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| النجم An-Najm The Star | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Meccan |
| Position | Juzʼ 27 |
| Hizbno. | 53 |
| No. ofverses | 62 |
| No. ofRukus | 3 |
| No. ofSajdahs | 1 (verse 62) |
| No. of words | 360 |
| No. of letters | 1433 |
| Quran |
|---|
An-Najm[1] (Arabic:النجم,an-najm;meaning: The Star) is the53rd chapter (surah) of theQuran, with 62 verses (āyāt). The surah opens with the oath of the Divine One swearing by every one of the stars, as they descend and disappear beneath the horizon, thatMuhammad is indeed God's awaited Messenger. It takes its name fromAyat #1, which mentions "the stars" (najm). The surah confirms the divine source of the Prophet's message and refers to his ascension to heaven during theNight Journey (Ayah#1 ff.). The surah refutes the claims of the disbelievers about the goddesses and the angels (ayah#19 ff.), and lists several truths about God's power. It closes with a warning of the imminentDay of Judgement.
Regarding the timing and contextual background of the believedrevelation (asbāb al-nuzūl), it is an earlier "Meccan surah", which means it is believed to have been revealed inMecca, rather than later inMedina.
The surah is distinguished as being the first that required Muslims toprostrate, or performsajdah, when it is recited, according toTafsirIbn Kathir and a number ofhadiths. The surah claims that, when it was first narrated in Mecca, all Muslims and non-Muslims who heard the recitation (except one man) prostrated to God upon its completion due to the effect that the words had upon them.[2]
The first eighteen verses of this surah are considered to be some of the earliest revelations of theQuran. These verses address the legitimacy of Muhammad's prophetic visions. The surah begins with the divine voice swearing by the collapsing star that "Your companion," referring to Muhammad, has not gone mad, nor does he speak out of his desire. The passage evokes the process of vision by tracing the movement along the highest horizon and then coming down and drawing near to the distance of "two bows" length. The passage ends with the affirmation of the validity of the vision by stating that the heart of the prophet "did not lie in what it saw."
The surah is also known for referencing the starSirius in verse 49, where it is given the nameالشِّعْرَى (transliteration:aš-ši‘rā orash-shira; the leader).[4] The verse is: "وأنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّ الشِّعْرَى", "That He is the Lord of Sirius (the Mighty Star)."[5]
Ibn Kathir (d.1373) said in his commentary "that it is the bright star, named Mirzam Al-Jawza' (Sirius), which a group of Arabs used to worship."[1]: 53:49 The alternate (to Sirius)Aschere, used byJohann Bayer, is derived from this.[6]
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Works related toThe Holy Qur'an (Maulana Muhammad Ali)/53. The Star at Wikisource