Surah 91
Surah Ash-Shams (The Sun)
الشمس
Also written: Shams, Al Shams
Surah Ash-Shams (الشمس) is surah 91 of the 114 surahs of the Quran. It has 15 ayahs, was revealed in Mecca (Meccan), and its name means “The Sun”.
- Number
- 91
- Ayahs
- 15
- Revelation
- Meccan
- Meaning
- The Sun
Names, meaning and Meccan/Medinan classification as listed in the quran-json dataset.
About Surah Ash-Shams
Ash-Shams, “The Sun”, begins with one of the longest sequences of oaths in the Quran — by the sun, the moon, day and night, the sky, the earth and the human soul. All of them lead to a single statement: whoever purifies the soul succeeds, and whoever corrupts it fails. The story of Thamud and the she-camel then shows what corrupting the soul looks like.
The oaths and their answer
91:1–7 move through the visible world in pairs — sun and moon, day and night, sky and earth — before arriving at the soul and the One who shaped it. 91:8 adds that the soul was inspired with an awareness of both its wrongdoing and its righteousness. The point of the whole passage comes in 91:9–10: success belongs to the one who keeps the soul pure, and loss to the one who buries it in wrongdoing.
The example of Thamud
91:11–15 tell how the people of Thamud rejected their prophet through arrogance. The messenger of God — named elsewhere in the Quran as Salih — warned them to leave God’s she-camel and her drinking turn alone. The most wretched among them rose up, they hamstrung her, and destruction levelled them all. The surah ends by noting that God does not fear the consequences of what He decrees.
In the prayer
In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, the Prophet rebuked Mu’adh for leading a lengthy prayer and suggested surahs such as Ash-Shams, Al-A'la and Al-Layl, which shows these were considered fitting recitations for congregational prayer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the main message of Surah Ash-Shams?
- That whoever purifies the soul succeeds and whoever corrupts it fails (verses 9-10), illustrated by the story of Thamud.
- Which prophet is meant in Surah Ash-Shams?
- The messenger sent to Thamud, named elsewhere in the Quran as Salih.
- How many verses are in Surah Ash-Shams?
- 15.
- How many ayahs are in Surah Ash-Shams?
- Surah Ash-Shams has 15 ayahs. It is surah number 91 in the Quran and is Meccan.
- Can I read Surah Ash-Shams in English or save it as a PDF?
- Yes. This page shows the Arabic text of every ayah with the Saheeh International English meaning under it. Use “Print / Save as PDF” for a clean printable copy that you can save as a PDF file from your browser.
- Is Surah Ash-Shams the same as Surah Shams?
- Yes. Shams, Al Shams and Ash-Shams are different English spellings of the same surah name, الشمس.
Summaries describe the surah’s content and commonly cited reports for general readers; they are not a tafsir or a religious ruling.
Making a video of Surah Ash-Shams
Surah Ash-Shams has 15 ayahs, so most videos use a passage from it rather than the whole surah. Choose the ayahs you want on the new-project page; one to five ayahs suit a Reel or Short, while longer passages work better in 16:9 for YouTube.
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Surah Ash-Shams in Arabic with English meaning
Arabic: Uthmani script from The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia (quranenc.com), Uthmani script, via quran-json (CC-BY-SA 4.0), shown as in the verified dataset; open-tanween marks use the equivalent codepoints this font draws, as in the editor. English meaning: Saheeh International (tanzil.net). A translation conveys the meaning; it is not the Quran itself.
وَٱلشَّمۡسِ وَضُحَىٰهَا ١
91:1By the sun and its brightness
وَٱلۡقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَىٰهَا ٢
91:2And [by] the moon when it follows it
وَٱلنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّىٰهَا ٣
91:3And [by] the day when it displays it
وَٱلَّيۡلِ إِذَا يَغۡشَىٰهَا ٤
91:4And [by] the night when it covers it
وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَىٰهَا ٥
91:5And [by] the sky and He who constructed it
وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَمَا طَحَىٰهَا ٦
91:6And [by] the earth and He who spread it
وَنَفۡسࣲ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا ٧
91:7And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it
فَأَلۡهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقۡوَىٰهَا ٨
91:8And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness
قَدۡ أَفۡلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا ٩
91:9He has succeeded who purifies it
وَقَدۡ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰهَا ١٠
91:10And he has failed who instills it [with corruption]
كَذَّبَتۡ ثَمُودُ بِطَغۡوَىٰهَآ ١١
91:11Thamud denied [their prophet] by reason of their transgression
إِذِ ٱنۢبَعَثَ أَشۡقَىٰهَا ١٢
91:12When the most wretched of them was sent forth
فَقَالَ لَهُمۡ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ نَاقَةَ ٱللَّهِ وَسُقۡيَٰهَا ١٣
91:13And the messenger of Allah [Salih] said to them, "[Do not harm] the she-camel of Allah or [prevent her from] her drink
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَعَقَرُوهَا فَدَمۡدَمَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ رَبُّهُم بِذَنۢبِهِمۡ فَسَوَّىٰهَا ١٤
91:14But they denied him and hamstrung her. So their Lord brought down upon them destruction for their sin and made it equal [upon all of them]
وَلَا يَخَافُ عُقۡبَٰهَا ١٥
91:15And He does not fear the consequence thereof