Surah Ar-Rahmaan (55) — Ayah 1

A famous hadith regarding the virtue of this surah is: [ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَرُوْسٌ وَ عَرُوْسُ الْقُرْآنِ الرَّحْمٰنُ ] "Everything has a bridegroom, and the bridegroom of the Qur'an is Surah Ar-Rahman." (The word "Aroos" means both bridegroom and bride.) Suyuti narrated it in {’’ اَلْجَامِعُ الصَّغِيْرُ ‘‘} from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) with reference to {’’ شُعَبُ الْإِيْمَانِ لِلْبَيْهَقِيْ ‘‘}. Allama Albani has graded it as weak. See Da'eef al-Jami' (4729).

(Ayah 2,1) ➊ {اَلرَّحْمٰنُ( 1) عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ:} This surah begins with the blessed name {’’ اَلرَّحْمٰنُ ‘‘} of Allah, and the entire surah is a detailed account of His immense and countless mercy. In it, Allah Almighty has mentioned each of His blessings and repeatedly reminded of His favor. Among these blessings are those bestowed upon all people in the world, and those exclusive to the believers. Of these, the greatest blessing—the religion—has been mentioned first, because success in both this world and the Hereafter depends on it, and the foundation of religion is the Noble Qur'an. Therefore, it is said: «اَلرَّحْمٰنُ (1) عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ » "The Most Merciful taught the Qur'an."

➋ In {’’ اَلرَّحْمٰنُ (1) عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘}, along with the mention of the blessing, there is also a refutation of the slander of the disbelievers that « اِنَّمَا يُعَلِّمُهٗ بَشَرٌ » [ النحل : ۱۰۳ ] i.e., a human teaches you (peace and blessings be upon him). It is said, the one who teaches you is neither a human nor any other being, but it is the Most Merciful who taught you the Qur'an. Ibn Ashur explained it in such a way that the predicate is brought after the subject in the form of a verb to give the benefit of specification. Because the disbelievers used to say that someone else taught you the Qur'an, as if they admitted that you did not make it up yourself but someone else taught you, but they did not accept that the one who taught you the Qur'an is Allah Almighty. Therefore, it is said: "It is the Most Merciful who taught (you) this Qur'an." {’’ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘ ’’ اَلرَّحْمٰنُ ‘‘} is the first predicate of the subject, after which there are three continuous predicates brought without a conjunction. By mentioning these blessings in this manner, not only are the blessings being expressed, but it is also being made clear that these blessings are granted only by the Most Merciful, and no one else has any part or share in granting them. The polytheists accepted up to this point, but were not ready to accept the necessary implication that since all these blessings are from the Most Merciful, worship is also due to Him alone. Thus, by enumerating the blessings, the polytheists are being alerted to their error and attention is being drawn to the worship of Allah alone.

➌ In {’’ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘}, one object of {’’ عَلَّمَ ‘‘} is mentioned as {’’ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘}, that the Most Merciful taught this Qur'an, but the second object—whom He taught—is not mentioned; it has been omitted so that it remains general. Some commentators have said that by this omission is meant the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but it is better to keep it general. There is no doubt that Allah Almighty first taught the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but obviously, through him and later through the teachers of the Qur'an, the real entity who teaches the Qur'an to all people is Allah Almighty. If He does not teach, neither the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) can teach, nor the Companions, nor any teacher after them. Therefore, the teaching of the Qur'an is mentioned as a special blessing of Allah Almighty.

➍ Since most commentators have taken {’’ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘} here to mean the Noble Qur'an revealed to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the above explanation is according to that. There is also room for another interpretation in the words of the verse, which is that the literal meaning of {’’ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘} is {’’قِرَاءَةٌ‘‘} (to read), as stated in Surah Qiyamah (18): « فَاِذَا قَرَاْنٰهُ فَاتَّبِعْ قُرْاٰنَهٗ » "So when We have recited it, follow its recitation." According to this interpretation, Allah Almighty is reminding mankind of the blessing of teaching how to read, i.e., the meaning of {’’ اَلرَّحْمٰنُ (1) عَلَّمَ الْقُرْاٰنَ ‘‘} is: "It is the Most Merciful who taught (how) to read." Remember, in the very first revelation sent to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the blessing of teaching how to write was especially mentioned, as it is said: « اِقْرَاْ وَ رَبُّكَ الْاَكْرَمُ (3) الَّذِيْ عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ» [ العلق :۳،۴] "Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous. Who taught by the pen." So in Surah Ar-Rahman, the blessing of teaching how to read is mentioned. According to this interpretation, this blessing becomes even more general, which includes reading the Qur'an as well. The reality is that writing, reading, and expression are among those great blessings of Allah Almighty upon mankind that distinguish him from animals. Through these, he communicates with other humans near and far, learns and teaches the sciences obtained from divine revelation and from human intellect and experience, preserves them by writing, and conveys them to future generations.

The Most Merciful has.

The tafsir of this ayah is included with the following verse(s).