Surah No. 36
Surah No. 36
Merits of the Surah
1. Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir present several reports related to the importance of this chapter. One of them is in Abu Ya`la as well as in Hafiz Musali’s collection, with a good chain.
It says: “Whoever recited Ya Sin in a night will be forgiven (of his sins); and whoever recited Ha Mim in which the smoke (Dukhkhan) is mentioned, will be forgiven.”
Ibn Hibban has another report in his Sahih collection coming through Jundab b. `Abdullah. It says, “Whoever recited Ya Sin in a night seeking Allah’s countenance will be forgiven.”
Yet another report figures in Ahmad, Abu Da’ud, Nasa’i and Ibn Majah. It comes through Ma`qal b. Yasar: “Recite it (i.e., Ya Sin) over those of you dying.”
[Although the report of Ma`qal b.
Yasar did not receive full approval from Haythami, we have reproduced it on the strength of what follows:
Au.].
Some scholars have said that one of the specialties of this Surah is that it will not be recited at difficult times but will ease up the difficulty; and that its recitation at death-beds is a source of comfort and mercy for the dying. It will help release the soul painlessly. Imām Ahmad has recorded Safwan as saying, “People of our older generation used to say that reciting Ya Sin near a man in his last throes helps reduce suffering.” (Haythami pointed out that to him one or more narrators of this report are unknown: Au.).
Qurtubi has many other reports on the importance and benefits of recitation of this Surah, both for the dying, as well as for oneself, and, in addition, recitation in the burial grounds, but about which he does not mention the status, and hence we leave them out (Au.).
Mufti Shafi` has a personal note:
“Today, as I begin to write the commentary on Surah Ya Sin, it is 9th of Safar (1355 A.H.), the day my father, Muhammad Ya Sin, died. The correspondence urges me to ask the readers of these lines to pray for his forgiveness.”
يس (1)
(36:1) Ya Sin2
2. Considering them as “huruf almuqatta` at,” Imām Razi presents a long discussion over these letters asserting that they cannot be without wisdom, even if difficult to unravel.
It may be noted for instance, that Arabic is composed of twenty-eight letters.
The Qur’ān used the “huruf almuqatta` at” in half of them: fourteen.
It is apparent that the letters seem to have been divided as 9+10+9 (=28),
that is nine from “alif ” to “dhal,” ten from “ra” to “ghayn,” and nine from “fa” to “ya.” Allah chose from the first nine only two letters (“alif ” and “ha”), and left out from the last nine only two letters (“fa” and “waw”) – using the rest of the seven. Then, out of the guttural letters Allah used all, except one, which happens to be “kha.” On the other hand, out of all the words pronounced with the lips, He did not use any but one, which is “mim.” As for the rest of them in the middle, that is ten of them, He used the letters alternatively, so that He used “ra” but dropped “za”; He used “sin” but dropped “shin”; used “sad”, but dropped “dad”; used “ta,” but dropped “za” used “`ayn,” but left off “ghayn.” This arrangement could not have been accidental.
Again, these “huruf al-muqatta`at”
have been – in their usage – composed of one letter (such as “nun, qaf, sad”); some others of two letters (such as “ha-mim, ya-sin, ta-sin, taha”); yet some are composed of three letters (such as “alif-lam-mim, ta-sinmim, alif-lam-ra”); some others of four letters (such as “alif-lam-mimra”
and “alif-lam-mim-sad’); and some that are composed of five letters (such as “ha-mim-`ayn-sin-qaf”
and “kaf-ha-ya-`ayn-sad”).
At all events, writes Ibn Jarir, Ibn `Abbas and `Ikrimah believed that this (i.e., Ya Sin) is in its origin an Abyssinian word meaning, “O man.” [Qurtubi, and following him, Shawkani, add: Others have thought, however, that the word is from the dialect of the Tayy tribe while Hasan thought its origin is in the dialect of Kalb].
(The same is reported of Dahhak, Sufyan b. `Uyaynah, Hasan and Sa`id b. Jubayr: Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir). “If we admit that ‘Ya’ is the evocative particle, and that ‘sin’ is for ‘insan’ (Man) then, the allusion by ‘Man’ could be to the noblest of men, Muhammad”
(Yusuf Ali in substance).
However, a second reported opinion of Ibn `Abbas is that it is one of the Names of Allah (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).
Mujahid on the other hand believed that it is simply a word which Allah chose to open the Surah (Ibn Jarir).
A third opinion of Ibn `Abbas as reported in Ibn Marduwayh – and of Ibn Mas`ud too – is that it means:
“O Muhammad.” Sa`id b. Jubayr also held this opinion, and has its strength in the third verse which says, “Indeed, you are one of the Messengers” (Qurtubi, Shawkani).
In fact, there are two reports that say that the Prophet was known by several names, one of them being Ya Sin (Qurtubi).
وَالْقُرْآنِ الْحَكِيمِ (2)
(36:2) And by the Wise3 Qur’an.
3. Qurtubi thinks that the word “hakim” here is in the sense of “muhkam” meaning, ‘that which accepts neither addition nor deletion,’ as Allah said elsewhere about it (11: 1),
“(A book) whose verses have been set clear,” which in turn has been explained by Zamakhshari and Razi as meaning, “well-established,” or “well-founded,” that is, free of defect; like a well-built structure that does not require further modification.
Taking it in the literal sense, Sayyid Qutb discusses the implications. He writes: “Allah describes the Qur’ān as a wise scripture. Wisdom however is the quality of an intelligent being, and such a description bestows on it the qualities of life, will, and volition. This however is in the figurative sense. Notwithstanding this, the illustration is very close to a fact. For, this Qur’ān has a spirit of its own and carries in its aura the qualities of one endowed with life. It shows concern for you as you show concern for it, and pay attention to it. It gives access to its deep-lying secrets as you open your heart, mind, and the soul for it. You begin (to recognize) its features and, so to say its mien, if you covet it - just as you covet to know the features and characteristics of a friend. The Prophet loved to hear the Qur’ān from others. He would stop at a door, listening to the recitation emerging from within, just as someone stops to listen to his beloved being described.”
إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ (3)
(36:3) You are indeed of the sent ones.4
4. This is the case of the ‘reverse placement’ of argument. The claim follows the evidence. If reversed, the two verses would read like this: “Ya Sin. You, O Muhammad, are of the sent ones. The proof is in the Wise Qur’ān; a perfect Script, beyond human composition” (Au.).
عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ (4)
(36:4) On a path straight.5
5. “This is to describe the nature of the Message after the nature of the Messenger has been described.
And the nature of this Message is its straightforwardness, clarity and unambiguousness. It is as straight as an arrow, without any twist, bend, or bias. Truth is portrayed in clear terms, without any ambiguity or ambivalence. Whoever looked for it, with sincerity, found it, straightaway, without much research. It does not beat about the bush, does not make complicated statements, does not erect barriers, but rather speaks out its intent loudly, in the simplest of terms, shred of every obscurity, bereft of every sidetracking, and in need of no further explanation. A villager and a townsman, a lettered and an unlettered, a man in the hut or one in a bungalow – all of them gain entry into its plainly laid down meanings and implications touching upon life and its surroundings.
“In its straightness it matches with the plainness of the physical world, its laws, and systems. Its straightness is in conjugation with the things and life around man. It does not collide with realities, nor does it ask man to collide with them. Its straightness is in perfect harmony with the world and its governing laws patterned after similar straightness.
“It is also straight in the sense of leading one who takes its path, straight to Allah, leading up through an undeviating direct route. Its follower need not ever fear not reaching his destination or goal: Allah, because of the twists and turns on the way. He treads a path that leads directly to attaining the approval of his Creator.
