Surah Al-Mulk – Abdul Rashid Ali Sufi

Al-Mulk ("The Sovereignty") is the 67th surah of the Quran and opens the 29th juz. It is a Meccan surah of 30 verses, 77th in the traditional order of revelation, after At-Tur. It invites reflection on the order of creation, presents life and death as a test and warns of the Fire. Authentic hadith praise it, and many Muslims recite it every night.

Its name comes from the first verse: blessed is He in whose hand is the dominion (al-mulk), and He has power over all things. The Prophet ﷺ referred to it by its opening words, Tabarak alladhi biyadihi al-mulk, hence its other common name, Tabarak.

The surah turns the reader's gaze to creation. God created death and life to test which of you is best in deeds (67:2), and raised seven heavens without a flaw: look again, and your sight will return weary (67:3-4). The people of the Fire then confess that, had they listened or reasoned, they would not be among its companions (67:10). God knows what is in the hearts; how could the Creator not know? (67:13-14). He made the earth docile to walk upon (67:15) and holds the birds up in the sky (67:19), and the surah ends by asking who would bring flowing water if the water sank away (67:30).

Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet ﷺ said a surah of thirty verses interceded for a man until he was forgiven: Tabarak alladhi biyadihi al-mulk (Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan). According to Jabir, the Prophet ﷺ would not sleep until he had recited As-Sajda and Al-Mulk (at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih by al-Albani). Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that in the Prophet's time it was called al-Mani'a, "the protector", because it protects its nightly reciter from the punishment of the grave (an-Nasa'i, al-Sunan al-Kubra, graded hasan). By contrast, the story of a Companion who pitched his tent over a grave and heard the surah recited from within it is graded weak.