Surah al-Jinn—Makkan (1)

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

“Say: It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened and said, ‘Indeed, we have heard a wondrous Quran, (1) guiding to right guidance; so we have believed in it, and we shall never associate anyone with our Lord. (2) And exalted is the majesty of our Lord: He has taken neither a wife nor a son.’ (3)”

“Say: It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened”: they were nine jinn from Nusaybin. It was also said that they were seven. They listened to the Prophet’s recitation. We mentioned their account in Surah al-Ahqaf.

“So they said,” when they returned to their people, “Indeed, we have heard a wondrous Quran.” Ibn Abbas said: “Eloquent”—that is, a Quran possessing such wonder that one marvels at it because of its eloquence.

“Guiding to right guidance”: it calls to what is correct in monotheism and faith. “So we have believed in it, and we shall never associate anyone with our Lord.”

“And exalted is the majesty of our Lord”: the reciters of Syria and Kufa—other than Abu Bakr in his transmission from Asim—read “and that He is exalted” with the open-vowel form, anna, as did the subsequent occurrences until His saying, “And among us are those who submit.” The others read them with the closed-vowel form, inna. Abu Jafar read anna in those instances that were syntactically connected (2) to the revelation, and inna in those that reported the words of the jinn.

The preferred reading is to use inna throughout, because this is part of what the jinn said to their people. It is thus coordinated with His saying, “So they said, ‘Indeed, we have heard a wondrous Quran,’” followed by their saying, “And indeed, exalted is He.”

Those who read anna connected it to His saying, “So we have believed in it”—that is, “We believed in it and in all of that.” They therefore used anna because faith is directed toward it.