The Qur’ān is the guide to this straight path. Whenever a man decides to go along with the Qur’ān, he will discover that the truth that has been unfolded in it – in all its details, in all its commandments and in the portrayal of the values that it stands for, has been done candidly and explicitly“ (Sayyid).
تَنْزِيلَ الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ (5)
(36:5) A sending down by the All-powerful, All-wise6.
6. “The Al-mighty, the All-compassionate”:
The first attribute is meant to convey the fact that the message sent is not the counsel of a powerless admonisher, whose persuasions could be accepted or ignored without any fear of retribution (Mawdudi). And the second is meant to convey the message that if, despite rejection, retribution does not immediately follow, it is because His mercy demands that sufficient respite be allowed (Au.).
لِتُنْذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنْذِرَ آبَاؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ (6)
(36:6) That you may warn a people whose forefathers were not warned;7 who, therefore, are heedless.
7. That is, those whose immediate forefathers had not been warned, otherwise, several centuries back there had been among them Isma`il, Shu`ayb and others (Au.).
لَقَدْ حَقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَىٰ أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ (7)
(36:7) (Although) The Word has (already) proved true concerning most of them.8 So they will not believe.
8. What “word” is it that came true? Alusi refers to Iblis saying (38: 82),
“I shall surely misguide them all,”
and Allah replying (7: 18),
“I shall surely fill Jahannum with you altogether.”
Shabbir has a thorough discussion to demonstrate – once and for all - that Allah’s decision (“word”) about the people is preceded by the people choosing a path for themselves. That is, their present state of heedlessness is not because of Allah’s word coming true, but rather, because of the choices they made in the past. Allah said (43: 36),
“Whoever is blind to the remembrance of the Most Merciful – We appoint for him a Devil, who is to him a companion.”
And (61: 5),
“But when they deviated, Allah deviated their hearts.”
And (6: 110),
“And We turn away their hearts and eyes because they did not believe in it in the first instance and leave them in their insolence stumbling blindly.”
And (46: 17, 18),
“While he who said to his parents, ‘Oof unto you. Do you promise me that I will be brought out, although generations have passed before me?’ They (the parents) call to Allah for help (saying), ‘Woe unto you. Come to believe. Surely, Allah’s promise is true.’ But he replies, ‘This is nothing but tales of the ancients.’ It is these against whom the word has come true.”
And (7: 101),
“Those are (some of those) towns of which We narrate you their tidings.
Messengers went to them with clear signs. But they were not such as to believe in what they had rejected earlier. That is how Allah seals the hearts of the unbelieving folks.”
And (10: 74),
“Then We sent after him Messengers.
They brought them clear signs. But they were not such as to believe in what they had denied earlier. That is how Allah seals the hearts of a transgressing folk.”
And (83: 14),
“But rather, what they had been earning rusted their hearts.”
And (45: 23),
“Have you seen him who has taken his base desires as his deity? Allah has misled him despite his knowledge.
He has set a seal on his ear, and has placed a covering on his sight. So who can guide him after Allah?”
And (5: 41),
“They pervert the words from their meaning saying, ‘If you are given this (kind of judgment), accept it, but if you are not given it, then watch out.’ And whomsoever Allah desires to try, you cannot avail anything for him against Allah.
These are a people whom Allah did not desire to cleanse their hearts (because of their continued transgressions).
For them is disgrace in this life.”
It should be apparent, continues Shabbir, that the deafening of the ears, blinding of the eyes, closing of the minds, and sealing of the hearts are choices made by those who are bent on denying the truth no matter what kind of proofs, evidences and signs come before them. It is in consequence of their firm decision against the truth that Allah’s word of punishment comes true.
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمْ أَغْلَالًا فَهِيَ إِلَى الْأَذْقَانِ فَهُمْ مُقْمَحُونَ (8)
(36:8) We have indeed placed around their necks shackles, that reach up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up.9
9. That is, the chains are wound round their necks so many times that their chins are forced up and so they are unable to bend their heads down before their Lord in submission; an allegorical reference to their extreme stubbornness. When a camel obstinately refuses to drink, throwing its head up, they say قَمَح الجمل (Lexicon).
Yusuf Ali’s comment is comprehensive at this point: “Man’s misdeeds inevitably call forth the operation of Allah’s Law. The result of man’s willful disobedience is now described in a series of metaphors. (1) Refusal of Allah’s Light means less and less freedom of action for man: the yoke of sin is fastened round man’s neck, and it gets more and more tightened, right up to the chin. (2) The head is forced up and kept in a stiff position, so that the mind becomes befogged.
Moral obliquity taints the intellect.
According to the Sanskrit proverb, ‘When destruction comes near, understanding is turned upside down.’ According to the Latin proverb, ‘Whom God wishes to destroy, He first makes him demented.’ In other words, iniquity not only is folly, but leads deeper and deeper into folly, narrowness of vision, and blindness to the finer things of life. (3) This state of deprivation of Grace leads to such a decline in spiritual vitality that the victim can neither progress nor turn back, as explained in the next verse. ”
وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَاهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ (9)
(36:9) And We have placed before them a barrier, and from behind them a barrier, and have thus covered them, so they do not see(the truth).10
10. The allusion is to the natural consequence of their refusal to learn from past history, or to consider the future consequences of their refusal to accept the truth, which, in their blindness they are unable to perceive.
Their misconceptions have erected barriers all around them that prevent them from evaluating the realities (Mawdudi).
“The whole passage is a vivid description of utter blindness and unshakeable obstinacy on the part of the perverse and willful opponents of truth and light” (Majid).
Yusuf Ali offers us the allegorical implications: “Their retreat is cut off and their progress is impossible.
Further the Light that should come from above is cut off, so that they become totally devoid of any hope, and the last gleam of any spiritual understanding is extinguished in them. ”
وَسَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ (10)
(36:10) So it is the same to them whether you warned them or did not warn them11 - they will not believe.
11. It is the same for them whether you warn them, or do not warn them, but it is not the same for you, O Muhammad, whether you warned or did not warn, therefore, keep warning them, albeit, for your own good (Shabbir).
إِنَّمَا تُنْذِرُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الذِّكْرَ وَخَشِيَ الرَّحْمَٰنَ بِالْغَيْبِ ۖ فَبَشِّرْهُ بِمَغْفِرَةٍ وَأَجْرٍ كَرِيمٍ (11)
(36:11) You can only warn him who followed the admonition12 and feared the Merciful, Unseen.13 So give him glad tidings of forgiveness and a noble reward.
12. Thanwi writes in a short sentence in Arabic (in his “Masa’il al-Suluk”) the conclusion that modern educationists have arrived at after several centuries of experience but which their eastern apists are yet to perceive.
He writes, “The words, ‘You can only warn him who followed the admonition,’ signify the fact that when a (Sufi) master trains another, then the result achieved is nothing but manifestation of the potentialities and possibilities of the seeker himself.”
13. “As far as those are concerned, who have obstinately delivered themselves to evil, the preaching of Allah’s Message has no appeal, because their own will shuts them out.
But there are others who are anxious to hear Allah’s Message and receive Allah’s grace. They love Allah and fear to offend against His holy Law, and their fear is not merely superficial but deep-seated: for while they do not yet see Allah, nor do other people see them, they have the same sense of Allah’s presence as if they saw Him, and their religion is not a mere pose, ‘to be seen of men.’ “Unseen is here adverbial: their reverence for Allah is unaffected by the fact that they do not see Him, or that other people do not observe them, because their attitude arises out of a genuine love for Allah ” (Yusuf Ali).
