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Sūrah An-NabaʾThe Great News · Makkah · 40 āyāt · 4 movements

Opens with the question the Makkans were disputing over: the Great News — the resurrection they denied. The surah answers with a survey of Allah's design in creation as evidence of His power to resurrect, then a vivid description of the Day of Decision: the trumpet, mountains vanishing like a mirage, Hell as an ambush for the transgressors, and Paradise as reward for the righteous, closing with the disbeliever's despairing wish that he were mere dust.

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At a glance

Āyāt	Movement	In one line
1–5	The Great News they were disputing over	The resurrection is named 'the great news' due to what follows it — an eternal reckoning far outweighing worldly concerns.
6–16	Signs in creation as proof of resurrection	The same power that ordered sleep, day, night, mountains and rain is more than capable of resurrection.
17–30	The Day of Decision	What seems most permanent — mountains — will be entirely undone on that Day.
31–40	Gardens and the reward of the righteous	Paradise is described as free from vain and false speech, unlike much of worldly conversation.

Occasion & setting

The Qurʾān records that the Makkan disbelievers were 'disputing' among themselves about the resurrection — some denying it outright, others uncertain — and the surah opens directly addressing that dispute as 'the great news' about which they differ.

— Ibn Kathīr, introduction to Sūrat an-Nabaʾ, citing Mujāhid on 78:1–2; al-Ṭabarī on 78:2

Key messages

· The resurrection is called 'the great news' because of the magnitude of reckoning, reward and punishment that follows it.
· Everyday phenomena — sleep, night, day, rain — are presented as continuous proofs of a Creator capable of resurrection.
· What appears most permanent, such as mountains, will be entirely undone on the Day of Decision.
· Hell is described as an ambush prepared specifically for the transgressors, a fitting recompense, not an arbitrary fate.
· Paradise is described as free of vain talk and lying, an environment of purified speech.
· The disbeliever's final wish to be mere dust reveals the depth of despair reserved for denial of the Hereafter.

Root vocabulary

ن ب أ

news, report

ٱلنَّبَإِ (the news) · نَبِيّ (prophet (bearer of news)) · أَنۢبَأَ (he informed)

و ت د

stake, peg

أَوْتَادًا (stakes) · وَتَد (a peg)

ز و ج

pair, spouse

أَزْوَٰجًا (pairs) · زَوْج (spouse)

ل ب س

to wear, clothe

لِبَاسًا (clothing) · لَبِسَ (he wore)

ف ص ل

to separate, decide

ٱلْفَصْلِ (the Decision) · فَصَلَ (he separated/decided)

ن ف خ

to blow

يُنفَخُ (is blown) · نَفْخَة (a blowing)

ر ص د

to lie in wait, watch

مِرْصَادًا (a place of ambush) · رَصَدَ (he watched/lay in wait)

ح س ب

to reckon, account

حِسَابًا (an account) · حَاسَبَ (he called to account)

ف و ز

to succeed, attain

مَفَازًا (attainment) · فَازَ (he succeeded)

ل غ و

vain, idle speech

لَغْوًا (vain talk) · لَاغِيَة (idle speech)

ت ر ب

dust, soil

تُرَٰبًۢا (dust) · تُرَاب (soil)

Flip cards

22 cards over the roots, movements, takeaways and seerah events of this surah. Anything you mark “still learning” comes back before the deck ends.

Sūrah An-Nabaʾ deck

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Concept map

The surah at the centre, its movements in sequence around it, and the roots, seerah moments and messages that hang off each one. Tap a node to focus its connections — the same way a linked notebook shows you what a single idea touches.

Tap any node to focus it and dim everything it is not connected to — the movement it sits in, the roots that carry it, and the moment of the seerah it answers.