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Surah 77 · Makkah · 50 āyāt

Phase 02 · Going public — and the persecution(c. 10–8 BH) — view in timeline

Al-MursalātThose Sent Forth

المرسلات

An early Makkan surah, close in period and theme to Sūrat al-Qiyāmah, that opens with a chain of five oaths — most likely by the winds in their successive stages — to affirm that the Day promised to humanity will surely come. It then moves through a single, hammering refrain repeated ten times, 'Woe, that Day, to the deniers!', each time following a fresh proof: the ruin of earlier peoples, the design of the human body, the shaping of the earth, the terror of the Fire, and finally the shaded gardens of the God-conscious. It closes with a question that leaves no reply: 'Then in what statement after this [Qur'an] will they believe?'

Why it was revealed

The Prophet ﷺ was with his Companions in a cave at Minā — most likely during one of the pilgrimage seasons before the Hijrah — when this surah was sent down verse by verse.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه said: 'While we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a cave at Minā, Wal-Mursalāt was revealed to him, and he recited it, and I took it directly from his mouth while it was still fresh [from Jibrīl's tongue]. Suddenly a snake darted out at us; the Prophet ﷺ said: Kill it — but it escaped before we could. The Prophet ﷺ said: It has been spared your harm, as you have been spared its harm.'

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4930–4931 (Kitāb al-Tafsīr); also narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Salām

In the Prophet's ﷺ life

RevelationEarly Makkan period, before the Hijrah · Age c. 43–48 · A cave at Minā

Revelation in the cave at Minā

Ibn Masʿūd received the surah directly from the Prophet's ﷺ recitation as it was being revealed, verse by verse, while they sheltered together in a cave.

Recalled in āyah 1

وَٱلْمُرْسَلَٰتِ عُرْفًا

By those [winds] sent forth in succession,

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4930–4931

THEME 01Āyāt 1–7

The oaths: forces sent one after another

Five oaths, most likely describing the winds in their successive stages — sent gently, then blowing violently, scattering clouds, separating truth from falsehood, and casting down the reminder — all leading to one conclusion: what you are promised will certainly happen.

1

وَٱلْمُرْسَلَٰتِ عُرْفًا

By those [winds] sent forth in succession,

7

إِنَّمَا تُوعَدُونَ لَوَٰقِعٌ

Indeed, what you are promised is to occur.

From the tafsīr

Ibn Masʿūd, Abū Ṣāliḥ and others said al-mursalāt refers to the winds sent forth in succession; others held that some of the oaths (particularly al-mulqiyāt dhikran) refer to the angels who bring down revelation to the messengers. Either way, the oaths converge on the same conclusion: the promised event will occur.

— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm

ʿurfan describes the winds sent one following another, like a horse's mane rising in succession; ʿaṣfan is their violent blowing; nashran is their spreading and dispersing of the clouds.

— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān

Key takeaways

  • Allah swears by ordinary, observable forces of nature to prove an extraordinary, unseen event.
  • Scholars differed respectfully on whether the oaths are winds or angels — both readings serve the same argument.
  • The conclusion of an oath ('what you are promised will surely occur') is stated before any description of that promise — certainty comes first, detail comes after.

Reflect

What repeated, ordinary pattern in your own life could remind you that Allah's promises unfold in stages too?

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Question 1 of 2

How did Ibn Masʿūd explain 'those sent forth' in āyah 1?

Question 2 of 2

What is the point the opening oaths establish by āyah 7?

THEME 02Āyāt 8–19

The Day of Decision and the first refrain

When stars are extinguished, the sky is split open, mountains are blown away like dust, and the messengers are given their appointed time — that is the Day of Decision (yawm al-faṣl). The refrain begins: 'Woe, that Day, to the deniers!' — first tied to the destruction of earlier nations who denied their messengers.

15

وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ

Woe, that Day, to the deniers!

16

أَلَمْ نُهْلِكِ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ

Did We not destroy the former peoples?

From the tafsīr

Ṭumisat (stars extinguished) means their light is put out; furijat (the sky is opened) means it is split apart; nusifat (mountains are blown away) means they are scattered like dust carried by the wind.

— Ibn Kathīr

'Alam nuhlik al-awwalīn' (āyah 16) recalls how Allah destroyed the earlier peoples who denied their messengers, then goes on to destroy every later people who does likewise — a pattern, not a one-time event.

