النبأ
An-Naba
What are people asking each other about? Something enormous. Before answering, Allah walks us through the world He built — mountains as pegs, sleep as rest, night as a blanket — and asks us to notice who made it.
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
What is it they keep asking each other about?
About the great news,
the one they cannot agree about.
No indeed — they will soon know.
Again, no — they will soon know.
Did We not make the earth like a bed for you,
and the mountains like tent pegs?
And We created you in pairs,
and made your sleep a rest,
and made the night a covering,
and made the day for earning a living.
And We built above you seven strong skies,
and set in them a blazing lamp,
and We send pouring water down from the rain clouds,
to bring out grain and growing plants with it,
and gardens thick with trees.
The Day of Decision has its appointed time.
On the Day the trumpet is blown, you will come in crowds,
and the sky will open and become doorways,
and the mountains will be moved and turn to mirage.
Hell lies waiting,
a place of return for those who went too far,
who will stay there for ages.
They will taste nothing cool there, and nothing to drink,
except scalding water and bitter cold.
A payment that fits exactly.
They never expected any reckoning,
and they called Our signs lies, again and again.
But We have counted everything in a record.
So taste it — We will only increase your punishment.
For those careful about Allah there is triumph:
walled gardens and grapevines,
and companions of their own age,
and a cup filled to the brim.
They will hear no nonsense there, and no lies.
A reward from your Lord, a gift well measured —
from the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them, the Most Merciful, before whom no one can even speak.
On the Day the Spirit and the angels stand in rows, no one will speak except whoever the Most Merciful allows, and who says what is right.
That Day is the true one. So whoever wishes may take a way back to their Lord.
We have warned you of a punishment that is near — a Day when a person will look at what their own hands sent ahead, and the one who refused to believe will say, “If only I had been dust!”
Verse meanings adapted for young readers · full translation at Quran.com
About An-Naba
An-Naba means “the great news.” This is the surah that opens Juz Amma — in fact the juz is named after its very first word, ‘amma. If your child has been learning surahs from this section, they have been working through An-Naba’s juz the whole time without meeting An-Naba itself.
It opens with a question rather than a statement: what is it they keep asking each other about? People were arguing about whether the Day of Judgement was real. And Allah does not rush to argue back. He says twice, calmly, they will soon know — and then changes the subject entirely.
What follows is the loveliest part for children. Allah simply describes the world. The earth spread out like a bed. The mountains driven in like tent pegs. Sleep given to you as rest. The night pulled over you like a blanket. The day made for getting things done. Seven strong skies above you, and a blazing lamp. Water pouring from the clouds so grain and gardens grow. Verse after verse of ordinary things you have never once had to arrange for yourself.
The argument underneath is quiet but complete: the One who set all this up so carefully is not going to leave the story unfinished. Then comes the Day of Decision — the trumpet, the sky opening like doors, the mountains turning to mirage — and two very different endings. It closes on one of the saddest lines in the Quran, a person on that Day wishing they had simply been dust.
Verse 7 calls the mountains awtad — the pegs you hammer into the ground to hold a tent steady. It is a picture any child who has camped will understand instantly, and it is doing real work in the surah: the world is not a random pile of things, it is a structure someone pitched on purpose.
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For Parents
What does An-Naba mean?
An-Naba (النبأ) means “the great news” or “the announcement.” It refers to the Day of Judgement, the enormous piece of news that people in Mecca were arguing about when the surah was revealed.
Why is Juz Amma named after this surah?
Juz Amma is the thirtieth and last part of the Quran, and it begins with this surah. Arabic sections are often named after their opening words, and An-Naba begins ‘Amma yatasa’aloon — “What are they asking one another about?” So the whole juz your child has been learning from takes its name from An-Naba’s first word.
What is Surah An-Naba about?
It opens by asking what people keep questioning each other about, says twice that they will soon know, then presents the created world as evidence — the earth as a bed, mountains as pegs, sleep as rest, night as a covering, the sun as a lamp, rain bringing grain and gardens. It then describes the Day of Decision and the two very different destinations that follow it.
How long is Surah An-Naba?
An-Naba is forty verses long and takes about two minutes to recite. It is the 78th surah of the Quran and was revealed in Mecca. Its verses are unusually short — many are only two or three words — and almost every one ends on the same “-aa” sound, so it is more approachable than forty verses sounds.
Which part is best to start a young child on?
Verses 6 to 16, without question. That passage is a straight description of the world — the earth as a bed, mountains as pegs, sleep, night, day, the sky, the sun, the rain, the gardens — with nothing frightening in it at all. Children enjoy spotting each thing, and it teaches the surah’s real argument: look at what Allah has already arranged for you.
How can my child memorize An-Naba?
Take it in four blocks rather than as forty verses: the opening question (1–5), the created world (6–16), the Day of Decision (17–30), and the reward with the closing scene (31–40). The created-world block is the easiest and most enjoyable, so start there rather than at verse 1. At two or three verses a day most children have the whole surah within a month.