وَٱلْفَجْرِ 1
Translations
By the dawn
Transliteration
Wa al-fajr
Tafsir (Explanation)
This opening ayah invokes an oath by the dawn (al-fajr), which classical scholars interpret both literally as the break of daylight and symbolically as a sign of Allah's power and divine order. Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari note that Allah swears by the dawn to emphasize the magnitude of what follows in the surah—the story of the people of 'Ad and Thamud—demonstrating that just as dawn dispels darkness with certainty, so too does Allah's punishment come with absolute inevitability to those who reject His signs. The oath structure establishes the gravity of the message and reflects the Quranic method of using natural phenomena as witnesses to divine truth.
Revelation Context
Surah Al-Fajr is a Meccan surah revealed during the early period of the Prophet Muhammad's mission in Mecca. This opening oath sets the tone for the surah's main themes: warnings to previous nations who rejected their prophets and the certainty of divine justice. The surah uses vivid imagery and oaths by natural phenomena to reinforce the reality of the Day of Judgment and Allah's punishment.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said regarding the dawn prayer: 'The best prayer is the dawn prayer (Fajr) on the day of Friday' (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 497). Additionally, the Quran emphasizes in 24:58 that the dawn is a time of spiritual significance when believers should be mindful of Allah.
Themes
Key Lesson
The invocation of the dawn reminds us that Allah's signs are present in creation itself—observable and undeniable—and we should recognize these signs as calls to reflect on our purpose and accountability before Him. Just as the dawn breaks with certainty each day, so too will divine justice manifest with absolute inevitability.