The Holy Qur’an - The Final Testament - Juz 22

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This text is the twenty-second volume of the translation and commentary of the Holy Qur’an by Mir Ahmad ‘Ali and Ayatullah Agha Hajj Mirza Mahdi Pooya Yazdi.

It covers the twenty-second Juz of the Holy Qur'an, from Surah Al-Azhab Verse 35 to Surah Ya-Sin Verse 32.

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The Holy Qur’an - The Final Testament - Juz 22
 Arabic Text, With English Translation And Commentary
 With Special Notes From
 Ayatullah Agha Haji Mirza Mahdi Pooya Yazdi
 Translated By
 S.V. Mir Ahmed ‘Ali
 
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Al-Ahzab Section 5 - No Believer Shall Have Any Choice Against The Command Of The Prophet Of God

- The reward for the various kinds of virtuous men and women

- Prophet’s marriage with Zaynab

- When the Prophet of God commands, it shall be carried out and no believer shall have any choice of his own against it

- He who disobeys God and His Apostle has openly strayed away from the right way

Al-Ahzab Verses 35 - 40

إِنَّ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَٱلْمُسْلِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتِينَ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرَٰتِ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعِينَ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظَـٰتِ وَٱلذَّٰكِرِينَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَٱلذَّٰكِرَٰتِ أَعَدَّ ٱللَّهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

Verily the Muslim men and the Muslim women and the believing men and the believing women and obedient men and the obedient women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the patient men, and the patient women, and the humble men and the humble women, and the alms-giving men and the alms-giving women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard (their private parts), and the men who remember God much and the women who remember God (much), for them hath been prepared forgiveness and a great recompense. (33:35) 1

وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥٓ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَـٰلًا مُّبِينًا

And it is not for a believer man or woman to have any choice in their affair when God and His Apostle have decided a matter; and whoever disobeyeth God and His Apostle, indeed he hath strayed off a manifest straying. (33:36) 2

وَإِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِىٓ أَنْعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ زَوْجَكَ وَٱتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ وَتُخْفِى فِى نَفْسِكَ مَا ٱللَّهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَى ٱلنَّاسَ وَٱللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخْشَىٰهُ فَلَمَّا قَضَىٰ زَيْدٌ مِّنْهَا وَطَرًا زَوَّجْنَـٰكَهَا لِكَىْ لَا يَكُونَ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ حَرَجٌ فِىٓ أَزْوَٰجِ أَدْعِيَآئِهِمْ إِذَا قَضَوْا۟ مِنْهُنَّ وَطَرًا وَكَانَ أَمْرُ ٱللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا

And when thou didst say on him whom God hath bestowed (His) bounty and unto whom thou hast shown (thy) favour “Keep unto thyself thy wife and fear God,” But thou didst hide in thy self what God wouldst bring to light, and thou didst 3 fear the people; and God hath greater right that thou shouldst fear Him. But when Zayd hath concluded his concern with her (i.e., divorced her) We joined her (in wedlock) as thy wife, so that there should not be a difficulty for the believers concerning the wives of their adopted sons, when they have concluded their concerns with them (i.e., have divorced them); and the command of God shall be carried out. (33:37)

مَّا كَانَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ مِنْ حَرَجٍ فِيمَا فَرَضَ ٱللَّهُ لَهُۥ سُنَّةَ ٱللَّهِ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلُ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ ٱللَّهِ قَدَرًا مَّقْدُورًا

On the Prophet is no blame in doing what hath been ordained by God unto him, and such hath been the way of God with those who have passed before, and the behest of God is a decree irrevocable, (33:38)

ٱلَّذِينَ يُبَلِّغُونَ رِسَـٰلَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَيَخْشَوْنَهُۥ وَلَا يَخْشَوْنَ أَحَدًا إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ حَسِيبًا

Those who convey the messages of God and fear Him, and fear not any one but God; and sufficient is God to take account. (33:39)

مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَآ أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ وَلَـٰكِن رَّسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمًا

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but an apostle of God and the seal of the prophets; And God is of all things - ever the Knower. (33:40)

Commentary

Verse 35

It is said that Asma’ bint Umays, the wife of Jafar at-Tayyar (Ja’far ibn Abi Talib) after her return from Abyssinia, expressed her disappointment for there was no mention of the women in the Word of God revealed up to then, about the return for their goodness, and virtues in their life. This verse was revealed - The Holy Prophet said a Muslim, man or woman is the one at whose hands and by whose mouth there must be nothing but peace and safety for everyone particularly for the believers in God (the Muslims) and the neighbours shall always enjoy love and security. The Holy Prophet said: “Never the one who believes in me would sleep bellyful in the night while his neighbour is hungry” The Holy Prophet said that Faith is concerned with the conviction at heart, and the knowledge about God in the verbal expression, and translating the belief into the practice, the fundamentals of the religion. (MS., UB.)4. The Sixth Holy Imam Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq said that ‘Islam is that by which there is no bloodshed (i.e., safety and security of life) and the trusts are faithfully discharged, wedlocks are honoured and preserved and the heritage is faithfully conveyed to the respective relatives.’

The main or the basic virtues demanded in every Muslim man and woman are mentioned alike here; both sexes having equal responsibilities and equal rewards. The spiritual bliss is promised in the life here after for one as for the other. The virtues referred to being Faith, Truthfulness, Submission to God’s will, Chanty, Patience, Piety and Righteousness, Chastity, Modesty, Hope of God’s mercy and grace, Dependence upon God’s help. Humility, Constancy in remembering God and Prayers to Him, Self-denial, Following the Word of God, Will and Endeavour to get nearer to God - Purity, internal and external.

The very fact that it has made a general statement about true Muslims males and females, is clear evidence that the previous passage was an exclusive privilege and distinction given to the Ahl al-Bayt. And reading this verse in the light of verse 66:5, the inclusion of the wives of the Holy Prophet in this general statement gets doubtful though they are to be treated as the Mothers of the believers ‘Umm al-Muʾminin’. (A.P.).

Verse 36

Ibne Abbas relates that when the Holy Prophet demanded the hand of Zaynab bint Jahesh, the daughter of his paternal uncle, thinking that it was for the Holy Prophet himself, the demand was readily accepted but it was for Zayd ibn Harithah who was a liberated slave of the Holy Prophet and who was brought up by him in his household.5 When Zaynab came to know of the person for whom she was demanded in a wedlock, she, as a member of a leading noble family of the place, did not like it and her brother Abdullah bin Jahesh also agreed to her resentment. The Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir says that Zaynab had told the Holy Prophet that she would herself consider the demand and then reply. It was then that this verse was revealed.6 The point underlying this command is that man should never bring in his will or wisdom against the will of God but must accept it faithfully and help himself as best as he could to carry out his individual will in agreement to the universal will of the Lord of the Universe.

Pride and prejudice are the greatest enemies of the true faith in God and the genuine godly life on earth. The simple meaning of this verse referring to an ordinary event in the life of the Holy Prophet has been purposefully made a subject of very violent and defamatory criticism by some of the prejudiced brethren of the Christian fold like Muir and Arnold. The criticism most unreasonably laid against the Holy Prophet makes it quite obvious as to how far religious bigotry and prejudice can blind even the great scholars of repute. These critics in their eagerness to fabricate some charge or the other, be that even baseless, have been attaching undue importance and unreasonable significance to things and events which in their individual opinion could be imagined as derogatory to the ever-increasing popularity of the Holy Prophet. The prejudicial interpretation of such critics which could inject poison into the mind of a common man, has necessitated a detailed explanation of this verse, giving out the actual context of the events in which this verse was revealed.

Zayd, the son of Harithah of the Kalb tribe, while still a child was sold away in the slave market and was brought up by the Holy Prophet.7 Zayd was so much attached to the Holy Prophet that in spite of his having been freed and being at liberty to return to his father who had come to fetch him, chose to remain with the Holy Prophet. Owing to his extraordinary and affectionate attachment Zayd was called the son of the Holy Prophet. Whether an adopted one also becomes a son in fact or not, has been dealt with in verse 33:4 above. It was the magnanimity of the natural love of the Holy Prophet that he wanted his real cousin Zaynab bint Umayma, daughter of Abd al-Muttalib to marry Zayd which was resented both by Zaynab and her brother Abdullah. But Zaynab and her brother and also her other near relatives wanted the Holy Prophet to take Zaynab into a wedlock for himself, but the Holy Prophet insisted upon Zaynab to be married to Zayd.8

Under the pressure from the Holy Prophet Zaynab was married to Zayd. Zaynab was by nature too conscious of her nobler birth and the stigma of Zayd being only a freed slave was always disturbing the mind of Zaynab and consequently there was no harmony between Zaynab and Zayd and ultimately Zayd wanted to divorce the lady, but the Holy Prophet advised him to somehow reconcile with her and continue his life with her. In spite of the admonition from the Holy Prophet, Zayd divorced Zaynab and the life of Zaynab was made doubly miserable, firstly having become the wife of a freed slave and secondly having been deserted by her husband. The marriage having been affected by the pressure and insistence of the Holy Prophet, it becomes incumbent upon the Holy Prophet to bring solace to the broken heart of the lady. Zaynab was offered to the Holy Prophet when she was a virgin. Herself, her brother and all her relatives had desired the Holy Prophet to take her in wedlock to himself. Now when the alliance effected at the insistence of the Holy Prophet, had brought misery to the lady and the lady herself, along with her brother and the other relatives wanted her alliance now at least to be with himself. The Holy Prophet was naturally bound to console the broken heart by accepting the offer.

As regards Zayd who was only brought up by the Holy Prophet, being taken as a real son, was meaningless and its untenability is given out in verse 33:4 above. There was a mistaken custom among the people, of holding an adopted son, as the real one. It was the duty of the Holy Prophet to deal a death blow to annihilate the false custom for ever, and this was a providentially arranged opportunity to do it and he, under God’s command, did it. These plain facts of the event have been used with unwarranted additions and multiplications, effected with the selfish motive of blackmailing the Holy Prophet with the blasphemy saying that he once saw Zaynab through a half open door and was fascinated by her extraordinary beauty and Zayd having learnt about the Holy Prophet’s inclination, divorced the lady and then the Holy Prophet took her as his wife.

The fabrication is not only untenable in view of the facts but also ridiculous. It is ridiculous to believe in such a vile concoction against the Holy personality which did not care for any amount of beauty in any woman when it was persuasively volunteered to him when he was in his teens. Zaynab, being his cousin, the Holy Prophet had seen her when she was yet a virgin under the custom of the time when purdah had not yet then been imposed upon women and was not fascinated by her virgin beauty and refused to accept her hand in marriage when the lady herself and all her relatives wanted him to have her for himself. How could the same lady when under the wedlock of another man fascinate an apostle of God when he himself declined the offer and had affected the alliance against the expressed desire of the lady herself along with all her relatives to have her for himself.

The latter part of this verse clearly gives out the command of God that, he should not refrain from receiving the lady in a wedlock fearing the public opinion. Zaynab had accepted to be wedded to Zayd just to please the Holy Prophet for in fact, she along with her brother was not willing for the alliance and when Zayd divorced her, the shock was too violent for her to bear. The only way to console the unhappy soul with the broken heart, was to accept her original or the first offer to accept her in wedlock to himself which he had rejected in favour of Zayd, for she had also, against her own liking and against the wishes of her brother and the other relatives, pleased the Holy Prophet and accepted to be wedded to Zayd and now Zayd would not retain her.

The Holy Prophet could not do otherwise than accepting her desire to go over to him, to pass the remaining part of her life with the unique honour and with the enviable privilege of being the wife of the Apostle of God. It would be a very great lesson to the freed slave Zayd, proving to him the real worth of the lady which he failed to correctly assess, appreciate and acknowledge and thus deprived himself of having the privilege of possessing such a noble lady as his wife. In fact Zaynab, for her submitting her will to the will of the Holy Prophet in marrying Zayd against her own wish which was originally to marry the Holy Prophet, was rewarded by the grant of her first or the original desire to have the dignity and privilege of being the wife of God’s Vicegerent on earth and the Umm al-Mu’minin, i.e., the Mother of the Faithful.

It is said that when this verse with the word ‘Zawajnakaha’, i.e., We (God Himself) have wedded her (Zaynab) to thee, was revealed, the Holy Prophet received Zaynab in the wedlock. It is quite obvious that it is a divine plan to prove to the people the fallacy of their imagination of an adopted son being the real one. The concluding words of this verse disclose this meaning.

And this, as all the other Qur’anic orders, stands valid for ever. (A.P.).

Verse 37

Regarding the story of Zayd and Zaynab, according to what Qur’an indicates that the marriage of the lady with the man effected as per the advice of the Holy Prophet, was for breaking the aristocratic tendencies and barriers and the tribal superiority complex, and the purpose of the Holy Prophet himself taking her in a wedlock, was just as the Qur’an says - for repealing of the paganic rule of not marrying the divorced wives of the adopted sons - as a part of the annulment of the pagan cult of adoption refers to verse 33:4.

The Holy Prophet’s advice to Zayd to continue the matrimonial alliance with Zaynab, was as his position as an impartial adviser required to do, though he knew the inclination and the feelings of the lady.

This alliance between a high and a low of the society was enforced by the Holy Prophet, on the lady and those of her family, just to break the aristocratic convention, knowing that in this particular case the alliance would not be harmonious and lasting but the way for the future was paved.

(a) The clause ‘Thou didst fear the people’, does not mean that the Holy Prophet was really afraid of the people. It means the right course shall be adopted; whether the people like it or not. Refer to note on verse 5:54, where depicting the qualities of the true believers, the Qur’an says:

‘They fear not the censure of any censor.’(5:54) (A.P.).

Verse 38

Having more than one wife was not peculiar only with the Holy Prophet, but his predecessors were also allowed to have a great number of wives viz. David, Solomon and the other apostles of God and even the great rishis9 - including the father of Rama and Lakshman had more than one wife. Islam on the other hand controlled and restricted it with such an ordinance that strictly observing the law, one can have only one.

This also supports the fact that the apostleship and the prophethood does not deprive the person and the members of his family from the ordinary human rights and the natural demands, divinely legalised for all. Hence the saying attributed to Holy Prophet that We the group of prophets neither leave behind any legacy nor inherit one from anyone, was groundless. (A.P.).

Verse 39

Man’s responsibility, particularly that of the apostle, is to God and not to anybody else. None has any option of using his wisdom or discretion in executing the will of God viz. while discharging the duty of conveying God’s message, the apostle has to fear none but God.

What the Holy Prophet apprehended in regard to receiving Zaynab in wedlock was not his fear of the people but the people being misled by the false propaganda of the hypocrites against Islam and himself and waited for the revelation of the divine will for he was the one who never spoke or acted save what was revealed to him.10 When God’s Command was revealed through this verse, the Holy Prophet executed it for it then became his duty to act and what he apprehended before came to be true, for no sooner Zaynab was received by the Holy Prophet in his wedlock than the hypocrites began spreading the blasphemous propaganda of his making his son’s wife, his own.

Verse 40

This verse refers also to the actual position of the Holy Prophet with reference to bis connection with his people saying that he was not the actual father of Zayd, not to marry the woman Zayd divorces but an apostle of God, to carry out the command of God and act upon it, to set the correct example against the fanciful taboo of the people under which an adopted son was considered to be a real one. The Holy Prophet had to preach and practice the necessary correction to the false belief of the people about an adopted one, for no other prophet had to come thereafter. It is a matter which needs only common sense to know and understand that when a thing is perfected there remains no room for any addition to it nor would it allow anything to be taken out of it for addition as well as subtraction would equally disturb its perfection.

Since the transitory stages of the progress of the evolution of the human consciousness and understanding did not suit or allow the revelation of the law of universal use for the human race as a whole for all times until the end of the world.11 Hence the office of the Prophethood or the apostleship had necessarily to continue and prophet after prophet had been constantly raised in the various parts of the earth and in the various languages spoken by different units of the human habitations in the world. Every people had a warner from God and in the language of each individual group.

This fact is borne out by verses 10:47, 16:36, 35:24 and 14:4. The divine plan of the revelation is ultimate of the Final Word of God about the perfect Universal Code of human life on earth was already made known to the ancient people through the several apostles that had come for their guidance.12 Particularly Jesus had openly and in clearest language foretold about the advent of the ‘Comforter’13 Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth,14 who would teach all things, i.e., the Universal Law (Islam).

Jesus had also said that the Comforter to come will abide for ever,15 i.e., the law he would convey and the religion he would preach would be current for ever and what he would preach would be the ‘All-Truth’ (i.e., the faith with its code in its perfection and the secrets of reaching perfection in the spiritual life)16 and whatever he would speak would be nothing but the revealed Word of God.17 A similar prophecy was also made to Moses.18 This prophecy was fulfilled in the advent of the Holy Prophet.19 While every other prophet was sent into the world for some particular people, place or age, including Jesus,20 the Holy Prophet was sent to the human race as a whole and for all times.21

The word ‘Khatam’ used in this verse means a ‘Seal’ and also the ‘End’, the ‘Conclusion’ or the ‘Termination.’ Thus, it is clearly said here that the Holy Prophet’s mission was the seal or the conclusion of the apostleship of the prophethood. The Ahmadi commentator has acknowledged the position of the Holy Prophet in clearest terms: “In fact, it indicates finality combined with perfection of the attributes of prophethood” (M.A.).22 Having acknowledged the truth, he continues with a ‘But’ saying “But with a continuance among the followers of certain blessings of prophethood” (M.A.).

This statement itself speaks out of the self-contradictory nature of it for anyone possessing a part or any one of the attributes of prophethood could never reasonably be sent by God when the whole of it has already been placed before the human race. He again says: “He (the Holy Prophet Muhammad) is the seal (of the prophets), because with him the object of prophethood, the manifestation of Divine will in laws which should guide humanity, was finally accomplished in the revelation of the perfect law in the Holy Qur’an, and he is also the seal of the prophets.” Having acknowledged the unquestionable truth and the incontestable fact, the learned Commentator indulges in his own arguments which do not worth any consideration here.

Prophets or the apostles were needed as long as the Word of God had to be conveyed and once it has been completed and the perfect code of life has been delivered to mankind,23 there remains no need for any prophet or apostle. The need was for the proper guidance of mankind towards the correct interpretation of the Final Word of God and the correct translation of it in the practical life. For this the infinite Grace of God instituted the institution of ‘Imamah’ or ‘the Divine Guidance’ through the seed of the Holy Prophet himself which was inaugurated and declared along with the start of the mission of the apostleship of the Last Apostle of God, the Holy Prophet, at the very first instance of the ‘Dawat-e-Ashira’ or the summons of the kith and kin of the Holy Prophet when he commenced his ministry and along with it the ‘Imamah’ of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

A reference to any detailed Islamic history dealing with the ‘Dawat-e-Ashira’ would enlighten the student of the Holy Qur’an on the topic.24 The matter of the announcement of the Imamat at the eve of the conclusion of the ‘Risalat’, i.e., Apostleship or prophethood, was so important and its being made known to as many as possible was so essential at the conclusion of the ‘Risalat’ or the prophethood that God commanded the Holy Prophet to declare it openly to the greatest collection of the selected believers, i.e., the ‘Hajjis’ or the pilgrims at Ghadir Khumm at the return of the Holy Prophet from the last Hajj. See note on verse 5:67 at the execution of which order only the religion of Islam was declared to be complete and bestowal of the divine favours on mankind was perfected.25 Not only these two occasions but during his life-time, as frequently and as the occasions were found opportune, the Holy Prophet was never tired of announcing the position of Ali and the Imamah in his seed. - See RA.,26 M.,27 EHI28, Ns.29 RS.,30 MIH.,31 and any authority on the life-history of the Holy Prophet or his tradition.

The Holy Prophet has even numbered his successors as the Divinely commissioned Imams and in some places, he even foretold their names also. See the following Sunni authorities - Al-Shifa of Qadi Iyad - Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - Tarikh al-Khulafa by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti - Sharh Fiqh al-Akbar of Mulla Ali al-Qari, Izalat al-Khulafa of Shah Walilullah Dehlawi (and the many others) and see note on verse 33:33 above.

Revelation of the divine guidance was affected by several different sources:

1. Through the direct contact of the Messenger Angel Gabriel, which has stopped with the conclusion of the mission of the Last Apostle of God, the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

2. Through an instinct bestowed as a native endowment as in the case of the fly bee.32

3. Through dreams.33

4. Common inspiration of goodness - ‘Tawfeeq’.

Simply because the source of general guidance through the several sources other than the agency of an angel, was made to continue, it could never mean that the door of prophethood or apostleship was left open - also any one who is correct in his faith in God, clean in his character and conduct would naturally have ‘Tawfeeq’ to be inspired with goodness and be always guided aright. It would never mean that all such righteous ones are also the prophets or the apostles of God. When the Divine laws of Islam have been sealed with perfection, none has to add to, or subtract anything from it, there remained no place or purpose for any other prophet or apostle to serve.

Mere interpretation of the Word of God, in any particular or peculiar way, would only entitle the interpreter to be a commentator along with the several such others of his kind and not make him a prophet or apostle. Many imposters appeared after the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and every such one had his own following from some misguided ones. The Holy Prophet has also similarly foretold of the imposters after him. Many people, born of sinful parents and themselves having led their own passionate life, as any others in the world, had claimed to be apostles of God, the Last Imam the ‘Mahdi’ and Jesus Christ, and some claimed to be all together in their respective single self. Such false claims to apostleship has already been prophesied even by Jesus:

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Math. 24/24.

As regards being the Mahdi, the Last or the Twelfth Imam, the claimant perhaps did not know that the Holy Prophet had said that all the Twelve Imams will be from his seed through Fatima the Lady of Light, and accordingly all the Twelve have appeared from the seed of Ali and Fatima. The Twelfth one, the ‘Mahdi’ has also had his advent.34 - This was the promise or the covenant given by God to Abraham:35

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation.” Genesis 17/20.

Unfortunately, the claimants to be the promised ‘Mahdi’ forget that when the promise of God to Abraham was fulfilled in the eleven of the Imams in the seed of the Holy Prophet, i.e., in the seed of Ishmael, there could be no reason whatsoever for God, not to be true to His promise in the case of the Twelfth one. Any sensible and intelligent one would easily find out the hollowness of the claims of such imposters.36

This is in the confirmation of the annulment of pagan law of adoption. Therefore, the passage says that

‘The Holy Prophet is not the father of any of your men’ (33:40).

Addressing all the followers. It does not mean that he has no issues. On the contrary it emphasises the fact that he and the members of his House termed in the ‘Mubahala’ 37 as ‘Abna’ana’, ‘Nisa’ana’ and ‘Anfusana’, are distinguishingly excluded from the pronoun ‘Kom’ in the phrase ‘your men.’

(a) Read either as ‘Khatam’ or ‘Khatim’ - both mean the Last, the Final but the recital as ‘Khatam’ signifies not only the finality but that he is the ‘Testimony’ of the truthfulness of his predecessor apostles. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to verse 66:5.

