Surah Ash-Shams, The Sun

Surah 91 · 15 verses · revealed at Mecca

Ash-Shams opens with seven oaths in seven short lines, the longest run of consecutive oaths anywhere in the Qur'an.

They are sworn by the sun and its brightness, the moon that follows it, the day that displays it, the night that covers it, the sky and how it was built, the earth and how it was spread, and the soul and how it was formed.

What all seven swear to is two lines: that the one who purifies the soul has succeeded, and the one who corrupts it has failed. The whole surah is built to deliver those two sentences.

Before them comes the statement that the soul was inspired with knowledge of what is wrong for it and what is right for it. The verse is one of the most argued-over in Muslim thought, because it says the knowledge is already there.

The second half is the story of Thamud, told in six verses. They were given a she-camel as a sign and told to let her drink her turn; the most wretched among them was sent, and he hamstrung her; and their Lord destroyed them for their sin and levelled them.

The surah closes by saying that He does not fear the consequences of it. It is short enough to be learned in an afternoon and is among the first chapters children are taught.

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