SURAH YASIN

These notes were taken at Masjid Bangsar. The class is

Tadabbur Al Quran conducted by Ustaz Kariman Abdul Moin.
Tadabbur of surah Yasin started on May 3 rd 2011. The following
notes form Ustaz Karimans introductory remarks (muqadimah)
on the surah.
INTRODUCTION
This is a Makkiyah surah : it came down in Makkah before
Nabis Hijrah to Madinah. This is a very popular surah
uniquely so in Malaysia where it is read at funerals, on Friday
nights etc.
The purpose of this introduction is to look at the ways this
surah is treated in Malaysia and in so doing, to dispel many of
the practices we have been following for generations. We are
all guilty of taking religion for granted: we practise what our
forefathers practised and we are quick to do something
because everybody else is doing it without questioning the
basis of such practice. This is the case with surah Yasin. In
religion it is very important that we make sure whatever we
practise is solidly backed by legitimate reasoning and a basis
that can be traced back to the Prophet Muhammad SAW: in
other words, we must sandarkan our religious practices on
DALIL SAHIH.
In following what others do, especially our parents and
grandparents - which may be an adat (culture) we must
ensure that we do not turn an adat into an ibadat through
continuously practicing it such that it becomes a tradition and
becomes part of our worship of Allah SWT...it may be wrong and
be at odds with the teachings of Prophet Muhammad SAW.
We must ensure that whatever we do is based on DALIL then
people will respect and love Islam and not treat it with ridicule
based on the Israeliad stories.

The younger generation of today needs to know they are

more curious and they want to know why things are done in a
certain way. It is no longer acceptable for us to tell our children
do not question religious practices! That will lead to an erosion
of your faith.. In order for the religion to thrive, we need to
have credible answers.
It is of utmost importance that we do not claim that Nabi said
something when in fact he did not. This is a falsehood and a
great sin in the eyes of Allah SWT. We must remember that
EVERYTHING Nabi said is sahih (the truth) BUT not everything
that is the truth is uttered by Nabi. It is therefore extremely
important that in quoting hadith, one must ensure reliability of
sources and traceability to Nabi.
THE MYTHS SURROUNDING SURAH YASIN
Everything that Allah SWT tells us in the Quran every single
word of it is a miracle (Mujizat) : we must use the ENTIRE Al
Quran as our guidance in life. At the very least, we should read
it daily. If we want to connect specific surahs in the Quran to
specific occasions or specific days of the week, then we must
ensure that such action is backed by a strong dalil : i.e. a strong
basis and arguments that can be traced back to the Prophet
SAW. Many of the things we do today in respect of this surah
have no basis and cannot be attributed reliably to the Prophet
SAW and what is more important, a huge number of hadith that
are quoted as basis for these practices are weak, unreliable and
cannot be traced back to the Prophet. Their status is classified
as Hadith Dhoif.
Some of our beliefs and practices in reading this surah are :1. We read it on Friday nights while it is not wrong to read it
on Friday nights, there is no hadith that says that this is
Sunnah Nabi. We can (and should) read it any day of the
week and more importantly, we must not give it treatment
that we do not give to the other chapters of the Quran: in
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2.

3.

4.

5.

other words there is no basis to single out this surah. The

ENTIRE Quran is special and must be read.
From Abu Hurairah Nabi was believed to have said that
whoever reads the Yasin no matter day or night Allah
SWT will forgive him his sins. This hadith is weak and
unreliable (dhoif) and its origins cannot be traced back to
the Prophet SAW.
From Annas Bin Malik apparently Nabi said that whoever
reads surah Yasin nightly, when he dies, his death is a
shahid death. Again, there is no basis for this hadith (as it
was related by someone known to be a liar!) and it is
therefore a falsehood.
To say that one must specifically read this surah on Friday
night is wrong to prevent it is also wrong but what is
correct is that there is no basis for either of these
arguments. There is nothing that can be attributed to
Nabi that he asks us or prevents us from reading Yasin on
Friday nights. There is however a very strong basis
through hadith sahih that the surah he asks us to read on
Friday night is Surah Al Kahfi (surah 18).
There are so many hadith palsu and dhoif about reading
surah Yasin. Among them are that : Everything has a heart the heart of Al Quran is
surah Yasin
Reading Yasin to a dying man is his saviour
(from Allahs azab and the fires of Hell) as is
reading the Yasin at graves for a loved one who
has passed away