Thus basically, the Prophet had to deal with, as all those have to who take up the task of preaching Islam, two kinds of people: One, which had already made up its mind. ‘So it is the same to them whether you warned them or did not warn them - they will not believe.’ The second kind was the one that was ready to consider, and receive the warning, ‘You can only warn him who followed the admonition and feared the Merciful, Unseen’ (Au.).
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ وَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَدَّمُوا وَآثَارَهُمْ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ أَحْصَيْنَاهُ فِي إِمَامٍ مُبِينٍ (12)
(36:12) Indeed We give life to the dead14 and record what they have forwarded as also their traces;15 and We have taken account of all things in a clear Book.16
14. This is to hint that Allah could yet quicken the dead hearts - just as He quickens the dead land – and lead them to the truth (despite their unwillingness) - Ibn Kathir, Shabbir and others.
15. That is, the good deeds that one has forwarded, and the effects and influences of those deeds, such as, e.g., wrote a book, built a building, established a practice, or left a tradition:
good or bad (Shabbir).
Qatadah has said, “If there was anything, O son of Adam, that Allah could ignore of you, it would have been your footsteps that the winds erase” (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).
The fact that a person is responsible for his deeds, as well as for the effects and influences produced by those deeds is further elaborated in the hadīth literature. A report in Muslim says, “Whoever set a good example in Islam will have its reward and the reward of all those who put it to practice after him, without any reduction in their rewards; while he who set a bad example in Islam will have its sin on him and the sin of all those who practiced it after him, without any reduction in their own sins.”
Mujahid thought however that the allusion is to the footsteps that one takes on his way to good or bad deeds. This was also the opinion of Hasan and Qatadah. The following can be quoted from Muslim in support of this: Jabir b. `Abdullah said, “A plot near the Prophet’s Mosque became vacant. Banu Salimah thought they could shift there to be nearer the mosque. The Prophet came to know of it. He asked them, “I am told that you wish to move nearer the mosque.” They replied, “Yes, Messenger of Allah. We have been considering it.” He said, “O Banu Salimah, your dwellings (hold on to them). Your (foot) marks are being recorded; your (foot) marks are being recorded.”
It is also reported in Ahmad, Nasa’i and Ibn Majah by `Abdullah ibn `Amr that: A man born in Madinah died in Madinah. The Prophet prayed over him and then remarked, “Only that he had died in a place other than his place of birth.” They asked, “Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “When a man dies in a place other than his birthplace, the (foot) marks from his birth place until where they end are measured (and so much space is allotted to him) in Paradise” (Ibn Kathir).
Scholars have explained that what the Prophet meant was that had the man been a Muhajir in the way of Allah, he would have earned rewards even for the footsteps that he trod in His Pleasure (Au.).
16. That is, in Umm al-Kitab, which is in Lawh al-Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet). The word “Imām” has been used in the sense of “a book” elsewhere in the Qur’ān. E.g. (17: 71),
“The day when We shall call all men with their record; then whoso is given his book in his right hand - those shall read their book (with pleasure); and they shall not be wronged by a thread” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
It has been qualified as clear (mubin) because of the thoroughness with which each detail is recorded.
A very clear picture will appear when its contents are reconstructed in the light of its details (Thanwi, reworded).
وَاضْرِبْ لَهُمْ مَثَلًا أَصْحَابَ الْقَرْيَةِ إِذْ جَاءَهَا الْمُرْسَلُونَ (13)
(36:13) Set forth to them the example of the companions of the city, when Messengers came to it.17
17. It could be said defining the connection between the previous verses and the following is that if it caused pain to the Prophet that some of his people he was sent to were not going to believe, then he might mention to them - as well as remind himself - of the story of an earlier people. In comparison you might note, the Prophet is told, that after all, you alone have been raised for your people, while three Messengers were raised in an earlier nation. Further, they were inhabitants of a single city, while you have been sent to entire mankind.
Is there for you any comfort in this? (Razi).
إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ اثْنَيْنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا إِلَيْكُمْ مُرْسَلُونَ (14)
(36:14) When We (first) sent unto them two. But they rejected them, so We reinforced (them) with a third.18 They said, “We have been assuredly sent unto you.’
18. ‘Ikrimah has said that the allusion is to two envoys that ‘Isa ibn Maryam sent to Antakiyyah (Antioch),
but Wahb b. Munabbih (as reported by Ibn `Abbas and Ka`b al-Ahbar) thought that it were Messengers proper who were sent to Antakiyyah (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi).
Ibn Kathir however disputes this report, (which obviously has its origin in Jewish sources: Au.). He says that the city of Antakiyyah was in fact the first to believe in the call of Jesus: the reason why it is one of the four cities that the Christians venerate. The others are Bayt al-Maqdis, being the birth place of Jesus Christ, Alexandria where the first church was established, and Rome whose emperor embraced Christianity and supported the early Christians.
Another difficulty, continues Ibn Kathir, is that the assumption of the destruction of Antakiyyah after the appearance of Jesus Christ contradicts the belief of the Salaf that Allah did not destroy any nation after the advent of Musa (asws). Statements to this effect can be found at the point the following verse is explained (28:43),
“We did give Musa the Book after We had destroyed the earlier generations.”
Also see note 75 of Surah Al-Qasas in this work.
Thanwi notes that another Tafsir work (not accessible to this writer) demonstrates how the comments of the Salaf are reconcilable. But, his own point is, the identification is not important. It is the lesson which is the main point of narration.
قَالُوا مَا أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا وَمَا أَنْزَلَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا تَكْذِبُونَ (15)
(36:15) They said, ‘You are no more than men like us;19 and the Compassionate has not revealed anything. You are not but lying.’20
19. “The objection,” (viz., ‘You are no more than men like us,’) and its repetition throughout the history of the Prophets, reveals naivety and lack of basic understanding on the part of the people, as it also reflects a failure to appreciate the functions of a Messenger. Those people always expected that there should be some kind of mystery surrounding the life and personality of a Messenger. They thought that he should bear behind his outward mien, another person:
closer to mythologies and fantasies of their own imagination. How could his personality be open, free of all complexities, one which carried no secrets and bore no mysteries? How could Messengers be ordinary persons – of the kind that filled the market places? “They could not appreciate the simple fact that for a Messenger to receive revelation, and to be in touch with the other world, was itself a thing of wonder for them. Further, they failed to realize the point that one who had to function in the earth (and not in the heavens), who had to deal with real human situations, and offer guidance to real human problems, had to be, by the very nature of his call and function, one of them: a human being like any other.”
20. “[This passage alludes] to people who like to think of themselves as ‘believing’ in God without, however, allowing their ‘belief ’ to interfere with the practical concerns of their lives: and this they justify by conceding to religion no more than a vaguely emotional role, and by refusing to admit the fact of objective revelation – for the concept of revelation invariably implies a promulgation, by God, of absolute moral values and, thus, a demand of one’s self surrender to Islam” (Asad).
How correct Asad’s reading is can be judged from an unconnected and unintended event: a recent new Muslim has written a book which he entitles, “Struggling to Surrender” (Au.).
قَالُوا رَبُّنَا يَعْلَمُ إِنَّا إِلَيْكُمْ لَمُرْسَلُونَ (16)
(36:16) They said, ‘Our Lord knows well that we have been sent unto you.
وَمَا عَلَيْنَا إِلَّا الْبَلَاغُ الْمُبِينُ (17)
(36:17) And, there is no more upon us but clear deliverance.‘
قَالُوا إِنَّا تَطَيَّرْنَا بِكُمْ ۖ لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهُوا لَنَرْجُمَنَّكُمْ وَلَيَمَسَّنَّكُمْ مِنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ (18)
(36:18) They replied, ‘Surely, we augur evil omen from you.21 Surely, if you do not desist we shall stone you and surely, a painful chastisement shall befall you at out hands.
