Surah An-Nahl

Ta'awwudh · Seeking Refuge

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

A'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani ar-rajim. I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accursed.

The Name · Bismillah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Rahim. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

✦

The Surah · In Two Parts

One hundred and twenty-eight verses, read in two sittings. The early scholars called this the surah of favors, and the reason is obvious from the first page. It lists what a man has been given until the listing itself becomes the argument, and then states in verse 18 that if he tried to count them he could not. It is named after an insect that takes instruction directly from its Lord and produces something that heals people. And it holds the verse that was read from the pulpit at the end of every Friday sermon for more than a thousand years.

Part One

Verses 1 to 64

Count Them If You Can.

A man made from a drop who becomes a clear disputant, the cattle and the ships and the stars, favors past counting, two groups asked the same question and answering it in one word each, and two death scenes placed side by side.

آمِين

Prepared with discipline · Ameen