Editing An-Najm (section)

== Exegesis ==
===1-18  legitimacy of Muhammad’s prophetic vision===
[[File:Surat An-Najm.jpg|left|thumb|The last line of An-Najm: "So prostrate to Allah and worship [Him]."]]
The first eighteen verses of this surah are considered to be some of the earliest revelations of the [[Quran]]. These verses address the legitimacy of Muhammad's prophetic visions. The surah begins with the divine voice swearing by the collapsing star that "Your companion," referring to Muhammad, has not gone mad, nor does he speak out of his desire. The passage evokes the process of vision by tracing the movement along the highest horizon and then coming down and drawing near to the distance of "two bows" length. The passage ends with the affirmation of the validity of the vision by stating that the heart of the prophet "did not lie in what it saw."

===49 Surah===
The surah is also known for referencing the star [[Sirius]] in verse 49, where it is given the name {{lang|ar|الشِّعْرَى}} (transliteration: ''aš-ši‘rā'' or ''ash-shira''; the leader).<ref name="Staff2007">{{cite web | author=Staff | date=2007 | url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067991/Sirius | title=Sirius | publisher=Britannica Online Encyclopedia | access-date=10 September 2007}}</ref> The verse is: "{{lang|ar|وأنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّ الشِّعْرَى}}", "That He is the Lord of Sirius (the Mighty Star)."<ref name="Quran">{{cite web|title=An-Najm (The Star), Surah 53 |date=2007 |work=Translations of the Qur'an |url=http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/053.qmt.html |publisher=University of Southern California, Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424083652/http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/053.qmt.html |archive-date=2009-04-24 }}</ref>

[[Ibn Kathir]] (d.1373) said in his commentary "that it is the bright star, named Mirzam Al-Jawza' (Sirius), which a group of Arabs used to worship."<ref name = "Quran 4 U"/>{{rp|53:49}} The alternate (to Sirius) ''Aschere'', used by [[Johann Bayer]], is derived from this.<ref name="Allen1899">{{cite book | first=Richard Allen | last=Hinckley | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5xQuAAAAIAAJ | title=Star-names and Their Meanings | publisher=G. E. Stechert | location=New York | date=1899 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5xQuAAAAIAAJ/page/n139 117]–25}}</ref>