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Surah 91. Ash-Shams

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بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Bismi All a hi a l rra h m a ni a l rra h eem i
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:1
  - Mohammad Asad

According to most of the authorities, this invocation (which occurs at the beginning of every surah with the exception of surah 9) constitutes an integral part of "The Opening" and is, therefore, numbered as verse {1}. In all other instances, the invocation "in the name of God" precedes the surah as such, and is not counted among its verses. - Both the divine epithets rahman and rahim are derived from the noun rahmah, which signifies "mercy", "compassion", "loving tenderness" and, more comprehensively, "grace". From the very earliest times, Islamic scholars have endeavoured to define the exact shades of meaning which differentiate the two terms. The best and simplest of these explanations is undoubtedly the one advanced by Ibn al-Qayyim (as quoted in Manar I,48): the term rahman circumscribes the quality of abounding grace inherent in, and inseparable from, the concept of God's Being, whereas rahim expresses the manifestation of that grace in, and its effect upon, His creation - in other words, an aspect of His activity.

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
In the Name of Allah- the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
  - Mustafa Khattab
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful. 19
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Arabic words "Rahman" and "Rahim" translated "Most Gracious" and "Most Merciful" are both intensive forms referring to different aspects of God's attribute of Mercy. The Arabic intensive is more suited to express God's attributes than the superlative degree in English. The latter implies a comparison with other beings, or with other times or places, while there is no being like unto God, and He is independent of Time and Place. Mercy may imply pity, long-suffering, patience, and forgiveness, all of which the sinner needs and God Most Merciful bestows in abundant measure. But there is a Mercy that goes before even the need arises, the Grace which is ever watchful, and flows from God Most Gracious to all His creatures, protecting the, preserving them, guiding them, and leading them to clearer light and higher life. For this reason the attribute Rahman (Most Gracious) is not applied to any but God, but the attribute Rahim (Merciful), is a general term, and may also be applied to Men. To make us contemplate these boundless gifts of God, the formula: "In the name of God Most Gracious, Most Merciful": is placed before every Sura of the Qur-an (except the ninth), and repeated at the beginning of every act by the Muslim who dedicates his life to God, and whose hope is in His Mercy.

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91:1
وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَىٰهَا Wa al shshamsi wa d u ha h a
CONSIDER the sun and its radiant brightness,
  - Mohammad Asad
By the sun and its brightness;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
By the sun and its brightness,
  - Mustafa Khattab
By the sun and his brightness,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Sun and his (glorious) splendor; 6147
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Six types are taken in three pairs, from Allah's mighty works in nature, as tokens or evidence of Allah's providence and the contrasts in His sublime creation, which yet conduce to cosmic harmony (verses 1-6). Then (verses 7-8) the soul of man, with internal order and proportion in its capacities and faculties, as made by Allah, is appealed to as having been endowed with the power of discriminating between right and wrong. Then the conclusion is stated in verses 9-10, that man's success or failure, prosperity or bankruptcy, would depend upon his keeping that soul pure or his corrupting it.

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91:2
وَٱلْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَىٰهَا Wa a lqamari i tha tal a h a
and the moon as it reflects the sun!1
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "as it follows it (talaha)", i.e., the sun. According to the great philologist Al-Farra', who lived in the second century after the hijrah, "the meaning is that the moon derives its light from the sun" (quoted by Razi). This is also Raghib's interpretation of the above phrase.

by the moon, as she follows him;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and the moon as it follows it,1
  - Mustafa Khattab

 Or “… when it reflects the sun’s light.”

And the moon when she followeth him,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Moon as she follow him; 6148
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The first pair is the glorious sun, the source of our light and physical life, and the moon which follows or acts as second to the sun for illuminating our world. The moon, when she is in the sky with the sun, is pale and inconspicuous; in the sun's absence she shines with reflected light and may metaphorically be called the sun's vicegerent. So with Revelation and the great Prophets who brought it; and the minor Teachers who derive their light reflected, or perhaps doubly reflected, from the original source.

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91:3
وَٱلنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّىٰهَا Wa al nnah a ri i tha jall a h a
Consider the day as it reveals the world,2
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "it" - a pronoun apparently indicating "the world" or "the earth" (Zamakhshari). It is to be noted that verses {1-10} stress the polarity - both physical and spiritual - inherent in all creation and contrasting with the oneness and uniqueness of the Creator.

by the day, which shows its splendor;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and the day as it unveils it,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And the day when it revealeth him,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory; 6149
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The next contrasted pair consists, not of luminaries, but conditions, or periods of time, Day and Night. The Day reveals the sun's glory and the Night conceals it from our sight. So there may be contrasts in our subjective reception of divine light, but it is there, working all the time, and must reappear in its own good time.

