Surah AT-TAKATUR / The Rivalry in world increase phonetic | Surah 102

Description of Surah At Takathur

Surah At Takathur is the 102nd surah of the Holy Quran. It was revealed in Mecca and its 8 verses are an exhortation to reflect upon distraction and the pursuit of worldly gains, an invitation to introspection for the believers as well as for anyone who ponders the words of the Most High.  

What lessons can be drawn from Surah At Takathur?

Verses 1 and 2

Indeed, the first verse means approximately that those who want more are in distraction, but Allah does not specify to us of whom He is speaking, to whom these words are addressed. The Muslims? The non-Muslims? This divine affirmation, according to which the pursuit of the riches of this world is a distraction that leads us away from the essential, actually concerns us all.

Alha is a past verbal form which means “to have been distracted from something by something”. Other meanings of this word also encompass the act of throwing into the rubbish, into oblivion, of setting aside, of getting rid of.

At Takathur represents “the obsession with more, with surplus, with wanting more”. But it also means being in competition with, wanting more than, boasting of having more, the common desire to have more.

This past form of the first verse reveals to us that our whole life has been spent wanting more, has been distracted. But the question of what, and by what or whom, remains open!

The answer to this question would be that the pursuit of riches is precisely what distracts us from the Word of Allah, from the Dhikr, but it could well be many other things in addition to that. Just as we are all different, the reasons for our distraction are varied according to our situations. We can be distracted from the responsibilities that Allah has placed in our hands, distracted from our duties, to the point of neglecting our life, our rest, which is the right of our body over us.

Everyone has aspirations which, if pursued without giving each of our responsibilities its due, make us fall into distraction.

When we become distracted from the remembrance of Allah, we thereby become distracted from a sound heart, from gratitude and the acknowledgement of Allah, from Tawhid and the proclamation of the greatness of Allah and of His Perfection.

When we neglect our tranquillity, we distance ourselves from a healthy life and a sound heart!

This surah warns us that we must seek balance in our life.

Everything we seek is not bad in itself, but if it turns into obsession and distracts us from balance, from the seeking of Allah in all aspects of our lives, then we enter into “Alhakumu takathur”. May Allah preserve us from it. Ameen

And may Allah spare us from being among those who create sources of distraction for others, to lead the believers astray, for necessarily in this equation of distraction there are the consumers (those who go astray by being distracted) and the distractors (those who lead people astray with all sorts of sources of distraction).

Today distractions are killing the education of the young (and the less young) by preventing them from reflecting, absorbed as they become by so many means of diverting the mind. 

Distraction in itself is not bad when it is used for the purposes of rest, as an outlet to clear one's mind after long hours of work or study. Where it becomes problematic is when it becomes obsessional, for it then destroys our balance.

When one is obsessed with a worldly goal, one moves away from the seeking of the Satisfaction of Allah. When one is plunged into the pursuit of the pleasures of this lower world, and above all of wealth, we become impervious to all the other areas of our life, we no longer contribute to the community, to society.

Yet each of us is responsible for his household, with, as a priority, the education of his children, and tranquillity with his wife or his husband. Some are responsible for the flourishing of their employees, their pupils, their spouse, their children, their citizens. 

To know one's duties is to know how to fulfil them and not to forget oneself.

The second verse has several explanations.

The first meaning is that of the visit, according to which the Arabs boasted so much of having more that they would go to the cemetery to enumerate the exploits of their dead. Allah thus says that you have spent a life being distracted, until you in turn visit the dead.

The second meaning is that of embracing the grave in the literal sense. It is a beautiful metaphor that Allah, the Most High, uses to also say to die, but in a lovely metaphorical manner: until you embrace the grave.

The term visitor is powerful because when one visits someone:

- one sees him, and when we die we will see the truth

- a visit is short, and the world of the Barzakh (the span of time spent in our grave) is likewise, in a certain manner. It is only passing before the Meeting with our Creator

- one embraces, one hugs, and Allah uses this image since He says until you embrace the grave

- one is conscious, and when he goes towards his grave, the deceased is conscious too.

The use of the past and of the term "visit" contain a teaching: all our ancestors have been on this journey towards our Lord and have visited the grave while waiting to meet Him.

All these things that distract you have distracted others, and the grave is a temporary visit until the Meeting with Allah, so do not be like them.

One can say that the past form indicates that these words are addressed in reference to the non-Muslims, as if to emphasise the fact that it has been repetitive for a long time. Materialism has destroyed them, and this message warns us not to fall into the same trap. Another indication is that these verses of this surah do not contain passages about Paradise, whereas in the surahs that are addressed to the Muslims they systematically contain passages about Hell but also passages about Paradise. Here they do not, which leads one to think that they are addressed to the disbelievers.

Good things are not all bad, but it is the abuse of good things and the distancing from our responsibilities towards Allah that renders them unlawful. Our goals become bad from the moment they become obsessional and distance us from the Remembrance of Allah, and make us lose our balance.

Verses 3 and 4

Kalla is a word used to signify “not at all”. It is a manifestation of the Anger of Allah. 

Sawfa is used to indicate a more distant future than the prefix “sa” at the beginning of a verb, which constructs the future tense in Arabic.

Verses 5 to 8

The tense returns to the present to express that for this category of people (distracted non-Muslims) who are sunk in distraction, it is a lost cause.

This surah of the Quran is a warning to reflect and to avoid being distracted, without having to wait to actually see the Fire of Hell, for then it will be too late.

When someone sees smoke, somewhere in the distance, it is certain information that there is a fire in that place. It is information to be taken into account, not to be taken lightly. Thus, and Allah gives us the best examples, this surah tells us to be careful of our behaviour on Earth, not to be distracted from our responsibilities. It enjoins us to obey Allah without having yet seen Hell or Paradise.

Allah tells us, with a verbal form used for emphasis, an emphatic form, that we shall indeed see the Fire on that day. Here you did not want to see the Truth because you were obsessed, but on that day you will see well ( Oh yes, you will see the Blazing Fire). 

And there you will see it with the eyes of Certainty, implying with the eyes of a believer, obliged to believe because it will be before him, but this will avail him nothing at that moment. May Allah preserve us from being among them. Ameen

In this surah there are two verbs that are supposed to be verbs of action which one does voluntarily, and which are nevertheless used as verbs of obligatory actions:

to visit is an action that one does if one feels like it, when we have made the choice. Yet Allah uses it to signify that one will visit death whether one wants to or not. Here we have the choice of visiting someone or not, but we will visit the grave for a determined time, at our death, which will come whether one wants it or not.

to see is a verb of action which one has the choice of doing or not. I can see what I want and avoid seeing what does not please me, what I do not want to see. Yet, on the Last Day everyone will see the Truth as it is. The distracted ones who refused to see the truth, to read and meditate upon the Quran, and above all to obey Allah, will see with the eyes of Certainty the Hell.

Then we will be questioned about the delights of this world. Were we grateful, just, content? Did we avoid waste (of time, of our means, of the resources given as blessings by Allah on Earth…)? How did we obtain all this and how did we use it, spend it? Did we share?

Conclusion:

The 8 verses of this surah are constructed as follows:

- The first 2 verses speak of distraction

- Then the other 2 contain a warning repeated twice by Allah, who tells us that we are going to know (before seeing)

- Then a series of indications about what is going to happen if one has not questioned oneself