Tafsir Of Surah Yaseen (36) - 3/8

A'uzubillahi min al-shaytan al-rajim. Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim. Al-hamdulillah rabb al-'alameen wasallahu 'ala syedina wa habibina habibi ilahal 'alameen Muhammad wa 'ala alihi tayyibeen at-tahireen.

Welcome to another episode of Wisdom from the Noble Quran. We were discussing Surah Yasin and we came to the verse "Innaka laminal mursaleen, 'Alaa Siraatim Mustaqeem" (36:3&4). "Al-Siraatal mustaqeem" is something which has been defined and described in the Quran in other verses. And I think as I mentioned before, if we follow this method of explaining Quranic verses by other Quranic verses, we will be on the safe side.

At the end of Sura Shura, we have that "wa innaka latahdeee ilaaa Saraatin Mustaqeem, Siraatil laah al-lazee lahoo maa fis samaawaati wa maa fil ard; alaaa ilal laahi taseerul umoor," (42:52&53)- you guide to the right path, the path of Allah to whom belongs everything in the heavens and the earth. So the "siraatal mustaqeem" is something which leads us. God has actually planned it for us to lead us to our destination, to go back to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Of course, it means going back to His reward, to His neighborhood in paradise. So this is "siraatal mustaqeem".

Now we are Muslims. We have the Book. Are we guided to siraatal mustaqeem? It depends how we take the Book. That is very important. Are the Jews not guided to siraatul mustaqeem? Of course they are, because they have the Torah, Allah has given them the Book, as it is mentioned in other places in the Quran: "Wa laqad aatainaa Moosa wa Haaroonal Furqaana wa dhiyaa'anw wa zikral lilmuttaqeen" (21:48), - so Torah was furqan - it clarified between right and wrong, it was light - dhiyaa, it was zikr - reminder. So they were given the Book and they were guided to siraatal mustaqeem. Were not the Christians guided to siraatal mustaqeem? Of course, they were guided to siraatal mustaqeem.

Now, do we regard everyone who is given the Book that they are guided to siraatal mustaqeem or the guidance comes from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, the Book comes from Allah, depending on how we take that Book, how we follow that Book, we are either on siraatal mustaqeem or not on siraatal mustaqeem. So, there are certain people, that by the help of the Book, are guided to siraatal mustaqeem. And this is what we Muslims continuously say in our prayers.

Although we are given the Book, although we are following the Prophet peace be upon him, although we believe in all tenets of Islam and all tenets of faith, however, continuously you ask God (1:6) "ihdinas-Siraatal-Mustaqeem" - guide us to the right path. It seems with the dua that we are making everyday, that this is something that God has helped us to find in His guidance, the way we take the Book."Yaa Yahyaa khuzil Kitaaba biquwwatin" (19:12) - O Yahya, take the Book with force, with power, with resolve. That is how people are guided to siraatal mustaqeem.

So in Surah Hamd, when we ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala every day, "ihdinas-Siraatal-Mustaqeem" (1:6) - guide us to the right path, then there is a description of that "Siraatal-lazeena an'amta 'alaihim" (1:7) - the path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your favor and "ghayril-maghdoobi 'alaihim", not those to whom You gave the Book, You gave the guidance, then You put Your wrath on them, "wa lad-daaalleen", and not those to whom You gave the guidance, You gave the book, but they went astray.

So we may have the Book. We may have been guided to the right path. However, we may act in a way that we bring the wrath of God upon ourselves. Or we may act in a way, we may take the Book in a way that we may go astray.

Now, who are these upon whom the favor of Allah is bestowed, that Allah has given them His favors. This is again described in another verse in the Quran. As I said, we can find the meanings of things in other verses, "Alqurano yufassiro ba'dhohu ba'dha", as we have in the general statement of most early mufassireen from both Sunni and Shia, that they were of this idea that Quran explains itself.

Now, if you come to Sura Nisa, verse number 69, "Wa many-yuti'il laaha war Rasoola fa ulaaa'ika ma'al lazeena an'amal laahu 'alaihim minan nabiyyeena wassiddeeqeena washshuhadaaa'i wassaaliheen" (4:69) - whoever obeys God and the Prophet; obeying God means obeying the Quran. Obeying the Prophet means obeying the Sunnah of the Prophet: whatever he says, we should not differentiate between what is revealed to the Prophet in terms of Quran and what he says in terms of his own opinion or his own wisdom, because Allah is asking us to obey the Quran and the Prophet both - what is revealed in the Quran and what is coming from the wisdom of the Prophet peace be upon him.

