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Sura 50
Aya 1

Chapter 50

QāfQāf ( ق )

45 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that opens with the single discrete Arabic letter Qāf. It deals predominantly with the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement. Reference is made to previous generations of disbelievers (verse 12 ff.), both to warn the disbelievers in Mecca and to reassure the Prophet. Creation is cited as an indication of God’s ability to bring the dead to life again (verse 3 ff.), and emphasis is placed on the powerlessness of man on the Day of Resurrection (verse 20). The surah both opens and closes with mention of the Quran.«

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Yusuf Ali: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1
ق ۚ وَالقُرآنِ المَجيدِ

Yusuf Ali

Qaf:1 By the Glorious2 Qur-ān (Thou art God’s Messenger.
  • This is an Abbreviated Letter. For Abbreviated letters generally, see Appendix 1. This particular Abbreviated Letter Qaf occurs only here as a single letter, and in combination at the beginning of S. 42, where I was unable to explain the full combination. Here the Qaf is taken by several Commentators to represent Qudiya al Amr, “the matter has been decreed,” with reference to the eschatological trend of the Sūra. God knows best.
  • Majid (translated “Glorious”) is one of the beautiful appellations of the Qur-ān. Its glory is that of the rising sun: the more it rises on your mental and spiritual horizon, the more you are lost in admiration of its glory. Its meanings are manifest and inexhaustible. The greater your experience, the more light is your spiritual eye able to bear. And in that glory is a beauty that none can tell who has not experienced it in his soul. It is itself the proof of the mission of the Prophet.