It is derived from the word inshaqqat in the first verse. Inshaqqat is infinitive which means to split asunder, thereby implying that it is the Surah in which mention has been made of the splitting asunder of the heavens.

84. Surah Al-Inshiqaq – The Splitting Asunder

Ibn Kathir:- Read Tafseer on Surah Al-Inshiqaq

Yusuf Ali:- Read Tafseer on Surah Al-Inshiqaq

Maududi:- Read Tafseer on Surah Al-Inshiqaq

Period of Revelation

This too is one of the earliest Surahs to be revealed at Makkah. The internal evidence of its subject matter indicates that persecution of the Muslims had not yet started; however, the message of the Qur’an was being openly repudiated at Makkah and the people were refusing to acknowledge that Resurrection would ever take place when they would have to appear before their God to render an account of their deeds.

Theme and Subject Matter

Its theme is the Resurrection and Hereafter.

In the first five verses not only have the state of Resurrection been described vividly but an argument of its being true and certain also have been given. It has been stated that the heavens on that Day will split asunder, the earth will be spread out plain and smooth, and it will throw out whatever lies inside it of the dead bodies of men and evidences of their deeds so as to become completely empty from within. The argument given for it is that such will be the Command of their Lord for the heavens and the earth; since both are His creation. they cannot dare disobey His Command. For them the only right and proper course is that they should obey the Command of their Lord.

Then, in vv 6-19 it has been said that whether man Is conscious of this fact or not, he in any case is moving willy nilly to the destination when he will appear and stand before his Lord. At that time all human beings will divide into two parts: first those whose records will be given in their right hands: they will be forgiven without any severe reckoning; second those whose records will be given them behind their back. They will wish that they should die somehow, but they will not die; instead they will be cast into Hell. They will meet with this fate because in the world they remained lost in the misunderstanding that they would never have to appear before God to render an account of their deeds, whereas their Lord was watching whatever they were doing, and there was no reason why they should escape the accountability for their deeds. Their moving gradual]y from the life of the world to the meting out of rewards and punishments in the Hereafter was as certain as the appearance of twilight after sunset, the coming of the night after the day, the returning of men and animals to their respective abodes at night, and the growing of the crescent into full moon.

In conclusion, the disbelievers who repudiate the Qur’an instead of bowing down to God when they hear it, have been forewarned of a grievous punishment and the good news of limitless rewards has been given to the believers and the righteous.

THE HOLY QURAN FACTS

• The Quran is the Holy Books of Muslims.
• The Quran has 114 Chapters also called “Surah” or “Surahs” in the Arabic Language.
• Each Chapter, meaning each Surah has Verses also called as “Ayah” or “Ayahs” in the Arabic Language.
• Each Chapter consists of Verses. In other words, each Surah consists of Ayahs.
• Surah Baqarah is the longest chapter/surah with 286 verses in The Holy Quran.
• Surah Kauther is the shortest chapter/surah with 3 verses in The Holy Quran.
• The longest verse of the Quran appears in Surah Al-Baqarah verse number 282, also commonly known as Ayatul Kursi.
• Surah Yaseen is called the heart of The Holy Quran.
• The Holy Quran has been translated in more than 100 languages in the world.
• The best month among all months is mentioned as Ramadan in The Holy Quran.
• The best night mentioned in the Quran is Laylatul Qadr and has been described as a night better than 1000 months.
• The name Muhammad is mentioned 4 times in The Holy Quran.
• Friday & Saturday are the only days of the week that are mentioned in the Quran.
• The first Chapter/Surah in Quran, Surah Al-Fatiha is known as the Mother of Quran or Ummul Quran.
• The meaning of Quran is “reading” and “reciting”.
• Each Chapter/Surah of The Holy Quran follows a theme and gives a specific message about the fundamentals of faith and practicing of belief.
• Total Chapters/Surahs in the Quran: 114.
• Total Verses/Ayahs in the Quran: 6236.

