Yâ Sîn
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[36:1]
O THOU human being!

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* v.1 : Whereas some of the classical commentators incline to the view that the letters y-s (pronounced yā sīn) with which this sūrah opens belong to the category of the mysterious letter-symbols (al-muqatta‘āt) introducing a number of Qur’anic chapters (see Appendix II), ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās states that they actually represent two distinct words, namely the exclamatory particle yā (“O”) and sīn, which in the dialect of the tribe of Tayy’ is synonymous with insān (“human being” or “man”): hence, similar to the two syllables tā hā in sūrah 20, yā sīn denotes “O thou human being!” This interpretation has been accepted by ‘Ikrimah, Ad-Iahhāk, Al-Hasan al-Basrī, Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr, and other early Qur’ān-commentators (see Tabarī, Baghawī, Zamakhsharī, Baydāwī, Ibn Kathīr, etc.). According to Zamakhsharī, it would seem that the syllable sīn is an abbreviation of unaysīn, the diminutive form of insān used by the Tayy’ in exclamations. (It is to be borne in mind that in classical Arabic a diminutive is often expressive of no more than endearment: e.g., yā bunayya, which does not necessarily signify “O my little son” but, rather, “my dear son” irrespective of the son’s age.) On the whole, we may safely assume that the words yā sīn apostrophize the Prophet Muhammad, who is explicitly addressed in the sequence, and are meant to stress – as the Qur’ān so often does – the fact of his and all other apostles’ humanness.