Sura al-Naml

Sura al-Naml (audio)

Sūra al-Naml (Arabic: سورة النمل) or Sura Sulayman (سورة سلیمان) is the twenty seventh sura of the Qur'an. It is a Makki sura, located in nineteenth and twentieth juz's of the Qur'an. The sura is called "al-Naml" (ant) because it narrates the story of ants and the Prophet Solomon (a). The sura tells the stories of five prophets, Moses (a), David (a), Solomon (a), Salih (a), and Lot (a), and it thereby gives glad tidings to believers and warns polytheists. The sura also contains materials about God, signs of monotheism, and events of the resurrection.

Verse sixty two is a well-known verse of "Sura al-Naml", which is according to some hadiths about Imam al-Mahdi (a). This verse is recited as a supplication asking God to obviate sufferings and heal the sick. Another well-known verse is verse eighty three which is appealed to in order to prove raj'a.

As to the virtues of reciting "Sura al-Naml", it is said that he who recites it will be given rewards ten times greater than the number of those who believed in or denied Solomon, Hud (a), Shu'ayb (a), Salih, and Abraham (a), and when he rises out of his grave in the day of resurrection, he will recite "there is no god except Allah."