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91:4
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰهَا Wa a llayli i tha yaghsh a h a
and the night as it veils it darkly!
  - Mohammad Asad
by the night, which draws a veil over it;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and the night as it conceals it!
  - Mustafa Khattab
And the night when it enshroudeth him,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Night as it conceals it;
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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91:5
وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَىٰهَا Wa al ssam a i wam a ban a h a
Consider the sky and its wondrous make,3
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "and that which has built it" - i.e., the wondrous qualities which are responsible for the harmony and coherence of the visible cosmos (which is evidently the meaning of the term sama' in this context). Similarly, the subsequent reference to the earth, which reads literally, "that which has spread it out", is apparently an allusion to the qualities responsible for the beauty and variety of its expanse.

by the heaven and Him Who made it;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
And by heaven and 'the One' Who built it,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And the heaven and Him who built it,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure; 6150
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The next contrasted pair is the wonderful firmament on high, and the earth below our feet, stretching away to our wide horizons. The sky gives us rain, and the earth gives us food. Yet both work together; for the rain is moisture sucked up from the earth, and the food cannot grow without the heat and warmth of the sun. There are many other contrasts under this head; yet they all point to unity.

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91:6
وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَىٰهَا Wa a lar d i wam a t a ha h a
and the earth and all its expanse!
  - Mohammad Asad
by the earth and Him Who spread it;
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and the earth and 'the One' Who spread it!
  - Mustafa Khattab
And the earth and Him who spread it,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Earth and its (wide) expanse; 6151
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The masdariya in Arabic, in this and the subsequent clauses, is best translated in English by nouns. Thus what would literally be "and the (wonderful) making or construction of it" or "the fact of its (wonderful) construction" is, idiomatically, "its (wonderful) structure." "The (wide) spreading out" of the earth is rendered "its (wide) expanse," and so on.

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91:7
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا Wanafsin wam a saww a h a
Consider the human self,4 and how it is formed in accordance with what it is meant to be,5
  - Mohammad Asad

As in so many other instances, the term nafs, which has a very wide range of meanings (see first sentence of note [1] on 4:1 ), denotes here the human self or personality as a whole: that is, a being composed of a physical body and that inexplicable life-essence loosely described as "soul".

Lit., "and that which has made [or "formed"] it (sawwaha) in accordance with ...", etc. For this particular connotation of the verb sawwa, see note [1] on 87:2 , which represents the oldest Qur'anic instance of its use in the above sense. The reference to man and that which constitutes the "human personality", as well as the implied allusion to the extremely complex phenomenon of a life-entity in which bodily needs and urges, emotions and intellectual activities are so closely intertwined as to be indissoluble, follows organically upon a call to consider the inexplicable grandeur of the universe - so far as it is perceptible and comprehensible to man - as a compelling evidence of God's creative power.

by the soul and Him Who perfected it
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
And by the soul and 'the One' Who fashioned it,
  - Mustafa Khattab
And a soul and Him who perfected it
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
By the Soul and the proportion and order Given to it; 6152
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah makes the soul, and gives it order, proportion, and relative perfection, in order to adapt it for the particular circumstances in which it has to live its life. Cf. xxxii. 9. See also n. 120 to ii. 117. He breathes into it an understanding of what is sin, impiety, wrong-doing and what is piety and right conduct, in the special circumstances in which it may be placed. This is the most precious gift of all to man, the faculty of distinguishing between right and wrong. After the six external evidences mentioned in verses 1-6 above, this internal evidence of Allah's goodness is mentioned as the greatest of all. By these various tokens man should learn that his success, his prosperity, his salvation depends on himself,-on his keeping his soul pure as Allah made it; and his failure, his decline, his perdition depends on his soiling his soul by choosing evil.

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91:8
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا Faalhamah a fujoorah a wataqw a h a
and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God!6
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "and [consider] that which has inspired it with its immoral doings (fujuraha) and its God-consciousness (taqwaha)" - i.e., the fact that man is equally liable to rise to great spiritual heights as to fall into utter immorality is an essential characteristic of human nature as such. In its deepest sense, man's ability to act wrongly is a concomitant to his ability to act rightly: in other words, it is this inherent polarity of tendencies which gives to every "right" choice a value and, thus, endows man with moral free will (cf. in this connection note [16] on {7:24-25}).

and inspired it with knowledge of what is wrong for it and what is right for it:
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
then with 'the knowledge of' right and wrong inspired it!
  - Mustafa Khattab
And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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91:9
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا Qad afla h a man zakk a h a
To a happy state shall indeed attain he who causes this [self] to grow in purity,
  - Mohammad Asad
indeed successful will be the one who keeps it pure,
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Successful indeed is the one who purifies their soul,
  - Mustafa Khattab
He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow,
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Truly he succeeds that purifies it
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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91:10
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰهَا Waqad kh a ba man dass a h a
and truly lost is he who buries it [in darkness].
  - Mohammad Asad
and indeed failure will be the one who corrupts it!
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
and doomed is the one who corrupts it!
  - Mustafa Khattab
And he is indeed a failure who stunteth it.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
And he fails that corrupts it! 6153
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is the core of the Sura, and it is illustrated by a reference to the story of the Thamud in the following verses.

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