☪️ Quran:Chapter 26 The Poets – Al Shuraa سورة الشعراء

Revelation place: Mecca

Revelation order: 47

Number of verses: 227

Theme:  The power of the divine message and the fate of those who reject it. This Surah emphasizes belief in the Hereafter, the Oneness of God , and responds to doubts about the Quran. It urges reflection on creation of our bodies, food, water, and fire, as evidence of God’s power. Humans are reminded of their helplessness at death. Denial of the truth will not stop the reality of resurrection and judgment by Allah.

Subjects: Theology · Prophethood · History · Revelation · Warning

Summary:Ash-Shuʿarāʾ is a majestic Meccan surah that presents the unbroken chain of prophetic struggle showing how the truth has always triumphed, even when confronted by overwhelming opposition. It begins with verses of reassurance to the Prophet, who was grieved by his people’s rejection.

The surah recounts the stories of Moses and Pharaoh, Abraham, Noah, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Lot, and Shuʿayb. Each story follows a clear pattern: the prophets call their people to worship Allah alone, the disbelievers mock and reject them, then divine justice prevails.

The surah highlights the contrast between divine truth, revealed to messengers, and falsehood adorned by poets and eloquent speech which can mislead people if not rooted in truth. It affirms that only those poets who believe in Allah and stand for justice are praiseworthy.

It closes with comfort to the Prophet: he stands in the line of all prophets, and rejection is not a sign of failure, but a repeated human pattern before the truth ultimately prevails.

Key Embedded Themes:

• Prophetic Continuity: All messengers faced rejection but triumphed through faith.

• Divine Power: Allah supports His messengers and destroys falsehood.

• Moral Speech: Words can mislead or elevate, depending on their foundation.

• Warning & Mercy: Every nation is given a chance before judgment.

• Prophetic Consolation: Rejection is part of the divine path of truth.

Essence:Ash-Shuʿarāʾ is a reminder that eloquence and power cannot stand against divine truth. It strengthens the believer’s resolve and assures that the message of Allah always prevails no matter how fierce the opposition.

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the condemned.

With the name of Allah, the Gracious the Merciful.

(Acknowledge and declare that Allah is the author of the Quran)

1- Tah, Seen, Meem . These standalone letters are not part of a sentence, making their exact meaning unclear. Over the centuries, scholars have pondered their significance, but without direct guidance from Allah, their meanings remain hidden."

When a word is part of a sentence and that word is new or has multiple meanings, it helps to compare that word when it appears again in other sentences in the Quran, to understand its meaning.

But these “Standalone letters” are not part of any sentence to shed light on their meaning, even if repeated they are still “stand-alone”.

My point of view are these Standalone letters serve as a powerful reminder of our dependence on Allah's guidance. Without His insight, much in life, including these standalone letters, remains a mystery. They exemplify our need to seek understanding through the Quran, Allah's Straight Path.

It's important to remember that the Prophet was illiterate, and the Quran was revealed to him verbally. He conveyed it in the same manner it was revealed to him

Tah, Seen, Meem." Reiterate the importance of humility in the face of divine mystery and the continuous pursuit of knowledge through the Quran.)

(Allah knows best)

2- These are the signs of the clear book (that separates and shows between the truth and the false, right from wrong, and guide to the straight path)

3- Maybe (Alert to the prophet), you are slaughtering yourself (Torment yourself, Splitting your vertebrate with grieve so deeply that it takes over your soul until you perish) that they will not be believers (overburdening yourself with grief)

4- If We wish We shall send down upon them from the heavens a sign, so their necks will remain to it subjected

5- And does not come to them anew reminder from The Merciful, but they were from it siding away

6- So, they have denied it (that reminder), so will come to them the news of what they used to ridicule

7- Have not they seen at the earth how We have sprouted in it from every pair, in a generous kind

8- Indeed, in that is a sign, but most of them were not believers (despite of that)

9- Indeed, your God is The Mighty, The Merciful (capable but is giving them time)

10- And, as called your God to Moses “that indeed go unto the wrongdoing (unjust) folks”

11- The folks of Pharoah, will they not be (Godfearing) pious?

