Ring Structure of Surah al-Mulk (The Dominion)

Surah al-Mulk (The Dominion) is significant in that the Messenger ‫ﷺ‬

encouraged Muslims to recite it every night before going to sleep.
It has been observed that on a macro-level, the surah appears to display a ring
composition. For brevity, the Arabic has been omitted. We highly recommend
reading through the surah once (at least in translation) before proceeding. The
relevant ayah numbers are shown in parenthesis.

Quick Overview

Section A begins with Allah ‫ ﷻ‬describing His power and might. He

mentions His control over all dominion, His ability to create life, death, and
the perfect skies above us. This is in contrast to humans (Section A’) who
are weak in their abilities. Allah ‫ ﷻ‬can destroy us in an instant or cause
us to die when He wants. Opposite of Allah ‫ﷻ‬, Who is in complete
control, humans can’t control something as simple as water if we were to
lose possession of it.

Section B details Heaven and Hell and reminds us of our inevitable

resurrection. Section B’ then quotes the arrogant disbelievers as they ask,
“When is this promise, if you were being truthful?”.
Connecting back to Section A, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬has absolute power, and with it
He created Heaven and Hell. Meanwhile, the weak human hears about
these things and still has the audacity to ask, “When is it? When is the
resurrection so I can see these ‘amazing’ things you describe?”

At the center lies Section C which details the immediate threats that Allah
‫ ﷻ‬may unleash on us before we’re even dead, let alone resurrected. To
contrast this, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬reminds us of our mortality and relatively short
lifespans (C’). With such threats only being held back by Allah’s control, the
human is made to reflect on how soon they may die if Allah ‫ ﷻ‬wills it.

A Deeper Look

Now that we have a good overview, let us explore some of the deeper
connections between the correlating sections.

Section A/A’
Allah ‫ ﷻ‬begins the surah by informing us that He “created death and life”
which correlates to the ending wherein He commands the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬to
say, “whether Allah destroys me and those with me or shows us mercy.” Thus,
“death” is connected to “destroys” and “life” with “mercy”.

After His creation of death and life, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬mentions two of His names, “the
Authority” and “the Forgiving.” In A’, Allah commands the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬to
say, “Who will save the disbelievers from a painful punishment?” Who has the
power to administer punishment? The Authority. And who can save them? The
Forgiving. In other words, this may be a subtle hint to the disbelievers to accept
the Authority and the Forgiving to avoid the impending punishment.

In A, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬says, “You will never see any imperfection in the creation of
the Most Compassionate". Those who accept this premise end the surah saying,
“He is the Most Compassionate—in Him alone we believe, and in Him alone we
trust.”
Finally for this section, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬says, “You will see nothing out of proportion in
the creation of the Most Compassionate. So, cast your eye again. Do you see any
rifts?” Allah ‫ ﷻ‬twice uses the Arabic word, “taraa”, for “seeing” in this ayah.
Then, in A’, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬says on two occasions, “Did you see…?” using a verb from
the same Arabic root letters, “raaytum”. Allah ‫ ﷻ‬begins with telling us to look
at the creation twice, and then concludes by twice asking us, “Did you see…?”

Section B/B’
Section B is the most elaborate description of the unseen and afterlife in
this surah. It’s Allah’s promise of what is to come. In B’ the disbelievers ask,
“When is this promise?”
In B, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬quotes the guardians of Hell asking the inhabitants of Hell, “Had
no warner come to you?” And the disbelievers will reply, “Yes, a warner had
come to us, but We had rejected [him].” In contrast, in B’, the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬is
told to say, “I am only a plain warner.”
In B, the regret of the disbelievers is quoted as, “If only we
had listened and reasoned, we would not be among the residents of the Blaze!”
In B’ we’re told that, “Then when they see the torment drawing near, the faces of
the disbelievers will become gloomy.” They only needed to listen and think to
avoid seeing the punishment.

Section C/C’
In C, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬asks if we are not afraid that He might “cause the earth to
swallow you up.” In contrast, in C’, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬says that He “has multiplied you
throughout the earth.”
If we go through the questions Allah ‫ ﷻ‬brings in C, we will find an interesting
trend. First He asks two hypotheticals; “Do you feel secure that the One Who is in
heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you up?” and “Do you feel secure that
the One Who is in heaven will not unleash upon you a storm of stones?” As
hypotheticals, these questions are asking us to listen closely to the warnings.
Next Allah ‫ ﷻ‬asks, “Have they not seen the birds above them, spreading and
folding their wings?” This question encourages us to see the example.
The following questions ask, “Which army will come to your help instead of the
Most Compassionate?” and “Who is it that will provide for you if He withholds His
provision?” These are also hypothetical questions pointing towards our ability
to listen to the examples.
And finally, Allah ‫ ﷻ‬concludes Section C with the question, “Who is guided:
the one who crawls face-down or the one who walks upright on the Straight
Path?” This visual example encourages us to use our sight.

In summary, Section C may be organized as follows:

One who heeds these warnings should be affected in their heart. Section C’
immediately follows this up with, “Say, ‘He is the One who has originated you,
and made for you ears and eyes and hearts. How little you pay gratitude!’” In
other words, “I already gave you all the faculties you needed to benefit from this
reminder.”
‫ َو الَّلُه َأعَلُم‬- And Allah knows best