Az-Zalzalah 99
The EarthquakeHow to read the Hangul
الرَّحْمَٰنِ르r라흐마니 بِسْمِ비스밀
- Bold = the stressed syllable of the word; a little stronger.
- Overline = long vowel (madd): hold it about two beats. Length matters most in recitation.
- Tiny = no vowel in the Arabic here — just the consonant, short.
- Small Latin letter = a sound Korean lacks, on the next syllable: f upper teeth on lower lip · θ/ð tongue tip between the teeth · r rolled tongue tip (a bare ㄹ is l).
How to read the Hangul
beginning the Christ salvation
- Bold, larger (ˈ) = say it strong and a little longer — the stressed syllable.
- Faint = weak and short (a reduced vowel). Don't give every syllable equal weight.
- Tiny 으 · 트 · 스 = barely voiced. English has no vowel there — stop on the consonant.
- Whole word faint (the, of, and, to…) = light and quick in a sentence; stress the content words.
- Small f v θ ð r = sounds Korean doesn't have — f: upper teeth on the lower lip; v: the same, voiced; θ/ð: tongue tip between the teeth; r: tongue curled back, touching nothing.
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Surah
About this surah
Classed as a Medinan sura, it opens with a scene of the end: the earth is shaken with its final earthquake and throws out its burdens. When a person asks in alarm what is wrong with it, the sura answers that on that Day the earth will report its news, because the Lord has inspired it to do so. People will then come forth in scattered groups to be shown what they have done. The last two verses state the principle behind the whole scene: whoever has done an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever has done an atom's weight of evil will see it. In eight verses the sura moves from the shaking of the earth, to the earth telling what it holds, to a judgement in which even the smallest deed is brought into view.
- The final earthquake
- The earth tells its news
- Being shown one's deeds
- An atom's weight
The name It is named after the earthquake (zalzalah) in verse 1, 'When the earth is shaken with its [final] earthquake.'