12- Said ”My God, I fear that they indeed will deny me as a liar” (as Pharoah claims to be God who sent no messenger)

13- And will tighten my chest, and will not launch my tongue, so send to Aaron (His brother to support him)

14- And for them upon me an offence (As he killed and Egyptian), so I fear they kill me

15- Said No (Do not worry), go (both of you) with Our signs, We are with you, listening

16- And come to Pharoah, and say we are indeed the messenger (As one, with Aaron to support) of the God of the worlds

17- That indeed, send with us the children of Israel

18- Said (Pharoah) “Did we not raised you among us as child, and you remained among us (good) years of your age”

19- And did your doing that you did, and you are among the ungrateful (Or disbeliever in Pharo’s divinity)

20- Said” I did it then, and I was among the strayers” (unintended mistake)

21- So, I fled from you when I feared you, so granted me my God wisdom (To know right from wrong) and made me among the messengers

22- And this is the favor that you reproach upon me, (In comparison to what you did )that you have enslaved the children of Isreal

23- Said Pharoh, “and what is the God of the worlds”

24- Said “The God of heavens and the earth and what in between them, if you were faithfully certain (That only God created them)

25- Said (Pharoah) to whom around him “Do you not hear?”

26- Said (Moses) “your God and the God of your first forefathers”

27- Said (Pharoah) “Indeed your messenger who were sent you is mad”

28- Said (Moses) “The God of the east and the west and what in between them, if you were to reason”

29- Said (Pharoah) “If you were to take a God other than me, I will make you among the imprisoned”

30- Said (Moses) “ So, what about, if I brought you a clear thing”

31- Said (Pharoah) “So bring it, if you were among the truthful”

32- So (Moses) cast his staff, so is be it an obvious serpent

33- And (Moses) drew his hand, so is be it was white to the observers

34- Said (Pharoah) to the full-ups (eminent ones) around him, indeed that is a knowing magician

35- He (Said Pharoah) wants to expel you from your land with his magic, so what do you command?

36- They said, postpone him and his brother, and send within the cities gatherers

37- To get you every well knowing magician

38- So was gathered the magician for the appointment of a well-known day

39- And was said to the people, “Will you gather”

40- That we might follow the magician, if they were the victors

41- And when the magicians arrived, they said to Pharoh “ Is there indeed for us a wage, if indeed we were the victors

42- Said ”Yes, and indeed then you will be among the nearer (Close favorers to him)”

43- Said to them Moses “Throw whatever you will throw”

44- So, they threw their ropes and their staffs, and said” By the might of pharaoh, indeed it is we who are the victors”

45- So threw Moses his staff, so it devoured what they falsified (manipulated reality)

46- So threw (dropped, fell) the magician prostrating

47- They said “We believed in the God of the worlds”

48- The God of Moses and Aaron

49- Said (Pharoah)” You believed to him (Moses) before I gave you permission, indeed he is your biggest (Highest chief) who taught you magic, so you will know, I will cut-off your hands and your feet from opposite sides, and will certainly crucify you all

50- They said” No harm upon us, indeed we are all to our God shall be flipped”

51- We aspire that our God forgives us our faults, as we were the first of the believers

52- And We inspired to Moses, that go (At night) with my worshipers, you shall be followed

53- So sent Pharoah into the cities gatherers

54- Indeed, those are but small shards

55- And they are for us enraging

56- And we are all to be cautious

57- So, We took them out from gardens and springs

58- And treasures and generous standing (Humiliated them)

59- Like this We bequeathed it (The generous standing) to the children of Israel

60- So, they followed them at sunrise

61- So, when the two groups sighted, said the companion of Moses” we are being overtaken”

62- Said, No, indeed with me my God, will guide me

63- So, We inspired to Moses, to strike with your staff the sea, so it split, and each side was as great mountain

64- So, we brought midway closer (closer to other side of the shore) the pursuers (Pharoah army)

65- And saved Moses and those with him, all together

66- Then We drowned the others

67- Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

68- And indeed, your God, He is the Mighty, the Merciful

69- And recite upon them the news of Abraham

70- As he said to his father (Azer) and his folks “What do you worship?”

71- They said ”We worship idols, and we remain to them devoted”

72- Said” Do they hear you as you call (Supplicate)

73- Or do you benefit, or they harm?

74- They said ” but we found our fathers like this doing”

75- He said ” Do you see what you have been worshipping

76- you and your oldest forefathers”

77- Indeed, they are an enemy to me, except the God of the worlds

78- Who created me, and He guides me

79- And is He who feeds me and water me

80- And if I become ill, it is He who cures me

81- And who will cause me to die, and then gives me to life

82- And to who I aspire, that He will forgive my faults on the day of religion

83- My God grant me judgement (Wisdom to know the right and do it) and join (catch up) with the righteous

84- And make to me a tongue of truth (Good reputation) among the later

85- And make me among the inheritors’ of the garden of bliss

86- And forgive my father, as he was among the strayed

87- And do not shame me on the day they are raised

88- The day that will not benefit (Anyone) wealth or children’s

89- Except who came to Allah with a sound heart

90- And brought near paradise, to the righteous

91- And stood out hellfire to the tempted (By himself or others to deviate away from Allah’s path)

92- And was said to them, where are those you used to worship?

