• The reward for those who migrate for the cause of God and those who practise patience and rely upon God

• Should any one seek to have the knowledge of the Qur’an he should have the guidance from the People of the Qur’an

An-Nahl (The Bee) Verses 41 – 50

وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ

And those who migrate in (the cause of) God1after they are oppressed, certainly We will give them good (recompense) in this world; and certainly the reward in the hereafter is much greater, if they only know (this), (16:41)

الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

Those who endured patiently2and on their Lord (only) do they rely. (16:42)

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

And We sent not before thee but men (as Our apostles), We revealed unto them; So ask ye the people of ‘Dhikr’3(the Qur’an) if ye know not, (16:43)4

بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالزُّبُرِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

With5clear proofs (miracles) and scriptures; and We sent down unto thee the ‘Dhikr’6(The Reminder i.e., Qur’an) that thou mayest make clear unto mankind what hath been sent down unto them, that they may reflect7(16:44)

أَفَأَمِنَ الَّذِينَ مَكَرُوا السَّيِّئَاتِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ اللَّهُ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ

What! then feel they secure, who plan evil devices, (against) God causing them swallowed up by the earth, or cometh unto them the wrath from whence they perceive not? (16:45)8

أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ فِي تَقَلُّبِهِمْ فَمَا هُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ

Or that He seizeth them during their movement, they shall not frustrate9(God's decree), (16:46)

أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ عَلَىٰ تَخَوُّفٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ

Or He seizeth them by a gradual 10loss, for verily your Lord is Pitiful and All-Merciful. (16:47)

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَىٰ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ يَتَفَيَّأُ ظِلَالُهُ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَالشَّمَائِلِ سُجَّدًا لِلَّهِ وَهُمْ دَاخِرُونَ

Or see they not towards what God hath created that everything turneth its shadow to the right and to the left, prostrating in obeisance unto God, while they lie abased. (16:48)11

وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

And prostrateth in obeisance unto God (only) whatever12is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, (and) of the (moving) creatures, and the angels (too), and they pride13not. (16:49)

يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

They fear14their Lord (Supreme) above them and do what they are commanded.15(16:50)16

Commentary

Verse 41

Those who, for the sake of the faith suffered the worst persecution at the hands of the pagans of Mecca and at last fled their home in utter helplessness, first to Abyssinia and later to Madina.

Verse 43

The general interpretation of this is, if you do not know ask your own scholars and priests, who know the history of the ancient people, whether the Apostles of God who visited this earth in the past, were men only, and they were not angels, and they were only men and none of them was a woman.

‘Dhikr’ is one of the names of the Holy Qur’an as well the Holy Prophet Muhammad.17 According to the interpretation of the Holy Ahl al-Bayt ‘Dhikr’ here means the Holy Prophet and by ‘Ahl al-Dhikr’ the ‘Ahl al-Bayt’, (i.e., the divinely chosen ones of the family of the Holy Prophet) i.e., the Imam of every age is the ‘Ahl al-Dhikr’ of the age.18 In the very next verse the Holy Qur’an is called ‘Dhikr’. Thus the ‘Ahl al-Dhikr’ could be no other than the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his ‘Ahl al-Bayt.’

(a) Ar. ‘Dhikr’ literally means to have something present in mind to be conscious of an object as opposed to the sub-conscious and unconscious. It has been used figuratively in any stimulus which brings the object in the focus of consciousness. In Holy Qur’an it is always used to mean to be conscious of God - mindful of God - or the stimulus which makes one conscious of God - in this sense the Holy Qur’an and the other scriptures and the Holy Prophet are termed as ‘Dhikr’ Having this in view some commentators thought that ‘Dhikr’ here means the previous scriptures and the ‘Ahl al-Dhikr’ the Jews and the Christian divines.

But to order a lay Muslim to refer to the Christian or the Jewish priests to remove his doubt, is a misleading order as it is obvious that they will lead him to their convictions. Therefore ‘Dhikr’ here either means to be conscious of God and ‘Ahl’ means those who are always conscious of God as asserted in verse 24:37 or ‘Dhikr’ here means Holy Qur’an or the Holy Prophet, ‘Ahl’ will mean the people identified with the Holy Prophet and Holy Qur’an and they are those purified by God19 and those who are always with the Holy Qur’an and Holy Qur’an is with them.20

In short in any sense of the term it does not apply to any one but to the Holy Prophet and the ‘Ahl al-Bayt.’ (A.P.).

Verse 48

Obeisance is of two kinds - the one with one’s own will and the other by nature. The one done at one’s own will is that which the believers offer, freely acknowledging the authority of the Lord and the other is that which everything in the universe is subjected to yield to the function of their native peculiarities like the cold and the flow in the water, the heat and the glow in the fire, the blowing in the wind, the solidity and the dryness of the earth, the pull of the gravity in the earth, the fixed rotation of the celestial bodies, the dark ness in the shadow and its fall from the object etc.

What if, if the disbelievers do not offer obeisance to the Lord, their very nature works in them in perfect obedience to the Creator Lord of the Universe and one day they themselves will automatically meet the natural end of their life, irrespective of whatever effect they may employ to avoid it.21

• 1. A wider implication means the travel towards God.
• 2. Persecution.
• 3. The Ahl al-Bayt with whom the Holy Prophet left the Qur’an i.e. Dhikr, refer to verses 21:7, 16:44, 43:43–44.
• 4. Refer to verse 21:7. Refers to the ‘Hadith al-Thaqalayn’- refer to note on verse.
• 5. Every apostle was sent with clear proofs. Signs to prove his bonafide to the people.
• 6. Qur’an.
• 7. The development of intellect & thought in man is one of the objects of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an.
• 8. like the people of Lot and the others who were taken by the chastisement unawares.
• 9. Escape.
• 10. In their fear
• 11. Refer to verses 13:15 & 22:18.
• 12. Nothing in the Universe dare exercise pride against the authority of the Lord.
• 13. Neither arrogant nor proud.
• 14. Actually they are afraid or conscious or mindful of their own short coming in their obedience due to God.
• 15. Every thing in the Universe acts implicitly as destined by God, to do.
• 16. Sajdah (Prostration) Sunnat.
• 17. See verse 15:9.
• 18. Umdat-ul-Bayan (UB), Mafatih al-Asrar (MFA), al-Durr al Manthur (DM), Ibn Mardawayh.
• 19. Verse 33:33.
• 20. Ref. to the Hadith al-Thaqalayn.
• 21. Refer to verse 57:8.