Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 36
يس
The letters Ya Sin
A city laughed at a warning. This surah is the reply.
83 ayat, Makkan, Awaiting scholar review
Makkah
A trading town. Its income is tied to the pilgrims who come to its idols.
One of its own now says: one God, and the dead will rise.
The leaders laugh. Dead is dead.
Journey map
Yā-Sīn 36:3The claim Makkah rejects, stated flat.
إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ ٣
3 Indeed you, [O Muḥammad], are from among the messengers,
Yā-Sīn 36:8Then a picture of the people who reject that claim.
إِنَّا جَعَلۡنَا فِيٓ أَعۡنَٰقِهِمۡ أَغۡلَٰلࣱا فَهِيَ إِلَى ٱلۡأَذۡقَانِ فَهُم مُّقۡمَحُونَ ٨
8 Indeed, We have put shackles on their necks, and they are to their chins, so they are with heads [kept] aloft.
Yā-Sīn 36:9The picture is not finished.
وَجَعَلۡنَا مِنۢ بَيۡنِ أَيۡدِيهِمۡ سَدࣱّا وَمِنۡ خَلۡفِهِمۡ سَدࣱّا فَأَغۡشَيۡنَٰهُمۡ فَهُمۡ لَا يُبۡصِرُونَ ٩
9 And We have put before them a barrier and behind them a barrier and covered them, so they do not see.
A closer look
A collar forces the head up. The wearer cannot see their own feet. A wall in front, a wall behind. This is not someone on the wrong road. It is someone who cannot move at all.
A closer look
Al-Razi's reading: the collar stops you seeing yourself. The walls stop you seeing the world. Most commentators take it as a picture of a closed mind, not real chains.
Yā-Sīn 36:12What you sent ahead, and the traces you left.
إِنَّا نَحۡنُ نُحۡيِ ٱلۡمَوۡتَىٰ وَنَكۡتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُواْ وَءَاثَٰرَهُمۡۚ وَكُلَّ شَيۡءٍ أَحۡصَيۡنَٰهُ فِيٓ إِمَامࣲ مُّبِينࣲ ١٢
12 Indeed, it is We who bring the dead to life and record what they have put forth and what they left behind, and all things We have enumerated in a clear register.
One word, two meanings
Your legacy: what others carry on because of you. And your footprints, literally. A clan was told their steps to the mosque were being written down.
A story about someone else
A town rejects two messengers. A third is sent. The answer is the one Makkah gives: you are only people like us.
Yā-Sīn 36:19The town blames the messengers for its bad luck. The reply:
قَالُواْ طَٰٓئِرُكُم مَّعَكُمۡ أَئِن ذُكِّرۡتُمۚ بَلۡ أَنتُمۡ قَوۡمࣰ مُّسۡرِفُونَ ١٩
19 They said, "Your omen [i.e., fate] is with yourselves. Is it because you were reminded? Rather, you are a transgressing people."
Where scholars differ
Many reports say Antioch. Ibn Kathir doubts it and gives three reasons. The Qur'an names no town, no messengers. An early saying: leave vague what Allah left vague.
Yā-Sīn 36:20Nobody powerful speaks up. Then someone does.
وَجَآءَ مِنۡ أَقۡصَا ٱلۡمَدِينَةِ رَجُلࣰ يَسۡعَىٰ قَالَ يَٰقَوۡمِ ٱتَّبِعُواْ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ ٢٠
20 And there came from the farthest end of the city a man, running. He said, "O my people, follow the messengers.
A closer look
The running man, to an angry crowd. Not "why don't you worship your Maker?" but "why should I not worship mine?" He makes his case, accusing no one.
Yā-Sīn 36:26Most reports say his people killed the running man. Then:
قِيلَ ٱدۡخُلِ ٱلۡجَنَّةَۖ قَالَ يَٰلَيۡتَ قَوۡمِي يَعۡلَمُونَ ٢٦
26 It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "I wish my people could know
The word
No army was sent. One cry, and the town was "still": the Arabic word for a fire that has gone out.
