PDF This is a simple explanation of the message of surah Al Rahman, the chapter 55 of the Holy Quran. We use cookies to make interactions with our website easy and meaningful, to better.
Sūrat ar-Raḥmān (Arabic: سورة الرحمان, 'The Most Merciful') is the 55th surah of the Qur'an with 78 ayats.
It has the refrain: 'Then which of your Lord's blessings would you both deny?'. There are 10 blessings which Allah has mentioned in Surah Ar-Rahman.
Title[edit]
The title of the surah Rahmaan, appears in verse 1, means 'The Most Beneficent'. The divine appellation 'ar-Rahman' also appears in the opening formula which precedes every sura except Sura 9 ('In the Name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy'). English translations of the sura’s title include 'The Most Gracious', [1] 'The All Merciful',[2] 'The Lord of Mercy',[3] 'The Beneficent', and 'The Mercy-Giving'.
Classification[edit]
Scholars have disagreed about whether Ar-Rahman ought to be categorized with suras of the Makkah or Madinah period. Theodor Nöldeke and Carl Ernst have categorized it among the suras of the early Makkah period (in accordance with its short ayah length), but Abdel Haleem has categorized it in his translation as Madinian.[4] According to the traditional Egyptian chronology, Ar-Rahman was the 97th sura revealed.[5] Nöldeke places it earlier, at 43,[6] while Ernst suggests that Sura 55 was the fifth sura revealed.[7]
Structure[edit]
Ar-Rahman is composed entirely in saj’, the rhymed, accent-based prose characteristic of early Arabic poetry.[8] Owing, perhaps, to the sura’s poetic beauty, it is often regarded as the 'beauty of the Quran', in accordance with a hadith: Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (R.A.) reported that Muhammad (S.A.W.) said, 'Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur'an is Surah ar Rahman' [Bayhaqi in Shuab al Eiman].
The most notable structural feature of Ar-Rahman is the refrain 'Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?'[9] (or, in Arberry’s rendering, 'O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?'[10]), which is repeated 31 times in the 78-ayah sura. The sura is composed of 26 couplets, 4 tercets, and an introductory stanza of 13 ayahs all ending with this refrain. The final couplet is followed by a blessing of Allah’s name.
Thematically, Ar-Rahman can be divided into roughly three units. Verses 1-30 expound upon natural displays of Allah’s creative power and mercy in showering those who inhabit the earth with blessings. Verses 31-45 describe the final judgment and the terrible punishment that will be inflicted upon sinners. Verses 46-78, by contrast, detail the delights that await the pious in paradise.
Content[edit]
One of the main aims of the sura is to chastise men and jinn for their lack of gratitude towards Allah, who has showered them with an abundance of blessings. Verses 1-30 describe some of the resources (fruits, palm trees, husked grain, fragrant plants, fresh and salt water, pearls, ships) that Allah has graciously provided for the men and jinn he created, in his infinite mercy, out of clay and smokeless fire (55:14), and set down under a sky illuminated by the twin risings of the sun and moon (55:17). In addition to these material blessings, verses 1-4 recount the fact that Allah taught man how to communicate and even gave him the Qur'an to guide him on the path to righteousness. The refrain, 'Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?', chastises the bountifully-provided for men and jinn for failing to acknowledge their indebtedness to Allah for his tremendous mercy. The punishment that awaits these ungrateful creatures is briefly described in verses 35-45; for the remainder of the sura, the delights of the gardens of paradise (replete with shading branches, flowing springs, fruit, maidens, couches, cushions, and fine carpets) are lyrically described, punctuated throughout by the stinging refrain which draws attention to the discrepancy between Allah’s mercy in providing such luxuriant rewards and the ingratitude of men and jinn.
The idea that man’s gratitude towards Allah is not commensurate with Allah’s tremendous mercy is a central, recurring theme in the Qur'an, especially in the early Meccan suras, and Sura 55 is an important poetic treatment of this theme. The sura also exemplifies the Qur'an’s tendency to be self-referential and self-validating, as when in verse 2 it emphasizes the fact that Allah taught the Qur'an to man out of mercy.
In terms of theological developments, Ar-Rahman introduces a three-tiered classification of men and jinn: the best of believers ('those near to God', the muqarrabīn who will ascend to the higher garden of paradise), the ordinary believers ('those at his right', the ashāt al-yamīn who will enjoy the second garden of paradise), and the disbelievers (who will be punished in Hell). This division is echoed in the following sura, Al-Waqi’a.
Finally, it is worth noting that the sura is dominated stylistically by pairs, which in the Qur'an are frequently employed as a sign of the divine. To begin with, it is addressed to a dual audience of men and jinn: in Haleem’s translation of the refrain 'Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?', 'both' is understood to refer to men and jinn (likewise for the 'you and you' in Arberry’s rendering). Natural phenomena are also referred to in pairs: for example, 'the sun and the moon' (55:5), 'the stars and the trees' (55:6), 'the two risings and the two settings [of the sun and the moon]' (55:17), and 'the two bodies of [fresh and salt] water' (55:19). In addition, paradise is described as consisting of two double gardens (55:62), each of which contain a pair of springs (55:50, 55:66) and fruit in pairs (55:52).
