Surah Ar-Ra'd, The Thunder

Surah 13 · 43 verses · revealed at Medina

Ar-Ra'd takes its name from a single verse in which the thunder is said to declare God's praise, as do the angels, in awe of Him.

Its classification is disputed. Most authorities place it at Medina, some at Mecca, and some hold that parts of it belong to each. The subject matter gives no clean answer, because it deals almost entirely with belief rather than with the law and community life that usually mark the Medinan surahs.

Its argument runs through things that can be seen. The sky held up without visible support, the sun and moon each running a course, tracts of land side by side watered by the same rain and yielding differently, iron and ornaments heated in a fire with the useless froth carried off and the useful metal left. Each is offered as something already familiar that ought to settle a question about what is not.

One verse from it is among the most quoted in any language: that God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. It is usually cited as a statement about effort and responsibility, and it is read that way in politics as often as in religion.

Another says that hearts find rest in the remembrance of God. The surah pairs the two — a demand to change, and a promise of quiet — and leaves them next to each other without resolving the tension.

Surah Ar-Ra'd on this site

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