- 2. Refer to note on verses 4:65 & 6:62.

- 3. Refer to note on verse 5:54.

- 4. Minhaj as-Sadiqin, Umdat al-Bayan.

- 5. See verse 33:4 above.

- 6. See verse 4:65.

- 7. See note in verse 33:4 and 33:36 above.

- 8. See note on verse 33:36 above.

- 9. Ancient sages.

- 10. Refer to verse 53:3-4.

- 11. See John 3/12; 16/12.

- 12. See Deut. 18:15-18, Acts 7:37, Acts 23:22-24. John 16:7, 8, 12 and 13.

- 13. John 16/7.

- 14. John 16/13.

- 15. John 14/16.

- 16. John 16/13.

- 17. John 16/13.

- 18. Deut. 18/18.

- 19. See verse 53:3.

- 20. Math. 15/22-26.

- 21. See verses 21:107, 4:79, 7:158, 34:28, 10:19, 2:213, 48:29.

- 22. Maulvi Muhammad Ali.

- 23. See verse 5:3.

- 24. See note on 26:4. See also Tabari – History of, Ibn Asakir, A.F.L., E. Gibbon, W. Smith and Amir Ali.

- 25. See note on verse 5:3.

- 26. Rawdatul Ahbab.

- 27. Mishkat.

- 28. Early History of Islam – S.S. Husain (1933 edition).

- 29. Nisa’i.

- 30. Rawzat as-Safa.

- 31. Musnad Ibn Hanbal.

- 32. See verse 16:68.

- 33. See verse 37:102.

- 34. See note on verse 33:33.

- 35. Refer to verse 2:124.

- 36. Regarding ‘Imamat’, see note on verse 17:71.

- 37. Refer to note on verse 3:60.

Al-Ahzab Section 6 - The Prophet Sent As A Witness, A Bearer Of Glad Tidings And Bright Lamp

- To glorify God each morning and evening

- The Prophet sent as a witness, Bearer of glad tidings and Light giving Lamp, to invite mankind to God

- Law regarding divorce

- Relations who are allowed to wed

- The matrimony allowed to the Prophet

Al-Ahzab Verses 41 - 52

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا

O’ ye who believe! Remember ye God by remembering (Him) frequently, (33:41)

وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

And glorify Him morning and evening. (33:42)

هُوَ ٱلَّذِى يُصَلِّى عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتُهُۥ لِيُخْرِجَكُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ وَكَانَ بِٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَحِيمًا

He it is Who confereth upon you His blessings, and (likewise do) the angels, that He may bring you forth from the darkness (of infidelity) into the light (of faith); and He is unto the believers, All-Merciful. (33:43) 1

تَحِيَّتُهُمْ يَوْمَ يَلْقَوْنَهُۥ سَلَـٰمٌ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا كَرِيمًا

Their greeting on the day when they shall meet Him shall be ‘Peace!’ and He hath prepared for them an honourable recompense. (33:44)

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ شَـٰهِدًا وَمُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرًا

O’ (Our) Prophet (Muhammad!) Verily We have sent thee as a Witness, and as a Bearer of Glad Tidings and as a Warner, (33:45)

وَدَاعِيًا إِلَى ٱللَّهِ بِإِذْنِهِۦ وَسِرَاجًا مُّنِيرًا

And as the Inviter 2 unto God by His command, and an illuminating 3 torch. (33:46)

وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُم مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ فَضْلًا كَبِيرًا

And give thou the glad tidings unto the believers that there shall be for them from God, a great grace. (33:47)

وَلَا تُطِعِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَدَعْ أَذَىٰهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَكِيلًا

And comply not with (the desires of) the infidels and the hypocrites, and leave off (heedless) their annoying talk, and rely on God; and God is sufficient a Protector. (33:48)

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا نَكَحْتُمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَمَسُّوهُنَّ فَمَا لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ عِدَّةٍ تَعْتَدُّونَهَا فَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ وَسَرِّحُوهُنَّ سَرَاحًا جَمِيلًا

O’ ye who believe! when ye wed the believing women, then ye divorce them before ye touch them, there is not for you any ‘Iddat’ 4 (term) on them which ye should reckon; so make some provisions for them and send them away (with) a goodly send- off. (33:49) 5

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ إِنَّآ أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَٰجَكَ ٱلَّـٰتِىٓ ءَاتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ مِمَّآ أَفَآءَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمِّكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمَّـٰتِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَالِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَـٰلَـٰتِكَ ٱلَّـٰتِى هَاجَرْنَ مَعَكَ وَٱمْرَأَةً مُّؤْمِنَةً إِن وَهَبَتْ نَفْسَهَا لِلنَّبِىِّ إِنْ أَرَادَ ٱلنَّبِىُّ أَن يَسْتَنكِحَهَا خَالِصَةً لَّكَ مِن دُونِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا فَرَضْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِىٓ أَزْوَٰجِهِمْ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـٰنُهُمْ لِكَيْلَا يَكُونَ عَلَيْكَ حَرَجٌ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

O’ (Our) Prophet (Muhammad!) Verily We have made lawful unto thee thy wives whom thou hast given their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth out of those whom God returneth unto thee (without war), and the daughters of thy paternal uncle, and the daughters of thy paternal aunts, and daughters of thy maternal uncle and the daughters of thy maternal aunts who fled with you, and a believing woman if she giveth herself unto the Prophet, if the Prophet desireth 6 to wed her; specially for thee, other than the (rest of the) believers; indeed know We what We have ordained for them about their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to thee; and God is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. (33:50)

تُرْجِى مَن تَشَآءُ مِنْهُنَّ وَتُـْٔوِىٓ إِلَيْكَ مَن تَشَآءُ وَمَنِ ٱبْتَغَيْتَ مِمَّنْ عَزَلْتَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكَ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَن تَقَرَّ أَعْيُنُهُنَّ وَلَا يَحْزَنَّ وَيَرْضَيْنَ بِمَآ ءَاتَيْتَهُنَّ كُلُّهُنَّ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَلِيمًا

Thou mayest put off whom thou pleaseth of them, and thou mayest take unto you whom thou pleaseth; and whom thou desireth of those whom thou hast separated, no blame shall be on thee; this is nearer to give them the joy of their eyes and they may grieve not, and that they be pleased with what thou giveth them, all of them; and God knoweth what is in your hearts; and God is All-Knowing, the Forbearing. (33:51)

لَّا يَحِلُّ لَكَ ٱلنِّسَآءُ مِنۢ بَعْدُ وَلَآ أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَٰجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ رَّقِيبًا

It is not allowed unto thee to take women afterwards, nor shouldst thou change them for other wives, though their beauty may charm thee, save what their right hand possesseth; and God is, over all things watchful. (33:52) 7

Commentary

Verse 41

The Sixth Holy Imam Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq says that there is a limit to everything, there is no limit to the remembrance of God and the excess in anything is disliked by God but God loves his remembrance to any extent, and says the same Holy Imam “Our Shias (those belonging to the group of their devotees) are those mho whenever they are free from their legitimate duties, remember God in abundance,” ‘Tasbih-e-Zahra’ i.e., ‘Subhana Allah wal-hamdu lillah wa la ilaha illa Allah wa Allahu Akbar’, i.e., (Pure is God and all praise and gratitude is only for God and there is no god but God and God is the Most High, is included in the term ‘Zikr-e-Kathir’, i.e., Abundant Remembrance (of God).

Verse 42

Remember God with purity, i.e., being clean and pure in thought and action and remembering God’s purity. This ordinance indicates that a Muslim is wanted by, the Lord to be always clean and pure in spirit, body, thought, word and action and to go on purifying his soul, being aloof from every kind of physical as well as moral pollution.

Verse 43

The greatest mercy and blessings from God is His guidance which could be had only through the Holy Prophet and the Holy Ahl al-Bayt whom God himself has purified8 and the mental inclination on our behalf called ‘Tawfiq’ to avail of the divine guidance against the wrong inclinations of our self from within and the devilish attractions from without.

Those who believe in God and remember Him in abundance are led out of the darkness of ignorance and sinful straying to the light of knowledge and righteousness.9

Verse 44

It is said that when the angel of death approaches a believer in God, he first conveys his salutation to him before he detaches the soul from the body of the believer.

Verse 45

‘Shahid’ - a witness on the truth against falsehood, and the belief and the infidelity and the goodness and the badness of the people.10‘Mubashshir’ the bearer of glad tidings of the reward to the believers in God who do good and lead a righteous life in this world.

‘Nazir’, i.e., A Warner against infidelity and wicked life and the chastisement in store for it.

Verse 46

‘Sirajan Munir’ - An ever-lighted lamp, ever radiating its light, always illuminating the right way for any one and everyone who seeks it. The same word, ‘Siraj’, i.e., a lamp, is used for the sun.11 The Holy Prophet is defined as the sun which will illuminate the world as a whole continuously until the end of the world.12

The Holy Prophet is presented as the one who calls the people to the Path of God, with His permission therefore, wherever he has called any person to the Right Path, it was by God’s command. Therefore years the question that what was the value of calling Ali to faith, in the beginning of his mission, when he was only a child of ten years or calling him to undertake the task of his successorship at the ‘Dawat-e-Zul-Asheera’ when Ali only of thirteen years, and calling Hasan and Husayn in Mubahila when they were children of seven and eight years, will be a remark against the order and the permission of God. (A.P.).

Verse 47

The grace promised here is the recompense for the pure, righteous life in the world. When the Almighty Himself terms the grace to be great, its greatness would naturally be unimaginable for the finite ones.

Verse 48

Leave the infidels and the hypocrites who tease and hurt, to themselves, and depend upon God’s help and God is self-sufficient to mind the troublesome elements. Ibn Abbas says that this verse has been superseded by the command to defend facing any aggression with physical force - like the verses 2:216, 2:244, 4:75, 76, 4:84, 9:35, 9:41, 9:73, 9:123, 23:78, 47:4. Criticising the Holy Prophet for the battles he had to fight, will be the betrayal of one’s own ignorance of what the apostles of God preceding the Holy Prophet did. Fighting in the way of God was prescribed for the preceding apostles also viz. David, Moses, Solomon. The correct knowledge of the circumstances under which he was born and brought up, will show that the Holy Prophet was dragged into battles when he, with the insignificant strength of his followers had to put up the necessary defence.

Verse 49

When a woman is divorced before the husband goes to her, then there shall be no restriction of ‘Iddat’ for her, before her marrying some one else. If the ‘Mahr’ or dower had been fixed, she shall be entitled to half of it and even if it had not been fixed, a goodly provision with some rights be made for her and she should be given a respectful send-off and no obstacles shall be created in her getting wedded to some one else of her own choice.13

Verse 50

The Holy Prophet while he was a well grown youth, when, if he had been voluptuous as some anti-Muslim propagandists purposefully propagate, he could have married a young lady of youthful charms but then he married only Lady Khadija bint Khuwaylid who was a widow of about 15 years senior to him. With this widowed lady, far advanced in age, he lived the happiest and the most contented life for the whole period of his youth and manhood. At her death, when he had entered the old age of fifty years, he felt so much that the year of her death was called and observed as the ‘Am-ul-Huzn’, i.e., the Year of Grief. That was the only Lady that God had provided the Holy Prophet to bear the godly issue Fatima, the Lady of Light, in whom his seed had to be blessed with the eleven Holy Imams to guide mankind until the end of the world.

Neither during Khadija’s time nor after her death did the Holy Prophet ever think of having a second wife. Even the first marriage was only the acceptance on his part, of the offer with the initiative from the great Lady Khadija and the rest of his wives were thrust upon him by circumstances peculiar to the context of each one of the situations. He never sent word demanding the hand of any lady in a wedlock to himself excepting in the case of Khadija, his uncle and godfather Abu Talib had to fulfil the conventional mediation on his behalf. When circumstances made his alliance with those ladies essential and unavoidable, he as an ideal man or the perfect model of a godly manhood in the various walks of the practical life on earth, had necessarily to agree to meet the peculiar situations in the interest of facilitating the fulfilment of his apostolic mission.

History is too loud in bearing testimony to the fact that the only virgin among the wives of the Holy Prophet was A’isha. The Holy Prophet, who in his teens did not think of any woman, could never imaginably have thought of a girl of only about nine, when he was in the fifty-third year of his age and when he as an apostle of God was in direct communion with Him and knew that there were left only about ten years of his stay on earth. Learned critics should be correct in their observations. They must judge things in their proper context. They must study the exigencies of the circumstances and the peculiarities of the situations and the times. For the details about his alliance, after Khadija, which were forced upon the Holy Prophet when he was about fifty-three years of age, one should refer to the untainted version of the authentic records of history viz. Tabari; EHI.14, SI.15, etc. When A’isha, a girl of seven or nine years, was offered to him by her father Abu Bakr who had recently joined the faith, the Holy Prophet could not resist the repeated requests of his companion for it would have displeased him, and even then agreed only to a betrothal and left the matter to have its own course allowing the time for the father to think over the affair once again and reconsider his offer. But when Abu Bakr was earnest, his offer to be accepted, it was then that the Holy Prophet had to agree to it.

The circumstances under which the Holy Prophet had to agree to receive Hafsa, the daughter of Umar, one needs to refer again to History about the event.16

Sawda bint Zam’a had embraced Islam, along with her father and had migrated to Abyssinia with him. On her return her husband was slain, and Sawda was widowed and left a destitute. It was the time when Islam had just started its mission and gaining a few converts here and there and the poor converts were mercilessly persecuted in their helplessness against the formidable strength of the persecutors. Anyone who discarded the heathen cult and embraced Islam, was mercilessly tortured, particularly the poor, the helpless, the unprotected women among them. It was the duty of the Holy Prophet to give every protection to such believers, as far as possible. Fearing that the heathens would take possession of the lady, the Holy Prophet wanted some one to give protection to her by taking her into wedlock but owing to her advanced old age, none was ready. Just to avoid the heathens exploiting her helplessness and laying their hands on her and taking possession of the old helpless soul to torture her for embracing Islam, the Holy Prophet received her in his own personal protection in his household. This was when the Holy Prophet was in his fifty-first year of age and the lady was so old that none would accept her in a wedlock. One should ask common sense to know if this was a godly a service or an act of any sensual passion.

Zaynab bint Khuzayma ibn al-Harith had been widowed twice after her embracing Islam. She was an old lady. She begged for the honour and protection in the household of the Holy Prophet. The old lady was allowed to have her wish in about 3 A.H. when the Holy Prophet was of about fifty-five years of age.

Umm Salama who was Hind bint Abi Umayyah the widow of Abu Salama, a widow who joined the Holy Prophet as did Zaynab. This lady was very pious and dutiful, and this was in 4 A.H. when the Holy Prophet was about fifty-seven years.

Zaynab bint Jahsh. This lady a cousin of the Holy Prophet was first married to Zayd, a liberated slave. The marriage was affected by the influence of the Holy Prophet, but Zayd did not maintain her and divorced her in spite of the Holy Prophet asking him to somehow maintain her. The life of the lady was rendered very miserable. The lady wanted to join the Holy Prophet as his wife as she originally aspired to do. The Holy Prophet was bound to grant the request of the broken-hearted disappointed soul.17

Juwayriya, bint al-Harith, the daughter of a chief of a tribe, a widow - when taken captive in a defensive battle, the lady offered herself to live with the Holy Prophet. Considering the lady’s position in her tribe, her personal virtue and her request in her old age, the Holy Prophet could not help granting the honour she implored for. This alliance made the Muslims liberate all her tribesmen whom they held as slaves. (5 A.H.) The Holy Prophet was of about 58 years of age.

Umm-Habiba and her husband had migrated to Abyssinia, where she was widowed. The widowed lady was left helpless at Abyssinia. Though the good-hearted King Negus, returned her to the Holy Prophet who had to receive her in his household granting the desire of the destitute widow, in her old age.

Safiyya bint Huyayy ibn Akhtab, an aged widow, the daughter of the chief of a Jewish clan. When the Jews attacked the Muslims and were defeated, this lady along with her tribesmen fell in the hands of the Muslims as captives. The Holy Prophet maintained this old lady and at her own desire granted her the honour she sought to be in his household. This pleased the Jews a great deal. This was in 7 A.H. when the Holy Prophet was of 59 years of age.

Maymuna bint al-Harith - an old widow - who desired the honour of being called the wife of the Holy Prophet - whose request was strongly endorsed by Abbas the uncle of the Holy Prophet. The grant of the request of the lady was to please Abbas. 7 A.H. in the age of about fifty-nine years of his age.

Mariya al-Qibtiyya - once called Mary, an Egyptian Christian lady presented to the Holy Prophet by the good-hearted Negus the King of Abyssinia. To honour the gift from the good-hearted royal personage who had granted refuge to the Muslim fugitives from Mecca, even against the persuasion from the enemy through the delegation from the Quraysh, the Holy Prophet could not reject the good-hearted offer of a royal benefactor of the Muslim fugitives.

Islam had just started its life in Mecca and Muslims had not gained any strength or power to resist the heartless persecution. Every widow was at risk of being taken possession of by the aggressive heathens. The necessary protection even in the worst of the circumstances could be had nowhere but in the household of the Holy Prophet to whom Islam and its adherents were dearer than his life, which godly attitude could not be expected of the new converts who were themselves the victims of the torturous treatment from the deadly enemy. After the migration to Medina, the ladies who lost their husbands in the defensive battles which Islam had to face, and were rendered destitute and their life had become unbearably miserable. Thus, their sustenance, and their happiness was added to the task of the Holy Prophet and when such ladies themselves sincerely and persistently sought the protection and care of the Holy Prophet himself, he could not reasonably deny the poor miserables what they implored for. The ladies sought admission to the direct care of the Holy Prophet because, nowhere else they could have protection with the highest honour for, by becoming the wives of the Holy Prophet, they were to be the Ummat-Mu’minin, i.e., the Mothers of the faithful. Criticising anything without the proper knowledge or facts can never be the conduct of any really learned and a sincere intellectual.

As regards the number of wives the Holy Prophet had to have, every student of the Holy Qur’an and the life of the Holy Prophet should know that polygamy was not instituted by the Holy Prophet but was already raging violently without any limit or control. Apostles of God preceding the Holy Prophet and the great sages and the religious leaders in India had also had wives, more then one at a time. Over and above, all one should know the circumstances under which and the kind of ladies, the Holy Prophet was obliged to receive in his household. Today polygamy might be tabooed as a voluptuous act, but the matter has to be judged in its original context, the customs of the age and the unavoidable demand of the circumstances and the peculiarity of the individual needs.

According to this verse a woman married by the Holy Prophet shall not be married to any other person18 for once she gets into the wedlock with the Holy Prophet, she becomes the ‘Ummat Mu’minin’ the Mother of all the believers.

Verse 51

By this verse the Holy Prophet was permitted by God to get rid of any of his wives at his own discretion.

Verse 52

Taking this verse into consideration, it means that the Holy Prophet is not allowed to have more wives beyond what he already had. But so far as his followers are concerned, though they cannot have more than four at one time but as ‘Muta’, i.e., a Temporary Marriage, the limit has not been fixed for them. Therefore, the objection of some critics that the Holy Prophet allowed nine for himself and only four for his followers, is unfounded. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to verses 2:257 & 24:35.

- 2. Refer to note verses 3:60, 16:125, 25:61 & 71:61.

- 3. Or lamp.

- 4. The waiting term.

- 5. Refer to note verses 2:236 & 2:237.

- 6. The Special Privilege.

- 7. This was to put a stop to the requests which had become too many from the widows and the other ladies to the prophet to grant them the honour of being received under his roof.

- 8. See verse 33:33.

- 9. Refer to note verses 24:35-36 & 2:257.

- 10. See note on verses 4:41, 16:84-89.

- 11. See verse 71:16.

- 12. See John 14/16.

- 13. See verses 65:4, 2:237, 2:236, 2:228. (Refer to ‘Fiqh’).

- 14. Early History of Islam – S.S. Husain (1933 edition).

- 15. Spirit of Islam – Amir Ali.

- 16. EIH., Tabari – History of, etc.

- 17. Refer to note to verse 33:37 above.

- 18. See verse 33:53 below.

Al-Ahzab Section 7 - Those Who Annoy God And His Prophet Muhammad

- Discipline to observe with Prophet’s family

- None should annoy the Prophet

- None shall marry Prophet’s wives after him

- Relations before whom women may manifest their adornments

- The believers bidden to send their blessings for the Prophet and their greeting worthy of respect due to him

- Cursed are those who annoy God and His Apostle Muhammad, and they shall have a disgraceful chastisement

- Annoying even the believer men or women, is a guilt and a sin

Al-Ahzab Verses 53 - 58

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَدْخُلُوا۟ بُيُوتَ ٱلنَّبِىِّ إِلَّآ أَن يُؤْذَنَ لَكُمْ إِلَىٰ طَعَامٍ غَيْرَ نَـٰظِرِينَ إِنَىٰهُ وَلَـٰكِنْ إِذَا دُعِيتُمْ فَٱدْخُلُوا۟ فَإِذَا طَعِمْتُمْ فَٱنتَشِرُوا۟ وَلَا مُسْتَـْٔنِسِينَ لِحَدِيثٍ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكُمْ كَانَ يُؤْذِى ٱلنَّبِىَّ فَيَسْتَحْىِۦ مِنكُمْ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَسْتَحْىِۦ مِنَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُنَّ مَتَـٰعًا فَسْـَٔلُوهُنَّ مِن وَرَآءِ حِجَابٍ ذَٰلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ وَمَا كَانَ لَكُمْ أَن تُؤْذُوا۟ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَآ أَن تَنكِحُوٓا۟ أَزْوَٰجَهُۥ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦٓ أَبَدًا إِنَّ ذَٰلِكُمْ كَانَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ عَظِيمًا

O’ ye who believe! Enter ye not in the houses of the Prophet unless it is permitted to you for a meal, without waiting for the cooking to be finished - but when ye are invited, enter ye, and when ye have taken the food - then disperse ye without seeking any familiar talk; verily this annoyeth the Prophet, but he forbeareth for you, and God forbeareth not from the truth, and if ye ask from them any goods, ask ye of them from behind the curtain; Purer it is for your hearts and (for) their hearts: and it is not for you that ye should annoy the Apostle of God (Muhammad)! nor that ye should ever wed his wives after him: Verily this with God is very grievous. 1 (33:53) 2

إِن تُبْدُوا۟ شَيْـًٔا أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمًا

If ye manifest any thing or hide it, then verily God of all things is Well-Aware. (33:54)

لَّا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِنَّ فِىٓ ءَابَآئِهِنَّ وَلَآ أَبْنَآئِهِنَّ وَلَآ إِخْوَٰنِهِنَّ وَلَآ أَبْنَآءِ إِخْوَٰنِهِنَّ وَلَآ أَبْنَآءِ أَخَوَٰتِهِنَّ وَلَا نِسَآئِهِنَّ وَلَا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـٰنُهُنَّ وَٱتَّقِينَ ٱللَّهَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدًا

There is no blame on them about their fathers, nor their sons, nor their brothers, nor their brothers’ sons, nor their sisters’ sons, nor their own women, nor of what their right hands possess; fear ye God! Verily God, on all things is a witness. (33:55)

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا

Verily God and His angels bless the Prophet! O’ ye who believe! send ye blessings on him and ye greet him with a salutation worthy of the respect (due to him). (33:56)

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ لَعَنَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا مُّهِينًا

Verily those who annoy God and His Apostle (Muhammad), God, hath cursed them in this world and the hereafter, and He hath prepared for them a chastisement disgraceful. (33:57) 3

وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ بِغَيْرِ مَا ٱكْتَسَبُوا۟ فَقَدِ ٱحْتَمَلُوا۟ بُهْتَـٰنًا وَإِثْمًا مُّبِينًا

And those who annoy believing men and believing women without their having earned it, then indeed they bear the guilt of slander and a manifest sin. (33:58)

Commentary

Verse 53

The contents of this verse shows:

1. How far the companions lacked the ordinary etiquette of society.

2. Verse 33:6 did not establish any legal relationship of motherhood between the wives of the Holy Prophet and the people. (A.P.).