So, ''Wa many-yuti'il laaha war Rasoola" - whoever obeys God and the Messenger, they will be with those upon whom I have bestowed My favor. And these are nabiyyeen - the prophets, siddeeqeen - the truthful ones, wash-shuhada - the witnesses, wal saaliheen - and the righteous ones. Of course, those who are in the category of the muqarraboon, as we discussed before. So continuously, we are asking Allah to guide us to the path of these highly stationed people in spirituality.

Now here what Sura Yasin is telling, giving us, the information it is giving us, is that and of course, the addressee is the Prophet, peace be upon him, "Innaka laminal mursaleen" - you are from the mursaleen. Mursaleen are chosen members among the nabiyyeen. Nabiyyeen are those who are given some sort of revelation, guidance, wisdom. They can guide themselves, they can guide others. But when Allah gives them some mission, then they become from mursaleen - they are messengers. They are ambassadors of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. And of course, we have in one hadith that the number of the prophets, nabiyyeen, were one hundred twenty-four thousand. This is a hadith which is famous. The Prophet gave this information to Abu Dharr, Rahmatullah alayh that the number of the prophets were one hundred and twenty four thousand, among them there were three hundred thirteen messengers, the mursaleen.

So the Prophet is one of them - "Innaka laminal mursaleen'". Okay, what is your mission? " 'Alaa Siraatim Mustaqeem"- you are sent to bring people to siraatal mustaqeem, you are a messenger on the right path and you bring people to the right - of course, if they follow you. The Prophet cannot force people to follow him. The only thing is that he can warn and he can give good news. So you are on siraatal mustaqeem, "Innaka laminal mursaleen, 'Alaa Siraatim Mustaqeem"- you are on the right path and anyone who follows you would be on the right path. As it is mentioned in Sura Shura at the end of Sura Shura, "wa innaka latahdeee ilaaa Saraatin Mustaqeem"(42:52), you guide towards the right path and this right path is siraat-Allah. This is the path of Allah, "alazee lahoo maa fis samaawaati wa maa fil ard"(42:53).

Okay, this book - "Yaa-seen, Wal-Qur-aanil-Hakeem , Innaka laminal mursaleen ", - How have you become from mursaleen? Because of revelation which has come down to you: "Tanzeelal 'Azeezir Raheem" (36:5) - this is sending down, this is something which is being sent down from the Almighty, the All Merciful: "Tanzeelal 'Azeezir Raheem".

So, you are one of the mursaleen, you are on the right path, while this is sending down from Azeez ur-Raheem. Now, "tanzeel" means of course, sending down, as I mentioned. It may mean, we may say revelation, but literally it means to send down gradually as some scholars of etymology say. So, it means to send down. Now, does God have directions, can we attribute directions to God that He is up there and we are down here and therefore He sends down things?

There are certain Muslim scholars - there were in the past and there are now as well, who are actually of the view that, yes, God is in the heavens, in the skies, in the upper direction. He is up there. We are down here. He is sitting on the throne up there. And we are, of course, on the earth here. And they bring many examples, it is sort of anthropomorphism that God is like a human being, occupying a space, and then, of course, that space is high, is up there, sublime, and we are down here and things come down from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Now we know that the Mu'tazali scholars among the Sunni scholars and the Shi'i scholars of course, they cannot allow such a thing for Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Allah has no direction, no physical attribute, does not fill any space because He is the creator of this space. Before He created Heavens and the Earth, where was He?

Of course, He is the creator of the space. He is the creator of time. You cannot say 'before' or 'after' for Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala - it is a nonsensical question and you cannot say 'where is He?' because this again, is another nonsensical question - He has created 'where', actually He has created a space.

So when you talk about God sending things down, it is not the physical aspect. The spatial aspect of this is not meant. We have to realize that by our wisdom, our understanding. Of course, many things in the Quran we have to understand by our rational, judicious understanding, by our intellect, that it is completely understood, especially from other verses of the Quran as well, that God cannot have a physical aspect.

If He has a physical aspect, then who has created that physical aspect? And if He is in a place, where was that place before He created that place? Has He created that place or that place has been with Him since eternity? You know, these are the things that we can think about. Of course, we leave these issues to theology. However, when we say God sends down, it means He dilutes - it is in terms of rank. It is not in terms of space or place.

