Maktab QuranSurah At-Takwir throws the universe's shutdown sequence into twelve consecutive 'when' clauses: when the sun is wound down, when the stars fall, when the mountains are set moving, when the pregnant camels are abandoned, when the seas are set aflame — each clause a frame, until the sentence completes: 'a soul will know what it has brought.' A narration in Jami' at-Tirmidhi (graded hasan) relates: whoever wishes to look at the Day of Resurrection as if seeing it with the eye, let him recite At-Takwir, Al-Infitar and Al-Inshiqaq.
Surah At-Takwir is the 81st chapter of the Qur'an, a Meccan surah of 29 verses. Its name means “The Overthrowing”. The first half lists twelve things that happen when the world ends, each opening with “when”, before the answer arrives: a soul will know what it has brought. The second half affirms that the Qur'an is revelation carried by a noble messenger.
Surah At-Takwir at a glance
| Surah number | 81 of 114 |
|---|---|
| Arabic name | سُورَةُ التَّكۡوِيرِ |
| Name in English | At-Takwir — “The Overthrowing” |
| Verses (ayahs) | 29 |
| Revealed in | Makkah |
| Juz | 30 |
| Length in the Mushaf | about 1 page |
Twelve signs, one answer
The surah opens with a sustained list of what happens when the world is undone: the sun wrapped up, the stars falling, the mountains removed, the she-camels neglected, the wild beasts gathered, the seas set aflame, the souls paired, the pages made public, the sky stripped away, Hellfire set ablaze and Paradise brought near. Only then does the sentence complete: “a soul will know what it has brought.”
The girl buried alive
Among those signs is one that names a specific injustice of that society: the girl buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed. The question is put to the victim, not the killer.
The Qur'an is not what they claim
The second half swears by the retreating stars, the closing night and the breathing dawn, then states that the Qur'an is the word conveyed by a noble messenger; that the Prophet ﷺ is not mad, has seen Gabriel on the clear horizon, and withholds nothing of the unseen; and that this is not the word of a devil. It ends by asking where they are going, and calling it a reminder to the worlds.
Read Surah At-Takwir 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 At-Takwir (Mishary Al-Afasy)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ إِذَا ٱلشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ
Izash shamsu kuwwirat
When the sun is wrapped up [in darkness]
وَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ ٱنكَدَرَتْ
Wa izan nujoomun kadarat
And when the stars fall, dispersing,
وَإِذَا ٱلْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ
Wa izal jibaalu suyyirat
And when the mountains are removed
وَإِذَا ٱلْعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتْ
Wa izal 'ishaaru 'uttilat
And when full-term she-camels are neglected
وَإِذَا ٱلْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ
Wa izal wuhooshu hushirat
And when the wild beasts are gathered
وَإِذَا ٱلْبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتْ
Wa izal bihaaru sujjirat
And when the seas are filled with flame
وَإِذَا ٱلنُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتْ
Wa izan nufoosu zuwwijat
And when the souls are paired
وَإِذَا ٱلْمَوْءُۥدَةُ سُئِلَتْ
Wa izal maw'oodatu su'ilat
And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked
بِأَىِّ ذَنۢبٍۢ قُتِلَتْ
Bi ayyi zambin qutilat
For what sin she was killed
وَإِذَا ٱلصُّحُفُ نُشِرَتْ
Wa izas suhufu nushirat
And when the pages are made public
وَإِذَا ٱلسَّمَآءُ كُشِطَتْ
Wa izas samaaa'u kushitat
And when the sky is stripped away
وَإِذَا ٱلْجَحِيمُ سُعِّرَتْ
Wa izal jaheemu su'-'irat
And when Hellfire is set ablaze
وَإِذَا ٱلْجَنَّةُ أُزْلِفَتْ
Wa izal jannatu uzlifat
And when Paradise is brought near,
عَلِمَتْ نَفْسٌۭ مَّآ أَحْضَرَتْ
'Alimat nafsum maaa ahdarat
A soul will [then] know what it has brought [with it].
