Sura Fussilat
This article is an introduction to the Sura Fussilat; to read its text see text:Sura Fussilat.
Sura Fuṣṣilat (Arabic: سوره فُصِّلَتْ) is the forty first sura of the Qur'an. It is a Makki sura and has an obligatory prostration. It is located in juz's twenty four and twenty five. The word "fussilat" meaning "elaborated" is mentioned in verse three of this sura and that is why this sura was named and known for it. Sura Fussilat is mostly about disbelievers turning from the Qur'an. Unity of God, the prophethood of the Prophet of Islam (s), the Day of Judgement and mentioning the destinies of the people of 'Ad and Thamud are among other topics mentioned in this sura.
| Ghafir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sura Number | 41 |
| Juz' | 24, 25 |
| Revelation | |
| Revelation Number | 61 |
| Makki/Madani | Makki |
| Information | |
| Verse Count | 54 |
| Word Count | 796 |
| Letter Count | 3364\ |
One of the famous verses in this sura is verse thirty four which invited the Prophet (s) to have the best of manner against ill treatments of disbelievers. Also, verses forty one and forty two which exegetes have considered as evidences for integrity of the Qur'an are among the famous verses of this sura. About the merits of the recitation of this sura, it is transmitted from the Prophet (s) that whoever recites Sura Fussilat, will be given rewards ten times more than the number of the letters in this sura.
Introduction
- Naming
This sura was named "Fussilat" meaning "elaborated" is mentioned about the Qur'an in verse three.[1] Sura Fussilat has also been called the sura of Sajda (prostration) and Masābih (stars) as well; because, it is among the four 'Aza'im suras (suras which have obligatory prostration) and that the word "masābih" is mentioned in verse twelve of this sura.[2][3]
- Place and Order of Revelation
Sura Fussilat is a Makki sura; and in the order of revelation, it was sixty first sura revealed to the Prophet (s). This sura is now forty first sura of the Qur'an[4] and is located in juz's twenty four and twenty five.
- Number of Verses and Other Features
This sura has fifty four verses, 796 words and 3364 letters; and regarding volume, it is among Mathani suras and is little more than one hizb (one-fourth of a juz'). Sura Fussilat is also among Hawamim, which are the suras beginning with disjoined letters (Muqatta'a letters) of Ham-Mim.[5] Verse thirty seven of this sura has an obligatory prostration, [6] meaning that its recitation or hearing requires the person to perform a prostration.[7] Recitation of the suras which have obligatory prostration is not permissible in obligatory prayers.[8]
Content
Sura Fussilat mostly speaks about disbelievers turning away from the Qur'an and it repeats it in three places of this sura. Toward the end of this sura, it speaks about the divine origin of the Qur'an. Other topics mentioned in this sura are: Unity of God, prophethood of the Last of Prophets (s), revelation, attributes and characteristics of the Qur'an, the hereafter and the description of the Day of Judgement , testimonies of the eyes, ears, skin and all the limbs of the dwellers of the hell against them and the destinies of the people of 'Ad and Thamud.[9]
| Actions of disbelievers in opposing to the Qur'an | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First action: verses 1-25 Turning away from monotheistic knowledge from God | Second action: verses 26-36 Preventing from distribution of the knowledge of the Qur'an | Third action: verses 37-43 Rejecting the signs of God in creation and legislation | Fourth action: verses 44-51 Claiming about senselessness of the knowledge of the Qur'an | Fifth action: verses 52-54 Raising doubts about the authenticity of the Qur'an | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| verses 1-5 The excuse of disbelievers for turning away from the Qur'an | verse 26 Disbeliever's efforts in preventing the hearing of the Qur'an | First point: verses 37-39 Criticizing arrogance against the signs of God in creation | First answer: verse 44 Disbelievers are not capable of understanding the knowledge of the Qur'an | First point: verse 52 Deviance of the rejecters of the authenticity of the Qur'an | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First answer: verses 6-8 Turn to One God | First point: verses 27-33 The punishment for enmity with the signs of God | Second point: verse 40 The punishment of rejecting the signs in legislation | Second answer: verses 45-46 Similarity of the manners of disbelievers with stubborn Jews | Second point: verses 53-54 That the signs of God prove the rightfulness of the Qur'an | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Second answer: verses 9-12 Do not ascribe partner to the Creator of the World | Second point: verses 34-36 The method of opposing obstacle-maker disbelievers | Third point: verses 41-43 The rightfulness of the knowledge of the Qur'an | Third answer: verses 47-51 Analysis of the roots of rejecting the knowledge of the Qur'an | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Third answer: verses 13-18 Reminding the destruction of polytheists of previous nations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fifth answer: verses 19-25 Reminding the punishment in the hereafter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Famous Verses
Goodness against ill treatments
| “ | Good and evil [conduct] are not equal. Repel [evil] with what is best. [If you do so,] he between whom and you was enmity, will then be as though he were a sympathetic friend. | ” |
| — Qur'an 41:34 | ||
In this verse, a moral and social advice is mentioned. Therefore, this verse has been discussed in the discussions of ethics by exegetes and teachers of ethics. Although the two words of "hasana" (goodness) and "sayyi'a" (offense) have broad meanings and include every goodness and badness, in this verse, they refer to goodness and badness in preaching religion. This verse advises the Prophet (s) to answer badness with goodness and does not take revenge, so that he (s) becomes successful.[11]
Integrity of the Holy Qur'an
| “ | Those who reject the Reminder when it comes to them... Indeed, it is an august Book: falsehood cannot approach it, at present or in future, a [revelation gradually] sent down from One all-wise, all-laudable. | ” |