When God sends down things to us, it means He dilutes it in its rank so that you can catch it, you can understand it, you can use it. Otherwise when things go up in terms of rank, of course that will be a different world. "Wa in min shai'in illaa 'indanaa khazaaa 'inuhoo wa maa nunazziluhooo illaa biqadarim ma'loom"(15:21) - the treasures of everything, the stores of everything are with Us, but there is no measure there. When We send it down, it finds measure, it finds dimension and these things and We send it on, of course with a measured amount when it comes to this world, it finds a measured account. There, things never finish; here, things finish. In that realm, in that rank (16:96) "maa 'indakum yanfadu wa maa 'indal laahi baaq" - whatever is with you would finish, whatever is with Allah would remain; it never finishes, khazaainallah never finishes because there is no measurement there. InshaAllah, when we go to paradise we would get some idea of what these things mean. We cannot get the idea of unmeasured things, things which have no amount. And this is something which our mind which is totally framed in this type of creation, cannot understand.

Now when Allah says 'tanzeel' it doesn't mean that it was somewhere high in the heaven or in the sky and it came down. It means its rank was reduced. It was diluted in a way that you can understand it. Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim. "Haa-Meeem Wal Kitaabil Mubeen Innaa ja'alnaahu Quraanan 'Arabiyyan la'allakum ta'qiloon" (43:1-3), - We have made this Book, a Book in a spoken language, of course, language of the Prophet - Quraanan 'Arabiyyan, so that you understand it.

However, if you want to come high, where this Book was initially and came down diluted, reduced "Wa innahoo feee Ummil Kitaabi Ladainaa la'aliyyun hakeem" (43:3) - when it is with Us, in Ummul Kitab - mother of the Books, which probably InshaAllah we will talk about later, then it is so sublime, so wise beyond your wisdom, beyond your grasp, beyond your concepts. So this tanzeel is reducing these meanings so that you can understand it. So "Tanzeelal 'Azeezir Raheem" (36:5), this is the reduction, so to speak, the dilution, bringing down of those meanings by Al-Aziz Al-Rahim.

This combination of Aziz Al-Rahim has been used in many places in the Quran, for example, in Sura Shu'ara it is repeatedly mentioned "Wa inna Rabbaka la Huwal 'Azeezur Raheem" (26:9) - Allah is Mighty, He is Merciful. Now why this combination is used here, "Tanzeelal 'Azeezir Raheem," not any other combination? Probably it means that of course He has mercy upon you, but He is so mighty, that He doesn't need to have mercy upon you. Sometimes, you know, we need to have mercy upon someone else to satisfy ourselves.

We have need to have mercy upon ourselves to fulfill certain needs in our souls. But this doesn't actually apply in the case of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala - He is Mighty, He is without any need. The only thing is, that aspect of Rahma is bringing this down for human beings to be guided, to go towards Him. Don't think that He needs to have this mercy upon you. And of course although, from the other way, going from end to the beginning, He is very merciful, but beware He is very mighty, too.

I mean, don't think that His mercy would somehow thwart His might or His might would ever thwart His mercy. Of course, His combination of sort of conflicting qualities, which, if it wants to come into one human being, it is not possible.

Now, what is the purpose of revelation of this Book? "Litunzira qawman maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum fahum ghaafiloon" (36:6) - so that you warn people whose fathers were not warned. So they were oblivious. They were in neglect of these meanings.

Now, the duty of the Prophet is to give warning and to give good news, Bashara and Inzaar. Basheeran wa nazeera - he gives good news and he warns. Good news means that human being should not think that he is alone in this world. We should not think that our life ends with death. We should have hope for future. And we should work with that hope.

Actually, if there was not that Bishara, that good news coming to us, we wouldn't have had much instigation to act in a way that we act while we have that good news and bishara. Warning is when, of course, we are not behaving in a way which leads us safely to our final destination. And therefore, inzaar is out of mercy. I mean, if you see someone is going astray, if you don't tell them anything, this is meanness, isn't it?

Sometimes we think that when Allah talks about inzaar, He is angry or somehow He wants to punish us or to put us in trouble. That is not the case. Inzaar is when someone feels for someone else; when you see a blind person passing through the street and a car is coming, you want to warn them. If you don't warn them, you have no feeling and you have no humanity if you don't do that.

