Understand with ease.

SURAH AL-TAKATHUR (The Rivalry in World Increase)

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Al haaku mut takathur

Hatta zurtumul-maqaabir

Kalla sawfa ta'lamoon

Thumma kalla sawfa ta'lamoon

Kalla law ta'lamoona 'ilmal yaqeen

Latara-wun nal jaheem

Thumma latara wunnaha 'ainal yaqeen

Thumma latus alunna yauma-izin 'anin na'eem

Competing with each other in (worldly) increase diverts you,

Until you reach the graves.

No, but you will soon come to know!

Again no, surely you will come to know!

No, if you only knew now with sure knowledge,

You will surely see the Hellfire,

Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty.

Then, you will surely be asked that day about (life's) pleasures

This surah was revealed in Makkah. It consists of eight verses.

The surah is a warning to those who are occupied in this life only with the love for this world and its pleasures. They devote much of their time to making more and more money and collecting more and more material possessions. The afterlife does not cross their minds at all. 

This attitude is very common today. 

It diminishes all human societies in our technological age. The term 'at-takaathur' means 'striving greedily for worldly increase'. It shows man's obsessive passion for more and more comforts, more and more material goods, more and more power, without ever thinking about the hereafter.

Allah the Almighty urges mankind to abandon the worship of this world . The worship of the worldly things blinds man to the realities of this life and the life to come. Such people a re not prepared to stop and think about moral values taught by the Qur'an. 

The greed for more and more wealth makes people forget the real purpose of their lives. 

This surah is a warning to such people .

On the Last Day, Allah will ask us about our gratefulness to Him for the favours He has blessed us with, such as health , safety, food and drink and sleep. He will ask us if we returned His favours by worshipping Him alone and being thankful to Him for His favours.

Those who are engrossed in the things of this world do not get time to prepare themselves for the life after death . This life is very short. Their passion for the things of this world and vying for more and more worldly possessions diverts their attention from a matter even more important.

Source: Yusuf Ali Translation and Islamic Studies, Darrussalam Publication.