Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ

Overview

Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ is a Makkan sūrah with 227 āyāt. It is so named due to a passage in its conclusion which distinguishes messengers, especially the Messenger ﷺ, from poets (pl. shuʿarāʾ; sg. shāʿir). The latter are usually fame-oriented, speak about every odd thing, and relate fantastical stories of valour and machismo that are rarely ever true. Allah says: “The poets—the deviant follow them. Do you not see that in every valley they roam? And that they say what they do not do?” (26:224-226).

Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ presents what is probably the clearest rhetorical example of prophetic continuity in the Qur’an. Sūrahs which speak about multiple messengers, especially Ahl al-Qurā, usually have a distinct phrase or passage which repeats for each account. The one offered in Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ is the most oft-repeated of its kind. Eight times in this sūrah, Allah says: “Indeed, in this is surely a sign, though most of them were not believers; and indeed, your Lord—yes, certainly He—is the Mighty, the Merciful.” This phrase appears at the beginning of the sūrah after its introduction, then as a conclusion to the narrative of each of the following messengers: Mūsā, Ibrāhīm, Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Lūṭ, and Shuʿayb.

Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ is perhaps also clearest in distinguishing the most grievous errors of each nation among Ahl al-Qurā. Naturally, they were all haughty, prideful, and stubbornly arrogant towards truth; and that’s of course the point of these stories—the primordial state of man and the universality of the our spiritual strife. Nonetheless, the sūrah speaks of a specific vice which was prominent among each nation. This is especially critical for us to consider as the final nation of God—we are to face an amalgam of all these trials, so ought to pay heed to every nation’s experience. The people of Nūḥ were troubled by the lower echelons of society following the truth and rejected it on that basis. ʿĀd, the nation of Hūd, were a mighty, tyrannical people who built monuments and sought eternality. Thamūd, the nation of Ṣāliḥ, lived among opulent gardens and luxurious founts, carving palaces into mountains. The people of Lūṭ were sexually deviant, shamelessly engaging in illicit relations. Aṣḥāb al-Aykah, the people of Shuʿayb, were cheats, bandits, and brigands, partaking in various forms of thievery and underhandedness.

Given the narratives of multiple prophets and the wretched end of their peoples, the sūrah concludes with a powerful exposition on the final revelatory dispensation to mankind. It emphasises the authentic divine origin of the Qur’an and the honesty, sincerity, and benign nature of the Seal of Prophecy.

Context

From the onset of its revelation, the Qur’an posed a problem to the pagan Arabs. On the one hand, it was so enchantingly mesmerising that even though they loathed its monotheistic edicts they were helplessly entranced by its magnificence. On the other, they needed to find a fitting pejorative propaganda that would not disturb their world order. Thus, they concocted three main accusations which they constantly hurled at the Prophet ﷺ in light of the recital he came with: that he was a madman, a sorcerer, or a poet (or all three). They themselves knew these claims had no leg to stand on, but it was the best they could come up with. Allah confutes their feeble attempts in the Qur’an. In Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ, it was specifically the claim that the Prophet ﷺ was a poet which was addressed: “The poets—the deviant follow them. Do you not see that in every valley they roam? And that they say what they do not do?” (26:224-226). This passage and the āyah after it was revealed in Madinah, while the rest of the sūrah is Makkan.

It should be noted that this does not entail that poetry is itself reprehensible or that poets are inherently wicked. ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah, Ḥassān ibn Thābit, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, all of whom were poets, had this concern when the above passage was revealed. Were they doomed? Allah revealed the following, excepting the righteous poets who remember Allah: “Except those who believe, do good works, remember Allah often, and vindicate themselves after they have been wronged. And those who do wrong will soon know to which place they are bound to return” (26:227).

Themes

• The continuity in prophethood, with the concluding iteration being the Prophet ﷺ sent to the whole world with the Qur’an.
• The truth is one, and though its husk may appear different depending on historical and cultural exigency, the kernel is always the same.
• The trials of mankind and the societal challenges they face—they are all borne of coveting the worldly life and forgetting the Hereafter.

Unique Features

• Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ contains the most thorough account of the conversation Mūsā had with Firʿawn.
• Sūrahs which begin with the same or similar discrete letters are often grouped together. Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ is the first of three sūrahs which begin with ṭā-sīn or ṭā-sīn-mīm (See Virtues and Valuable Information). The other two are Sūrah al-Naml and Sūrah al-Qaṣaṣ.
• It has the second most āyāt of any sūrah, the first being Sūrah al-Baqarah with 286.

Lessons

• There is nothing more powerful than faith in Allah. With the sea before them and the army of Firʿawn behind them, the Israelites exclaimed: “We’ve been gotten!” Mūsā replied: “No! Surely my Lord is with me, He will guide me!” (26:61-62). The rest, as they say, is history.
• The heart and its purity are the criterion for salvation: “On a day where no wealth nor progeny may benefit. Only one who comes before Allah with a sound heart.” (26:88-89)
• Ibrāhīm gives us a lesson in etiquette with the Divine. In an incredibly moving passage where he recounts Allah’s favours upon him (26:78-89), he is quoted as saying: “When I get sick, He cures me” (26:80). Sickness and health are both from Allah, but adab matters.

Virtues and Valuable Information

• The Prophet ﷺ said: “I have been given Ṭā-Hā, the Ṭawāsīn, and the Ḥawāmīm from the tablets of Mūsā.” The Ṭawāsīn are the sūrahs which begin with ṭā-sīn, and the Ḥawāmīm are the sūrahs which begin with ḥā-mīm.