Sūrah Fāṭir

Overview

Sūrah Fāṭir is a Makkan sūrah with 45 āyāt. The name of the sūrah comes from its first āyah, where Allah says: “Praise be to Allah, originator (fāṭir) of the heavens and the earth” (35:1). The name al-Fāṭir is one of Allah’s sublime, lofty names.

The sūrah, like that before it, begins with ḥamd of Allah. His creative power, grace, and ability to extend and constrict provision are beautifully highlighted in the first two verses. Then three direct addresses to mankind (yā ayyuhā al-nās) follow, highlighting the sūrah’s universality. The first pertains to His being the sole sustainer—how could you ask any other than Him? The second concerns the finality of Allah’s promise and the devil’s guile—he will delude as many as he can till the Last day, the enemy that he is to mankind. Allah mentions some of His signs in this passage—the wind, the rain, childbearing and birth, the vast oceans, and the alteration of the night and the day. How, after all this, can you call other than Him? When we are so needy, and He is the most generous and all-powerful?

There is a striking delineation of binaries in the passage that follows. The blind and the seeing, darkness and light, shade and heat, the living and the dead—mentioned one after the other, the juxtapositions emphasise the most critical and central binary of all: godliness and godlessness. Simply, one either orients oneself to Allah or other than Him. The symmetry and balance in creation is a pointer to this fundamental reality. This spiritual awareness, this knowledge, is what necessarily begets awe of God. Allah teaches us the important relationship between knowledge and khashyah in this sūrah. A telling transition takes place immediately thereafter. Sūrah Fāṭir has one of the most moving passages with regards to the bearers of the Qur’an. Those who recite it and act in accordance with its directives are the chosen ones among Allah’s slaves, the inheritors of the Book. They will enjoy unimaginable bliss in the afterlife. As for the disbelievers, they will experience unimaginable torment—the Fire, whence they will have no escape. Their opportunity for doing right was plentifully available in the dunyā, and they arrogantly squandered it. This is the responsibility of khilāfah. Allah made us to be His divinely appointed representatives on His earth. Those who fail this trust will only wallow in loss.

The sūrah concludes with Allah expounding on His tremendous favours and dazzling marvels in creation, specifically as a refutation of polytheism. Were He to take humanity to account for what their hands have wrought, He would have done away with us long ago, but He is the Clement, the Forbearing, and He loves to give His slaves every chance to return to Him before His justice is enacted.

Context

There are no known occasions for the revelation of Sūrah Fāṭir. It was likely revealed after Sūrah al-Furqān.

Themes

• Knowledge of Allah, especially through the Qur’an, as a means for eternal bliss.
• The marvels of Allah in His creation as inexorably pointing to His majesty and oneness.
• Polytheism as the dark, lost, spiritually blind alternative to monotheism.
• The truth as universally accessible; to all people at all times.

Unique Features

• Sūrah Fāṭir also sometimes goes by Sūrah al-Malāʾikah, angels, due to the brief mention and description of angels in the first āyah.
• It is the fifth and final sūrah to begin with ḥamd.
• Date-related imagery is sometimes employed in the Qur’an (see Sūrah al-Nisāʾ for fatīl and naqīr). Allah uses a unique term in this regard in Sūrah Fāṭir: qiṭmīr. It is the thin, translucent, velvety membrane which covers date seeds. Allah says: “Those whom you call other than Him don’t even own as much as a qiṭmīr!” (35:13)
• There is a unique passage in this sūrah where Allah describes the mountains and their colours: varying shades of white and red; and raven-black. (35:27)

Lessons

1. One cannot truly adoringly worship what one does not know. There is what we subordinate to for various cultural, political, and social pressures, and then there’s what we consciously recognise to be as the greatest, irresistible, supreme being who watches over all and sustains all existence. That is Allah. Knowing Him and acquainting ourselves with Him is the greatest act of devotion He wants from us, because it is the foundation whence all other acts of worships originate. “It is those who have knowledge among His slaves who are in awe of Allah.” (35:28)
2. Speaking of knowledge, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets. And there is no gift greater nor any trust heavier than inheriting the Word of God from His Messenger ﷺ, as its original recipient. The people of the Qur’an are the choice people of Allah! (35:32)
3. What’s fascinating about this class of people is how Allah f describes them: “Among them is he who wrongs himself, and he who is moderate, and he who is foremost in good deeds by Allah’s permission” (35:32). They are of varying degrees. Yet, in the following āyah: “Gardens of perpetual bliss—they will all enter it (yadkhulūnahā)” (35:33). Those who strive for Allah and seek closeness to Him are not all the same—there will be the foremost in righteousness and those who falter along the way. But Allah’s immense mercy encompasses them all, al-ḥamdu lillāh!

Virtues and Valuable Information

It is reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “When a man goes to bed, an angel and a devil come to him. The angel says, ‘Conclude with goodness’, and the devil says, ‘Conclude with evil’. If he remembers Allah then sleeps, the angel remains guarding him for the night. When he wakes up, the angel says, ‘Start with goodness’, and the devil says, ‘Start with evil’. If he says, ‘Praise be to Allah who returned myself to me and did not decree death over it in my sleep. Praise be to Allah who holds the heavens and the earth lest they cease… (35:41). Praise be to Allah who holds the heaven lest it fall on the earth unless by his leave… (22:65).’—if he were to fall from his bed and die there and then, he would be admitted into the Garden.”