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Twenty Eight Suras to Close the Book, From Read to Refuge

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Twenty Eight Suras to Close the Book, From Read to Refuge

Hizb 60, the last of the sixty, gathers twenty eight of the Quran's shortest suras into a single portion. Among them: Al-Fajr recalls the destruction of Ad, Thamud and Pharaoh as a warning; Al-Balad urges freeing captives and feeding the hungry as the true, difficult ascent a person can make; Ash-Shams and Al-Layl each swear by oaths of sun, night and day to describe two paths open to every soul; Ad-Duha and Ash-Sharh speak directly and tenderly to the Prophet during a pause in revelation, reassuring him that he has not been abandoned and that ease accompanies every hardship.

Al-Alaq opens with Read, traditionally identified as the Quran's own first revealed words, and Al-Qadr describes the Night of Decree as better than a thousand months. Al-Fil recalls the failed attack on Mecca by an army bringing elephants, and Quraysh notes the security given to that same city's trading caravans, while Al-Maun criticizes those who deny basic kindness and neglect their own prayer. Al-Kawthar, only three verses, is the shortest sura in the Quran, and Al-Kafirun draws a clean line between one faith and another, to you your religion, to me mine.

The hizb closes with Al-Ikhlas, a compact statement of God's absolute oneness, and Al-Falaq and An-Nas, twin suras seeking refuge from harm, the final words of the whole Quran.

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