— Al-Saʿdī, Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān

Key takeaways

  • The cosmic order — stars, sky, mountains — is described as fully within Allah's control and fully reversible.
  • The refrain 'woe to the deniers' is repeated exactly ten times in this surah, each time following a different proof.
  • Denial of messengers has a documented historical pattern, not just a future consequence.

Reflect

What would change in how you read warnings if you accepted that a fixed 'time' has already been appointed for them, as it has for the messengers in āyah 11?

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Question 1 of 2

What event is called yawm al-faṣl in this surah?

Question 2 of 2

How many times is the refrain 'Woe, that Day, to the deniers!' repeated across the surah?

THEME 03Āyāt 20–28

Proofs from your own body and the earth beneath you

Three proofs of resurrection drawn from what people already witness: their own creation from a despised fluid placed in a secure place for a known term, the earth made to gather the living and the dead, and firm mountains with fresh water given to drink.

20

أَلَمْ نَخْلُقكُّم مِّن مَّآءٍ مَّهِينٍ

Did We not create you from a despised fluid?

25

أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ ٱلْأَرْضَ كِفَاتًا

Have We not made the earth a container —

27

وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا رَوَٰسِىَ شَٰمِخَٰتٍ وَأَسْقَيْنَٰكُم مَّآءً فُرَاتًا

And We placed therein lofty, firmly set mountains, and We gave you fresh water to drink.

From the tafsīr

'Māʾin mahīn' (a despised fluid) — the humble origin of every human being, placed by Allah's decree in a firm resting-place until a known term. The One who arranged this stage by stage can certainly restore what has decayed.

— Al-Saʿdī

Kifātan (āyah 25) means the earth gathers in the living upon its surface and the dead within it — a single word covering both cradle and grave.

— Ibn Kathīr

Key takeaways

  • The argument for resurrection does not appeal to the unseen alone — it points at the body reading these verses.
  • 'Fanniʿma al-qādirūn' (āyah 23) — 'how excellent a determiner' — ties precise biological staging to divine power, not chance.
  • The earth as kifāt (a gathering place) reframes daily ground underfoot as evidence, not scenery.

Reflect

Which single stage of your own biological formation — from fluid to firm resting-place to a known term — most convinces you that resurrection is not harder than your first creation?

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Question 1 of 2

What does 'māʾin mahīn' (āyah 20) describe?

Question 2 of 2

What does āyah 25 mean by calling the earth kifātan?

THEME 04Āyāt 29–40

The scene of the Fire for the deniers

Deniers are told: 'Proceed to what you used to deny.' They are driven to a shadow of smoke with three columns — giving no coolness and no shelter from the flame — that hurls sparks like fortresses, like yellow camels. On that Day they cannot speak, and no permission is given for them to make excuses.

30

ٱنطَلِقُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ ظِلٍّ ذِى ثَلَٰثِ شُعَبٍ

Proceed to a shadow [of smoke] having three columns,

From the tafsīr

'Ẓillin dhī thalāthi shuʿab' — a shadow of smoke that branches into three columns before closing in on them — described as neither cool nor sheltering, unlike any shade they knew in this world.

— Ibn Kathīr

'Jimālatun ṣufr' — sparks the size of fortresses compared to yellow camels — a comparison drawn from what the first Arab audience knew well, to make the terror concrete rather than abstract.

— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān

Key takeaways

  • The command 'proceed to what you used to deny' turns disbelief itself into the sentence being carried out.
  • 'No permission is given for them to make excuses' (āyah 36) closes the door that was open throughout this worldly life.
  • Vivid, concrete imagery (fortress-sized sparks, yellow camels) is chosen deliberately to make an unseen reality vivid to a seeing audience.

Reflect

What excuses do you currently rely on that āyah 36 warns will not be accepted on that Day?

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Question 1 of 2

What does āyah 36 say about excuses on that Day?

Question 2 of 2

According to āyah 31, what two things does that shadow lack?

THEME 05Āyāt 41–50

The Gardens of the God-conscious, and the closing question

In sharp contrast, the muttaqīn are among shades, springs and fruit of their choosing, told 'eat and drink in satisfaction for what you used to do.' The deniers are told to 'eat and enjoy yourselves a little; indeed you are criminals,' refusing even to bow when told. The surah ends with a question with no honest answer: 'Then in what statement after this will they believe?'

41

إِنَّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ فِى ظِلَٰلٍ وَعُيُونٍ

Indeed, the righteous will be among shades and springs,

43

كُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ هَنِيٓـًٔۢا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you used to do.

