(1–11) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. The Striking Calamity! What is the Striking Calamity? And what will make you realize what the Striking Calamity is? On the Day when people will be like scattered moths, and the mountains will be like fluffed wool. As for those whose scales are heavy, they will enjoy a life of contentment. But as for those whose scales are light, the Abyss will be their mother. And what will make you realize what it is? A scorching Fire.”
“The Striking Calamity” is one of the names of the Day of Resurrection. It is so called because it strikes people and alarms them with its terrors. Hence He magnifies and solemnly emphasizes its gravity in His words: “The Striking Calamity! What is the Striking Calamity? And what will make you realize what the Striking Calamity is? On the Day when people,” because of the intensity of their fear and horror, will be “like scattered moths”—that is, like swarming locusts surging into one another. Moths are creatures that emerge at night, swirling into one another without knowing which way to turn. When a fire is kindled for them, they tumble headlong into it because of their limited perception. Such will be the state of human beings, despite their possession of reason.
As for the massive, solid mountains, they will become “like fluffed wool”—that is, like carded wool that has become exceedingly flimsy and is carried away by the slightest breeze. Allah says: “You see the mountains, thinking them firmly fixed, while they pass as clouds pass.” Thereafter they will become scattered dust, vanishing until nothing visible of them remains.
At that point the scales will be set up, and people will be divided into two groups: the blessed and the wretched. “As for those whose scales are heavy”—that is, whose good deeds outweigh their evil deeds—“they will enjoy a life of contentment” in the Gardens of Bliss.
“But as for those whose scales are light,” having no good deeds sufficient to counterbalance their evil deeds,
“the Abyss will be their mother.” That is, the Fire—one of whose names is the Abyss—will be their refuge and dwelling. It will be to them like an inseparable mother, as Allah says: “Indeed, its torment is unrelenting.”
It has also been said that this means they will plunge headfirst into the Fire—that is, they will be cast into it upon their heads.
“And what will make you realize what it is?” This emphasizes its dreadful gravity. He then explains it in His words: It is “a scorching Fire”—that is, a fire of intense heat, whose heat exceeds that of this world’s fire seventyfold. We seek refuge in Allah from it.
Commentary on Surah al-Takāthur
It is Meccan.