Sura- 36 [ Ya Sin Mecca 41]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:

يس ﴿١﴾

36:1.     Ya Sin.

C3943. Some Commentators take Ya to be the vocative particle, and Sin to be the abbreviation ofInsan, Sin being the only "Firm Letter" in the word. In that case it would be an address to man. "O man!"

But "man" in this connection is understood to mean the Leader of man, the noblest of mankind. Muhammad the Prophet of Allah. For this Surah deals mainly with the holy Prophet and his Message. But no dogmatic assertion can be made about the Abbreviated Letters, for which see Appendix 1, following Surah 2.

Ya-Sin is usually treated as a title of the holy Prophet.

وَالْقُرْآنِ الْحَكِيمِ ﴿٢﴾

36:2.     By the Qur'án, full of Wisdom --

C3944. The best credentials of the holy Prophet are:

-         the revelation which he brought ("the Quran"), and

-         the heroic unselfish life which he led ("on a Straight Way").

The appeal is therefore made on the testimony of these two facts.

إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴿٣﴾

36:3.     Thou art indeed one of the messengers.

عَلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ﴿٤﴾

36:4.     On a Straight Way.

تَنزِيلَ الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴿٥﴾

36:5.     It is a Revelation sent down by (Him) the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful.

C3945. The Revelation again is characterized by two attributes which we find most helpful in contemplating about Allah.

-         It has force and power:

for Allah is Exalted in Might and able to enforce His Will.

-         And it brings a Message of hope and mercy;

for Allah is Most Merciful.

By its characteristics we know that the Quran is from Allah. (R).

لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّا أُنذِرَ آبَاؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ  ﴿٦﴾

36:6.     In order that thou mayest admonish a people, whose fathers had received no admonition, and who therefore remain heedless (of the Signs of Allah).

C3946. The Quraish had received no Prophet before, and therefore one of themselves was made the vehicle for the universal Message to the whole world.

Asad’s Version:

In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:

36:1 O THOU human being! 1

(26:2) Consider this Qur'an full of wisdom:

(36:3) verily, thou are indeed one of God's message-bearers, 2

(36:4) pursuing a straight way

(36:5) by [virtue of] what is being bestowed from on high by the Almighty, the Dispenser of Grace, 3

(36:6) [bestowed upon thee] so that thou mayest warn people whose forefathers had not been warned, and who therefore are unaware [of the meaning of right and wrong]. 4

[[ Asad’s note - 4 Cf. 6:131-132. In the wider sense of this expression, the "forefathers" may be a metonym for a community's cultural past: hence, the reference to those "forefathers" not having been "warned" (i.e., against evil) evidently alludes to the defectiveness of the ethical heritage of people who have become estranged from true moral values. ]]