An-Naba 78:1–3 · Juz 30 · Makkan
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ
ʿamma yatasāʾalūn
About what are they asking one another?QuranicpediaVerified
عَنِ ٱلنَّبَإِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
ʿani n-nabaʾi l-ʿaẓīm
About the great news —QuranicpediaVerified
ٱلَّذِى هُمْ فِيهِ مُخْتَلِفُونَ
alladhī hum fīhi mukhtalifūn
concerning which they differ.QuranicpediaVerified
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.
As the Prophet ﷺ called people to believe in the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement, the Quraysh divided over it — some flatly denying it, others unsettled and unsure. The sūrah opens by turning their own restless questioning back on them, before answering it in the verses that follow.
Allah magnifies the matter the deniers were disputing by opening with a question — about what are these people asking one another? It reads as a rebuke: their questioning was not sincere inquiry but obstinate doubt about the Resurrection of which they had been warned.
Ibn Kathīr relates that after the Prophet ﷺ proclaimed the Day of Judgement, the Quraysh kept asking one another about it in doubt and mockery. The verse reports their questioning before naming its subject — the great news — in the āyah that follows.
al-Ṭabarī records that the people of Makkah questioned one another about the news of the Resurrection — some in denial, some seeking to understand — and reads the form of the question as conveying astonishment at the gravity of what they disputed.
al-Qurṭubī observes that the interrogative ʿamma (“about what”) is a device of magnification: the matter is so momentous that the Qurʾān poses it as a question, drawing every listener’s attention before the answer is given.
Abu Ishaq narrated from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas who said: “Abu Bakr [may Allah be pleased with him] said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! You have become gray.’ He said: ‘I have gone gray from (Surat) Hud, Al-Waqi`ah, Al-Mursalat and `Amma Yatasa'alun and Idhash-Shamsu Kuwwirat.’(English reference:Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3297.) (https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/47)
Sahih Al-Bukhari 4730 English reference: Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3297 Arabic reference : Book 47, Hadith 3609Abu Ishaq narrated from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas who said: “Abu Bakr [may Allah be pleased with him] said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! You have become gray.’ He said: ‘I have gone gray from (Surat) Hud, Al-Waqi`ah, Al-Mursalat and `Amma Yatasa'alun and Idhash-Shamsu Kuwwirat.’”
[Jami’ Al Tirmidhi] Grade : Sahih (Darussalam)Ibne Abbas R.A. reports: "Abu Bakr R.A. once said, 'O Messenger of Allah, you have become old'. (What is the reason? Due to this mild and soft temperament he ought to be young, and also according to his age he could be still called young). Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihe wasallam) replied: "The recitation of Surahs Hud, Waaqiah, Mursalat, Amma and Kuwwirah has made me old'". [Shamail Muhammadiya]
English reference : Book 5, Hadith 40 Arabic reference : Book 5, Hadith 41The Resurrection was "great news" worth arguing over in the streets of Mecca — consider honestly where you yourself stand toward it, and whether your daily choices reflect certainty in the Day you will be questioned.