Surah An-Najm, The Star

Surah 53 · 62 verses · revealed at Mecca

An-Najm opens with an oath by the star when it sets, and is reported to be the first surah the Prophet recited aloud in public at the Ka'bah.

The account says that when he reached its final verse, which requires a prostration, he prostrated, and everyone present prostrated with him — including those who had come to oppose him, who found themselves on the ground before they had decided to be.

Its opening passage describes the revelation itself in terms found nowhere else: that he does not speak from his own desire, that it is nothing but a revelation revealed, taught to him by one mighty in power, at the highest horizon, then drawing near until he was at a distance of two bow-lengths or nearer.

The middle of the surah deals with the three goddesses the Meccans worshipped, asks whether they are to have sons while God is given daughters, and says the names are only names that they and their fathers invented.

Its closing section is a list of things stated without argument: that no soul bears the burden of another, that a person gets only what they strive for, and that it is God who makes people laugh and weep, who gives death and life. It is among the most concentrated passages in the Qur'an, and among the most recited.

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