Surah 99. Az-Zalzalah

WHEN THE EARTH quakes with her [last] mighty quaking,

and [when] the earth yields up her burdens,¹

I.e., all that was hitherto hidden in it, including the bodies - or the remnants - of the dead.

and man cries out, "What has happened to her?"

on that Day will she recount all her tidings,

as thy Sustainer will have inspired her to do.²

I.e., on the Day of Judgment the earth will bear witness, as it were, to all that has ever been done by man: an explanation given by the Prophet, according to a Tradition on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (quoted by Ibn Hanbal and Tirmidhi).

On that Day will all men come forward, cut off from one another,³ to be shown their [past] deeds.

Lit., "as separate entities" (ashtatan). Cf. 6:94 - "And now, indeed, you have come unto Us in a lonely state, even as We created you in the first instance": thus stressing the individual, untransferable responsibility of every human being.

And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it;

and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it.