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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.

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.

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.

Please Click on this Link to get the detailed Tafseer (translation, context and meaning) of Surah Al Furqan, Insha’Allah.