Surah furqan

Name:
Al Furqan means The Criterion, which means the divider of truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good
and evil.

Revelation:
Ibn Jarir and Imam Razi say that this is a Makki Surah.

It appears from its style and subject matter that like Surah 23: al-Mu’minun (The Believers) it was also
revealed during the third stage of Prophethood at Makkah. Scholars and commentators if the Qur’an
like Ibn Jarir and Imam Razi have cited a tradition of Dahhak bin Muzahim that this Surah was revealed
eight years before Surah 4: an-Nisa’ (The Women).

Theme:
The Surah is dealing with how the Quraish denied the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the
Sunnah. Allah answers each and every question they raised through the Ayat of this Surah and warns
them about the consequences of this disbelief. This Surah is mostly about choices. It talks about the
falsehood and the Truth. It leaves the reader (in this case the Quraish) to decide what they want to side
with. It describes who the Muslims are and who the Disbelievers are. Whether they denied the Quran
and the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) at the time, it is true that at the end most became Muslims and
made the right choice. After the Muslims conquered Makkah peacefully and without war, we find that
most of the Quraish had submitted to Allah alone and accepted the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as a
Messenger.

Subject matter and topics of this Surah include the doubts and objections that were being raised by the
disbelievers of Makkah against The Qur'an, the Prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) and his teachings.
Appropriate answers to those objections are given and the people are warned about the consequences
of rejecting the Truth.

At the end of the Surah a description of the character of a true believer is given. This description might
be summarized as follows: "Here is the criterion for distinguishing the genuine from the counterfeit. This
is the noble character of those people who have believed in and followed the teachings of the Prophet
and these are the kind of people that he is trying to produce through his training. You may compare
these types of people with those Arabs who have not yet accepted the Message and are clinging to their
ignorance and doing their utmost to defeat the Truth. Now decide for yourselves which of the two you
prefer."
Examples of Doubts from the Disbelievers and the Answers of Allah SWT:
The Noble Quran:

Those who have rejected the Message of the Prophet, say, “This (Al-Furqan) is a forgery which this man
himself has devised, and some others have helped him at it.” What a cruel injustice and an impudent lie!
They say, “These things are the writings of the ancients which he has got copied down for himself, and
then these are recited to him in the morning and evening.” O Muhammad, say to them, “This has been
sent down by Him, Who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth.” The fact is that He is very
Forgiving and Merciful. (Surah Al Furqan: 4-6)

The disbelievers say, “Why has not the entire Qur’an been sent down to this man all at once?” Well, this
has been done to impress it deeply on your mind, and (for the same object) We have sent it down
piecemeal by degrees. And (there is another wisdom in this) whenever they brought to you an odd thing
(or a strange question), We sent its right answer to you in time and explained it all in the best manner,
those who are going to be driven to Hell upon their faces, have taken an utterly wrong stand and their
way is most erroneous! [Surah Al Furqan: 32-34]

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW):

They say, “What sort of a Messenger is he that he eats food and moves about in the streets? Why has
not an angel been sent down to accompany him and threaten (the disbelievers)? Or why has not at least
a treasure been sent down for him or a garden given to him for (easy) sustenance?” And the wicked
people say, “You are following a man bewitched.” Just see what strange arguments they bring forward
with regard to you! They have gone so far astray that they cannot charge any thing against you. Highly
blessed is He, Who, if He wills, could give you much more and better things than what they propose for
you: (Not one but) many gardens, beneath which rivers flow; and big castles. (Surah Al Furqan: 7-10)

Those people, who have no fear of coming before Us, say, “Why should not the angels be sent down to
us? Or else we should see our Lord.” Great arrogance have they assumed in regard to themselves, and
have transgressed all limits in their rebellion. The Day, when they will see the angels, will not be a day of
rejoicing for the criminals; they will cry out, “May Allah save us!” Then We shall turn to what they had
done and render it vain like scattered dust. (On the contrary) only those who have deserved the Garden,
will have a good abode on that Day and a cool place for midday rest. On that Day, a cloud will appear
rending the sky and the angels will be sent down rank after rank. The real Kingdom on that Day will
belong only to the Merciful, and it will be a very hard Day for the disbelievers. The unjust man will bite
at his hand and say, “Would that I had stood by the Messenger! O, woe to me! Would that I had not
chosen so and so for a friend! For it was he, who had deluded me to reject the Admonition which had
come to me. Satan has proved very treacherous to man.” And the Messenger will say, “O my Lord, my
people had made this Qur’an the object of their ridicule.” (Surah Al Furqan:21-30)

