Benefits and Virtues of Surah 26 Ash-Shuara

virtues-benefits-surah-ash-shuara

26. Ash-Shu’ara

26.1 Narrated Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه)

“When (the following) was revealed:

وأنذر عشيرتك الأقربين

And warn your tribe of near kindred (26:214),

the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) gathered the (families) of the Quraish (calling them) one and all, he said: ‘O people of the Quraish! Ransom yourselves from the Fire! I have no power to prevent harm or bring benefit to you before Allah! O people of Banu ‘Abd Manaf! Ransom yourselves from the Fire! I have no power to prevent harm or bring benefit to you before Allah! O people of Banu Qusayy! Ransom yourselves from the Fire! I have no power to prevent harm or bring benefit to you! O people of Banu ‘Abdul-Muttalib! Ransom yourselves from the Fire! I have no power to prevent harm or bring benefit to you! O Fatimah bint Muhammad! Ransom yourself from the Fire! I have no power to prevent harm or bring benefit to you before Allah! All you have is the womb, and the kind relations that shall come of it.”

Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3185

26.2 Ibn ‘Abbas (رضي الله عنه) said that in respect of

والشعراء يتبعهم الغاوون

And as for the poets, is the misled who follow them

ألم تر أنهم في كل واد يهيمون

Do you not see how they ramble on in every style

وأنهم يقولون ما لا يفعلون

And that they say things which they do not do?” (26:224-226),

It was abrogated and that an exception was made in His words,

إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات وذكروا الله كثيرا وانتصروا من بعد ما ظلموا وسيعلم الذين ظلموا أي منقلب ينقلبون

Except those [poets] who believe and do righteous deeds and remember Allah often and defend [the Muslims] after they were wronged. And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned (26:226)

Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 871

26.3 Ibn Kathir related about

واغفر لأبي إنه كان من الضالين

And forgive my father. Indeed, he has been of those astray (26:86)

Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said: Ibrahim (عليه السلام) will see his father on the Day of Resurrection, covered with dust and darkness.

According to another narration, also from Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه), the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said: Ibrahim (عليه السلام) will meet his father and will say: “O Lord, You promised me that You would not disgrace me on the Day when all creatures are resurrected.”And Allah will say to him: “I have forbidden Paradise to the disbelievers.”

He also recorded this in the Hadiths about the Prophets, upon them be peace, where the wording is: Ibrahim (عليه السلام) will meet his father Azar on the Day of Resurrection, and there will be dust and darkness on Azar’s face. Ibrahim will say to him, “Did I not tell you not to disobey me!” His father will say to him: “Today I will not disobey you.” Ibrahim will say: “O Lord, You promised me that You would not disgrace me on the Day when they are resurrected, but what disgrace can be greater than seeing my father in this state!”

Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) will say to him: “I have forbidden Paradise to the disbelievers.” Then it will be said: “O Ibrahim! Look beneath your feet.” So he will look and there he will see (that his father was changed into) a male hyena covered in dung, which will be caught by the legs and thrown in the Fire. This was also recorded by Abu Abdur-Rahman An-Nasa’i in the Tafsir of his Sunan Al-Kubra.

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

26.4 Ibn Kathir related about

ثم جاءهم ما كانوا يوعدون

And then there came to them that which they were promised?

ما أغنى عنهم ما كانوا يمتعون

hey would not be availed by the enjoyment with which they were provided (26:206-207)

According to an authentic Hadith: The disbeliever will be brought and once dipped into the Fire, then it will be said to him: “Did you ever see anything good! Did you ever see anything good!”He will say, “No, O Lord!” Then the most miserable person who ever lived on earth will be brought, and he will be put in Paradise for a brief spell, then it will be said to him, “Did you ever see anything bad!” He will say, “No, O Lord.”

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

26.5 Ibn Kathir related about

فإن عصوك فقل إني بريء مما تعملون

And if they disobey you, then say, “Indeed, I am disassociated from what you are doing.”(26:216)

According to Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم)said: “By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no one from these nations – Jewish or Christian – hears of me then does not believe in me, but he will enter Hell.

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

26.6 Ibn Kathir related about

هل أنبئكم على من تنزل الشياطين

Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend?

تنزل على كل أفاك أثيم

They descend upon every sinful liar

يلقون السمع وأكثرهم كاذبون

They pass on what is heard, and most of them are liars (26:221-223)

This was stated in an authentic Hadith recorded by Al-Bukhari from A’ishah (رضي الله عنها)
who said, “The people asked the Prophet about fortune-tellers, and he said: They are nothing. They said: “O Messenger of Allah, they say things that come true.” The Prophet said: That is a word of truth which the Jinn snatches, then he gabbles it like the clucking of a chicken into the ear of his friend, but he mixes it with more than one hundred lies.

