Sura Yasin

Priority: b, Quality: b
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Sura Yasin
Fatir
Sura Number36
Juz'22 and 23
Revelation
Revelation Number41
Makki/MadaniMakki
Information
Verse Count83
Word Count733
Letter Count3068\


This article is an introduction to the Sura Yasin; to read its text see text:Sura Yasin.

Sūra Yā-Sīn (Arabic: سورَة یس) is the thirty sixth sura of the Qur'an. It is a Makki Sura in the juz' twenty second and twenty third of the Qur'an. The sura is called so because it begins with disjoined letters (muqatta'at): "Ya" (ی) and "Sin" (س). According to hadiths, Sura Yasin is one of the most virtuous suras of the Qur'an such that it is referred to as the "Heart of the Qur'an".

Sura Yasin is concerned with the three principles of monotheism, prophethood, and resurrection, as well as the revival of the dead and the members of the body talking on the Day of Judgment. The stories of "Ashab al-Qarya" (people of the village) and the believer of Al Yasin occur in this sura.

Many virtues are cited for the recitation of Sura Yasin in hadiths. For example, Imam al-Sadiq (a) is quoted as saying that if one recites this sura before going to sleep or before the sunset, he will be protected over the day and will be full of livelihood, and if one recites it at night before going to sleep, God will appoint thousand angels to repel devils from him and protect him against any harms.

Introduction

  • Naming

The sura is called "Ya-Sin" because it begins with disjoined letters (Ya and Sin). The sura is also called "Habib al-Najjar" (Habib the Carpenter), because his story occurs in verses thirteen to thirty of the sura. It is also referred to as Sura Dafi'a (repelling) and Mu'ammima (extending), because it repels devils and wrongs and extends the good of the mundane world and the afterlife to all people. According to hadiths, Sura Yasin is one of the most virtuous suras of the Qur'an such that it is referred to as the "Heart of the Qur'an".[1]

  • Order and Location of the Revelation

Sura Yasin is a Makki Sura, and in its order of revelation, it is the forty first sura revealed to the Prophet (s). In the traditional order of compilation, it is the thirty sixth sura[2] in juz' twenty second and twenty third of the Qur'an.

  • Number of Verses and Other Features

Sura Yasin contains eighty three verses, 733 words, and 3,068 letters. As to its size, the sura counts as a Mathani sura, occupying almost one hizb of the Qur'an. It is also one of the suras that begin with disjoined letters (muqatta'at), and it is the first sura of the Qur'an beginning with swearing.[3]

Content

The sura points to three principles of the religion: monotheism, prophethood, and resurrection. The opening verses of the sura are concerned with prophethood, its philosophy, and people's reactions to the calls of prophets. They are followed by verses regarding monotheism in which signs of God's oneness are enumerated. Then there are verses concerning the problem of resurrection and the revival of the dead on the Day of Judgment to be punished, and the separation of criminals from the pious. According to these verses, people's body parts will talk on that day. The closing verses of the sura characterize the condition of criminals and the pious on the Day of Judgment. A summary of, and an argument for, the three principles (monotheism, prophethood, and resurrection) are provided at the end of the sura.[4]

Content of Sura Yasin[5]
Предупреждения Посланника Аллаха (С) о воздаянии неверующим
First topic: verses 1-12
The wrong response by unbelievers to the Prophet's warnings
Second topic: verses 13-32
The fate of ignoring the prophets' warnings
Third topic: verses 33-68
The unbelievers deviating from the teachings of the prophets
Fourth topic: verses 69-83
Evidence for the truth of the Prophet's warnings about the resurrection
First point: verses 1-6
Duties of the Prophet, warnings to human beings
First deviation: verses 33-46
Denial of the signs of divinity
First reason: verses 69-70
The Prophet's remarks as revelations
Second point: verses 7-10
The unbelievers did not come to believe in the Prophet
Second deviation: verse 47
Not helping people in need
Second reason: verses 71-73
Oneness of God in the creation
Third point: verses 11-12
The pious came to believe in the Prophet
Third deviation: verses 48-68
Denial of the resurrection
Third reason: verses 74-75
Impotence of God's partners
Forth reason: verses 77-83
God's power to bring the dead to life

Famous Verses

The majority of exegetes take "imam mubin" in this verse to be the Preserved Slate (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz) or the book in which all actions and entities and events of this world are recorded. According to some people, the word, "imam" (literally leader), here is used because the book will be the leader or guide of the agents of punishment and reward for evaluating people's actions and their rewards and punishments.[6]

According to Shiite sources of hadith, "imam mubin" in this verse refers to Imam 'Ali (a). For example, there is a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a) according to which: "when the verse was revealed, the Prophet (s) turned to Imam 'Ali (a) and said: this man is 'imam mubin' (the evident leader)! He is the imam to whom God has given the knowledge of everything".[7] Also, in Nur al-thaqalayn, Ibn 'Abbas quoted Imam 'Ali (a) as saying: "I swear to God that I am 'imam mubin' who separates the truth from the false. I have inherited the knowledge and learned it from the Messenger of God".[8]