23. Ibn `Abbas, Ka`b al-Ahbar, Wahab b. Munabbih and many others of the Salaf thought that the man was named Habeeb (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). But there are no confirmed reports about this, and, in fact, some of the Salaf have also thought that Habeeb was the name of the “believer” in Fir`awn’s court who concealed his faith (Au.).
قَالُوا طَائِرُكُمْ مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَئِنْ ذُكِّرْتُمْ ۚ بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُسْرِفُونَ (19)
(36:19) They said, ‘Your ill omen is (already) with you;22 is it because you have been admonished? But rather, you are a people who cross all bounds.’
22. That is, your deeds will determine your augury.
وَجَاءَ مِنْ أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اتَّبِعُوا الْمُرْسَلِينَ (20)
(36:20) And there came a man from the furthest part of the city, hastening.23 He said, ‘O my people! Follow the Messengers.
23. Ibn `Abbas, Ka`b al-Ahbar, Wahab b. Munabbih and many others of the Salaf thought that the man was named Habeeb (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). But there are no confirmed reports about this, and, in fact, some of the Salaf have also thought that Habeeb was the name of the “believer” in Fir`awn’s court who concealed his faith (Au.).
اتَّبِعُوا مَنْ لَا يَسْأَلُكُمْ أَجْرًا وَهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ (21)
(36:21) Follow those who ask you not (any) wage, and who are rightly guided.
وَمَا لِيَ لَا أَعْبُدُ الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ (22)
(36:22) And, what’s with me (that) I should not worship Him who originated me, and to whom you will be returned?24
24. The brief narration of his talk with the people indicates that the man had been involved in previous discussions with the people, and that he must have been a person of some standing to say, ‘As for me, what’s with me that I should not believe?’ Had he been an ordinary person, his coming to belief or not coming to belief would not have made any difference to those he was debating with (Au.).
أَأَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِهِ آلِهَةً إِنْ يُرِدْنِ الرَّحْمَٰنُ بِضُرٍّ لَا تُغْنِ عَنِّي شَفَاعَتُهُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُنْقِذُونِ (23)
(36:23) Should I take besides Him (other) deities? If the Compassionate should wish me an affliction, their intercession will profit me naught, nor can they deliver me (on their own).
إِنِّي إِذًا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ (24)
(36:24) Surely, in that case, I should be in a manifest error.
إِنِّي آمَنْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَاسْمَعُونِ (25)
(36:25) I have surely believed in my Lord – so listen to me.’
قِيلَ ادْخُلِ الْجَنَّةَ ۖ قَالَ يَا لَيْتَ قَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ (26)
(36:26) It was said, ‘Enter into Paradise.’25 He said, ‘Ah, would that my people knew.
25. The same authorities as above were one in opinion that he was instantly killed.
Islam has similar examples. Ibn Ishaq reports that when Musaylimah the Liar captured two Muslims, he demanded to know from one of them whether he would vouch that Muhammad was a Prophet. The captured Muslim would reply, “Yes.”
Then he would ask him whether he would vouch that he (Musaylimah) was also a Prophet? He would reply, “I do not hear you.” Musaylimah would say, “May Allah curse you.
Do you hear that, but do not hear this?” He would say, “Yes.” Finally Musaylimah ordered that his limbs be severed one after another. After each limb was severed, he was asked the same questions and he answered in the same manner until he was dead. When Ka`b the narrator was told that his name was Habeeb, he remarked, “By Allah, the man mentioned in Yaa Seen was also called Habeeb” (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).
بِمَا غَفَرَ لِي رَبِّي وَجَعَلَنِي مِنَ الْمُكْرَمِينَ (27)
(36:27) How (graciously) has my Lord forgiven me, and has placed me among the honored ones.’26
26. This is a striking example of goodness inherent in true believers.
They do not wish ill of their adversaries (Au.).
Ibn `Abbas is reported as having said, “The man wished his people well: dead and alive” (Qurtubi).
Mawdudi comments: “The man had no ill-will or feelings of vengeance against a people that had murdered him. He did not wish Hell for his murderers but that they should come to faith and win the Paradise that he had won.”
“Allah has narrated this event,” continues Mawdudi, “to impress upon the Makkans that this Prophet too was not invective towards them. He was not their enemy. His only wish was that they should achieve the everlasting bliss of the Hereafter.”
وَمَا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ مِنْ جُنْدٍ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا كُنَّا مُنْزِلِينَ (28)
(36:28) And We sent not upon his people, after him, any host out of heaven, neither were We wont to sending down (any).
إِنْ كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ خَامِدُونَ (29)
(36:29) It was but a single Cry, and lo, there they were, quenched (and silent, like burnt out coals).27
27. The textual word “khamada” is used for a dying fire. Literally it means, “To get low (of fire) [or] to faint and die” (Penrice),“ the extended meaning being, to die out, fade away, cool off, to be extinguished, to become extinct (Au.).
يَا حَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ ۚ مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ (30)
(36:30) Alas for the slaves! Never went to them a Messenger, but they were mocking at him.
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُمْ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ (31)
(36:31) Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them28 – that to them, will not return?
28. Asad comments: “...the term qarn which literally signifies a ‘generation’ or ‘people living at the same period’, has in this context the wider meaning of ‘society’ or ‘civilization’ in the historical connotation of these terms. Thus, the downfall and utter disappearance of the past societies, and civilizations is here linked to their spiritual frivolity and consequent moral failure. A further lesson to be drawn from this parable is the implied conclusion that the majority of people in every society, at all times (our own included), refuse to be guided by moral considerations, regarding them as opposed to their conventional mode of life and their pursuit of materialistic values – with the result that ‘never has an apostle come to them without their deriding him.’”
وَإِنْ كُلٌّ لَمَّا جَمِيعٌ لَدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ (32)
(36:32) And indeed each of them – of those,29 altogether – are brought before Us.
29. We have adopted this mode of expression following one of the several explanations offered by Ibn Jarir for the word “lamma” occurring at this point (Au.)
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ الْأَرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَاهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبًّا فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ (33)
(36:33) And a sign there is for them in the dead land (that) We gave life and brought therefrom grains, of which do they eat.30
30. The allusion could be to ancient times billions of years ago when the earth lay waste, a mere ball of rocks and minerals, with no water, revolving around the sun, with no enveloping atmosphere, subject to its deadly bombardment of ultraviolet and other destructive rays that would not allow for existence of any kind of life – human or biological (Au.).
وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّاتٍ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ (34)
(36:34) We placed therein orchards of date palm and grape, and We caused (many) springs to gush forth therein.
لِيَأْكُلُوا مِنْ ثَمَرِهِ وَمَا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ (35)
(36:35) That they might eat of its fruits and of their hands’ labors.31 Will they not, then, give thanks?32
31. Another possible rendition can be, as posted by Ibn Jarir, although not very enthusiastically, “and that which was not wrought by their hands.” Zamakhshari also sees the possibility as does Qurtubi who traces the opinion to Ibn `Abbas, Dahhak and Muqatil.
32. “Date-palms and vines stand as symbols for fruit-trees of all kinds, these being the characteristic fruits of Arabia. Grain was mentioned in the last verse; fruit is mentioned now. All that is necessary for food and the satisfaction of the choicest palate is produced from what looks like inert soil, fertilized by rain and springs. Here is wonderful evidence of the artistry and providence of Allah”
(Yusuf Ali).
