Surah 39 of 114 · Makkah
سُورَةُ الزُّمَرِ
Az-Zumar The Groups
75 verses · revealed in Makkah
The context
Az-Zumar is Makkan and its subject is ikhlas, sincerity: the insistence, repeated from the first page, that the religion belongs to Allah alone and that worship offered with a divided intention is not a smaller version of worship but a different thing.
It was revealed while the pressure to compromise was constant, and its argument runs through comparison after comparison. A servant owned by several quarrelling masters against a servant owned by one. Those who know against those who do not. Those driven to the Fire in throngs against those led to the Garden in throngs. The surah is named for the last of these.
The name
Az-Zumar, the Groups or Throngs, from the closing scenes in which both destinations are approached zumaran, in crowds. The image is of two great processions moving in opposite directions, and the surah spends seventy verses establishing the difference between the people in them before it shows them walking.
How it moves
- 1-21The religion, purelyThe insistence on sincerity, the argument against intermediaries, the creation of humanity in stages, and the description of skins that shiver at the recitation and then soften.
- 22-40A chest opened to IslamThe one whose breast Allah has expanded walking in light, set against hardened hearts, and the parable of the two servants.
- 41-52Souls taken in sleep and in deathAllah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that did not die during their sleep, and He keeps one and releases the other.
- 53-63The verse of hopeO My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah, followed immediately by the instruction to turn back before it is too late.
- 64-75The two throngsThe measure of Allah not truly estimated, the trumpet, and the two processions, one to the Fire whose gates open as they arrive, one to the Garden whose gates are already open.
The themes
Sincerity is the whole subject
The surah returns to it in almost every section: worship Allah, sincere to Him in religion, stated three separate times in the first eleven verses.
Despair as the greater danger
The most quoted verse in the surah addresses people who have already ruined things, and forbids them one specific response.
Knowing and not knowing
Are those who know equal to those who do not know? Asked about people who stand in the night in prayer, which sets what kind of knowing is meant.
Sleep as the smaller death
The verse on souls taken nightly is the clearest statement in the Qur'an that the exit is rehearsed every night.
The heart of it
Recited slowly, verse 53 is one of the few places in the Qur'an where a reader may find themselves stopping mid-line. O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. It is addressed, by name, to the people who assume the address is not for them.
What is often missed is the verse immediately after it, which stops the passage from becoming a licence. And return to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you. The door is described as wide open and as having a closing time, in consecutive sentences.
Verses worth knowing
- 39:53Do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Read the next verse with it, always.
- 39:9Are those who know equal to those who do not know? Asked about a person standing in the depths of the night.
- 39:23The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver at it, then their skins and hearts soften at the remembrance of Allah.
- 39:42Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that did not die during their sleep.
On reciting it
Aisha reported that the Prophet ﷺ would not sleep until he had recited Bani Israil and Az-Zumar. The report is graded hasan by a number of scholars rather than being of the highest grade, and it records his practice rather than promising a reward, so both qualifications are given here with it.
Sunnah-confirmedTirmidhi 2920; graded hasan
Read beside it
On the shelf
- 39:2Az-Zumar · 39:2
- 39:42Az-Zumar · 39:42
- 39:46Az-Zumar · 39:46
- 39:5Az-Zumar · 39:5
- 39:53Az-Zumar · 39:53
- 39:61Az-Zumar · 39:61
- 39:62Az-Zumar · 39:62
- 39:66Az-Zumar · 39:66
- 39:67Az-Zumar · 39:67
- 39:73Az-Zumar · 39:73
- 39:9Az-Zumar · 39:9
Surahs it travels with