Surah Al-A'raf — Audio Overview

Welcome0:00

Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa's overview of Surah Al-A'raf.

This recording walks through the whole surah in about half an hour, following the five movements we use in our study year. It goes with the About the surah page on the halaqa website, where every passage is linked to its session and to the sources behind what you hear.

We'll look at what kind of surah this is, then take the five movements one at a time. Along the way we'll hear recitation of the opening, of ayah forty-six, of ayah one hundred and seventy-two, and of the closing passage. We'll finish with four things to carry from the whole surah.

What kind of surah this is0:43

Surah Al-A'raf is the seventh surah of the Qur'an. It has two hundred and six ayat, across the eighth and ninth juz, and by length it is the longest of the Makkan surahs. It ends with a verse of prostration.

It is a late Makkan surah, one of the seven long surahs. Some scholars hold that the passage about the people of the Sabbath, from ayah one hundred and sixty-three, was revealed later in Madinah. That is a classification of the surah as a whole, not a verse-by-verse timeline.

The name. Al-A'raf means the heights. It comes from one scene in ayat forty-six and forty-eight, where people stand on a high place between Paradise and the Fire and recognize both groups by their marks. This is the only surah in the Qur'an that mentions them, and we will hear that ayah recited later.

One piece of background. In Sahih al-Bukhari, Zayd ibn Thabit asks Marwan ibn al-Hakam why he recites short surahs in Maghrib. He himself had heard the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, recite the longer of the two long surahs there. That narration does not name the surah. A narration in Sunan al-Nasa'i identifies it as Al-A'raf.

So this long surah is one the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is reported to have recited in the Maghrib prayer.

What is the surah about? Here is our own one-sentence summary. It is an account of what follows when Allah's signs and His messengers are rejected, told through the histories of prophets whose own people turned them away. That is the story we will follow, and in each movement we will watch how people respond to guidance.

The surah falls into five movements, and our year plan follows them. One, ayat one to fifty-eight. Two, fifty-nine to one hundred and two. Three, one hundred and three to one hundred and thirty-seven. Four, one hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred and seventy-one. Five, one hundred and seventy-two to the end. This division is our teaching outline, not a division of the Qur'an itself. The recitation throughout is by Mishary Rashid Alafasy.

Movement one — revelation, origins, and judgment (1–58)3:03

Movement one. Ayat one to fifty-eight. From the command to follow the Book, to the signs of resurrection. Here is how the surah opens.

Recitation of 7:1–3 · Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the Arabic and translation of ayat 1–10.

Ayat one to ten are our first session. Four letters, Alif Lam Mim Sad. Then a Book, sent down so that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, would have no tightness in his chest about it. Then a command to us: follow what has been revealed to you, and do not follow other protectors besides Him.

Then towns destroyed at night or at midday rest, whose only words at the end were, we were wrongdoers. Then the questioning of both the messengers and their peoples, and the scale, where the weighing on that Day will be true. And it closes with the earth Allah settled us on. Little do you remember, says ayah three.

Little are you grateful, says ayah ten.

Ayat eleven to twenty-five. The story of Adam and Iblis. Iblis refuses to prostrate before Adam, and his reason is, I am better than him. He is given time, and he promises to sit in wait for the children of Adam on the straight path.

Adam and his wife are deceived, and then comes the sentence that separates them from Iblis. In plain words: our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers. Iblis defended himself, while Adam admitted the wrong and asked for mercy.

As a reflection, that is the surah's first lesson about how to handle being wrong.

Ayat twenty-six to thirty-six. Four times Allah addresses the children of Adam. He gave you clothing, and the clothing of taqwa, of being mindful of Allah, is best. Do not let Shaytan tempt you as he drew your parents out of the Garden. Eat and drink, but do not go to excess.

And when messengers come to you, whoever fears Allah and does right has nothing to fear. In between, the passage rejects rules that people invent and then attribute to Allah, and it answers the excuse, we found our fathers doing it. The boundary belongs to Allah, not to custom.

Ayat thirty-seven to fifty-one. The Day of Judgment. The deniers blame each other. The arrogant are told the gates of heaven will not open for them. The people of the Garden and the people of the Fire call across to each other, and between them is a partition. On the heights stand people who recognize both sides. Here is ayah forty-six.

Recitation of 7:46 · Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:46 on Quran.com.

