Surah Saba
سبأ
Read this surah in the Quran Reader- Revealed
- Makki
- Ayahs
- 54
- Juz
- 22
- Mushaf pages
- 428–434
- Words
- 883
- Order revealed
- 58th (according to Ibn Abbas)
- Prophets named
- Dawud, Sulayman
About Surah Saba (034)
The Surah answers some of the objections raised by the non-believers about Tawhid, Risalah and Akhirah. It also speaks about Prophets Dawud and…
The Surah answers some of the objections raised by the non-believers about Tawhid, Risalah and Akhirah. It also speaks about Prophets Dawud and Sulaiman and the Queen of Sheba to remind people about the consequences of evils as well as righteousness.
Surah Saba’ takes its name after the People of Saba’, “There was for (the tribe of) Saba’ in their dwelling place a sign: two (fields of) gardens on the right and on the left. (They were told), “Eat from the provisions of your Lord and be grateful to Him. A good land (you have), and a forgiving Lord.” (34:15) There are 54 Ayat in this Surah.
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 6 rukus of Surah Saba
Each ruku is a reading portion. This is what each one covers — click any line to open it.
| Ruku | What it covers | Ayahs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| 1–9 |
| 2 |
| 10–21 |
| 3 |
| 22–30 |
| 4 | Those who disbelieve in the Qur'an and prior scriptures, will have yokes placed around their necks before being tossed into hell | 31–36 |
| 5 |
| 37–45 |
| 6 |
| 46–54 |
Themes of Surah Saba (034)
The Surah deals with those objections of the disbelievers which they were raising against the Prophet’s ﷺmessage of Monotheism (Tawhid), the…
The Surah deals with those objections of the disbelievers which they were raising against the Prophet’s ﷺmessage of Monotheism (Tawhid), the Hereafter and about his Prophethood itself. This was mostly in the form of absurd allegations, taunts and mockery. These objections have been answered sometimes by citing them and sometimes without citing them while the discourse itself shows which objection is being answered at a particular place. The answers mostly take the form of instruction, admonition and argument but at some places the disbelievers have been warned also of the evil consequences of their stubbornness. In this connection the stories of the Sabaeans and the Prophets David and Solomon have been related to impress this lesson: “You have both these historical precedents before you. On the one hand there were the Prophets David and Solomon who had been blessed by Allah with great powers and such grandeur and glory as had been granted to hardly any people before them. In spite of this they were not proud and arrogant but remained grateful servants of their Lord. They were never rebellious. On the other hand there were the people of Saba who when blessed by Allah became proud and were consequently so thoroughly destroyed and dispersed as to be remembered only in myths and legends. With these precedents in view, you may see and judge for yourselves as to which bind of the life is better: that which is built on belief in Monotheism (Tawhid), the Hereafter and the attitude of gratefulness to Allah or that which is based on disbelief, polytheism (Shirk), denial of the Hereafter and the worship of the world.”
Key words of Surah Saba
Arabic builds its words from a three-letter root; change the pattern around the root and the meaning changes with it. These are the roots this surah keeps returning to, and the words built on each — every word links to the ayah it sits in. More in the Grammar Guide.
| Root | Times | Words in this surah |
|---|---|---|
| قول | 36 | |
| بين | 16 | |
| كون | 16 | |
| ربب | 14 | |
| امن | 11 | |
| عمل | 11 | |
| كفر | 10 | |
| علم | 9 | |
| مزق | 4 | |
| سرد | 1 | |
| جفن | 1 | |
| عرم | 1 |
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.
Published