Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:7
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 7 of 96
وَكُنتُمْ أَزْوَٰجًۭا ثَلَٰثَةًۭ
Translation
then you will be sorted into three classes.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And you become three kinds.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the sorting: all of humanity, in every era, resolves into just three categories, no nations, races, or classes, only these three standings before God. Ask yourself: I define myself by dozens of identities, job, background, politics, tastes, and assume the differences between them are what matter most. This verse dissolves every one of them into a single, three-way sort based on nothing but my relationship with my Lord. On that Day, the categories I obsess over here will be irrelevant; only which of the three I belong to will count. If the final census has just three columns, have I even been asking which one I'm in, or only which of the world's meaningless columns I rank highest in?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:7 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 56:7 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.