Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 2 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:2

تِلْكَ ءَايَـٰتُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ ٱلْمُبِينِ

“These are verses of the clear Book.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The twin of 26:2, but here the clear Book turns at once to a story, told by the One who saw it.

A reflection

The three surahs that open with this sentence

This exact sentence also opens Ash-Shuʿarāʾ (26:2), where its fuller treatment lives: the two senses of mubīn, and what a sign is. What is different here is the company it keeps.

Only three surahs open with these words. Ash-Shuʿarāʾ is one. The other two are Yusuf (12:1) and this surah. And those two are the Quran's great continuous stories, each told nearly from beginning to end.

Put them side by side. A boy is taken from his family and carried into Egypt. He grows up in a great house that is not his own. He is tested there, thrown into prison, and raised at last to authority. That is Yusuf. It is also, in its own shape, Musa: a baby lifted from the river into Pharaoh's palace.

At the head of Yusuf, Allah says: 'We relate to you the best of stories' (12:3). One commentary brings that very ayah here, to explain how Musa's story is told. The Book that is clear begins, in both places, by telling a story.

So clarity in the Quran is not only a list of rulings. Sometimes it is a life laid out in order, so that you can see the hand at work in it.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.