Surah Sad

Sad is the 38th surah of the Quran, named after the Arabic letter that opens it. A Meccan surah of 88 verses in the twenty-third juz, it is counted 38th in the traditional order of revelation, after Al-Qamar. It answers the Meccan leaders who rejected the call to worship one God, recalls the trials of David, Solomon and Job, and ends with the refusal of Iblis to bow to Adam.

Opening and context

The surah begins: "Sad. By the Quran, full of reminder" (38:1). The leaders of Quraysh wonder that a warner has come from among them and exclaim: "Has he made the gods into one God? That is truly astonishing!" (38:5). According to a narration of Ibn Abbas in al-Tirmidhi, these verses were revealed when Quraysh complained about the Prophet to his uncle Abu Talib during his illness; al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan sahih, but some later scholars consider its chain weak.

Themes

• David (38:17–29). The Prophet is told to be patient and to remember David, with whom the mountains glorified God. Two litigants climb into his prayer chamber; David realises that he has been tested, asks forgiveness and falls in prostration (38:24). He is told: "O David, We have made you a vicegerent on earth, so judge between people with truth" (38:26).
• Solomon and Job (38:30–44). Solomon asks for a kingdom that no one after him will have (38:35), and the wind and the jinn are placed at his service. Job, stricken by hardship, is healed by a spring: "We found him patient; what an excellent servant" (38:44).
• Other prophets (38:45–48). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, Elisha and Dhul-Kifl are also remembered.
• Adam and Iblis (38:71–85). Iblis refuses to bow: "I am better than him: You created me from fire and him from clay" (38:76), and vows to mislead all but God's sincere servants.

Prostration and hadith

Verse 24 is a place of prostration. Ibn Abbas said that it is not among the emphasised prostrations, "but I saw the Prophet prostrate in it" (al-Bukhari). The Prophet also recalled Solomon's prayer in verse 35 when he refrained from tying up a jinn who had disturbed his prayer (al-Bukhari, Muslim). David and Solomon also appear in Saba and An-Naml, and the story of Adam and Iblis in Al-Araf and Al-Hijr.