The Sunnah:
Had We willed, We would have raised up a separate Warner in each habitation. So, O Prophet, do not
yield to the disbelievers, but wage a Jihad (War) against them with this Qur’an. (Surah Al Furqan: 51-52)
When it is said to them. “Prostrate yourselves before the Merciful,” they retort, “What is the Merciful?
Would you have us prostrate ourselves before whomsoever you will?” And this invitation only helps to
increase their hatred all the more. (Surah Al Furqan: 60)

In fact, the one who repents and does righteous deeds, returns to Allah as one rightly should. (And the
servants of the Merciful are those:) who do not bear witness to falsehood and who; if they have ever to
pass by what is vain, pass by like dignified people who do not behave like the blind and the deaf, when
the Revelations of their Lord are recited to them for admonition. (Surah Al Furqan: 71-73)

O, Muhammad, tell the people, “My Lord does not care at all if you do not invoke Him. Now that you
have denied (His Revelations), you will soon be awarded such a punishment which you will never be able
to avoid.” (Surah Al Furqan: 77)

Conclusion:
This Surah really shows us how to argue in the best ways. Now, we have to always see how to apply it on
our world today and here are four things to think about:

Many times Non-Muslims mock and question the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and the
Sunnah (teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)). This Surah can help us to answer these questions
and to see how we can talk to them.

Muslims sometimes have more doubts than Non-Muslims. No one is free of doubts, our doubts can help
us to make good decisions when we get the right answers on what we should believe and how we
should act, but they can also lead us make bad decisions if we get the wrong answers. That is why Allah
calls this Surah Al Furqan – it is there to separate right from wrong.

Al Furqan means Sorting, the Criterion, Sorter and the Separator. That means that we can look to the
the Quran, also known as Al Furqan, to see right from wrong, truth from falsehood and use it to make
good decisions and get advice. We have to do everything in our life to make Allah happy and do it all the
way He wants. He can find Him and His Commands in the Quran.

The time we are living in it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate good from evil. This
Surah can help in these situations by putting whatever personality or act we are looking at or doing in
the three categories I mentioned (Quran, Muhammad (SAW)’s life and the Prophet Muhammad`s (SAW)
teaching). This will always help us to make the right decisions and always do what Allah SWT loves from
us, Insha’Allah. We are all in the Quran no matter what our character is or what we do, we just have to
spend time to look for ourselves in the Quran and improve always keep what we find, Insha’Allah.
Theme 1: The Qur'an is the critereon between truth and falsehood
The Surah deals with the doubts and objections that were being raised against the Qur’an, the
Prophethood of Muhammad and his teachings by the disbelievers of Makkah. Appropriate answers to
each and every objection have been given and the people have been warned of the consequences of
rejecting the Truth. At the end of the Surah a clear picture of the moral superiority of the Believers has
been depicted as in the beginning of Surah 23: al-Mu’minun (The Believers) as if to say ‘Here is the
criterion for distinguishing the genuine from the counterfeit. This is the noble character of those people
who have believed in and followed the teachings of the Prophet and this is the kind of people that he is
trying to train. You may yourselves compare and contrast this type of people with those Arabs who have
not as yet accepted the Message and who are upholding “ignorance” and exerting their utmost to
defeat the Truth. Now you may judge for yourselves as to which you would like to choose.” Though this
question was not posed in so many words it was placed before every one in Arabia in a tangible shape. It
may be noted that during the next few years the practical answer given to this question by the whole
nation with the exception of a small minority was that they chose Islam.

SURAH FURQAN BRIEF COMMENTARY & BACK GROUND

This Surah has 77 verses divided into 6 Rukus/Sections. This Surah was revealed in Mecca. Revelation
period is almost the same as that of Surah Muminoon at a time when there was the peak of a famine in
the region. The intense friction had begun between Prophet Muhammad and the disbelievers, though
persecution had not yet started.

The Surah takes its name from verse 1 “Al-Furqan” which means “The Criterion” showing that the
purpose of every divine revelation is to provide a criterion of true and false and answers the blames of
the nonbelievers against Quran and the teachings and prophethood of Prophet Muhammad. Traits Of
Wrongdoers And Righteous were explained in detail, and the moral superiority of the Believers has been
explained.

The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: One who recites this Surah, Allah will raise him on the Day of
Judgment as one who has the belief that the hour is inevitable and there is no doubt in it; he will enter
Paradise without accounting.

The Holy Prophet (S) has said that a person who recites this Surah will be taken to Jannah without
questioning, provided he believes in the Day of Judgement and the Raising of the Dead (from the
graves).