البروج
Al Buruj
Verses
22
Revelation
Makki
Period
Makkan
Surah No.
85 / 114
Al-Buruj opens with a majestic oath by the sky with its great constellations, the promised Day, and the witness and witnessed. It then narrates the People of the Trench – believers who were burned alive by tyrannical rulers for their faith – as history's most devastating example of religious persecution. Allah's response is to promise that those who torment believers will be punished by the Fire of Hell. The surah then affirms the indestructible nature of the Quran on a preserved tablet, and cites the destruction of Pharaoh and Thamud as warnings to the persecutors.
أسباب النزول
Revealed in the Makkan period when the Muslims were enduring severe persecution. The story of the People of the Trench was cited to demonstrate that unjust rulers who persecute believers for their faith are not a new phenomenon – and that divine justice, though it may seem delayed, is inevitable. The surah provides profound consolation to persecuted believers across all times.
“Cursed were the companions of the trench – of the fire full of fuel – when they were sitting over it and they were witnesses to what they were doing to the believers.”
The Quranic record of one of history's most heinous crimes – rulers who watched believers burn in trenches for refusing to recant their faith, and the divine pronouncement of curse upon them.
“But this is an honoured Quran, inscribed in a Preserved Tablet.”
The foundational statement of the Quran's preservation – its origin and protection lie beyond human possibility, inscribed in the Preserved Tablet before creation, guaranteeing its eternal integrity.