Sūrah Ash-Shūrā The Consultation
الشورى
53 verses, Makkī. Third Ḥawāmīm. The Qurʾān as divine revelation through Jibrīl. Mutual consultation (shūrā) as a characteristic of the believers. The mercy of Allah who accepts repentance. The calamities that befall mankind are due to their own hands yet Allah pardons much.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
The modes of divine revelation (42:51): "It is not possible for any human that Allah should speak to him except through revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by His permission what He wills." Ibn Kathīr: three modes direct inspiration (like the dream-revelation), speech without vision (as at the Mount with Mūsā ﷺ), and through the angel Jibrīl. The Prophet ﷺ received all three.
Characteristics of believers (42:36–38): "Whatever you have been given is the enjoyment of worldly life, but what is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who believe and on their Lord rely and those who avoid the major sins and immoralities, and when they are angry, they forgive, and those who have responded to their Lord and established prayer and whose affair is consultation among themselves and who spend from what We have provided them." Ibn Kathīr: shūrā is listed alongside prayer as a fundamental attribute of the believing community.
- Ḥā Mīm ʿAyn Sīn Qāf (42:1–2): This surah uniquely has five disconnected letters a combination found nowhere else in the Qurʾān. Ibn Kathīr: like all disconnected letters, their precise meaning is known only to Allah, but they emphasise the miraculous nature of the Qurʾān composed from these very letters.
- Angels seeking forgiveness for the people of earth (42:5): "The heavens nearly break apart from above, and the angels glorify the praises of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on the earth." Ibn Kathīr: the angels' concern for humanity a mercy from Allah that He set the highest of His creation as intercessors for the lowest.
- The ship of trial (42:27): "If Allah were to extend provision to all His servants, they would transgress throughout the earth." Ibn Kathīr: divine wisdom in limitation wealth given to everyone leads to corruption; Allah distributes with knowledge of what each soul needs.
- The living die and the dead come to life (42:9): "Have they taken protectors besides Him? But Allah He is the Protector, and He gives life to the dead, and He is over all things competent." Ibn Kathīr: the argument from resurrection He who created from nothing can restore from death.
- The spirit at command (42:52): "We have revealed to you a spirit by Our command you did not know what the Book was or what faith was, but We made it a light by which We guide whom We will." Ibn Kathīr: the revelation is called a rūḥ (spirit) it gives life to dead hearts just as the spirit gives life to the body.