Surah Ar-Rahman, “The Most Merciful”, has 78 verses. One sentence in it occurs 31 times. Even someone who does not understand Arabic hears it when the surah is recited aloud: it returns again and again, like the refrain of a poem or a choir answering a lead singer.
The question
Which of the favours of your Lord, you two, would you deny?
فَبِأَيِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny
Ālāʾ are favours and blessings, but also wonders: all the good and magnificent things Allah has done. And the question is in the dual. Rabbikumā, the Lord of you two; tukadhdhibān, do you two deny. The surah addresses two groups, humans and jinn, and names them outright:
يَٰمَعۡشَرَ ٱلۡجِنِّ وَٱلۡإِنسِ إِنِ ٱسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ أَن تَنفُذُواْ مِنۡ أَقۡطَارِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَٱنفُذُواْۚ لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلۡطَٰنٖ
O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]
Where it falls
Not at random. The refrain follows the subject.
- Creation 1–30
- The Judgment 31–45
- Two gardens 46–61
- Two other gardens 62–78
- The refrain
The refrain first comes in verse 13, after a list of created things: the sky, the balance, the earth, the fruit and the grain. Then it follows almost every verse, or every other one. Count the refrains by the surah’s sections and a division appears:
- 8 in the section on creation (verses 13–30),
- 7 in the section on the Judgment and punishment (verses 32–45),
- 8 in the section on the first two gardens (verses 47–61),
- 8 in the section on the other two gardens (verses 63–77).
The refrain comes even after the verses about fire and punishment. Scholars have explained that the warning itself is a favour: to be warned in time is a mercy.
The beginning
The first favour named is not the creation of man.
ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ
The Most Merciful
Ar-Raḥmān 55:1
عَلَّمَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ
Taught the Qur'an
Ar-Raḥmān 55:2
خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ
Created man
Ar-Raḥmān 55:3
عَلَّمَهُ ٱلۡبَيَانَ
[And] taught him eloquence
Ar-Raḥmān 55:4
The surah opens with the name itself, ar-Raḥmān, and the first act it names is that He taught the Qur’an. Only then: that He created man, and taught him bayān, the ability to express himself. The gift of being able to answer is named at the very start of a surah that asks a question 31 times.
What remains
Everything on earth perishes. His are the majesty and the honour.
In the middle of the list of favours stand two short verses: Everyone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour. And the last verse of the surah ends with the same words:
Verse 27
وَيَبۡقَىٰ وَجۡهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو ٱلۡجَلَٰلِ وَٱلۡإِكۡرَامِ
And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor
Ar-Raḥmān 55:27
The last verse
تَبَٰرَكَ ٱسۡمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي ٱلۡجَلَٰلِ وَٱلۡإِكۡرَامِ
Blessed is the name of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor
Ar-Raḥmān 55:78
Dhū l-jalāli wa l-ikrām: Owner of Majesty and Honour. The favours pass; the Giver remains.
The answer of the jinn
The question is not rhetorical. It waits for an answer.
The Prophet ﷺ once recited the whole of Ar-Rahman to his Companions, and they were silent. Then he said:
لَقَدْ قَرَأْتُهَا عَلَى الْجِنِّ لَيْلَةَ الْجِنِّ فَكَانُوا أَحْسَنَ مَرْدُودًا مِنْكُمْ كُنْتُ كُلَّمَا أَتَيْتُ عَلَى قَوْلِهِ فبأَىِّ آلاَءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ قَالُوا لاَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ نِعَمِكَ رَبَّنَا نُكَذِّبُ فَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ
“I recited it to the jinn on the Night of the Jinn, and they responded better than you did. Each time I came to Which of the favours of your Lord would you deny?, they said: We do not deny any of Your favours, our Lord. Yours is the praise.”
That is why many Muslims answer the refrain when they hear the surah recited: lā bi-shayʾin min niʿamika rabbanā nukadhdhib, fa-laka l-ḥamd. We deny none of Your favours, our Lord. Yours is the praise.