Surat Al-Adiyat - The Coursers / The Charging Battle Horses: Summary of 100th Chapter of The Holy Quran

Sūrat Al-ʿĀdiyāt is the 100th chapter of the Holy Qur'an contained in the 30th Part. It is one of those chapters that start with an incipit, that is the use of title of the chapter as a mention of the first few opening verses. Here the Al-ʿĀdiyāt, or the Coursers or the charging of the battle horses as been uses as vow by the Allah Almighty to mention the ungratefulness of men to Him.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ 

"In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"

• By the racers, panting,
• And the producers of sparks [when] striking
• And the chargers at dawn,
• Stirring up thereby [clouds of] dust,
• Arriving thereby in the center collectively,
• Indeed mankind, to his Lord, is ungrateful.
• And indeed, he is to that a witness.
• And indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.
• But does he not know that when the contents of the graves are scattered
• And that within the breasts is obtained,
• Indeed, their Lord with them, that Day, is [fully] Acquainted

Here a question arises why Allah should vow of charging horses? The answer is much to simple: The panting charging battle horses producing sparks when their hooves strike the battle ground obey the command of their masters in the wake of a fierce enemy. They fall but never disobey or be disloyal to their riders. The charging by dawn is the typical Arab tactics of reaching very close to the enemy camps or the intended battlefield at night and charge at dawn and breach the enemy lines with ferocious looking animals charging fearlessly at the command of their riding warriors. 

In one explanation [3], aadiyAAT (feminine) = means female war horses. It is generally observed that Arabs prefer female horses in warfare because they are quicker and more agile

Using the example of these faithful beasts, Allah shows its disgust over the mankind which is ungrateful to Him despite being given and even gifted the best of the bounties of the world. 

Allah observes with sorrow that the man is more in love with the wealth Allah has given to him than the Giver Himself. And this ungratefulness of the men will one day bring to him the worst wrath of Allah when the graves would be opened and every dead will be put to life again and whatever is contained in their hearts will be openly revealed to them on the Day of Judgment. "And indeed, he is to that a witness" means that on the Day of Judgment, the man himself be witness to his own ungratefulness.

A similar warning has been given earlier in Al Quran Surah Al Qiyamah 75:14, "Rather, man, against himself, will be witness."

And surely such ungrateful will have no time to remorse or repent of their wordily deeds, and their only abode will be the Hell with raging fires and boiling waters. 

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 |

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