Sura Muhammad

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Sura Muhammad
al-Ahqaf
Sura Number47
Juz'26
Revelation
Revelation Number95
Makki/MadaniMadani
Information
Verse Count38
Word Count542
Letter Count2424\


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

Sūra Muḥammad (Arabic: سورة محمد) is the forty seventh sura. It is a Madani sura of the Qur'an located in its twenty sixth juz'. It is called "Muhammad" because the name is mentioned in its second verse.

The main theme of the sura consists in characteristics of believers and disbelievers, and their fate in the afterlife. A well-known verse of the sura is the verse seven concerning how God supports believers. And its fourth verse concerning the prohibition of killing prisoners of wars and their release without a payment or in exchange for a ransom counts as a Jurisprudential Verse.

Rewards for the recitation of this sura include immunity from poverty and drinking from Heavenly springs.

Introduction

  • Naming

The sura is called "Muhammad" because the name appears in its second verse. It is also called Sura al-Qital (fight), because a majority of its verses are concerned with jihad.[1] It is also called "alladhin kafaru" (those who disbelieved) because it opens with this phrase.[2]

  • Place and Order of Revelation

Sura Muhammad is a Madani sura, and in the order of revelation, it is the ninety fifth sura revealed to the Prophet (s). In the present order of compilation, it is the forty seventh sura, located in the twenty sixth juz' thereof.[3]

  • Number of Verses and Other Features

Sura Muhammad has thirty eight verses, 542 words, and 2424 letters. With regard to size, it counts as one of the Mathani suras, which occupies less than one hizb.[4]

Content

The main theme of Sura Muhammad consists in characteristics of believers and disbelievers, and a comparison of their respective fates after resurrection. The sura is also concerned with jihad and fights against enemies of Islam.[5] It deals with issues of fight and jihad because it was revealed during the Battle of Uhud.[6]

The words, "idlal" (wasting) and "ihbat" (rendering worthless), are repeatedly used in the sura referring to actions of disbelievers being wasted and rendered worthless, which is said to have to do with their disbelief and their abhorrence of the Qur'an.[7]

The content of the sura can be summarized as follows:

  • Faith and disbelief, and a comparison of the condition of believers and disbelievers in this world and the afterlife,
  • Jihad with enemies, and an order concerning prisoners of wars,
  • Recommendation of people to proceed through the Earth and investigate the fates of past nations as lessons,
  • Divine test regarding wars,
  • Donation as a kind of jihad.[8]
Content of Sura Muhammad[9]
Purposes of jihad with God’s enemies
First goal: verses 1-6
Countering the acts of the enemies of God’s religion		Second goal: verses 7-15
believers enjoying divine support and rewards		Third goal: verses 16-32
Disclosing the acts and the nature of hypocrites		Conclusion: verses 33-38
Encouraging the believers to go to jihad in the way of God
First subject-matter: verses 1-3
The way of the enemies being wrong, and the way of believers being right		First reward: verses 7-11
Victory of the believers and destruction of the enemies		First action: verses 16-19
Insulting the Prophet and his teachings		First subject-matter: verses 33-35
Consequences of indolence in jihad
Second subject-matter: verses 4-6
Believers must fight the enemies of the religion		Second reward: verse 12
Believers enjoying eternal Heavenly blessings		Second action: verses 20-24
Failure in performing the command to jihad		Second subject-matter: verses 36-38
Love of this world as a factor of indolence in jihad
Third reward: verses 13-14
God's support of believers against enemies		Third action: verses 25-28
Hidden cooperation with enemies
Fourth reward: verse 15
Believers enjoying various Heavenly blessings		Fourth action: verses 29-32
God's methods in revealing the nature of hypocrites

Well-Known Verses

The Verse of Divine Support

This verse encourages believers to fight the enemies. According to some Shiite exegeses, the emphasis on faith in this verse implies that a sign of faith is to fight enemies of the truth, and "to support God" obviously means to support His religion. According to these exegeses, supporting the Prophet (s), his sharia and his teachings, and as in other Quranic verses (Qur'an 59:8), supporting God and His messenger come together.[10]

In Nahj al-balagha, Imam Ali (a) is quoted as saying that if people support God, God will support them and will plant firmly their feet. God does not ask for people's support out of misery and helplessness. He asks for support when He is all the while Mighty and Wise, and the armies of skies and the Earth are under His command. God asks for support because He wants to test people and determine people who do good things.[11]

Jurisprudential Verses

The verse four of Sura Muhammad is a Jurisprudential Verse concerning what to do to prisoners of wars after the wars end.[12] The verse prohibits the murder of such prisoners, giving the leader of Muslims a choice to release them without any payment or in exchange for a ransom.[13]

Merits and Benefits

The Prophet (s) is quoted as saying that if a person recites Sura Muahmmad, then when he rises from the grave, he will see the Prophet Muhammad (s) wherever he looks and God will satiate him from Heavenly springs.[14] Rewards for the recitation of Sura Muhammad, as in a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), include the removal of doubts about the religion, prevention of poverty, and being secured by God and the Prophet (s).[15]

For the full text, see text:Sura Muhammad.


Notes

  1. ↑ Ṣafawī, "Sura-yi Muḥammad," p. 805.
  2. ↑ Khurramshāhī, "Sura-yi Muḥammad," p. 1251.
  3. ↑ Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 168.
  4. ↑ Khurramshāhī, Sura-yi Muḥammad, p. 1251.
  5. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 18, p. 222.
  6. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 388.
  7. ↑ Mughnīya, Tafsīr al-Kāshif, vol. 7, p. 66.
  8. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 388.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 425.
  11. ↑ Nahj al-balagha, Khutba 183.
  12. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 400.
  13. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 21, p. 400.
  14. ↑ Baḥrānī, Tafsīr al-Burhān, vol. 5, p. 93; Tha'labī, al-Kashf wa al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 28.
  15. ↑ Ṣadūq, Thawāb al-aʿmāl, p. 223.

References

  • Qurʾān Karīm. Translated to Farsi by Muḥammad Mahdī Fūlādwand. Tehran: Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, 1418 AH.
  • Baḥrānī, Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Muʾassisa al-Biʿtha, 1389 Sh.
  • Khāmagar, Muḥammad. Sākhtār-i sūraha-yi Qur'ān-i karīm. Muʾassisa-yi Farhangī-yi Qurʾān wa Itrat-i Nūr al-thaqalayn. Qom: Nashr-i Nashrā, 1392 Sh.
  • Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān. [n.p]: Markaz-i Chāp wa Nashr-i Sāzmān-i Tablīghāt, 1371 Sh.
  • Mughnīya, Muḥammad Jawād al-. Tafsīr al-Kāshif, Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1424 AH.
  • Mughnīya, Muḥammad Jawād al-. Tafsīr al-Kāshif. Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1424 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 Sh.
  • Khurramshāhī, Qawām al-Dīn. "Sūra-yi Muhammad". Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dūstān, 1377 Sh.
  • Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1363 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl. Qom: Dār al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1406 AH.
  • Ṣafawī, Salmān. "Sūra-yi Muḥammad" in Dānishnāmah-yi muʿāṣir-i Qurʾān-i karīm. Qom: Intishārāt-i Salmān-i Azāda, 1396 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Mūhammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
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