At-Tariq, "The Night Comer," is the eighty-sixth surah — 17 verses revealed in Mecca.1 It opens with an oath and a riddle: "By the sky and the night comer." Then: "And what can make you know what is the night comer? It is the piercing star."
What it is about
The oath introduces a claim about every person: "There is no soul but that it has over it a protector." The surah then points to human origins: "So let man observe from what he was created. He was created from a fluid, ejected." From this it draws its conclusion: "Indeed, He [i.e., Allah], to return him [to life], is Able" — on "the Day when secrets will be put on trial," when a person "will have no power or any helper."2
A second set of oaths, "by the sky which sends back and [by] the earth which splits," introduces the Quran itself: "Indeed, it [i.e., the Quran] is a decisive statement, and it is not amusement." Against the plots of its opponents the surah sets God's own plan — "they are planning a plan, but I am planning a plan" — and ends with patience: "So allow time for the disbelievers. Leave them awhile."3
Why it matters
In seventeen verses At-Tariq covers three core Meccan themes: every person is watched over and accountable, the Creator who began life can restore it, and the Quran is serious speech that decides between truth and falsehood. Its last verse, asking the Prophet ﷺ to give his opponents time, reflects the patience the Quran asked of the early Muslims. To read At-Tariq in Arabic with translations and recitation, open it on Quran.com.