50

فَبِأَىِّ حَدِيثٍۭ بَعْدَهُۥ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Then in what statement after this [Qur'an] will they believe?

From the tafsīr

'Kulū wa-shrabū hanīʾan bi-mā kuntum taʿmalūn' (āyah 43) mirrors, in reward, the same 'eat and enjoy' addressed mockingly to the deniers in āyah 46 — the same words, opposite outcomes.

— Ibn Kathīr

The closing question, 'fa-bi-ayyi ḥadīthin baʿdahu yuʾminūn' (āyah 50), means: if this Qur'an — with its proofs, warnings and mercy — does not move a person to believe, no other speech ever will.

— Al-Saʿdī

Key takeaways

  • Reward is described as satisfaction earned by deeds, not luck or lineage — 'bi-mā kuntum taʿmalūn'.
  • Refusing to bow (āyah 48) when told is named as a defining trait of the deniers, tying belief to visible submission, not only inward conviction.
  • The final question makes the Qur'an itself the last argument — after it, there is no further proof left to offer.

Reflect

If the Qur'an is, as āyah 50 implies, the final word that can move a heart, what is still standing between you and fuller submission to it?

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Question 1 of 2

On what basis are the muttaqīn told to 'eat and drink in satisfaction' in āyah 43?

Question 2 of 2

What is the force of 'then in what statement after this will they believe?'

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VOCABULARY

Roots from this surah

Learn the three-letter root and you unlock every word built from it — across the whole Qur'an, not just this surah.

ر س ل

āyāt 1

to send forth — a message, a wind, or a messenger

  • مُرْسَلَاتthose sent forth
  • رَسُولmessenger
  • رِسَالَةmessage

و ق ع

āyāt 7

to fall, to occur, to befall

  • وَاقِعoccurring, coming to pass
  • وَقْعَةa befalling event
  • مَوْقِعlocation, point of occurrence

ك ذ ب

āyāt 15, 19, 24, 28, 34, 37, 40, 45, 47, 49

to lie, to deny the truth

  • مُكَذِّبone who denies
  • كَذِبa lie
  • تَكْذِيبact of denying

ه ل ك

āyāt 16

to perish, to be destroyed

  • هَلَاكdestruction, ruin
  • أَهْلَكَhe destroyed
  • مُهْلِكone who destroys

ك ف ت

āyāt 25

to gather in, to contain and hold

  • كِفَاتa gathering place, container
  • كَفَتَhe gathered in, drew together

ظ ل ل

āyāt 30, 31, 41

to shade, to give or withhold cover from the sun or fire

  • ظِلّshade, shadow
  • ظَلِيلshady, cool-shaded
  • ظِلَالshades (plural)

ط ل ق

āyāt 29, 30

to release, to set off, to proceed

  • ٱنطَلِقُواproceed! set off!
  • طَلَاقrelease from marriage
  • إِطْلَاقsetting free, launching

أ م ن

āyāt 50

to be secure, to trust, to believe

  • يُؤْمِنُونَthey believe
  • إِيمَانfaith
  • أَمَانsafety, security

Carry this with you

  • Certainty about the Hereafter is argued from ordinary, observable patterns — winds, water, mountains, your own body.
  • The ten-fold refrain 'Woe, that Day, to the deniers!' is not decoration; each time it follows a distinct, independent proof.
  • Destruction of earlier deniers is described as a repeating pattern, not a closed chapter of history.
  • Reward and punishment are described in the very same vocabulary — 'eat and drink' — to show that the outcome, not the offer, is what differs.
  • No excuse will be accepted on the Day of Decision; the time to explain oneself is now, not then.
  • The earth beneath your feet is named a kifāt — a gathering place for the living and the dead — turning daily ground into a standing sign.
  • The muttaqīn are rewarded precisely 'for what you used to do' — deeds, not lineage or luck, are the measure.
  • The Qur'an itself is presented as the final argument: if it does not move a heart, no later speech will.
FINAL ASSESSMENT

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Al-Mursalāt — full exam

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Al-Mursalāt · The oaths: forces sent one after another

What single claim does the oath sequence support?

Arabic (Uthmānī script) and the Ṣaḥīḥ International translation are fetched live from the Quran.com API (v4), sourced from the King Fahd Complex muṣḥaf — api.quran.com API docs · Translation: Ṣaḥīḥ International · Integrity & testing protocol