Surah Al-Muzzammil, The Enshrouded One

Surah 73 · 20 verses · revealed at Mecca

Al-Muzzammil is one of the earliest surahs, and it opens by addressing the Prophet as he was at that moment: wrapped in his cloak. Revelation had begun only recently, and he had come home shaken by it.

What follows is not comfort but instruction. Stand at night, the surah says, all but a little of it — half, or somewhat less, or somewhat more — and recite the Qur'an in a measured way. The word used for that measured recitation, tartil, became the name of an entire discipline. It means neither racing nor dragging, but giving each letter its due, and every reciter on this site is practising it.

The reason given is one of the most quoted lines in the book: that a word is going to be placed upon him that is heavy. The night is named as the time when the impression is strongest and the speech most exact.

Then there is verse 20, which is longer than the whole of the rest of the surah put together. It records that the Prophet and a group with him kept that vigil, and it eases the command. God knows you cannot keep count of the night. He knows some among you are ill, and others travelling to seek His bounty, and others fighting. So recite what is easy of it. Most commentators hold that this final verse came down considerably later than the rest, easing what the community had found extremely hard to sustain.

Read as a whole the surah does something unusual: it issues a demanding instruction and then, in the same text, records the instruction being lightened.

Surah Al-Muzzammil on this site

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Surah Al-Muzzammil, The Enshrouded One

Surah Al-Muzzammil on this site

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