Saba (sura)

Manuscript from the 8th century, with verses 53–54 of sura 34 and the first four verses of sura 35

The largely abandoned old part of the city of Ma'rib

Saba ( Arabic سبأ Saba'  , Sabseans ') is the 34th sura of the Koran , it contains 54 verses . The preaching of the sura falls in the third Meccan period (620–622). There is uncertainty as to whether verse 6 should be considered Meccan or Medinic .

Most of the themes of the sura are often found in the Meccan period: the omnipotence of God, stubbornness of the unbelievers and their situation on the last day , prophetic message and threat of divine judgment. Verses 10-14 mention David and his son Solomon . David is described as a psalmist and armorer , for whom the iron is softened, from which he makes chain mail. Solomon had some jinn at his service who carried out structural and manual work for him and did not want to take notice of his death.

Verses 15-19, in which the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Saba are named, the eponymous Sabeans , are a specialty . The section describes the bursting of the dam of Ma'rib (مأرب), the capital of the Empire of Sheba. The dam break resulted in a water disaster, whereupon tamarisks and a few ziziphus trees grew in Saba .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adel Theodor Khoury : The Koran. Translated and commented by Adel Theodor Khoury. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2007, ISBN 978-3-579-08023-9 , pp. 404-409.

Previous sura: al-Ahzab	The Koran	Next sura: Fatir
	Sura 34
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114