Who are they? Ibn Kathir reports the well-known view, from Hudhayfah, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud and others. They are people whose good and bad deeds came out equal, held between the two places until Allah decides. Al-Qurtubi records other views as well, among them the righteous and learned, the martyrs, and the prophets.

The ayah itself says three things: they recognize both groups, they greet the people of Paradise, and they have not entered it yet, though they long to.

Ayat fifty-two to fifty-eight close the movement. The surah lifts our eyes to creation. Your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days; the night and the day, the sun, the moon and the stars, all under His command. So call on Him humbly and in private.

Then the rain, which Allah drives to a dead land and brings out fruit from it. In the same way, the ayah says, We bring out the dead. A good land gives its produce, and a bad land gives only a little. As a reflection, the picture is simple.

The same rain falls on everyone, and what comes up depends on the soil.

Movement two — the messengers and their communities (59–102)8:25

Movement two. Ayat fifty-nine to one hundred and two. Five prophets, one after another. Their accounts share a pattern of warning, rejection and consequences, while each one shows a different response to guidance.

Ayat fifty-nine to sixty-four. Nuh. He says, worship Allah, you have no god but Him, and I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day. The chiefs say, we see you in clear error. He answers, I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds, and I am giving you sincere advice.

Allah saves Nuh and those with him in the ship, and the deniers are drowned. Nuh calls himself a sincere adviser, and that is the messenger's job in this surah.

Ayat sixty-five to seventy-two. Hud and the people of Ad. Their chiefs say, we see you in foolishness. Hud reminds them that Allah made them successors after Nuh's people and gave them strength, so remember His favors. They answer, have you come so that we leave what our fathers worshipped? Hud and the believers are saved, and Ad is cut off. That appeal to the fathers is answered in the last movement.

Ayat seventy-three to seventy-nine. Salih and Thamud. The sign is a she-camel: leave her to eat on Allah's earth and do her no harm. Thamud built palaces on the plains and carved homes in the mountains, and their arrogant leaders mocked the weak people who believed. They kill the camel, and the earthquake takes them in their homes.

Salih turns away and says, my people, I gave you sincere advice, but you do not love sincere advisers.

Ayat eighty to eighty-four. Lut. His account begins differently, with a rebuke of his people's conduct, their sexual transgression. Their only answer is to demand that Lut and his household be driven out, because, they say, they are people who keep themselves pure. Allah saves Lut and his family, except his wife, and a rain of punishment comes down on the rest. It is the shortest of the five accounts.

Ayat eighty-five to ninety-three. Shu'ayb and Madyan. With the call to worship Allah alone, Shu'ayb brings commands about honest measures and weights, about not cheating people of their due, and about not spreading corruption. The chiefs threaten to drive him out unless he returns to their religion.

He refuses, puts his trust in Allah, and asks Allah to decide between them. The earthquake comes. Of the five accounts, this is the one where the message is spelled out in terms of business and money. As a reflection, faith and fair dealing come in the same breath.

Ayat ninety-four to one hundred and two. Now the surah looks at the pattern. Whenever Allah sent a prophet to a town, He tested the people with hardship so they would humble themselves. Then He replaced it with ease, and they said, our fathers also had hard times and good times. So they were seized suddenly.

If only the people of the towns had believed and been mindful, Allah would have opened blessings on them from the sky and the earth. Then the summary line: We did not find most of them true to their covenant. The word covenant returns in the last movement, where the surah answers it.

Movement three — Musa and Fir'awn (103–137)11:56

Movement three. Ayat one hundred and three to one hundred and thirty-seven. After the five short accounts comes the long one, Musa and Fir'awn, one of the fullest tellings of it in the Qur'an. Here the message meets political power face to face.

Ayat one hundred and three to one hundred and twelve. Musa says to Fir'awn, I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds, so send the children of Israel with me. He throws down his staff and it becomes a serpent. He draws out his hand and it is white for all to see.

The chiefs say, this is a learned magician who wants to drive you out of your land. So Fir'awn gathers every skilled magician in the kingdom.

Ayat one hundred and thirteen to one hundred and twenty-two. The contest. The magicians ask for a reward if they win, and Fir'awn promises them a place close to him. They throw, and they bewitch the eyes of the people. Musa throws his staff, and it swallows what they had faked.

