Surah Ash-Shura – Abdul Bari Mohammed

Ash-Shura (Consultation) is the 42nd surah of the Quran. A Meccan surah of 53 verses in the twenty-fifth juz, it is counted 62nd in the traditional order of revelation, after Fussilat. The third of the Ha-Mim surahs, it presents revelation as one message given to all the prophets, calls for unity in religion and describes the qualities of the believers, among them consultation.

Name

The name comes from verse 38, which praises those "whose affairs are settled by consultation (shura) among themselves". The surah opens with two sets of disjointed letters in two separate verses, Ha-Mim and 'Ayn-Sin-Qaf, which is unique in the Quran. It is Meccan, although some scholars regard verses 23 to 27 as Medinan.

Themes

• One revelation (42:1–12). God reveals to the Prophet as He revealed to those before him (42:3); the heavens almost split from above while the angels ask forgiveness for those on earth (42:5). The Quran is revealed in Arabic to warn "the Mother of Cities" and those around it (42:7). "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" (42:11), a verse central to Islamic theology.
• One religion (42:13–26). God ordained for the believers what He had enjoined on Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus: "Establish the religion and do not be divided in it" (42:13). In verse 23 the Prophet asks no reward except "affection for kin"; in al-Bukhari, Ibn Abbas explains that the Prophet had ties of kinship with every clan of Quraysh and asked them to honour those ties.
• Provision and trials (42:27–35). Were God to give His servants unlimited provision, they would transgress (42:27); misfortune comes from what people's own hands have earned, and He pardons much (42:30).
• The qualities of believers (42:36–43). They rely on their Lord, avoid grave sins, forgive when angered, pray, consult one another and spend of what they have been given. The recompense of an evil is an evil like it, "but whoever pardons and makes peace, his reward is with God" (42:40).
• How God speaks to humanity (42:49–53). God grants daughters, sons, both or none as He wills (42:49–50). He speaks to a human being only through inspiration, from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger (42:51), and He has revealed to the Prophet "a spirit of Our command", a light by which He guides (42:52).

The Ha-Mim series continues with Az-Zukhruf.