The verse is about the quality of the creation. 'Allama Tabataba'i maintains that the verse means that God does not need anything else to create the world. So, "He says to it, 'Be', and it is" is in fact metaphorical. It should not be taken at face value to mean that God literally orders something to be, and then it comes to be.[9] According to a hadith from Imam 'Ali (a), God's word (Be) is His action with which the thing is created.[10]

The Story of the People of the Village and the Believer of Al Yasin

Verses thieteen to thirty two of Sura Yasin are concerned with the story of three messengers who went to a town to call its people to worship God, but the people refused their calls. According to sources, the messengers were sent by God or by Jesus (a). However, a man—referred to in hadiths as the "Believer of Al Yasin"—believed in the messengers and called his fellows to follow them, but people of the town killed him and as a result, they suffered the divine punishment. The man's name is not mentioned in the Qur'an, but according to exegetical and hadith sources, his name was "Habib al-Najjar" (Habib the Carpenter) and his faith is praised. He is buried in the bazar of Antioch in Turkey.[11]

Virtues and Effects

There is a hadith from Prophet (s) regarding the virtues of the recitation of Sura Yasin to the effect that if one recites Sura Yasin, he will be like someone who recited the whole Qur'an ten times.[12] Also, if one recites Sura Yasin for the sake of God, God will forgive him and give him the reward of reciting the whole Qur'an twelve times, and if the sura is recited for a person who is about to die, ten angels will go to him for every letter of the sura, asking for his forgiveness and witnessing his soul-taking. They will participate in his funeral, saying Funeral Prayer on his corpse and witnessing his burial.[13]

Abu Basir transmitted a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a) according to which if one recites Sura Yasin before going to sleep or before the sunset, he will be protected and full of livelihood over the day until the sunset, and if one recites it at night before going to sleep, God will appoint thousand angels to protect him against any repelled devils and harms.[14]

Jabir al-Ju'fi has transmitted a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a) according to which if one recites Sura Yasin once in his life, God will record two thousand rewards in the letter of his actions for every creature He created in this world and the afterlife and in the sky, and He will wipe out his sins in the same amount. Such a person will not suffer poverty, harms, debt, homelessness, misery, and madness. He will not suffer leprosy, obsession, and harmful diseases. God will relieve him from the pains of the death. His soul will be taken by God Himself. God will guarantee the comfort of his life and his happiness at the time of the death as well as his happiness in the afterlife. God will tell the angels of the sky and the Earth that He is satisfied with His servant and tells them to ask for his forgiveness.[15]


According to a hadith from the Prophet (s), the effects of reciting the sura include the following:

  • (1) if one is hungry, he will be fed up,
  • (2) if he is thirsty, he will be saturated with water,
  • (3) if he is naked, he will be dressed,
  • (4) if he is unmarried, he will get married,
  • (5) if he is fearful, he will be secure,
  • (6) if he is ill, he will be healthy,
  • (7) if he is a traveler, he will be helped in the travel,
  • (8) if the sura is recited for the dead, God will take it easy for the deceased, and
  • (9) if one has lost something, he will find it.[16]

According to a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), if you want to have a powerful heart and a strong mind, write down Sura Yasin with rosewater and saffron on Sha'ban 9, and then drink it.[17] According to Mafatih al-jinan, one had better recite Sura al-Rahman in the first rak'a and Sura Yasin in the second rak'a in the prayer of ziyarah.[18]

External Links

Notes

  1. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 8, p. 254.
  2. Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 166.
  3. Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1247.
  4. Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 90.
  5. Khamagar, Muhammad, Sakhtar-i suraha-yi Qur'an-i karim, Mu'assisa-yi Farhangi-yi Qur'an wa 'Itrat-i Nur al-Thaqalayn, Qom: Nashra, ed.1, 1392 Sh.
  6. Bayḍāwī, Anwār al-tanzīl, vol. 4, p. 264.
  7. Ṣadūq, Maʿānī l-akhbār, p. 95.
  8. ʿArūsī al-Ḥuwayzī, Nūr al-thaqalayn, vol. 4, p. 379.
  9. Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 114.
  10. Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 13, p. 82.
  11. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 18, p. 355.
  12. Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 5, p. 256.
  13. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 8, p. 254.
  14. Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 4, p. 886.
  15. Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 4, p. 886.
  16. Kafʿamī, al-Miṣbāḥ, p. 182.
  17. Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 4, p. 313.
  18. Mafātīḥ al-jinān, p. 447.

References

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  • Bayḍāwī, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar al-. Anwār al-tanzīl. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1418 AH.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa. Qom: Āl al-Bayt, 1414 AH.
  • Kafʿamī, Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Miṣbāḥ. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī, 1403 AH.
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  • Nūrī, Mīrzā Ḥusayn al-. Mustadrak al-wasāʾil. Beirut: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1408 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Maʿānī l-akhbār. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islamī, 1379 Sh.
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  • Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Translated to Farsi by Mūsawī Hamidānī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt Islāmī, 1374 Sh.
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