this new and vivid image summon?
There are many points of resemblance between people on that overwhelming day and moths flying aimlessly around a fire:
- Bewilderment and loss
- Scattering over the earth
- Climbing over one another
- A multitude without purpose
- Weakness and submission
- Hovering over the fire without intending to be burned
- A destined and unavoidable end
The Mountains Like Fluffed Wool (الجبال كالعهن المنفوش)
Let us also imagine this extraordinary sight on that extraordinary day:
The mountains, known for their steadfastness and immensity, are now flying apart and shifting from their places with the lightness of bubbles.
Perhaps, as al-Farra suggested, they retain their size but are scattered with the lightness of fluffed wool.
Or perhaps, as others suggested, they expand dramatically, their volume increasing many times after their particles break apart and disperse.
Earlier, we pointed out the profound and suggestive paradox between the heaviness of the mountains and the lightness of the fluffed wool, between the solidity of the first and the softness of the second, between the dignity of the first and the frailty of the second, a paradox that enriches the image with even more meaning and feeling.
Also, notice that the image does not just liken the mountains to wool, but to coloured wool (عهن), adding another layer of depth.
This may also explain why the Quran describes mountains in another verse as being of different colours, and naturally, the colours of the mountains would correspond to the colours of the puffed material they have become.
His Scales Repeated (٨-٧- موازينه مكررا)
This word stirred a number of interpretations among commentators and linguists:
It was said that they are real scales, but of a special kind, and one may imagine them in any form they wish.
It was said that it is actually one scale, but the plural form (scales) was used.
It was said the plural is due to the variety of what is weighed, so that every deed has a different scale.
ʿIzz al-Din ibn ʿAbd al-Salam, in Majaz al-Quran, said they are the scales of a person’s good deeds or bad deeds, not scales belonging to the person themselves, even though the word is attributed to them through the pronoun. He considered this an instance of figurative expression.
It was said that the scales refer to the proofs and evidences.
It was said that it refers to the “weighed” itself, meaning the deeds that have weight and value with Allah.
It was also said that it carries the meaning of “weight,” as Arabs would say: “Do you want a dirham by the weight of your dirham?” meaning “by its value.”
Mujahid said: it is not an actual scale, but rather a metaphor.
These many possible meanings make this word one of the most expansive and richly layered expressions in the surah.
A Pleasant Life (٩- عيشة راضية)
We have already seen that the word “life” (عيشة) had a known worldly meaning, and the Arab did not imagine that life after death could be called a “life” (عيشة) as well. He might have called it “living” (حياة) or “residence” (إقامة) or “eternity” (خلود) because “life” (عيشة) for him was tied to the earth and the worldly life.
This certainly stirs many suggestions about the nature of that “life” we will live, but in circumstances completely different from the worldly life we know.
When we add to this the unique linguistic situation of the word “content” (راضية), as we have seen, with all the linguistic and stylistic dimensions it carries, we end up with a new suggestive expression full of rich shades and imagery.
His Mother Is the Abyss (١٠ – أمه هاوية)
We have seen the newness of this expression and the difficulties surrounding its interpretation. The more these difficulties increase, the richer and more expansive the expression becomes.
ʿIzz al-Din ibn ʿAbd al-Salam saw it as a metaphor, with the original meaning being: “His head’s mother is the abyss,” meaning “his head falls into the abyss,” and thus “the abyss” here would be a name for Hell.
It was said that it comes from the Arabs’ expression: “His mother has perished” (هوت أمه) used when cursing someone with destruction. If he perishes, then his mother falls into grief for him. In this case, the word “abyss” would be an active participle, meaning: “his mother will fall into grief for him.” As said by Kaʿb ibn Saʿd al-Ghanawi (d. before Hijra):
هوت أمه ما يبعث الصبح غادياً
وماذا يؤدي الليل حين يؤوب
“His mother has fallen when the morning raised him,
And what the night brings when it returns.”
It was also said that “mother” here means “refuge,” by analogy, because the mother is the child’s refuge and place of safety, and so his final refuge would be the abyss or the Fire.
If the following prophetic narration is authentic, it provides sufficient clarification for this expression. It is narrated:
“When the soul of the believer is taken, it is received by the merciful servants of Allah, just as people in the world receive a bearer of good news. They approach him and ask about others: ‘What happened to so-and-so? What happened to so-and-so? Did so-and-so marry?’ When they ask about someone who has died before him (meaning before the newly arrived soul) and he has not yet met them, they say: ‘He has perished.’ Then they say: ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. He has been taken to his mother, the abyss. What a wretched mother and wretched nurse she is.'”
And What Will Make You Know What It Is (١١- وما أدراك ما هيه)
This is a question, but the questioning carries more than one meaning:
It could be to stir wonder and amazement.
It could be to magnify and dramatise.
It could be to arouse fear and terror about what is to come.
It could be to enrich the element of surprise, preparing us for the coming answer: “a fiercely burning Fire.”
It could be all of these together.
Moreover, the use of the word “it” (هيه) at the end puts us before even more possibilities and questions:
What is the pronoun (it) referring to?
Is it referring to “his mother”?
Or to “the abyss”?
Or to something else implied, like “the outcome,” “the punishment,” “the end,” or something similar?
Or is it an early pointer to the fiercely burning Fire that will be mentioned next?
Expressions of Few Words with Deep Meaning
And What Will Make You Know (وما أدراك ما)
This expression, which we have seen was unknown to pre-Islamic poetry (as confirmed when discussing Surah al-Humazah), has now become part of our daily language, such that we no longer realise that when we say it, we are actually using an expression originating from the Quran.
Sometimes we even follow the full structure exactly, saying: “Exams, and what will make you know what exams are,” or “War, and what will make you know what war is.”
As for the One Whose Scales Are Heavy / As for the One Whose Scales Are Light (فأما من ثقلت / خفت موازينه)
Both of these expressions can be used for many everyday situations.
For example, we might say to a hardworking student, encouraging him: “As for the one whose scales are heavy, success will be his companion.”
And we might say to someone who is lazy or negligent: “As for the one whose scales are light, nothing will be his lot except loss.”
In a Pleasant Life (في عيشة راضية)
This phrase can also be applied to any good outcome or worthy reward someone earns after completing a task. Or we can use it to describe the life of someone whose affairs are stable and successful, saying: “He is now in a pleasant life.”
And What Will Make You Know What It Is (وما أدراك ما هيه)
This expression is similar in use to the first one, but more particular, being used when the thing in question is still unclear to the listener.
A Fiercely Burning Fire (نار حامية)
We can also apply this phrase to any extreme situation:
For example, we might say: “The prices at that seller are a fiercely burning fire,” or “So-and-so’s tongue among the journalists is a fiercely burning fire,” or “The penalty for anyone who breaks the system is a fiercely burning fire,” and so on.
