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78. An-Naba The Great News · Makkan
# Ayah/ 40

An-Naba 78:17–20 · Juz 30 · Makkan

The Day of Decision: Its Appointed Time and Cosmic Upheaval

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  • Editorial teamRe-segmented into a passage; study updated.

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The verseALWAYS SHOWN

إِنَّ يَوْمَ ٱلْفَصْلِ كَانَ مِيقَـٰتًا

Indeed, the Day of Decision is an appointed time.QuranicpediaVerified

يَوْمَ يُنفَخُ فِى ٱلصُّورِ فَتَأْتُونَ أَفْوَاجًا

On the Day the trumpet is sounded, and you come forth in throngs,QuranicpediaVerified

وَفُتِحَتِ ٱلسَّمَآءُ فَكَانَتْ أَبْوَٰبًا

and the sky is opened and becomes as gateways,QuranicpediaVerified

وَسُيِّرَتِ ٱلْجِبَالُ فَكَانَتْ سَرَابًا

and the mountains are set in motion and become a mirage.QuranicpediaVerified

In plain languageALWAYS SHOWN

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.

al-Saʿdī

Al-Saʿdī explains that the Day of Decision is named so because on it Allah decisively separates the creation and judges between them, settling every dispute that divided them in this world. It has a fixed appointed time, neither early nor late, known to Allah alone. He describes the scene plainly: the trumpet is blown and people stream from their graves in successive crowds toward the place of standing; the sky splits open until it is all gateways and passages; and the towering mountains are driven along and crushed until they become like a shimmering mirage—seeming substantial yet utterly nothing.

Ibn Kathīr

Ibn Kathīr notes that the Day of Decision is the appointed term fixed for the gathering of all creatures, a meeting-time complete and known. He explains that 'you come forth in throngs' means peoples come group after group and nation after nation, rising in companies. The opening of the sky into gateways refers to its rending so the angels may descend, and the mountains being set in motion until they become a mirage means they are pulverized and scattered as dust so that the eye, looking where they stood, sees only what resembles water in the distance—nothing real remaining.

al-Ṭabarī

Al-Ṭabarī glosses 'mīqātan' as a fixed term and limit set for what Allah has promised of reward and punishment, the Day of Decision being when He judges between His servants. He reports interpretations that 'afwājan' means coming in successive groups and crowds, and that the sky becoming 'gateways' means it is split apart so that it has openings and doors where there were none. Regarding the mountains, he explains they are carried and moved from their places until they become like a mirage—appearing to the onlooker as something while in reality being nothing—relaying that they are reduced to scattered dust.

al-Qurṭubī

Al-Qurṭubī states the Day of Decision is when Allah decides between creation, and 'mīqātan' is its appointed and limited time. On 'afwājan' he cites views that people come in throngs, and a report that each community is gathered with what it worshipped, or that they come group upon group. He explains the sky's opening into gateways as its splitting for the descent of the angels, and the mountains being moved until they are a mirage as their being torn from their bases, set in motion, and pulverized so that the beholder imagines them solid while they have become as the deceptive water of a mirage.

Ayah81:1 — The opening of At-Takwīr ('When the sun is wrapped up...') gives a parallel catalogue of cosmic undoing on the Last Day, including the mountains being set in motion (81:3, same verb suyyirat).Ayah69:14 — 'And the earth and mountains are lifted and crushed with a single blow' — a close parallel to the mountains dissolving and the order of creation breaking down.Ayah18:99 — 'And the trumpet will be blown, and We will gather them all together' — echoes verse 18's trumpet-blast and the gathering of humanity in throngs.

Sit for a moment with the contrast between what feels permanent now — the mountains, the sky overhead — and the certainty that all of it is appointed to pass away on a Day already set. What is the heart truly relying upon, and is it something that will remain?

QuestionWhat is the "Day of Decision" (Yawm al-Fasl) in Surah An-Naba 78:17?QuestionWhy does the Qur'an say the mountains become "a mirage" on the Day of Judgment (78:20)?QuestionWhat does "the trumpet is sounded" mean in Surah An-Naba 78:18?

  1. 1Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī tafsīr kalām al-Mannān — ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī (c. 1950 CE)
  2. 2Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm — Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr (c. 1370 CE)
  3. 3Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān — Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (c. 910 CE)
  4. 4al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān — Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qurṭubī (c. 1260 CE)
An-Naba 78:17