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Surah Introduction

It speaks about Allah's angels who take the souls at the time of death. As Allah has power to take away the souls, as He has created the whole universe, He also has the power to resurrect people after their death. The story of Prophet Moses and Pharaoh is mentioned to warn the people about the consequences of arrogant pride which leads to the denial of the truth.

The Surah takes its name from the first Ayat, وَالنَّازِعَاتِ غَرْقًا "By those [angels] who extract with violence" [79:1]

There are 46 Ayat in this Surah.

Central Theme

Its theme is affirmation of Resurrection and the life hereafter; it also warns of the consequences of belying the Messenger of God. The Surah opens with oaths sworn by the angels who take the soul at deaths and those who hasten to carry out God’s Commands and those who conduct the affairs of the universe according to Divine Will, to assure that the Resurrection will certainly come to pass and the second life after death will certainly take place. For the angels who are employed to pluck out the soul today can also be employed to restore the soul tomorrow and the angels who promptly execute God’s Commands and conduct the affairs of the universe today can also upset the order of the universe tomorrow by orders of the same God and can also bring about a new order.

After this the people have been told, so as to say: “This work which you regard as absolutely impossible, is not any difficult for God, for which He may have to make lengthy preparations. Just a single jolt will upset this system of the world and a second jolt will be enough to cause you to appear as living beings in the new world." At that time the same people who deny it, would be trembling with fear and seeing with awe struck eyes all that they thought was impossible. Then, relating the story of the Prophet Moses and Pharaoh briefly, the people have been warned to the effect: “You know full well what fate the Pharaoh met in consequence of belying the Messenger and rejecting the guidance brought by him and endeavoring to defeat his mission by trickery and deceit. If you do not learn any lesson from it, nor change your ways and attitude accordingly, you also will have to meet the same fate."

Then, in v. 27-13, arguments have been given for the Hereafter and life after death. In this regard, the deniers have been asked the question: “Is your resurrection a more difficult task or the creation of the huge Universe which spreads around you to infinite distances with myriads of its stars and planets? Your recreation cannot be difficult for the God for Whom this was an easy task." Thus, after presenting, in a single sentence, a decisive argument for the possibility of the Hereafter, attention has been drawn to the earth and its provisions that have been arranged in it for the sustenance of man and animal and of which everything testifies that it has been created with great wisdom for fulfilling some special purpose. Pointing to this the question has been left for the intellect of man to ponder for itself and form the opinion whether calling man to account after having delegated authority and responsibilities to a creature like him in this wise system would be more in keeping with the demands of wisdom, or that he should die after committing all sorts of misdeeds in the world and should perish and mix in the dust for ever and should never be called to account as to how he employed the authority and fulfilled the responsibilities entrusted to him. Instead of discussing this question, in v. 34-41, it has been said: “When the Hereafter is established, men’s eternal future will be determined on the criterion as to which of them rebelled against his God transgressing the bounds of service and made the material benefits and pleasures his objective of life and which of them feared standing before his Lord and refrained from fulfilling the unlawful desires of the self.” This by itself provides the right answer to the above question to every such person who considers it honestly, free from stubbornness. For the only rational, logical and moral demand of giving authority and entrusting responsibilities to man in the world is that he should be called to account on this very basis ultimately and rewarded or punished accordingly.

In conclusion, the question of the disbelievers of Makkah as to when Resurrection will take place, has been answered. They asked the Prophet this question over and over again. In reply it has been said that the knowledge of the time of its occurrence rests with God alone. The Messenger is there only to give the warning that it will certainly come. Now whoever wishes may mend his ways, fearing its coming and whoever wishes may behave and conduct himself as he likes, fearless of its coming. When the appointed time comes, those very people who loved the life of this world and regarded its pleasures as the only object of life, would feel that they had stayed in the world only for an hour or so. Then they will realise how utterly they had ruined their future, for the sake of the short lived pleasures of the world.

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