Verse 55

When the verse 33:53 above about the observance of veil was revealed, the parents and the other nearest relatives of women asked the Holy Prophet if, even they should observe the Purdah imposed by verse 33:53 and speak even to their daughters and sisters from behind the curtain. This verse was revealed granting the exemption to the nearest relatives.

This verse also confirms that the status of the Motherhood conferred on the wives of the Holy Prophet in verse 33:53, did not affect any legal relationship between them and the people. (A.P.).

Verse 56

God and the angels send their ‘Salawat’ i.e., in the case of God, He sends His blessings and the angels invoke the blessings of the Lord, for him. The believers are commanded to send their prayers for the blessings along with their salutation to him.

When this verse was revealed someone asked the Holy Prophet as how, i.e., in what words, should the believers recite ‘Salawat’ or ‘Darud’, i.e., the Salutation to him. He said “Allahumma ṣalli ʿala Muhammad wa ʿala ali Muḥammad, kama ṣallayta ʿala Ibrahim wa ʿala ali Ibrahim, innaka ḥamidun majid.’ i.e., ‘O’ Lord bestow thy mercy and grace upon Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad as thou didst bestow thy mercy and blessings upon Abraham and the progeny of Abraham, verily Thou art the Most Praised and the Most Glorious One.

It is said that whenever there is the mention of the name of the Holy Prophet, a believer must in duty bound recite the ‘Salawat’ or the salutation, and one who does not do it, shall be away from God’s mercy and he who forgets to do it shall forget the right way to salvation.

Sheer common sense is sufficient to say that for all the pains and sufferings undertaken and borne with patience by the Holy Prophet, to guide humanity aright and save it from being lost for ever, if those benefited by his mission do not even send their salutation to him, it would be an unpardonable ingratitude and thanklessness.

‘Salawat’ or the Salutation to the Holy Prophet, is always accepted by God and is rewarded. Hence the believers are advised that if they want their prayers to be surely and certainly granted, surround or encircle it with ‘Salawat’, i.e., by reciting it in the beginning of the prayer and at the end of it, for it is far from the grace of God to accept the initial and the terminal part of the prayer which is the irrejectable offer (i.e., salawat), and reject only the middle part of the submission to Him, i.e., the prayer proper.

The verse says that God and His angels send their blessings to the Holy Prophet, and the Holy Prophet’s including his progeny along with him, in the recitation of the ‘Salawat’, was perfectly justified that his ‘Aal’, i.e., his progeny, is one with him, in the purity and the personal grace4 and served the cause of the Lord with the maximum sacrifices and laid their life in His way. But to associate anybody else along with the ‘Aal’, i.e., the Holy Prophet’s progeny will be an unwarranted and unacceptable fancy of the of one who does it - for none else could ever be aligned with those purified by God Himself.5

Every believer should recite Salawat at the end of every prescribed daily prayer without which the prayer is neither complete nor acceptable to God.

The famous Sunni commentator Suyuti in his renowned commentary on the Holy Qur’an called ‘al-Durr al-Manthur’ records the well-known couplet of al-Shafi’i:

“O’ Ahl al-Bayt of the Holy Prophet! love to you God has made (it) compulsory in the Qur’an which He has sent down. Sufficient is the great position (given to you) that He who saluteth you not, i.e., does not recite Salawat along with the prayer) His prayer is no prayer.” (M.M.),6 (MFA).7

Peace and blessings from God means, His grant. The gift from the angels means, passing the same to the Holy Prophet and from the people praying God for the same. Therefore, the very act of ‘Salawat’ or ‘Salutation’ implies that the Holy Prophet is not considered a deity. On the contrary, he is considered as a Devoted Servant deserving the highest blessings of God - and this is the reason that it has been recommended that wherever the name of the Holy Prophet, is mentioned, whether in the daily prayer or in other circumstances, Salawat should be recited.

The other point to be noted here is that God’s granting peace and blessings to the Holy Prophet as the First and the Foremost in the order of submission and devotion to Him, cannot be confined to the Holy Prophet only. It means the peace and the blessings to the whole order, through him. This is the reason that the Holy Prophet said, ‘When you recite the Salawat, make it not ‘Batrah’, i.e., cutting me away from those of me’. Thus, that which has been in vogue to say ‘Sallallahu ʿalayhi wa sallam’, i.e., Peace be on him, is an undesirable expression, as the Holy Prophet is considered to be detached or cut off from the members of his House, mentioned in verse 33:33 - about whom the Holy Prophet repeatedly said: ‘They are mine and I am theirs.’ (A.P.) .

Verse 57

Let every intelligent student of the Holy Qur’an judge the position of those who had incurred the displeasure of the Holy Prophet while he was about to leave this world, by saying that he uttered nonsense in the agony of the disease, and who annoyed his soul by teasing the one dearest to him, i.e., his daughter, the Holy Lady Fatima, and made her life miserable, for the Holy Prophet had openly declared that, “Whosoever hurts the feelings of Fatima, has hurt me (the Holy Prophet) and whoever hurts the Holy Prophet has hurt God and whoever hurts God, is an infidel.8

Since even the simplest and the straight-way interpretation of this verse, reflects very gravely upon the false position of many of the self-assumed religious leaders, who were actually the greatest tyrants, for they come under the implication of this verse, the meaning of the word ‘Yuʾdhuna’ has been twisted to mean, an annoying talk, quite different from what the same word has meant in quite a similar reference in verse 33:53 above. But whatever meaning of the word ‘Aza’ one may take, it equally reflects against the tyrannical characters of those who have annoyed, not only in speech but also in action.9

On this ground the Holy Prophet said, ‘Fatima is a part of mine, and he who annoyed her of hath annoyed me - Ali is of me and I am of Ali. Hasan and Husayn are mine and I am of them’. Thus, the reciting of ‘Salawat’ and omitting the ‘Aal’ is definitely one of the examples of annoying the Holy Prophet. Thus, reciting the wrong salawat is nothing but causing continuous annoyance to the Holy Prophet and earning the consequences of it under this verse. (A.P.).

Verse 58

When annoying an ordinary believer man or woman is condemned by God so much and is held by Him as a manifest sin, one might imagine what it would mean, annoying the divinely chosen ones among the believers viz. Holy Ahl al-Bayt, particularly those who were mercilessly massacred at Karbala, Kufa and Damascus. (Refer to the details of the sufferings of the holy Imam Husayn and his holy family and friends).

This includes all the false charges which the Pro-Umayyad and Pro-Abbasids and the other ruling class, alleged against the devotees of the Holy ones of the house of the Holy Prophet. (A.P.).

- 1. This one verse gives very important information: 1. The kinds of people who visited him the most. 2. How annoying and objectionable was their conduct. 3. Ladies should be behind the curtain i.e., not expose themselves.

- 2. Refer to note on verse 33:6. Refer to verse 24:27.

- 3. Refer to verses 4:115, 8:13 & 9:61.

- 4. See verse 33:33.

- 5. See verse 33:33.

- 6. Manaqib al-Murtadawi.

- 7. Manhaj ul-Fadaʾil al-Ahl al-Bayt.

- 8. See also verses 4:115 & 8:13.

- 9. See verse 3:185.

Al-Ahzab Section 8 - The Knowledge Of The Hour Of Judgment

- Women ordained to cover their faces when they appear (outside their houses)

- The hypocrites warned

- God’s Law never changes

- The knowledge of the Hour of Judgment, God alone has and none else

- The repentance of the disbelievers when they shall suffer the punishment

Al-Ahzab Verses 59 - 68

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِىُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَٰجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَآءِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَـٰبِيبِهِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

O’ (Our) Prophet (Muhammad)! say thou unto thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their cover garments; that they may be known, so that they will not be troubled, God is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. (33:59) 1

لَّئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقُونَ وَٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ وَٱلْمُرْجِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَدِينَةِ لَنُغْرِيَنَّكَ بِهِمْ ثُمَّ لَا يُجَاوِرُونَكَ فِيهَآ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city desist not, We shall certainly rouse thee up against them, they shall not be allowed to be thy neighbour in it, but a little while, (33:60)

مَّلْعُونِينَ أَيْنَمَا ثُقِفُوٓا۟ أُخِذُوا۟ وَقُتِّلُوا۟ تَقْتِيلًا

(They are) cursed (driven off) wherever 2 they are found they shall be seized and slain (and it shall be a horrible) slaughter! (33:61)

سُنَّةَ ٱللَّهِ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلُ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا

(Such has been) the way of God concerning those who have passed away before; and never shalt thou find in the way of God any change. (33:62) 3

يَسْـَٔلُكَ ٱلنَّاسُ عَنِ ٱلسَّاعَةِ قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ تَكُونُ قَرِيبًا

Ask thee the people about the Hour (of Judgment). Say thou: “The knowledge of it is only with God, and what will make thee know? happly the Hour (of Judgment) may be nigh. (33:63) 4

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَنَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ سَعِيرًا

Verily God hath cursed the disbelievers and hath prepared for them a flaming fire, (33:64)

خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدًا لَّا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا

For ever shall they abide therein they shall find not a protector nor a helper. (33:65)

يَوْمَ تُقَلَّبُ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِى ٱلنَّارِ يَقُولُونَ يَـٰلَيْتَنَآ أَطَعْنَا ٱللَّهَ وَأَطَعْنَا ٱلرَّسُولَا۠

On that day when their faces shall be turned into the fire, they shall say: “Oh! would that we had obeyed God and obeyed the Apostle!” (33:66)

وَقَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّآ أَطَعْنَا سَادَتَنَا وَكُبَرَآءَنَا فَأَضَلُّونَا ٱلسَّبِيلَا۠

And they shall say: “O’ Our Lord! verily we obeyed our chiefs and our elders, and they led us astray from the path:” (33:67) 5

رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِهِمْ ضِعْفَيْنِ مِنَ ٱلْعَذَابِ وَٱلْعَنْهُمْ لَعْنًا كَبِيرًا

“O’ our Lord! give them a double chastisement, and curse them a great curse.” (33:68)

Commentary

Verse 59

Under this injunction every believer woman has been commanded to wear an over-garment or a covering mantle so that their feminine beauty might not attract the attention of men to stimulate evil intentions for a covering on the body of a woman would also indicate that the woman is pure, chaste, modest and the one pure in character and would never tolerate the least overtures or disregard to her chaste womanhood and consequently even the worst character will not dare cast even an evil look on such chaste ones and going without such a protection is indirectly inviting overtures and encouraging romance towards them.6

Those who want to drag gentle ladies out of their homes for their own purpose twist the meaning of this verse saying that it means only to cover their bosom, but the words ‘Wara’al-Hijab’, i.e., to speak from behind the curtain, decides the issue that when at home the woman should cover her body and her movement by means of a curtain. When she has to necessarily go out of her house, she should not only hide her feminine beauty by covering her body, naturally she should cover her face, for it is particularly the face of a woman, that is the first point of attraction. The extent of enforcement of this ordinance depends upon the degree of the respectability, modesty, chastity and the purity the believer women would like to have.

Verse 60

This is a prophecy with the promise as to what God would do to the mischief-mongers. Before the conclusion of the mission of the Holy Prophet, the hypocrite element surrounding him was brought under his control.

But the wonder is, to what happened to the hypocrites that since the departure of the Holy Prophet from this world, there is no mention of them at all. The secret is that as long as the Holy Prophet was there, he identified them and in addition to that there were the revelations from the Lord about them and their activities. Besides the numerous references to the hypocrites, a separate chapter as a whole called the ‘Surah al-Munafiqun’ was revealed. (Chapter 63). After the Holy Prophet, there remained none to identify them openly nor was any revelation from God to come. The hypocrites were these, unchecked, uncontrolled and unidentified, playing havoc now on the Ahl al-Bayt who were the very blood and flesh of the Holy Prophet, and none dared to raise even his finger against them.

Verse 62

It has been the divine law prescribed by God for every apostle of God preceding the Holy Prophet that the enemies of truth, i.e., the disbelievers and the hypocrites should be fought and be done away with. The course prescribed by God never suffers any change at the will or the choice of anyone else. History does not give any single instance of the Holy Prophet fighting or killing any of the hypocrites during his life-time but the order was enacted by Ali, who was one with the Holy Prophet of his own light, his blood and flesh, his Vicegerent - in the battles he had to fight at Siffin, Jamal, and Nahrawan and this was prophesied, by the Holy Prophet.

Verse 63

Even Jesus has said the same thing about the coming of the Hour of the Final Judgment.7

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father,” Mark 13/32.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Math. 24/36.

Verses 67 - 68

This shall be the fate of those who follow any one and every one who claims to be the leader of the faith without the necessary scrutiny of his personal character, conduct and his title to his assumption.

This shows that the troubles developed after the last Covenant referred to in verse 5:7 by the chiefs, and the masses only followed them. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to note on verse 24:31.

- 2. The mischievous heathens.

- 3. Refer to verse 48:23.

- 4. N.T. Mark 13/32, Math 24/36.

- 5. Refer to note on verse 5:7.

- 6. This verse needs to be read with verses 24:30, 24:31 & 24:58. Refer to verse 33:53 above.

- 7. Refer Mark 13/32, Math. 24/36.

Al-Ahzab Section 9 - He Who Obeys God And His Apostle Achieves A Mighty Success

- The affliction suffered by Moses

- He who obeys God and His Apostle indeed he has achieved a great success

- Man turned unfaithful to his own undertaking

Al-Ahzab Verses 69 - 73

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَكُونُوا۟ كَٱلَّذِينَ ءَاذَوْا۟ مُوسَىٰ فَبَرَّأَهُ ٱللَّهُ مِمَّا قَالُوا۟ وَكَانَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَجِيهًا

“O’ ye who believe! be not like those who afflicted Moses (with a slander), but God cleared him of what they said, and he was with God in high esteem. (33:69) 1

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَقُولُوا۟ قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا

O’ ye who believe! Guard yourselves (against the wrath of God) and speak ye the right word, (33:70)

يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَـٰلَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا

He will set right for you your deeds, and forgive you your faults; and whoever obeyeth God and His Apostle, then indeed he hath achieved a great success. (33:71)

إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا ٱلْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا

Verily We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid thereof; and man undertook it, verily he was (proved) unjust, ignorant, (33:72) 2

لِّيُعَذِّبَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ وَٱلْمُشْرِكَـٰتِ وَيَتُوبَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًۢا

So will God chastise the hypocrite-men and the hypocrite-women and the polytheist men and the polytheist-women and God will turn (merciful) unto the believer-men and the believer women; and God is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. (33:73) 3

Commentary

Verse 69

Refer to O.T. Number 12/1-13. But it is the story of the Old Testament. It is said that Moses was extremely shy and would not expose his body fully even while he took a bath. People spread the false report of his being impotent or not having the male genetic organ or had defective organs. He used to bathe far away from the sight of the people. Once when he kept his clothes on a stone and went to bathe in a stream, the stone by God’s command moved away from its place and when Moses after having had the bath went over to the stone, people saw Moses naked and got convinced of his being all right like any other man.

Korah, (Qarun) had arranged to blaspheme Moses through a woman with the charge of adultery but was acquitted of the false allegation by the truth spoken out by the woman. Similarly, was the charge against the Holy Prophet blaspheming him, saying he married Zaynab bint Jahsh, because he was enamoured of her beauty (the matter has been dealt with in its details in referring to adoption in Islam).

Verse 72

‘al-Amanat’, i.e., Trust - this verse needs a serious study of its matter with the application of the knowledge of the spirit of the Holy Qur’an. What God offered to the heavens and the earth and the mountains rejecting it, could not be anything simple or ordinary. It must be something very serious, grave and important, the acceptance of which would naturally carry a great reward and the failure to discharge it will also be very grave. In verse 59:21 the sending down of the Holy Qur’an on a mountain has been used in a hypothetical sense and the concluding words of the verse say that it is a parable used for people to reflect, which means that such expressions are not to be taken in the literal meaning of their verbal forms but must be studied with the inner or latent meaning treasured in them for people endowed with the insight necessary to have their correct interpretation.

It is said that the heavens and the earth and the mountains, (i.e., every creature other than man) refused to accept the offer, i.e., in other words, they expressed their inability to accept the responsibility. It could be that these creations with all their greatness in size, did not think it possible for them to discharge it, although the reward for discharging it, could be nothing but equally great and glorious. We see that everything in the terrestrial as well as the celestial world known to us, works like an automaton without any personal choice of change or alteration in its respective activity, and this must be that much which they accepted to work and that which they rejected or begged to be excused to accept, must be the otherwise, i.e., the faculty of choice which is obviously and manifestly found in no other being except Man.

No doubt that this is a great Trust for it is really a task to hold the independence of choice in this world of innumerable powerful distractive attractions and yet to choose the right course of fulfilling the will of the Creator Lord, by avoiding the strong pull from the innumerable powerful temptations and being steadfast on the right way. Man had been too audacious to accept the offer with the ignorance of the difficulties in discharging the trust, but though the evil ones of the human race have brought upon themselves the stigma of their failure in the fulfilment of the Trust, there are some selected ones who, rising equal to the expectation and far above the level of the rest of the creation, have been able to earn the great reward of becoming the ‘Muqarrabin’, i.e., the Nearest ones to the Lord4 and there can be nothing higher, greater and more glorious than this.

Thus, it would mean that what all the other creatures of God avoided accepting, and even rejected the offer, man with his ignorance accepted it and subjected himself to the toil of discharging it, thus he was ‘Zalim’ one the most unjust to himself in subjecting himself to the task and ‘Jahil’ the one the most ignorant of the responsibility while undertaking it. Having undertaken the responsibility most of the race, failed to discharge it and became hypocrites and disbelievers and had earned the wrath of God, while some of them proved totally faithful to the trust and true to their accepting it - and entitled themselves to the special and exclusive Grace and Mercy of the Lord.5

In 2:30-34 there is the mention of the criterion on which man was declared superior to the angels. Man was taught the Names (of certain beings) which even the angels did not know. It clearly infers that the angels were asked if they were prepared to bear the burden of the divinity reflected through the divine entities displayed to them which they could not.

The destiny made available for a man was the greatest, the highest, the most glorious one any mortal could ever have, and God endowed in man the great native receptive qualities to get the divine attributes reflected in him and at the same time left to him also the choice of getting deviated by the distractions or to rise into the heights of the divine regions avoiding the fall into the abyss of degradation and degeneration. In other words, man was given the faculty of choice of good or evil, making him capable of God’s great world being summed up in him, being a microcosm, that man should manifest the Godly attributes to entitle himself to getting nearer and nearer to the Lord and that was the divine plan. But man did not then realise what a tremendous task he was undertaking nor did he ever consider whether he would be able to rise equal to it, i.e., man signally failed to measure his own power to achieve the task or to assess his own knowledge of the great responsibility he was undertaking, hence the intensive form of his, then being ‘Zalim’ the most unjust (to himself) and (Jahil) the most ignorant (of the responsibility expected of him).

This great and unique undertaking entitled man to be the Vicegerent of God on earth.6 This factor gives the mystic belief of a Covenant, expressed or implied between God and man.7

Some in the human race proved themselves to be nothing but brutes in the human frames. What havoc was played by such human brutes could be known from their behaviour at Karbala against the godly group of the Holy Imam Husayn and his faithful comrades and the helpless ladies and innocent children. Even from the beginning of the Islamic life, such characters were active in torturing the Holy Prophet and the godly members of his family, the Holy Ahl al-Bayt.

To know to what heights man was made capable of rising in the regions of divinity or to get nearer to God, one would find it in the Holy Prophet8 his daughter Lady Fatima and her husband Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Commander of the Faithful and in the eleven Holy Imams in the seed of Ali and Fatima.9‘Amanah’ means Trust, and shouldering responsibility of others’ property. This requires that one should deal with that property in accordance with the will of the owner who entrusts it. Its fulfilment requires knowledge, will-power and justice. ‘Amanah’ in this sense, includes whatever is held by man or any other being because everything is the gift of God. Naturally it should be utilised in complete accord with His will.

The Offering would mean the natural unrestricted grace of God which reaches all beings in heaven and earth and in between, and the Refusal would mean their natural incapability of fulfilling the responsibility due to the lack of the condition required for it. Then ‘Haml’, i.e., Bearing - would mean acceptance of the offer and the verse would be read in this way ‘That the heavens, earth and the mountains refused to accept the offer, and man accepted it.’

But according to some commentators ‘Haml’ here means Failing of the fulfilment and bearing of its consequence. In this sense the refusal would mean that the heavens, earth and the mountains fulfilled the responsibility and man failing the fulfilment, bore the consequences. However, whether ‘Hamalaha’ means this or that, the last clause ‘Zaluman Jahulan’ cannot be taken as to mean all. It only signifies that the knowledge and those failed in the fulfilment lacked these two essential conditions. Therefore, this verse implies both the praise of man who fulfils the responsibility and the condemnation of the one who does not fulfil it. Both the interpretations are justified. Neither of them can be applied to all men. In confirmation of ‘Amanah’ in its wide sense is the well-known saying of the Holy Prophet:

‘Kulluhum ra‘in wa kulluhum mas’ul ‘an ra‘iyyatih’, i.e. ‘Everyone is given an undertaking and every one is responsible for his subjects.’

Of the important trusts of God left in the possession of the Muslims was the Book of God and the ‘Itrah’ of the Holy Prophet for which every Muslim will be questioned and every Muslim is answerable. And in a general way, Qur’an says:

‘And pursue not that which thou hast not the knowledge of; Verily, the hearing and the sight and the heart, all these shall he questioned about it.’ (17:36)

For further clarification refer to verse 37:22-25.

