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Sūrat at-Tīn (Arabic: التين‎, "The Fig, The Figtree") is the ninety-fifth sura of the Qur'an with 8 ayat.
This sura opens by mentioning the fig (the sura’s namesake), the olive, Mount Sinai, and "this city secured" (generally considered to be Mecca).

Muhammad Asad, the author of The Message of The Qur'an comments on these verses as follows:

The "fig" and the "olive" symbolize, in this context, the lands in which these trees predominate: i.e., the countries bordering on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, especially Palestine and Syria. As it was in these lands that most of the Abrahamic prophets mentioned in the Qur’an lived and preached, these two species of tree may be taken as metonyms for the religious teachings voiced by the long line of those God-inspired men, culminating in the person of the last Judaic prophet, Jesus. "Mount Sinai", on the other hand, stresses specifically the apostleship of Moses, inasmuch as the religious law valid before, and up to, the advent of Muhammad—and in its essentials binding on Jesus as well—was revealed to Moses on a mountain of the Sinai Desert. Finally, "this land secure" signifies undoubtedly (as is evident from 2:126) Mecca, where Muhammad, the Last Prophet, was born and received his divine call.
— Muhammad Asad, The Message of The Quran

The cosmology of the Qur'an states that God made mankind out of clay. This sura suggests not only this, but that the mould which God used for man was "the best possible". The lowness of the clay has set humanity apart from God; because clay is heavier and more solid than fire, from which the Jinn were made, or light, from which the angels came.

However, not all humanity is condemned to absolute removal from God's company. The passage continues that "those who believe and do what is right will have a reward that will never be cut off". A human life, when perfected, will thus rise above its modest origins, giving the human condition a unique possibility for glory on the Last Day. God's judgment, for Heaven or Hell, cannot be contradicted, for "Is not God the best of judges?"

The sura starts with three oaths; When Quran presents an oath, there is a response (jawab) which is related to the oath. That is the central message of the surah. So without understanding the oath and its response, the message of the surah cannot be fully understood. In Classical Arabic, a location would be called by what it was famous for. So fig and olive can refer to two locations. Fig refers to Mount Judi where Prophet Nuh's Ark landed,[1] while At-Teen referring to Prophet Noah, the location where his Ark ship landed, az-Zaytoon referring to Jesus who was born in Palestine where olives grow[2] or Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine.[3] These Oaths are Referring to the 2 fruits and also their locations.[4] So the idea that fig and olive refers to both fruit and location was a view of the Sahabah and their early students. According to Ruh al-Ma'ani by Mahmud al-Alusi The intent by naming 2 fruits is to mention 2 mountains from the Holy land of Palestine. Toor refers to a lush, full of trees, green mountain.[5] After Sayna in Sura Al-Mu’minoon, Seeneen is the second version of the name of Mount Sinai which existed in the Hebrew Language among the Scholars. This mountain was not known among the Arabs generally. Moreover, some scholars believe Muhammad was illiterate and he did not have any Jewish companions in the Makkan era when this surah was revealed. (Notably, others point out that scriptures referring to Muhammad as "unlettered" actually mean that he was a member of a nation, i.e., the Arabs, that had never received a Scripture before and so, in the parlance of the times, was unlettered in the Torah but not illiterate in the modern sense.

"سبحانك الله و بلا أنا على ذلك من الشهيدين" subhanakAllah wa bal-laa ana 'ala dhalik min ash-shahideen

(Glory be to Allah, and no doubt I am on that from the witnesses).

Last update

March 24, 2020

Surah Tin

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