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The surah opens by raising a pointed question: what is it that people are questioning one another about? The answer follows immediately — it is "the great news," the report of the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment. This is the momentous matter over which they were divided: some affirming it, many denying or doubting it.

These two verses are a stern divine rebuttal to those who dispute and doubt the resurrection and the great news of the Hereafter. The word "Kallā" ("No indeed!") cuts off their denial, and the warning that "they will come to know" is repeated and intensified with "Then again" — promising that the truth they reject will become undeniable to them.

After warning the deniers of the Day of Judgment, this passage turns to the everyday world as proof of God's power and care. In six tightly linked verses it points to the earth spread out as a stable bed, the mountains driven in like pegs to steady it, human beings created in pairs, sleep given as rest, the night as a covering, and the day opened for earning a living. The cadence of "Have We not…" and the repeated "and We made" presses the listener to recognize that the One who arranged all this so precisely can surely raise the dead and judge them.

In this passage God points to a chain of His provisions overhead and underfoot: seven mighty, firmly built heavens; a brilliant, heat-giving sun; and rain poured down in abundance from heavy clouds. The purpose of that water is then named — it brings forth grain, vegetation, and luxuriant gardens. Taken as one unit, these verses move from the structure of the sky to the energy of the sun to the water that links them, and finally to the food and beauty that sustain human life, all as evidence that the One who provides this can surely raise the dead.

These four ayahs announce that the Day of Decision (yawm al-faṣl) — when God will judge between His creatures — is fixed at a known, appointed time that cannot be advanced or delayed. The passage then unfolds the sequence of that Day: the trumpet is blown and humanity comes forth in crowds, the sky is torn open until it becomes wide gateways, and the firm mountains are driven along until they dissolve into a mirage. Together the verses move from the certainty of the appointment to the dismantling of the present order of heaven and earth.

This passage warns that Hell is poised in ambush, the destined return for those who persistently transgress God's limits. They will linger there through long ages, finding no coolness to relieve them and nothing to drink but scalding water and a dark, festering fluid — a recompense exactly fitted to the deeds they committed.

This passage gives the reason the transgressors earned their punishment: they never expected a day of accounting and they rejected God's signs outright. Yet nothing they did escaped notice — everything is precisely recorded in a Book — so they are told to taste a recompense that will only grow, never lessen.

After describing the terror of the Day of Decision, the surah turns to the destiny of those who were mindful of God: a place of triumph and security. Their reward is depicted in vivid, tangible images — lush gardens and vines, youthful companions of equal age, and brimming cups — set in a place free of all idle talk and falsehood. The passage closes by naming this as a gift freely and generously given by the Lord of the heavens, the earth, and all between them, the All-Merciful, before whose majesty none can presume to speak.

This passage portrays the Day of Resurrection in three movements. First, its overwhelming order and silence: the Spirit and the angels stand in disciplined ranks, and no one dares speak except those granted permission by the All-Merciful, who then say only what is true. Second, it affirms that this Day is the certain, undeniable reality, and that the door of return to one's Lord is open to whoever wills. Finally, it delivers the warning that drew everything together: a punishment is near, the Day each person sees exactly what their own hands sent ahead, and the denier, seeing it, wishes he were mere dust.

The Qur'an calls the earth a mihād — a cradle or resting place spread out for human life (78:6) — among the signs of God's provision in Sūrah An-Naba.

In Sūrah An-Naba the Qur'an calls the mountains awtād — pegs or stakes (78:7) — one of a sequence of signs pointing to a Creator who orders the world.

In Surah An-Naba (78:10-11), the Qur'an names the night a covering (libas) and the day a time for livelihood (maash). The rhythmic alternation of darkness and light is presented as a deliberate sign and an act of mercy, echoed in 25:47 and 28:73.

In Sūrah An-Naba the Qur'an calls the sun sirājan wahhājan — a blazing, radiant lamp (78:13) — one of a sequence of creation-signs, its light and heat presented as deliberate provision pointing to the Creator.

In Sūrah An-Naba the Qur'an declares that God "has recorded everything in a Book" (78:29) — the complete, exact register of deeds. Across the Qur'an this record is fastened to each person (17:13-14), kept by recording angels (82:10-12), and handed back on the Day of Decision in the right hand or the left (69:19-26), omitting nothing great or small (18:49).

Yawm al-Fasl, the “Day of Decision” of Sūrah An-Naba (78:17), is the appointed time of judgement when truth is separated from falsehood and every dispute is settled — the climax toward which the sūrah’s signs of creation point.

In Sūrah An-Naba (78:31-36) the reward of the God-conscious is described as gardens and vineyards, a full cup, and freedom from idle or false talk — sealed as "a recompense from your Lord, a gift" set against the punishment of the transgressors.

Al-Nabaʾ al-ʿAẓīm, the “Great News” of Sūrah An-Naba 78:1–3, is the momentous tiding the deniers argue over — the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement. It is the question the whole sūrah answers: its ordered signs of creation lead to “that is the True Day” (78:39), the appointed reckoning none can avoid.

Al-Ḥisāb is the accounting of every deed on the Day of Resurrection. Sūrah An-Naba diagnoses the deniers as a people who “did not expect any reckoning” (78:27), having no hope or fear of being called to account. The Qur'an presents this reckoning as certain, exact, and perfectly just — its recompense suiting the deeds (78:26), weighed on scales that wrong no one (21:47).

In Sūrah An-Naba, Hell is described as "lying in wait" (78:21) for the transgressors — a place of return where they abide for ages, tasting neither coolness nor drink but scalding water, "a recompense precisely fitting their deeds" (78:26).

In Sūrah An-Naba the Qur'an names the heavens above us as "seven mighty heavens" — saban shidāda (78:12) — one of a recurring set of signs that present the cosmos as an ordered, deliberately built creation pointing to its Maker.

In Sūrah An-Naba (78:38) the Spirit (al-Rūḥ) and the angels stand in ranks on the Day of Judgement, and none may speak except whom the All-Merciful permits, saying only what is right. The verse pictures total stillness before God and intercession only by His leave (cf. 70:4, 97:4, 2:255, 20:109).

In Sūrah An-Naba the appointed reckoning is sealed as “the True Day” (al-yawm al-ḥaqq, 78:39) — a reality beyond doubt — paired with an open invitation: “whoever wills, let him take a way back to his Lord,” and the warning of a punishment near (78:40).

Al-Sur is the Trumpet whose blast marks the Resurrection. In Sūrah An-Naba the Day the Trumpet is blown brings people forth in throngs (78:18), echoed across the Qur'an in 39:68, 69:13, and 36:51.

In Sūrah An-Naba the dispute over “the great news” is met with a doubled rebuke: “No indeed! They will come to know. Again, no indeed! They will come to know” (78:4–5). The emphatic kallā and its repetition turn a question about the resurrection into a settled certainty the deniers cannot escape.