Surah Al-Waaqia 56:5 — Meaning, Translation & Reflection
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 5 of 96
وَبُسَّتِ ٱلْجِبَالُ بَسًّۭا
English: and the mountains are ground to powder
Bengali: এবং পর্বতমালা ভেঙ্গে চুরমার হয়ে যাবে।
Meaning & Reflection
'And the mountains are crumbled to bits.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note 'bussat bassa' — the mountains, the very emblems of permanence and immovable strength, ground and scattered. Ask yourself: mountains are how humans have always pictured what lasts — 'as old as the hills', 'move mountains'. This verse pulverises them. It is a deliberate assault on my instinct to find something in the created world massive and ancient enough to feel eternal. Every earthly thing I lean on to feel that something is permanent — an institution, a fortune, a name that will 'outlast me' — is, on the scale of this Day, a mountain about to become dust. What am I treating as unshakeable that this verse says will not survive?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Reflect with the Five Lenses
Maani's framework for Tadabbur (heart-centred reflection) on Surah Al-Waaqia 56:5:
- Wording. Look closely at the specific words and structure. Which word stands out, and why might Allah have chosen it here?
- Quranic Worlds. Place the verse in its context — what is happening around it, and what world does it open up?
- Personal Experience. Ask not just what this means, but what it means TO me and FOR me, right now in my life.
- Connections. How does this verse connect to other verses, to the Sunnah, or to themes across the Quran?
- General Lessons. What timeless lesson or action point can I carry away and live by?