2. Surah Background
The disbelievers of Mecca were not paying attention to the Prophet’s warnings,
so Allah revealed this Surah which begins with 5 oaths.
What do we know about the Arabs of the time?
Their entertainment
industry was poetry.
They were harsh,
easy to anger, lived
in constant feuds
with one another.
They loved stories with
battle scenes.
They were obsessed with
horses.
3. This Surah shows us how powerfully Allah(s) conveys His message to the audience.
Advice may be great, but the delivery is what give it the impact.
When Allah(s) gives oaths, the object of the oath prepares you for the subject of the oath.
Sometimes Allah(s) swears by the sun & the moon,(object of oath) and other times by olives and figs.
The objects change based on the subjects that come after them.
SO WHAT DOES ALLAH(s) SWEAR BY IN THIS SURAH?
4. I swear by the Adiyat (female battle horses)
marching forward (panting with animosity)
The first few Ayat are like a trailer for a movie
Allah(s) is painting a scene for the Arabs so He can get their attention before delivering a message..
Female horses are faster than male horses and were often chosen for battle.
The female horse to the Arabs was like an exotic sports car to us.
Dabha is the panting of the breath when a horse gallops
(the sound it makes when panting)
Ayah 1:
5. The scene continues. The horses are running so quickly, that sparks fly when their
horseshoes strike the ground. Allah is adding intensity to the scene.
Ayah 2:
Qadha means a loud & violent strike.
Muriyat means when sparks start a fire.
And the ones that produce sparks
when they strike
6. The horses have now reached the enemy.
The the rider is now above the enemy with a sphere.
Usually attacking is better at night, but this army is attacking
in the morning – they are so tough they don’t even care that
they will be seen.
Also, in the morning everything is moist, but sparks are still
flying- this shows how intense the scene is.
Ayah 3:
Mugheerat means to ambush.
Subha means this is happening in
the morning time.
And the ones that ambush in
the early morning
7. During the attack, there is so much chaos that everyone is surrounded by dust.
Imagine that the soldiers are now raising their voices because they can’t see…
Fa’atharna means they
caused something to rise.
Ayah 4:
Naq’ah is a word used to describe dust –
the kind that rises when something
zooms by quickly.
And it stirred up clouds of dust
8. All this is still grabbing the audience’s attention.
Allah now turns the screen black.
Just when they wanted to know what happened, the scene stops and the subject comes.
Usually animals run away when they sense danger, but this amazing female horse is
going into battle, giving up her life for the Master- the rider!!
She is the slave to her rider.
Jama’a means the gathering.
Ayah 5:
Fawasatna means they penetrated to the middle- to the center of the action.
This means that the enemy is no longer in front of them.
The enemy is all around them.
And they penetrated into the middle
of the gathering.
9. After getting their attention with their favorite battle scene, Allah finally presents His message.
He reminds them:
You are a slave and you have a Master.
Just like the horses have a Master.
But the horses are loyal and you are not.
You are ungrateful for what I have given you.
This left them speechless because they were feeling the scene so vividly, then they were taken by surprise!
Ayah 6:
The human is very ungrateful to his Master!
10. Humans are witnesses to their ungratefulness through their behavior.
Look how they rob and wage war using the blessings they were given.
Humans will be the biggest witnesses against themselves on the Day of
Judgement.
Ayah 7:
And he will be a witness to that
(on the Day of Judgement)
11. And his love for wealth is intense
Ayah 8:
Allah is saying that the human being equates
wealth with KHAIR (good).
He spends his life running after gaining more
material things and forgets his true purpose on
Earth.
12. Doesn’t he know of a time when whatever’s in the graves will
be turned upside-down?
Ayah 9:
This connects to Surat AL- Zalzalah which comes before this Surah.
Al Zalzalah mentions scenes from the Day of Judgment when the Earth will shake
and will spit out everything from within it!
We will be pulled out of our graves
like junk out of the bottom of a box.
13. The human was hiding all the bad things he had in his heart.
He didn’t want anyone to know.
He was hiding his love for wealth.
He was hiding his disloyalty to Allah.
But on the Day of Judgment everything will be exposed.
Ayah 10:
And whatever is in the chests will be exposed
14. Allah uses the word Khabeer because it means knowledge of
both the inside and the outside.
The Surah started with the scene of a group of Arabs who
robbed and pillaged and didn’t care about their actions.
The Surah ended with a scene of people who are fully aware of
the wrong they were doing and will be held accountable.
Ayah 10:
No doubt on that day their Master
will be fully aware of them.