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Al-Waqi'a

56th chapter of the Qur'an

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ230944 ↗
Source-derived summary

Al-Wāqiʻa (Arabic: الواقعة; "The Inevitable" or "The Event") is the 56th surah (chapter) of the Quran. Muslims believe it was revealed in Mecca (see Meccan surah), specifically around 7 years before the Hijrah (622), the migration of Muhammad to Medina. The total number of verses in this surah is 96. It mainly discusses the afterlife according to Islam, and the different fates people will face in it.

Summary

The afterlife (akhirah) is the main topic discussed in the chapter. Picking up from the preceding chapter, Ar-Rahman, which discusses the rewards of Paradise (jannah), this chapter also mentions them and then contrasts them with the punishment of hell. The chapter also distinguishes the three classes of people in the afterlife, "the foremost", "the companions of the right" and "the companions of the left": the first two groups will enter paradise while the companions of the left will go to hell. Here, "the right" is associated with goodness, the righteous will be seated to the right of God's throne and receive their records of deeds in their right hand. The "foremost" refers to a special group of people who will have an even better fate than the companions of the right in the afterlife. Quranic commentators differ on understanding who the foremost is.

Editorial summary

“Al-Waqi'a” enters the record as 56th chapter of the Qur'an. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Al-Waqi'a, 56th and chapter can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 211-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Al-Waqi'a, 56th and chapter.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Al-Waqi'a” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Al-Waqi'a, 56th and chapter provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q230944. VIAF identifies the subject as 181882537. The Library of Congress control number is n85235882. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Al-Waqi'a” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.