What does “Islam” mean? The word الإسلام [Islam] is an infinitive word derived from س ل م [silm] root in if‘al pattern and used as noun and infinitive. The word silm means “release/keeping away; and to be distant from fear, doubt, trouble, lack of peace, unhappiness, fight, war, pain, suffering, material and spiritual inconveniences, weakness and decaying, and all the negativities.” This word is also the root of salim, selam, teslim, Islam etc. The word’s “Islam” form means “strengthening” [removal from problems, worries, fear, unhappiness, fights, wars, and similar negative things]. Hence, the religion Islam means the “the religion that strengthens humans [entire range of principles that protects and secures people by putting a distance between them and problems, worries, war, weakness, spiritual illness, unhappiness, and similar things].”

1. 1
SURAH AL-QARI’AH (THE CALAMITY)
MECCAN PERIOD
Division: 52
1Calamity!70
2So, what is Calamity?
3What made you know what the Calamity is?
4It is the day when people will scatter like moths. 5And the mountains will be
like colorful carded wool.
6And for those whose good deeds are heavy on the scale, 7then he will live a
pleasant life. 8But for those whose bad deeds are heavy on the scale, 9then a
bottomless pit/steep abyss is his mother. 10What will explain you what it is?
11A fierce blazing fire!
(30/101, Qari’ah/1-11)
70 Qariah means “things that bash, push hard; disasters that shock people”. People will
be shocked upon such unexpected events as rupturing of the heavens,extinguishing of the sun and the
moon, blurring of the stars, moving of the mountains, boiling of the seas, i.e. scrambling of all things
and will clash each other while scattering around without control. On that day, no one will be able to
turn back or escape.
For this very reason, the Day of Judgment [Qiyamah] is named Al-Qariah which means the
“knocking of the greatest disaster”.