Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:1
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 1 of 96
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ إِذَا وَقَعَتِ ٱلْوَاقِعَةُ
Translation
When that which is coming arrives,
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'When the Inevitable Event occurs...' Ibn Ashur admires the opening: the Surah begins with 'when', a suspended clause that seizes the mind and makes it lean forward, waiting, while 'al-Waqi'a' (the Event that surely falls) hangs over everything. al-Biqa'i notes the name itself means the thing whose happening is decreed beyond doubt. Ask yourself: I organise my life around events I treat as certain, the meeting, the paycheck, the weekend, and around one Event I treat as hypothetical, though it is the only one truly guaranteed. This Surah opens by naming that Event and refusing to let me look away. If the single most certain thing in my future is the one I plan for least, what does that say about how I've arranged my certainties?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i, al-Saadi.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:1 is discussed in one study guide on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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