The Sun (Al-Shams)
Verses 1-15 GROUP_1575 91.1-15
1
وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا
By the sun and its rising brightness
2
وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا
and by the moon as it follows it,
3
وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا
and by the day as it reveals its glory
4
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا
and by the night when it draws a veil over it,
5
وَالسَّمَاء وَمَا بَنَاهَا
by the sky and how He built it
6
وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا
and by the earth and how He spread it,
7
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا
by the soul and how He formed it,
8
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
then inspired it to understand what was right and wrong for it.
9
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا
He who purifies it will indeed be successful,
10
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا
and he who corrupts it is sure to fail.
11
كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ بِطَغْوَاهَا
The Thamud tribe rejected the truth because of their arrogance,
12
إِذِ انبَعَثَ أَشْقَاهَا
when the most wicked man among them rose up.
13
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ نَاقَةَ اللَّهِ وَسُقْيَاهَا
Then the messenger of God said to them, ‘This is God’s she-camel. Let her drink.’
14
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَعَقَرُوهَا فَدَمْدَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُم بِذَنبِهِمْ فَسَوَّاهَا
But they gave him the lie, and hamstrung the she-camel. So their Lord destroyed them for their crime and razed their city to the ground.
15
وَلَا يَخَافُ عُقْبَاهَا
He did not fear the consequences.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Almighty God has made threefold arrangements for the guidance of man. On the one hand, the universe has been so constructed that it has become the practical manifestation of God’s will. On the other hand, the human psyche has been infused with an intuitive consciousness of good and bad. Thereafter, it was arranged that Truth and falsehood, justice and injustice be revealed clearly through the prophets in a language understandable to the people. Even after this, if people do not adopt the right path, they are undoubtedly transgressors. (a) The she-camel of the Prophet Salih, in a way, symbolised the principle that one should respect the rights of others and discharge one’s duties to them accordingly, even if they are helpless and weak. It is quite possible that a creature which, to all appearances, is only a ‘she-camel’, may be God’s sign brought before people to test them.