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القرآن
3 One word, one meaning 4 / 18

The names of the Hour: each says what it does

Established rule 5 examples 1 min

The Qur'an names the Hour with feminine active participles used on their own: الحاقة, القارعة, الواقعة, الطامة, الصاخة, الغاشية. Each designates it by what it does, and each keeps its own rendering, never shared with another.

Six names, six actions:

  • the form الحاقة, "That which establishes the real" (69:1-3);
  • the form القارعة, "the Crash", what strikes suddenly (69:4, 101:1-3);
  • the form الواقعة, "the Event", what occurs (56:1, 69:15);
  • the form الطامة, "the greatest Overwhelming Event" (79:34);
  • the form الصاخة, "the Deafening Blast", what deafens (80:33);
  • the form الغاشية, "the Enveloping Event", what covers over (88:1).

A rule of non-synonymy follows: two different names do not share one word. That is why الصاخة is "the Deafening Blast" and القارعة "the Crash": the two never share a word (in French « l'Assourdissante » and « le Fracas »).

The same pattern, used indefinitely or for something other than the Hour, falls outside the rule: in 13:31, قَارِعَةٌ is "a sudden calamity" striking people before the promise; in 69:5, ٱلطَّاغِيَة names the punishment of Thamud.

In the text

Example 69:1-2
ٱلْحَآقَّةُ مَا ٱلْحَآقَّةُ
“That which establishes the real! What is that which establishes the real?”
The name الحاقة: "That which establishes the real".
Example 101:1-2
ٱلْقَارِعَةُ مَا ٱلْقَارِعَةُ
“The Crash. What is the Crash?”
The name القارعة: "the Crash", reserved for this name alone.
Example 80:33
فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلصَّآخَّةُ
“when the Deafening Blast comes”
The name الصاخة: "the Deafening Blast".
Example 88:1
هَلْ أَتَىٰكَ حَدِيثُ ٱلْغَٰشِيَةِ
“Has there come to you the account of the Enveloping Event?”
The name الغاشية: French « l'Enveloppante », the model for الصاخة.
Exception 13:31
تُصِيبُهُم بِمَا صَنَعُوا۟ قَارِعَةٌ
“by a sudden calamity”
The same pattern, indefinite: a calamity, not a name of the Hour.