Then the magicians, brought there to defeat Musa, fall down in prostration and say, we believe in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Musa and Harun. What they asked for before the contest, and what they ask for after it, are very different things.

Ayat one hundred and twenty-three to one hundred and twenty-nine. Fir'awn threatens to cut off their hands and feet and crucify them all. Their answer: you only hold against us that we believed in the signs of our Lord. Our Lord, pour patience on us and let us die as Muslims. Then the pressure shifts to the children of Israel.

Musa tells his people, ask Allah for help and be patient; the earth belongs to Allah, and the final outcome is for those who are mindful of Him. Perhaps your Lord will make you successors in the land, and then He will see how you act. Movement four is the answer to that last phrase.

Ayat one hundred and thirty to one hundred and thirty-seven. The signs come to Egypt. Drought and poor harvests, then the flood, the locusts, the lice, the frogs, and the blood. Each time, Fir'awn's people promise to believe if it is lifted, and each time they break their word.

So Allah takes them in the sea, and the people who had been oppressed inherit the blessed land. As a reflection, the movement ends with a victory that carries a question inside it. The oppressed have the land now. What will they do with it?

Movement four — Bani Israil after deliverance (138–171)14:28

Movement four. Ayat one hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred and seventy-one. The children of Israel after they are saved. This is a hard part of the surah to hear, because it is about people who saw the truth win with their own eyes and then struggled to stay with it.

Ibn Kathir connects their first request to a moment in the Prophet's own community. Abu Waqid al-Laythi reports that on the way to Hunayn, some companions asked for a tree to hang their weapons on, as the idolaters did.

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, answered that this was like what Musa's people said: make for us a god like their gods. As a reflection, we hold these passages as instruction for us too, not as a story about someone else.

Ayat one hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred and forty-three. They have just crossed the sea. They pass a people worshipping idols and say to Musa, make us a god like theirs. He says, you are a people who do not know; this is the One who saved you from Fir'awn.

Then Musa goes to the appointment with his Lord, forty nights, leaving Harun in charge. He asks to see Allah. Allah says, you cannot see Me, but look at the mountain. The mountain is levelled and Musa falls unconscious. When he recovers he says, glory be to You, I turn to You in repentance.

Ayat one hundred and forty-four to one hundred and fifty-one. Musa receives the tablets and is told, hold them firmly. Then a warning: those who are arrogant on the earth without right will not believe even if they see every sign. And while Musa is away, the people take a calf made from their jewelry and worship it.

Musa comes back angry, throws down the tablets, and takes hold of his brother. Harun says, son of my mother, the people overpowered me. Musa's answer is a prayer: my Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy.

Ayat one hundred and fifty-two to one hundred and fifty-seven. Judgment on those who took the calf, and then the door: those who do wrong and then repent and believe, your Lord after that is Forgiving and Merciful. Musa chooses seventy men for the appointment; a trembling seizes them, and Musa pleads for forgiveness.

Allah answers with a description of who His mercy is written for: those who are mindful, who give zakah, and who believe in His signs. The ayah continues: those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written about in the Torah and the Gospel.

Right in the middle of Musa's story, the surah points forward to Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Ayat one hundred and fifty-eight to one hundred and sixty-two. The address widens to everyone: say, O mankind, I am the Messenger of Allah to you all. Then back to the children of Israel, and the surah also identifies a community among Musa's people that guides with truth and judges by it. They were twelve tribes.

Water came from the rock, the clouds shaded them, manna and quails came down. And when they were told to enter the town and say hittah, a word of seeking forgiveness, some of them changed the word to something else.

Ayat one hundred and sixty-three to one hundred and seventy-one. The town by the sea, and the Sabbath. On the Sabbath the fish came openly, and on other days they did not. Some broke the Sabbath. Some spoke against it. A third group asked why bother warning people whom Allah was about to destroy.

The surah says plainly that those who forbade the wrong were saved and the wrongdoers were punished. About the third group, the ones who questioned further admonition, the ayah says nothing, and Ibn Kathir records a discussion among the early scholars about them.

The movement closes with later generations who inherited the Book and took the passing things of this life, and with the mountain raised over them as the covenant was taken.

Movement five — covenant, discernment, and worship (172–206)18:41

Movement five. Ayat one hundred and seventy-two to two hundred and six. The surah has shown us the whole history. Now it comes to the root of the matter, and to us. Here is ayah one hundred and seventy-two.

