1. When Earth is shaken violently in its (last) quaking,

2. And Earth unloads her burdens,

3. And man says, “What is the matter with her?”

4. On that Day, she [Earth] will relate her information,

5. Because your Lord has inspired her.

6. On that Day, people will come forward in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.

7. So, whoever has done an atom’s weight of good will see it,

8. And whoever has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it.

[99:1] When Earth is shaken violently in its (last) quaking,
In its passive form, zulzila (it is shaken; زُلزِلَ) denotes that external forces will cause this violent quake. These forces could be related to the Sun, the solar system, our galaxy, or to a particular power within this galaxy. Or, they could be a convulsion or a quake (zilzāl) connected with our planet’s nature and essence, some sort of internal force.

[99:2] And Earth unloads her burdens,
When this terrible quake occurs, Earth will discharge its heavy burden (athqāl, أثقال; sing. thaqal). This “burden” could be its heavy molten substances or humanity’s deeds.
Geologically speaking, the thickness of Earth’s crust, when com-pared to its volume, is thinner than the thickness of an apple’s skin. Therefore, our planet’s internal molten mass will naturally be thrown off if its crust erupts. This is one interpretation. Another possibility is that Earth will expose both its burdens and human beings’ deeds in a way that is beyond human perception and comprehension. Evidence for this can be found in verses 7 and 8, where the root TH-Q-L refers to weighing or measuring a human being’s actions: Whoever has done even a minuscule (like an atom) weight of good or bad deed will see it. The Qur’an contains about ten verses that correlate a person’s deeds to their “weight.” For example, 7:8 says that those people who possess a “heavy” weight of good deeds will prosper and attain salvation.

[99:3] And man says, “What is the matter with her?”
When this event occurs, bewildered and terrified people will ask, “What’s going on?” We may wonder whether this verse implies that people will ask such a question while it is occurring or if it is a general statement about the planet’s fate. The next verse offers a brief explanation.

[99:4] On that Day, she [Earth] will relate her information,
Earth will tell all of her news on that Day.
Earth has experienced an infinite number of events and phenomena during its billions of years of existence, and only God knows when it will face its eventual demise. Ultimately a new event will occur, one prompted by something that happened to the planet in the past or due to humanity’s actions. We can put its eventual fate into context by an example. At the end of an academic year students receive their grades, which reflect how well they studied and assess their performance. Likewise, at the end of Earth’s life people’s deeds and conduct, along with their outcomes, will become manifested.
But, why should Earth experience such a transformation?

[99:5] Because your Lord has inspired her.
The Qur’an often uses wahī (revelation; وحي) in different contexts. Although most instances are related to the prophets receiving revelation, there are other contexts as well. For example, 16:68 says that God inspired the bees and, in 41:12, the seven firmaments of skies and our planet’s atmosphere. In other words, He has determined the role of each of the sky’s layers. In fact, revelation is a form of inspiration (ilhām) and instruction. The Qur’an indicates that humans can make “revelations” to each other, as displayed in 19:11, which states that Zachariah sent a “revelation” from the altar (i.e., a special signal) to the people to perform the prayer. Therefore, “revelation” can be applied to any mode of communication that is not in keeping with the accepted practice and convention. Usually, people convey information or intentions via dialogue, discussion, or writing. However, at various times they also resort to subtle bodily movements, allusions of the eye, or other unorthodox ways not readily apparent to others. In short, God inspired Earth and the sky’s layers in a manner unknown to us.
This ends the chapter’s first part. Now, let’s see what the people’s fate will be.

[99:6] On that Day, people will come forward in scattered groups to be shown their deeds.
On that Day, people come forward (sudūr) or, more accurately, will quickly leave a safe and secure place. The Qur’an uses synonyms to describe this event in other passages. For example, 70:43 says that on that Day people will come out of their graves in haste and head toward their destination in scattered groups. Qur’an 101 says that this exit will be scattered and disorderly, just like butterflies in the sky, because when confronted with such a catastrophic and horrid event, people naturally scatter in an attempt to escape the oncoming danger.
But why do they scatter hastily? They do so in order that their deeds may be “shown to them.” Notice that the verb yuraw (يُرَوْا) is the passive form of yarā (يَرَىٰ). This indicates that they are moving impetuously not to observe their deeds, but so that their deeds can be displayed to them. This relates a very subtle point: What makes their deeds apparent and the reason behind it is external to them. The Qur’an often emphasizes that every person will see the invariable nature of his or her deeds and the deed itself, but not its result.

