Sūrah al-Aʿrāf

Overview

Sūrah al-Aʿrāf is a Makkan sūrah with 206 āyāt. The word aʿrāf is the plural of ʿurf (also pronounced ʿuruf), which is the highest part of a thing or that which is atop it. In the sūrah, al-aʿrāf is a reference to the stretch of elevated wall between the two parties: the fellows of the Garden and the fellows of the Fire. In an incredibly vivid and evocative passage, Allah describes what each will be saying. On these heights, there will be a third group who will be held back from joining either faction—their sins and good deeds are equal, so they await Allah’s judgement upon them (7:44-51). Sūrah al-Aʿrāf is a sūrah which speaks extensively about previous nations and civilisations. It speaks about the creation of Ādam and his descent into the world, then the prophets and messengers who came after him and their accounts with their peoples: Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Shuʿayb, and Mūsā. If the Jews and the Christians are referred to qur’anically as Ahl al-Kitāb (the People of Scripture), then the nations before Mūsā and the Israelites are Ahl al-Qurā (the People of the Cities). In the Qur’an, these are chiefly Nūḥ with his nation, Hūd with ʿĀd, Ṣāliḥ with Thamūd, Shuʿayb with Madyan (Midian), and Ibrāhīm and Lūṭ with the latter’s people. In these awesome narratives are ageless lessons about man’s relationship with the Lord of the Worlds and the stringent covenant of faith. Man’s hubris blinds him from his mortality and so leads him to his doom, but Allah delivers His obedient slaves to salvation.

Context

The sūrah is very universal in its address. Like Sūrah al-Anʿām before it, it does not contain any exhortation of the form: “You who believe!” It does however have four addresses of the form: “Children of Adam!”; the only four in the Qur’an. The first and the third are about the raiment and impressive garments Allah has bestowed upon mankind, emphasising the virtue of ḥayāʾ (modesty) and jamāl (beauty). In the first of these, Allah singles out piety as the best of all ornaments: “The garment of taqwā—that is best” (7:26). The third call is an indirect prohibition of a pagan practice where worshippers would circumambulate the Kaʿbah naked. He says: “Children of Adam! Take your adornment to every masjid, and eat and drink but do not be extravagant” (7:31). The second exhortation relates to man’s archnemesis—the devil—and the struggle against demonic whispers and inclinations. The fourth and final address sets the scene for the rest of the sūrah’s content. Allah says: “Children of Adam! Whenever messengers among yourselves come to you, relating to you My signs, then whoever shuns evil and reforms—there will be no fear over them nor shall they grieve; those who reject our signs and stand arrogant against them—they are the fellows of the Fire, therein they abide” (7:35-36). Shortly afterwards, the narratives of the messengers with their peoples, one after the other, demonstrate real-life examples of this command and its consequences. The recipients of the Final Messenger ﷺ who has come with the Final Testament ought to take heed from these stories.

Themes

• The succession of prophecy, especially in the early nations, referred to in the Qur’an via the title Ahl al-Qurā. (7:96-98)
• The story of Mūsā is the most repeated narrative in the Qur’an. Sūrah al-Aʿrāf is one of four sūrahs which recount his narrative most thoroughly (the other three are: Ṭā-Hā, al-Shuʿarāʾ, and al-Qaṣaṣ). Sūrah al-Aʿrāf uniquely discusses the explicit types of torment which overtook the party of Firʿawn in their arrogance (7:130-136), the occasion where Mūsā asked Allah’s permission to gaze upon Him (7:143), and the detailed response from Mūsā to his people upon finding them worshipping the golden calf (7:150-154).

Unique Features

• Sūrah al-Aʿrāf is the only sūrah which mentions what has been dubbed as the Day of Alast: the progeny of Ādam were taken from his loins and made to testify to the lordship of Allah. They were asked: Alastu bi-Rabbikum (am I not your Lord)? Hence the title ‘Alast’. They all responded: Balā (yes)! (7:172). According to many commentators, this primordial covenant is the source of the fiṭrah.
• Perhaps appropriately given the above, this sūrah contains the most mentions of the word rabb (‘lord’ and ‘master’) of any other sūrah in the Qur’an.
• Sūrah al-Aʿrāf contains the first prostration of recitation (sajdat al-tilāwah) in its very last āyah. (7:206)
• It has the only explicit mention of the story of the Israelites’ blasphemy on the Sabbath. (7:163)

Lessons

• The Qur’an is no jolly ditty, but a solemn message. Its stories are timeless and its message universal. When we hear it, especially in prayer, we must lend an attentive ear: “When the Qur’an is recited, listen and pay attention that you may receive mercy.” (7:204)
• We cannot dismiss out of hand the potential any human being has for reformation. They testified to Allah’s rubūbiyyah on that fateful day (7:172). Thus, their fiṭrah is still there. It may be submerged, perverted, and misunderstood, but it cannot be wholly lost. Consequently, the doctrine of the fiṭrah is one of incredible hope and optimism.
• If the parable of our relationship with Allah is that of a bird, then one wing is of hope and the other is of fear. A balance must be struck in order for us to take flight. Allah commands us: “Call upon Him in fear (khawfan) and in want (ṭamaʿan); indeed the mercy of Allah is close to the good-doers.” (7:56)
• There is no inherent tension between religion and culture. Rather, the former enhances and beautifies the latter. Where there are no obvious contraventions, Allah commands us to enjoin customs that bolster communal godliness: “Take to pardon, command common good (ʿurf), and turn away from the ignorant.” (7:199)

Virtues and Valuable Information

• On the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, the Prophet ﷺ recited Sūrah al-Aʿrāf in the maghrib prayer, divided over each of the first two units.
• Sūrah al-Aʿrāf is one of the Long Seven (al-Sabʿ al-Ṭiwāl), about which the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever takes the first seven [sūrahs] (i.e. in recitation and understanding) is a learned scholar (ḥabr).”