Verses about tranquillity and assurance in the Quran, with the commentaries

The word sakinah, tranquillity, occurs six times in the Quran, in six verses, and every time it is something God sends down: once in Al-Baqarah, twice in At-Tawbah and three times in Al-Fath. Words for a heart being assured occur 13 times in 12 verses across 11 surahs. This article reads the main verses of both and, at each one, gives the Sunni reading of al-Tafsir al-Muyassar first, then the Shia readings of al-Safi (al-Fayd al-Kashani) and al-Mizan (al-Tabataba'i).

Quotations from the three commentaries are my renderings of the Arabic.

Tranquillity in the believers' hearts

It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allah Knowing and Wise.

(Al-Fath 48:4)

Al-Muyassar: God sent calm down into the hearts of those who believed in God and His Messenger on the day of al-Hudaybiyah, so they were settled and certainty took root in them, that they might grow in faith and following alongside the faith they had. Al-Safi glosses sakinah as steadiness and calm, and relays a report from al-Kafi: it is faith. Al-Mizan: tranquillity here plainly means the soul at rest, steady and assured in what it believes, and adds that it corresponds to the spirit of faith named in "and He supported them with a spirit from Him" (Al-Mujadilah 22).

All three agree that tranquillity is the heart's calm and steadiness, and that its fruit is more faith. Al-Safi adds a report that it is faith itself; al-Mizan ties it to the "spirit from Him" of Al-Mujadilah 22.

The tranquillity in the chest

And their prophet said to them, "Indeed, a sign of his kingship is that the chest will come to you in which is assurance from your Lord and a remnant of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron had left, carried by the angels. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you are believers."

(Al-Baqarah 2:248)

Al-Muyassar: the chest in which was the Torah, which their enemies had taken from them, would come to them; in it was calm from their Lord that steadies the hearts of the sincere, and a remnant of what the families of Moses and Aaron left — the staff and fragments of the tablets — carried by the angels. Al-Safi relays from Ali: the tranquillity that was in it was a fragrant wind from the Garden with a face like a human face; and from al-Kazim, asked what it was: a spirit from God that spoke; when they disagreed over something it spoke to them and made plain what they wanted. Al-Mizan: sakinah comes from stillness, the opposite of movement, and is used for stillness of the heart: a person settled, with nothing shaking inside him as he holds to his resolve, as the wise man does.

Where they agree

All three agree that the tranquillity in the chest came from God, as the verse says: "assurance from your Lord".

Where they differ

Al-Muyassar reads the tranquillity as calm that steadies the hearts of the sincere; al-Safi's reports describe it as a wind from the Garden with a human face, or a spirit from God that spoke; al-Mizan takes it back to the heart's stillness.

"By the remembrance of God hearts are assured"

Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured."

(Ar-Ra'd 13:28)

Al-Muyassar: those whose hearts are settled by the oneness of God and His remembrance find rest; by obeying God, remembering Him and His reward, hearts are at peace and at home. Al-Safi: they rest in Him, at ease with Him, relying on Him and hoping in Him, and relays from al-Sadiq: by Muhammad they are assured, and he is the remembrance of God and His veil. Al-Mizan: the closing clause is like a rule that covers every remembrance, spoken or not, Quran or otherwise; and putting "by the remembrance of God" first means that hearts are assured by nothing other than the remembrance of God.

All three agree that the remembrance of God is what assures the heart. Al-Muyassar reads remembrance as oneness, obedience and reward; al-Safi as intimacy, reliance and hope, with a report applying it to the Prophet; al-Mizan as every kind of remembrance, and draws from the word order that nothing else assures the heart.

"O reassured soul"

[To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul,

Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him],

And enter among My [righteous] servants

And enter My Paradise."

(Al-Fajr 89:27, Al-Fajr 89:28, Al-Fajr 89:29, Al-Fajr 89:30)

Al-Muyassar: O soul at rest in the remembrance of God and faith in Him, and in the bliss He has prepared for the believers: return to your Lord pleased with His honouring of you, for He is pleased with you, and enter among God's righteous servants and into My Garden with them. Al-Safi: it is the soul that has come to rest in the truth, and relays from al-Sadiq that the verse means al-Husayn son of Ali. Al-Mizan: the reassured soul is the one at rest in its Lord, pleased with what He is pleased with, seeing itself as a servant who owns no good or harm, no benefit or loss, for itself.

All three agree that the reassured soul is the one at rest in its Lord, called to return to Him pleased and pleasing. Al-Muyassar places its rest in God's remembrance and faith in Him; al-Safi in the truth, with a report that the verse refers to al-Husayn; al-Mizan in contentment with what God is content with, and complete servanthood.

What the verses do not say

• They do not make tranquillity something a person earns alone; in every place it is sent down by God.
• They do not describe the contents of the chest in detail.
• They do not fix a form of words for the remembrance that assures hearts.

Counted on the mushaf

• Sakinah: six verses — once in Al-Baqarah, twice in At-Tawbah, three times in Al-Fath.
• Words for a heart being assured: 13 times in 12 verses across 11 surahs.
• "By the remembrance of God hearts are assured": once in the whole Quran.
• "O reassured soul": once.

Sources

• al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
• Tafsir al-Safi — al-Fayd al-Kashani.
• al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Quran — al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i.

Read:

• Verses of supplication in the Quran, with the commentaries
• What the Quran says about provision (rizq), with the commentaries
• Verses about repentance and forgiveness in the Quran, with the commentaries