Sūrat YāSīn (Part 3)
Part 3 of observations on the organization, structure and coherence of Sūrat YāSīn
Last week we continued by observing the structure of passages 3 through 6 which make up Sūrat YāSīn. This week we will continue with the final passage, passage #6.
Quran and Allah’s Decree – Ring Structure of Āyāt 69-831
CONNECTIONS
[Q]/[Q’] - The section begins by describing the words of Allah ﷻ (i.e., the Quran) and ends with mention of Allah’s word (i.e., His decree). The Quran is the primary method that we learn of Allah’s decree.
[R]/[R’] - Here Allah ﷻ mentions His favors and creation. In particular, He highlights the provision He provides mankind in the form of livestock. In the corresponding section, Allah ﷻ again speaks of His ability to create and again mentions provision, but this time He focuses the discussion on the natural resources He provides for mankind in the form of wood and fuel.
[S]/[S’] - This section begins with the tragedy of human beings taking gods besides Allah ﷻ, even though those false gods cannot aid them. This is paralleled by the tragedy of human beings forgetting their own creation. At this point the disbeliever has shed all humility and incredulously asks, “Who will bring bones back to life while we are decaying?”
[T] - The entire passage centers on the words of others - “Do not worry about what they say” - which ties back to the opening and closing in [Q]/[Q’].
Organization of the Entire Sūrah
Now that we have observed the coherence of the six individual passages, we can bring them altogether to show their coherence as a sūrah as well. When viewed in totality, the passages form what appears to be a larger ring structure
CONNECTIONS
[U]/[U’] – The sūrah opens and closes with the document (Quran) and command of Allah ﷻ (His decree).
[V]/[V’] – Learning from our past is coupled with judgment in the future.
[W]/[W’] – Observing the world around us is coupled with blindness and the inability to do so.
We’ll conclude our observations in next week’s post.
If anyone would like to listen to a nice recitation of Sūrat YāSīn, you can check out my friend’s recording below. Or, you can follow him on his socials for other nice Quran recordings.
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Khan’s work on this section is also built off of the observations made by Neal Robinson in Discovering the Qur’an (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1996), pages 151-152