✦ AT A GLANCE ✦
الزمر
Az-Zumar
✦ Why this name
The Groups — az-Zumar, from the crowds driven in groups toward Paradise and toward the Fire at the end of the surah.
✦ When it came
Meccan. Some reports say verse 53 was revealed about people who had committed grave sins and thought there was no way back for them.
✦ The story
The surah asks a question that answers itself: *"Is one who is devoutly obedient during the night, prostrating and standing, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord… Say: are those who know equal to those who do not know?"*
Its heart is verse 53, and no verse in the Quran opens a wider door: *"Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves — do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."* Ibn 'Abbas رضي الله عنهما called it the most hopeful verse in the Book.
It ends with the two crowds arriving. At the Fire, the gates are opened when they get there. At the Garden, the gates are *already open* when they arrive, and the keepers say: *"Peace be upon you; you have done well, so enter it, abiding eternally."*
✦ How it unfolds
- AYAH 1-20
Sincere religion
Worship purified for Allah alone, creation in stages, and the one who stands at night.
- AYAH 21-35
Hearts softened
A Book whose recitation makes skins shiver and then soften, and the parable of one master versus many.
- AYAH 53-59
Do not despair
The widest door in the Quran, and the warning to walk through it before regret arrives.
- AYAH 68-75
The two crowds
The horn, the groups driven, and gates that stand open before the righteous reach them.