✦ AT A GLANCE ✦

الزلزلة

Az-Zalzalah

The Earthquake · 8 verses · medinan · 1 min read

✦ Why this name

The Earthquake — az-Zalzalah, the shaking of the earth at the end.

✦ When it came

The earth is described as giving its own testimony — one of the most striking images in the short surahs.

✦ The story

The earth is shaken with its final quake, throws out its burdens, and a person says *"what is wrong with it?"*

And then: *"That Day, it will report its news, because your Lord has commanded it."* The ground you walked on has been keeping a record.

Then the two verses that have probably changed more behaviour than any other pair in the Quran:

*"So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it."*

Nothing is too small to count. In either direction.

✦ How it unfolds

  1. AYAH 1-5

    The earth speaks

    The final quake, the burdens thrown out, and the ground reporting what it saw.

  2. AYAH 6-8

    An atom's weight

    Deeds shown in scattered groups, down to the smallest measure.

✦ Verses to carry

Sources

Introductions to the surah in Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Mawdudi's Tafhim al-Qur'an; ayah numbering per the Madani mushaf.

Awaiting scholar review — please read alongside a trusted tafsir.