Al-‘Alaq

Al-‘Alaq: the cards as text

Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 96. Awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    A man who could not read was told: Read.

  2. Card 2

    "I am not one who reads"

    Muhammad ﷺ is alone in a mountain cave. An angel says: "Read!" He says he cannot. He is gripped hard and released, three times. Then the first words of the Qur'an are recited to him.

  3. Card 3

    Al-‘Alaq 96:1: Almost all scholars agree: the first words of the Qur'an to be revealed.

    ٱقۡرَأۡ بِٱسۡمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ ۝١

    1 Recite in the name of your Lord who created –

  4. Card 4

    Read, or recite?

    The Arabic word, iqra', can mean both. There was no page in the cave. The commentaries lean towards speech: say aloud what you are about to be given.

  5. Card 5

    Al-‘Alaq 96:2: Then, where every person starts.

    خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ مِنۡ عَلَقٍ ۝٢

    2 Created man from a clinging substance.

  6. Card 6

    Al-‘Alaq 96:4: And two ayat later, what lifts them.

    ٱلَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِٱلۡقَلَمِ ۝٤

    4 Who taught by the pen –

  7. Card 7

    A pen, for a man who never held one

    The first revelation honours writing, and it comes to someone who cannot write. One commentary reads that as deliberate: nobody could say he learned it.

  8. Card 8

    "Cover me, cover me"

    Muhammad ﷺ is afraid. His wife Khadijah answers with what she knows of him: "Allah will never disgrace you. You keep family ties, carry the weak, honour guests, and stand with people through hardship."

  9. Card 9

    "Will they drive me out?"

    Khadijah's cousin Waraqah is old, blind and learned in scripture. He tells Muhammad ﷺ: your people will drive you out. Makkah calls him "the trustworthy". He is astonished.

  10. Card 10

    Two moments, one surah

    1. 1-5: The cave. Read. Your Lord made the human being from a clinging clot, and taught by the pen what nobody knew.
    2. 6-8: What changed. Years later. A person oversteps once he thinks he needs no one. But everyone goes back to their Lord.
    3. 9-14: The man who blocks the prayer. Three questions about someone who stops a servant from praying. Then a fourth: does he not know that Allah sees?
    4. 15-18: The warning. If he does not stop, he will be dragged by the forelock. Let him call his council. The guards of Hell will be called too.
    5. 19: The answer. Do not obey him. Prostrate, and draw near.
  11. Card 11

    Years pass between two lines

    Ayat 1 to 5 came in the cave. Ayat 6 to 19 came years later, when Muhammad ﷺ was praying openly at the Ka'bah and Makkah's leaders wanted it stopped.

  12. Card 12

    Al-‘Alaq 96:6-7: The second part opens with a diagnosis.

    كَلَّآ إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ لَيَطۡغَىٰٓ ۝٦ أَن رَّءَاهُ ٱسۡتَغۡنَىٰٓ ۝٧

    6 No! [But] indeed, man transgresses

    7 Because he sees himself self-sufficient.

  13. Card 13

    The threat

    Abu Jahl is rich, and Makkah defers to him. He swears that if he sees Muhammad ﷺ with his face on the ground in prayer, he will stamp on his neck.

  14. Card 14

    Al-‘Alaq 96:9-10: The Qur'an does not name him. It describes him.

    أَرَءَيۡتَ ٱلَّذِي يَنۡهَىٰ ۝٩ عَبۡدًا إِذَا صَلَّىٰٓ ۝١٠

    9 Have you seen the one who forbids

    10 A servant when he prays?

  15. Card 15

    Al-‘Alaq 96:14: No warning yet. First, one question.

    أَلَمۡ يَعۡلَم بِأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَرَىٰ ۝١٤

    14 Does he not know that Allāh sees?

  16. Card 16

    Sees what?

    The ayah gives no object. One commentary takes that as the point: Allah is watching the man who prays and the man who blocks him, both at once.

  17. Card 17

    Lesson: Ziyaad's note: Allah sees. That one line is the whole of ihsan: worship as though you see Him. (96:14)

  18. Card 18

    Al-‘Alaq 96:15: He does not stop. The tone changes.

    كَلَّا لَئِن لَّمۡ يَنتَهِ لَنَسۡفَعَۢا بِٱلنَّاصِيَةِ ۝١٥

    15 No! If he does not desist, We will surely drag him by the forelock –

  19. Card 19

    Dragged, or scorched?

    The verb is rare. Two commentaries and both translations read it as "drag" by the hair at the front of the head. Ibn Kathir's English edition has "scorch": a blackened forehead.

  20. Card 20

    Al-‘Alaq 96:17-18: Abu Jahl boasted he had the most men in the valley. The reply:

    فَلۡيَدۡعُ نَادِيَهُۥ ۝١٧ سَنَدۡعُ ٱلزَّبَانِيَةَ ۝١٨

    17 Then let him call his associates;

    18 We will call the angels of Hell.

  21. Card 21

    He walks up, then backs away

    Abu Jahl comes to stamp on the Prophet's ﷺ neck. Then he steps back, hands raised to shield himself. He says he saw a trench of fire, terror and wings between them. (Muslim 2797)

  22. Card 22

    Al-‘Alaq 96:19: The last line is for the man Abu Jahl threatened.

    كَلَّا لَا تُطِعۡهُ وَٱسۡجُدۡۤ وَٱقۡتَرِب۩ ۝١٩

    19 No! Do not obey him. But prostrate and draw near [to Allāh].

  23. Card 23

    The answer is to keep praying

    Nothing about fighting back. The Prophet ﷺ is told to do the very thing he was ordered to stop. The surah that began with "read" ends with "prostrate".

  24. Card 24

    Reflect: The first revelation begins with "read". How does this surah end?

    Answer: With "prostrate". With "prostrate and draw near". A powerful man forbade the prayer. The surah's reply to the Prophet [saw] is: do not obey him, bow down.

  25. Card 25

    Abu Hurayrah: "We prostrated with the Prophet ﷺ in Idhas-sama'un-shaqqat and Iqra' bi-smi rabbik."

    Muslim 578. Sahih (authentic). In Sahih Muslim
  26. Card 26

    The end of Al-‘Alaq.

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