Surah An-Najm – Yousef Bin Noah Ahmad

An-Najm (The Star) is the 53rd surah of the Quran. It is a Meccan surah of 62 verses and the 23rd in the traditional order of revelation, after Al-Ikhlas. It opens with an oath "by the star when it descends", affirms that the Prophet speaks only by revelation, and ends with a verse of prostration.

Revelation and vision

The Prophet ﷺ does not speak from his own desire: "it is only a revelation revealed" (53:3–4). He was taught by one mighty in power, who came as near as two bow-lengths or nearer (53:5–9), and he saw him again by the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (53:13–14). Aisha and Ibn Mas'ud explained, in reports of al-Bukhari and Muslim, that he saw the angel Gabriel in his true form; the second vision is linked to the Ascension that followed the Night Journey.

Themes

• The idols al-Lat, al-'Uzza and Manat, "nothing but names you have named" (53:19–23), and angels whose intercession avails only by God's leave (53:26).
• The teaching of the scrolls of Moses and Abraham: no soul bears another's burden, and a person has only what he strives for (53:36–41).
• God's power over laughter and tears, death and life, and the fate of 'Ad, Thamud and the people of Noah (53:43–54), ending with the command "So prostrate to God and worship" (53:62).

The prostration of An-Najm

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that An-Najm was the first surah revealed containing a prostration: the Prophet recited it and prostrated, and all present did the same except one man, who raised a handful of dust to his forehead (al-Bukhari and Muslim). According to Ibn Abbas, Muslims and polytheists, jinn and humans prostrated with him (al-Bukhari). Yet when Zayd ibn Thabit recited it before him, the Prophet did not prostrate (al-Bukhari and Muslim), which most scholars take to show that this prostration is recommended, not obligatory.

Related surahs

It follows At-tur and precedes Al-Qamar.