The Four Quls — Al-Kafirun, Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq & An-Nas

The Four Quls are the four short Meccan surahs that each open with the command “Qul” (“Say”): Surah Al-Kafirun (109), Al-Ikhlas (112), Al-Falaq (113) and An-Nas (114). All four fall in Juz 30, the final part of the Quran, and are commonly recited together as a set.

English translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an (Oxford University Press).

Context

In the mushaf order the Four Quls sit at the very end of the Quran, all within Juz 30: Al-Kafirun is surah 109 (6 verses), and the final three surahs — Al-Ikhlas (112, 4 verses), Al-Falaq (113, 5 verses) and An-Nas (114, 6 verses) — close the Book. Al-Falaq and An-Nas, each opening “Say, ‘I seek refuge with the Lord…’”, are together known as al-Mu'awwidhatayn, the two surahs of seeking refuge. All four are classified as Meccan.

Reference

Surahs

109, 112, 113, 114

Ayat (total)

21

Juz

Juz 30

Revelation

Meccan

From the tafsir

“(As-Samad) is One Who does not give birth, nor was He born, because there is nothing that is born except that it will die, and there is nothing that dies except that it leaves behind inheritance, and indeed Allah does not die and He does not leave behind any inheritance. (And there is none comparable to Him.) This means that there is none similar to Him, none equal to Him and there is nothing at all like Him.”

English tafsir abridged from Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Hafiz Ibn Kathir), abridgement by Shaykh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri (Darussalam), via Quran.com.

Read the full tafsir of Surah Al-Ikhlas

Read more

• Read all of Surah Al-Kafirun (109)
• Read all of Surah Al-Ikhlas (112)
• Read all of Surah Al-Falaq (113)
• Read all of Surah An-Nas (114)
• Ayat al-Kursi — the Throne Verse (2:255)