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلْخُنَّسِ
Falaaa uqsimu bil khunnas
So I swear by the retreating stars -
ٱلْجَوَارِ ٱلْكُنَّسِ
Al jawaaril kunnas
Those that run [their courses] and disappear -
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ
Wallaili izaa 'as'as
And by the night as it closes in
وَٱلصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ
Wassubhi izaa tanaffas
And by the dawn when it breathes
إِنَّهُۥ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍۢ كَرِيمٍۢ
Innahoo laqawlu rasoolin kareem
[That] indeed, the Qur'an is a word [conveyed by] a noble messenger
ذِى قُوَّةٍ عِندَ ذِى ٱلْعَرْشِ مَكِينٍۢ
Zee quwwatin 'inda zil 'arshi makeen
[Who is] possessed of power and with the Owner of the Throne, secure [in position],
مُّطَاعٍۢ ثَمَّ أَمِينٍۢ
Mutaa'in samma ameen
Obeyed there [in the heavens] and trustworthy.
وَمَا صَاحِبُكُم بِمَجْنُونٍۢ
Wa maa saahibukum bimajnoon
And your companion is not [at all] mad.
وَلَقَدْ رَءَاهُ بِٱلْأُفُقِ ٱلْمُبِينِ
Wa laqad ra aahu bilufuqil mubeen
And he has already seen Gabriel in the clear horizon.
وَمَا هُوَ عَلَى ٱلْغَيْبِ بِضَنِينٍۢ
Wa maa huwa 'alal ghaibi bidaneen
And Muhammad is not a withholder of [knowledge of] the unseen.
وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَيْطَٰنٍۢ رَّجِيمٍۢ
Wa maa huwa biqawli shaitaanir rajeem
And the Qur'an is not the word of a devil, expelled [from the heavens].
فَأَيْنَ تَذْهَبُونَ
Fa ayna tazhaboon
So where are you going?
إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌۭ لِّلْعَٰلَمِينَ
In huwa illaa zikrul lil'aalameen
It is not except a reminder to the worlds
لِمَن شَآءَ مِنكُمْ أَن يَسْتَقِيمَ
Liman shaaa'a minkum ai yastaqeem
For whoever wills among you to take a right course.
وَمَا تَشَآءُونَ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Wa maa tashaaa'oona illaaa ai yashaaa 'al laahu Rabbul 'Aalameen
And you do not will except that Allah wills - Lord of the worlds.
Learning Surah At-Takwir
The opening twelve “when” clauses are the easiest long passage in Juz Amma to memorise, because the grammatical pattern repeats exactly. Learn them as a rhythm and the verse order holds itself.
Why memorize Surah At-Takwir?
Because its structure is a gift to memory: a numbered countdown with a punchline, then a second movement swearing by the retreating stars that this Quran came through a noble messenger. At 29 tiny ayahs it is a one-week surah with imagery you will never unsee.
How long does Surah At-Takwir take to memorize?
Honest answer: it depends on your daily portion and whether someone is correcting you. Surah At-Takwir is about 14 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 At-Takwir | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed | ~3 lines | about 5 days | Busy adults, first-time memorizers |
| Steady | ~5 lines | about 3 days | Most students — the sweet spot |
| Focused | ~10 lines | about 2 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 At-Takwir
Learn the twelve 'idha' (when) clauses as a film strip — sun, stars, mountains, camels, beasts, seas, souls, buried girl, records, sky, blaze, garden — and rehearse the strip in meaning before touching the Arabic; the clause-order is the only real difficulty in the surah and pictures solve it. The second movement (15–29) switches to oaths about the revelation itself — the star-oaths, Jibril described as noble and trusted, your companion is not mad — and closes on 'for whoever wills to go straight.' Two movements, two milestones, done.
A milestone plan for Surah At-Takwir
At the steady pace (~5 lines a day), Surah At-Takwir breaks into four milestones. Print our free planner PDF and mark them off:
| Portion | New-memorization time | Cumulative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milestone 1 | Ayahs 1–7 | ~1 day | Day 1 |
| Milestone 2 | Ayahs 8–14 | ~1 day | Day 2 |
| Milestone 3 | Ayahs 15–21 | ~1 day | Day 3 |
| Milestone 4 | Ayahs 22–29 | ~1 day | Day 4 |
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.