007- AL-AʿRĀF
THE HEIGHTS
Al-Aʿrāf
A late Makkan sūrah, al-Aʿrāf was reportedly revealed after Ṣād (Sūrah 38) and just before al-Anʿām (Sūrah 6). Some, however, have considered vv. 163–67 to have been revealed in Madinah (Al, IJ). The content of the sūrah primarily concerns the serious consequences of rejecting the signs and messengers of God. In this context, it recounts the sacred history of prophets who had been rejected by their people and the consequent suffering and destruction of these people in this world and the next. The sūrah takes its name from the reference to the Heights (al-aʿrāf) in vv. 46 and 48, variously identified as a high place in Paradise or between Paradise and Hell.
As with al-Anʿām, the immediate audience for this sūrah is the idolatrous Makkans who refused to believe in Muhammad’s prophethood, although it takes a subtler and less polemical approach, making its argument through reference to examples from earlier prophetic history. It begins in vv. 1–10 with a reminder to follow Divine Guidance and a general warning about the consequences of failing to do so. The sūrah’s engagement with sacred history begins in vv. 11–27 with a recounting of the story of Adam’s creation, temptation, and exile from the Garden. It also recounts the detail of Adam and Eve sewing together leaves from the Garden to cover their newly discovered nakedness (v. 26); this narrative element is then parlayed into a discussion of the virtue and limits of earthly adornment in vv. 31–32. After another general warning about communities not accepting the prophetic messengers sent to them, vv. 44–51 present a dialogue between the people of Paradise and the people of Hell in the Hereafter, including in vv. 46–48 the somewhat cryptic mention of the inhabitants of the Heights. This is followed by a brief discourse about the various signs of God to humanity (vv. 52–58), which serves as an introduction to a lengthy segment detailing the destruction of several earlier communities who had rejected their prophets, including the peoples of the prophets Noah (vv. 59–64), Hūd (vv. 65–72), Ṣāliḥ (vv. 73–79), Lot (vv. 80–84), and Shuʿayb (vv. 85–93).
Another lengthy narrative segment concerning Moses follows in vv. 103–56. It contains one of the Quran’s most detailed accounts of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh and the sorcerers (vv. 104–26), the various punishments or plagues brought upon Egypt (vv. 130–36), the eventual destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts and the deliverance of Israel (vv. 137–41), Moses receiving the Torah on the mountain (vv. 142–47), the Israelites fashioning a calf as an idol in his absence (vv. 148–54), and the subsequent covenant making with the elders of Israel (vv. 155–56). After a verse interjecting mention of the Prophet Muhammad as the “unlettered prophet” described in the Torah and Gospel (v. 157), the sūrah continues with a discussion of the Israelites’ later disobedience and the future punishments they are said to suffer as a result (vv. 159– 71). The various accounts of previous prophets and peoples then concludes in v. 172 with mention of the universal, pretemporal covenant between God and all human beings obligating them to recognize God’s Lordship, which is thus understood to be the basis of all future covenants between God and humanity as mediated through the prophets.
The final section repeats the warnings about denying the signs of God and persisting in idolatry (vv. 174–98) and then concludes with several verses dealing with pious and devotional practices, including invoking the Names of God and listening to the recitation of the Quran (vv. 180, 204–5).
(source: “The Study Quran” a new translation and commentary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)
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