Makkan surah named after the miracle of splitting the moon, in response to the pagans’ challenge to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

The surah contains two repetitive ayahs when describing the punishments of previous disbelieving nations:

• Then how dreadful were My punishment and warnings!
• And we have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?

Themes

• Life after death.
• Fate of previous nations.
• Being mindful of the warnings in the Quran.

Selected Verses

1-3: The Hour is near. The moon was split in two, yet the pagans rejected this sign as magic, following their own desires.

5: The Quran is profound in wisdom but its warnings are of no use to the disbelievers.

6-8: Turn away from the disbelievers and await the Day when they will be called for something horrifying (the Judgement). They will rush from their graves, eyes downcast, crying “This is a difficult Day!”

9-42: Fate of previous nations:

• 9-17: The people of Nuh AS. He was rejected and intimidated by his people so he cried out to Allah SWT for help. The sky poured with rain and the earth burst with springs, for a fate predetermined. The Ark was left as a sign for people to be mindful. Then how dreadful were My punishment and warnings! And we have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?
• 18-23: The people of Hud AS. Destroyed by a furious wind, on a day of unrelenting misery, snatching people up and leaving them like trunks of uprooted palms. Then how dreadful were My punishment and warnings! And we have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?
• 23-32: The people of Salih AS. Thamud rejected the warnings, calling Salih AS a liar. They killed the she camel of Allah SWT, sent as a sign to them, and were thus destroyed by a single mighty blast, leaving them like the twigs of fence builders. Then how dreadful were My punishment and warnings! And we have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?
• 33-40: The people of Lut AS. Destroyed by an unrelenting torment, a storm of stones. Taste now My punishment and warnings! And we have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?
• 41-42: The people of Firaun rejected all of Allah SWT’s signs and were seized with the crushing grip of the Almighty, Most Powerful.

43: Warning to the disbelievers. Are you superior to those destroyed peoples? Or have you been granted immunity from punishment in the divine Books?

45: Prediction of Battle of Badr. The multitudes will be defeated and they will turn their backs and flee.

49: All things have been created perfectly preordained.

50-51: Our command is but a single word, done in the blink of an eye. We have already destroyed the likes of you. So will any of you be mindful?

54-55: The reward of the righteous will be amid Gardens and rivers at the Seat of Honour in the presence of the Most Powerful Sovereign.