Therefore inzaar, and this is repeatedly mentioned in the Quran, comes out of Allah's mercy, Allah's care. I mean, those who go away from God, those who absolutely forget, those who absolutely go against His will, He warns them. Why should He warn them? Why should He care at all for all these people? It comes out of His mercy. So this tanzeel "litunzira", so that you warn the people that something is going to happen, something is coming. Beware, take your heed and prepare for it. A people "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum", - whose fathers were not warned.

Now here we have a problem. Who are these people whose fathers were not warned? Why we say their fathers were not warned? Who do we mean by their fathers? Now, here there are different opinions. Allama Tabatabai (rahmatullah 'aleyh) says that if the purpose of the sentence alludes to Quraish, then of course their immediate fathers were not warned. Otherwise, of course, they had the Prophet Ismaeel, many other prophets who came in that line. They warned them and the warning came from other religions to them as well. So if Quraish are meant, it is their immediate fathers, they were not warned. So they were negligent of this warning. If the whole humanity is meant by this verse, "Litunzira qawmam maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum", whose fathers are not warned, then of course because after Jesus no prophet came and therefore the fathers of all humanity, all people at that time were not warned. So that would be the meaning of "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum".

Now there are other views. Qatada ibn Du'ama was one of the Tabi'oon who who had good knowledge of tafsir, a contemporary of Hasan al-Basri. He believes that "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" means that their fathers were in the fatra between Isa and Muhammad, sallallahu wa alaihi wasallam. As we have in Nahjul Balagha that Amirul Momineen Ali alayhi assalam says, "arsalahu 'ala heeni fatratan min ar-rusul" - Allah sent Prophet Muhammad when there was a lapse, there was a fatra, there was a stop, a halt in sending of messengers, because before, of course, messengers, prophets were coming one after another. Then there was a fatra. There was a halt - "arsalahu 'ala heeni fatratan min ar-rusul". Now Qatada says that, yes, that fatra is meant here. "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" means no one came between Isa and Muhammad, peace be upon him to warn them.

Now, Hasan al-Basri, another of course very prominent scholar of Islam and scholar of the Quran, he says that, of course, we cannot say "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" because there were Christians living nearby, Jews were living nearby. So they were warned in a way, but they were not warned in their own language. They were not warned by their own people. And this is very important because the Quran mentions in many places that the Arabs said that if a book comes to us, if a messenger comes from ourselves, that we can understand, that we can read and that we can recite, then we will be more guided than the Jews and Christians and therefore "maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" means they were not warned in their own language. "Aabaaa'uhum" - of course after Ismaeel alayhi assalam, and others. You know the Arabs, of course, in Mecca, they were descendants of Ismaeel. When Ismaeel was left in Mecca, he married a girl from Jurhum, a tribe who were living nearby. And then, of course, the children of Ismaeel became arabized. Ismaeel was not an Arab man himself. Ibrahim was not Arab himself. So they became arabized, they were not called the pure Arabs, they were arabized and these people afterwards, of course they didn't have any prophets.

Now, there were certain people who believed that there were prophets or people like prophets between Jesus and Muhammad (salla Allahu 'aleyhi wa alih wasalam), one of them was Quss ibn Saidah and the other one was Khalid ibn Sinan. We cannot say that these were prophets, but they were very wise people. They were on the religion of Ibrahim. They were receiving some sort of revelation from God, these people say, and especially Quss ibn Saidah, he lived until the 30th year of Prophet's life and Prophet had seen him. And Prophet did like him, of course. And he remembered that he was preaching in Ukaaz, in souq al-Ukaaz, in the market called Ukaaz. And when the Prophet peace be on him came to Mecca, he actually asked for him and they said that he has passed away and Prophet asked mercy for him. They said these people were prophets and therefore we cannot say that they were not warned. These people, especially Quss ibn Saidah, they used to preach, used to call people towards God. However, they didn't have books. They didn't have missions. And therefore, "Litunzira qawmam maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" means they were not warned by big prophets like Prophet Jesus, like Prophet Moses. They were not warned. Prophet Jesus and Moses were sent to Banu Israel, not to these people, not to Arabs.

And therefore, "Litunzira qawmam maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum" is actually bringing to their attention a bounty from Allah. A real favor that, look, these people who were being humiliated by Banu Israel that you have no book, you have no prophet, now Allah is guiding them and giving them warning. And inshaAllah, there is just a little bit of addition to this, we will continue with that first thing in our next episode. Wasallallahu ' ala Muhammedin wa 'ala alihi at-tahireen.