COMMENTARY ON THE QUR`AN
Chapter 36: Surat Yā Sīn
The Heart of the Qur`an
(Selected Verses)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

In the name of Allah,
the Beneficent, the Merciful 

1. Yā Sīn

2. By the wise Qur`an.

Yā Sīn is one of the names given to the Prophet Muhammad. It is also a shortened form of Yā insān which means 'O mankind!' or, 'O Human Being'. The sūrah (chapter) might also be addressed to the people of Antioch to whom the Prophet Jesus ('Isā) sent apostles. The term, the people of Yā Sīn signifies the Prophet's family (Ahl al-Bayt). This chapter begins by calling upon those among mankind who want to know, who want
to follow the Prophet and connect directly with the prophetic message.

3. Surely you are one of the messengers,

This verse is addressed to the Prophet Muhammad. The message of the messengers is the message of unity (tawhīd). The source of the message is One, though the messengers sent from that Source have been many, 'and you Muhammad are one of the messengers'. Since the Prophet Muhammad is the last of the messengers, he obviously encompasses all the previous messages. Regarding this the Qur`an says: 'We do not abrogate a sign or cause it to be forgotten without bringing one better than it or! like it' (2:106).

Even as normal, experiencing human beings, each time we have a new experience it should be better, subtler and more all-encompassing than the previous one. It is as though we are traveling in an evolutionary movement forward in time, but no in the Darwinian sense. We have not, biologically speaking, risen from the ape; rather, we have come from the lowest, the sperm cell, and have then developed into the most complex living organism. This is the inherent pattern of movement in the individual, as well as in the collective historical sense.

Historically, the Prophet Muhammad came from a line of earlier prophets who transmitted and practiced the message of Reality very simply. More than one tradition (hadīth) tells us that there have been 124,000 prophets and messengers Throughout different times and in many places numerous villages had a prophet in their midst. People were different then, purer and more transparent. The situations they lived in were generally more conducive to traveling the spiritual path.

The final message of the Qur`an, encompasses, supersedes and abrogates all previous messages. It provides man with the complete model. Though the Prophet Muhammad rose from among the Arab peoples, he was the master and seal of all the messengers before him. Because he was the last, his message is universal, open to all and applicable by everyone wherever and whenever.