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Sūrat an-Naba’ (The Momentous News) is a short sūrah most known for beginning Juz ʿAmma, the last and 30th section the Quran was divided into for the ease of memorization and reading. Many start their formal memorization of the Quran from this sūrah. It is a Meccan sūrah which primarily focuses on educating us about the Day of Judgment.
It appears that the contents of the sūrah can be summarized in the following ring structure:1
When the details of each section are laid out, the relationships between them become clearer.
CONNECTIONS
[A]/[A’] - The sūrah begins with the disbelievers facetiously asking one another about the Day of Judgment. They speak of it arrogantly as though the Day will never occur. Allah ﷻ censures them here and then brings up the topic of Judgment Day again in the conclusion of the sūrah where He contrasts their arrogance with the total humility shown by all on the Day of Judgment.
On that Day, all will be standing in order, without a word being shared between them except by Allah’s permission. While the disbelievers were joking about the Day of Judgment in this life, they will be standing before their inevitable punishment in the next life saying “If I only I were dust!”
[B]/[B’] - These are two distinct sections where Allah ﷻ pairs items together. [B] juxtaposes the Earth with mountains, the sky with the sun, the night with the day and the rain with vegetation. In [B’], Allah ﷻ compares the despair and punishment of Hell with the delights and rewards of Paradise.
[C] - The sūrah centers on the inevitability of Judgment Day; a summary of all things preceding and proceeding this section. The Day is coming, and it will be momentous.
In addition to the above breakdown, within Section [B], it appears that there is a mini-ring structure as follows:
CONNECTIONS
[D]/[D’] - Section [D] asks us to take a vast view of the Earth, in which we will find the largest structures there to be mountains. In Section [D’] we are asked to take an expansive view of the sky, in which we will find the largest structure to be the sun.
[E]/[E’] - In Section [E], Allah ﷻ says He created us in pairs; males and females. In [E’] He pairs the night and day together. This is echoed in Sūrat al-Layl (The Night) when Allah ﷻ directly compares the night and day with females and males:
By the night when it covers (1) And [by] the day when it appears (2) And [by] He who created the male and female (3)2
[F] - Of note, sleep is the only subject being excluded from its pair. One might assume that sleep should be paired with “waking up”. Interestingly, the central theme of this sūrah is about the Day of Judgment where humanity will truly “wake up” to reality.
It is as if this pairing is not mentioned explicitly to suggest that just as we may find it obvious that after sleep comes waking up, it should also be obvious that after death (i.e., ‘sleep’ in the grave) comes resurrection (i.e., ‘waking up’).
And Allah ﷻ knows best
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Khan, Nouman. “Surah An-Naba - Day 1 - Ramadan with the Quran - Nouman Ali Khan” YouTube, uploaded by Bayyinah Institute, May 27, 2017, https://youtu.be/eWDyvCiMIAc
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰ*وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى*وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ
Excellent contrast. In my study the surah contrasts the reality of concrete physical creation by Allah ( ayahs 5 -15) with the coming day of sorting out one of the parameters of the Day of Judgement that disbelievers find unbelievable.