Sura al-Mumtahana
| al-Hashr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sura Number | 60 |
| Juz' | 28 |
| Revelation | |
| Revelation Number | 91 |
| Makki/Madani | Madani |
| Information | |
| Verse Count | 13 |
| Word Count | 325 |
| Letter Count | 1560\ |
This article is an introduction to the Sura al-Mumtahana; to read its text see text:Sura al-Mumtahana.Sūra al-Mumtaḥana (Arabic:سورة الممتحنة) is sixtieth sura of the Qur'an. It is a Madani sura located in juz' twenty eight. This sura is called "al-mumtahana" because in verse ten of this sura, the Prophet (s) is ordered to test Immigrant women to find about their motives for leaving their husbands and immigrating from Mecca to Medina.
Sura al-Mumtahana speaks about the friendship of believers with disbelievers and seriously prohibits it. About the merits of recitation of this sura, it is narrated from the Prophet (s) that whoever recites this sura, angels send salutations to him and ask God to forgive him; and if he dies on that day, he has died a martyr and believers will intercede for him on the Day of Judgement.
Introduction
- Naming
This sura is called "al-mumtahana" because in verse ten of this sura, the Prophet (s) is ordered to test women of the Immigrants to find about their motives for leaving their husbands and immigrating from Mecca to Medina and then decides about them.[1] Sura al-Mumtahana has also been called "Sura al-Imtihan"[2] and "Sura al-Mawadda".[3] It is to note that "mawadda" means "affection and friendliness"[4] and is mentioned three times in this sura.
- Place and Order of Revelation
Sura al-Mumtahana is a Madani sura and the ninety first sura revealed to the Prophet (s). In the current order of the Qur'an, it is 60th sura[5] located in juz' twenty eight.
- Number of Verses and Other Features
Sura al-Mumtahana has thirteen verses, 352 words and 1560 letters. This sura is among Mufassalat suras (having several short verses). Regarding size, it is about one fourth of one hizb.[6]
Content
Sura al-Mumtahana is about friendship between believers and disbelievers and seriously prohibits it. At the beginning of the sura, at the end of it and in the middle, the sura mentions some rulings about Immigrant women and their allegiance.[7]
| Breaking the friendship with the enemies of Islam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First discussion: verses 1-9 Not befriending hostile disbelievers | Second discussion: verses 10-11 Breaking the marital relationship with the enemies of Islam | Third discussion: verse 12 Taking pledges from new Muslim women | Fourth discussion: verse 13 Not befriending Jews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First issue: verses 1-3 Reasons for not befriending the enemies of God | First issue: verse 10 Separation of women believers from disbelieving husbands | First issue: verse 12 ideological pledge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Second issue: verses 4-7 Taking example from Ibrahim (a) in dealing with hostile disbelievers | Second issue: verses 10-11 Separation of men believers from their disbelieving wives | Second issue: verse 12 Moral and social pledges | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Third issue: verses 8-9 The duty of believers against disbelievers who are not enemies of Islam | Third issue: verse 12 Political pledge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occasion of Revelation
Two occasion of revelation are mentioned in exegetical books about the verses at the beginning and the end of (verse ten) of sura al-Mumtahana.
Prohibiting Friendship with Polytheists
About the occasion of revelation for the verses at the beginning of Sura al-Mumtahana, it is mentioned that: Hatib b. Abi Balta'a was among Muslims who had immigrated to Medina; but his family had stayed in Mecca and he had no relatives in Medina to support him.
Before the immigration of Muslims for the conquest of Mecca, he wrote a letter and gave it to a woman named Sareh to give to the people of Mecca and inform them about the Prophet's (s) movement and this way could support his family; but the Prophet (s) was informed about the two spies and give the mission to Imam Ali (a), al-Zubayr and Miqdad to capture that woman. They found that woman in the middle of the way between Medina and Mecca.[9] First, she denied everything. They searched her stuffs, but they did not find anything. They decided to return; but, Imam Ali (a) said that neither the Prophet (s) tells lie to us, nor do we do so. So, he (a) became angry at the woman and Sareh took out the letter hidden in her hair. The Prophet (s) asked to bring Hatib. He apologized and said that he was a believer, but he wanted to support his family. Then, the first verses of this sura were revealed and prohibited Muslims from friendship with polytheists.[10]
Testing Immigrant Women
About the occasion of revelation for verse ten of Sura al-Mumtahana, it is mentioned that: In Hudaybiyya, the Prophet (s) signed a peace treaty with polytheists of Mecca. In this peace treaty, it was mentioned that if a man from polytheists goes to Medina, Muslims have to return him, but if a person goes from Medina to Mecca and takes refuge there, polytheists do not have to return him. After a while, a woman called Sabi'a, daughter of Harith went to Medina from Mecca. Verses ten to twelve were revealed. The Prophet (s) asked that woman to swear if her going to Medina was only because of seeking religion and rejecting disbelief.
This swearing was that test mentioned in the verse ten of this sura, saying that, "When faithful women come to you as immigrants, test them. Allah knows best [the state of] their faith." After this swear, the noble Prophet (s) argued that the treaty only had mentioned about men, not women and did not give immigrant women to polytheists; and based on the verse ten, paid those women's dowry to their polytheist husbands and those women could marry again in Medina.[11]
Historical Stories
In Sura al-Mumtahana, the stories of Ibrahim's (a) rejection of idol-worshipping and asking forgiveness for his father, Azar are mentioned. [12]
Merits and Benefits
Whoever recites Sura al-Mumtahana, believers will intercede for him on the Day of Judgement and he will be protected from some diseases. In a hadith from Imam al-Sajjad (a), it is mentioned that whoever recites this sura in his obligatory and recommended prayers, God prepares his heart to accept faith, makes his eyes bright, will never inflict him with poverty and that he and his children will not be afflicted with insanity.[13] It is narrated from the Prophet (s) that whoever recites this sura, angels send salutations to him and ask God to forgive him; and if he dies on that day, he has died a martyr and believers will intercede for him on the Day of Judgement.[14]
External Links
Notes
- ↑ Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1255.
- ↑ Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1255.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 201.
- ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, under the word «ودّ».
- ↑ Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 168.
- ↑ Khurramshāhī, Dānishnāma-yi Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 1255.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 388.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Ibn Khaldūn, Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr nimūna, vol. 24, p. 9.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 9, p. 410.
- ↑ apart from Abraham’s saying to his father, ‘I will surely plead forgiveness for you, though I cannot avail you anything against Allah. Qur'an 60:4
- ↑ Ṣadūq, Thawāb al-aʿmāl, p. 118.
- ↑ Baḥrānī, al-Burhān, vol. 5, p. 351.
References
- Baḥrānī, Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Maḥmūd b. Jaʿfar Mūsawī Zarandī. Tehran: 1334 Sh.
- Ibn Khaldūn, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad. Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn. Translated to Farsi by Muḥammad Āyatī. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi Muṭāliʿāt wa Taḥqīqāt-i Farhangī, 1363 Sh.
- 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. [n.p]: Narkaz-i Chāp wa Nashr-i Sāzmān-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1371 Sh.
- Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-. Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Edited by Ṣafwān ʿAdnān Dāwūdī. Beirut: Dār al-Shāmīyya, 1412 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Thawāb al-aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-aʿmāl. Qom: Raḍī, 1368 Sh.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. Edited by Fawāz Aḥmad Zamralī. 2nd edition. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, 1421 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān. Translated to Farsi by Muḥammad Bāqir Musawī Hamidānī. 5th edition. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 Sh.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusru, 1372 Sh.