Another point to be noted, is to mean ‘Khilafah’, i.e., the Vicegerency of God on the earth, is not different from what is said above because considering everything possessed by man as a gift and grant from the Lord, it means that man represents God, provided he uses duly what is given to him, according to God’s will. But to take the last clause as to refer to Adam’s failure to fulfil the trust, means the contradiction of the contents of the verses 2:30-33 and the last clause of 2:124 and 3:32. (A.P.).

Verse 73

The breach of the undertaken covenant would naturally carry its own punishment. But those who are sincere in their regard to the covenant and remain firm and steadfast in their faith, but fail unintentionally, shall justly deserve the aid from God’s grace and mercy and would surely have it and be made worthy of the exalted destiny as the recompense for their sincerity in faith and perseverance in their toil to fulfil the undertaking, for God is ‘Ghafur’, Oft-Returning, and ‘Rahim’, the Most Merciful.

The classification of the men and women into hypocrites and polytheists as those deserving chastisement and the male and female believers deserving the mercy and the blessings of God, indicates that they were not alike in the response to the truth offered to them. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to note on verses 5:20-25 & 61:5.

- 2. Refer to verses 2:30-33, 3:74 & 4:58.

- 3. Clearly indicates there were hypocrites, men as well as women, but immediately as the Holy Prophet left this world, they mysteriously disappeared. The question what has happened to them?

- 4. Refer to verses 56:11 and 56:88

- 5. Refer to verses 56:11 and 56:88.

- 6. Refer to verse 2:30.

- 7. See verses 7:172 and 5:1.

- 8. See verse 53:2-4.

- 9. See verse 33:33.

Saba - The Saba

(Revealed at Mecca)

54 Verses in 6 Sections

Sections of Saba - The Saba

1. Those given the knowledge (by God).

2. The destruction of Saba.

3. Muhammad the Apostle for humanity as a whole.

4. The Disbelievers and their leaders.

5. Wealth and children shall be of no avail.

6. The triumph of Truth.

Important Topics

1. God knows every movement in the universe. (Verse 2)

2. There is nothing big or small in the universe but it is in the Book Clear. (Verse 3)

3. Men will be brought forth into a new creation. (Verse 7)

4. The special grace bestowed on David. (Verse 10)

5. The special command over Jinn and the forces of nature vested in Solomon. (Verse 12)

6. The prosperity that was given the country of Saba. (Verse 15)

7. Excepting those permitted by God the intercession of none, will be of any avail on the Day of the Final Judgment. (Verse 23)

8. The Holy Prophet sent for the human race as a whole. (Verse 28)

9. Whatever recompense the Holy Prophet sought, was for the people themselves. (Verse 47)

Saba Section 1 - Those Given The Knowledge (By God)

- God knows everything in the heavens and in the earth which is recorded and described in a perspicuous Book

- Those who have been given by God the knowledge, witness what has been sent to the Prophet, of the Omnipotence of God

Saba Verses 1 - 9

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَهُ ٱلْحَمْدُ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَهُوَ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ

All praise is God’s, Whose is whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and His is all praise in the hereafter; and He is the All Wise, the All-Aware. (34:1)

يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا وَهُوَ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ٱلْغَفُورُ

Knoweth He whatever that passeth 1 into the earth and whatever that cometh out of it, and whatever that cometh down from the heaven and whatever that goeth up unto it; and He is the Most Merciful, the Oft-Forgiving. (34:2)

وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَا تَأْتِينَا ٱلسَّاعَةُ قُلْ بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّى لَتَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ عَـٰلِمِ ٱلْغَيْبِ لَا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَلَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَآ أَصْغَرُ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَآ أَكْبَرُ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ مُّبِينٍ

And say those who disbelieve: “The Hour (of Judgment) shall not come upon us.” Say thou: “Yea: By my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you, from Him is not hidden, the weight of (even) an atom in the heavens and nor in the earth, nor is there aught less than this and nor aught greater, but it is in the manifesting 2 Book, (34:3)

لِّيَجْزِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ

That He may recompense those who believe and do good; these it is for whom is forgiveness and an honourable sustenance. (34:4)

وَٱلَّذِينَ سَعَوْ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا مُعَـٰجِزِينَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مِّن رِّجْزٍ أَلِيمٌ

And for those who strive hard in invalidating 3 Our signs, 4 these it is for whom is a chastisement of a painful torment. (34:5)

وَيَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ هُوَ ٱلْحَقَّ وَيَهْدِىٓ إِلَىٰ صِرَٰطِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَمِيدِ

And will see those whom knowledge hath been given, 5 that which hath been sent down unto thee from thy Lord, that it is the truth, and it guideth unto the path of the All-Mighty, the Most Praised (One) (34:6)

وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ هَلْ نَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ يُنَبِّئُكُمْ إِذَا مُزِّقْتُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّكُمْ لَفِى خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ

And say those who disbelieve, (in ridicule): “Shall we point out to you a man who informeth you that when ye are wholly scattered totally disintegrated, (even then) ye are certainly (returned) into a new creation?” (34:7)

أَفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَم بِهِۦ جِنَّةٌۢ بَلِ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ فِى ٱلْعَذَابِ وَٱلضَّلَـٰلِ ٱلْبَعِيدِ

“Hath he forged a lie against God or there is madness in him?” Nay! those who believe not in the hereafter are in a torment and are 6 straying far (away from the truth) (34:8) 7

أَفَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ إِن نَّشَأْ نَخْسِفْ بِهِمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ أَوْ نُسْقِطْ عَلَيْهِمْ كِسَفًا مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةً لِّكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُّنِيبٍ

See they not then what is before them and what is behind them of the heaven and the earth? If We please We will make them sink into the earth or We bring down upon them a portion from the heaven; Verily in this is a sign for every servant turning (unto the Lord). (34:9)

Commentary

Verse 1

This is against the polytheistic view of dividing the universe into different regions and believing in different gods and deities ruling the different regions. Everything in the heavens and the earth and in between belongs to none but the One and only Creator Lord, hence praise of every kind and in any degree is His. The faith in this fact is of so much importance that it has been repeated in the Holy Qur’an (viz. Surahs 1, 6, 18, 34, 35) so that every sensible one of the human race be repeatedly reminded that there is none else other than God, and He alone is the Benefactor - Real and every man and woman should be ever mindful of Him. If a man duly believes in this truth and knows for certain that everything good has to come from none else besides God, he would naturally enact nothing in his life but goodness and virtue and would necessarily avoid everything that displeases the Lord and would always remain adoring Him, celebrating His praise and offering his gratitude to Him. This is Islam.

Verse 2

Everything hidden and manifest, is known to God and to God alone - Man in his ignorance thinks anything that is dead and buried is lost. Take for instance, the water absorbed by the earth or the seed sown into the soil, replenishes numerous streams and feeds the numerous forms of life and helps the growth of myriad forms of growth which grow and perish, and once again grow, continuously repeating their births and deaths. There are the other things beyond time and space, independent of any physical form. Man thinks that death is the end of the life whereas there are countless stages of life still in store for his soul to pass through. Goodness and virtues never perish but rise up to God the Centre and the Generator of all Goodness and Purity and Perfection.

Verse 3

See verses 6:59 and 36:12. It is a matter of certainty which every man and woman has to necessarily believe that the phenomenon of cause and effect, works in the matter of the consequences or the recompense of every act good and bad enacted in this life. No doubt there is the mercy of God which has to be earned. In getting astray from the right path is betraying the Trust.8

Verse 4

The unfailing law of cause and effect would naturally and surely work in the case of good and evil. They would be recompensed for their good with good and for their evil with evil. No good or evil shall go unrewarded or unpunished.9

The sustenance promised to the righteous is not the ordinary one which one gets in this life. It will be sustenance honourable, graceful and generous.

Verse 5

God’s plan can never be frustrated.10 Those who go against it or attempt to frustrate it, are punished and destroyed.

It includes those who attempt to explain all the natural phenomena of the universe, in the atheistic or materialist terms. (A.P.).

Verse 6

See verses 3:6, 3:17, 4:146, 29:49, 58:22 compare also 13:43. Those whose knowledge is inborn and not acquired of their own efforts. The Holy Prophet and his daughter Fatima and the Twelve Imams are those who never learnt anything from any mortal in this world and yet were the fountainheads of knowledge and wisdom.

Verse 7

This refers to the taunt of the disbelievers against the Holy Prophet, who disbelieved in the resurrection of man after his death, and said that the Holy Prophet who preached the resurrection of man after his death, to be mad.11

According to the theistic view of life, death is not the annihilation of the life but a transfer to a new state. This always appears strange to the atheists. (A.P.).

Verse 9

The spiritually blind or those whose hearts and minds are covered with falsehood who laugh at the truth about the hereafter for they are unable to observe the power of God in the world of nature surrounding them. See verses 36:77-83, wherein it is asked of such disbelievers whether the One who created the heavens and the earth will be able to create the like of these again or not? The answer also is given in the same verse saying ‘Yes! Certainly!’ When He intends to effect anything and wills only to say ‘Be’ and it ‘Becomes.’

Refuting the sceptic view on the ground that a proper observation of their surroundings of the

terrestrial and celestial bodies, proves that they are held by some power above the dimensional realm (unexplainable in the term of the dimensions). (A.P.).

- 1. Lit. Thirst.

- 2. Which is perspicuous.

- 3. Oppose.

- 4. The Apostle and the Holy Imams.

- 5. Refer to note on verses 4:162, 3:6, 3:17, 29:49 & 58:11.

- 6. Those who deny the Truth are far away from the right path.

- 7. Read this with the previous & the next Verse.

- 8. Refer to note on verse 33:72.

- 9. See verses 2:48, 2:123, 2:254, 6:165, 17:15, 35:18, 39:7, 53:38.

- 10. See verse 22:51.

- 11. See verses 36:77-83.

Saba Section 2 - The Destruction Of Saba

- The destruction of the people of David and Solomon

- The destruction of Saba which was an ease for God

- On the Day of Judgment, believers will be distinguished from the disbelievers

- Satan could beguile mankind except a few who were the true believers

Saba Verses 10 - 21

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا دَاوُۥدَ مِنَّا فَضْلًا يَـٰجِبَالُ أَوِّبِى مَعَهُۥ وَٱلطَّيْرَ وَأَلَنَّا لَهُ ٱلْحَدِيدَ

And indeed gave We unto David from Us, a boon 1 saying: “O’ Mountains! sing ye the praise of God along with him, and (ye) the birds (Too);” and made We soft for him, the iron, (34:10)

أَنِ ٱعْمَلْ سَـٰبِغَـٰتٍ وَقَدِّرْ فِى ٱلسَّرْدِ وَٱعْمَلُوا۟ صَـٰلِحًا إِنِّى بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

Saying (unto David): “Make thou coats of mail, and measure its links and do good; verily I, of what all ye do, do see.” (34:11)

وَلِسُلَيْمَـٰنَ ٱلرِّيحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌ وَأَسَلْنَا لَهُۥ عَيْنَ ٱلْقِطْرِ وَمِنَ ٱلْجِنِّ مَن يَعْمَلُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِۦ وَمَن يَزِغْ مِنْهُمْ عَنْ أَمْرِنَا نُذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ

And for Solomon (We made subservient) the wind which travelled in the morning a month’s journey and a month’s journey in the evening; And We caused for him to flow a fountain of molten brass and of the jinn there were those who worked before 2 him by the command of his Lord; and whoever among them turned away from Our Command, We will make him taste, of the chastisement of the flaming fire. (34:12)

يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُۥ مَا يَشَآءُ مِن مَّحَـٰرِيبَ وَتَمَـٰثِيلَ وَجِفَانٍ كَٱلْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ رَّاسِيَـٰتٍ ٱعْمَلُوٓا۟ ءَالَ دَاوُۥدَ شُكْرًا وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِىَ ٱلشَّكُورُ

They made for him whatever he willeth of fortresses and statues, and basins (large as) reservoirs, and (huge) cooking cauldrons immovable from their places; “Act ye gratefully, O’ family of David! and very few of My servants are grateful!” (34:13) 3

فَلَمَّا قَضَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ ٱلْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَوْتِهِۦٓ إِلَّا دَآبَّةُ ٱلْأَرْضِ تَأْكُلُ مِنسَأَتَهُۥ فَلَمَّا خَرَّ تَبَيَّنَتِ ٱلْجِنُّ أَن لَّوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ ٱلْغَيْبَ مَا لَبِثُوا۟ فِى ٱلْعَذَابِ ٱلْمُهِينِ

And when We decreed death for him (Solomon), nothing did show them his death, but a worm of the earth which gnawed away his staff; and when it fell down, then came to know the jinn that had they known the unseen, they would have tarried not in the humiliating torment (of their toil) (34:14) 4

لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِى مَسْكَنِهِمْ ءَايَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَن يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ كُلُوا۟ مِن رِّزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ وَٱشْكُرُوا۟ لَهُۥ بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ

Indeed for (the children of) Saba in their abode, there was a sign; two gardens on the right and the left; (and it was said unto them) “Eat ye of the sustenance of your Lord and give ye thanks unto Him”; A good land (it was, in this world) and (God is the) Lord Oft- Forgiving! (34:15)

فَأَعْرَضُوا۟ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ ٱلْعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلْنَـٰهُم بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ جَنَّتَيْنِ ذَوَاتَىْ أُكُلٍ خَمْطٍ وَأَثْلٍ وَشَىْءٍ مِّن سِدْرٍ قَلِيلٍ

But they turned away, so sent We upon them a torrent irresistible and in place 5 of their two gardens gave We unto them two gardens yielding bitter fruits and tamarisks and a few lote trees. (34:16)

ذَٰلِكَ جَزَيْنَـٰهُم بِمَا كَفَرُوا۟ وَهَلْ نُجَـٰزِىٓ إِلَّا ٱلْكَفُورَ

This We recompensed them for what they disbelieved; but do We (thus) recompense any save the ungrateful? (34:17)

وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ ٱلْقُرَى ٱلَّتِى بَـٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا قُرًى ظَـٰهِرَةً وَقَدَّرْنَا فِيهَا ٱلسَّيْرَ سِيرُوا۟ فِيهَا لَيَالِىَ وَأَيَّامًا ءَامِنِينَ

And We caused between them and the towns which We had blest, (other) towns to be seen, and We have made easy the journey therein; travel ye through them nights and days, secure. 6 (34:18) 7

فَقَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَا بَـٰعِدْ بَيْنَ أَسْفَارِنَا وَظَلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ فَجَعَلْنَـٰهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ وَمَزَّقْنَـٰهُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ

Then said they: “O’ our Lord! make the spaces to be longer between our journey” and unjust were they unto themselves, We made them stories 8 and scattered them with a total scattering; Verily in this are signs for every patient, grateful one. (34:19) 9

وَلَقَدْ صَدَّقَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِبْلِيسُ ظَنَّهُۥ فَٱتَّبَعُوهُ إِلَّا فَرِيقًا مِّنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

And indeed ‘Iblis’ 10 found true 11 his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a section of the believers. (34:20)

وَمَا كَانَ لَهُۥ عَلَيْهِم مِّن سُلْطَـٰنٍ إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِمَّنْ هُوَ مِنْهَا فِى شَكٍّ وَرَبُّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ حَفِيظٌ

And there is not for him any authority 12 over them, 13 save that We would know (distinguish) him who believeth in the here after, from him who is in doubt concerning it; and thy Lord is upon all things a 14 Guard. (34:21)

Commentary

Verse 10

See verses 21:79, 38:17-19. David had been gifted with an enchanting melodious voice and whenever he sang the glory of God, the mountains around, used to echo the praise and the birds sang along with him in chorus, and iron, which in one of the hardest metals, was made soft in the hands of David for without heating the metal, David could make it pliant enough for making the armour. It is said that David was the first to manufacture coats of mail and the mail armour. Note, as an apostle of God, he only manufactured the mail, the means of protection, and not swords, the means of aggression.

Verse 11

David used to ask everyone he met as to how the man found him (David) as the Ruler. This he did to know if he was just and impartial to all and if anyone had been wronged, so that the necessary redress might be effected. Once God sent an angel in the form of a man and when David was passing a street of his town at midnight, the angel met David and David asked him how he found the Ruler (David). The reply was that the Ruler was all right save that he takes his own sustenance from the public funds. David wept for forty days and prayed to God to teach him some profession. God, of His mercy, made iron soft and pliant like wax in his hand and inspired him with the art of manufacturing coats of mail and the other weapons of defence. David used to make the articles and sell them and lived upon his own earnings.

The concluding words indicate indirectly that one should not spend all his time in earning his bread but the end or the object of life, which is to do good, should be remembered as much as one could do it.

Verse 12

See verse 21:81. For other references to Solomon - See verses 2:102, 4:163, 6:85, 27:15-44, 34:12-14, 38:30-40. For Solomon’s Navy - See I Kings 9/26 - For the control over time and distance Solomon could command - see 27:38-39.

Regarding the jinn being made to serve under Solomon. See also 27:17. The jinns must naturally be some uncontrollable rebellious beings for the words ‘Bi-idhnihi’ indicates that some special control of God, needed to make them work duly and the punishment which is mentioned to be ready for the rebellious or disobedient among the jinns indicates that the jinns were by nature liable to revolt or disobey the authority of the men under Solomon’s rule.

It may be remembered that the first one who disobeyed God to prostrate before Adam, while all the angels immediately did it, was a jinn, i.e., being neither an angel nor any human being. He was against the very first man, who was then yet in its creation. And it is also said that the jinn was made of fire and not of clay.15 Against such clear statements, the Ahmadi commentator interprets the meaning of the word ‘Jinn’ as the strangers quoting 2 Chron. 2/12-18 wherein is the mention of the strangers among the workers of Solomon. The interpretation is against the clear evidence of the Holy Qur’an that jinns are the beings made of fire other than human beings. The Ahmadi commentator is consistently opposed to any belief in any kind of supernatural powers having been at the disposal of any of the apostles of God just to please the materialists of the West. Hence the Ahmadi commentator interprets every miracle of the apostles of God in his own peculiar way. This is a denial of the special powers granted by God to His apostles - Refer to the miracles given to Moses and Jesus.

In refutation of the materialistic view of life, the verse 34:9 refers to the evidence of the general natural phenomena and in the subsequent verses, refers to the particular miracles given to the prophets. (A.P.).

Verse 13

Of the structure erected by men and the jinns, is the Big Mosque at Jerusalem. It is said that God revealed to David saying: ‘I had covenanted with thy father (ancestor) Abraham that I would bless his seed16and multiply it and make it a great nation for he (Abraham) had offered the sacrifice of his son at Our Command and I too have fulfilled my promise to him but his seed has turned ungrateful to My Grace and Bounties. I shall send a chastisement on them.’ They were visited by plague and by David’s prayer were relieved of it. The Lord said: “O’ David! tell My servants to offer their gratitude and the prayer I heard, let there be a Mosque so that thy progeny and the others of the future generation might offer their prayers in it.” The construction of the Mosque was started and the righteous ones among the Israelites and David himself laboured for it by carrying heavy stones and mud on their heads. When the walls of the Mosque rose to a man’s height, David was commanded by God that his share in the building of the Mosque was complete - the work to be left to be completed by his son Solomon. David died in the one hundred and fortieth year of his age and Solomon at the thirteenth year of his age succeeded his father on the throne and completed the work. (UB., MS).17 Compare how the Holy Prophet himself, like David and Solomon, laboured in construction of the first Mosque in Medina - i.e., the Mosque at Quba.

‘Maharib’, i.e., Houses of defence during warfare, i.e., fortresses.

The concluding words of admonition to the children of David to work, is a general injunction to every nation, particularly the Muslims, saying that if they want the blessings of God on them to be sustained, they must work in the cause of God and goodness, but only a few adhered to the command and the rest fell into luxury and ease and suffered the natural consequences of their degradation and a miserable ignominious life.

(a) ‘Maharib’ - Lofty temples, altars, arches, lofty halls - Some of the jurists quote the word ‘Tamathil’, i.e., statues, in favour of the permissibility of making images restricting the prohibitory traditions to those which images which are meant for worship. For details refer to ‘Fiqh.’

(b) Some anti-Ahl al-Bayt critics attempt to blackmail the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt saying that they have borrowed their views about Ahl al-Bayt from the Jewish estimation of the family of David - First of all, Qur’an itself has given the specially distinguished status to the Ahl al-Bayt excluding all others. Secondly, the verse 24:55 expressively says that the method of the caliphate after the Holy Prophet will be the same as before. Thirdly, Qur’an asserts that the families of Abraham and Imran, are chosen by God18 - to hold the Book, the Wisdom and Authority.

(c) Indicates that the good in the world are always few. (A.P.).

Verse 14

The Eighth Holy Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha said that once Solomon told his courtiers that “though God has blessed me with the greatest kingdom which none ever had and has favoured me with unique gifts of control over men, jinn, animals and birds - even the knowledge of the language of the birds - I am not even for a moment happy over all these. I want to get on the top of my palace and have a full view of God’s Kingdom around me, let none enter the place.” Solomon with his staff in his hand got upon the step and while he was viewing the kingdom around him, a young man beautifully dressed appeared from a corner of the palace. Solomon asked him “Who art thou? I had ordered that none should be allowed to enter the palace. Who permitted thee to enter this palace?” The visitor replied: “The Owner of this!” Solomon said: “I am the owner!” The stranger said, “God the Owner of the Universe! and I am the angel of death and I have been sent to take thy life out of thy body.” Solomon said, “Then get thou busy in thy duty to discharge which the Lord hath sent thee!”

While Solomon stood leaning on his staff, his soul left his body, and the body was caused by God to stay as it was for a year and the people from below the palace could see Solomon standing and thought him to be alive. When some considerable time had passed, some thought Solomon to be God and said that they must worship him, and some said that he was a magician controlling their perception to see him standing there. God caused the white ants to eat away the staff, and it gave way and the body of Solomon fell on the ground. It was then the people came to know that Solomon was dead and until then everyone thought him to be alive and went on with the work entrusted to them by Solomon. The event has several factors of guidance for mankind, worthy of note for every intelligent student of the Holy Qur’an that:

1. No amount of power, however great, possessed by anyone in this world, is permanent.

2. Power and glory however great, can fade away even without the knowledge of the people inhabiting this world.

3. None, even the apostles of God, are to be spared from death.

4. Great events like the death of Solomon, could be made manifest even by unseen agencies of God.

5. Even the smallest creatures, can destroy hard and strong things like the staff of Solomon which bore the weight of Solomon's body.

6. The authority over God’s creatures, like men and even jinns, effected by force, could last only for a time and not for ever.

7. Man, under perfect obedience of God, like Solomon, could have the control over all God’s creatures, to effect God’s will.

