Surah Aal-e-Imran – Mohamed Shaaban Abu Qarn

Aal-e-Imran, "The Family of Imran", is the third surah of the Quran. A Medinan surah of 200 verses, it is 89th in the traditional order of revelation. It tells the story of Mary and Jesus and of the family of Imran, addresses the People of the Book, especially the Christians, and draws the lessons of the battle of Uhud for the young Muslim community.

Name and context

The surah is named after the family of Imran, whom God chose "above the worlds" along with Adam, Noah and the family of Abraham (3:33): the wife of Imran, who dedicated her unborn child to God, and their daughter Mary, mother of Jesus. With Al-Baqara, the Prophet ﷺ called it one of az-zahrawan, "the two radiant ones" (Muslim 804).

Two events frame it. Early biographers such as Ibn Ishaq link its opening part to the visit of a Christian delegation from Najran; al-Bukhari (4380) records that its leaders came to the Prophet and then declined the mutual invocation (mubahala) proposed in verse 3:61, for which the Prophet called Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn (Muslim 2404). A long passage (3:121–175) returns to the battle of Uhud (3 AH).

Main themes

• The Book, confirming earlier scriptures, with clear and ambiguous verses (3:1–7), and the affirmation that "the religion with God is Islam" (3:19).
• The birth of Mary, the prayer of Zechariah and the birth of John, the annunciation to Mary and the mission of Jesus (3:33–63).
• The call to the People of the Book to "a common word": to worship none but God (3:64), a verse the Prophet quoted in his letter to Heraclius (al-Bukhari 7).
• The unity of the believers: "Hold fast, all together, to the rope of God, and do not be divided" (3:103), and their mission of enjoining good and forbidding evil (3:104, 3:110).
• Uhud: the archers' disobedience, the setback, patience, and the martyrs, who "are alive with their Lord" (3:169).
• Rulings: the pilgrimage, obligatory for those able to make it (3:97), and the ban on usury (3:130).
• A closing meditation on the heavens and the earth as signs "for people of understanding" (3:190–200).

Notable verses

Among its best-known verses is "Every soul shall taste death" (3:185). The words of 3:173, "God is sufficient for us, and He is the best Guardian", were, according to Ibn Abbas, said by Abraham when thrown into the fire and by the Prophet when told that an army had gathered against the believers (al-Bukhari 4563).

Virtues

• On the Day of Resurrection, it and Al-Baqara "will come like two clouds", pleading for those who recited them (Muslim 804).
• Ibn Abbas saw the Prophet recite its last ten verses on rising for the night prayer (al-Bukhari 183, Muslim 763).

The story of Mary is told again in Maryam, and the battle of Badr, recalled in 3:123, is the subject of Al-Anfal.