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَزْوَاجَ كُلَّهَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الْأَرْضُ وَمِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ (36)
(36:36) Blessed is He33 who created all of the pairs34 – of what the earth produces, and of themselves, and of what they know not.
33. The usage of “subhana” at this point is to express wonder and amazement. It is as if to say, “How amazing of these unbelievers that they should see all these signs, yet do not come to believe?!” (Qurtubi).
34. The rendition is literal. Qatadah believed the allusion is to male and female. Ibn Jarir however understands “azwaj” as meaning “kinds.”
If it is assumed that this Qur’ān is the handiwork of the Prophet, then how to explain the phenomenon fully brought to light by scientific research just about a century ago that everything comes in pairs: positive and negative electrical charges, protons with anti-protons, quarks with antiquarks, bacteria as male and female that exchange DNA, that stars are binary (our sun’s companion is said to be on the other side of the galaxy) and even galaxies seem to exist in pairs, the companion of our galaxy, Milky Way, is Andromeda?! Would the Orientalists who filled tens of thousands of pages of Encyclopedia of Islam say that the Prophet took it from the Bible? (Au.)
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ (37)
(36:37) And a sign for them is the night, We strip off the day from it, and behold, they are plunged in darkness.
وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (38)
(36:38) And the sun runs to its ultimate destination.35 That is the ordaining of the All-mighty, the All-knowing.
35. The text in all Qur’ānic Scriptures appears as it is here: But, Ibn Mas`ud and Ibn `Abbas read it as, “The sun runs (its course) without a resting place.” That is, ceaselessly (Tabari, Kashshaf, Qurtubi and others).
At all events, granted the varying opinion its place, there are about a dozen explanations attached to the word “mustaqarr” – as speculated by the earlier and later commentators - with none more convincing than another, except perhaps the one which says that the sun’s “mustaqarr” is the Day of Judgment, (when it will come to halt over the heads of the people in the Field of Resurrection). This opinion is attributed to Qatadah (Au).
Most commentators, however, despite mentioning various possible meanings, also quote a related hadīth which is in Bukhari: Abu Dharr said, “I entered the mosque while the Prophet was there. When the sun had gone down he said, ‘O Abu Dharr. Do you know where does the sun go?’ I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It goes and seeks permission to prostrate itself. It is allowed. But as if it will be told, “Return from where you came from.” It will appear from where it sets.’ Then he recited, ‘That is its place of rest.’”
Qurtubi quotes another longer version of the hadīth which happens to be in Muslim. It says, Abu Dharr said, “Once the Prophet asked, ‘Do you know where does the sun go?’ I answered, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It goes on until it reaches its resting place under the `Arsh. It remains in prostration there until it is told, “Rise. Go back to where you came from.” It returns appearing from the east.
Then it goes on until it reaches its resting place under the `Arsh.
It remains in prostration there until it is told, “Rise. Go back to where you came from.” It returns appearing from the east. Then it goes on until it reaches its resting place under the `Arsh. It remains in prostration there until it is told, “Rise. Go back to where you came from.” It returns appearing from the east. It will go on and the people will find nothing unusual about it. But it will (so happen that it will) go until it reaches its resting place under the `Arsh.
(It will prostrate itself) but will be told, “Rise from where you set.”
It will appear from the west. Then the Prophet asked, ‘Do you know when will that happen? Well, that will be on, “The day some of His signs appear, of no profit will then be the belief of him who did not believe earlier, or did not earn good (deeds) in his belief.’”
Discussing the above hadīth, Imām Nawawi expresses the opinion that it might be best to leave it at its face value, (instead of trying to fix any meaning), since the sun’s prostration, its resting place, and other details are uncertain of meaning. This is the line taken by Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and others, who would rather leave the passage unexplained because of ambiguities surrounding it. As for the sun’s “mustaqarr” as explained in the hadīth, he says that since the entire universe is under the `Arsh, the sun’s position is under the `Arsh anyway – of course, not a very satisfactory explanation, although not without logic.
Shabbir’s explanation (as in a treatise he wrote from which Mufti Shafi` quotes) of the ahadīth quoted above is that, firstly, they are allegorical which help drive home the truth through imagery. They are not dealing with cosmological truths nor stating an astronomical fact. (These are things left to man to discover).
Secondly, to fix the meaning of “mustaqarr” we might as well refer to another verse of the Qur’ān (39: 5),
“(He) coils the day upon the night and the night upon the day. And He has subjugated the sun and the moon, each running to a determined term.”
Therefore, Shabbir argues, “mustaqarr”
here should be understood in a way that does not contradict with the meaning that the last quoted verse lends. It must also be understood that “mustaqarr” carries two meanings: one related to time, and the other related to space. When the Prophet explained sun’s “mustaqarr”
as under the sun, he was referring to its spatial position, while the Qur’ān could be referring to its position in time.
Qatadah had this “time-dimension” in mind when he said that the sun’s “mustaqarr” is the Day of Judgment.
Thus, the hadīth is emphasizing the sun’s complete submission to Allah’s command. Its prostration is of the same nature as in the verse (22: 18),
“Do you not see that to Allah prostrate themselves all who are in the heavens and all who are in the earth, the sun and the moon, the stars and the mountains, the trees and the animals, and a great many of the people?”
On the other hand, at this point the Qur’ān is drawing our attention to the governing of the celestial bodies and cosmological phenomena, leading a man of right mind to the Power that brought the organization into being. As for the sun rising from the West, this is predicted in many ahadīth, and, all it would require is the earth’s gradual halt because of the gravitational pull of a passing massive comet while the sun is on the same side as the comet. Then, as the comet passes on, it gradually reverses the present anti-clock wise rotation of the earth to clock wise. The humans might not be able to feel the halt and reversal because of the gradualness and because of darkness, the continents being on the other side of the sun. This is one of the possibilities.
There can be several others (Au.).
وَالْقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّىٰ عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ (39)
(36:39) And the moon, We have determined (its) phases,36 until it returns (appearing) like an old palm-bough.
36. Zamakhshari writes that the allusion is to twenty-eight phases of the moon, i.e., a new phase every new night (according to its position in the Zodiac). To highlight the pathetic state of ignorance of the contemporary Muslims and their backwardness in all fields of science, including astronomy, in which they were the pioneers: a pathetic state not only when compared with modern scientific knowledge, but also when compared with the knowledge of their predecessors and their interest in the world surrounding them, we present here the names allotted to the twenty-eight phases of the moon with reference to its position in the heaven among the stars and planets, as recorded by Zamakhshari. After the completion of these twenty-eight phases, the moon disappears from sight, to reappear a day or two later as “an old palm-bough”:
Qurtubi and the Sufi Commentator Alusi describe the position of stars indicating the numbers involved and the shapes they take, (during each of these twentyeight phases) in relation to the position of the moon in the sky.
Far from matching their predecessors in piety, can the present day loquacious Muslims, drowned in this world, match them in astronomical observations? Perhaps in our times, many Muslims, men and women, have never seen the moon, except accidentally - so much time they spend on the television, open-mouthedly, empty headedly, following flashing absurd scenes. A true Muslim can only sHūdder at the heavenly response that these tens of millions can invoke (Au.).
لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنْبَغِي لَهَا أَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ (40)
(36:40) It behooves not the sun that it should catch up with the moon, nor can the night overtake the day. Each is swimming in an orbit.37
37. “Falak” is any round or spherical body (Shawkani); the orbit of a celestial body (Penrice); “fallaka”: to have round breasts (Hans Wehr).
This is the clearest indication in the Qur’ān that the earth is spherical.
Similarly, the going around the earth of the day and night, is only possible if the earth is round. Another Qur’ānic verse throws a stronger hint that the earth could be round. It says (39: 35),
“(He) coils the day upon the night and the night upon the day.”
