Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:49
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 49 of 96
قُلْ إِنَّ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ وَٱلْءَاخِرِينَ
Translation
Say [Prophet], ‘The earliest and latest generations
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Say: Indeed, the former and the later peoples...' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the command to answer the mockery head-on: 'the first and the last', the entire span of humanity, from the earliest ancestor to the last soul, all of them. Ask yourself: the answer to their 'surely not everyone' is simply 'yes, everyone, first to last, without exception.' It sweeps away the fantasy that anyone slips through, that the scale is too great, that some are forgotten. It also erases every distinction I cling to: the first and the last, the great and the obscure, all gathered on the same footing. If the entire human race, across all of time, converges on one appointment, then my private assumption that I might somehow be the overlooked exception is exactly the illusion this verse dismantles.
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:49 is discussed in 4 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 56:49 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.