Al Rahman (other)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ar-Rahman (; the Merciful; Most Gracious; Most Merciful) is the 55th Chapter (''Surah'') of the
Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
, with 78 verses; ('' āyāt''). The Surah was revealed in Mecca and emphasizes themes of mercy, creation, and the relationship between Allah and humanity, making it a significant chapter in Islamic teachings. The title of the surah, Ar-Rahman, appears in verse 1 and means "The Most Beneficent". The divine appellation "ar-Rahman" also appears in the opening formula which precedes every surah except Sura 9 ("In the Name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy"). English translations of the surah's title include "The Most Gracious", "The All Merciful", "The Lord of Mercy", "The Beneficent", and "The Mercy-Giving". In the fourth century CE south Arabian pagan inscriptions started to be replaced by monotheistic expressions, using the term
rahmān Ar-Rahman (; the Merciful; Most Gracious; Most Merciful) is the 55th Chapter (''Surah'') of the Qur'an, with 78 verses; ('' āyāt''). The Surah was revealed in Mecca and emphasizes themes of mercy, creation, and the relationship between Alla ...
.Robert Schick, ''Archaeology and the Quran'',
Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
There is disagreement over whether Ar-Rahman ought to be categorized as a surah of the
Meccan Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above sea level. Its metropo ...
or Medinan period.
Theodor Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar, originally a student of Heinrich Ewald. He is one of the founders of the field of Quranic studies, especially through his foundational work titled ...
and
Carl Ernst Carl W. Ernst (born September 8, 1950, in Los Angeles, California) is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Islamic studies at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was ...
have categorized it among the surahs of the early Meccan period (in accordance with its short ayah length), but Abdel Haleem has categorized it in his translation as Medinan,Haleem, ''The Qur’an'', 353. although most Muslim scholars place Sūrat ar-Rahman in the Meccan period. According to traditional Egyptian chronology, Ar-Rahman was the 97th surah revealed. Nöldeke places it earlier, at 43, while Ernst suggests that it was the fifth surah revealed. * ۞ 1-4 God taught the Quran to the human. *5-16 God the creator of all things. *17-25 God controlled the seas and all that is therein *26-30 God ever liveth, though all else decay and die *31-40 God will certainly judge both men and jinn *41-45 God will consign the
wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...
to hell-fire *46-78 The joys of Paradise described


Structure

Ar-Rahman is composed entirely in ''
saj’ Saj' () is a form of rhymed prose defined by its relationship to and use of end-rhyme, meter, and parallelism. There are two types of parallelism in saj': ''iʿtidāl'' (rhythmical parallelism, meaning "balance") and ''muwāzana'' (qualitative me ...
'', the rhymed, accent-based prose characteristic of early Arabic poetry. The most notable structural feature of Ar-Rahman is the
refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...
"Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?" (or, in Arberry’s rendering, "O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?"), which is repeated 31 times in the 78 verses. Chapter 55 (Surah Rahman) is composed of 26
couplets In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...
, 4
tercets A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem. Examples of tercet forms English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same r ...
, and an introductory
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
of 13 verses all ending with this refrain. The final couplet is followed by a blessing of God's name. Thematically, Ar-Rahman can be divided into roughly three units. *Verses 1-30 expound upon natural displays of Allah's creative power and mercy in showering those who inhabit the earth with blessings. *Verses 31-45 describe the
final judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the ''Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, resu ...
and the terrible punishment that will be inflicted upon sinners. *Verses 46–78, by contrast, detail the delights that await the pious in paradise.


Ayat (Verses)


Q55:70-77 Houri

Muhammad Asad asserts that the "noun hur – rendered as 'companions pure' – is a plural of both ahwar (masculine) and hawra’ (feminine), each describing a person distinguished by hawar, a term that denotes 'intense whiteness of the eyeballs and lustrous black of the iris.' Asad, along with Yusuf Ali and
Marmaduke Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called '' The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Q ...
, translates this verse as: According to
Ibn Kathir Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
, the believer will be given a tent 60 miles wide, made of pearl, such that his wives will not see each other. The believer will visit them all. The ''Enlightening Commentary into the Light of the Holy Qur'an'' says that they (the Houri) are good and righteous virgins and are intended to have intercourse only with their husbands.


Hadith

Owing to the sura’s poetic beauty, it is often regarded as the 'beauty of the Quran', in accordance with a hadith
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
reported that Muhammad said, "Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur'an is Surah Ar-Rahman"


References


External links


Q55:1
50+ translations, islamawakened.com
reader.quranite.com chapter=55
Rahman {{Authority control