The word “yukawwiru” has its root in “kawwara” which means to coil, or wind. For example, كَوَّرَ عِمامَتَه “kawwara `Imāmatahu” means, “he wound his turban (around his head).” It was perhaps not this reasoning that was missing on the part of early Muslim scholars, but the explanation of how, if earth is spherical, the people on the other side do not fall off was difficult to reconcile.
Newton’s gravitational discovery made it easier for people to accept the sphericity of the earth (Au.).
Strangely, however, when Imām Abu Haneefa was asked, as a report goes, about where the centre of the earth was, he gave a perfectly scientific answer when he said that it was right where he stood! (Au.).
Sphericity of the earth apart, the ayah in question raised difficulties for most Muslims of recent times.
It says that the sun is swimming in an orbit of its own. This was alright so long as Pythagorean cosmological notions prevailed. In this system the earth was stationary. The sun went around it. But Muslim scholars were at their wit’s end trying to reconcile modern finding that the sun was stationary. It is the earth that went around it. Many scholars held to their guns and said they believed in the Qur’ān. Let science and scientists say what they will. The Qur’ān could not be wrong. The scholars carried the masses in their sway. But the Western educated Muslim class was in doldrums. For many, their faith in the Qur’ān as a Revelation was at risk. Actually, for a while the Qur’ān was opposing everyone’s notion:
those of the Muslim scholars who thought the earth was stationary, and those of the scientists who said the sun was stationary with the earth going round it. It was only in the early years of the 20th century that it was discovered that the sun indeed was on the move, not going round the earth, but going round the centre of the Milky Way galaxy along with billions of other stars similarly orbiting the center. The sun orbits the center of galaxy at a speed of about 200 km a second, and completes a round in
250 million years. As it swims in its orbit through empty space around it, it carries with it its family of planets and their satellites (moons) bound to it by the gravitational force. The Qur’ān proved true. No human could have predicted this 1400 years ago (Au.).
وَآيَةٌ لَهُمْ أَنَّا حَمَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ فِي الْفُلْكِ الْمَشْحُونِ (41)
(36:41) And a sign for them (is there in) that We carried their seed in the laden ship.38
38. The Salaf generally agreed that the allusion is to the boat of Nuh (asws). But how to explain use of the word progeny? Zamakhshari answers that the meaning is, “We carried your forefathers, who carried you in their backs, in fact, also your own progeny who are in your backs, in Nuh’s boat.”
Asad remarks: “The term ‘offspring’ denotes here the human race as a whole (cf. the recurring expression ‘children of Adam’).”
وَخَلَقْنَا لَهُمْ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ مَا يَرْكَبُونَ (42)
(36:42) And We created for them the like of it, on which they ride.39
39. Since the camel is often referred to as the ship of the desert, some of the oldest authorities have thought that the allusion by “the like of it” is to this beast. Further, the words imply that the first ship ever made was by Nuh under the direct guidance of Allah. Later human fabricators followed that prototype (Au.).
The human race would have perished at the time of the Flood, adds, Mawdudi, if not for Allah’s instruction.
All later modifications, improvements, and perfections owe their existence to the first model. Yet, it might be remembered, that despite great strides in navigational equipments and techniques, man is far from able to subdue the seas. Allah’s Power has its sway and can drown the ships any moment He wishes.
وَإِنْ نَشَأْ نُغْرِقْهُمْ فَلَا صَرِيخَ لَهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْقَذُونَ (43)
(36:43) If We wished, We could drown them, then none there would be for them to cry to, nor would they be delivered.
إِلَّا رَحْمَةً مِنَّا وَمَتَاعًا إِلَىٰ حِينٍ (44)
(36:44) Save for a mercy from Us, and enjoyment for a while.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّقُوا مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَمَا خَلْفَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ (45)
(36:45) When they are told, ‘Fear what is before you and what is after you,40 haply you will be shown mercy (they heed not).’41
40. Mujahid explained it as meaning, the sins that have already been forwarded, and the sins that will be committed in time (Tabari).
41. “Man should consider and beware of the consequences of his past, and guard against the consequences in his future. The present is only a fleeting moment poised between the past and the future, and gone even while it is being mentioned or thought about. Man should review his whole life and prepare for the Hereafter. If he does so, Allah is Merciful: He will forgive, and give strength for a better and higher life in the future. But this kind of teaching does not suit those steeped in this ephemeral life, they are bored, and turn away from it, to their own loss” (Yusuf Ali).
وَمَا تَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ آيَةٍ مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ (46)
(36:46) And there never comes to them a sign from the signs of their Lord but they are ever turning away from it.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنُطْعِمُ مَنْ لَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ أَطْعَمَهُ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ (47)
(36:47) And when they are told, ‘Expend out of what Allah has provided you,’ those who have disbelieved say to those who have believed, ‘Should we feed him whom Allah would have fed if He (so) willed?42 Surely, you are in a manifest error.’
42. This demonstrates that disbelief had not only blinded the intellects of the adversaries of this Message, but also destroyed their moral sense.
They followed a pervert philosophy to escape from moral bindings (Mawdudi).
Yusuf Ali has a deeper note: “They are too full of themselves to have a corner in their hearts for others. ‘If ’ they say, ‘Allah gave them nothing, why should we?’ There is arrogance in this as well as blasphemy: arrogance in thinking that they are favoured because of their merits, and blasphemy in laying the blame of other people’s misfortunes on Allah.
They further try to turn the tables on the Believers by pretending that the Believers are entirely on a wrong track. They forget that all men are on probation and trial: they hold their gifts on trust: those apparently less favoured, in that they have fewer of this world’s goods, may be really more fortunate, because they are teaming patience, self-reliance, and the true value of things ephemeral which is apt to be very much exaggerated in men’s eyes. ”
وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَٰذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (48)
(36:48) And they ask, ‘When will the promise be, if you are true?’
مَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً تَأْخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ (49)
(36:49) They are not waiting but for a single Cry that will seize them while they are disputing.
فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ تَوْصِيَةً وَلَا إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهِمْ يَرْجِعُونَ (50)
(36:50) Then they will not have the power of testament, nor to their folks will they return.43
43. The allusion is to the day, write Tabari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others, when the Trumpet will be blown.
Tabari quotes a long hadīth which could not be traced by this author.
But a shorter version is in Bukhari, as reported by Abu Hurayrah. It says, “Surely, the Hour will strike while two men would have stretched open a piece of cloth but will not finalize the deal nor will be able to fold it back. Surely, the Hour will strike when a man would have milked his beast but will not be able to drink it. Surely, the Hour will strike when he would have just placed the stones together for his water trough but will not be able to water (his animals).
And surely, the Hour will strike while one of you would have raised a morsel of food to the mouth but will not be able to take it in.”
وَنُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَإِذَا هُمْ مِنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَنْسِلُونَ (51)
(36:51) And the Trumpet will be blown into, and lo! from their graves will they rush to their Lord.
قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا مَنْ بَعَثَنَا مِنْ مَرْقَدِنَا ۜ ۗ هَٰذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ وَصَدَقَ الْمُرْسَلُونَ (52)
(36:52) They will say, ‘Ah, our woe. Who roused us out of our sleeping-place?’44 This is what the All-merciful had promised, and the Messengers spoke the truth.45
44. The word “sleeping-place” (marqad) has been used because according to authorities such as Ubayy b. Ka`b, Qatadah and Mujahid, mankind will go into a short nap, just before the final blow of the Trumpet wakes them up (Tabari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others).