8. Any body at God’s will, can survive and stay stationary for any period beyond the ordinary limits of our limited knowledge.

9. The forces of nature are always subservient to the chosen servants of God.

10. What people think impossible for them to work, is an ease for God’s will to effect.

11. The true and a godly covenant like that of Solomon, i.e., the rule over the destinies of men in this world, is through a single man established by the proper authority and not by means of several men jointly in any council, (i.e., the rule by the fittest) and not by several ones chosen by the fancy of the masses consisting mostly lay men, ignorant of the actual science of the administration and deciding matters.

12. The knowledge of the unknown, is with God alone and not with men or even the jinns.

13. The greatest and the most magnificent of structures worked out by men and even the jinns, are only to fade away and ultimately perish.

14. Death is decreed by God and could not be avoided or even delayed at the choice of any man even that of an apostle and is effected immediately as God wills.

Verse 15

The place referred to, is the town of Ma’rib’ herein lived the children of Saba son of Yaskhab son of Yaghrab son of Qahran, situated near Yamen. The place was Saba, i.e., the Sheba of the Bible.19 The place flourished with profoundly yielding fruit gardens. The soil was very rich with abundant fresh water. The place was also free from venomous serpents and insects. The climate was very pleasant. There were twelve townships and each had an apostle from God inviting the people to the correct belief in God, the True Lord of the Universe, and to righteous life, who preached “Eat ye of what God of His grace and mercy provided you with and be thankful and indebted to Him Who is the most Merciful.” Sometimes the water from the neighbouring place called ‘Shajarah’ ruled by Queen Bilqis, used to enter the spring and spoil its water. The good queen constructed some dykes and effected the necessary control over the flow of the water. It was a happy and prosperous country, amply irrigated with canals and roads, skirted by gardens on both sides, right and left.

Verse 16

This verse is the continuation of the previous one. The people turned ungrateful and corrupt. The bursting of the dyke of Ma’rib and the destruction of the town by floods are facts of history (Vide Palmer’s note). Thus, the people were punished by the destruction of their habitation, their gardens and their cultivation for the people had become arrogant of their prosperity, their skill and of the achievements of their ancestors (the dams or the dykes). For the report about the traces of the Ma’rib Dam - see Arnald’s report on his travels in 1843 who saw it with its inscriptions.20 Arnald says that the Dam is two miles long and 120 feet high and W. B. Haris’ report on the journey through Yemen 1893. The date of the destruction is said to be 120 A.D. and some say, it was much earlier.

The flourishing land was converted into a waste. The fruit trees became wild growth with bitter fruits; the fragrant plants and flowers disappeared.

Refers to the consequence of the negligence of the necessary repairs to the reservoirs as an ingratitude and this applies to all those who act similarly and neglect to pay proper attention to God’s gifts, material or spiritual. (A.P.).

Verses 17 - 18

The cities were so prosperous that borders of one, practically met that of the other, or was very near the other - i.e., one city was joined with the other, owing to its near proximity or through the straight road connecting each with the other. The cities were connected with highways to the great flourishing kingdoms on the Euphrates and Tigris valleys on the one hand and Egypt on the other, and the great Roman Empire around the Mediterranean and at the other end, the Yemen coastal cities and seaports - To India, Malaya and China. The close proximity of the thickly inhabited stations, the travellers on foot could travel with ease and safety without any opportunity for any highwaymen to attack or even disturb them.

Indicates that those countries were so prosperous that there were no barren gaps between the habitations, and the journey was secure and safe, both during the day and night. (A.P.).

Verse 19

The roads were so safe that the ease and the security was availed of, both by the rich and the poor alike and the rich only envy the poor being equalled to them in their travel. The people of Saba became more and more covetous and selfish and departed from the path of righteousness and became jealous of the other people’s prosperity and happiness. Thus, they were denied the grace and the bounties bestowed on them. They lost the blessings which they enjoyed, and they fell into the snare of Satan. To exploit the other people and out of envy of the poor, the well-to-do even prayed for the removal of certain facilities they were blessed with to get advantage over the poor. They gradually lost their name and fame and passed out of history and got only a mention in stories.

Thus, it is made obvious by the story of Saba that men get entitled to God’s grace only by their own righteousness and the bounties of God continue only until the recipients continue to remain qualified for them and when men get astray, as the natural consequence of it, they fall. No doubt prosperity is only a snare and a blessing of God when it is used in the way of the Lord. It is very like a father giving some useful thing to his children. If they use it rightly, the father bestows more presents and if they misuse it, not only, no gifts are given in the future but that which is already given, is also naturally snatched away.

As if they had become adamant to their prosperity as the Persian parable says: ‘Khoshi azarash dad.’ “The happiness annoyed him”. So, they neglected the bounties of God. They themselves invited the miseries for them. This is true of the material as well as the spiritual life of man. Thus, the Sixth Holy Imam Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq quotes this passage - to point out that the trouble which befell the Muslims and will be continued until the re-appearance of the Twelfth Imam - was due to the ingratitude shown by the people, in not paying attention to the last Covenant of Ghadir. For a similar example among the Israelites refer to verses 5:20-26. (A.P.).

Verses 20 - 21

Satan prayed for a respite and had challenged to lead the children of Adam astray and bring them under his sway save a few.21 The people of Saba, of their own conduct, proved the challenge of Satan true concerning them, save a small group of the sincere believers in God who remained steadfast in their faith and righteousness. This is what has happened in the followers of every apostle of God Excepting the Holy Ahl al-Bayt and those who follow them faithfully, the rest have been led astray by the agents of Satan who appeared in the forms of the false leaders of the faith, while they were devils in human form and lived a life worse than that of the brutes in the jungle, while they ruled the states after the Holy Prophet, vide the notes on the personal characters of some of the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphs, particularly among them Yazid, who posed himself as the rightful successor of the Holy Prophet and actually lived quite against the Holy Qur’an and the teachings of the Holy Prophet. As regards the very few who remained steadfast in faith and righteousness, have been foretold by God Himself as those who would never be conquered by Satan.22

- 1. Indicates what was granted to David, was something extraordinary as a miracle.

- 2. In his presence.

- 3. Refer to verses 2:102, 4:163, 6:85, 21:81 27:15, 27:14, 27:17, 27:38-39, 34:12-14 & 38:30-40. Old Testament Kings Chapter 9. 9/26.

- 4. Solomon’s body stood there without any change, physical or chemical in his body for the time until the worms ate away his staff.

- 5. God’s blessings when not used duly, are snatched away and substituted with curse.

- 6. With perfect ease and safety.

- 7. Refer to verses 5:20-26.

- 8. Passed them into tales - destroyed them and made their life, example for others

- 9. Refer to verses 17:61-65.

- 10. Satan.

- 11. Refer to note on verses 6:48 & 15:42.

- 12. Refer to note on verses 14:22, 15:42 & 17:65.

- 13. The believers.

- 14. Ever-watchful – protector.

- 15. See verse 7:12.

- 16. See Gen. 12/1-3; 17/7, 17/20.

- 17. Minhaj as-Sadiqin, Umdat al-Bayan.

- 18. See verse 3:33.

- 19. See verse 27:22. See also I Kings 10 and 2 Chron. 9 and I Kings 9.

- 20. See Journal Asiatique Jan. 1874.

- 21. Refer to note on verse 17:62.

- 22. Refer to note on verses 17:65, 15:42 & 14:22.

Saba Section 3 - The Holy Prophet Muhammad, The Apostle For Humanity As A Whole

- The imaginary false deities own nothing anywhere in the Universe

- God has no assistants to aid Him in anything

- Only the permitted one will be able to intercede for the sinners on the Day of Judgment

- God alone sustains everyone

- The Holy Prophet Muhammad the Apostle sent for humanity as a whole.

- The Fixed Term can neither be deferred by anyone nor anyone can hasten it on.

Saba Verses 22 - 30

قُلِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ لَا يَمْلِكُونَ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَلَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا لَهُمْ فِيهِمَا مِن شِرْكٍ وَمَا لَهُۥ مِنْهُم مِّن ظَهِيرٍ

Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!): “Call ye upon those whom ye deemed (as gods) besides God; they own not the weight of (even) an atom in the heavens nor in the earth, nor for them is any partnership (share) in either (of them) nor for Him is (there) from among them any one to back up.” (34:22)

وَلَا تَنفَعُ ٱلشَّفَـٰعَةُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا لِمَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُۥ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا فُزِّعَ عَن قُلُوبِهِمْ قَالُوا۟ مَاذَا قَالَ رَبُّكُمْ قَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَقَّ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْكَبِيرُ

And will avail not aught any intercession with Him save of him whom He hath permitted, Until when terror shall be removed from their hearts, they shall say: “What is it that your Lord said?” They (the angels) shall say: “(that which is) True and He is the Most High, the Greatest!” (34:23) 1

قُلْ مَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ وَإِنَّآ أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَىٰ هُدًى أَوْ فِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ

Say thou: “Who provideth you with sustenance from the heavens and the earth?” Say thou: “(It is) God, and verily (either) we or ye are guided 2 aright, or in manifest error?” (34:24)

قُل لَّا تُسْـَٔلُونَ عَمَّآ أَجْرَمْنَا وَلَا نُسْـَٔلُ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

Say thou: “Ye will not be questioned as to what we are guilty of, nor shall we be questioned as to what ye do.” (34:25)

قُلْ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا رَبُّنَا ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ بَيْنَنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَهُوَ ٱلْفَتَّاحُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ

Say thou: “Our Lord will gather us together, then will He judge between us with justice; and He is the Greatest Judge, the All Knowing.” (34:26)

قُلْ أَرُونِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَلْحَقْتُم بِهِۦ شُرَكَآءَ كَلَّا بَلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

Say thou: “Show me those whom ye associate with Him: Never (can ye ever do 3 it); Nay! He is God the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” (34:27)

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ إِلَّا كَآفَّةً لِّلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

And (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) We sent thee not but unto the whole of mankind, a Bearer of glad tidings and a Warner, but most of the people know (it) not. (34:28) 4

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَـٰذَا ٱلْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ

And say they: “When will this promise be (fulfilled)? If ye be truthful.” (34:29) 5

قُل لَّكُم مِّيعَادُ يَوْمٍ لَّا تَسْتَـْٔخِرُونَ عَنْهُ سَاعَةً وَلَا تَسْتَقْدِمُونَ

Say thou: “For you is the appointment of a day from which ye cannot hold it back (even) a while, nor can ye hasten it on.” (34:30)

Commentary

Verse 22

This refers to the false gods and the imaginary deities the people believed in, who owned no power nor any authority even to help themselves and more so, to help any of their votaries if caught in any distress.

Verse 24

It asserts that both sides can not be right. It refutes the subjective value which the theosophists attach to every religion saying ‘all are subjectively true’. Qur’an asserts that the religions should be valued objectively and both the opposite objects cannot be true. (A.P.).

Verse 28

See verses 4:49, 7:158, 21:107. The mission of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, was not for any one family, tribe, race or nation, but for mankind as a whole and for all times.6 His message is for all men and women. For those who turn to God, there are the glad tidings for them and to those who reject it, therein is the warning they need against their sinful life and the consequent punishment for it.

It means that most of the people do not appreciate the universality of the mission of Muham mad who was the Last of the prophets. Even among the Muslims, there are some narrow-minded historians who valuing the Islamic teachings as something urged by the then Arabian pagan conditions, while Qur’an says that it has come to give man what is latent in his motive. (A.P.).

Verse 29 - 30

See verses 3:144, 7:34, 10:49, 15:5, 16:61, 23:43, and 62:8. When the appointed hour comes the respite automatically ends.

- 1. Refer to verses 2:255, 4:85, 10:3, 19:86, 20:109, 21:28, 39:44 & 74:48.

- 2. Both sides can not be right - any one side must surely be guided aright and the other in error.

- 3. Never can ye show for they do not exist - They are mere imaginations.

- 4. When the doom comes the respite automatically ends.

- 5. Refer to verses 3:144, 7:34, 10:49, 15:5, 16:61, 23:43 & 62:8.

- 6. R.N.T. John 16/5-14.

Saba Section 4 - The Disbelievers And Their Leaders

- The disbelievers and their leaders shall throw the blame upon each other

- God amplifies the sustenance to whomsoever He pleaseth

Saba Verses 31 - 36

وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَن نُّؤْمِنَ بِهَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ وَلَا بِٱلَّذِى بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَلَوْ تَرَىٰٓ إِذِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ مَوْقُوفُونَ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يَرْجِعُ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ٱلْقَوْلَ يَقُولُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ لَوْلَآ أَنتُمْ لَكُنَّا مُؤْمِنِينَ

And say those who disbelieve: “Never will we believe in this Qur’an, nor in that which is before 1 it;” but couldst thou see when the unjust shall be made to stand before their Lord; returning reproaches from one unto another! Those who were despised 2 as weak will say unto those who had prided: 3 “Had it not been for you, we would certainly have been believers.” (34:31)

قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوٓا۟ أَنَحْنُ صَدَدْنَـٰكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْهُدَىٰ بَعْدَ إِذْ جَآءَكُم بَلْ كُنتُم مُّجْرِمِينَ

Those who had prided shall say unto those who were despised 4 as weak: “What! did we turn you away from the guidance after it had come unto you? Nay! ye were yourselves the guilty ones.” (34:32)

وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ بَلْ مَكْرُ ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ إِذْ تَأْمُرُونَنَآ أَن نَّكْفُرَ بِٱللَّهِ وَنَجْعَلَ لَهُۥٓ أَندَادًا وَأَسَرُّوا۟ ٱلنَّدَامَةَ لَمَّا رَأَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلْأَغْلَـٰلَ فِىٓ أَعْنَاقِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ هَلْ يُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

And those who were despised as weak shall say unto those who had prided: “Nay! (it was) (your) planning by night and by day, when ye bade us that we should disbelieve in God and set up equals unto Him.” And they shall feel regretful when they shall see the chastisement; And We will put shackles on the necks of those who disbelieved; They are recompensed aught save what they did. (34:33)

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا فِى قَرْيَةٍ مِّن نَّذِيرٍ إِلَّا قَالَ مُتْرَفُوهَآ إِنَّا بِمَآ أُرْسِلْتُم بِهِۦ كَـٰفِرُونَ

And We sent not a warner unto a town but the opulent ones of it said: “Verily we are disbelievers in what ye are sent with” (34:34)

وَقَالُوا۟ نَحْنُ أَكْثَرُ أَمْوَٰلًا وَأَوْلَـٰدًا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُعَذَّبِينَ

And said they: “We are more (than you) in wealth and in children, and we shall not be the chastised” (34:35)

قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّى يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad?): “Verily my Lord amplifieth the sustenance for whomsoever He willeth and straiteneth (it) (for whomsoever He pleaseth), but most of the people know not.” (34:36)

Commentary

Verse 31

The reference is to the people rejecting not only the Holy Qur’an but also the other previous scriptures which contained the prophecies about the advent of the Last Apostle of God who would be the Universal Teacher for mankind as a whole. The people of the Book, in their proud assumption of being on the right path and being superior to all the others, disbelieved in the prophecies in their own scriptures and at the same time prevented the others from accepting what has been revealed in the Holy Qur’an. On the Day of Judgment, each would accuse the other for having misled. Nothing shall be of any avail to them.5

Verse 32

There will be mutual reproaches and accusations between the misleaders and the misled but none of them would be uttering the truth.

Verse 33

The intelligent ones always plotted night and day to exploit the weaker in mind, to keep them under their sway.

This applies to the present atheistic movements started by the aristocratic circles which is spreading to the lower classes.

(a) ‘Asrar’ has been interpreted by some commentators as to mean that they expressed and by some others as to mean that they hid their regret. Both ways are justified in the sense that by throwing the blame on each other, their regret is exposed but none directly expressing his fault.

(b) It indicates that the fetters are not everything ever imposed on them, but it is their own deeds which hang around them pressing. (A.P.).

Verse 34

The vested interest of the people always stood against every apostle of God.

Verse 35

People got infatuated with worldly power and position.

Verses 35 - 39

It refers to the general tendency of the people attaching importance to the abundance of wealth and issues and the verses give the common answer on behalf of God that what is reckoned by Him as important and the means of approach to Him - i.e., Faith and good deeds. (A.P.).

Verse 36

Man is assured that he need not, worrying for the sustenance, yield to anyone else other than God as it is God and God alone Who provides every creature with the sustenance he needs.

- 1. The previous Scriptures.

- 2. Deemed and looked down as weak.

- 3. Considered themselves as great.

- 4. Deemed and looked down as weak.

- 5. Refer to note on verse 2:55.

Saba Section 5 - Wealth And Children Shall Be Of No Avail

- Wealth and children shall be of no avail to any one on the Day of Judgment

- None shall profit the other, in any way when his own belief and conduct will be judged

Saba Verses 37 - 45

وَمَآ أَمْوَٰلُكُمْ وَلَآ أَوْلَـٰدُكُم بِٱلَّتِى تُقَرِّبُكُمْ عِندَنَا زُلْفَىٰٓ إِلَّا مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ جَزَآءُ ٱلضِّعْفِ بِمَا عَمِلُوا۟ وَهُمْ فِى ٱلْغُرُفَـٰتِ ءَامِنُونَ

And neither your wealth and nor your children are that which bring you nigh 1 unto Us, but whosoever believeth and doeth good, these are, (the ones) for whom is a double recompense for what they do, and they in the exalted places shall be secure. (34:37) 2

وَٱلَّذِينَ يَسْعَوْنَ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا مُعَـٰجِزِينَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ فِى ٱلْعَذَابِ مُحْضَرُونَ

And those who strive hard in invalidating 3 Our signs, 4 they shall be brought to the chastisement. (34:38) 5

قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّى يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦ وَيَقْدِرُ لَهُۥ وَمَآ أَنفَقْتُم مِّن شَىْءٍ فَهُوَ يُخْلِفُهُۥ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلرَّٰزِقِينَ

Say thou: “Verily my Lord amplifieth the sustenance for whomsoever He willeth of His servants and straiteneth (it) for him (whomsoever He pleaseth), and whatever thing ye spend, He returneth 6 it (with His reward along with it), and He is the Best of Sustainers.” (34:39) 7

وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ يَقُولُ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ أَهَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ إِيَّاكُمْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْبُدُونَ

And on the day when He will gather them all together, then will He say unto the angels: “Did these worship you?” (34:40)

قَالُوا۟ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ أَنتَ وَلِيُّنَا مِن دُونِهِم بَلْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْبُدُونَ ٱلْجِنَّ أَكْثَرُهُم بِهِم مُّؤْمِنُونَ

They shall say: “Glory be to Thee! Thou art our Guardian, not they; Nay! they worshipped the jinn; most of them were the believers in them.” (34:41)

فَٱلْيَوْمَ لَا يَمْلِكُ بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ نَّفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا وَنَقُولُ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ذُوقُوا۟ عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ ٱلَّتِى كُنتُم بِهَا تُكَذِّبُونَ

So on that day shall not own one of you for the other any profit or harm; and We will say unto those who did injustice: “Taste ye the chastisement of the fire which ye did disbelieve.” (34:42)

وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتُنَا بَيِّنَـٰتٍ قَالُوا۟ مَا هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا رَجُلٌ يُرِيدُ أَن يَصُدَّكُمْ عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُكُمْ وَقَالُوا۟ مَا هَـٰذَآ إِلَّآ إِفْكٌ مُّفْتَرًى وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

And when are recited unto them Our clear signs say they: “This is none but a man, desireth he to turn ye away from what your fathers 8 did worship,” and say they: “This (Qur’an) is naught but a falsehood forged” and those who disbelieve say of the truth when it cometh unto them: “This is nothing but a clear sorcery.” (34:43)

وَمَآ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُم مِّن كُتُبٍ يَدْرُسُونَهَا وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَآ إِلَيْهِمْ قَبْلَكَ مِن نَّذِيرٍ

And We have not given them any books 9 which they read, nor did We send unto them before thee any 10 warner. (34:44)

وَكَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَمَا بَلَغُوا۟ مِعْشَارَ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُمْ فَكَذَّبُوا۟ رُسُلِى فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ

And belied 11 those before them and these have not attained (even) the tithe of what We gave them, and yet they belied My apostles; so how (intense) was My abhorrence (of them). (34:45)

Commentary

Verse 37

The criterion for judging one’s personal merit, will not be based on any material possessions or any influence other than the spiritual excellence and the actual righteousness in the practical life.

All worldly goods are nothing but a passing cloud casting shadow running away with it. The real self-development needs correct faith and righteousness in the day-to-day life. The reward for righteousness will be manifold.12

Verse 41

This is a refutation of the claims of the pagans and the others who consider themselves to follow the angelical course in their enchantments and the angelical practices while actually following the Satanic forces of the lower spheres. This includes the modern ways of attempts on recalling the spirits of the dead. (A.P.).

Verse 43

This verse refers to those who, feeling the fascinating force of the Quran, termed it as sorcery. (A.P.).

Verse 44

Neither any book was ever revealed, nor any apostle was ever sent to preach polytheism to any peoples in the world.

Verse 45

The Qurayshite arrogance and pride over their material wealth and worldly power, is referred to, saying what they are proud of, is not even one tenth of what was given to the earlier people who were also destroyed when they defied God’s authority and lived a wicked life.

- 1. In Status.

- 2. Refer to verse 34:35.

- 3. Opposing.

- 4. Apostles & the Imams.

- 5. Refer to verse 34:35.

- 6. Replaced.

- 7. Refer to verses 34:35 & 34:36.

- 8. Fathers and the ancestors.

- 9. Scriptures.

- 10. Prophet – Apostle.

- 11. The truth.

- 12. Refer to note on verse 30:39.

