ADHIKR

This Surath got the name ‘Annajm’ (the Star) from the first verse, which says ‘By the Star when it sets’. It was revealed during the last period in the fifth year of the Messenger’s Meccan life after Muhammad got Prophethood. This is the first Surath revealed containing the ‘prostration of recitation’. To not witness the darkness of life seen in society, Muhammad was spending the daytime in the cave Hira in meditation and retreat. At that time, in the morning, Angel Jibreel was presenting himself near Muhammad in his full shape, and was giving the verses 96: 1 to 96: 5 as a divine Message to him. Then Jibreel told Muhammad to read, but he said, "I am not the one reading." Then Jibreel embraced Muhammad, and then he became breathless, and his soul contacted the Lord in Paradise. Then he remembered the verses taught from Paradise and could read the verses 96: 1-5 being the first revelation from the Lord. The second time Jibreel presented near Muhammad in his real shape with 600 wings was from ‘Sidrathul Munthaha—Lote tree beyond the boundary’—in the Messenger’s ascending journey to Paradise, which is above the seven heavens.

This Surath teaches that no intercession of Angels or saintly people will be benefited without the Permission of Allah, who is the Lord of the Universe; and those who ascribe intercessors and mediators to Lord Allah, and who consider the Angels as Allah’s daughters, are not following except conjectures. They are rejecting the Hereafter and are acquiring knowledge benefiting only this worldly life. This Surath also teaches that the Lord who has created mankind in the bellies of their mothers knows very clearly who among you are the heedful, and so you should not purify yourselves. That means you need not familiarize Him with yourself. It also teaches that man has nothing except what he is doing intentionally; and that on the Day everyone will be rewarded for what he intentionally did, no bearer of burden will bear any other's burden. And that is also the Message of the Books revealed to earlier Messengers such as Moses and Ibrahim. This Surath, containing 62 verses, ends teaching that Adhikr is the warning of Lord Allah to all His creatures, and the Day of the happening of Its warnings is coming near and near, and so by considering Adhikr—the Speech of the Lord—as serious, mankind is commanded to serve Allah and to prostrate before Him.