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Dr Akram Nadwi will guide us through the main themes and concepts contained in this Meccan Sura, and the lessons that we can learn from it. The sessions will also highlight how the Qur’an communicates with its audience and the relationship between the different verses in the sura.
Dr Akram Nadwi will guide us through the main themes and concepts contained in this Meccan Sura, and the lessons that we can learn from it. The sessions will highlight how the Qur’an communicates with its audience and the relationship between the different verses in this sura.
Q. 37: RANGED IN ROWS
A Makkan sūrah, al-Ṣāffāt is believed to have been revealed directly after Sūrah 6, al-Anʿām. It takes its name from the reference to those ranged in ranks in vv. 1 and 165, both of which refer to the angels.
The sūrah can be seen as connected to the previous sūrah (Ya Sin) in that it tells the stories of several generations or civilizations that were destroyed for rejecting God’s messengers, material upon which readers or listeners are enjoined to reflect in Q. 36:31: Have they not considered how many generations before them We destroyed, such that they return not unto them?
The sūrah provides accounts of several prophets (vv. 75-83) and the blessings God bestowed upon them: Noah (vv. 75–82), Abraham (vv. 83–113, a passage in which the near sacrifice of his son is also discussed, discussed, vv. 101–8), Moses and Aaron (vv. 114–22), Elias (Elijah; vv. 123–32), Lot (vv. 133–38), and Jonah (vv. 139–48). In these accounts, it is only in the story of Jonah that the people repent (vv. 147–48); the people associated with all the others are destroyed for having rejected God’s messenger.
The sūrah concludes with a promise that the Prophet and his followers will triumph, as did the other prophets mentioned in the sūrah (vv. 167–82).
- Dr Akram Nadwi
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