Qur’an reader

99. Az-Zalzala · The Earthquake

Earth's final shaking becomes a scene of disclosure in which the ground itself gives testimony. People emerge to encounter their deeds, and the closing verses insist that even the smallest good or evil has moral significance.

Updated 20 October 2026Editorial review edition

Choose a surah

Medinan (traditional classification) · 8 verses

Editorial themes: Judgment · Witness · Accountability · Small deeds

English: Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), public-domain translation. Arabic: Tanzil Project, Uthmani 1.1, used verbatim under its text licence. Text provenance & limitations →

A note on Arabic, English and verse numbering

Tanzil’s Arabic source includes the opening basmala with the first verse of surahs other than 9. Pickthall’s numbered translation includes it at 1:1; at other surah openings it is not repeated within the numbered English verse. This display preserves both source conventions. The Arabic is not a collection of all variant readings.

99:1 Compare translations ↗

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا

When Earth is shaken with her (final) earthquake

99:2 Compare translations ↗

وَأَخْرَجَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا

And Earth yieldeth up her burdens,

99:3 Compare translations ↗

وَقَالَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ مَا لَهَا

And man saith: What aileth her?

99:4 Compare translations ↗

يَوْمَئِذٍ تُحَدِّثُ أَخْبَارَهَا

That day she will relate her chronicles,