Classification Meccan No. of verses 17 No. of letters 254 | Position Juzʼ 30 No. of words 61 | |
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Other names The Knocker, The Pounder, The Nightcomer, The Night-Star, That Which Comes in the Night, The Nightly Visitant | ||
Sūrat aṭ-Ṭāriq (Arabic: الطارق, “The Piercing Star”, “The Nightcomer”, literally “The Knocker”) is the eighty-sixth sura of the Qur'an with 17 ayat. This chapter was sent to Mohammed when he was in Mecca.
In this chapter, God (Allah) takes an oath by the sky and At-Tariq to say that there is an assigned watcher over every human being and all the deeds and sins done by human beings are being recorded. Allah then asks the human beings to think about how they were created. Allah then goes on to say that he has created human beings from the gushing water originating between backbone and ribs. Allah then reminds the human beings about the Judgment Day, the day when all the secrets would be revealed. On that day (Judgment Day), human beings would have no power and no one would help them. Allah then takes another oath on the heaven and the earth to say that, whatever being said here is word of Allah and must be taken very seriously. In the last three verses of the chapter, Allah says that the non-believers are plotting a scheme but in return Allah is also planning a scheme.
English Translation
- O, by the heavens and the knocker
- And what makes you know what is the knocker
- The piercing star
- Indeed, every soul does have a keeper over it
- So let man observe from what he was created
- Created he was from an ejected fluid
- Coming from between the back-bone and the ribs
- And to resurrect him (Man), he (God) is able
- On the day when secrets are revealed
- And he (Man) will have no power and no ally
- O, by the heavens and its rain
- O, by the earth and its crack
- This is the distinguishing word
- And it is no joke
- They are plotting a plot
- And I (God) plot a plot
- So respite the disbelievers, respite them for a while