Saba Section 6 - The Triumph Of Truth

- The Truth shall always triumph

Saba Verses 46 - 54

قُلْ إِنَّمَآ أَعِظُكُم بِوَٰحِدَةٍ أَن تَقُومُوا۟ لِلَّهِ مَثْنَىٰ وَفُرَٰدَىٰ ثُمَّ تَتَفَكَّرُوا۟ مَا بِصَاحِبِكُم مِّن جِنَّةٍ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ لَّكُم بَيْنَ يَدَىْ عَذَابٍ شَدِيدٍ

Say (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “I exhort you only to one thing, that rise up ye for God’s sake in twos and singly, then 1 ponder ye: your companion (Our Apostle Muhammad) is not possessed, he is none but a warner (sent) unto you, before a severe chastisement.” (34:46)

قُلْ مَا سَأَلْتُكُم مِّنْ أَجْرٍ فَهُوَ لَكُمْ إِنْ أَجْرِىَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

Say thou: “Whatever recompense 2 I have asked of you, it is only for yourselves; my recompense is (to be expected) from God (alone), and He is witness over all things.” (34:47) 3

قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّى يَقْذِفُ بِٱلْحَقِّ عَلَّـٰمُ ٱلْغُيُوبِ

Say thou: “Verily my Lord doth hurleth (out) the (light of) Truth, The Greatest Knower of the unseen.” (34:48)

قُلْ جَآءَ ٱلْحَقُّ وَمَا يُبْدِئُ ٱلْبَـٰطِلُ وَمَا يُعِيدُ

Say thou: “The truth hath come, 4 and falsehood 5 neither bringeth forth anything nor doth it reproduce. (34:49)

قُلْ إِن ضَلَلْتُ فَإِنَّمَآ أَضِلُّ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِى وَإِنِ ٱهْتَدَيْتُ فَبِمَا يُوحِىٓ إِلَىَّ رَبِّىٓ إِنَّهُۥ سَمِيعٌ قَرِيبٌ

Say thou: “If I stray, I stray only against my own self, and if I am guided aright, it is of 6 what hath revealed unto me my Lord; Verily He is All-Hearing, the (Most) Nigh.” (34:50) 7

وَلَوْ تَرَىٰٓ إِذْ فَزِعُوا۟ فَلَا فَوْتَ وَأُخِذُوا۟ مِن مَّكَانٍ قَرِيبٍ

And couldst thou see when they shall get terrified, then there shall be no escape and they shall be seized from a 8 near place, (34:51)

وَقَالُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا بِهِۦ وَأَنَّىٰ لَهُمُ ٱلتَّنَاوُشُ مِن مَّكَانٍۭ بَعِيدٍ

And they shall say: “We (now) believe in it.” And whence shall the approach (to faith) be for them from (such) a distant place? (34:52) 9

وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا۟ بِهِۦ مِن قَبْلُ وَيَقْذِفُونَ بِٱلْغَيْبِ مِن مَّكَانٍۭ بَعِيدٍ

And indeed they did disbelieve in it before, and aim their conjectures about the unseen from a distant place. (34:53) 10

وَحِيلَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ مَا يَشْتَهُونَ كَمَا فُعِلَ بِأَشْيَاعِهِم مِّن قَبْلُ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ فِى شَكٍّ مُّرِيبٍۭ

And a gulf shall be set between them and that which they desire, as was done unto the likes of them of yore, verily they have been in a disquieting doubt. (34:54) 11

Commentary

Verse 46

It is an exhortation which only an intelligent one would grasp. The Holy Prophet is commanded by God to invite the people to independent thinking about God and his apostleship. The suggestion is to use individual reflection over the matter, for any crowd-mentality would not serve the object of perceiving or understanding any finer and higher spiritual truth. Each one should earnestly and sincerely commune within oneself. If in need, the promise of the Lord to guide the sincere ones, is there verses 29:69 and 16:43; and 21:7. The essential prerequisite for such a realisation, is a heartfelt reflection free from any preconceived notion or prejudice.

Verse 47

See 6:91, 10:72, 42:23. The Holy Prophet had nothing to gain in this world by his mission save to guide mankind on the right path. In verse 42:23 God commanded the Holy Prophet “to tell the people that he demands nothing from them as his wages or the return for all that he has done for them as the Apostle of God, save the love of his nearest of kin.” This verse makes the meaning of the demand or the object of it, saying that whatever the Holy Prophet would demand as the return for the discharge of the duties of the apostleship, would be for the people’s own benefit, i.e., if they love his nearest of kin who are the ones purified by God12 they would be quite safe by following their example and would always be on the right path to salvation.13

This asserts that the Holy Prophet had asked a recompense as an exception to the general course followed by his predecessor prophets. But the recompense asked for was only in the people’s interest as explained.14 (A.P.)

Verse 48

What God reveals is, Islam, the right way for the salvation of mankind.

Verse 49

The Eighth Holy Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha says that when the Holy Prophet entered Mecca after his victory and visited the Holy Ka’ba, there were 360 idols in it. To every idol he pointed out with his staff repeating this verse, and the idols, one after another, fell headlong to the ground.

Verse 50

‘Heaven and the Nearest’, i.e., God knows the truth, for he hears everything uttered low or aloud for He is the Nearest, Nearer to man than his own self. Hence, He knows everything.

This is in reply to verse 34:43. This does not mean that the Holy Prophet ever erred because Qur’an expressively says in the following verse,

‘Your Companion never erred and never did he, nor did he ever utter anything but what was revealed to him’ (53:2).

I.e., he is of the infallible nature and in several other places Qur’an asserts that the Holy Prophet, in no circumstances follows, did not, does not, but the divine revelation - for further clarification refer to note on verse 93:7. The whole significance of this statement is to assert that had there not been the divine guidance he would have been subject to error.15 And to this effect Hazrat Ali says, ‘Since his birth the Holy Prophet was under the divine guidance through the greatest angelical entity.’ (A.P.).

Verse 51

‘From or near place,’ (34:51).

I.e., at the time of death, or the occasion of the Battle of Badr.

Verse 52

‘Distant place’, for they would have been removed by death far away from this world. The place or the opportunity to believe in the truth is this world, this life and in the hereafter or on the Day of Judgment any repentant believing, would be of no avail at all to anyone.

Verse 53

The people disbelieved in the Holy Prophet and rejecting his message imagined to be safe in the hereafter as they were here. What they conjectured was about something unseen and such unseen things or places are termed as distant ones. It is said that what they say, are things very distant for them which they could never know.

Verses 51 - 53

Reference is to the state when the guilty are sentenced and their punishment gets nearest to them in that state of facing their punishment, they will be far away from the state of the life in which, faith would have been of no avail to them. And when they were in the state when they could have believed, they disbelieved and they considered the unseen world as something far beyond imagination. (A.P.).

Verse 54

The disbelievers will meet disappointment for they would never achieve their desires or realise their conjectures.

- 1. Think without prejudice, without preconceived notions.

- 2. Refer to note on verses 42:23, 6:91 & 10:72.

- 3. Even the love of the Holy Prophet’s relatives under verse 42:23 is for the people themselves.

- 4. Refer to note on verse 17:81.

- 5. Delusions.

- 6. Due to.

- 7. Refer to verses 34:53, 26:3 & 93:7.

- 8. Refers to Badr.

- 9. Refer to verse 34:51.

- 10. Refer to verse 34:51.

- 11. Refer to verses 21:102, 41:31 & 43:71.

- 12. See verse 33:33.

- 13. See note on verse 42:23.

- 14. See verses 38:86-87.

- 15. Refer to note on verse 26:3.

Al-Fatir (Al-Faatir) - The Originator

(Revealed at Mecca)

45 Verses in 5 Sections

Sections of Al-Fatir (Al-Faatir) - The Originator

1. Humanity exhorted to hold Satan as its enemy.

2. The triumph of Truth prophesied.

3. Every people on earth had a Warner.

4. The Inheritors of the Qur’an.

5. Never can anyone see God’s plan ever getting altered or changed.

Important Topics

1. The Apostles preceding the Holy Prophet were also belied. (Verse 4).

2. Man warned not to be deluded by the provisions of this world. (Verse 5).

3. The process of creation, man undergoes his birth and his end. (Verse 6).

4. The sun and the moon made subservient to follow a fixed course in their movements. (Verse 13).

5. On the Day of the Final Judgment, no bearer of sins shall bear the burden of the other’s sins. (Verse 18).

6. The blind and seeing, nor the darkness and the light nor the shade and the heat, nor the living and the dead, could be equal. (Verses 19-22).

7. There is no nation or community in the world but a Warner or guide from the Lord had been sent unto them. (Verse 25).

8. The Book had been given as an inheritance to the Chosen ones of God and the three kinds of the people (Compare this to the Hadith al-Thaqalayn): “I leave behind me Two Weighty (Important) things, the Book of God (the Qur’an) and my Itrah my Ahl al-Bayt; Should ye be attached to these Two never, never will ye get astray; Never will they be separated from each other until they meet me at the Cistern (Kawthar).” (Verse 32).

9. None can alter the course of the Lord. (Verse 43).

10. Men asked to travel in the earth and see the fate of their predecessors who were stronger in strength and power. (Verse 44).

11. If God had to seize every guilty one, there will not be left even a single moving creature on earth. (Verse 45).

Al-Fatir Section 1 - Humanity Exhorted To Hold Satan As Its Enemy

- God alone, the Creator, the Deputor of Angels

- Who adds to His creation whatsoever He pleaseth

- None can ever go against the Will of God

- The disbelievers warned against severe punishment and the believers given the glad tidings of the Great Reward awaiting them

Al-Fatir Verses 1 - 7

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ جَاعِلِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ رُسُلًا أُو۟لِىٓ أَجْنِحَةٍ مَّثْنَىٰ وَثُلَـٰثَ وَرُبَـٰعَ يَزِيدُ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ مَا يَشَآءُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

(All) praise is God’s, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker of the angels, messengers flying on wings, two, and three, and four: 1 He addeth to His creation whatever He willeth; Verily God, over all things hath power. (35:1)

مَّا يَفْتَحِ ٱللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ مِن رَّحْمَةٍ فَلَا مُمْسِكَ لَهَا وَمَا يُمْسِكْ فَلَا مُرْسِلَ لَهُۥ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

Whatever God layeth open of His mercy unto the people, there is none to hold it back, and whatever He holdeth back there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the All- Mighty, the All-Wise. (35:2)

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ هَلْ مِنْ خَـٰلِقٍ غَيْرُ ٱللَّهِ يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ

O’ ye people! Remember ye God’s bounty on you; Is there any creator other than God who provideth you with your sustenance from the heaven and the earth? There is no god but He; Whence then are ye turned away (from the truth)? (35:3)

وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كُذِّبَتْ رُسُلٌ مِّن قَبْلِكَ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ ٱلْأُمُورُ

And if they belie thee (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) indeed have been belied apostles before thee; and unto God (alone) are returned all affairs! (35:4) 2

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْغَرُورُ

O’ ye people! verily the promise of God is true, so let not the life of this world beguile you; and let not the Arch-Beguiler (Satan) beguile you about God! (35:5) 3

إِنَّ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَٱتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا إِنَّمَا يَدْعُوا۟ حِزْبَهُۥ لِيَكُونُوا۟ مِنْ أَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ

Verily Satan is your enemy, so ye (too) take him (as your) enemy; He 4 only inviteth his party that they may be the fellows of the flaming fire. (35:6)

ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ

Those who disbelieve, for them shall be a severe chastisement; And as for those who believe and do good, for them shall be forgiveness and a great recompense. (35:7)

Commentary

Verse 1

All praise is God’s and gratitude due only to Him.5

To know God the Creator or the Originator of the Primeval cause which started the genetic process of the creation of the Universe and its ever-progressive functioning in the innumerable forms and in infinite ways which is beyond the power of reasoning by the finite endowment of the faculties of the human intellect. The matter of the origin of life and the causative factor of the spiritual forces, is unquestionably beyond the ken of any experimental experience to help man to comprehend the primal cause. The more one attempts to probe through these complexities, furthermore he gets perplexed and confused and ultimately the highest perfection any human mind could achieve is to express its inability or helplessness to go further. For God, the creation of anything is only a matter of His will. As He wills anything to originate, it comes to exist.6

Angels are non-material abstract beings through whom the will or the orders or the decrees of God are executed. Angels can take any shape or form excepting the forms of base animals. The Messenger Angel Gabriel took the form of a perfect man when he appeared to the Virgin Mary to give her the glad tidings of Jesus to be born of her.7 They are messengers or the executive implemental agencies of God’s will.8

The creative process in the Universe has never stopped at any time. It is ever in progress along with the continued bestowal of God’s grace and mercy upon His creation.

(a) Refer to note on angels - In support of the fact that the word ‘Malak’ is derived from ‘Malaka’ to possess, and not from ‘Alak’ conveying the message - conveying the message is a function of the ‘Malak’ and not the ‘Malak’ itself.

(b) Refers to the multi-functional aspects of the angelic entities or powers and this is subject to

increase as per God’s will. This supports the theory of the ever-progressive growth and the development of the Universe. (A.P.).

Verse 2

God’s will is always done. No power can ever stop or withhold any decrees of His, be that to grant any gift or to chastise any individual or people.

Verse 3

The Primal Cause of the whole creation, is none else but God. By the question ‘whether man finds any other creator besides the Only God’ man is exhorted to turn only to God and not to get involved in the false fancies about imaginary deities.

Sustenance is necessary for the soul as for the body - The sustenance from heaven is God’s guidance which is necessary for the health as well as the progress of the soul, and the provision from the earth is the terrestrial food for the material body. Thus, it is God and God alone Who provides everyone with sustenance both spiritual as well as physical.

The truth that there is no God but the Only One, is so manifest that it is surely a matter of wonder how any one with common sense fails to know this Truth.

Verse 4

No apostle of God was ever honoured in this world. Every one of the apostles had suffered rejection, ridicule and persecution at the hands of the people, but none of the apostles was discouraged for they were sure that the ultimate return of every one and all matters, is only to God and to none else.

Verse 5

Man is exhorted to remember that from God, he has come, and unto Him alone, is his return to render account of the life he spent in this world. One should remember that life does not end in this world, but there is the future for it, in which God promises man, mercy, i.e., the reward or the punishment he entitles himself to, by his goodness or badness in this life. Both the promises of God are certain to be fulfilled.

Let not man be deluded by the deceptive instigation of the Satanic thoughts of committing sins, depending upon God’s mercy or depending upon any durability of life, delaying repentance and amending the wrong ways until the end which might come suddenly without any respite to repent seeking God’s pardon.9 Through the seductive temptations of the vanities of this world, man is made to forget the hereafter or that Satan might turn man spiritually blind, to be gradually deluded by stages towards evil thoughts and evil life. Hence man is exhorted to be always on his guard, by shunning evil, seeking the pardon of the Lord and effecting amendments immediately as and when necessary.

Verse 6

Satan is evil personified, hence every evil should be treated as our enemy. The snare of Satan is very vast and ever spread. He wants man to share his damnation. Hence man should always shun evil.

Verse 7

To reject the belief in God is to reject everything good which He has created. Those who are not true or correct in their faith and righteous in their living, shall have the consequent evil return for it and those who are true and correct in their faith and are faithful in its practice, shall have God’s grace and a great reward.

- 1. A figurative expression to the graded flights.

- 2. Refer to verse 35:25.

- 3. Refer to verse 31:33.

- 4. Satan.

- 5. Refer to note on verse 34:1.

- 6. See verses 2:117, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82.

- 7. See verses 19:17, 3:41-46.

- 8. For the Messenger Spirit, see verses 26:193, 79:1-5.

- 9. See verse 31:33.

Al-Fatir Section 2 - The Triumph Of Truth Prophesied

- The dead shall be resurrected

- The plan of the disbelievers against the Truth shall be in vain

- The Triumph of Truth prophesied

Al-Fatir Verses 8 - 14

أَفَمَن زُيِّنَ لَهُۥ سُوٓءُ عَمَلِهِۦ فَرَءَاهُ حَسَنًا فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَآءُ وَيَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَٰتٍ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ

What! Is he then whose evil deed is made alluring that he beholdeth it good (equal to the one guided aright)! (Nay! by no means!), for verily God leaveth to stray whomsoever He willeth and guideth He whomsoever He willeth, so let not thy self go (in vain) in grief 1 for them; Verily God knoweth all that they do. (35:8)

وَٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَرْسَلَ ٱلرِّيَـٰحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَابًا فَسُقْنَـٰهُ إِلَىٰ بَلَدٍ مَّيِّتٍ فَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ ٱلْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا كَذَٰلِكَ ٱلنُّشُورُ

And God is He Who sendeth the winds and they raise the clouds, then We drive them on to a country (which is) dead, and give We life therewith to the earth after its death; Even so is the (rising of the dead in) Resurrection. (35:9)

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ ٱلْكَلِمُ ٱلطَّيِّبُ وَٱلْعَمَلُ ٱلصَّـٰلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَمْكُرُونَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَكْرُ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُوَ يَبُورُ

Whosoever desireth honour (let him seek it from God, for) God’s (alone) 2 is all honour; Unto Him (only) ascend all good words; and as for those who plot evil deeds, for them shall be a severe chastisement; and their plot, it shall be vain. (35:10) 3

وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُم مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا وَمَا تَحْمِلُ مِنْ أُنثَىٰ وَلَا تَضَعُ إِلَّا بِعِلْمِهِۦ وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ وَلَا يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِۦٓ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

And God created you of dust, then of the life-germ, then He made you pairs (of male and female); and a female beareth not, nor doth she deliver, save with His knowledge; and ageth not the aged, nor finisheth from any one’s life, but it is all in a Book (decree ordained); Verily this, for God, is easy. (35:11) 4

وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْبَحْرَانِ هَـٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ سَآئِغٌ شَرَابُهُۥ وَهَـٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَمِن كُلٍّ تَأْكُلُونَ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُونَ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ فِيهِ مَوَاخِرَ لِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

And nor are the two seas alike, this one (is) sweet, quencheth thirst its sweetness, (and) pleasant to drink, and the other salt, and bitter; and yet from them both, eat ye flesh fresh 5 and take forth ornaments which wear ye; and seest thou the ships cleave through it, that ye may seek of His grace, and that ye may be grateful. (35:12) 6

يُولِجُ ٱلَّيْلَ فِى ٱلنَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ ٱلنَّهَارَ فِى ٱلَّيْلِ وَسَخَّرَ ٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ كُلٌّ يَجْرِى لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لَهُ ٱلْمُلْكُ وَٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ مَا يَمْلِكُونَ مِن قِطْمِيرٍ

Causeth He the night to enter into the day, and the day to enter into the night, and hath made He subservient (unto you) the sun and the moon; each travelleth to an appointed time: This is God your Lord! His is the kingdom; and those whom ye call upon other than Him, own not (even) a straw. (35:13) 7

إِن تَدْعُوهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُوا۟ دُعَآءَكُمْ وَلَوْ سَمِعُوا۟ مَا ٱسْتَجَابُوا۟ لَكُمْ وَيَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ يَكْفُرُونَ بِشِرْكِكُمْ وَلَا يُنَبِّئُكَ مِثْلُ خَبِيرٍ

If ye call on them they shall hear not your call; and even if they hear they shall answer you not; and on the Day of Judgment they will deny your associating them (with God), and none can (ever) inform thee as (the One Who is) the All-Aware. (35:14)

Commentary

Verse 8

Man is exhorted to guard against his own rebellious self and should not allow it to get astray from the right path.

Verse 9

To prove as to how the dead will be resurrected, the example of the dried, unpromising soil is given which to all intents and purposes, seems to be dead and which is once again quickened by rain and made productive.

The same will be the process of the Resurrection. (A.P.).

Verse 10

Those who wish for honour and reward even in this world as in the next should turn only to God Goodness in any degree, is never lost. Every good word and action, is certainly exalted. Every kind of goodness by its nature, rises up to achieve God’s pleasure and grace and similarly every evil is marked for the punishment due to it.8

It is God's plan that is always done and everything else other than that shall miserably fail and perish.

(a) God alone is the only One who can give honour as He pleases.9

(b) Any doctrine, ideas or discourse in conformity with what is depicted in verse 14:24 and good deeds in concord with the good words, increases the momentum of the Ascent. (A.P.).

Some temporal rulers and also the wealthy ones think that the temporary hold, possession and position, is and position, is a real honour granted to them by God but Qur’an asserts the contrary saying that the real honour granted by God, is that which is permanent. Anything temporal is just a trial. (A.P.).

Verse 11

This refers to the lowly origin of the physical existence of man whose body has been created of dust10 and who had his origin from a drop of sperm ejected, the matter which is considered dirty and its ejection considered as an act of shame to be hidden. The dependence of one sex upon the other, in bringing forth an issue proves that the very existence of man is dependant and every individual sex being by itself insufficient for a progressive life on earth. Glory, Power or Authority, Knowledge and Life-real, is God’s alone and all these qualities held by anyone, are mere endowments drawn from His attributes, effected by His grace, to be withdrawn at any time by Him, at His independent will.11 It is God Who grants the length of life or cuts it short. And this is not a difficulty at all for God. It is easy for Him.12

About the hidden things, man could not know things which are known only to God.13

Verses 11 - 13

These verses assert that whatever God has created is not purposeless or futile. (A.P.).

Verse 12

Man has to use his discretionary powers in differentiating good and evil as both can never be of one and the same value and worth. There is an indirect hint or even a taunt for those who profess to be believers and yet love the disbelievers. Under the guidance of this verse none could compare the Holy Ahl al-Bayt who have been purified by God Himself14 to the others who had been polluted by a sinful and corrupt life, and most of those who even after embracing Islam, were not believers in fact, faith had not entered their hearts.15

Verse 13

Compare with verses 13:2, 21:33, 22:61 & 36:38.

Indicates that the act of creation is constant and the continuation has a beginning and an end. (A.P.).

- 1. Worry about.

- 2. God alone gives honour to whomsoever He pleases. Refer to verse 58:8.

- 3. Refer to verse 14:24.

- 4. Refer to verses 6:2, 16:4, 23:12-16.

- 5. Fish.

- 6. Refer to verses 18:60, 25:53 & 55:19.

- 7. Refer to note on verse 35:11. Refer to verses 13:2, 21:33, 22:61 & 36:38

- 8. Refer to verses 99:7-8.

- 9. Refer to verse 58:8.

- 10. See verses 7:12, 16:4, 23:12-16.

- 11. See verses 18:37, 22:5 & 30:20.

- 12. See verses 2:117, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82.

- 13. See verse 31:34.

- 14. See verse 33:33.

- 15. Refer to note on verse 49:14.

