Ta Sin: Meaning and Surah an-Naml

What Does Ta Sin Mean?

The most widely held position is that its meaning is known with certainty only to God. Wikipedia describes this as the general belief of most Muslims.

Ta Sin is one of the huruf muqattaat, the disjointed letters that open 29 surahs. Commentators over the centuries discussed several suggestions about these letters, and Wikipedia notes that opinions differ. The range of views is set out on the huruf muqattaat overview, so it is not repeated here.

This page is a reference, not a commentary. It reports facts about the surah, how the letters are named, and how they are counted.

What Are the Basic Facts About Surah an-Naml?

The surah takes its name from the ants, which are mentioned in its account of Sulayman. Wikipedia adds that the title carries no theme beyond recalling that account. So, unlike surah 20, it is not named after its opening letters.

Wikipedia lists verses 52 to 55 as Medinan, and it says verse 85 was revealed during the Hijra. The rest of the surah is classed as Meccan. Noldeke places it in his second Meccan period.

How Is the Surah Laid Out?

Wikipedia gives a summary of the surah by verse ranges. The outline below keeps to the layout and adds no commentary.

• Verses 1 to 6: an introduction that speaks of the Quran as guidance.
• Verses 7 to 19: the accounts of Musa, then of Dawud and Sulayman.
• Verses 20 to 44: the account of the Queen of Sheba, the longest single part.
• Verses 45 to 59: Salih and Thamud, then Lut and Sodom.
• Verses 60 to 93: statements about creation, warnings, and a short closing.

The account of the Queen of Sheba takes 25 of the 93 verses. That is about a quarter of the surah. The introduction and the closing are the shortest parts, at 6 and 3 verses.

Verses 45 to 59 and verses 7 to 19 are the next largest groups. Together with the Queen of Sheba account, the first three narrative parts cover more than half of the surah.

Is Ta Sin a Complete Verse?

The Wikipedia table of the muqattaat has a column headed complete ayah. Ta Sin is marked No. In the table, this means the letters begin a longer verse and do not form one alone.

Ten of the 29 openings carry this mark, and nineteen are marked Yes. The ten are listed below.

Two patterns stand out. All five Alif Lam Ra surahs are marked No, and so is ar-Rad. The three single-letter openings are marked No too.

Ta Sin is the only two-letter opening marked No. Ta Ha, Ya Sin and Ha Mim are all marked Yes.

This page reports the mark as the table gives it and goes no further. Readers who want the reasons should consult the sources listed at the end. The muqattaat list shows every opening in one place.

Where Does an-Naml Sit Among the Opening Surahs?

Of the 29 surahs that open with letters, an-Naml is the 13th in Quran order. It stands between two surahs that open with طسم. The pattern runs طسم, طس, طسم.

Surahs 26 to 32 form an unbroken run of seven, and surah 33 does not open with letters. The next one that does is surah 36. The page on Ta Sin Mim covers the two neighbors.

The Egyptian standard revelation order, listed on Wikipedia, gives the three surahs the numbers 47, 48 and 49. So they are neighbors in that list as well.

How Are the Two Letters Named and Read?

The cluster is read as two letter names. The first is ta, written طاء in full, and the second is sin, written سين. A reader says ta, then sin, and does not run them into one word.

English spellings vary. You may see Ta Sin, Ta Seen, Taa Seen or Tā Sīn. Urdu texts write the second name as سین with the Urdu form of ya, and the value is the same.

Some printed copies add small marks above the letters to guide the reader. These marks are not extra letters, and the engine on this site ignores them. See the muqattaat pronunciation page for the sounds.

How Long Is the Surah Compared With Its Neighbors?

An-Naml has 93 verses. Its neighbor before it, ash-Shuara, has 227, and the one after it, al-Qasas, has 88. So the middle surah of the three is close in length to the third and far shorter than the first.

Wikipedia also gives word and letter counts for the surah: 1,276 words and 4,724 letters. These are counts of the written text and have no link to the opening letters.

Where Do Ta and Sin Sit in the Alphabet?

The two letters hold different places in the two Arabic orders. In the everyday alphabet order, sin comes before ta. In the Abjad order, ta comes first.

The difference between the orders is covered on the Abjad and hijai order page. Only the Abjad order carries the values.

What Are the Letter Values of Ta Sin?

In the Abjad system, ta is the ninth letter and counts as 9. Sin counts as 60. The total is 69.

ط 9 + س 60 = 69

1. Take each letter in turn: ط then س.
2. Look up each value in the letter values chart: 9 and 60.
3. Add them to get 69.

The sum is plain addition, as for any Arabic word. The muqattaat and Abjad page explains how writers in history added up such openings.

Why Does the Total Change in the Maghribi Order?

Ta keeps the value 9 in every system. Sin does not. In the Maghribi order it counts as 300, so the total becomes 309.

The difference is 240, which is the gap between the two values of sin. The page on why values differ gives the reason. Always state which order a total uses.

Which Openings Share Letters With Ta Sin?

Three other openings share at least one letter with Ta Sin. The table shows their sums in both orders.

• طسم adds mim, which is worth 40. The sum rises from 69 to 109.
• يس swaps ta for ya. The sum is 70, just one more than Ta Sin. See the Ya Sin page.
• طه swaps sin for ha and keeps the same sum in both orders. See the Ta Ha page.

The sums of طس and يس are one apart in the Mashriqi order. That follows from the values of ta (9) and ya (10), and it has no other significance.

How Does the Sum 69 Rank Among the 14 Openings?

The 29 surahs use 14 different combinations of letters. When the combinations are ordered by their Mashriqi sums, Ta Sin comes fourth from the bottom.

The ranking depends only on the order chosen. In the Maghribi order the list changes, because sin and several other letters take different values. A rank of this kind is a property of the counting method, and the site draws no meaning from it.

What Do the Spelled-Out Letter Names Add Up To?

Each letter name is itself written with letters, and some historical writers counted the full name too. The name طاء totals 10, and سين totals 120.

The two written names together give 130. The cluster itself gives 69. These are different counts, and a writer should say which is meant.

How Often Do Ta and Sin Appear Across the Openings?

Ta appears in 4 of the 29 openings. These are طه, طس and the two surahs that open with طسم. Sin appears in 5.

The fifth is عسق, the second opening of ash-Shura, which comes after حم. So sin is found in an-Naml, in the two Ta Sin Mim surahs, in Ya Sin and in ash-Shura.

Ta Sin is the only opening where ta and sin stand as a pair with nothing else. The muqattaat calligraphy page shows how such pairs are drawn in different scripts.

How Can You Find the Opening in a Printed Quran?

Surah 27 is easy to locate in a printed copy. Follow these steps.

1. Turn to surah 26, ash-Shuara, and go to the end of its 227 verses.
2. Find the next surah heading, an-Naml, which states 93 verses.
3. Read the two letters طس on the first line after the Bismillah.

The heading usually shows the name, the number and the verse count. Check that the count is 93 and you are in the right place.

How Can You Check the Value Yourself?

Type طس into the Abjad value calculator and you will see 9, 60 and a total of 69. The multi-system calculator shows the Maghribi total beside it.

The method is described on the methodology page. The words and phrases section lists more reference pages like this one.

Sources and Further Reading

• An-Naml, Wikipedia. Verse count, juz, sections, revelation order, name and outline by verse ranges.
• Muqattaʿat, Wikipedia. The table of 29 surahs, the complete-ayah column and the majority view.
• List of chapters in the Quran, Wikipedia. Numbers, names, verse counts and revelation order of surahs 25 to 29.
• Letter values and sums come from this site’s tested engine. See the methodology.

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