[99:7] So, whoever has done an atom’s weight of good will see it,
Everyone will see each one of his or her deeds, even if its weight is as minuscule as that of a mustard seed. Dharrah (ذرّة) refers to the smallest object that people of that era could imagine, something as small as or even smaller than a mustard seed. In our own time, it is commonly translated as “atom.”

[99:8] And whoever has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it.
In other words people will see not just their very good and noble, or their very bad and horrific deeds, but even the infinitesimal things that they did or neglected to do.
It is narrated that during the early days of the prophetic mission, a Bedouin came to Makkah to meet the man who was claiming to be God’s Messenger and was offering new narratives about Him. He asked, “I have heard that you claim to be a Prophet. So, tell me what your God has told you.” The Prophet recited the above two verses, “So whoever has done an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”The visitor inquired whether that included even the tiniest deeds, and the Prophet said that it did. After repeating the question and receiving the same answer, he left. The Prophet proclaimed that the visitor had attained a profound understanding (faqah-ar-rajul; فَقَهَ الرَّجُل) of the Message.
If this is the case, then the Message is clear: We do not need to be informed about anything else. Despite this, some people spend their lives reciting these verses and reading the entire Qur’an many times without understanding and/or reflecting upon it. Thus all they end up with is a stack of information. In contrast, some can gain a deep understanding (fiqh, in its lexical meaning) and become guided after reading only one or two verses. Undoubtedly, one would be jolted if he or she would only ponder upon the early Makkan verses and appreciate how clearly they elucidate every person’s responsibilities.
Qur’an 45:29 proclaims that on the Day of Judgment people will be told: “This record of Ours speaks about you in truth.” This is the Book in which everything is recorded, so see how it reveals everything about you, plainly, clearly, and intelligibly but without speaking one word. We use “speaking” in different contexts. For example, when an old photo takes us down memory lane, we say that it “speaks” to us about the past. Qur’an 45:29 continues: “We have been recording what you have been doing.” All of our deeds have been recorded, just like a hard drive records whatever we produce on a computer and a camcorder records whatever we point it at. Naturally, all of these are kept in a safe place so that nothing will be lost. Qur’an 50:22 says that people are inattentive and forgetful (ghāfil) of this fact, but are reawakened to it when their veils of ignorance are removed on that Day.

Nowadays, voice and video recorders, CDs, and flash drives are so common that this verse no longer surprises us. Other examples are the red-light cameras installed at intersections to record traffic and people’s movement, and devices that monitor buildings and secure public safety so that the police can track and arrest criminals. But despite all of this modern technical know-how, many people still do not believe that they are under God’s ever watchful “eye,” which sees and records all of their intentions, words, and deeds in a far more complete and accurate manner.
Qur’an 50 explains this in detail and informs people of how unaware they are of this divine supervision. For example, 50:18 says that two empowered forces or observers record all of the words uttered by humans.Some people perceive them as two angels, one on each shoulder, that inscribe our good and bad deeds. On the Day of Judgment, when people receive the chronicle of their deeds, they will be shocked and astonished that absolutely everything has been accounted for (18:49). They will be informed that their sight is sharp on that Day because the veil of ignorance has been removed (50:22). About twenty chapters in the Qur’an address this subject.

The Qur’an frequently asserts that people will “see” or will be “shown” their deeds, for in the end that is all that they will have. For example 53:39–40 says that a person’s cumulative deeds will soon be shown to him or her. Qur’an 102:5–7 says that if you had a deep understanding and knowledge or certainty (yaqīn), then you would have seen Paradise and Hell with your eyes – the “eye of certainty,” not the physical eye. This should not be considered surprising, for we believe in many things that we cannot see, touch, perceive, or hear. For example, no one has ever seen electricity and yet it clearly exists, because without it a light bulb could not glow.
Many things fall into the same category. People can observe facts with the “eye” of wisdom, intellect, and faith that other senses cannot perceive. Incidentally, the Qur’an employs “seeing” when discussing the revelations sent to the Prophet. Qur’an 53:12 asks whether the unbelievers want to dispute with him concerning what he saw. This has been repeated three or four times in the same chapter. Qur’an 53:18 notes that he saw some of his Lord’s greatest signs not with his physical eyes, but with the “eye” of his heart. This is what the Qur’an means when it proclaims that people will “see” their deeds on the Day of Judgment.
The fate of our planet and the terrible quake that shall take place on the Day is also noted elsewhere. For example, 22:1 warns people to be mindful of their Lord, for we cannot imagine how immense this event will be. As for the strength of the quake, we will have to leave it to future scientific advancement in this field, provided that it can even be determined. Qur’an 56:4–6 informs us that Earth will be shaken vigorously and that its mountains will be pulverized and scattered like dust.Such eventsmay seem unlikely to us, but those who study cosmic phenomena know that thousands of planets have exploded and scattered in space over time. References to such phenomena and Earth’s fate do not seem strange to them at all.