Al-Bukhari also recorded that Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said, “The Prophet said: When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His decree, a chain beating on a rock. And when the fear in their hearts subsides, they say: “What is it that your Lord has said” They say: “The truth. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.” Then when the Jinn who are listening out, one above the other (and Sufyan illustrated this with a gesture, holding his hand vertically with his fingers outspread) -when they hear this, they throw it down from one to another, until it is passed to the fortune-teller or soothsayer. The shooting star may strike the Jinn before he passes it on, or he may pass it on before he is struck, and he adds to it one hundred lies, thus it is said: “Did he not tell us that on such and such a day, such and such would happen” So they believe him because of that one thing which was heard from the heavens. This was recorded by Al-Bukhari.

Al-Bukhari recorded from A’ishah (رضي الله عنها) that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said: The angels speak in the clouds about some matter on earth, and the Shayatin overhear what they say, so they tell it to the fortune-teller, gurgling into his ear like (a liquid poured) from a glass bottle, and he adds to it one hundred lies.

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

26.7 Ibn Kathir related about

إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات وذكروا الله كثيرا وانتصروا من بعد ما ظلموا وسيعلم الذين ظلموا أي منقلب ينقلبون

Except those [poets] who believe and do righteous deeds and remember Allah often and defend [the Muslims] after they were wronged. And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned (26:227)

Imam Ahmad recorded that Ka`b bin Malik (رضي الله عنه) said to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم), “Allah has revealed what He revealed about the poets. The Messenger of Allah said: The believer wages Jihad with his sword and with his tongue, By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, it is as if you are attacking them with arrows.

(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

26.8 Mufti Shafi Usmani related about

تبنون بكل ريع آية تعبثون

Do you construct on every elevation a sign, amusing yourselves,

وتتخذون مصانع لعلكم تخلدون

And take for yourselves palaces and fortresses that you might abide eternally? (26:128-129)

This verse indicates that the construction of houses and buildings without need is a condemnable act. The hadith quoted by Imam Tirmidhi (رح) on the authority of Sayyidna Anas (رضي الله عنه) conveys exactly the same message: “All spendings are in Allah’s way, except construction, which has no merit.” It means that the building which is constructed in excess of requirement has no benefit or virtue.

Another narration of Sayyidna Anas (رضي الله عنه) also confirms this: “Every building is a tribulation for the builder, except that which is necessary, because it is not a nuisance.” It is commented in Ruh al-Ma’ani that without genuine requirement construction of tall buildings is contemptible and condemned under the Shari’ah of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم).

(Ma’ariful Qur’an)

26.8 Mufti Shafi Usmani related about

نزل به الروح الأمين

The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down

على قلبك لتكون من المنذرين

Upon your heart, [O Muhammad] – that you may be of the warners –

بلسان عربيّ مبين

In a clear Arabic language

وإنه لفي زبر الأولين

And indeed, it is [mentioned] in the scriptures of former peoples (26:193-96)

Sayyidna Maquil ibn Yasar (رضي الله عنه) has reported a Hadith in Mustadrak of Hakim that the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) has said that Surah Al-Baqarah was given to him from ‘Adh-Dhikr al-Awwal‘, and Surah Taha, Tawasin (Surahs starting with طس) and Hawamim (Surahs beginning with حم)* were given from the tablets of Sayyidna Musa (عليه السلام), while Surah Al-Fatihah was given to him from under the Arsh (the great Throne). Tabarani, Hakim, Baihaqi etc. have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Abdullah ibn Masud (رضي الله عنه) that Surah Al-Mulk is present in Torah as well. (Al-Hadith). The Surah Al-A’ala has itself said (87:18,19) that these subjects have also appeared in the books of Sayyidna Ibrahim (عليه السلام) and Sayyidna Musa (عليه السلام).

(Ma’ariful Qur’an)

*Table Surahs that have initial letters

#	Surah	Muqatta’at
2	al-Baqarah	الم
3	āl ‘Imrān	الم
7	al-A’arāf	المص
10	Yūnus	الر
11	Hūd	الر
12	Yūsuf	الر
13	ar-Ra’ d	المر
14	I’brāhīm	الر
15	al-Ḥijr	الر
19	Maryam	كهيعص
20	Ṭa-ha	طه
26	ash–Shu’arā’	طسم
27	an-Naml	طس
28	al-Qaṣaṣ	طسم
29	al-‘Ankabūt	الم
30	ar-Rūm	الم
31	Luqmān	الم
32	as-Sajdah	الم
36	Yā-sīn	يس
38	Ṣād	ص
40	Ghāfir	حم
41	Fuṣṣilat	حم
42	ash–Shūrā	حم/عسق
43	az-Zukhruf	حم
44	ad-Dukhān	حم
45	al-Jāthīyah	حم
46	al-Aḥqāf	حم
50	Qāf	ق
68	al-Qalam	ن

26.9 It is narrated from Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (عليه السلام) that

Whoever recites the three Tawaseen [Surahs beginning with Ta-Seen: Ash-Shu’ara (26), An-Naml (27) and Al-Qasas (28)] on every Thursday night, will be counted from the Awliyaa-ullah (friends of Allah) and will be under the protection of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)

(Tafsir al-Burhan)

26.10 Duas