96- Surat Alalaq

96- Surat Alalaq 

19 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)

A'auzu Bellahi mena ash-shytani ar-rajim

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan

Bismi Ellahi Ar-rhmani Ar-rahim

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Eqra'a besmi Rabbika allazi khalaq (1).

Read with the name of your Lord who created.

Khalaqa alinsana men alaq (2).

He created man from a clinging blood.

Eqra'a wa Rabbuka Alakram (3).

Read, and Your Lord is the Most Generous.

Allazi allama belqalam (4).

Who taught by the pen.

Allama alinsana ma lam ya'alam (5).

Taught man what he did not knew.

Kalla inna alinsana la-yatgha (6).

Nay! surely man transgresses.

An ra'ahu estaghna (7).

That he sees himself free of neediness.

Enna ila Rabbika ar-ruj'a (8).

Surely, to your Lord is the return.

Ara'ayta allazi yanha (9).

Have you seen he who forbids?.

Abdan idha salla (10).

A slave when he prays.

Ara'ayta in kana ala alhuda (11).

Have you seen if he is upon the guidance?.

Aw amara bil-taqua (12).

Or enjoined to piety.

Ara'ayta in kazzaba wa tawalla (13).

Have you seen if he denied and turned away?.

Alam ya'alam bi anna Allaha yara (14).

Does not he know that Allah sees.

Kalla la-in lam yantahi lansfa'an belnaseya (15).

Nay! if he does not desist, We will drag with forelock.

Naseyatin kazebatin khate'ah (16).

A lying, sinful forelock.

Fal yadu'o nadeyah (17).

Then let him call his associates. 

Sa nadu'o az-zabaniyah (18).

We will call the angels of the hellfire.

Kalla la tute'huo wa usjuod wa eqtareb ۩ (19).

Nay! do not obey him, but prostrate, and draw near.

۩- Prostration of recitation.

Simplified interpretation:

 Surat Alalaq is the first revelation that Gabriel revealed to Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), where Ayisha radia Allahu anha said that the commencement of the Divine inspiration to Allah's Messenger was in the form of true dreams, The angel came to Him and said: "Read with the name of your Lord who created, He created man from a clinging blood, read, and Your Lord is the Most Generous".

 Our Prophet Muhammad as it was narrated by Ayisha, began to like seclusion, and He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hiraa where He used to worship Allah till one day Gabriel came to Him and asked Him to read, Allah's Messenger replied: I do not know how to read, He asked our prophet to read thrice, and our prophet replied the same answer, and every time Gabriel held our Prophet and pressed him so hard that he felt distressed. Then Gabriel released Our Prophet and said: Read with the name of your Lord who created up to the fifth verse of the current Surah.

 Allah described Our Prophet in Surat Ala'araf Aya (157) and said "the unlettered prophet", and said in Surat Aljumu'ah Aya 92): "He is the One who sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves". Although He was illiterate, and neither writes nor reads, but His illiteracy was a miraculousness and a proof of the truthfulness of the prophecy. 

Surat Alalaq is one of the four Surahs that Our prophet commanded Mu'az Bin Gabal to recite them, when he led His companions in the prayer (Imam) in order not to prolong the prayer. 

 The first five verses informs us about the Generosity of Allah upon mankind, where He created them from a clinging blood (clot), and taught man by the pen what he did not knew. By pen Allah Almighty brought man out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge, so it is a great generosity and favor from Allah upon His servants, and without it the affairs of religion and world would not be straightened.

 It was said that man in the fifth verse came in general, but there are who said that it refers to Adam peace be upon Him as the first man to be created, and it was said that man refers to Our Prophet Muhammad where Allah Almighty, says in Surat An-Nisaa Aya (113): "And Allah has revealed to you the book and the wisdom, and has taught you what you did not knew".

 Then Allah threatened whoever sees himself self-sufficient and thinks that himself enriched, that he crossed the limits, and disbelieved in Allah, and be arrogant to Him Ayat (6,7), so Allah says to him in the eighth Aya "Surely, to your Lord is the return" and hence he will taste the painful punishment in the hereafter that he cannot bear.

 In the next verses (9,10) Allah says: "Have you seen he who forbids, A slave when he prays?", and it was said that these verses were revealed in Abu Jahl, where he said in narration of Ibn Abbas "If I see Muhammad praying at Alka'bah (sanctuary House), I will tread on His neck, and when Our prophet (PBUH) heard of that, He said "if he does so, the angels will snatch him away".

 Then Allah says to him "Have you seen if this slave who is praying is on the straight path, or enjoined to piety?", and you denied and turned away from faith. Does not you know that Allah sees what you do? Ayat (11-14), then Allah threatened him and said :if you does not desist, We will drag with your lying and sinful forelock, and you will be thrown into hellfire by the soldiers of Jahanam, and your family and your clan will not benefit you even if you called them Ayat (15-18).

 The recompense of Abu Jahl is a warning to all those who keep others away from Allah, and from the straight path. So Allah says in the last verse to His Prophet "Nay! do not obey him, but prostrate, and draw near", He commanded Him to continue His prayer, and to prostrate Himself, and then He will be near to Allah, for Our Prophet said: "the nearest a servant come to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so increase supplication in prostration".

   

No one Knows its interpretation except Allah