Maktab QuranSurah Al-Adiyat detonates off the line: war-horses charging with panting breath, striking sparks at night, raiding at dawn, plunging into the centre of the enemy in a cloud of dust. Five oaths of cavalry — then the verdict they carry: 'Indeed mankind is ungrateful to his Lord, and he himself is a witness to it, and he is intense in his love of wealth.' Eleven ayahs that end at the graves overturned, the chests exposed, and a Lord fully acquainted.
Surah Al-Adiyat is the 100th chapter of the Qur'an, a Meccan surah of 11 verses. Its name means “The Chargers”, from the war horses it opens by swearing by. The oath resolves into a statement that mankind is ungrateful to his Lord, intense in his love of wealth, and a witness to that himself.
Surah Al-Adiyat at a glance
| Surah number | 100 of 114 |
|---|---|
| Arabic name | سُورَةُ العَادِيَاتِ |
| Name in English | Al-Adiyat — “The Chargers” |
| Verses (ayahs) | 11 |
| Revealed in | Makkah |
| Juz | 30 |
| Length in the Mushaf | about 2 pages |
The chargers
The surah opens with five verses of oath describing horses at speed: the racers panting, striking sparks, charging at dawn, stirring up dust, and arriving in the centre collectively. The imagery is of a raid, compressed into a few words.
What the oath is about
The answer follows immediately: mankind is ungrateful to his Lord, and he is himself a witness to that, and he is intense in his love of wealth.
When the graves are emptied
The surah closes by asking whether he knows what happens when the contents of the graves are scattered and what is within the breasts is obtained — and states that their Lord, that Day, is fully acquainted with them.
Read Surah Al-Adiyat in full
The Arabic below is the Uthmani script, with a Roman transliteration to help you sound out each verse and the Sahih International English translation of the meaning. If you are learning to recite it, read the Arabic line first and use the transliteration only to check yourself — leaning on it slows real reading down.
Listen to Surah Al-Adiyat (Mishary Al-Afasy)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ وَٱلْعَٰدِيَٰتِ ضَبْحًۭا
Wal'aadi yaati dabha
By the racers, panting,
فَٱلْمُورِيَٰتِ قَدْحًۭا
Fal moori yaati qadha
And the producers of sparks [when] striking
فَٱلْمُغِيرَٰتِ صُبْحًۭا
Fal mugheeraati subha
And the chargers at dawn,
فَأَثَرْنَ بِهِۦ نَقْعًۭا
Fa atharna bihee naq'a
Stirring up thereby [clouds of] dust,
فَوَسَطْنَ بِهِۦ جَمْعًا
Fawa satna bihee jam'a
Arriving thereby in the center collectively,
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لِرَبِّهِۦ لَكَنُودٌۭ
Innal-insana lirabbihee lakanood
Indeed mankind, to his Lord, is ungrateful.
وَإِنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ لَشَهِيدٌۭ
Wa innahu 'alaa zaalika la shaheed
And indeed, he is to that a witness.
وَإِنَّهُۥ لِحُبِّ ٱلْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ
Wa innahu lihubbil khairi la shadeed
And indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.
۞ أَفَلَا يَعْلَمُ إِذَا بُعْثِرَ مَا فِى ٱلْقُبُورِ
Afala ya'lamu iza b'uthira ma filquboor
But does he not know that when the contents of the graves are scattered
وَحُصِّلَ مَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ
Wa hussila maa fis sudoor
And that within the breasts is obtained,
إِنَّ رَبَّهُم بِهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ لَّخَبِيرٌۢ
Inna rabbahum bihim yauma 'izil la khabeer
Indeed, their Lord with them, that Day, is [fully] Acquainted.
Learning Surah Al-Adiyat
Al-Adiyat is short with a driving rhythm in its opening oaths, which children tend to enjoy and hold easily. The shift at verse six is the point to rehearse.
Why memorize Surah Al-Adiyat?
Because it is one of the most cinematic minute-long recitations in the Quran — children and adults both memorize it fast and never lose it. It is also a staple of daily salah rotation: short, sharp, and complete.
How long does Surah Al-Adiyat take to memorize?
Honest answer: it depends on your daily portion and whether someone is correcting you. Surah Al-Adiyat is about 28 lines of mushaf text. Here is what that means at three realistic paces — each assuming you also run the revision cycle (which is what makes it permanent):
| Pace | New memorization per day | Time to finish Surah Al-Adiyat | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed | ~3 lines | about 10 days | Busy adults, first-time memorizers |
| Steady | ~5 lines | about 6 days | Most students — the sweet spot |
| Focused | ~10 lines | about 3 days | Experienced memorizers, school holidays |
Add roughly a consolidation week at the end — the point where you can recite the whole surah to a listener without prompts. Our guide to how long the whole Quran takes uses the same arithmetic.
The smart way to memorize Surah Al-Adiyat
Two scenes and a verdict: the cavalry charge (1–5) — learn the five oath-frames as motion: running, sparking, raiding, dust, penetration; the indictment of man's ingratitude and wealth-love (6–8); and the ending's two questions — does he not know? when the graves are overturned and the chests are harvested, their Lord that Day is fully aware (9–11). The opening's rapid-fire similar sounds (wal-adiyati dabha, fal-muriyati qadha, fal-mughirati subha) are the only tangle-risk: drill them as one breath with a teacher's ear on your endings, and the rest of the surah follows in a day or two.
A milestone plan for Surah Al-Adiyat
At the steady pace (~5 lines a day), Surah Al-Adiyat breaks into four milestones. Print our free planner PDF and mark them off:
| Portion | New-memorization time | Cumulative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milestone 1 | Ayahs 1–2 | ~1 day | Day 1 |
| Milestone 2 | Ayahs 3–4 | ~1 day | Day 2 |
| Milestone 3 | Ayahs 5–6 | ~1 day | Day 3 |
| Milestone 4 | Ayahs 7–11 | ~3 days | Day 6 |
The method: sabaq, sabqi, manzil
Serious memorization runs on the classic three-cycle system used in hifz institutes worldwide: sabaq (today's new portion), sabqi (the recent pages, revised daily until solid), and manzil (older material, cycled weekly so it never fades). Our Hifz course is built on exactly this cycle, and our free memorization planner PDF gives you printable sabaq–sabqi–manzil grids to track it.
Why memorize with a live teacher
Self-memorization has one fatal flaw: you cannot hear your own mistakes. A mispronounced letter or shortened madd, repeated twenty times during memorization, becomes near-permanent — teachers call it 'memorizing your mistakes'. In a live one-to-one lesson on our synchronized Quran screen, every slip is corrected the moment it happens, before it settles. Recitation is checked ayah by ayah, revision is scheduled for you, and the first lesson is a free trial.