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The Ocean of the Quran

Chapter 91 of 114

Al-Shams · The Sun

15 versesMeccanPublished · 15 of 15 verses

Read from the beginning

سُورَةُ الشمس

About this chapter

Sūrat al-Shams is the ninety-first chapter in the present order of the Quran, and its name is taken from the first word of the chapter. The only other name that has been identified for this chapter is Sūrat Wa al-Shamsi Wa Ḍuḥāhā, which is what narrations, both Sunni and Shia, identify the chapter as, and to differentiate it from Sūrat al-Ṭakwīr (81).

The introduction sets out when the chapter came and what it addresses; the merits gather what the narrations say of reading it. Both are written as units of the tafsir, with their own footnotes.

IntroductionWhat the chapter is about, and when it cameMeritsWhat the narrations say of reading it

The verses

Each with the first line of its translation

Verses you have read are marked; the one you are on is shaded

  1. 1 By the sun and her forenoon splendour.
  2. 2 By the moon when he follows her.
  3. 3 By the day when it reveals her.
  4. 4 By the night when it covers her.
  5. 5 By the sky and Him who built it.
  6. 6 By the earth and Him who spread it.
  7. 7 By the soul and Him who fashioned it.
  8. 8 And inspired it with [discernment between] its vices and virtues.
  9. 9 One who purifies it is felicitous.
  10. 10 And one who betrays it fails.
  11. 11 The [people of] Thamūd denied [Allah’s signs] out of their rebellion.
  12. 12 When the most wretched of them rose up.
  13. 13 But then the apostle of Allah said to them: ‘Be cautious of the she-camel of Allah, and her drinking!’
  14. 14 But they impugned him and then hamstrung her, so their Lord took them unawares by night because of their sin, and levelled it.
  15. 15 And He does not fear its outcome.

Works cited in this chapter