Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:3
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 3 of 96
خَافِضَةٌۭ رَّافِعَةٌ
Translation
bringing low and raising high.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Abasing some, exalting others.' Ibn Ashur and Ma'arif al-Qur'an note the great reversal: 'khafida rafi'a', that Day overturns the world's rankings, bringing down the tyrants and the mighty who stood high here, and raising the humble believers whom the world overlooked. Ask yourself: I spend enormous energy climbing the hierarchies of this world, status, wealth, recognition, as though its ranking were the final one. This verse announces a coming re-ranking that answers to entirely different criteria, where many at the top drop and many at the bottom rise. If the real hierarchy is the one revealed on that Day, am I climbing the ladder that matters, or exhausting myself scaling one that will be turned upside down?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, Ma'arif al-Qur'an, al-Saadi.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:3 is discussed in 3 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:3 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.