Sūrat al-Qiyāmah is a Meccan surah. It is reported that verses 3-6 were revealed concerning ʿUdayy ibn Rabīʿah ibn Abī Salamah, who came to Prophet Muhammad (s), asking him when the Day of Judgement would happen and what it will be like. The Prophet informed him regarding it and its signs, and ʿUdayy reacted by saying: ‘Even if I were to see that day, I would not believe you, nor would I believe in it. How could God possibly reconstitute bones?’ These verses were then revealed, and the Prophet used to pray: ‘O God, protect me from my two bad neighbours, ʿUdayy ibn Rabīʿah and Akhnas ibn Shurayq!’ Whether that is true or not, such reports can never lead us to reduce the general scope of the verses, which are discussing a common flaw shared by many people.
Others have claimed it was revealed about Abū Jahl.
The main theme of the surah can be better understood by pondering the link between the two oaths sworn in its opening verses. In the first verse, God swears by the Day of Resurrection and in the second by the self-blaming soul.
We understand that the Day of Resurrection is when the true reality of the human soul will be judged and weighed. Good deeds will bring joy and brightness to a soul, while evil ones will darken and sully it. This same system of judgement is built into the human soul itself, and it judges itself if it does not live up to the potential it has been given. This is the self-blaming soul. In other words, just as the ‘small world (ʿālam al-ṣaghīr)’ within a human soul has a built-in system of judgement, so too does the ‘greater cosmos (ʿālam al-kabīr)’.
Yet there exist people who wish to silence this voice of conscience within them and ignore it, just like they wish to deny the Day of Resurrection. The surah hence initially proceeds to discuss those who would deny resurrection, motivated by their desire to indulge in sins (verses 3-5). They impatiently ask when this day would come (verse 6), and if it was to come then where are its signs? God then proceeds to list some of its signs (verses 7-9), and that by the time these come about it will be too late to begin the journey of self-improvement (verses 10-12). Man is keenly aware of his own flaws, even if he wishes to wilfully ignore them (verses 13-15). In truth, the capacity to judge himself already exists within him, and the Day of Judgement is simply the external manifestation of that.
One of the common qualities within man is impatience. In its more benign form, it may manifest itself as an overeagerness in acquiring religious knowledge (verses 16-19). In its most destructive form, impatience causes him to focus on the immediate worldly life (verse 20) at the cost of forgetting the hereafter (verse 21). The hereafter is where internal mechanisms and realities will externally manifest. Here, the Quran supplies the example of faces upon which the result of their faith will manifest itself as clearly visible, eager anticipation. For others, their lack of faith will be displayed as fearful anxiety (verses 22-25).
The surah then turns to a powerful example; perhaps the most critical moment when a soul turns to introspection and blames itself is the moment of death, when one ponders what they did and did not do. However, by that point it is too late to regret as there is no turning back (verses 26-30). The consequences the wicked must face in the hereafter are nothing but the result of their own actions and attitudes in this life (verses 31-35).
Finally, just as the self-blaming soul of man is evidence that judgement is an integral part of God’s creation, so too is such evidence present in man’s physical creation. His creation has been purposeful: Does man suppose that he would be abandoned to futility? (verse 36). So the surah ends with highlighting the miraculous nature of human creation (verses 37-39), and by pondering that man should realise that the same God who was able to do that and planned all its various delicate stages, is also capable of resurrecting him: Is not such a one able to revive the dead? (verse 40).
The previous surah ended with the mention of the resurrection and that the unbelievers do not believe in it; this surah begins with a mention of the resurrection and its horrors.
[1] Tibyan, 10/189; Baghawi, 5/181.
[2] Thalabi, 10/82; Baghawi, 5/182; Qurtubi, 19/93; Nemuneh, 25/277.
[3] Related in Qurtubi, 19/93. See the commentary on verses 34-35.
[4] Nemuneh, 25/275.
[5] Tabrisi, 10/594; Muhit, 10/343.