Al-Fatir Section 3 - Every People On Earth Had A Warner

- If God wills He will take off any people He pleaseth and bring a new generation oi His Own choice

- None shall bear the burden of another

- Alike cannot be the blind and the seeing, darkness and light, shade and heat or the living and the dead There is no people which had not a Warner, thus every people on earth had a Warner

Al-Fatir Verses 15 - 26

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ أَنتُمُ ٱلْفُقَرَآءُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱللَّهُ هُوَ ٱلْغَنِىُّ ٱلْحَمِيدُ

O’ ye people! ye are the needy unto God; and God (alone) is He Who is the 1 Self-Sufficient, the Most Praised 2 One. (35:15) 3

إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ

If He willeth, He will take you off and bring a new creation. (35:16)

وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ

And nor this is hard for God. (35:17)

وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَىٰ حِمْلِهَا لَا يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰٓ إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَيْبِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَمَن تَزَكَّىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَتَزَكَّىٰ لِنَفْسِهِۦ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمَصِيرُ

And no bearer 4 shall bear the burden of another; and if the heavy laden one should cry for (another bearer to carry) its burden, (even) aught 5 of it shall not be carried, and even if he be near of kin; Thou canst but warn those who 6 fear their Lord unseen and keep up regular prayer; And whosoever purifieth (himself), he only purifieth for his own 7 self; And unto God (alone) is the destination (of all). (35:18)

وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَٱلْبَصِيرُ

And alike are not (both) the blind and the seeing, (35:19) 8

وَلَا ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتُ وَلَا ٱلنُّورُ

Nor the darkness and the light (35:20) 9

وَلَا ٱلظِّلُّ وَلَا ٱلْحَرُورُ

Nor the shade and the heat, (35:21) 10

وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَحْيَآءُ وَلَا ٱلْأَمْوَٰتُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَآءُ وَمَآ أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِى ٱلْقُبُورِ

And neither are alike (both) the living and the dead; Verily God heareth whom He willeth, and thou canst not make those hear who are in the graves. (35:22) 11

إِنْ أَنتَ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ

None else art thou 12 but a Warner. (35:23)

إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ بِٱلْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا خَلَا فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ

Verily We sent thee with truth, as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner: and there is not a people 13 but a warner hath gone among them. (35:24)

وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ وَبِٱلزُّبُرِ وَبِٱلْكِتَـٰبِ ٱلْمُنِيرِ

And if they belie thee, so indeed did belie those before them; their apostles had come unto them with clear proofs, and with scriptures, and with the enlightening Book. (35:25) 14

ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ

Then did I seize those who disbelieved, so how (Severe) was the abhorrence (of Mine)? (35:26) 15

Commentary

Verse 15

Every man or woman undoubtedly depends upon God’s provision even for his or her own sustenance.

This is the permanent tie between the creature and the Creator. (A.P.).

Verse 18

There is no contradiction between this verse and verses 29:12 & 29:13. There, it is asserted that none shall shoulder the burden of the other; his own burden may increase on account of misleading others. Every wrong doer shall be responsible for his own misdeeds and will not be exempted from his misdeeds by putting the responsibility on the other. Some Christian critics misinterpret this clear moral principle as to mean that a sinner cannot bear the sins of others, but a sinless one will bear them, which has no logic whatsoever. A sinless one can intercede and remove the burden and not shoulder the sins. (A.P.).

Verse 19

This is the refutation of the doctrine of the subjective value of good and bad which even now a section of the Indian School of Philosophy maintains. (A.P.).

Verse 23

This indicates that those who are dead, though their connection is severed from this world they are not totally perished. It is a figurative expression to say that those who are alive to the message, are not like those who are totally indifferent to it. (A.P.).

Verse 25

Refer to verses 3:185, 5:48, 10:47, 16:36.

Regarding the previous apostles also having suffered rejection from the people. See verse 35:4 above.

- 1. Arabic Ghani.

- 2. Arabic Hameed.

- 3. Refer to note on verse 25:77.

- 4. Refer to verses 2:48, 2:123, 2:254, 6:165, 17:15, 39:7 & 53:38.

- 5. Any thing.

- 6. Refer to verses 36:11, 50:33 & 67:12.

- 7. In his own interest.

- 8. Refer to note on verse 35:12.

- 9. Refer to note on verses 35:19 & 35:12.

- 10. Refer to note on verses 35:19 & 35:12.

- 11. Refer to note on verse 35:12.

- 12. The Holy Prophet Muhammad.

- 13. This Verse indicates that the great Sages who visited the other parts of the world like India, China etc. could be the Warners to those respective people.

- 14. Refer to verses 3:183, 5:48, 10:47, 16:36, 35:4. See also the verse 35:4.

- 15. Refer to verse 22:44.

Al-Fatir Section 4 - The Inheritors Of The Qur’an

- Servants of God endued with knowledge

- Qur’an inherited by the Chosen Ones of God

- The grievous punishment to the disbelievers and the Great Reward which awaits the believers

Al-Fatir Verses 27 - 37

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ ثَمَرَٰتٍ مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَمِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌۢ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ

Seest thou not that God sendeth down water from the heaven; then We bring forth with it fruits of various colours; and in the mountains are streaks white and red, of various colours, and (others) intensely black? (35:27)

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱلدَّوَآبِّ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ كَذَٰلِكَ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ

And of the people and beasts and cattle are of various colours likewise; verily fear God only those of His servants endued with knowledge: Verily, God is All-Mighty, Oft-Forgiving. (35:28) 1

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ كِتَـٰبَ ٱللَّهِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأَنفَقُوا۟ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً يَرْجُونَ تِجَـٰرَةً لَّن تَبُورَ

Verily, those who recite the Book 2 of God and establish prayer and spend out of what We have provided them with, secretly and openly, hope for a merchandise which will never perish, (35:29)

لِيُوَفِّيَهُمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدَهُم مِّن فَضْلِهِۦٓ إِنَّهُۥ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ

That He may give them back their recompense (in full) and increase of His grace unto them; verily, He is Oft-Forgiving, the Greatest Appreciator (of Good) (35:30) 3

وَٱلَّذِىٓ أَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ هُوَ ٱلْحَقُّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِعِبَادِهِۦ لَخَبِيرٌۢ بَصِيرٌ

And that which We have revealed unto thee of the 4 Book, it is the truth testifying that which hath come before it; verily God, about His servants is All-Aware, All- Seeing. (35:31)

ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِۦ وَمِنْهُم مُّقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌۢ بِٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْكَبِيرُ

Then made We the inheritors 5 of the Book (Qur’an) those whom chose We from among Our servants: and of them is he who causeth himself to suffer a loss, and of them is he who followeth the middle course, and of them is he who is the foremost in goodness by God’s permission: This is that which is the greatest excellence. (35:32) 6

جَنَّـٰتُ عَدْنٍ يَدْخُلُونَهَا يُحَلَّوْنَ فِيهَا مِنْ أَسَاوِرَ مِن ذَهَبٍ وَلُؤْلُؤًا وَلِبَاسُهُمْ فِيهَا حَرِيرٌ

Gardens of eternity they shall enter into, they shall be given to wear therein bracelets of gold and pearls, and their raiment therein be silk. 7 (35:33)

وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا ٱلْحَزَنَ إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ

And they shall say: “All praise is God’s (alone) Who hath taken away from us (all) 8 grief; Verily our Lord is Oft-Forgiving, the Greatest Appreciator (of goodness)” (35:34)

ٱلَّذِىٓ أَحَلَّنَا دَارَ ٱلْمُقَامَةِ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ لَا يَمَسُّنَا فِيهَا نَصَبٌ وَلَا يَمَسُّنَا فِيهَا لُغُوبٌ

“He Who hath alighted 9 us of His grace in an abode to abide (for ever); therein toucheth us not any toil, nor affecteth us therein any fatigue.” (35:35) 10

وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَهُمْ نَارُ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يُقْضَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ فَيَمُوتُوا۟ وَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُم مِّنْ عَذَابِهَا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى كُلَّ كَفُورٍ

And those who disbelieve, for them shall be the fire of Hell, it shall not be decreed that they should die, nor shall be lightened unto them aught of its torment; Thus do We retribute every ungrateful one. (35:36)

وَهُمْ يَصْطَرِخُونَ فِيهَا رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَـٰلِحًا غَيْرَ ٱلَّذِى كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُم مَّا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَن تَذَكَّرَ وَجَآءَكُمُ ٱلنَّذِيرُ فَذُوقُوا۟ فَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِن نَّصِيرٍ

And they shall cry aloud therein for help: “O’ our Lord! Take us out (hence), we will do good deeds other than what we used to do (before).” (It shall be said unto them by the Lord): “Did not We keep you alive long enough for him who reflected to reflect therein? and came unto you the Warner (too); So (now) taste ye (the fruits of your deeds), then for the unjust there (shall be) no helper.” (35:37) 11

Commentary

Verses 27 - 28

Presents the universal grace which produces various effects in various receptacles. (A.P.).

Verse 32

This verse has to be intelligently studied. The opening words say that God has bequeathed the Holy Book, i.e., the Holy Qur’an to His chosen servants. The chosen ones of God could not be any other than those who are guided aright through the correct knowledge of the Word of God. The correct knowledge could be only that which has been inspired by God Himself. Thus, it would mean those who are said in the Holy Qu’ran as “Those gifted with knowledge.”12

Correct knowledge needs a healthy, i.e., a purified mind, as a good picture needs a clean sheet without any inscription on it. Such a perfect cleanliness could be effected only by God. Those cleaned by God Himself are the Holy Ahl al-Bayt13 Thus those meant in this verse, to be the chosen ones of God, are no other than those of the Ahl al-Bayt. It is to be noted that the quality of being chosen by God applies to the whole group so the Holy Qur’an was in the first place left with those, all of whom are the chosen ones, i.e., the Holy Imams from the Ahl al-Bayt.

Who own the Qur’anic address of the ‘Purified Ones’14 and as the Gifted ones with knowledge as said in the other verses mentioned above in this note. This meaning fully corroborates and is clearly illustrated by the well-known declaration of the Holy Prophet which is popularly known as the ‘Hadith-al-Thaqalayn’, i.e., the tradition of the ‘Two Weighty or Vital Things.’ Said the Holy Prophet:

“I leave behind me amongst you Two Vital Things, the Holy Book of God (The Holy Qur’an) and my Progeny i.e., (the Ahl al-Bayt). So long as ye be attached to these Two, never, never shall ye get astray. Never shall these Two be separated from each other until they both meet me at the Cistern (of Kawthar in Paradise).’’

The subsequent wording of this verse says that of those chosen ones of God, all of them would be from the issues of Ali and Fatima who are called the issues of the Holy Prophet as well, there will be the others also. Hence the whole collective group of the issues of the Holy Prophet has been divided into three classifications:

1. Those who would not know the Imam or God’s chosen guide of the age, i.e., this verse as ‘Those who make their souls suffer.’

2. The second Group consists of those who would know the Imam of the age and whose practical life considering their personal qualities of vice and virtue, will be balanced.

3. The third Group will be that of the Imams themselves, i.e., God’s Chosen Guides, who would live a godly life on earth, with the perfect knowledge of the Holy Book, i.e., the Holy Qur’an, themselves practising the Word of God in their day to day practical life and at the same time be guiding humanity and inviting the people towards the Truth and godliness and preaching abstinence from evil.

The above is the interpretation of the Fifth and the Sixth Holy Imams Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir and Jafar ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq respectively (MS., UB., etc.).15 These holy ones have clearly stated that the reference in this verse is to the progeny of Ali and Fatima which is the progeny of the Holy Prophet. Abu Durda says that the Holy Prophet said that the group last mentioned, i.e., Those foremost in goodness would enter Paradise without any demand of their account from the second group, i.e., those who take the middle course would have to render some account and then they will be admitted to Paradise and the third group viz. those who make their souls suffer, will also be admitted to Paradise, but later. (MS., UB.)

(b) Of those chosen lineage:

1. Some are unjust to themselves.

2. Some are adopting the middle course.

3. Some are the Foremost in all that is good by God’s permission.

Thus, it is obvious that the last book of God is inherited in the same lineage, not by all its members but by only those of the last group and they are identified as Ahl al-Bayt in verse 33:33 and those further identified in verse 33:60 and confirmed by verse 56:77-79. (A.P.).

Verse 34

This is an indication to the state of perfect peace of mind and tranquillity that the people in it would enjoy, i.e., there shall be in Paradise, neither any fear any grief of any kind whatsoever for the inmates.

Verse 35

Neither any toil nor any fatigue - Fatigue could be even of rejoicing. The Bliss in Paradise shall be universal, continuous, and perpetual.

Verse 37

Respite for repentance in the present life. No repentance could be of any avail, in the hereafter. Hence one should hasten to repent for his sins and amend his life duly, before death overtakes him.16

- 1. Refer to note on verse 35:27.

- 2. Qur’an.

- 3. Refer to verse 64:17.

- 4. Qur’an.

- 5. Before leaving this world, the Holy Prophet entrusted the Book of God, Qur’an, to the Ahl al-Bayt. Refer to the Hadith al-Thaqalayn - “I leave behind among you the Book of God & my Ahl al-Bayt etc., etc.”

- 6. Refer to note on verses 3:32, 4:54, 6:89 & 56:77-79.

- 7. A figurative expression of the sublime bliss.

- 8. Caused by dirt. Refer to verse 33:33.

- 9. Figurative expression to the heavenly bliss.

- 10. Refer to verse 50:38.

- 11. Refer to note on verses 7:53, 6:27-28 & 23:107.

- 12. See verses 3:6, 3:117, 4:162, 17:7, 29:49.

- 13. See verse 33:33.

- 14. See verse 33:33.

- 15. Minhaj as-Sadiqin, Umdat al-Bayan.

- 16. See verse 63:10-11.

Al-Fatir Section 5 - Never Can Anyone See God’s Plan Ever Getting Altered Or Changed

- The imaginary gods of the Polytheists, own nothing

- None else other than God is there to control the Universe

- The plans of the disbelievers shall work against the planners themselves

- The respite given to the sinners, otherwise none will be left on the earth, if immediate punishment had to be given to the guilty

Al-Fatir Verses 38 - 45

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَـٰلِمُ غَيْبِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ

Verily, God (alone) is the Knower of the unseen of the heavens and the earth; Verily He knoweth all that is in the breasts (hearts). (35:38)

هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَـٰٓئِفَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَمَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُۥ وَلَا يَزِيدُ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا مَقْتًا وَلَا يَزِيدُ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ إِلَّا خَسَارًا

He is the One Who made you the successors (of those who preceded you) in the earth; so whosoever disbelieveth against him shall be his disbelief; And the disbelief of the infidels shall increase not with their Lord but (His) wrath, and increaseth not the disbelief of the infidels but loss. (35:39) 1

قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ شُرَكَآءَكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُمْ كِتَـٰبًا فَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَتٍ مِّنْهُ بَلْ إِن يَعِدُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًا إِلَّا غُرُورًا

Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) “See ye not your partners whom ye call upon other than God? Show me what part of the earth they have created, or have they any share in the heavens; or gave We unto them any scripture so that from 2 it they (may give) proof 3 (of their claim) Nay! Promise 4 not the unjust unto one another of them but only to delude. 5 (35:40) 6

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُمْسِكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ أَن تَزُولَا وَلَئِن زَالَتَآ إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُمَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِۦٓ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا

Verily, God holdeth 7 the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught; and if they come to naught none besides Hirn can hold them back; Verily, He is the Most Forbearing, the Oft-Forgiving. (35:41)

وَأَقْسَمُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ لَئِن جَآءَهُمْ نَذِيرٌ لَّيَكُونُنَّ أَهْدَىٰ مِنْ إِحْدَى ٱلْأُمَمِ فَلَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ نَذِيرٌ مَّا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا نُفُورًا

And swore they by God with the strongest oaths that if came unto them a warner, they would certainly be guided aright better than any other people; but when came unto them a warner it increased not in them but their aversion, (35:42) 8

ٱسْتِكْبَارًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَكْرَ ٱلسَّيِّئِ وَلَا يَحِيقُ ٱلْمَكْرُ ٱلسَّيِّئُ إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِۦ فَهَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا سُنَّتَ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ فَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَحْوِيلًا

(In) priding in the earth, and planning evil; and the evil plans {of theirs) shall beset not but the devisers themselves; Then wait they for aught save the course of the people gone before? For never shall thou find any change in the course of God; and never shalt thou find in the course of God any alteration. (35:43)

أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَكَانُوٓا۟ أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُعْجِزَهُۥ مِن شَىْءٍ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَلَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ عَلِيمًا قَدِيرًا

Have they travelled not in the earth and seen how was the end of those before them though they were stronger than them in strength? And God is not such to frustrate Him aught in the heavens or in the earth; Verity He is the All-Knowing, All-Powerful (35:44) 9

وَلَوْ يُؤَاخِذُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلنَّاسَ بِمَا كَسَبُوا۟ مَا تَرَكَ عَلَىٰ ظَهْرِهَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ وَلَـٰكِن يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى فَإِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهُمْ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِعِبَادِهِۦ بَصِيرًۢا

And were God to seize the people (to punish them) for what they wrought, He would leave not on the back of it (the earth) any moving being, 10 but He respiteth them till an appointed term; and when cometh their doom, then verily God, about His servants is All-Seeing. (35:45) 11

Commentary

Verse 38

The attributes of God are not any addition to His All-Perfect Self. Hence knowledge of any thing or action, hidden or manifest, even feelings, motives, and plans, is not to be acquired by God as in the case of any other being. God’s knowledge pervades in and out of everything in the world.

Whatever is of the heavens, in the earth and in between the two aspects, one which may appeal to human senses which may be termed as phenomenon and the other which is hidden from the reach of the human senses. (A.P.).

Verse 41

This is the clear assertion that the dimensional being whether terrestrial or celestial, is nothing existing in itself as a substance. It is a mere phenomenon, the outcome of a cohesive power, unexplainable in dimensional terms. (A.P.).

Verse 43

To all the ancient people who rebelled against the truth and lived beyond the control of faith were dealt with respite - first they were shown mercy and given the respite to correct their belief and amend the ways of their life, then apostles were sent to them to admonish them and exhort them to goodness in thought and deeds and lastly when they did not avail of any of the opportunities of the grace and the mercy shown to them and the guidance made available for them, they were dealt with justice and paid the recompense in the punishment that they themselves earned. It is indirectly asked whether the people would also like to pass through all those stages or they would repent for their past, asking forgiveness for it and be righteous in the future?

Verse 45

It is God’s mercy that the sinners in the world are left to themselves with the respite to amend their deserts otherwise everyone on earth would long have perished if God had dealt every one with His strict justice. That is why the Holy Ahl al-Bayt have taught us to be ever prayerful saying, ‘O Lord! Deal us with thy Mercy and deal Thou not with Thy Justice.’

Respite given by God, does not mean that those given the respite could ever escape the ever vigilant and all-enveloping knowledge of God.

This indicates that hasty decision against the seeming evils in the course of the struggle for existence, is the outcome of the shortsightedness from which God is far above. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to note on verses 2:30 &.6:165.

- 2. From the Book.

- 3. be sure of the authority.

- 4. hold out a promise.

- 5. Deceive.

- 6. Refer to note on verses 52:29-43, 56:63-73 & 68:37-47.

- 7. Upholds.

- 8. Refer to verse 6:157.

- 9. Refer to verses 30:9 & 39:21.

- 10. Any creature.

- 11. Refer to verse 16:61.

Surah Yaseen Yasin - Ya-Sin

(Revealed at Mecca)

83 Verses in 5 Sections

Sections Of Surah Yaseen Yasin - Ya-Sin

1. The Qur’an, the Apostle and the Manifest Guide.

2. Apostles sent before referred to.

3. God’s Bounties as the signs of guidance to mankind.

4. A scene of the Resurrection.

5. The Kingdom of the Universe belongs only to God.

Important Topics

1. The Holy Prophet addressed as Ya-Sin.1 (Verse 1)

2. The barrier caused around the disbelievers.2 (Verse 9)

3. Everything has been encompassed in the ‘Manifest Imam’. (Verse 12)

4. The Believer of Aal-e-Ya-Sin (Habib al-Najjar). (Verse 20)

5. The Re-quickening of the earth after its death, a Sign for men, a guidance towards the possibility or the practicability of the resurrection of the dead. (Verse 33)

6. Everything in the universe has been created in pairs (positive and negative or contrasts or in sexes). (Verse 36)

7. The sun is ordained to march towards a fixed destination. (Verse 38)

8. The moon has been decreed to pass through the mansions, to return to its starting point once again. (Verse 39)

9. The sun and the moon in their movements shall not overtake each other. (Verse 40)

10. A single cry will be sufficient to end life on earth. (Verses 49-53)

11. When the Trumpet is blown, the dead in the graves shall rise rushing to their True Lord. (Verse 51)

12. The state of bliss the inmates of the Garden will be enjoying. (Verses 55-58)

13. The guilty ones shall be sorted and will be questioned if they were not warned against following Satan. (Verses 59-64)

14. The very parts of his body will bear witness against every man as to what he had been doing in this life. (Verses 65-67)

15. Man reminded of his origin from the dirty drop of a sperm, in reply to his doubts about his resurrection. (Verses 77-78)

16. God will resurrect the creation as he raised it for the first time from nothing. (Verse 79)

17. He who created the heavens and the earth from nothing, can surely create them once again if He wills. (Verse 81)

18. Whenever God wills any thing, and He intends to say it ‘Be’ and it comes to exist. (Verse 82)

19. The Kingdom as a whole is in God’s hands and everything returns only to Him. (Verse 83)

Note

This is one of the most important chapters of the Holy Qur’an. It is said, as there is a heart for everything, Ya-Sin is the heart of the Holy Qur’an. The believers to note that the daily recital of this Surah is very effective to invoke the Mercy of the Lord. Refer to the details about the blessings the recital of this Surah brings, given in the ‘Mafatih al-Jinan’ or any other equally authentic collection of Prayers from the Holy Ahl al-Bayt.

- 1. See also the note on it.

- 2. See also the note on it.

Surah Yaseen (Yasin) Section 1 - The Qur’an, The Apostle And The Manifest Guide

- Qur’an, the Word from the All-Wise

- Muhammad the Apostle from God sent to warn mankind

- The knowledge of everything accommodated in the Manifest Guide (Imam)

Surah Yaseen (Yasin) Verses 1 - 12

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

يسٓ

Ya Seen (Y. S.) (36:1) 1

وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ

By Qur’an (The Word of) the All-Wise, (36:2)

إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ

Verily thou (O’ Muhammad!) art of the apostles (sent by Us), (36:3)

عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

On the straight path (36:4)

تَنزِيلَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Sent down of the All-Mighty, the All-Merciful, (36:5)

لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّآ أُنذِرَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَـٰفِلُونَ

So that thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were 2 not warned, and who therefore are heedless (of the truth) (36:6)

لَقَدْ حَقَّ ٱلْقَوْلُ عَلَىٰٓ أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

Indeed the word hath been proved true of most of them, and wherefore they believe not. (36:7) 3

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا فِىٓ أَعْنَـٰقِهِمْ أَغْلَـٰلًا فَهِىَ إِلَى ٱلْأَذْقَانِ فَهُم مُّقْمَحُونَ

Verily, We have put chains in their necks, and these reach up to their chins, and their heads are forced up stiffed. (36:8)

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَـٰهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ

And We have to set before them a barrier and behind them a barrier, and We covered them over, so that they see not. (36:9) 4

وَسَوَآءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

And alike is it unto them if thou warneth them not, for they will not believe. (36:10)

إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَخَشِىَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ بِٱلْغَيْبِ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِمَغْفِرَةٍ وَأَجْرٍ كَرِيمٍ

Verily thou canst warn only him who abideth by the Reminder 5 and feareth the Beneficent (God) unseen; so bear thou unto him the glad tidings of forgiveness and an honourable recompense. 6 (36:11) 7

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُوا۟ وَءَاثَـٰرَهُمْ وَكُلَّ شَىْءٍ أَحْصَيْنَـٰهُ فِىٓ إِمَامٍ مُّبِينٍ

Verily We, (and) We (alone) give life unto the dead, and We write down what they have sent before them and (even) their footprints (which they leave behind them): And everything have We confined (recorded) into a 8 Manifesting Imam (Guide). (36:12) 9

Commentary

Verse 1

Some commentators take ‘Ya’ as the vocative particle, and the letter ‘Sin’ standing as an abbreviation for ‘Insan’, i.e., Man - the term ‘Ya-Sin’ meaning ‘O Man!’ Taking even this interpretation to be correct it would naturally mean the ‘Man-Perfect’ or the ‘Leader of Men’, i.e., the Model-Man sent to guide the human race as a whole, i.e., the Holy Prophet Muhammad, for the context of the events which demanded the revelation of this verse justifies the inference. The pagans had disbelieved in the mission of the Holy Prophet and had said “that the Holy Prophet was not the one sent by God nor was Qur’an the Word of God, it is his own composition.’’

