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Chapter 96

The Clinging Massal-ʿAlaq ( العلق )

19 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that contains the first revealed verses of the Quran, reminding the human being of The Clinging Mass, a stage that reflects the miracle of human creation in the womb of the mother. The surah is also known by the first Quranic instruction: Read. It is named after “the clining mass” (ʿalaq) mentioned in verse 2. The first five verses are known to be the first revelation of the Quran when the Prophet Muḥammad was instructed to read. The second part came later to show that man transgresses when he becomes self-satisfied.«

The surah is also known as Clots of Blood, Proclaim, Read, Recite, The Blood-clot, The Clinging Clot, The Clinging Form, The Clot, The Embryo

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

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

1
اقرَأ بِاسمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذي خَلَقَ

Yusuf Ali

Verse 1-5 of this Sūra were the first direct Revelation to the holt Prophet. The circumstances, material and psychical, in which they came, are described in the introduction to S. 1 (C. 28-30), which should be referred to.
After that there was an interval of break (Fatra) extending over some months or perhaps over a year. S. 68 is usually considered to have been the next revelation in point of time. But the remainder of this Sūra (96:6-19) came soon after the Fatra, and that portion is joined on to the first five verses containing the command to preach, because it explains the chief obstacle to the delivery of the message to man, viz.: man’s own obstinacy, vanity, and insolence.
C. 276 | [96:1-19] Noble is the mission of the Prophet, selected to proclaim the Message of God, the Lord and Cherisher of all His Creation, Whose measureless bounties include the instruction of man in new and ever new knowledge. But alas for man! he fancies himself self-sufficient, turns away from the Path, and misleads others. But nothing is hidden from God. He will bring all untruth and sin and rebellion to Judgment, and subdue all evil. The righteous bow in adoration to God, and draw closer to Him.
Proclaim! (or Read!)1 in the name2 of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created—
  • Iqra’ may mean “read”, or “recite or rehearse”, or “proclaim aloud”, the object understood being God’s Message. For an account of the circumstances in which this first revelation—the divine commission to preach and proclaim God’s Message came to the Prophet, in the cave of Ḥirā’, see introduction to S. 1 (C. 27-31). In worldly letters he was unversed, but with spiritual knowledge his mind and soul were filled, and now had come the time when he must stand forth to the world and declare his mission.
  • The declaration or proclamation was to be in the name of God the Creator. It was not for any personal benefit to the Prophet: to him there was to come bitter persecution, sorrow, and suffering. It was the call of God for the benefit of erring humanity. God is mentioned by his tide of “thy Lord and Cherisher”, to establish a direct nexus between the source of the Message and the one addressed. The Message was not merely an abstract proposition of philosophy, but the direct concrete message of a personal God to the creatures whom He loves and cherishes. “Thy” addressed to the Prophet is appropriate in two ways: (1) he was in direct contact with the divine Messenger (Gabriel) and Him Who sent the Messenger; (2) he represented the whole of humanity, in a fuller sense than that in which Christ Jesus is the “Son of Man”.