Al-Adiyat ('The Chargers'), 11 Meccan verses, swears by the panting war-horses charging at dawn that 'the human is ungrateful to his Lord' (100:6) and immoderate in his love of wealth, warning of the Day when what is in the graves and in the breasts is laid bare. Classical commentators read the surah's opening oath by panting, sparking war-horses charging at dawn (100:1-5) as most plausibly describing a specific early Muslim raiding expedition, though which one is not agreed, several candidates being proposed in the exegetical literature without consensus. Its central charge, that 'the human is ungrateful to his Lord' and is himself witness to that ingratitude (100:6-7), is read by commentators as addressing an internal, self-evident moral failing rather than an external accusation, since the human is described as bearing witness against himself rather than being accused by another party.
Classical commentators read the surah's closing rhetorical question, whether the human does not know that God is fully aware of what is in the graves and in the breasts on that Day (100:9-11), as tying the surah's opening battle imagery back to its underlying moral point, that ingratitude and love of wealth conceal an inner reality that will eventually be disclosed regardless of outward appearance. Its vivid opening cluster of war-horse imagery, panting, striking sparks with their hooves, charging at dawn, raising dust, is treated by scholars of Quranic style as among the most kinetic single oath-sequences in the shorter Meccan surahs.