HOLY QURAN: REVELATION PERIOD
The Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammed (May Peace and Blessings be Upon Him) over the span of 23 years. The revelation of the Quran Started in the Holy Month of Ramadan. The period of revelation of The Holy Quran can be categorized into 2 main parts, that’s is the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s life in Makkah that is 13 years and after His (PBUH) migration to Madinah that is 10 years. Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) received the first revelation in Cave of Hira.

HOLY QURAN: CONTENT
The Quran is the Word of Allah (subhana wa ta’ala), and was revealed to mankind.

HOLY QURAN: HOW MAY PROPHETS ARE MENTIONED IN THE HOLY QURAN?
1. Adam,
2. Idris (Enoch),
3. Nuh (Noah),
4. Hud (Heber),
5. Saleh (Methusaleh),
6. Lut (Lot),
7. Ibrahim (Abraham),
8. Ismail (Ishmael),
9. Ishaq (Isaac),
10. Yaqub (Jacob),
11. Yusuf (Joseph),
12. Shu’aib (Jethro),
13. Ayyub (Job),
14. Dhulkifl (Ezekiel),
15. Musa (Moses),
16. Harun (Aaron),
17. Dawud (David),
18. Sulayman (Solomon),
19. Ilyas (Elias),
20. Alyasa (Elisha),
21. Yunus (Jonah),
22. Zakariya (Zachariah),
23. Yahya (John the Baptist),
24. Isa (Jesus) and
25. Muhammad (Peace be upon them all).

HOLY QURAN: PRESERVATION
To ease the recitation and memorization of The Quran, it has been divided in to 30 equal parts/portions called the “Juz” or “Siparah”. The Chapters/Surahs of The Holy Quran were arranged in the present order by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself though there was no compiled copy of Quran during Prophet’s life and Sahaba (companions of the prophets) memorized the verses of Quran by heart or scribed the verses on stones, animal skin or palm tree.

WHAT IS THE MEANING BETWEEN TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN AND THE QURAN IN ARABIC LANGUAGE?

The translations of Quran were written to explain the meaning of the Quran in Non-Arabic languages so that the reader can understand the meaning of the Quran in their respective languages.

However, translations are written by various individuals, authors, or translators. One must understand that Quran translations are written by different people and different people have different selection of words to explain the terminologies from Arabic to their respective language. Therefore, translations are a mere effort to explain the meaning of the Holy Quran. On final notes, a translation must only be read for understanding purposes as the true word of Allah is The Holy Quran in Arabic Language Only.

WHAT IS A TAFSEER OF THE HOLY QURAN?

The word ‘tafsir’ stems from the root word ‘fassara’, which means to explain. Therefore, Tafsir of Quran means the explanation or interpretations of the verses of Quran. The Tafsir of Quran is done by people after obtaining in-depth extensive knowledge about Islam and reading the history of Islam in detail. The objective of a Tafsir is to find out the true meanings of the verses of Quran, so that the reader can benefit from it and know the right and true message of The Holy Quran.

WHY TAFSIR:

It tries to explain Quran so that the understanding of the reader about Quran and its message increases. Where the Translation only provides a word to word meaning of the Holy Quran, TAFSIR on the other end explains a more detailed meaning of the verses and words in the Quran with context and references, it also explains of the revelation period thereby increasing the understanding of the Quran in a greater detail.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRANSLATION VS TAFSIR

TRANSLATION: is a word-to-word explanation of the Quran from Arabic Language (i.e., the original languages it was revealed) to other non-Arabic languages to simplify the understanding of the Holy Quran for the reader.

TAFSIR: is a detailed explanation of the verses of the Quran with context, explanation, reference to get a deeper understanding of the Holy Quran.

On a final note, the beginner should start reading the translation first and then if there is a particular chapter/surah or verse/ayah or word that you do not understand in the translation, then you must refer to the TAFSIR for further explanation. For easing this process, we have a TAFSIR tab labeled as “Detail TAFSIRs” and there are 3 TAFSIRs provided from 3 different authors, you may consult each TAFSIR to understand the meaning in depth.