Surah Yasin

Introduction

It is authenticated in the hadiths of Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, Al-Tabarani, and others, on the authority of Ma’qil ibn Yasar, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Yasin is the heart of the Quran." He counted this as one of its names. The Proof of Islam, Al-Ghazali—may mercy be upon him—explained the reason for applying this to it, stating that the pivot of faith and its validity rests upon the acknowledgement of the Resurrection and the Gathering; this is established within it in the most eloquent and excellent manner. Therefore, it is likened to the heart, through which the body is sound and maintained.

Imam Al-Razi deemed this good but raised an objection to its apparent meaning, noting that everything one must believe in is such that faith is invalid without it, so there is no reason to single out the Resurrection and Gathering for this description. The response given is that what is meant by "soundness" in the speech of Al-Ghazali is the opposite of illness and disease. There is no doubt that whoever has a sound belief in the Resurrection fears the Fire and desires Paradise, the abode of the righteous, so he refrains from sins—which are the diseases of faith, as they cause it to become flawed and weak—and engages in acts of obedience, which are like the preservation of health. He whose faith in it is not strong has the opposite state. Thus, acknowledging it is likened to the heart, with the soundness of which the body becomes sound, and with its corruption, the body becomes corrupted.

It is also permissible to say that the point of resemblance to the heart is that the soundness and corruption of the body depend upon it, yet it is not visible to the senses; it is the site for the uncovering of truths and hidden matters. Likewise, the Resurrection is among the unseen, and within it is the uncovering of matters and the arrival at the truths of what has been decreed. By observing it and mending its causes, eternal happiness is attained; by turning away from it and corrupting its causes, one is afflicted with everlasting misery. In the Kashf, perhaps the Prophetic indication in naming this surah "the heart" refers to the fact that the heart of everything is its foundation, which all else—whether its preliminaries or its completions—relies upon. This connects to what we previously mentioned regarding naming Al-Fatihah "the Mother of the Quran," which is that the purpose of sending messengers and revealing books is to guide servants to their ultimate perfection in the Hereafter. This is achieved through the realization and character mentioned there, which is what is expressed as walking the Straight Path. The pivot of this noble surah is the clarification of that in the most perfect way.

From this, the reason for singling out the Resurrection in the speech of Al-Ghazali is known, so the objection raised by some holds no weight. Later, God willing, at the end of the interpretation of the surah, there will be an indication of the fundamental principles of religious knowledge and the issues considered among the masters [of jurisprudence] that it contains, and its establishment of them in the most eloquent and perfect manner. Perhaps this is the secret behind the instruction in authentic reports to recite it over the dying—that is, those nearing death. It is also called "Al-Azimah" (The Great One) before Allah the Exalted.

Abu Nasr Al-Sajzi recorded in Al-Ibanah—and classified it as hasan—from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "In the Quran, there is a surah called 'The Great One' before Allah the Exalted. Its companion is called 'The Honorable' before Allah the Exalted. Its companion will intercede on the Day of Resurrection for more people than [the tribes of] Rabi’ah and Mudar." This is Surah Yasin. It is also mentioned that it is called "Al-Mu'ammah" (The All-Encompassing), "Al-Mudafi’ah" (The Repelling), and "Al-Qadiyah" (The Fulfilling).

Sa’id ibn Mansur and Al-Bayhaqi recorded from Hassan ibn Atiyah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Surah Yasin is called in the Torah 'Al-Mu'ammah'; it encompasses its companion with the good of this world and the Hereafter, and it wards off from him the afflictions of this world and the Hereafter, and it repels from him the horrors of this world and the Hereafter. It is also called 'Al-Mudafi’ah' and 'Al-Qadiyah'; it repels from its companion every evil and fulfills for him every need." Al-Bayhaqi critiqued this, saying: "It is narrated solely by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr Al-Jad’ani from Sulayman ibn Difa’, and it is munkar (rejected/denounced)."

According to what Ibn al-Durays, Al-Nahhas, Ibn Marduwayh, and Al-Bayhaqi recorded from Ibn Abbas, it is Meccan. Some excluded from it His saying, "Indeed, it is We who bring the dead to life," claiming that it was revealed in Medina when the Banu Salimah wanted to move closer to the Mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as they were on the outskirts of Medina. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Your footsteps are being recorded," so they did not move. God willing, what has been said regarding this will be discussed. The same applies to His saying, "And when it is said to them, 'Spend from that which Allah has provided for you,'" as it was revealed regarding the hypocrites, and thus would be Medinan.

