Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:76
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 76 of 96
وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمٌۭ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ
Translation
a mighty oath, if you only knew-
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And indeed, it is a great oath, if you only knew.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the aside, 'law ta'lamun 'azim': were you truly aware of the magnitude of what has just been sworn by, you would grasp how enormous this oath is. Ask yourself: the verse gently rebukes my dullness, I hear 'the stars' and move on, not registering that a cosmos of unimaginable scale and precision has just been invoked. 'If you only knew' names exactly my condition: surrounded by the staggering, and numb to it. So much of my spiritual poverty is not disbelief but un-awareness, living amid signs whose weight I never feel. What am I walking past every day, the stars, the order of things, the very words of revelation, whose true magnitude, 'if I only knew', would stop me in my tracks?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:76 is discussed in 5 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 56:76 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.