Al-Quraish

Verses 1-2

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ ١
إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ ٢

Marvel at the close bonds [enjoyed by] the [tribe of] Quraish, their security, the stability of matters in their welfare, the regularity of their two journeys–in winter to Al-Yaman¹ and in summer to Al-Shām²–and that having been facilitated in order to get what they need of imported goods.

Verse 3

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَٰذَا الْبَيْتِ ٣

So they must be grateful to and worship the Lord of this House, by means of which they enjoy strength and status–the Kaʿbah–due to which they have gained honor and high rank; they must single Him out, [affirming for and directing to Him alone all that is only His], and they must perform all acts of worship for Him purely….

Verse 4

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُمْ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُمْ مِنْ خَوْفٍ ٤

…the One who gave them food to eat, [removing their] severe hunger, and granted them protection from [sources of] alarm and terror.

Translator’s Notes

¹Yāqūt Al-Ḥamawī, author of the well-known geographical encyclopedia Muʿjam al-Buldān, said:

Al-Aṣmaʿī said: “The boundaries of Al-Yaman and all that it includes are between ʿUmān (Oman) to Najrān; after that, it bends [with] the Arabian Sea to ʿAdan to Al-Shiḥr until it passes ʿUmān and then breaks off from Baynūnah. Baynūnah is [located] between ʿUmān and Al-Baḥrain; it is not a part of Al-Yaman.”

And it is said: Al-Yaman’s boundaries start from beyond Tathlīth and whatever [Tathlīth] is above, to Ṣanʿāʾ and whatever is close to it, to Ḥaḍaramawt, Al-Shiḥr, and ʿUmān, to ʿAdan Abyan and what is next to it of the Tihāmah and Najd regions. Al-Yaman gathers all of that [within its borders].

²Also from Muʿjam al-Buldān:

As for the boundaries of [Al-Shām], then they are from Al-Furāt (the Euphrates) to Al-ʿArīsh, which neighbors Egyptian lands. As for its breadth, then it [stretches] from the two mountains of Ṭaiʾ from the direction of the Qiblah [the Kaʿbah] to Baḥr al-Rūm (the Mediterranean Sea) and the lands to the left of that…. And the length of it from Al-Furāt to Al-ʿArīsh is approximately a month[‘s journey]; its breadth, approximately 20 days.

Source:  Al-Tafsīr Al-Muyassar. King Fahd Qurʾān Printing Complex. Madīnah: 1434 H.