Surah An-Nasr, The Help

Surah 110 · 3 verses · revealed at Medina

An-Nasr is three verses, and by most accounts it is the last complete surah of the Qur'an to be revealed.

It describes a moment of total success. The help of God has come, and the conquest — Mecca, the city that had driven the Muslims out, entered without a battle. And people are seen entering the religion of God in crowds.

What the surah instructs at that moment is the remarkable part. Not celebration. Not thanksgiving alone. Glorify your Lord with praise, it says, and ask His forgiveness — and it adds that He is the one who turns in mercy. A community at the height of its success is told to seek pardon.

Sahih Bukhari records an exchange about exactly this. 'Umar used to bring the young Ibn 'Abbas into the company of the senior companions, and some resented it. So 'Umar asked them what they made of this surah. They said it was a command to praise God when victory came. Ibn 'Abbas said it was something else: it was notice of the Prophet's death, told to him through the completion of his task. 'Umar said that he knew of it only what Ibn 'Abbas had said.

The Prophet died not long afterwards. The surah is known in the tradition as at-Tawdi', the farewell.

Read in that light, the last surah revealed is about a mission completed, and about the man who completed it being told, gently and without saying so plainly, that it was time.

Surah An-Nasr on this site

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Surah An-Nasr, The Help

Surah An-Nasr on this site

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