This has been critiqued as having no validity. It consists of eighty-three verses in the Kufan count, and eighty-two in others. Several reports and narrations bear witness to its virtue and high status, some of which have already passed. It is authenticated from the hadith of Ma’qil ibn Yasar that a servant who desires Allah the Exalted and the Last Abode does not recite it but that his past sins are forgiven.

Al-Tirmidhi and Al-Darimi recorded from the hadith of Anas: "Whoever recites Yasin, Allah writes for him, by its recitation, the recitation of the Quran ten times." This does not necessitate the superiority of a thing over itself, for what is intended by "the recitation of the Quran" is the recitation of the rest of the Quran besides Yasin. Al-Khafaji said: This is not required, for it is sufficient for the validity of the aforementioned preference that there be a difference in consideration; for Yasin, in terms of its own recitation, is an individual entity, different from it being recited as part of the whole. It is like saying: "The beautiful woman in a red dress is more beautiful than she is in a white one." Sometimes a thing possesses in isolation what it does not possess when combined with others, as observed in some medicines. He hoped this would be closer [to the truth] than what we preceded with, though I do not hope for that. The apparent meaning is that the aforementioned reward is written for him multiplied—that is, every letter for ten good deeds. There is no novelty in preferring a small deed over a large one, for Allah the Exalted may bestow what He wills upon whom He wills. Do you not see what has been authenticated: that this Ummah is the shortest-lived of nations but the one with the most reward? Denying these particulars is stubbornness. How excellent is the one who said: "If you excel mankind while being one of them, then musk is but a part of the gazelle’s blood." Some mentioned that whoever recites it is given the reward of one who has recited the Quran twenty-two times. Al-Bayhaqi recorded in Shu'ab al-Iman from Abu Qilabah—one of the great Tabi’in—that whoever recites it is as if he had recited the Quran eleven times.

From Abu Sa’id, it is said: Whoever recites Yasin once, it is as if he had recited the Quran twice. The hadith of "ten" is attributed (marfu’) to Ibn Abbas, Ma’qil ibn Yasar, Uqbah ibn Amir, Abu Hurayrah, and Anas (may Allah be pleased with them); upon this is the reliance.

Regarding its connection to what precedes it, Al-Jalal Al-Suyuti stated: Since he mentioned in Surah Fatir His saying, "And the warner had come to you," and His saying, "And they swore by Allah their strongest oaths that if a warner came to them..." until His saying, "But when a warner came to them," intending thereby Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while they turned away from him and denied him, he opened this surah with an oath regarding the validity of his messengership (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and that he is upon a straight path, to warn a people whose forefathers were not warned. And Allah the Exalted said in Fatir, "And He subjected the sun and the moon; each runs [for] a specified term," and in this surah, "And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point. And the moon—We have determined for it phases..." and so on. It is not hidden that the matter of continuity is achieved even if "the warner" is interpreted as someone other than Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so ponder this.

The discussion regarding this [verse] is like the discussion regarding Alif-Lām-Mīm and similar disjointed letters at the beginning of surahs, both in terms of parsing and meaning, according to many. Ibn Abī Shaybah, ‘Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Jarīr, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated through various chains from Ibn ‘Abbās that he said: Yā Sīn means "O man" (Yā Insān). In another narration from him, there is an addition: "in the Abyssinian language," and in another: "in the dialect of Ṭayy."

Al-Zamakhsharī said: If this is authentic, then its derivation is that it was originally Yā Unaysīn, and it was used frequently as a vocative on their tongues until they were content with using only a part of it, as in the oath M (from Mu-Allāh) in Ayman Allāh. Abū Ḥayyān countered this by stating that what is reported from the Arabs regarding the diminutive of insān (human) is unaysiyān, with a yā before the alif, which is proof that insān comes from nisyān (forgetfulness) and that its root is insiyān. When it was made diminutive, the diminutive form returned it to its root. We do not know of them saying unaysīn as its diminutive. Furthermore, if we were to assume it is a remnant of unaysīn, it would not be permissible unless it were built upon the ḍamma (vowel point u), and it would not remain indeclinable, because it is a vocative being addressed. Moreover, the diminutive is not permissible in the names of the Prophets (peace be upon them), just as it is not permissible in the names of Allah—Exalted is He. As for what he mentioned regarding M being a part of Ayman, it is a statement; some grammarians say it is a corrupted oath (qasam), not a part of ayman.