Alusi however points out that if it is treated as “masdar mimi” then the meaning the word “marqad” will lend is, sleep. That is, who woke us up from our sleep? It has also been said by some of the Salaf that in comparison to what the unbelievers will see of the horrors of the Day, the punishment in the grave they had been undergoing would be like, to use a modern cliché, picnic.
45. “The dead will rise as in a stupor, and they will be confused in the new conditions! They will gradually regain their memory and their personality.
They will be reminded that Allah in His grace and mercy had already announced the Hereafter in their probationary lives, and the word of Allah’s messengers, which then seemed so strange and remote, was true and was now being fulfilled”
(Yusuf Ali).
“This is what .. spoke the truth,” - whose words are these? Mujahid and Qatadah thought it is the believers who will thus say. But Ibn Zayd said it is the unbelievers who will say so.
The former opinion sounds weightier (Tabari).
Ibn Kathir points out that Ibn Jarir’s inclination can be substantiated with another verse (22: 55, 56),
“The Day the Hour strikes, the criminals will swear (that) they tarried not but an hour. That is how they were being deluded. But those that were given knowledge and faith shall say, ‘Indeed you tarried by Allah’s decree to the day of resurrection. This then is the day of resurrection, but you were not knowing.’”
إِنْ كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ جَمِيعٌ لَدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ (53)
(36:53) It was not but a single blast, when lo! at once they are brought to their Lord - altogether.
فَالْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ (54)
(36:54) Then, today no soul shall be wronged in the least; nor will you be recompensed but for what you were doing.
إِنَّ أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ الْيَوْمَ فِي شُغُلٍ فَاكِهُونَ (55)
(36:55) Verily, today the companions of Paradise are busy (in pleasantries), rejoicing46
46. The translation reflects the understanding offered by Ibn Jarir. That is, the inhabitants of Paradise will be in various kinds of pleasantries, or, to put it as Majid does, “(they) shall be happily employed.”
The above is supported by Hasan’s opinion (Zamakhshari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
However, Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, and Alusi also report the opinion of Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Abbas, Sa`id ibn al-Musayyib and others that the allusion is to breaking the seal of the virgins.
Reports to this effect are also in Ibn Abi Shaybah, Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Marduwayh (Shawkani).
But, that need not necessarily be the case. After all, that would be only one of the enjoyments in Paradise.
The verse is simply saying that the believers will be in such pleasantries as to make them unconcerned of the fate of the unbelievers (Alusi).
“Fakihin” however (translated here as “rejoicing”) has, Ibn Jarir points out, another connotation, viz., of relishing fruits.
Yusuf Ali adds: “Notice the subtle gradation in the description. First, in this verse, we have the nature of the mise en scene and the nature of the joy therein. It will be a Garden i.e., everything agreeable to see and hear and feel and taste and smell; delightful green lawns and meadows, trees and shrubs; the murmur of streams and the songs of birds: the delicate texture of flowers and leaves and the shapes of beauty in clouds and mist; the flavours of fruits; and the perfumes of flowers and scents. The joy in the Garden will be an active joy, without fatigue: whatever we do in it, every employment in which we engage there, will be a source of joy without alloy. ”
هُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُهُمْ فِي ظِلَالٍ عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ مُتَّكِئُونَ (56)
(36:56) They and their spouses: in shades,47 reclining on decorated couches.48
47. Asad notes: “In the Qur’ānic description of paradise, the term ‘zill’ (‘shade’) and its plural ‘zilal’ is often used as a metaphor for ‘happiness.’”
48. The textual word “ara’ik”, sing. arikah, has been explained as meaning “hijal”, sing. “hajalah” (Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid: Tabari). The latter is a word of Yemeni origin and stands for a curtained canopy, tent, pavilion or the like, decorated and adorned with colorful cloth prepared for a bride (Lexicon). Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Muhammad b. Ka`b, Hasan, Qatadah, Suddi and Khusayf however added as explanation, that the “ara’ik” will be under the “hijal”
(Ibn Kathir).
لَهُمْ فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ وَلَهُمْ مَا يَدَّعُونَ (57)
(36:57) For them are therein fruit, and for them whatever they ask for.49
49. Ibn Kathir cites a report found in Ibn Majah and Ibn Abi Hatim, in explanation of the enjoyments of Paradise. Usama b. Zayd reported that the Prophet addressed his Companions one of those days and said, “Is there no aspirant for Paradise? Paradise has no hazard therein. It is, by the Lord of the Ka`bah, dazzling light, swaying fragrance, massive palaces, steady streams, plenty of ripe fruits, strikingly beautiful spouses, and lots of jewelry – in a place everlasting, in luxuries and pleasantries, in high rise splendid apartments.” They said, “We do aspire after it Messenger of Allah.” He said, “Say, ‘in sha Allah.’” Thereafter he spoke of Jihad and encouraged them to take part.
Haythami noted that the trustworthiness of one of the narrators has been questioned, but otherwise, the rest of the chain is reliable. Dhahabi also expressed his doubts about that narrator. Ibn Hibban however trusted him and hence placed the report in his Sahih collection (Au.).
سَلَامٌ قَوْلًا مِنْ رَبٍّ رَحِيمٍ (58)
(36:58) ‘Salam,’ will be the word from a Lord Compassionate.
وَامْتَازُوا الْيَوْمَ أَيُّهَا الْمُجْرِمُونَ (59)
(36:59) ‘Fall apart today, O criminals.
أَلَمْ أَعْهَدْ إِلَيْكُمْ يَا بَنِي آدَمَ أَنْ لَا تَعْبُدُوا الشَّيْطَانَ ۖ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ (60)
(36:60) Had I not enjoined upon you, O children of Adam, that you should not worship Shaytan,50 (that) surely he is your open enemy?
50. It should be obvious, writes Razi in effect, that Shaytan being invisible, nobody worships him in the direct manner. Obeying his commands then, is to worship him (as said here:
“la ta`budu”). Whatever is done, even if it is an act of Allah’s worship, following either his command, or a whisper, or what will please him even when he is not with us, can be in his service. Further, if the sin is the “qalbi” type (of the heart), and not merely “jasadi” (of the body), then it is an act of worship directed to him. A sin in which one’s faith is not involved, where his belief in Allah remains untouched is “jasadi.”
That is, following Shaytan’s bidding from such a state of weakness can be of the “jasadi” type of service to him. In contrast, if there is lack of faith, such as where Allah’s powers are questioned, or doubted by the heart, then the sin is “qalbi.” Following Shaytan’s bidding from such a state is to worship him. The sins of the “Prophets” (so called because of their high status, are, (if admitted as sins despite their extremely minor nature), of the “jasadi” type. They reach higher status with Allah because of their quick repentance, and because of the extended acts of expiation.
They prove themselves better than the angels who said (2: 30),
“We sing your glory in Praise and magnify You.” There is no question of the Prophets and Messengers ever being in any doubt about Allah and His powers.
The relationship between us and Shaytan is of course, quite complicated leading to a variety of consequences.
For example, if someone worships Allah, but follows Shaytan’s bidding, to please other than Him, then, in actual fact he worshipped Shaytan. On the other hand, a believer’s vigilance can lead him closer to Allah, despite having temporarily fallen prey to Shaytan’s scheming.
To illustrate with an example, an act following Shaytan’s bidding, can actually lead to Allah’s approval, albeit indirectly. It can happen in this way.
Shaytan bids a man an evil and departs quite satisfied having left him busy with it. But if the sin in question is of the bodily type (jasadi), and not where the heart and soul’s approval is there (qalbi), then the man soon realizes the error. He is deeply rueful and turns to his Lord with greater vigor: remorseful, repenting, expiating, and so on. This takes him closer to Allah.
