Surah 42 of 114 · Makkah
سُورَةُ الشُّورَىٰ
Ash-Shuraa Consultation
53 verses · revealed in Makkah
The context
Ash-Shura is Makkan and belongs to the Ha Mim group, though it is the only surah in the Qur'an opening with two separate sets of disconnected letters, Ha Mim followed by 'Ayn Sin Qaf. It was revealed to a community with no state, no army and no voice in how Makkah was governed, and the verse that names it describes believers as people whose affairs are settled by consultation.
The gap between that description and those circumstances matters. Consultation appears here not as a constitutional arrangement but as a trait of a certain kind of person, listed between establishing prayer and spending. Injury is handled the same way. The surah grants the wronged the right to answer back, then rates pardon higher without withdrawing it.
The name
The name is taken from a single word in verse thirty eight, wa amruhum shura baynahum, and their affair is consultation among themselves. Nothing else in the surah concerns consultation. Naming a whole surah from one word inside a list of qualities indicates the weight the tradition placed on it, and it fixes where the word belongs.
How it moves
- 1-12Two sets of letters, and nothing like HimRevelation given to this Prophet ﷺ as it was given to those before him, and the heavens almost splitting from above while the angels ask forgiveness for those on earth. The passage states that there is nothing like unto Him.
- 13-19One religion, several namesWhat was enjoined on Nuh, revealed to Muhammad ﷺ, and enjoined on Ibrahim, Musa and 'Isa, summarised in two instructions: establish the religion and do not divide over it. Division is traced to a point after knowledge arrived.
- 20-29Two harvestsWhoever wants the harvest of the Hereafter has it increased, while whoever wants this world alone gets some of it and no share in the other. The surah then says no payment is asked except affection for the near of kin, a phrase read variously: Ibn Abbas is recorded in Bukhari explaining it as the kinship between the Prophet ﷺ and the clans of Quraysh, and others read it as love for his household.
- 30-43What hands earned, and what to do nextWhatever strikes you of disaster comes from what your own hands earned, and He pardons much. Then the description of the believers, consultation included, and the passage on answering injury: retaliation in kind is permitted, and pardon carries a reward with Allah.
- 44-53Three ways a word arrivesThe wrongdoers asking whether there is any way back, and the giving of daughters to whom He wills and sons to whom He wills. The surah closes by stating that Allah speaks to a human being only through revelation, from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger.
The themes
Consultation as character
The word shura appears once, inside a list of what believers are like, with no procedure attached. Scholars have long differed over whether the outcome of a consultation binds the one who called it.
Nothing like Him
There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. Resemblance is denied and attributes affirmed in one sentence, which is why the verse anchors nearly every discussion of the divine descriptions.
The right kept, the better named
The recompense for an evil act is an evil one like it. The permission is real and is never taken back, and the verse then says whoever pardons and sets matters right has his reward with Allah.
One religion across the messengers
Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, 'Isa and Muhammad ﷺ received the same instruction, stated in two parts: establish the religion, and do not divide over it. The second part carries as much weight as the first.
The heart of it
Recited slowly, verse thirty will unsettle a reader who has been treating hardship as an accident. Whatever strikes you of disaster is from what your own hands have earned. What keeps the line from crushing is the clause attached to it, easy to pass over: and He pardons much.
The surah's other slow verse is its shortest theological sentence. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. It does two opposite things at once, closing off every comparison a mind reaches for and then leaving two attributes standing.
Verses worth knowing
- 42:11There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. The verse every discussion of the divine attributes returns to, in every century.
- 42:13The same religion enjoined on Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa and 'Isa and revealed to Muhammad ﷺ, stated as establish it and do not divide in it.
- 42:30Whatever strikes you of disaster is from what your hands have earned, and He pardons much. The second half is usually the half that gets dropped.
- 42:38And their affair is consultation among themselves. One clause inside a list of qualities, and a whole surah takes its name from it.
On reciting it
No authentic report establishes a specific merit for reciting Ash-Shura. Its distinction is textual rather than devotional: it is the only surah opening with two separate sets of disconnected letters, and it carries verse eleven, the sentence cited more than any other in discussions of how Allah is to be described.
No virtue report
Read beside it
On the shelf
- 42:11Ash-Shuraa · 42:11
- 42:19Ash-Shuraa · 42:19
- 42:25Ash-Shuraa · 42:25
- 42:27Ash-Shuraa · 42:27
- 42:28Ash-Shuraa · 42:28
- 42:29Ash-Shuraa · 42:29
- 42:30Ash-Shuraa · 42:30
- 42:36Ash-Shuraa · 42:36
- 42:37-38Ash-Shuraa · 42:37-38
- 42:40Ash-Shuraa · 42:40
- 42:43Ash-Shuraa · 42:43
- 42:5Ash-Shuraa · 42:5
Surahs it travels with
- 3Ali 'ImranAl 'Imran carries the command to the Prophet ﷺ to consult them in the matter, given in Madinah after a battle went badly. Ash-Shura describes the habit years earlier.آل عمران
- 41FussilatFussilat is the Ha Mim before it and concerns how the Book was set out. Ash-Shura closes on how revelation reaches a human being at all.فصلت