Recitation of 7:172 · Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:172 on Quran.com.

Ayat one hundred and seventy-two to one hundred and seventy-four. Your Lord brought out the descendants of Adam and made them testify about themselves. Am I not your Lord? They said, yes, we testify. So that on the Day of Resurrection nobody can say, we did not know, or, our fathers did this and we only followed.

Ibn Kathir connects this with the fitrah, the natural disposition Allah created us on, and he cites the narration that every child is born on the fitrah. He also transmits reports about a covenant taken from Adam's descendants, and the page keeps those as reports. What the ayah settles is this.

The appeal to the fathers, which we heard from Ad in movement two and from the towns in ayah ninety-five, is closed. Every soul has already said yes.

Ayat one hundred and seventy-five to one hundred and seventy-nine. A man was given Allah's signs and slipped out of them and followed his desire. His likeness is a dog that pants whether you chase it or leave it. The ayah does not name him, and we do not need a name to hear the point.

Then a verse many of us know: hearts they do not understand with, eyes they do not see with, ears they do not hear with. Those are the heedless. As a reflection, the failure is not a lack of faculties. It is not using the ones we have.

Ayat one hundred and eighty to one hundred and eighty-eight. To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call on Him by them. Those who deny the signs, Allah says, We will draw them on gradually from where they do not know.

Have they not looked at the heavens and the earth, and considered that their own time may be near? Then the question people asked the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: when is the Hour? Say, its knowledge is only with my Lord. I am only a warner and a bringer of good news to people who believe.

Ayat one hundred and eighty-nine to one hundred and ninety-eight. Allah created you from a single soul. Then the picture of people praying for a healthy child and, once the child comes, giving partners to Allah in what He gave them. Ibn Kathir prefers the view that this describes idolaters among Adam's descendants, not the first parents.

The rest of the passage takes the idols apart. Do they create anything, when they are themselves created? If you call them, they do not hear. As a reflection, the surah wants us to feel how empty the alternative to Allah is.

And now the ending. Ayat one hundred and ninety-nine to two hundred and six.

Recitation of 7:199–206 · Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:199–206 on Quran.com.

Take what is given freely, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant. Ibn Kathir reports the explanation that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was told to pardon people's behaviour, to take what comes easily from them and not to demand more. Then: if a whisper from Shaytan provokes you, seek refuge in Allah.

Those who are mindful, when a touch from Shaytan reaches them, remember, and at once they see clearly. Remembrance restores sight. Then: when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and pay attention. Remember your Lord within yourself, morning and evening, and do not be among the heedless.

And the final ayah: those who are near your Lord are not too proud to worship Him; they glorify Him, and to Him they prostrate. The surah that began with Iblis refusing to prostrate, saying, I am better than him, ends with those who are never too proud to worship, and with a prostration of our own.

Four things to carry25:48

Four things to carry from the whole surah. These are our own summary, for reflection.

One. Revelation asks for a response. The surah opens by handing us a Book and saying, follow it. It closes by saying, when the Qur'an is recited, listen, and remember your Lord.

Two. Arrogance blocks recognition. Iblis said, I am better than him. The chiefs of the towns said no. Fir'awn saw the signs and broke every promise. Ayah one hundred and forty-six says it directly: those who are arrogant without right will not believe even if they see every sign.

These accounts ask us to examine whether pride is stopping us from responding to guidance we already recognize. That leaves plenty of room for honest questions, and for learning.

Three. Being given something does not remove accountability; it adds to it. Ad was given strength, Thamud prosperity, and the children of Israel deliverance, the Book, and the land. Each time, the surah asks what they did with it.

Four. Repentance and mercy run through the whole surah. Adam's confession and his plea for mercy. The magicians' prayer for patience. Musa's prayer for himself and his brother. Alongside its warnings, the surah gives us powerful examples of turning back to Allah and asking for His mercy.

Close27:21

That is the shape of Surah Al-A'raf. On the About the surah page you will find the five movements with every passage, and a question for each movement. You will also find the sources for what you heard, and a link to each session as it is published. We take the surah in order, one passage a week, on Tuesdays at seven in the evening, Central time, on Google Meet, for an hour.

Everyone is welcome, including anyone who is new to studying the Qur'an. Bring your questions to the halaqa.

Thank you for listening. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.