Ash-Shams

Ash-Shams (Arabic: الشمس, "The Sun") is the 91st surah of the Qur'an, with 15 ayat or verses. It opens with a series of solemn oaths sworn on various astronomical phenomena, the first of which, "by the sun", gives the sura its name, then on the human soul itself. It then describes the fate of Thamud, a formerly prosperous but now extinct Arab tribe. The prophet Saleh urged them to worship God alone, and commanded them in God's name to preserve a certain she-camel; they disobeyed and continued to reject his message; they killed the she-camel and nine of them plotted to kill Saleh and his followers, so God destroyed those who had wronged the people of Thamud and saved Saleh and the righteous believers who had followed him.

Summary

1-10, Oaths that man's happiness and misery depends on the purity or corruption he hath wrought in it

11-15, Thamúd destroyed for rejecting their prophet

Name of the surah

Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti, co-author of the classical Sunni tafsīr known as Tafsir al-Jalalayn suggests that some of the sūrahs have been named using incipits (i.e. the first few words of the surah). The Surah has been so designated after the word ash-shams with which it opens. Hamiduddin Farahi wrote that some sūrahs have been named after some conspicuous words used in them. Touched by an Angel: Tafseer Juz 'Amma is an AlMaghrib Institute Tafsir course which further investigates that the sun (ash-shams) is mentioned in several surahs; the reason why is this one called Surah Shams is because, in it, the sun is mentioned four times. Allah says:

91:1 وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا

91:2 وَالْقَمَرِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا

91:3 وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّاهَا

91:4 وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَاهَا

Translation: By the sun and its brightness, and [by] the moon when it follows it.