Description

Surat ar-Rahman (Arabic: سورة الرحمن, 'TheMost Merciful') or al-Rahman, is the 55th sura of the Qur'an with78 ayats.

It has the refrain: 'Then which of your Lord's blessings wouldyou deny?'

One of the main aims of the sura is to chastise men and jinn fortheir lack of gratitude towards Allah, who has showered them withan abundance of blessings. Verses 1-30 describe some of theresources (fruits, palm trees, husked grain, fragrant plants, freshand salt water, pearls, ships) that Allah has graciously providedfor the men and jinn he created, in his infinite mercy, out of clayand smokeless fire (55:14), and set down under a sky illuminated bythe twin risings of the sun and moon (55:17). In addition to thesematerial blessings, verses 1-4 recount the fact that Allah taughtman how to communicate and even gave him the Qur'an to guide him onthe path to righteousness. The refrain, 'Which, then, of yourLord's blessings do you both deny?', chastises thebountifully-provided for men and jinn for failing to acknowledgetheir indebtedness to Allah for his tremendous mercy. Thepunishment that awaits these ungrateful creatures is brieflydescribed in verses 35-45; for the remainder of the sura, thedelights of the gardens of paradise (replete with shading branches,flowing springs, fruit, maidens, couches, cushions, and finecarpets) are lyrically described, punctuated throughout by thestinging refrain which draws attention to the discrepancy betweenAllah's mercy in providing such luxuriant rewards and theingratitude of men and jinn.

The idea that man's gratitude towards Allah is not commensuratewith Allah's tremendous mercy is a central, recurring theme in theQur'an, especially in the early Meccan suras, and Sura 55 is animportant poetic treatment of this theme. The sura also exemplifiesthe Qur'an's tendency to be self-referential and self-validating,as when in verse 2 it emphasizes the fact that Allah taught theQur'an to man out of mercy.

In terms of theological developments, Al-Rahman introduces athree-tiered classification of men and jinn: the best of believers('those near to God', the muqarrabīn who will ascend to the highergarden of paradise), the ordinary believers ('those at his right',the ashāt al-yamīn who will enjoy the second garden of paradise),and the disbelievers (who will be punished in Hell). This divisionis echoed in the following sura, Al-Waqi'a.

Finally, it is worth noting that the sura is dominatedstylistically by pairs, which in the Qur'an are frequently employedas a sign of the divine. To begin with, it is addressed to a dualaudience of men and jinn: in Haleem's translation of the refrain'Which, then, of your Lord's blessings do you both deny?', 'both'is understood to refer to men and jinn (likewise for the 'you andyou' in Arberry's rendering). Natural phenomena are also referredto in pairs: for example, 'the sun and the moon' (55:5), 'the starsand the trees' (55:6), 'the two risings and the two settings [ofthe sun and the moon]' (55:17), and 'the two bodies of [fresh andsalt] water' (55:19). In addition, paradise is described asconsisting of two double gardens (55:62), each of which contain apair of springs (55:50, 55:66) and fruit in pairs (55:52).

Surah Al-Rahman in MP3/Audio
Surah Al-Rahman Translation in English and Hindi
Surah Al-Rahman is one of the surah from 26 surah