6. Reading Yasin at the grave : this is an extremely popular

practice amongst many people. Yet, in a hadith sahih, Nabi
SAW said do not make the graveyard like your house
i.e. if you read the Quran in your house, do not do the
same thing at the grave. He advised us to read Surah Al
Baqarah at home to ward off syaitan and all evil , but dont
do it at the graveyard. In general, do whatever good
deeds you can at home (including reading Al Quran) and
when you are at the grave, ask Allah to grant forgiveness
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to the dead, accept his good deeds, place him in Paradise

with the solihin and do not place him into Hell Fire.
One should read the Yasin but should not accord it special
status over OTHER SURAH in the Quran. ALL of them are
important and each is a miracle, a guidance to mankind.
Perhaps the only story about this surah that has some validity
is the story of a delegation of Christians who went to see Nabi
in Madinah to debate with him on Christianity versus Islam.
They went to the mosque to meet with Nabi and he read to
them from the Quran they were so moved, they cried, then
they embraced Islam. Only one mufassir (Quranic expert), i.e.
Imam Hatem, said that what Nabi read to them was the surah
Yasin. All other mufassir agreed that Nabi read the Quran to
them but did not say which surah it was.
Because there are so many hadith (although all have the status
of hadith dhoif or false), stories and myths about this surah,
the Imam of the Al Azhar mosque in Eqypt produced a fatwa on
this. The Imam decreed that the reading of surah Yasin to the
dying and to people who have died is good especially because
the surah contains many stories of the Last Day (yaumul
Qiyamah). This is on condition that the reader does not ask for
and receive payment (rewards) for such reading.
This fatwa is accepted by the likes of Imam Hanafiah, Ibnu
Qoyyim and At Taimiyyah. The basis is that we know reading
this surah has many fadhilat and the fatwa encourages people
to read it. These ulamaks agree that the reading of surah Yasin
(and in fact the entire Quran) is amalan soleh (good deeds) : it
places people in awe of Allah SWT and when reading the Quran
people will feel fear for Allah and this encourages them to do
more good deeds to seek Allahs pleasure. These good deeds
are indications and evidence of our faith in Allah SWT, and our
obedience to Him, and based on the sincerity of this worship,
we can supplicate to Allah SWT and ask Him to fulfil our doa.
This is the correct way of asking for help from Allah (as shown
to us by the young men in Surah Al Kahfi).
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Nabi said that whoever lives after me will be witness to so

many khilaf i.e. false acts that are outside his teachings : and
Nabis advice to us is to hold on tightly to his sunnah and we
will not go wrong.

BASIS FOR READING AL KAHFI ON FRIDAY

Riwayat : a young man rested in the desert and tethered
his horse to a tree while he rested during a long journey.
Rather than lying idle while resting, he decided to recite
surah Al Kahfi. And while he did so a cloud came down low
near him (and his horse who tried to bolt away in fear) and
sheltered him while he rested. The young man then went
to see Rasulullah to ask him about this episode the next
day and Nabi told him : that is the sakinah (tranquillity)
you got from reading the Quran.
2. Nabi said whoever reads, understands and practices the
first ten verses of surah Al Kahfi will be protected from
Dajjal (as these few verses discuss Dajjal and the reader
will learn from them how to recognise and thus protect
himself from Dajjal): hadith sahih.
3. Reading Surah Al Kahfi on Thursday night or Friday
morning is a sunat act that is strongly recommended. To
him who does this will be given the Nur(radiance) from
Allah for the whole week thereon. Hadith sahih; practiced
by Imam Shafie.
1.

In Conclusion:1. Read the whole Quran daily not just surah Yasin.
2. Read surah Yasin anytime, any day not on Friday night
only and not for special occasions. There are 113 other
surah that need your reading and attention....read them
too.
3. Do not read the Yasin (and indeed the Quran) at the
graves you visit. Plan ahead your visit to the grave - do
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all your amal soleh at home : solat sunat, puasa, sedekah,

zikir, read the Quran etc then when you go to the grave
doa to Allah to grant your wishes for the departed ask
Him to forgive the sins of the departed, to accept the
persons lifelong deeds , to keep him from the fires of Hell
and to place him in Paradise with the solihin.
4. Do read surah 18, Al Kahfi on Friday nights.

To be continued.......