Surah Hud
هود
Read this surah in the Quran Reader- Revealed
- Makki
- Ayahs
- 123
- Juz
- 11–12
- Mushaf pages
- 221–235
- Words
- 1,917
- Order revealed
- 52nd (according to Ibn Abbas)
- Year
- 12th year of Prophethood
- Prophets named
- Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut, Ibrahim, Ishaq, Yaqub, Shuaib
About Surah Hud (011)
In this Surah we have the stories of Prophets Nuh, Salih, Hud, Lut, Shuaib and Musa. In essence, Allah sent His Prophets and Messengers to mankind…
In this Surah we have the stories of Prophets Nuh, Salih, Hud, Lut, Shuaib and Musa. In essence, Allah sent His Prophets and Messengers to mankind out of His grace and mercy, but when people did not listen to the Prophets and rejected their message, then Allah’s punishment came and came relentlessly. It did not make any difference whether someone was the son of a Prophet or his wife or anyone, none could escape Allah’s judgment.
This surah is published a ruku at a time — the Quran's own reading portion — so each page stays short enough to study properly. Pick where you want to begin.
The 10 rukus of Surah Hud
Each ruku is a reading portion. This is what each one covers — click any line to open it.
| Ruku | What it covers | Ayahs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| 1–8 |
| 2 |
| 9–24 |
| 3 |
| 25–35 |
| 4 |
| 36–49 |
| 5 | The Prophet Hûd's address to his people, their disbelief and its consequences | 50–60 |
| 6 | The Prophet Sâleh's address to his people, their disbelief and its consequences | 61–68 |
| 7 |
| 69–83 |
| 8 |
| 84–95 |
| 9 | Fate of Fir‘aun and his chiefs who were warned but they gave no heed | 96–109 |
| 10 |
| 110–123 |
Themes of Surah Hud (011)
The stance of the Messengers: Despite these Messengers being rejected, mocked at, belied and denied, they stood firm with Yaqin (certainty), Thabat…
The stance of the Messengers: Despite these Messengers being rejected, mocked at, belied and denied, they stood firm with Yaqin (certainty), Thabat (steadfastness) and Sabr (patience and perseverance).
Lessons from history regarding those who denied the truth: From the time of Prophet Nuh to the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, there is one manifest truth and that is that there is no one who deserved to be worshipped except Allah alone without any equal and partner.
Warning and Admonition: The Surah deals with the same subject as Surah 10:
Yunus (Jonah). Sometime after the revelation of this Surah, Abu Bakr told the Prophet ﷺthat he had noticed that he was looking old. The Prophet ﷺreplied, “Surah Hud and the like Surahs have made me old.” This demonstrates that it was a very hard time for the Prophet ﷺand these stern warnings added greatly to his anxieties that were caused by the persecution from the Quraysh who were doing their worst to crush down the Message of Islam. For it was obvious to the Prophet ﷺthat the last limit of the respite given by Allah was approaching nearer and nearer and he was afraid lest the term of the respite should expire and his people be seized by the torment. The invitation is this, obey the Messenger of Allah, discard polytheism (Shirk) and worship Allah and Allah alone and establish the entire system of your life on the belief that you shall be called to account in the Hereafter.
The admonition is this: Remember that those people who put their faith in the outward appearance of this worldly life and rejected the Message of the Prophets met with dire consequences. Therefore, you should consider it seriously whether you should follow the same way that history has proved to be the path to ruin. The warning is this; you should not be deluded by the delay in the coming of the punishment: it is because of the respite that Allah has granted you by His grace so that you might mend your ways: if you do not make use of this opportunity you shall be inflicted with an inevitable punishment that will destroy you all except the Believers.
Instead of addressing the people directly, the Qur’an has used the stories of the people of Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut, Shu’aib and Moses to achieve the above-mentioned objects. What is most prominent in their stories is that when Allah passes His judgement on the people, He does not spare anyone whatsoever even if he be the nearest relative of the Prophet ﷺof the time. Only that one is rescued who had believed in the Prophet ﷺand none else not even his own son or wife. More than that, the Faith demands from each and every Believer that he should totally forget his relationships when that judgement comes and remember only the relationship of the Faith. For it is against the spirit of Islam to show any regard whatsoever for the relationships of blood and race. The Muslims demonstrated these teachings practically in the Battle of Badr four years after the revelation of this Surah.
Introduction and themes from The Qur’an Companion (Qur’an Wiki), Institute of Qur’anic Studies, reproduced unchanged. Key roots are their selection; every word, meaning and count shown here is from ILMHUB’s own Quran database.
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