026- AL-SHUʿARĀʾ
THE POETS
Al-Shuʿarāʾ
According to most commentators al-Shuʿarāʾ is a Makkan sūrah, although some think a small number of verses (vv. 224– 27) are Madinan, and others include v. 197 among the Madinan verses. It takes its name from v. 224, which mentions the poets (shuʿarāʾ) who played a significant role in pre-Islamic Arab culture, a role that endured during the Islamic era, but in a different form and with an altered meaning.
Much of this surah recounts the stories of previous prophets. It begins with a partial telling of the account of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh, his duel with the sorcerers, and the flight from Egypt with the Israelites (vv. 10–66). This section is followed by an account of Abraham (vv. 69–89) and his idolatrous people, and Abraham’s prayer of forgiveness for his father. Next told is Noah’s story (vv. 105–21), with emphasis on his people’s aversion to the individuals of low social status who followed him. This is followed by the stories of Hūd (vv. 123–39), whose people are condemned for their pursuit of domination and worldly glory, and Ṣāliḥ (vv. 141–58), whose people are characterized by their material attachments, and brief accounts of Lot (vv. 160–73) and Shuʿayb (vv. 176–89).
The last section of the surah begins with an affirmation that the Quran is indeed revealed from a spiritual source (v. 193), and notes that it was revealed in Arabic to a people who are meant to understand and comprehend it (vv. 197–200). The surah concludes by saying that no Satan or jinn could have brought the Quran (vv. 210–212), and levels an attack at poets, whose words were often considered to have a magical or supernatural origin in satans or jinn (vv. 224–227), unlike the Quran, whose origin is God and which was revealed through the Archangel Gabriel. A significant formal aspect of al-Shuʿarāʾ is its rhythmic and poetic nature and the repetition of certain verses as refrains at the start and end of the stories of each prophet (see vv. 8–9, 107–9), linking them together by showing that the fundamental teachings (and challenges) of the prophets were the same.
(source: “The Study Quran” a new translation and commentary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)
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