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اَلشَّمْسِ
The Sun

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ۔

وَ الشَّمْسِ وَ ضُحٰىهَا۔ وَ الْقَمَرِ اِذَا تَلٰىهَا۔ وَ النَّهَارِ اِذَا جَلّٰىهَا۔ وَ الَّيْلِ اِذَا يَغْشٰىهَا۔ وَ السَّمَآءِ وَ مَا بَنٰىهَا۔ وَ الْاَرْضِ وَ مَا طَحٰىهَا۔ وَ نَفْسٍ وَّ مَا سَوّٰىهَا۔ فَاَلْهَمَهَا فُجُوْرَهَا وَ تَقْوٰىهَا۔ قَدْ اَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكّٰىهَا۔ وَ قَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسّٰىهَا۔ؕ كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُوْدُ بِطَغْوٰىهَآ۔ اِذِ انْ٘بَعَثَ اَشْقٰىهَا۔ فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ نَاقَةَ اللّٰهِ وَ سُقْيٰهَا۔ؕ فَكَذَّبُوْهُ فَعَقَرُوْهَا فَدَمْدَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ بِذَنْ٘بِهِمْ فَسَوّٰىهَا۔ وَ لَا يَخَافُ عُقْبٰهَا۔

In the name of God—the most compassionate, the most merciful.

By the Sun and its radiance, and the moon as it trails after it, and daylight which shines resplendent from it, and night when it covers things up, and the sky and whatever built it, and the earth and what has stretched it out, and any soul and whatever has fashioned it and filled it with both its debauchery and its sense of duty!

Anyone who purifies himself will prosper while whoever neglects to do so will be disappointed.

Thamud rejected it through their arrogance when their meanest wretch was delegated and God’s messenger told them: “[Here is] God’s she-camel; give her its day to drink.”

They rejected him and mistreated her, so their Lord snarled at them because of their offence and leveled things off. He does not fear its outcome!

This chapter deals with Salih or Methusaleh, the messenger who was sent to the early Arabian nation of Thamud, and the punishment which the latter people received. It brings out the fact that most persons must strive hard in order to remain pure.

Almighty God has made threefold arrangements for the guidance of man. On the one hand, the universe has been so constructed that it has become the practical manifestation of God’s will. On the other hand, the human psyche has been infused with an intuitive consciousness of good and bad. Thereafter, it was arranged that Truth and falsehood, justice and injustice be revealed clearly through the prophets in a language understandable to the people. Even after this, if people do not adopt the right path, they are undoubtedly transgressors.

The she-camel of the Prophet Salih, in a way, symbolized the principle that one should respect the rights of others and discharge one’s duties to them accordingly, even if they are helpless and weak. It is quite possible that a creature which, to all appearances, is only a ‘she-camel’, may be God’s sign brought before people to test them.