The words of a prayer spoken by Abraham stand out in this sūra and give the sūra its name. The sūra also presents a kind of pattern of what happens when prophets preach Allah’s message to their peoples and the people do not respond appropriately. The sūra opens with a direct address to the Quran’s messenger and a statement that Allah sends each of his messengers to speak in the language of his people. The message here is that God created the universe and expects a good response from the people he has created. Human response to the message comes with consequences, and this sūra contains a number of graphic descriptions of the punishments that the disobedient will receive after death. The sūra pictures the Day of Judgment in two extended passages. Abraham’s prayer here includes a reference to settling some of his descendants in an uncultivable valley near the Lord’s holy house. The biblical account makes no such reference, and it seems that this story exists only in the Quran.

The Quran speaks directly to the messenger in many seemingly self-conscious passages that claim both a divine origin for the book and prophethood for the messenger. Here the Quran gives a reason for “sending down” material for the messenger’s recitations.