Suwar al-Mathani
Suwar al-Mathānī (Arabic: سبع المثاني, literally: second or secondary suras) are famously the suras that follow Suwar Mi'in (one-hundred suras).[1] Their contents tend to be moral and doctrinal (e.g. the truth of the Qur'an, revelation, prophethood, and resurrection).[2] There is a dispute over the number of such suras. According to Abd Allah b. Mas'ud's Mushaf as quoted by al-Suyuti, they are as follows:[3]
- Sura al-Ahzab
- Sura al-Hajj
- Sura al-Qasas
- Sura al-Naml
- Sura al-Nur
- Sura al-Anfal
- Sura Maryam
- Sura al-'Ankabut
- Sura al-Rum
- Sura Yasin
- Sura al-Furqan
- Sura al-Hijr
- Sura al-Ra'd
- Sura al-'Ankabut
- Sura Saba'
- Sura Fatir
- Sura Ibrahim
- Sura Sad
- Sura al-Bayyina
- Sura Luqman
- Sura al-Zumar
- Sura al-Ghafir
- Sura al-Zukhruf
- Sura al-Sajda
- Sura al-Shura
- Sura al-Ahqaf
- Sura al-Jathiya
- Sura al-Dukhan
- Sura al-Fath
- Sura al-Hashr
- Sura al-Talaq
- Sura al-Qalam
- Sura al-Hujurat
- Sura al-Mulk
- Sura al-Taghabun
- Sura al-Munafiqun
- Sura al-Jumu'a
- Sura al-Saff
- Sura al-Jinn
- Sura Nuh
- Sura al-Mujadala
- Sura al-Mumtahina
- Sura al-Tahrim
There are controversies as to why they are called “Mathani.” According to Muhammadi Rayshahri, the word “mathani” is a plural form of “mathna” (literally, the second or secondary), since they are second to Suwar Tiwal (literally: long suras).[4] It seems that Suwar Tiwal are the beginning suras of the Qur'an, which are followed by Suwar Mathani in the second stage. Muhammad Hadi Ma'rifat has referred to suras with fewer than one hundred verses as “Mathani.” In his view, the reason for the appellation is that they are repeatable, and because they are not long, they are repeated more than one time.[5]
According to a hadith from the Prophet (s), Suwar al-Mathani were revealed to him as his “zabur.”[6]
Notes
- ↑ Aḥmadī, Arzyābī-yi riwāyāt-i taqsīmāt-i chāhārgāna-yi Qurʾān, p. 35.
- ↑ Aḥmadī, Arzyābī-yi riwāyāt-i taqsīmāt-i chāhārgāna-yi Qurʾān, p. 36.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Itqān, vol. 1, p. 226-227.
- ↑ Reyshahrī, Shinākht-i Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 119.
- ↑ Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, p. 58.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 101.
References
- Aḥmadī, Batūl. Arzyābī-yi riwāyāt-i taqsīmāt-i chāhārgāna-yi Qurʾān. Pazhūhishhā-yi Qurʾānī Journal. No 2. Summer 1395 Sh.
- Muḥammadī Reyshahrī, Muḥammad. Shinākht-i Qurʾān bar pāya-yi Qurʾān wa ḥadīth. Translated to Farsi by Ḥamīd Riḍā Shaykhī. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1391 Sh.
- Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Farhangī Intishārātī-yi al-Tamhīd, 1387 Sh.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. Edited by Fawāz Aḥmad. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabi, 1421 AH.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-maʾthūr. Qom: Kitābkhāna-yi Āyatullāh Marʿashī al-Najafī, 1404 AH.