Ash-Shura, "The Consultation," is the forty-second surah — 53 verses revealed in Mecca.1 It is the third of the Ha-Mim surahs, and it is named for a short description of the believing community: people "whose affair is [determined by] consultation among themselves."
What it is about
The surah is about unity: one God, one religion across the prophets, and one community that governs itself through consultation. It describes God in one of the most important theological verses of the Quran, traces the religion He ordained from Noah to Muhammad ﷺ, and closes with a portrait of the believers' character and an account of how God speaks to human beings.
Key themes
Nothing like Him. "[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth... There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing."2
One religion. "He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus — to establish the religion and not be divided therein." Division came only "after knowledge had come to them — out of jealous animosity between themselves."3
No payment asked. The Prophet ﷺ is told to say: "I do not ask you for it any payment [but] only good will through kinship."4
Hardship and pardon. "Whatever strikes you of disaster — it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much."5
The believers' character. The surah describes those for whom "what is with Allah is better and more lasting": they avoid major sins, "and when they are angry, they forgive"; they establish prayer, their affair is "[determined by] consultation among themselves," and they spend from what they are given. They defend themselves against tyranny, but: "the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation — his reward is [due] from Allah... And whoever is patient and forgives — indeed, that is of the matters [worthy] of resolve."6
Children as God's gift. God "gives to whom He wills female [children], and He gives to whom He wills males," or both, "and He renders whom He wills barren."7
How God speaks. "It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a partition or that He sends a messenger [i.e., angel] to reveal, by His permission, what He wills." The Prophet ﷺ himself "did not know what is the Book or [what is] faith" before revelation came as "a light by which We guide."8
Why it matters
Ash-Shura is the Quranic source for shura, consultation, as a defining trait of the believing community, and a reference point in Muslim thought on governance and collective decision-making. Its verse "There is nothing like unto Him" is one of the pillars of Islamic theology, and its balance of just self-defense with a preference for forgiveness remains a guide to how believers should respond when wronged. To read Ash-Shura in Arabic with translations and recitation, open it on Quran.com.