Al-Khafājī said: The necessity of it being built upon the ḍamma is indisputable. Perhaps the one who interpreted it as such would read it with the ḍamma according to the standard rules. As for the other two objections, they have no validity at all. The first: because one who says unaysiyān—contrary to the analogy, which is the most correct view—is not required to estimate the shortened form in the same way. He did not utter it, so one cannot say to him: "You have pronounced what the Arabs did not." Rather, it is a matter of estimation. If he says, "The estimated form is supposed to be according to the analogy," would the question be valid against him? As for the last objection: the diminutive in such a case is only forbidden for us; but as for Allah—may He be exalted—it is for Him, Glory be to Him, to ascribe to Himself and to the greatest of His creation whatever He wills, and it is then understood as befitting, such as exaltation, endearment, and similar meanings of the diminutive. As Ibn al-Fāriḍ said: "I did not say ḥubaybī (my little beloved) out of belittlement, rather the name of the thing is made sweet by the diminutive." What Abū Ḥayyān said in explaining this is that they say īsān meaning insān and pluralize it as ayāsīn; this is from that. It is not hidden that this requires proof, and it is remote, and the weakness in using this as an explanation is apparent.

A group said: Yā is a vocative particle, and Sīn stands in place of Insān; a letter was extracted from it and put in its place. Its parallel is what came in the Ḥadīth: "The sword suffices as a witness (shā)"—that is, shāhid. This is supported by what Ibn ‘Abbās went toward regarding Ḥā Mīm ‘Ayn Sīn Qāf and similar ones, that they are letters from among His names—Exalted is He—such as Raḥīm (Merciful), ‘Alīm (All-Knowing), Samī‘ (All-Hearing), Qadīr (All-Powerful), and the like. The apparent meaning of some, such as Ibn Jubayr, is that Yā Sīn in its entirety is one of the names of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the apparent meaning of the statement of al-Sayyid al-Ḥimyarī: "O soul, do not be sincere in love, striving for affection, except for the family of Yā Sīn." There is a great secret in his being named (peace and blessings be upon him) by these two majestic letters, known to those who grasp the secrets of letters. I have spoken—all praise to Allah—regarding what pertains to this noble word for three days, beginning each day after the afternoon prayer and finishing just before sunset, during my sermon assembly at the Dāwūdī Mosque. Today, I am unable to mention a word of it; indeed, I do not remember of it except for a mere sketch that the violent wind of time has blown upon and annihilated. Sufficient for me is Allah against all else; there is no Lord other than Him, and none is hoped for except His goodness.

It has been recited with the fatḥa (vowel point a) of the yā, with pure imāla (inclination), and between the two.

A group recited it with the sukūn (absence of vowel) of the nūn, assimilated into the wāw, and others with the sukūn while keeping it clear (iẓhār). Both recitations are among the seven. Ibn Abī Isḥāq and ‘Īsā recited it with the fatḥa of the nūn. Abū Ḥātim said: The analogy of Qatādah's statement—that it is an oath—would be according to the pattern of "By Allah, I will surely do [it]" (La-af‘alanna) in the accusative.

It is possible that it is genitive due to the omission of the bā of the oath, and it is diptote (mamnū‘ min al-ṣarf). Al-Zajjāj said: The accusative is based on the estimation of "Read Yā Sīn." This is according to Sībawayh’s view that it is a name for the surah. It is said it is indeclinable, and the movement is for the sake of avoiding the meeting of two vowelless consonants, and the fatḥa is for lightness, as in ayna (where). The reason for it being indeclinable is not hidden from you if you have gained knowledge of what they established regarding Alif-Lām-Mīm at the beginning of Surat al-Baqarah.

Do not overlook what they said regarding the accusative with the implied verb of the oath: that it is not permissible because it involves combining two oaths upon one subject, which is disliked. There is no way to make the wāw afterwards for conjunction rather than for the oath due to the difference in parsing.

Al-Kalbī recited it with the ḍamma of the nūn, and it is interpreted as being a vocative intended [to be addressed], based on it meaning "man," or that it is the predicate of an omitted subject, or a subject whose predicate is omitted. It is estimated as "This is..." if it is a name for the surah. This is if it is a name for the Quran, as it is applied to the part just as it is applied to the whole. Making it a subject with an omitted predicate and it being an oath—i.e., Yā Sīn is my oath, like "The trust of Allah, I will surely do" in the nominative—its status is not hidden. It is said the ḍamma in it is the ḍamma of indeclinability, as in ḥaythu.

Abū al-Sammāl and Ibn Abī Isḥāq also recited it with the kasra (vowel point i), and it is interpreted as being for the sake of effort in escaping the two vowelless consonants with what is the original [vowel], so contemplate and remember.