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Chapter 102

Rivalryal-Takāthur ( التكاثر )

8 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that opens with the mention of the Rivalry as mentioned in verse 1 ff. The surah criticizes man’s preoccupation with worldly wealth and stresses that he will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection.«

The surah is also known as Competition, Competition for Gain, Plenitude, Striving for More, The Piling Up, Vying for More and More, Worldly Abundance, Worldly Gains

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Yusuf Ali: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1
أَلهاكُمُ التَّكاثُرُ

Yusuf Ali

This probably Meccan Sūra gives a warning against acquisitiveness, i.e. the passion for piling up quantities of numbers, whether in the good things of this world, or in man-power or in other forms of megalomania, which leave no time or opportunity for pursuing the higher things of life.
C. 282 | [102:1-8] Be not engrossed in things ephemeral, to the neglect of higher things in life. Life is but short, and Death will soon claim you. Oh that men would only learn, before it is too late, the serious issues of the higher life! They must taste the consequences of their neglect, for every good enjoyed they must in the Hereafter give a strict account.
The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you1 (from the more serious things),
  • Acquisitiveness, that is, the passion for seeking an increase in wealth, position, the number of adherents or followers or supporters, mass production and mass organisation, may affect an individual as such, or it may affect whole societies or nations. Other people’s example or rivalry in such things may aggravate the situation. Up to a certain point it may be good and necessary. But when it becomes inordinate and monopolises attention, it leaves no time for higher things in life, and a clear warning is here sounded from a spiritual point of view. Man may be engrossed in these things till death approaches, and he looks back on a wasted life, as far as the higher things are concerned.