Surah Al-Fajr (The Dawn)

Al-Fajr is the eighty-ninth surah of the Quran, a Meccan chapter of thirty ayahs. It opens with a series of oaths — by the dawn, certain nights, and other signs — that set a solemn tone before turning to its central concerns of accountability and the moral testing of human life. The surah recalls earlier peoples who grew arrogant and were brought low, mentioning communities associated with Ad, Thamud, and Pharaoh as examples of nations that transgressed and faced consequences. It then reflects on human nature, observing how people often misread both prosperity and hardship as simple signs of divine favor or rejection, while neglecting duties toward the orphan, the needy, and the just use of wealth. The closing passage shifts to the Day of Judgment and offers one of the Quran's most tender images: the call to the soul at peace to return to its Lord, well-pleased and pleasing, and to enter among the servants of God in His garden.