Quraysh قريش
Quraysh
Quraysh is named for the Prophet's ﷺ own tribe, the merchants who controlled Makkah and its trade routes, and its four verses make a case built entirely on their own experience: God secured their safety and their seasonal caravan journeys, winter to Yemen and summer to the Levant, so let them worship the Lord of "this House" — the Kaaba — who feeds them against hunger and shelters them against fear. Many commentators read Quraysh as continuing directly from Al-Fil, which precedes it in the Mushaf: the elephant army's defeat protected the very Kaaba and trade stability Quraysh now enjoyed, so the surah's argument is close to a debt being pointed out. It doesn't threaten or argue doctrine — it simply asks a trading people who understood security and provision better than anyone to recognize where both came from.
لِإِيلَـٰفِ قُرَيْشٍ
[He did this] to make the Quraysh feel secure,
إِۦلَـٰفِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ ٱلشِّتَآءِ وَٱلصَّيْفِ
secure in their winter and summer journeys.
فَلْيَعْبُدُوا۟ رَبَّ هَـٰذَا ٱلْبَيْتِ
So let them worship the Lord of this House:
ٱلَّذِىٓ أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَءَامَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍۭ
who provides them with food to ward off hunger, safety to ward off fear.
Arabic text and translation (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem) via the Quran.Foundation API.
Frequently asked
Four verses.
Meccan, revealed in Makkah.
The Prophet's ﷺ own tribe, the dominant merchant clan of Makkah who controlled the city and its seasonal trade caravans to Yemen and the Levant.
Many commentators read the two together: Al-Fil describes God defending the Kaaba from Abraha's army, and Quraysh points out that the security and trade Quraysh relied on afterward flowed from that same protection.