Natural and cosmic imagery
Verses describing natural phenomena, cosmic bodies, and sensory elements of the physical world and the afterlife.
- 72
- verses
- 71
- Meccan
- 1
- Medinan
- 0.92
- cohesion
Cohesion is how alike these verses are to the group’s centre, from 0 to 1. This is on the loose side, so the group holds together less tightly than most.
The 40 verses nearest its centre
Closest to the group’s centre first. 32 more verses belong to this group.
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ
And by the night as it closes in
وَٱلصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ
And by the dawn when it breathes
وَلَا ٱلظُّلُمَٰتُ وَلَا ٱلنُّورُ
Nor are the darknesses and the light,
وَلَا ٱلظِّلُّ وَلَا ٱلْحَرُورُ
Nor are the shade and the heat,
فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِى ٱلنُّجُومِ
And he cast a look at the stars
وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا
And made the night as clothing
وَإِذَا ٱلْكَوَاكِبُ ٱنتَثَرَتْ
And when the stars fall, scattering,
وَجُمِعَ ٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ
And the sun and the moon are joined,
أَنتُمْ عَنْهُ مُعْرِضُونَ
From which you turn away.
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ
Then I swear by the setting of the stars,
وَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ ٱنكَدَرَتْ
And when the stars fall, dispersing,
وَٱلصُّبْحِ إِذَآ أَسْفَرَ
And [by] the morning when it brightens,
وَأَنتُمْ حِينَئِذٍ تَنظُرُونَ
And you are at that time looking on -
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰ
By the night when it covers
وَتَضْحَكُونَ وَلَا تَبْكُونَ
And you laugh and do not weep
سَلَٰمٌ هِىَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ ٱلْفَجْرِ
Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.
وَٱلضُّحَىٰ
By the morning brightness
وَٱلنَّجْمُ وَٱلشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ
And the stars and trees prostrate.
وَبِٱلَّيْلِ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
And at night. Then will you not use reason?
وَإِذَا ٱلسَّمَآءُ كُشِطَتْ
And when the sky is stripped away
هَيْهَاتَ هَيْهَاتَ لِمَا تُوعَدُونَ
How far, how far, is that which you are promised.
بَلْ عَجِبْتَ وَيَسْخَرُونَ
But you wonder, while they mock,
وَجَنَّٰتٍ أَلْفَافًا
And gardens of entwined growth.
وَيَسِّرْ لِىٓ أَمْرِى
And ease for me my task
وَبِٱلْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ
And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness,
فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلصَّآخَّةُ
But when there comes the Deafening Blast
فَٱلْعَٰصِفَٰتِ عَصْفًا
And the winds that blow violently
وَٱلْتَفَّتِ ٱلسَّاقُ بِٱلسَّاقِ
And the leg is wound about the leg,
أَفَسِحْرٌ هَٰذَآ أَمْ أَنتُمْ لَا تُبْصِرُونَ
Then is this magic, or do you not see?
وَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍ
And leave them for a time.
وَحَدَآئِقَ غُلْبًا
And gardens of dense shrubbery
وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلنَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا
And made the day for livelihood
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلشَّفَقِ
So I swear by the twilight glow
وَٱلْفَجْرِ
By the dawn
فَإِذَا بَرِقَ ٱلْبَصَرُ
So when vision is dazzled
وَإِذَا ٱلْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ
And when the seas are filled with flame
وَزَرَابِىُّ مَبْثُوثَةٌ
And carpets spread around.
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِمَا تُبْصِرُونَ
So I swear by what you see
وَٱلطُّورِ
By the mount
وَإِذَا ٱلنُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ
And when the souls are paired
Where it falls
These verses across the book in reading order. Most of them sit in Al-Waaqia.
A histogram of where this topic’s verses fall across the book in reading order.
How it sounds
Measured against the whole book, so the difference is what matters.
how strongly mercy sounds
how strongly judgment sounds
how much it instructs rather than describes
how much it points beyond this life
how positive the verse feels
how charged the language is
The pale line in each bar is the whole book’s average for that channel.
Next to this
The groups sitting closest to this one in meaning.