Surah 100:1-5

By

Dr. Zohurul Hoque & Husain Nuri

 

100:1 CONSIDER the snorting assaulters,
100: 2 and those dashing, striking fire,
100: 3 and those making raids at dawn,
100: 4 then raising up with that a cloud of dust,
100: 5 then penetrating by it through the troops.

100:1-5 The vv. 1-5 use some of the conceptual images to highlight the ineffable reality of the Awakening. The term al-'Adiyat denotes camels employed during the time of Hajj or war-horses and chargers employed by the nomadic Arabs at the time of carrying out raids (ghazu). The sûrah unfolds a grim reminder of the Awakening through powerful images revealing the anarchy and alienation of man's temporal goals with his spiritual objective.  

The short rhythmic verses project a vision of female agent (al-fa'ilat) or a feminine plural active participle that do not have a definite antecedent. The five verses present a swiftly moving flock of mares whose riders are carrying out raids (ghazu) at best or defensive wars (jihâd) at most, whereby the enemies are caught unaware.

Each of the verses begins with a particle (harf): wa for the first verse and fa for the remainder four verses. The particle wa introduces swearing of a divine oath, so often used in the Qur'ân as a tool to provoke intense attention of the hearer as much as to the reader. In contrast the conjunction fa in vv. 3-5 connote simultaneity of actions mentioned in these verses.

The word dabh primarily means horses engaged in brisk motion, although it can be used for camels in motion. In the second verse, muriyati qadhah (lit. striking of fire, kindling of sparks) intensify the quickened galloping of horses rather than camels with their forceful contact of the hooves and rocky terrain. In this verse, the timing of the event must have been in the darkness before dawn (subhan) when the sparks can be visible. The raid begins at dawn, bringing to mind the sense of unawareness with an ominous allusion to the Qur'ânic implication of Hour that appear quicker or nearer (16:77).

The vv. 4 and 5 transform the immediate environment of the charging mares in the dawn towards the key events in the eschatological hour (sa'a) when everything would be rendered into dust (naq'an) before their regrouping, jam'an (lit. host, crowd) (42:5,7; 77:9; 82:1).

 

Source: http://www.qurancommentary.com/comm100_1_5.html

 

 

 

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