JUZ NINETEEN
The nineteenth juz of the Qur’an begins at verse twenty-one of Surah Furqan, contains all of Surah al-Shuʿaraʾ, and ends at verse fifty-five of Surah al-Naml. Surah Furqan completes the theme of qualities of the true believers covered in the previous two surahs.
Surah al-Shuʿaraʾ and Surah al-Naml focus on stories of the prophets. But they each contain different types of stories of prophets. Surah al-Shuʿaraʾ focuses on the perished nations who disobeyed the messengers, while Surah al-Naml focuses on the success of Prophet Sulayman in his mission. Between the two, we see the different endings of those who follow the messengers and those who reject them.
The opening verse of the juz is a reminder of the kind of excuse the disbelievers make for not following the truth. “Those who do not expect to meet Us say, ‘If only the angels were sent down to us, or we could see our Lord.’ They have grown arrogant within themselves and have become excessively defiant.”
This is followed by a series of verses describing the regrets of the disbelievers and the hypocrites, ending with the complaint of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that his people did not take the Qur’an seriously. We ask Allah to make us from those who take the Qur’an seriously.
On that Day, the wrongdoer will bite his hands, and say, “If only I had followed the way with the Messenger. Oh, woe to me; I wish I never took so-and-so for a friend. He led me away from the Message after it had come to me; for Satan has always been a betrayer of man.” And the Messenger will say, “My Lord, my people have abandoned this Qur’an.”
It may be difficult to comprehend why some people reject the message of truth even when it is clear to them. The Qur’an reminds us here that many of them are like cattle, which means that they simply follow their leaders without critical thinking or self-reflection. “Or do you assume that most of them hear or understand? They are just like cattle, but even more errant in their way.”
This ties in the closing verse of the surah reminding us that Allah does not need us, but we need Him, and rejecting the truth only harms us. “Say, what are you to my Lord without your prayers? You have denied the truth, and the inevitable will happen.”
The closing passage of this surah highlights the qualities of the true believers, which we can summarize as humility, avoiding arguments, praying the night-prayer, reflecting on the afterlife, generosity, avoiding major sins, repenting for past sins, avoiding wasting time, and praying for guidance for oneself and one’s family.122 These qualities complement the ones mentioned in Surah al-Muʾminun and help one attain a higher level of
spirituality.
Surah al-Shuʿaraʾ is a beautifully poetic story focused on the stories of the perished nations. Each story is told in a powerful rhythmic tone with an emphasis on how the people rejected their messenger and the end result of that rejection. This surah is a retelling of the stories of Musa, Ibrahim, Nuḥ, Hud, Saliḥ, Lut, and Shuʿayb with a focus on how their people rejected them and the result of rejecting the messengers. This is a Makkan surah revealed to show the disbelievers of Makkah the end result of rejecting the messenger.
In Surah al-Furqan, we see how the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم will complain on the Last Day about those who did not take the Qur’an seriously. Surah al-Shuʿaraʾ begins with a reminder to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم not to stress too much over such people as each person is responsible for their own choices. “Perhaps you will destroy yourself with grief because they do not
become believers.”
A unique feature of this surah is the repetition of the following verses after every story. “In that, there is a sign, but most of them are not believers. Surely, your Lord is the Almighty, the Merciful.
In these verses, both the Mercy and Power of Allah are emphasized with His Names AlʿAziz (Almighty) and Al-Raḥim (The Merciful). This is a reminder to us that in each story, we see both Allah’s Mercy to the prophets and those who believed in them, and his wrath against those who disbelieved. It is easy to look at this surah entirely from the perspective of punishment, forgetting that in each story, Allah saved the believers and gave them victory demonstrating both His Power and His Mercy.
The juz ends in Surah al-Naml which focuses on the story of Prophet Sulayman. This surah will be explained in detail in the next chapter.
By Dr. Omar Suleiman & Sh. Ismail Kamdar
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