The First Holy Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib says that ‘Yasin’ is one of the names of the Holy Prophet. The Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir says that there are Ten names of the Holy Prophet and according to some other traditions there are Twelve. In the Holy Qur’an the Holy Prophet has been addressed with the names ‘Muhammad’, ‘Ahmed’, ‘Abdullah’, ‘Yasin’ and ‘Noor’, Ta Ha, Muzzammil, Muddassir. The Holy Ahl al-Bayt are popularly called ‘Ale-Yasin’, i.e., the Children of Yasin. Yasin being the name of the Holy Prophet was openly and unanimously acknowledged by all the scholars in the court of Mamun al-Rashid. Thus the meaning of the term may be ‘O’ Muhammad! the Leader or the Chief of the Foremost and the Last ones’, i.e., of the Apostles sent to call the human race as a whole, to God.

Verse 6

The heathens of Mecca had not received any apostle of God for a long time before, i.e., since Abraham no prophet had visited the place.

It does not mean that his mission was exclusively for the particular people. He was sent unto mankind as a whole10 which indicates the universality of his mission. This verse refers only to the people of his immediate audience similar to ‘Wa-andhir ʿashirataka al-aqrabin’ (26:214) who are supposed to be the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael.

(a) Though the lineage between Ishmael and the Holy Prophet’s ancestral chain, maintained the religion of Abraham yet none of them stood as a warner to admonish his people. (A.P.).

Verse 7

When the people obstinately refuse to be guided aright and reject all guidance and the respite given only increases their obstinacy and perversity, the decree for their punishment is naturally pronounced.11

(a) Ref. to the divine decision declared in the Qur’an against Satan and the children of Adam who followed him Refer to verses 7:13-18 and in the other places. This indicates that the majority of the people referred to here, would not believe. (A.P.).

Verse 8

Abu Jahl has vowed that if he saw the Holy Prophet praying, he would drop upon him a big stone. Once when the Holy Prophet was engaged in prayer, Abu Jahl fetched a big stone and when he approached the Holy Prophet and raised up the stone to drop it upon his head, his hand got stuck to his neck and the stone remained on his own head. When one of his partymen saw this, he got up saying that he would kill the Holy Prophet, but when he came near and heard the Holy Qur’an recited, he was filled with awe and returned to his party to report that he found a lion guarding the Holy Prophet and intending to attack the man.

Verse 9

A man from the Banu Makhzum got up with a similar vowful determination to kill the Holy Prophet but when he came near, he was turned blind and could not see the Apostle of God though he was there engaged in prayer. This man also returned to his party with the same report of his finding a lion there intending to attack him. Thus, God had caused some barriers, and they could not see the Holy Prophet.

Figurative reference to the pride of the pagans among the Arabs. Similarly, the barriers referred to in the next verse 36:9 refer to heathen arrogance or adamance which prevented them to submit totally. (A.P.).

Verse 10

The history of the early Muslims, bears the best testimony to the truth in this passage. (A.P.).

Verse 11

See verse 35:18.

(a) Qur’an and the Holy Prophet and 65:10 & 65:11. Book and the tradition meaning whosoever follows the contents of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. Anyone deviating even slightly from the Qur’an and the Sunnah would be classed under majority in verses 36:7 & 36:8. (A.P.).

Verse 12

Every individual, man and woman would be brought to account for his or her deeds, on the Day of Judgment and even the effects of the deeds left behind the people will not be spared from the account.

It is a clear indication that every individual is accountable not only for what he does in his lifetime but also for what he leaves behind as the marks of his personal goodness and evil. The people of the Banu-Salim tribe once told the Holy Prophet that their dwellings were far from the Mosque and if the Holy Prophet permitted them, they would build houses for them near the Mosque. The Holy Prophet said: “Be ye where ye are now, for every step ye take towards the Mosque is also counted in the account of their righteousness.”

Regarding ‘Imam al-Mubin’ - see verses 2:124, 6:59, 34:3. All deeds good and bad are correctly preserved as in a secured record of a documentary evidence.

There is the inner meaning of ‘Imam al-Mubin’ used here. The Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir says that when this verse was revealed, there were Abu Bakr and Umar who asked the Holy Prophet, “O’ Apostle of God! Is the ‘Imam al-Mubin’ the Torah, the scripture given to Moses?” The answer was “No!” Again they asked “Is it the Injil, i.e., the Evangel given to Jesus?” Again, the answer was “No!”. Then they asked “Is it the Holy Qur’an?” Again ‘No’ was the answer and then turning towards Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Holy Prophet said “Verily this is that (‘Imam’, i.e., guide) in whom God has contained the knowledge of everything.” Then addressing the people present there, the Holy Prophet said “O’ group of men! There is no branch of knowledge which God did not bestow on me and I have conveyed that knowledge to Ali - Verily God has contained in me knowledge and I have contained it in Ali.” This statement corroborates the renowned tradition of the Holy Prophet: “I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its Gate.”

(a) Whatever man does and whatever would be the result or the consequence of the deeds, will be recorded. As the Holy Prophet said “He who laid a godly tradition, he mill also be rewarded with the reward of whoever acts according to that tradition, until the Resurrection Day and he who laid an evil tradition, he will bear the consequence of it and also the consequence of those who act according to it, until the Resurrection Day.”

These records of the individuals of their individual deeds and along with the other records dealing with creation or legislation, is counted in detail in the manifesting Imam (leader).

As to who is the manifesting Imam - Qur’an does not give the details of anything or those entities in constant touch with it, i.e., those who were purified by God Himself the Ahl al-Bayt12 headed by the Holy Prophet and Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn - declared at Mubahila - and the Nine Imams following Husain, named and declared by the Holy Prophet. Refer to Kafi and particularly the Lauh-i Fatimi. (A.P.).

- 1. Refer to note on verse 2:1.

- 2. Since Abraham until the Holy Prophet no apostle had visited the place.

- 3. Refer to note on verses 7:13-18, 7:30 & 17:16.

- 4. Refer to note on verse 36:8.

- 5. Qur’an and the Holy Prophet.

- 6. i.e., whoever follows the Book (Qur’an) and the Holy Prophet (Sunnah). Any one deviating even in the least would be classed with the majority - Refer to verses 36:7 & 36:8.

- 7. Refer to note on verses 15:9, 65:10 & 65:11. Refer to verses 35:18, 50:33 & 66:12.

- 8. Said the Holy Prophet - He who died while he recognised not the Imam of his age, certainly died of ignorance (Hadith).

- 9. Refer to verses 2:124, 6:59, 34:3, 78:29 & 17:71.

- 10. Refer to verse 7:158.

- 11. See verses 7:30, 17:16.

- 12. See verse 33:33.

Surah Yaseen (Yasin) Section 2 - Apostles Sent Before, Referred To

- The Missions of Moses and Jesus and how those Apostles were belied, referred to

Surah Yaseen (Yasin) Verses 13 - 32

وَٱضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلًا أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلْقَرْيَةِ إِذْ جَآءَهَا ٱلْمُرْسَلُونَ

And set forth unto them the instance of the people of a town when came unto it (Our) Apostles, (36:13)

إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَآ إِلَيْهِمُ ٱثْنَيْنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّآ إِلَيْكُم مُّرْسَلُونَ

When sent We unto them two (of Our apostles) they belied them both, then We strengthened (the two) with a third (one from Us) and said they (unto the people): “Verily we are unto you the apostles (from God)” (36:14)

قَالُوا۟ مَآ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا وَمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ مِن شَىْءٍ إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا تَكْذِبُونَ

They said: “Ye are not but men like unto us, nor hath sent down the Beneficent (God) any thing, ye only utter a lie.” (36:15)

قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا يَعْلَمُ إِنَّآ إِلَيْكُمْ لَمُرْسَلُونَ

They said: “Our Lord knoweth that we are verily unto you the apostles.” (36:16)

وَمَا عَلَيْنَآ إِلَّا ٱلْبَلَـٰغُ ٱلْمُبِينُ

“And on us is nothing but a clear deliverance (of the message)” (36:17)

قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا تَطَيَّرْنَا بِكُمْ لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهُوا۟ لَنَرْجُمَنَّكُمْ وَلَيَمَسَّنَّكُم مِّنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

Said they: “Verily we augur ill from you, if ye desist not, we will certainly stone you, and there shall afflict you from us a painful torment.” (36:18)

قَالُوا۟ طَـٰٓئِرُكُم مَّعَكُمْ أَئِن ذُكِّرْتُم بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ

They said: “your augury of ill is with yourselves; What! when ye are admonished (deem ye ill of it) 1 Nay! ye are people transgressing (exceedingly)” (36:19)

وَجَآءَ مِنْ أَقْصَا ٱلْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ قَالَ يَـٰقَوْمِ ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ

And came from the 1 farthest part of the city a man running and said: “O’ my people! Follow ye (these) the apostles (of God), (36:20) 2

ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَن لَّا يَسْـَٔلُكُمْ أَجْرًا وَهُم مُّهْتَدُونَ

Follow ye those who ask you not any recompense, and they are guided aright.” (36:21)

وَمَا لِىَ لَآ أَعْبُدُ ٱلَّذِى فَطَرَنِى وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

“And why should not I worship only Him Who brought me into being? and unto Whom ye shall all be returned: (36:22)

ءَأَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ ءَالِهَةً إِن يُرِدْنِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ بِضُرٍّ لَّا تُغْنِ عَنِّى شَفَـٰعَتُهُمْ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يُنقِذُونِ

“What! Shall I take besides Him any gods, if (God) The Beneficent willeth to afflict me with harm, their 3 intercession shall not avail me aught, neither can they 4 deliver 5 me? (36:23)

إِنِّىٓ إِذًا لَّفِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ

“Verily, I in which case shall be in manifest error: (36:24)

إِنِّىٓ ءَامَنتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَٱسْمَعُونِ

“Verily, I believe in your Lord, so hear me!” (36:25)

قِيلَ ٱدْخُلِ ٱلْجَنَّةَ قَالَ يَـٰلَيْتَ قَوْمِى يَعْلَمُونَ

It Was said (unto him): “Enter thou, the 6 garden!” Said he: “Oh! would 7 that my people had known,” (36:26)

بِمَا غَفَرَ لِى رَبِّى وَجَعَلَنِى مِنَ ٱلْمُكْرَمِينَ

“Of that for which my Lord hath forgiven me and hath made me of the honoured ones” (36:27)

وَمَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ مِن جُندٍ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا كُنَّا مُنزِلِينَ

We sent not down upon his people any hosts from heaven, nor were We (in need) to send (any such hosts). (36:28)

إِن كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَٰحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ خَـٰمِدُونَ

It was nothing but one terrible cry, and lo! they were (like ashes) extinct. (36:29)

يَـٰحَسْرَةً عَلَى ٱلْعِبَادِ مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

Alas! the servants (are misled and yet) there cometh not unto them an apostle but they mock at him. (36:30) 8

أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ

What! See they not how many of the generation We did destroy before them? they will return not unto them. (36:31)

وَإِن كُلٌّ لَّمَّا جَمِيعٌ لَّدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ

And assuredly all, gathered together, shall be brought before Us. (36:32)

Commentary

Verse 13

The reference is said to be to the people of the city of Antioch, one of the most important cities in North Syria. It was a Greek city founded by Seleucus Nicator, one of the successors of Alexander about 300 B.C. in memory of his father, Antiochus.

There are stories forwarded as examples. The real application of the passage is to the early conditions. While the Holy Prophet started his mission, from among the people followed only by Ali, the dignitaries of Mecca started ridiculing them. It is said that once Abu Talib accompanied by his elder son Jafar, entered the Holy Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram) while the Holy Prophet and Ali were praying. Jafar asked his father Abu Talib as to what they were doing. Abu Talib replied - Strengthen the other wing of thy Cousin (The Holy Prophet) certainly he will not guide you but to whatever is truth. The first Two referred to here, were the Holy Prophet and Ali, and the Third was Jafar sent by Abu Talib. (A.P.).

Verse 14

Jesus had sent two of his disciples to preach his message. It is said that they were John and Jonah. When they approached the outskirts of the city, they met a shepherd who asked as to who they were. They said that they were the messengers from Jesus the Apostle of God, and had been sent to invite the people to the Islam, the true faith. The shepherd asked if they had any signs to prove their bonafide. They said that they could cure the sick and restore sight to the born-blind and cure the born lepers. The shepherd took them to his son who was hopelessly sick for a long time and whom none could cure. The disciples of Jesus prayed to God and got the cure for the sick son of the shepherd. The shepherd embraced Islam, i.e., the religion of Jesus.

Hearing about the arrival of the disciples of Jesus in the city, the Habib-i-Aale-Ya-Sin, who believed in the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, even from before 680 years earlier to the event, came out of his hermitage and embraced Islam, and a great number of the sick in the city were cured by the disciples of Jesus. The king who was a staunch idolater, imprisoned these messengers from Jesus. Jesus hearing about the fate of his messengers, sent another disciple Simon who came to the place and pretended to belong to the king’s faith, (i.e., adopted Taqiyya) and gained influence over the king. For a reference to the Christian effort in Antioch (Antakya) see Acts 11/26.

Thus, the first despatch of the two messengers was further strengthened by the third one from Jesus. This incident refers to the First Two, i.e., the Holy Prophet and Ali and later Jafar joining them at the instance of Abu Taleb, while the Holy Prophet and Ali were once praying in the Ka’ba. The conduct of Simon indicates the validity of ‘Taqiyya’ and its proper use.

Verse 15

When Simon had gained sufficient influence over the king, he one day asked the king to get the two persons to be questioned about their faith. When the two messengers appeared, they saw Simon but did not give vent to their recognition. Simon asked them as to who they were and the purpose of their visit to the place. They said that they were the messengers of Jesus the Apostle of God, sent to invite the king to give up idolatry and embrace the faith in the Only True God and on being asked, they said that they can cure the sick and even the born lepers and get the sight restored to the blind. When the king himself saw these men doing what they claimed to be able to do, Simon told the king as to why the king and himself should not ask the idol gods to show the same kinds of miracles. The king laughed and replied “Simon! do thou expect those things from the idols which neither speak nor hear?” “Then” said Simon, “Why not we join these two men in worshipping the God Who has such Omnipotent powers.” The king agreed and embraced Islam, but the people rejected the truth and said that the Two messengers were only men who were mortals like themselves and called the disciples of Jesus as liars.

Verse 16

The best proof of the genuineness of their claim as the apostles of God and their having been sent by none else but God was that whenever the people disbelieved their position as the heavenly teachers and rejected the message they preached, the apostles always invoked the authority and the mercy of God and faithfully and patiently suffered the worst of persecution and tortures and never yielded to any authority other than God’s. Their conviction about God’s knowledge was so firm and unshakable that in the events of the difficulties they met and the people disbelieving and rejecting them, they were perfectly satisfied for they knew that God was seeing them executing His Command and knew everything of their experiences.

Verse 17

‘Tayr’ means a bird. Like the Romans, the Arabs also derived Omens from birds - For the Egyptians imagining that their ill-luck was due to Moses. See verse 7:131 and Thamud’s thinking their ill-luck being due to the preachings of Salih.9 The people warned the messengers from Jesus that if they did not desist, they would be stoned and inflicted with a painful chastisement.

Verse 19

The messengers replied that the calamity which would overtake the people, would be the earning of their rebellious conduct.

Verse 20

When the people of the city disbelieved and rejected the Message from Jesus, a man from the outskirts of the city, i.e., Habib al-Najjar (Habib the Carpenter) who is a popularly known as the ‘Mu’min-e-Aal-e-Ya-Sin’ (The believers in the children of Ya-Sin, i.e., Muhammad) came running and exhorted his people to believe in the message of the selfless one, (i.e., the messengers jointly or Jesus from whom the message had come). For Mu’min-Aale-Fir’awn refer to note on verse 40:28.

The Roman name of the man is Theophilus - i.e., Habibullah - His case has a similarity with the case of the first man who came from Medina to ask for help from the Quraysh against the dispute between the two tribes of Khan, and Khasrey. In the meanwhile, he learnt about the Holy Prophet preaching Islam, and embraced Islam and through him Islam spread in Medina. However there is a tradition that the Holy Prophet said that there are three persons who responded to the call of three prophets without any hesitation and they never bowed to any one besides God even for the twinkling of the eye - viz. Ali ibn Abi Talib - Sahibe Yaseen - (Habib al-Najjar) and the Mu’min Aale Fir’awn - These were termed the ‘Siddiqs’, i.e., of the Most Truthful ones of them Ali is the topmost.10 (A.P.)

Verse 21

For no reward was demanded in return for their Services.

The one who deserves to be followed, i.e., the person who does not expect any reward or return from you - secondly, he himself should be well guided and not taking guidance from others for himself.11 (A.P.).

When Ubaydah ibn Harith fell at the battle of Badr, the Holy Prophet came to him while he was still alive. Ubaydah smiled and said - ‘I wished Abu Talib had been alive to see that I am the first one of his house who lays down his life for the sake of the divine cause’. (A.P.).

Verse 22

What is said in this verse is what the individual had been personally convinced, with which he wants to appeal to his people to follow his conviction. He argues for himself saying, as to how it could be possible for him not to serve or adore his real Maker, to whom alone is their ultimate return.

Verse 23

This is the continuation of the previous verse. Another argument is advanced here, against worship in the false gods. Since God alone is the Omnipotent Whose will to punish anyone shall always be worship in the false gods. Since God alone is the Omnipotent Whose will to punish anyone shall always be done and none of the false deities could ever resist it nor could they even intercede for the victim, why should one acknowledge the godhead of any such being.

Verse 24

If what is said in the previous verse is acted upon by anyone, the individual would indeed manifest error.

Verse 25

This refers to the assured personal conviction of the man (the Mu’min-e-Ale-Ya-Sin) about God, which he wants to convey to his people and exhort them to embrace it and get themselves guided aright. While the godly man, preached the truth to the people and exhorted them to embrace it, the people stoned him and killed him and buried him in the marketplace of Antioch (Antakya).

Verse 26

The soul of the godly man was asked by the angels to enter Paradise on which occasion in the bliss granted to him, the liberated soul remembers his people saying: ‘Had the people known what a blissful life is granted to the believers in the truth and the righteous ones, they also would have enjoyed the bounties of God and as he has received’.

Verse 27

This verse is the continuation of the previous one meaning had the people known the worth of the faith in the Only True God and righteousness in life on account of which qualities he has been made honourable in the life after death.

Verse 28

The enforcement of the justice of the Almighty God, needs not the pomp, show and the circumstance which the ordinary powers and the authorities of earthly beings, manifest to create awe in the minds of the fellow beings to establish or to increase the regard for their strength and glory, nor does God need any of the forces of human wickedness or any manifest use of the mighty and the unconquerable spiritual forces to punish them or to even wipe them out of existence. Hence no hosts from heaven were sent to punish the people of Antioch for their conduct against the messengers from Jesus and their killing the Believer of Aale-Ya-Sin, i.e., Habib al-Najjar.

Verse 29

A single blast either through the rumbling of an earthquake or a violent stormy wind with a thunder was sufficient as it was in the case of the people of Thamud.12 A blast was quite sufficient to effect a complete perdition to the people and they were like ashes, quenched and silent.

This verse speaks of hosts not being sent in the case of the event of Antioch, with nothing to speak about what was effected at Badr, Ahzab and elsewhere.

Ref. to the sudden disastrous calamity which befell the people who killed Theophilus - (Habib al-Najjar). (A.P.)

Verse 30

See verses 6:10, 21:40. The ignorant masses of the human race have always been mocking at any one and everyone who professed religion seriously and advocated its cause to the others of his race. Particularly the religious leaders and more particularly the apostles of God had suffered heartless persecution and torturous death.13 The people never reflected upon, how countless generations before them, were destroyed for rejecting the Truth. Such people never realised that levity surely and unfailingly reacts on themselves and invites their own degradation, suffering and destruction even in this life, besides what is in store for them in the hereafter.

Verse 31

Those punished by God in this life for their wickedness, would not be returned to this world and some commentators say that the people were punished even for their not honouring those apostles of God whom they ridiculed and rejected.

Verse 32

Certainly, every one of them shall be brought together before God as commanded. (A.P.).

- 1. Also for Mu’min Aal-e-Fir’aun – Refer to note on verse 40:28 - as was Abu Talib, father of Ali who hid his faith and protected the Holy Prophet - and Ali was the first to believe when none believed.

- 2. Refer to note on verse 40:28.

- 3. the false gods & the deities.

- 4. the false gods & the deities.

- 5. Save – relieve.

- 6. Paradise.

- 7. Remembering others in the bliss.

- 8. Refer to verse 67:9.

- 9. See verse 27:47.

- 10. Refer to Fiqh. Tafsir Tha’labi.

- 11. Refer to verse 10:35.

- 12. See verses 11:67, 21:15, 29:40.

- 13. See verses 6:10, 21:40.

Topic Tags:

- Qur'anic Exegesis (Tafsir) [8]

- Surat al-Ahzab [9]

- Surah Saba (34) [10]

- Surah Fatir (35) [11]

- Sura Yasin [12]

Author(s):

- Mirza Mahdi Pooya [2]

- S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali [3]

Publisher(s):

- Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an [4]

Source URL: https://al-islam.org/holy-quran-final-testament-juz-22-mirza-mahdi-pooya-sv-mir-ahmad-ali

Links
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[3] https://al-islam.org/person/sv-mir-ahmad-ali
[4] https://al-islam.org/organization/tahrike-tarsile-quran
[5] https://al-islam.org/printpdf/book/export/html/213158
[6] https://al-islam.org/printepub/book/export/html/213158
[7] https://al-islam.org/printmobi/book/export/html/213158
[8] https://al-islam.org/tags/tafsir
[9] https://al-islam.org/tags/al-ahzaab
[10] https://al-islam.org/tags/surah-saba-34
[11] https://al-islam.org/tags/surah-fatir-35
[12] https://al-islam.org/tags/sura-yasin