93- That are beneath Allah, can they help you or help themselves

94- So, they (The idols) were flipped (overturned, dropped poured face first) in it (Hellfire) they, and the tempted.

95- And the soldiers (Supporters from humans and Jinn) of Iblees (Satan) all together

96- And said while in it quarrelling

97- “By Allah, we were indeed in clear stray”

98- As we equated you with the God of the worlds

99- And did not stray us, but the criminals

100- So, now we have no intercessors (To ask for help)

101- Nor a dear (intimate, bosom) friend (To volunteer to help)

102- So, if there for us a round (Another return to the world), and could be of the believers”

103- Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

104- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

105- Belied the folks of Noah the messengers (Who denies one messenger like denying all of the messengers as they all came with the same message to worship one God)

106- As said to them, there brother Noah, “Will you not be righteous”

107- Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger (As you know me my brothers)

108- So be pious to Allah and obey me

109- And, I do not ask you upon it any wage, indeed my wage is only from the God of the worlds

110- So be pious to Allah and obey me

111- They said” We belive unto you, while followed you the vilest” (Poor, dirt jobs)

112- Said” and what is my knowledge of who they do”

113- Said “ Indeed their account but upon my God, if you feel”

114- And I am not expelling the believers

115- Indeed, I am but a clear warner

116- They said” If you do not desist, O’Noah, you will surely be among the stoned”

117- Said” My God indeed my folks have denied me”

118- So open (Judge)between me and them an opening (Victory), and save me and those with me of the believers

119- So, We saved him and those with him in the laden ship

120- Then We drowned afterward the remainders

121- Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

122- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

123- And denied Aad the messengers

124- As said to them, their brother Hud ” Will you not be pious?”

125- Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger

126- So be pious to Allah and obey me

127- And, I do not ask you upon it any wage, indeed my wage is only from the God of the worlds

128- Do you construct in every elevation absurdity (A vanishing monuments legacy, while denying God)

129-And you take factories (constructed building, fortresses) that you may abide eternally?

130-And when you strike you strike with might (Oppressing with no mercy)

131- So be pious to Allah and obey me

132- And be pious to Who had supplied you with what you know

133- Supplied you with cattle’s and children

134- And gardens and springs

135- Indeed, I fear for you the torment of a great day

136- They said” is the same for us whether you admonished, or you were among the non-admonishers”

137- This is but the fabrications (False claims) of the formers (Previous messengers)

138- And we are not to be tormented (Punished, doomed)

139- So, they denied him, so We destroyed (ruins) them, Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

140- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

141- Belied Thamud the messengers

142- As said to them, their brother Salih ” Will you not be pious?”

143- Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger

144- So be pious to Allah and obey me

145- And, I do not ask you upon it any wage, indeed my wage is only from the God of the worlds

146- Will you be left in what you are, secure (Do you think you will live forever in this bliss, feeling secure with no judgment)

147- In gardens and springs

148- And crops and palms its rise is digestible

149- And you carve from the mountains homes, with skills

150- So be pious to Allah and obey me

151- And do not obey the orders of the transgressors (Into what Allah disallowed)

152- Who corrupt in the land and do not do right

153- They said “you are but among the bewitched”

154- You are but a human like us, so bring a sign if you were among the truthful

155- Said “This is the she-camel, for her is a deink, and for you is a drink in a known day (No other cattle share with it the water that day)

156- And do not touch her with harm, lest you be seized by a torment of a great day

157- So, they hamstrung her, so they became regretful

158- So seized them the torment, Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

159- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

160- Belied the folks of Lut the messengers

161- As said to them, their brother Lut ” Will you not be pious?”

162- Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger

163- So be pious to Allah and obey me

164- And, I do not ask you upon it any wage, indeed my wage is only from the God of the worlds

165- Do you come to the males from among the worlds

166- And you toss what have created for you your God from among you as mates, but you are folks of transgressors

167- They said ” If you do not desist, O Lut, you will surely be among the expelled”

168- Said” Indeed toward you doing, among the detesters”

169- My God save me and my family from what they do

170- So, We saved him and his family, all together

171- Except an old-women (His wife) among those behind (Left in the dust)

172- Then We destroyed the others

173- And We rained upon the rain (Hardened burned clay), so was dreadful the rain of those who were warned

174- Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

175- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

176- Belied the folks of the fertile land (Interwind entangled trees) the messengers

177- As said to them Shuayb “Will you not be pious?”

178- Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger

179- So be pious to Allah and obey me

180- And, I do not ask you upon it any wage, indeed my wage is only from the God of the worlds

181- And fulfil the measure and do not be among the who cause loss (Intentionally give less than what is due, cheaters)

182- And weight by the straight balance (To your best ability considering the item value in weight e.g. grain vs gold)

183- And do not deprive the people their due things, and do not corrupt in the land, (seeking and spreading) corruption

184- And be pious to He who created you and the former (Stubborn like mountains) generations

185- They said “you are but among the bewitched”

186- You are but a human like us, and indeed, we think you are among the liars

187- So, drop upon us fragments from the sky, if you were among the truthful

188- He said “Indeed my God is most knowing of what you do”

189- So, they belied him, so took the torment of the day of shades (Clouds of fires), indeed it was a torment of a great day

190- Indeed, in that is a sign, yet most of them are not (still) believers

191- And indeed, your God, He is the mighty the merciful

192- And indeed, it is a download (Quran revelations) of the God of the worlds

193- Come down with it the trustworthy spirt (Angel, Jibreel)

194- Upon your heart (Oh Mohamed), so you become among the warners

195- With a clear Arabic tongue

196- And indeed, it is in the written down (Scriptuers) of the formers (The general principles of beliefs, morals, divine justice, and the stories of the prophets are all constant in all the scriptures and among all the prophets. Only the specific laws change from one book to another, to suit the time and era in which they were revealed)

197- And was not it for them a sign, that indeed knew it the scholars of the children’s of Isreal (That the Quran revelation was recognized to them, until it conflicted with their interest)

198- And if We had brought it down upon some of the non-Arabs (non-native Arabic speakers)

199- Then read it upon them, they would still have not believed it (Would not make any difference as they are stuck with the disbelieve)

200- Like this we wired it in (Instilled it in the hearts of those criminals, as if they were foreigners who understood nothing of what he was saying) the hearts of the criminals

201- They will not believe in it until they see the painful torment (Then will be too late)

202- So, it (Torments) come to them suddenly, while they do not feel it (Coming)

203- So, they say “Will we be waited” (Given more time, respited)

204- Are they with Our torments, they hasten (Didn't you rush and dared God to bring that torment)

205- Have you seen, if We gave them enjoyments for years

206- Then came to them what they have been promised

207- Did not avail to them what they were enjoying

208- And We did not destroy any village, but for it was, warner’s (A messenger came to them to teach and warn them, so that the proof would be established against them)

209- A reminder, and never We were unjust

210- And did not come down with it (Quran) the devils

211- And it should not be for them (not beneficial or feasible for them devils), nor they would be able

212- Indeed they (The devils) are from the hearing are isolated (they were isolated from hearing the Quran as it was being revealed)

213- So do not invoke with Allah another deity, so you become among the tormented

214- And warn your closest kins

215- And lower your wing (Kindness and gentleness) to those who followed you of the believers

216- And if they disobey you say” I am innocent of what you are doing”

217- And rely upon the mighty the merciful

218- Who sees you when you rise (Arise to worship by night)

219- And you turning (Sitting, standing, bowing, and prostrating) while among the prostraters

220- Indeed, He is the Hearing Knowing

221- Shall, I inform you on whom the devils descend?

222- It descends upon every sinful imposter (Who distorts facts, mix truth with false)

223- They toss the hearings (Lend an ear, eavesdropping), and most of them are liars (mix truth with lies)

224- And the poets, follows them the tempted (Because their logic is not governed by principle or morality, but rather by their own desires and whims)

225- Did not you see they (The poets) are in every valley they roam (With no guidance or goal, people of words and imaginations, He has no specific path to follow, or principle to adhere to, Unlike the prophet)

226- And they say what they do not do

227- Except those (Poets) believed and did righteous, and remembered Allah often (also in their poetry), and were victorious from after been wronged (Defending the message), and will know those who wronged what overturn (fate) they will be flipped in

Disclaimer:

The Holy Quran, in its essence, is a divine revelation that can only be fully appreciated in its original Arabic language. Any translation or interpretation, including the one presented here, is not and cannot be a replacement for the Arabic Holy Quran. I intended to offer an English rendering that remains faithful to the original Arabic. I am neither a scholar nor do I possess any formal Islamic qualifications. My approach to this translation is empirical, drawing upon my readings of selected scholarly interpretations, personal experiences, and understanding of the Holy Quran as a Muslim native Arabic speaker.