Surah Az-Zumar

Az-Zumar (The Troops, or The Groups) is the 39th surah of the Quran. A Meccan surah of 75 verses, it spans the twenty-third and twenty-fourth juz and is counted 59th in the traditional order of revelation, after Saba. Its central call is to worship God with pure devotion; it holds out hope to every repentant sinner and ends with humanity driven in groups to Hell or to Paradise.

Name

The name comes from verses 71 and 73: on the Day of Judgement, the disbelievers are driven to Hell "in groups" (zumaran), and those who feared their Lord are led to Paradise in groups, greeted by its keepers with "Peace be upon you". The surah is Meccan, although some scholars consider verses 52 to 54 Medinan.

Themes

• Pure devotion (39:1–21). "Worship God, making religion sincerely His" (39:2), for "to God belongs pure religion" (39:3). Idolaters claimed they worshipped other beings only to be brought closer to God. God created humankind from a single soul and shapes each person in the womb "within three darknesses" (39:6). "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" (39:9), and "the patient will be given their reward without measure" (39:10).
• The Quran (39:23). God has sent down "the best of speech, a Book consistent in its parts and oft-repeated", at which the skins of those who fear their Lord shiver before softening to His remembrance.
• Parables and mortality (39:27–52). A slave owned by quarrelling partners is contrasted with one who belongs to a single master (39:29). "You will die, and they will die" (39:30): Abu Bakr recited this verse with 3:144 on the day the Prophet died (al-Bukhari). God takes souls at death and during sleep (39:42).
• Hope (39:53–61). "O My servants who have wronged yourselves, do not despair of God's mercy: God forgives all sins" (39:53). According to Ibn Abbas, it was revealed when polytheists who had committed grave sins asked whether there was any expiation for them (al-Bukhari).
• The Last Day (39:67–75). On the Day of Resurrection the whole earth is in His grip and the heavens folded in His right hand (39:67); the trumpet is blown, the earth shines with the light of its Lord, and judgement is passed with truth.

Virtue

Aisha reported that the Prophet would not sleep until he had recited Az-Zumar and Bani Isra'il, that is Al-Isra; the hadith is in al-Tirmidhi and graded sahih by al-Albani. It is followed in the Mushaf by Ghafir, the first of the seven surahs opening with Ha-Mim.