Recitation[edit]
References[edit]
^The Message of the Qur’an, English edition, Muhammad Asad (The Book Foundation)
^The Koran, trans. A. J. Arberry (Oxford Islamic Studies Online), Q55.
^The Qur’an, trans. M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 353.
^Haleem, The Qur’an, 353.
^Carl Ernst, How to Read the Qur'an (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 40.
^Ernst, How to Read the Qur'an, 44.
^Ernst, How to Read the Qur'an, 215.
^'Rhyming Prose', in Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an, ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Leiden: Brill, 2001).
^Haleem, The Qur’an, 353.
^Arberry, The Koran, Q55:15.
External links[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ar-Rahman&oldid=899772284'
Basic Information and Facts on Surah Ar-Rahman
Surah (Chapter) Number: 55
Number of Verses: 78
English Meaning: The Most Gracious
Surah Ar-Rahman(The Most Gracious) Arabic and English Translation
Mushaf – Surah Ar-Rahman – Verses 1 to 18
1. The Most Beneficent (Allah)!
2. Has taught (you mankind) the Qur’an (by His Mercy).
3. He created man.
4. He taught him eloquent speech.
5. The sun and the moon run on their fixed courses (exactly) calculated with measured out stages for each (for reckoning, etc.).
6. And the herbs (or stars) and the trees both prostrate.
7. And the heaven He has raised high, and He has set up the Balance.
8. In order that you may not transgress (due) balance.
9. And observe the weight with equity and do not make the balance deficient.
10. And the earth He has put for the creatures.
11. Therein are fruits, date-palms producing sheathed fruit-stalks (enclosing dates).
12. And also corn, with (its) leaves and stalk for fodder, and sweet-scented plants.
13. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
14. He created man (Adam) from sounding clay like the clay of pottery.
15. And the jinns did He create from a smokeless flame of fire.
16. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
17. (He is) the Lord of the two easts (places of sunrise during early summer and early winter) and the Lord of the two wests (places of sunset during early summer and early winter).
18. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
21. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
22. Out of them both come out pearl and coral.
23. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
24. And His are the ships going and coming in the seas, like mountains.
25. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
26. Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish.
27. And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty and Honour will abide forever.
28. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
29. Whosoever is in the heavens and on earth begs of Him (its needs from Him). Every day He has a matter to bring forth (such as giving honour to some, disgrace to some, life to some, death to some, etc.)!
30. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
31. We shall attend to you, O you two classes (jinns and men)!
Mushaf – Surah Ar-Rahman – Verses 32 – 69
32. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
33. O assembly of jinns and men! If you have power to pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, then pass (them)! But you will never be able to pass them, except with authority (from Allah)!
34. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
35. There will be sent against you both, smokeless flames of fire and (molten) brass, and you will not be able to defend yourselves.
36. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
37. Then when the heaven is rent asunder, and it becomes rosy or red like red-oil, or red hide.
38. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
39. So on that Day no question will be asked of man or jinn as to his sin, (because they have already been known from their faces either white or black).
40. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
41. The Mujrimun (polytheists, criminals, sinners, etc.) will be known by their marks (black faces), and they will be seized by their forelocks and their feet.
42. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
43. This is Hell which the Mujrimun (polytheists, criminals, sinners, etc.) denied.
44. They will go between it (Hell) and the boiling hot water!
45. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
46. But for him who [the true believer of Islamic Monotheism who performs all the duties ordained by Allah and His Messenger Muhammad , and keeps away (abstain) from all kinds of sin and evil deeds prohibited in Islam and] fears the standing before his Lord, there will be two Gardens (i.e. in Paradise).
47. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
48. With spreading branches;
49. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
50. In them (both) will be two springs flowing (free)
51. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
52. In them (both) will be every kind of fruit in pairs.
53. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
54. Reclining upon the couches lined with silk brocade, and the fruits of the two Gardens will be near at hand.
55. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
56. Wherein both will be those (maidens) restraining their glances upon their husbands, whom no man or jinn yatmithhunna (has opened their hymens with sexual intercourse) before them.
57. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
58. (In beauty) they are like rubies and coral.
59. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
60. Is there any reward for good other than good?
61. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
62. And besides these two, there are two other Gardens (i.e. in Paradise).
63. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
64. Dark green (in colour).
65. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
66. In them (both) will be two springs gushing forth water.
67. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
68. In them (both) will be fruits, and date- palms and pomegranates.
69. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
70. Therein (gardens) will be fair (wives) good and beautiful;
71. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
72. Houris (beautiful, fair females) restrained in pavilions;
73. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
74. Whom no man or jinn yatmithhunna (has opened their hymens with sexual intercourse) before them.
75. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
76. Reclining on green cushions and rich beautiful mattresses.
77. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
78. Blessed be the Name of your Lord (Allah), the Owner of Majesty and Honour.