Table of Contents

No. 26, (revealed in Mecca)

227 verses in 11 sections

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

This holy Surah consists of two hundred and twenty seven verses. It has been revealed in Mecca and, next to Surah Al-Baqarah, and it contains the largest number of verses in comparison with other Suras of the Qur’an.

Through four verses at the end of this Surah, faithful poets have been admired while the poets who compose some vain poems have been reproached, and that is why this holy Surah has been entitled Shu‘ara’, and its other name is Ta Sin Mim.

There has come the biography of some prophets in this Surah, such as Moses, Abraham, Noah, Lut, Salih, Hud, and Shu‘ayb (Jethro), as well as the pertinacious conflicts of people against them.

At the end of each biography of these prophets, the Qur’an says:

“Verily in that there is a sign, but most of them do not believe.” “And verily, your Lord certainly is He, the Mighty, the Merciful.”

And, therefore, this verse has been repeated eight times in order to sooth the Prophet of Islam (S)and to tell him not to be afraid of the pertinacity of the people of Mecca since all prophets had encountered some people like them.

Yes, historical events are the best means for strengthening the believers’ spirits, promoting the insight, tolerance, and a planning for struggling against the enemies’ threats in the future. That is why the leaders of the society must be aware of the history of the society.

The Virtue of the Surah

The holy Prophet of Islam (S) said:

“One who reads this Surah will not get sunk and his home will be save from burglary and fire; and one who writes this Surah on a paper and mixes it with water and drinks it, all his diseases may be healed by Allah.”1

Note

Section 1: Qur’an, the Book Manifest

Surah Ash-Shu‘ara - Verses 1-3

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ‌ طسم (1) تِلْكَ آياتُ الْكِتابِ الْمُبِينِ (2) لَعَلَّكَ باخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ أَلاَّ يَكُونُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ (3)

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

1. “Ta. Sin. Mim.”

2. “These are verses of the Book (that makes the truth) clear.”

3. “Perhaps you will kill yourself with grief, for that they do not become Believers.”

Many words have been cited about abbreviated letters and maybe the best one is that Allah brings up these letters in the beginning of some Suras (29 cases) of the Holy Qur’an for stating this matter that the holy Qur’an is His perpetual miracle which is generated from these very letters and if anyone can write a similar book by these Arabic letters, he may bring it forth.

The verse says:

“Ta. Sin. Mim.”

A comprehensive religious school must have a strong, written, systematic, and decisive logic so that everyone can easily reach it.

The holy Qur’an has got a very high rank and whenever there is a deadlock and stop for you, the Qur’an functions as a guide.

This noble verse states the magnificence of the Holy Qur’an in this way:

“These are verses of the Book (that makes the truth) clear.”

Of course, the Arabic word /tilka/ refers to something far away and its meaning is ‘that’ or ‘those’. As we said before, in the Arabic and Persian languages sometimes it happens that we use demonstrative pronouns of fat distance to state the magnificence of something, that is, that subject is so important and crucial that it seems to be out of our reach and in the heavens.

It is worth paying attention that this holy verse is exactly mentioned in Suras Yusuf and Al-Qasas, too, and in all cases it has come after abbreviated letters. These occurrences show that these letters have a kind of direct relationship with the magnificence of the holy Qur’an.

Using the Arabic adjective /mubin/, which is in fact derived form the word /bayan/, for the Qur’an , refers to the obviousness of its magnificence and being a miracle that if the more attention man pays to its content, the more he will get familiar with its being a miracle.

Moreover, the holy Qur’an distinguishes the truth from the falsehood and it clarifies the way of happiness, victory and salvation from misleading.

Then, in the next noble verse, the Prophet (S) is sympathized with when it says:

“Perhaps you will kill yourself with grief, for that they do not become Believers.”

The Arabic word /baxi‘/ is derived from the word /bax‘/ that means: ‘kill oneself by sorrow and sadness’. This meaning shows how much the holy Prophet (S) of Islam was compassionate towards people and persevered in doing his mission.

He was worried and upset that some thirsting people were sitting beside the spring of the Qur’an and Islam and yet cried because of thirstiness.

He was saddened why the sane man goes in an astray path and falls in a pitfall while there are so many lamps and lights.

Yes, all divine prophets, especially the Prophet of Islam (S), were in the same way compassionate, and this sentence has been repeated about him (S) many times.

Some commentators say that the cause of the revelation of this verse was that: the Prophet (S) frequently called the people of Mecca to monotheism, but they did not achieve faith in Allah. The Prophet (S) became so worried that his face showed signs of his sadness and then the above verse wassent down to sympathize with him.¹

Majma‘ ul-Bayan, Fakhr-i-Razi, Qurtabi, Tibyan, and Ruh-ul-Ma‘ani ↩