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Al-Israa (Bani-Israel) Section 5 – Everything In The Heavens And In The Earth Glorifies God

  • Polytheistic idea refuted

  • Everything in the Heavens and in the Earth Glorifies God but man does not understand the glorification

  • Man even after becoming dust or anything else shall be raised by God to account for his life in this world

  • The stay in the graves will be deemed as for a very short time

Al-Israa (Bani-Israel) Verses 41 – 52

وَلَقَدْ صَرَّفْنَا فِي هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ لِيَذَّكَّرُوا وَمَا يَزِيدُهُمْ إِلَّا نُفُورًا

And indeed have We displayed (the warnings) in this Qur’an that they might take heed; but it addeth not to them save aversion (against the truth). (17:41)

قُلْ لَوْ كَانَ مَعَهُ آلِهَةٌ كَمَا يَقُولُونَ إِذًا لَابْتَغَوْا إِلَىٰ ذِي الْعَرْشِ سَبِيلًا

Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) If there were with Him (any) other gods (also) as they say, then certainly they would have been able to seek against the Lord of the ‘Arsh’1a way. (17:42)

سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا

Glory be to Him and Exalted is He far above from what they say2He is the High, and the Great. (17:43)

تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمَاوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا

Celebrate His glory the seven heavens and the earth, and (all) those in them; and there is not any thing but it glorifieth Him, but ye understand not their glorification; Verily, He is the Forbearing, the Oft-Forgiving. (17:44)3

وَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنَا بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجَابًا مَسْتُورًا

When thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) recitest the Qur’an We set between thee and those who believe not in the hereafter a hidden veil, (17:45)

وَجَعَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ أَكِنَّةً أَنْ يَفْقَهُوهُ وَفِي آذَانِهِمْ وَقْرًا وَإِذَا ذَكَرْتَ رَبَّكَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَحْدَهُ وَلَّوْا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِهِمْ نُفُورًا

And We have set on their hearts coverings lest they should understand it (the Qur’an) and in their ears a heaviness and when thou mentionest thy Lord alone, in (reciting) the Qur’an, turn they their backs in aversion. (17:46)4

نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَسْتَمِعُونَ بِهِ إِذْ يَسْتَمِعُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِذْ هُمْ نَجْوَىٰ إِذْ يَقُولُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِنْ تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا رَجُلًا مَسْحُورًا

We know best what they hearken, when they hearken unto thee, and when they are 5whispering secretly apart, when say the unjust (unto the believers): “Ye follow none but a man bewitched.” (17:47)

انْظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَكَ الْأَمْثَالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا

Behold thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) what similitudes they coin for thee! for they have gone (so far) astray (that) they can not find the way (to truth). (17:48)

وَقَالُوا أَإِذَا كُنَّا عِظَامًا وَرُفَاتًا أَإِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ خَلْقًا جَدِيدًا

And say they: “What! when we become (mere) bones and a decayed dust, shall we (even) then in fact be raised up into a new creation?” (17:49)6

قُلْ كُونُوا حِجَارَةً أَوْ حَدِيدًا

Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) (Even if) become ye stones or iron,” (17:50)

أَوْ خَلْقًا مِمَّا يَكْبُرُ فِي صُدُورِكُمْ فَسَيَقُولُونَ مَنْ يُعِيدُنَا قُلِ الَّذِي فَطَرَكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ فَسَيُنْغِضُونَ إِلَيْكَ رُءُوسَهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هُوَ قُلْ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُونَ قَرِيبًا

“Or any other creature which seem yet harder to you (to receive life)”, But they will say “Who will cause us to return?” Say thou: “He Who created you first!” Then will they wag their heads unto thee and say: “When will that be?” Say thou “Maybe it is nigh.” (17:51)7

يَوْمَ يَدْعُوكُمْ فَتَسْتَجِيبُونَ بِحَمْدِهِ وَتَظُنُّونَ إِنْ لَبِثْتُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

On the day when He will call you forth, and ye will respond with His praise and ye will think that ye tarried8(in your graves) but a little (while). (17:52)

Commentary

Verse 41

The more the truth was preached to the disbelievers, the more did they become adamant in their disbelief and wickedness9.