| — Qur'an, 41:41-42 | ||
Immutability of the Qur'an is among the beliefs of most Muslims, according to which they believe that the Qur'an available now to Muslims is exactly the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet (s) and nothing has been added to it or omitted from it. Exegetes and theologians refer to some verses and hadiths to reject any alteration in the Qur'an. Verse forty one and forty two of Sura Fussilat are among these verses.[12]
Returning the Consequence of Actions to the Person
| “ | Whoever acts righteously, it is for [the benefit of] his own soul, and whoever does evil, it is to its detriment, and your Lord is not tyrannical to His servants. | ” |
| — Qur'an, 41:46 | ||
This verse discusses a general rule about humans' actions which the Qur'an has emphasized on, several times. It suggests that if disbelievers do not believe in the Qur'an and in the words of the Prophet (s), no harms would reach God or His Prophet (s), but disbelievers themselves will lose out.[13]
Stories and Historical Reports
The punishment of the people of 'Ad and Thamud, the Prophets' (s) invitations, rejecting the Prophets' (a) invitations by their people, arrogance of the people of 'Ad, coming of the tornado and perishing the people of 'Ad, inviting Thamud toward guidance, coming of the lightening of punishment is mentioned in verses thirteen to seventeen.[14]
Merits and Benefits
About the merits of recitation of this sura, it is transmitted from the Prophet (s) that whoever recites Sura Fussilat, he will be given rewards ten times more than the number of the letters in this sura.[15] Also, it is transmitted from Imam al-Sadiq (a) that recitation of Sura Fussilat brings about brightness of face and happiness to the reciter on the Judgement Day; and he will live in this world in a manner that he will be praised by everyone and envied for his good state.[16]
In the Tafsir al-Burhan, different benefits are mentioned for the recitation of this sura such as healing the illnesses of the heart, eyes and stomachache.[17]
It is recommended to recite Sura Fussilat in recommended prayers, especially the fifth rak'a of night prayer in the eve of Friday[18] and also in the eve of Friday[19] and the first rak'a of the two-rak'a prayer performed inside the Ka'aba on the red stone between the two pillars.
External Links
Notes
- ↑ [this is] a Book whose signs have been elaborated for a people who have knowledge, an Arabic Quran
- ↑ Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1249.
- ↑ We have adorned the lowest heaven with stars, and guarded them.
- ↑ Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 166.
- ↑ Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1249.
- ↑ prostrate to Allah who created them, if it is Him that you worship.
- ↑ Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 615-617.
- ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 9, p. 343.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 17, p. 358.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Barguzīda-yi tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 4, p. 304.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 9, p. 131-132; Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 9, p. 568.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 20, p. 308.
- ↑ But if they turn away, say, ‘I warn you of a thunderbolt, like the thunderbolt of ‘Ad and Thamud. (13) When the apostles came to them, before them and in their own time, saying, ‘Worship no one except Allah!’ They said, ‘Had our Lord wished, He would have sent down angels [to us]. We indeed disbelieve in what you have been sent with. (14) As for [the people of] ‘Ad, they acted arrogantly in the earth unduly, and they said, ‘Who is more powerful than us?’ Did they not see that Allah, who created them, is more powerful than them? They used to impugn Our signs; (15) so We unleashed upon them an icy gale during ill-fated days, in order that We might make them taste a humiliating punishment in the life of the world. Yet the punishment of the Hereafter will be surely more disgraceful, and they will not be helped. (16) As for [the people of] Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness to guidance. So the bolt of a humiliating punishment seized them because of what they used to earn. (17)
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 5.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, Thawāb al-aʿmāl, p. 113.
- ↑ Baḥrānī, al-Burhān, vol. 4, p. 775.
- ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 141.
- ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 146.
- ↑ Ḥillī, Tadhkirat al-fuqahāʾ, vol. 4, p. 117.
References
- Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Bunyād-i Biʿthat, 1416 AH.
- Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr. Beirut: [n.p], 1417 AH.
- Ḥillī, Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Tadhkirat al-fuqahāʾ. Qom: Āl al-Bayt, 1414 AH.
- Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa. Qom: Āl al-Bayt, 1414 AH.
- Khurramshāhī, Bahāʾ al-Dīn. Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān wa Qurʾān pazhūhī. Tehran: Dūstān - Nāhīd, 1377 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1374 Sh.
- Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān. Translated to Farsi by Wakīlī. Tehran: Sazmān-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1371 Sh.
- Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām. Qom: Muʾassisat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Fiqh al-Islāmīyya, 1421 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl. Edited by Ṣādiq Ḥasanzāda. Tehran: Armaghān-i Ṭūbā, 1382 Sh.
- Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Translated to Farsi by Mūsawī Hamidānī. Fifth edition. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 Sh.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān. Translated to Farsi by Bīstūnī. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1390 Sh.
- Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marājiʿ. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1378 Sh.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Maktabat al-Aʿlām al-Islāmī, 1409 AH.