Sūrah al-Muʾminūn

Overview

Sūrah al-Muʾminūn is a Makkan sūrah with 118 āyāt. The sūrah gets its name from its opening passage, where Allah describes the characteristics and actions of His faithful slaves and the success they will attain in return—they will be the inheritors of Paradise (23:1-11). Allah then speaks about the fine-tuning of man’s creation, adducing stunning embryological detail; blessed be He, the best of creators. What awaits all of us following our temporary lives is a standing before Him—the inevitability of death and the coming of the reckoning. Allah then cites many of His favours upon us: the creation of seven heavens, the descension of water which settles in the earth and nourishes it such that it grows plants and fruits aplenty, the cattle whose milk and meat we sustain ourselves with—it is these animals which we use as rides for travel, just as we do ships. (23:12-22)

The discourse transitions to prophetic tales. There are a few relatively brief accounts offered in Sūrah al-Muʾminūn. The first is that of Nūḥ. Allah narrates the core message he called his people towards, the disparaging retorts against him, and the building of the ark through which he and the believers were saved. The second is of an unnamed messenger with his people—‘a messenger from among them’—with a similar paradigm example of prophecy. The end of the disbelievers here was the same as those before. Aptly, Allah concludes the passage by saying, “Then We sent our messengers in succession. Whenever its messenger came unto a nation they denied him; so We caused them to follow one another [in disaster] and We made them bywords of history. So away with a people who do not believe!” The narrative of Mūsā and Hārūn is succinctly narrated, along with an honourable mention given to ʿĪsā and his mother. (23:23-52)

Given this initial exposition, the rest of the sūrah is a constant interchange between three primary points: the current dispensation of messengerhood personified in Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, the disbelievers’ hapless reaction thereto, and the terrible fate which awaits them in judgement if they persist upon their denial. Within this final phase, Allah lays bare the hypocrisy of the idolators—they know full well Allah is in control of everything and that He is the sustainer of the world, yet they still direct worship to other than Him. (23:53-118)

Context

Sūrah al-Muʾminūn was likely revealed after the Night Journey and Ascension, but before the Hijrah to Madinah. It is reported that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: “When revelation would descend upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we would hear next to his face a sound akin to the buzzing of bees. [On one occasion, this happened], and so we waited for a while. He then faced the qibla, raised his hands, and said, ‘Allah, increase us and do not diminish us, honour us and do not humiliate us nor deprive us, favour us and do not favour over us, and be pleased with us.’ He then said, ‘Ten āyāt have been revealed to me; whoever abides by them will enter the Garden.’ He then recited, ‘Surely the believers have attained success…’ (23:1-10)”

It is also reported that Abū Sufyān—a disbeliever at the time—came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after Thumāmah al-Ḥanafī accepted Islam and sanctioned trade with the Makkans under orders from the Prophet ﷺ. Abū Sufyān said, “Muḥammad, I beseech you by Allah and the kin that ties us; we are eating scraps!” Allah revealed: “Surely we seized them with the punishment, but they did not surrender to their Lord, nor do they humbly supplicate Him.” (23:76)

Themes

• The success of the truth-oriented slaves of Allah.
• The disastrous end of the stubborn rejectors of truth.
• The truthfulness of the Messenger ﷺ as the final revelatory dispensation.

Unique Features

• For forgiveness and mercy (23:118): ﴾رَبِّ اغْفِرْ وارْحَمْ وأنْتَ خَيْرُ الرّاحِمِينَ﴿
• For a peaceful and blessed stay in some place or getting off a means of transport (23:29): ﴾رَبِّ أنْزِلْنِي مُنْزَلًا مُبارَكًا وأنْتَ خَيْرُ المُنْزِلِينَ﴿
• For protection from demonic whispers and inspirations (23:97-98): ﴾رَبِّ أعُوذُ بِكَ مِن هَمَزاتِ الشَّياطِينِ وأعُوذُ بِكَ رَبِّ أنْ يَحْضُرُونِ﴿
• For Allah’s help when calling to His truth to no avail (23:26, 39): ﴾رَبِّ انْصُرْنِي بِما كَذَّبُونِ﴿

Lessons

• The opening of the sūrah describes the means to eternal bliss. The fundamental features of the successful are:
  • Humility, diligence, and devotion in worship.
  • Uninterest in useless words and actions.
  • Giving the obligatory alms giving (zakāh).
  • Chastity.
  • Trustworthiness.
• We are not angels, and neither were our role models and exemplars. We are not supposed to shun the goodness and beauty of the worldly life altogether, for that is not the prophetic way. The arrogant deniers objected to the humanity of their messengers: “He is a mere mortal like you; he eats from what you eat and drinks from what you drink” (23:33). Allah says: “O messengers, eat from good things and work righteousness; for I am knowing of what you do” (23:51).
• We ought to appreciate just how little we know. Many of us can barely account for our own actions, let alone oh-so wisely pontificate how this should be that way and that should be this way. Everything is in a fine balance, and, without Allah’s guidance, we are lost: “Had the truth followed their whims, the heavens and the earth and everyone in them would have been ruined. Rather, we have come to them with their reminder, but from their reminder they now turn away.” (23:71)

Virtues and Valuable Information

• ʿĀʾishah said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this āyah: ‘Those who give what they give with hearts afraid because they are to return to their Lord’ (23:60)—are they those who drink and steal? He said: ‘No, daughter of al-Ṣiddīq. They are those who fast, pray, and give in charity but they fear it won’t be accepted from them; ‘they are the ones who hasten to good things, and they are foremost to them.’ (23:61)”