Surah Al-Jathiya – Yousef Bin Noah Ahmad

Al-Jathiya (Crouching, or The Kneeling) is the 45th surah of the Quran. It is a Meccan surah of 37 verses and the 65th in the traditional order of revelation, following Ad-Dukhan. The sixth of the Ha-Mim surahs, it is named after the scene in verse 28 where every community is seen kneeling on the Day of Judgment, awaiting its record.

Other names

Classical scholars also called it Ash-Shari'a, after verse 18, where the Prophet ﷺ is set upon a clear way (shari'a) and told to follow it rather than the desires of those who do not know, and Ad-Dahr ("Time"), after verse 24. It should not be confused with Al-Insan, better known by that second name.

Themes

• Signs in the heavens and the earth, in human and animal life, in night and day, rain and wind (45:3–5), all of it made of service to humankind (45:13).
• A warning to the "sinful liar" who hears God's verses, then turns away in arrogance or mocks them (45:7–9).
• A call to the believers to forgive those who do not hope for "the days of God" (45:14); some scholars consider this verse Medinan.
• The Children of Israel, given the Book and prophethood yet divided by rivalry (45:16–17).
• The one who takes his own desire as his god (45:23), and those who say that nothing destroys us but time (45:24). In a hadith qudsi recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim, God says: "The son of Adam wrongs Me: he reviles time, yet I am time; in My hand is the command, I alternate the night and the day."
• The Judgment: every community is called to its book, which "speaks against you with truth" (45:29).
• The closing praise: to God belongs all greatness in the heavens and the earth (45:37).

Related surahs

Al-Jathiya follows Ad-Dukhan and precedes Al-Ahqaf, the last of the Hawamim.