Yā-Sīn 36:30The town was not the exception. It was the pattern.
يَٰحَسۡرَةً عَلَى ٱلۡعِبَادِۚ مَا يَأۡتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُواْ بِهِۦ يَسۡتَهۡزِءُونَ ٣٠
30 How regretful for the servants. There did not come to them any messenger except that they used to ridicule him.
Yā-Sīn 36:33Now the evidence. First, the ground.
وَءَايَةࣰ لَّهُمُ ٱلۡأَرۡضُ ٱلۡمَيۡتَةُ أَحۡيَيۡنَٰهَا وَأَخۡرَجۡنَا مِنۡهَا حَبࣱّا فَمِنۡهُ يَأۡكُلُونَ ٣٣
33 And a sign for them is the dead earth. We have brought it to life and brought forth from it grain, and from it they eat.
Yā-Sīn 36:40Then the sky.
لَا ٱلشَّمۡسُ يَنۢبَغِي لَهَآ أَن تُدۡرِكَ ٱلۡقَمَرَ وَلَا ٱلَّيۡلُ سَابِقُ ٱلنَّهَارِۚ وَكُلࣰّ فِي فَلَكࣲ يَسۡبَحُونَ ٤٠
40 It is not allowable [i.e., possible] for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming.
The word
The verb is the one for pulling a hide off an animal. Darkness is underneath. Light is a covering, laid on and taken off.
The Day
The end comes on an ordinary day. People are haggling in the market. Two men have cloth unrolled between them and never fold it.
Yā-Sīn 36:52Then the graves empty. Their first words:
قَالُواْ يَٰوَيۡلَنَا مَنۢ بَعَثَنَا مِن مَّرۡقَدِنَاۜۗ هَٰذَا مَا وَعَدَ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ وَصَدَقَ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلُونَ ٥٢
52 They will say, "O woe to us! Who has raised us up from our sleeping place?" [The reply will be], "This is what the Most Merciful had promised, and the messengers told the truth."
Yā-Sīn 36:58For some: one quiet line in a loud surah.
سَلَٰمࣰ قَوۡلࣱا مِّن رَّبࣲّ رَّحِيمࣲ ٥٨
58 [And] "Peace," a word from a Merciful Lord.
Yā-Sīn 36:65For the others, the excuses stop.
ٱلۡيَوۡمَ نَخۡتِمُ عَلَىٰٓ أَفۡوَٰهِهِمۡ وَتُكَلِّمُنَآ أَيۡدِيهِمۡ وَتَشۡهَدُ أَرۡجُلُهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡسِبُونَ ٦٥
65 That Day, We will seal over their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will testify about what they used to earn.
The story behind it
Because the mouth will lie. So the hands and feet are asked instead. In a hadith a man tells his own limbs: it was you I was arguing for.
A challenge in the street
A wealthy Makkan crumbles an old bone in his fist: who brings this back? The reply starts with him. He has forgotten how he was made.
Yā-Sīn 36:79The answer to the bone.
قُلۡ يُحۡيِيهَا ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنشَأَهَآ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةࣲۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ خَلۡقٍ عَلِيمٌ ٧٩
79 Say, "He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing."
A closer look
Arabs lit fires by rubbing green twigs of two desert shrubs. Fire out of sap. If that is ordinary, why is life from a dry bone impossible?
Yā-Sīn 36:82The last word.
إِنَّمَآ أَمۡرُهُۥٓ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيۡـًٔا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ ٨٢
82 His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, "Be," and it is.
Reflect, just for you
Virtue of the surah
"Everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qur'an is Ya Sin."
Tirmidhi 2887
Da'if (weak)Weak on its own; some Hanafi hadith scholars hold the chains together make the title acceptable
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
A city laughed at a warning. This surah is the reply.