Qur’an 73:14 also talks about the enormity of this Day. After the planet’s gravitational force, which holds together a mountain’s constituent parts, is suddenly eliminated, these parts will slide and crash into each other until they are no more than huge heaps of flowing sand and gravel. Qur’an 89:21 and other passages also talk about when Earth will be pounded and crumble, as if it had experienced a nuclear blast. This phenomenon will transform the mountains into loosened fluffed-up wool (101:5). Qur’an 14:48 talks about Earth’s transformation into another Earth and the heavens into other kinds of heavens, and 20:105–6 addresses the mountains’ fate. In 20:107, the Prophet is commanded to announce that his Lord will eliminate all peaks and valleys so that the planet will resemble a smooth plain with no unevenness or ruggedness.
When the gravitational force surpasses a certain threshold, all parts of the planet will experience the same force, meaning that everything on it will be flattened. When a star reaches the last stage of its existence, a huge part of its structure usually explodes and scatters, leaving only a nucleus behind. This remaining nucleus will have such an extraordinarily strong gravitational force that all unevenness will disappear. This is the currently accepted scientific view of neutron stars. As an example, let’s consider our stature. If Earth’s gravitational force were weaker, we would be taller; if it were stronger, we would be shorter. Qur’an 84:3–4 and many other passages discuss Earth’s expansion: “When Earth is stretched out, and it casts out what is in it, emptying itself.”

In short, our apparently calm, still, stable, and spread out planet will one day implode and thereby sever its relationship with the solar system or the Milky Way, just like a ripened fruit that suddenly falls from its branch. It seems to be the law of nature that all beings eventually sever their connection with their maternal world. For example, a mother’s womb nurtures an embryo until it is ready to undergo the transformation that will cause it to leave the womb and begin another stage of its development. The same womb that protected and nurtured it will push it out with excessive pain and agony.
This law holds true for this world and all of the phenomena that take place in it. For example, some trees, after blossoming and while their fruit is still growing, experience the sudden breaking of the skin that protects its fruit as well as a sudden minute “explosion” in the fruit that causes it to throw it anywhere from about 330 to 660 feet (100 to 200 meters) away. The same is true of edible fruits, which become heavier as they ripen and finally either fall to the ground on their own or when their branch is shaken. If the fruit is not ripe, however, it takes more force to make it fall.
The Qur’an says the same thing about Earth and the Sun. Qur’an 7:187 relates that Earth will become so heavy (not in terms of its mass) that it will suddenly separate. Such an event is rather common, for infinite space comprises billions of galaxies that contain suns, and new stars are born and old stars die every day. In other words, everything that has ever been created is in a state of perpetual transformation. But we, on this apparently calm and steady planet, are unaware of such things and think that Earth is somehow immune. However, about 100 verses remind us of our planet’s fate, what will happen to it during its final days, what will occur at the onset of the Day of Judgment, and what will happen to us on that Day.
One should understand that the Qur’an’s objective is not to teach us physics or astronomy, but to remind us that this outwardly calm planet is only a minute component of the universe. It has no unique fate, for it is temporary and therefore will, at some unknown future date, be destroyed along with everything else. However, life itself will not be destroyed because the divine will has determined that all matter will continue to exist; however, it will be subjected to a different set of circumstances. Thus “destroyed” does not mean “to become non-existent,” but “to exist in a different form.” All suns and stars that explode lose their form and shape, yet their particles remain and will become parts of other stars. Therefore, their “death” is part of matter’s perpetual transformation into new shapes and compositions, new formations and order.

The next two chapters elaborate on these future events. However, one marvels at people’s inattentiveness and heedlessness of their own futures, and how lethargic they are in matters of the Hereafter. On the other hand, they are laser-focused and hasty when it comes to amassing wealth, and plundering wealth, all the while forgetting their upcoming face-to-face encounter with the Day of Judgment.

Translator: Amir Douraghy
Editor: Hamid Mavani