سُورَةُ الشَّمۡسِ
Surah 91 - Ash-Shams
The Sun
- 15 verses
- Juz 30
- Page 595 of the Mushaf
Ash-Shams runs to fifteen verses and falls into two uneven halves. It opens with seven linked oaths, running from the sun and its brightness to the moon, the day, the night, the sky, the earth, and coming to rest on the soul. That last oath changes object: it no longer bears on what is seen, but on the one who sees. The next verse adds that this soul was given the means to tell the two directions apart. Two verses draw the conclusion, built the same way and set term against term. The last five leave the pattern and tell a story: Thamud denies, a she-camel is killed despite a messenger's warning, and what follows strikes them all.
The main parts
The text of the surah
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَىٰهَا
By the sun and its brightness
وَٱلْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَىٰهَا
And [by] the moon when it follows it
وَٱلنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّىٰهَا
And [by] the day when it displays it
وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰهَا
And [by] the night when it covers it
وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَىٰهَا
And [by] the sky and He who constructed it
وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَىٰهَا
And [by] the earth and He who spread it
وَنَفْسٍۢ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا
And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا
And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness,
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا
He has succeeded who purifies it,
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰهَا
And he has failed who instills it [with corruption].
كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ بِطَغْوَىٰهَآ
Thamud denied [their prophet] by reason of their transgression,
إِذِ ٱنۢبَعَثَ أَشْقَىٰهَا
When the most wretched of them was sent forth.
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ نَاقَةَ ٱللَّهِ وَسُقْيَٰهَا
And the messenger of Allah [Salih] said to them, "[Do not harm] the she-camel of Allah or [prevent her from] her drink."
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَعَقَرُوهَا فَدَمْدَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُم بِذَنۢبِهِمْ فَسَوَّىٰهَا
But they denied him and hamstrung her. So their Lord brought down upon them destruction for their sin and made it equal [upon all of them].
وَلَا يَخَافُ عُقْبَٰهَا
And He does not fear the consequence thereof.
Key verses of the surah
The verse saying the soul was given the means to know the two directions before it.
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا
And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness,
A formula about success that surah Al-A'laa also uses; it opens a pair of opposed verses.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا
He has succeeded who purifies it,
The warning of a messenger the text does not name, just before the she-camel is killed.
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ نَاقَةَ ٱللَّهِ وَسُقْيَٰهَا
And the messenger of Allah [Salih] said to them, "[Do not harm] the she-camel of Allah or [prevent her from] her drink."
What is surah Ash-Shams about?
About what a person makes of himself. The text starts from the visible world, narrows its view down to the soul, states two possible results, then gives a collective example where a whole group follows the one among them who acts.
How many oaths does surah Ash-Shams contain?
Seven, in verses 1 to 7, linked without a break: sun then moon, day then night, sky then earth, and finally the soul. The first six bear on the visible world; the seventh shifts the view toward the reader.
What does surah Ash-Shams say about the soul?
Three things, in verses 7 to 10: it was shaped, it was given the means to know the bad as well as the good, and what it becomes depends on what is done with it. Verses 9 and 10 state the two results in the same form.
How does surah Ash-Shams end?
With an account of five verses. Thamud denies, one of them rises, the she-camel is killed despite what a messenger had said, and what comes next reaches the whole group, not the one who acted alone.
Why is surah Ash-Shams called that?
“Ash-Shams” means “the Sun”. The name comes from the first verse, which opens the run of seven oaths. The word appears only once in the surah: the following verses point back to it by a pronoun alone, before the text moves to other objects and then to an account.
How many verses does surah Ash-Shams have?
Surah Ash-Shams has 15 verses. It stands at number 91 in the order of the Mushaf, which holds 114.
The Arabic text is that of the Mushaf. The summary, the outline and the answers on this page describe the text and how it is built: they are not religious commentary.