Surah Adh-Dhariyat, The Scattering Winds

Surah 51 · 60 verses · revealed at Mecca

Adh-Dhariyat opens with four oaths in four short lines — by the winds that scatter, by those that carry a load, by those that run with ease, and by those that distribute a command.

Its centre is the visit paid to Abraham by guests he does not recognise. He slips away and brings a fattened calf, and when they do not reach for it he becomes afraid of them. They tell him not to be, and give him news of a son. His wife strikes her face and says that she is an old woman and barren. The exchange is domestic and is told with a lightness that is rare in the book.

The guests then go on to Lot's people, and the surah moves quickly through Moses and Pharaoh, 'Ad, Thamud and Noah.

It contains the statement that jinn and human beings were created for no purpose but to worship, and the instruction to flee towards God, and the description of people who used to sleep little of the night, ask forgiveness before dawn, and give a due share of their wealth to those who asked and to those who did not.

Its most quoted verse now is probably the one saying that the sky was built with power and that God is indeed making it vast. It is short enough to be read several ways and has been.

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