This is in sequence to the previous verses. The purpose of the display and the repetition of the signs and the arguments of the Qur’an is to make people display their reaction to the signs, either to be mindful or be averse to them. But greater are in numbers those who are averse than those who are benefited by them. In any case the purpose of display is achieved as pointed out in verse 17:20. (A.P.).

Verse 42

If the idols had really been gods as they are falsely taken and worshipped, they would have found their way to heaven.

Seeking the way to the ‘Arsh’ may be in the endeavour to get nearer to the god of the gods as some section of the pagans would believe; or it may mean that sharing in godhead they would seek to compete God in authority. In both cases it means that the concept of another god or gods being with the One True God makes all of them limited in power and subject to conflict. (A.P.).

Verse 44

The declaration of God’s glory need not be in words uttered by any tongue. The greater and the fuller declaration of God’s glory is in the undisturbed continuous working of His will, with perfect harmony.10 Only the people do not ponder over the mysteries of the creation and the wonderful working of the Universe in perfect harmony in obedience to the Law of the Lord which is itself the most eloquent declaration of the Lord Creator of the whole organism of the Universe, being free from every imperfection.

Most commentators generally interpret this passage as to refer to the absolute submissiveness of every part and particle of the universe whether animate or inanimate, to God’s order, will and might. But some commentators hold the view that if Qur’an means the praise of all beings - their submissiveness - it could easily be understood by every sensible man. There was no need of saying,

‘But ye don’t understand their praise.’ (17:44)

Then it must mean something beyond the grasp of everyone. On this basis they have asserted that every being in the order of existence is more or less endowed with some degree of life or psychic element and the question of the animate and the inanimate is only of degree. The life is evident to us in some and in some it is not evident. It is to this factor which Qur’an refers that man does not understand it. This has been asserted by the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. (A.P.).

Verse 45

This is a reference to the adamant aversion on the part of the disbelievers against the repeated preachings, inviting them to the truth. Once the Holy Prophet was in the house of Abu Bakr when the wife of Abu Lahab went there in search of him with a stick in her hand to strike him with it. She entered the house and though the Holy Prophet was just in front of her, she could not see him and she went on enquiring about him. The Holy Prophet told Abu Bakr to say that he was in the house and to herself find him out. The woman in angry mood told Abu Bakr not to cut jokes with her, and taking an oath she said, she could see none else besides Abu Bakr. God had covered the Holy Prophet from the woman’s sight. It is said that whenever the Holy Prophet started reciting the Holy Qur’an the Quraysh used to turn away from him.

Besides the spiritual barriers between the Holy Prophet and the disbelievers, it is said that sometimes even the disbelievers would be blinded in such a way that they would not see him even when he was standing before their very eyes while they were seeing other objects. (A.P.).

Verse 48

Realising the fascinating force of his behaviour, Qur’an explains it in terms which may justify their aversion to it. Sometimes they used to say that the Holy Prophet was mad and an enchanter and sometimes an enchanted one. All these terms would not stand before the lofty and the sublime teachings and the force of Qur’an or the excellence of the character of the Holy Prophet. A mad enchanter, or an enchanted one, could not bring such a work. They themselves felt helpless - to which the verse refers.

The opponents talking of such nonsense is not surprising. The surprise is that some who professed to be Muslims should fabricate traditions that the Holy Prophet was enchanted by the Jews, which is against all Qur’anic historic and logical evidences. (A.P.).

Verse 52

For the disbelievers witnessing the miserable life which they would get during ‘Barzakh’, i.e., the purgatory, would deem their life in the world to be very little. Some commentators say that those referred to in this verse are the believers, for owing to the blissful life they would have enjoyed in the purgatory, they would think the duration of the bliss to be very little, for it is but natural that the period of enjoyment passes away very quickly.

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