Ghafir The Forgiver

The context

Ghafir is Makkan and opens the run of seven consecutive surahs beginning with the letters Ha Mim. It belongs to the later Makkan years, when believers were being held and worn down for what they had said out loud, and it spends most of its length on one parallel: Musa sent to Fir'awn, and a man inside Fir'awn's household who was a believer in secret.

That parallel explains the construction. The surah opens with four descriptions of Allah stacked into a single verse, forgiving of sin, accepting repentance, severe in penalty, owner of abundance, and then spends eighty verses showing people meeting one side of that or the other.

The name

The name comes from verse three, which calls Allah Ghafir adh-dhanb, the Forgiver of sin, first of four descriptions stacked in that verse. The surah's other and older name is Al-Mu'min, the Believer, after the man of Fir'awn's household who concealed his faith. Both names fit, and they pull in different directions.

How it moves

• 1-9Four descriptions in one verseRevelation from the Exalted in Might, the Knowing, described as Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance, severe in penalty, owner of abundance. Then the angels carrying the Throne, asking forgiveness for the believers and their families.
• 10-22Stronger nations than theseThe regret of those who denied, the Day of the Approaching Event when hearts are at the throats, and the statement that Allah is swift in account. Peoples before them were greater in strength.
• 23-46The man who had said nothingMusa sent with signs to Fir'awn, Haman and Qarun, and the order to kill the sons of the believers. A man of Fir'awn's family who had hidden his faith asks why they would kill a man for saying my Lord is Allah.
• 47-60The argument inside the FireThe weak and the arrogant blaming one another inside the punishment, and their request that the keepers of Hell ask for one day's relief, which comes back refused. Then the command: call upon Me, I will respond.
• 61-68Night, day, and the shape you were givenAllah who made the night for rest and the day for seeing, the earth a place of settlement and the sky a structure, and who formed you and perfected your forms. The instruction follows to call on the Ever-Living.
• 69-85Belief that arrives too lateThose who dispute the verses of Allah are dragged in shackles, and messengers are mentioned whose accounts were never told. The surah closes on people who believed only once they had seen the punishment.

The themes

The angels ask for people they never met

Those who carry the Throne ask forgiveness for the believers, then ask that their parents, spouses and offspring be admitted with them. A curtain lifts for three verses, and behind it is a prayer about people who cannot hear it.

Asking is commanded

Call upon Me, I will respond to you. The sentence immediately after names refusal to ask as arrogance, which moves supplication out of the category of optional acts.

Disputing about the signs

The phrase returns through the whole surah, and each time the motive is named rather than the argument answered: in their breasts is nothing but pride, which they will never reach.

A believer with no name

The man of Fir'awn's household concealed his faith for years and is quoted at length exactly once, when the killing of Musa is discussed. Nothing is said of what became of him.

The heart of it

Recited slowly, the third verse is the one to sit with, because it will not let a reader keep one half of Allah without the other. Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance, severe in penalty, owner of abundance. Four descriptions, one verse, nothing softening the join.

The speech of the believing man changes on a slow reading too, mostly because of how it ends. He has argued, warned and reminded them of Yusuf, and got nowhere. His last words are not a threat. You will remember what I say to you, and I entrust my affair to Allah.

Verses worth knowing

• 40:3Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance, severe in penalty, owner of abundance. Both halves arrive in one breath, which is how the surah means them to be held.
• 40:7The bearers of the Throne asking forgiveness for those who believed, and for their fathers, spouses and descendants. A prayer said about people who cannot hear it.
• 40:28Would you kill a man because he says my Lord is Allah, while he has brought you clear proofs. Spoken inside the room where the killing was planned.
• 40:60Call upon Me, I will respond to you. A command before it is a promise, and the sentence after says what declining to ask amounts to.

On reciting it

No authentic prophetic report establishes a specific merit for reciting Ghafir. What is reported is a companion's remark: Ibn Mas'ud is quoted as calling the Ha Mim surahs the brocade of the Qur'an. That is his own assessment and not a saying of the Prophet ﷺ, so it carries a companion's weight and nothing beyond it. The surah's standing rests instead on its opening verse and on the speech of the believer of Fir'awn's family.

No virtue report

Read beside it

On the shelf

• 40:19Ghafir · 40:19
• 40:3Ghafir · 40:3
• 40:40Ghafir · 40:40
• 40:44Ghafir · 40:44
• 40:55Ghafir · 40:55
• 40:60Ghafir · 40:60
• 40:61Ghafir · 40:61
• 40:65Ghafir · 40:65
• 40:68Ghafir · 40:68

Surahs it travels with

• 28Al-QasasAl-Qasas tells Musa's years in Egypt at length, including the man who ran from the far end of the city to warn him. Ghafir shows that court from inside.القصص
• 41FussilatFussilat is the next Ha Mim surah and picks up where this one leaves off, moving from those who dispute the signs to the signs themselves.فصلت