وَأَنِ اعْبُدُونِي ۚ هَٰذَا صِرَاطٌ مُسْتَقِيمٌ (61)
(36:61) And that you worship Me (alone)? This is the straight path.
وَلَقَدْ أَضَلَّ مِنْكُمْ جِبِلًّا كَثِيرًا ۖ أَفَلَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْقِلُونَ (62)
(36:62) He did lead astray a great multitude of you (in the past). Were you not able to think?
هَٰذِهِ جَهَنَّمُ الَّتِي كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ (63)
(36:63) This is the Jahannum (then), that you were promised.
اصْلَوْهَا الْيَوْمَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ (64)
(36:64) Roast therein today, for that you were rejecting.’
الْيَوْمَ نَخْتِمُ عَلَىٰ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَا أَيْدِيهِمْ وَتَشْهَدُ أَرْجُلُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ (65)
(36:65) Today, We shall seal over their mouths and their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will testify to what they were earning.51
51. Other Qur’ānic passages tell us that after the mouths are sealed, not only organs but even the skin will speak out. The Qur’ān said (41: 20),
“When they arrive at it, their ears, their sights and their skins will bear witness against them – about what they were doing” (Shabbir, Mawdudi).
This is corroborated by the hadīth.
One is in Muslim, as reported by Anas b. Malik. He says: We were with the Prophet when he smiled. He asked, “Do you know why I smiled?” We said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “(I smiled) at the conversation of a slave with his Lord. He will say, ‘My Lord.
Have you not freed me of oppression?’ He will say, ‘Yes, of course.’ He will say, ‘I will not allow any testifier against me, except myself.’ He will say, ‘Enough for you against you, yourself as a testifier, and the honored Scribers as witnesses.’ Then his mouth will be sealed and his organs told, ‘Speak.’ They will speak out his deeds. Then he will be allowed to talk. He will say, ‘Away from you, and destruction (for you). Was it not for your sake that I was disputing?’”
(Kashshaf, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
There is another report in Muslim and other collections. The last part of this long report says, “Then a third one will be presented.
He will speak out like the previous one saying, ‘My Lord. I believed in You, in Your Book, Your Messengers, prayed, fasted, and spent (in Your cause)’ He will thus praise himself to the degree possible. He (Allah) will remark, ‘Even here (the lies)?!’ Then he will be told, ‘Now We shall bring up Our testifiers against you.’ He will wonder who could bear witness against him. Then his mouth will be sealed and his thighs, flesh, and bones told, ‘Speak out.’ His thighs, flesh, and bones will speak about his deeds.”
A report in Ibn Jarir, coming through Abu Musa al-Ash`ari says that when the record of deeds is presented, one of the unbelievers will deny that he did any such thing as recorded. He will say, “My Lord. This angel has written down things that I did not do.” The angel will protest, “Did you not do such and such a thing, on such and such a day, in place such and such?” He will say, “My Lord.
By Your Honor. I never did any such thing.” Then Allah will seal his mouth and his organs will be allowed to speak (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
There is a similar report in Tirmidhi (Shawkani).
And, a report in Ahmad tells us that it is the left thigh that will speak out first when told to. ‘Uqbah b. `Aamir says he heard the Prophet say, “The first bone of a man that will speak out when mouths are sealed is his left thigh” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
Haythami noted that the hadīth is also in Tabarani and carries a trustworthy chain (Au.).
وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لَطَمَسْنَا عَلَىٰ أَعْيُنِهِمْ فَاسْتَبَقُوا الصِّرَاطَ فَأَنَّىٰ يُبْصِرُونَ (66)
(36:66) And, if We willed, We could surely have blotted their eyes,52 then they would have raced to the path, but how could they have seen?53
52. Asad comments, “Lit., ‘We could surely have effaced their eyes’: a metaphor for ‘We could have created them morally blind’ and, thus, devoid of all sense of moral responsibility – which in its turn, would constitute a negation of all spiritual values in human life as such.”
53. Writes Asad: “In this instance – as, e.g., in 20: 96 – the verb ‘basura’ (‘he became seeing’ or ‘he saw’) is obviously used in its tropical sense of ‘perceiving [something] mentally.’ According to Ibn `Abbas, as quoted by Tabari, the phrase ‘anna yubsirun’ signifies ‘how could they perceive the truth.’”
That is, had Allah wished, He could have blinded them altogether so that, even if they rushed to the path, how could they have perceived it? This explanation comes from Ibn `Abbas (Ibn Kathir).
وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لَمَسَخْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَكَانَتِهِمْ فَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا مُضِيًّا وَلَا يَرْجِعُونَ (67)
(36:67) And, if We willed, We could have transformed them (fixe) in their places, then they would not have been able to move forward, nor could they have returned.54
54. Asad again, “I.e., if it had been God’s will that men should have no freedom of will or moral choice, He would have endowed them from the very beginning with a spiritually and morally stationary nature, entirely rooted in their instincts (‘in their places’) devoid of all urge to advance, and incapable either of positive development or of retreat from a wrong course.”
If the passage is taken in the allegorical sense, then the above holds water.
The Salaf, however, offered a contextual explanation, as in Tabari and others, viz. the unbelievers wanted to attack the Prophet as he offered prayers in the Grand Mosque. Allah prevented them by blinding the eyes of some, so that they failed to spot the Prophet, and froze the movements of others to prevent them from advancing towards him.
وَمَنْ نُعَمِّرْهُ نُنَكِّسْهُ فِي الْخَلْقِ ۖ أَفَلَا يَعْقِلُونَ (68)
(36:68) And, to whomsoever We grant long life, We reverse him in creation;55 then, will they not think?56
55. So that, as the age advances, man begins to lose physical and mental powers in the same measures in which he gained them at first.
First memory wanes, then physical strength and vigor decline, and finally, all mental powers are lost, so that he becomes, if he lived long enough, the infant that he was when he came into this world – helplessly lying in the bed, surviving on liquids, not knowing when he relieves himself, and unable to recognize anyone - until death comes as a relief, to him and to those who are tested through him.
How many dutiful sons and daughters have not prayed for the death of their invalid parents?! (Au.).
No wonder, as Qurtubi notes, the Prophet himself prayed to be spared advanced old age.
His prayer-words – futile to look for in any other religious system - as recorded by Muslim and reported by Zayd b. al-Arqam are: Zayd said, “I will not say anything to you but what the Prophet used to say, ‘O Allah, I seek Your protection from incapacity, sloth, cowardice, senescence, and punishment in the grave. O Allah, award my soul its piety and cleanse it, for You are the best of those who cleanse. You are its protector and its trustee. O Allah, I seek your protection from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that does not fear, from a base self that cannot be satiated, and a supplication that is not answered” (Au.).
56. This verse is related to the previous two verses where Allah spoke of transformation. Now, if someone wonders how humans can be transformed, then, ‘let them consider how we transform them during their different phases of life, particularly the last phase of complete helplessness’ (Shabbir).
وَمَا عَلَّمْنَاهُ الشِّعْرَ وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُ ۚ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ وَقُرْآنٌ مُبِينٌ (69)
(36:69) And, We have not taught him poetry,57 nor does it befit him.58 It is only a reminder and a clear recitation.
57. Has poetry ever brought such transformation in the lives of the people as brought about by the Qur’ān? The Qur’ān created such monumental social institutions that last to this day. What poet ever achieved a fraction of this? It was to disallow any doubts on this score that although even slave-girls of the Quraysh were poets, the Prophet could not quote correctly a single poetical line, far from making up his own, except that he had to be always corrected (Shabbir).
Asad points to a major difference between the Qur’ān and poetical creations:
“.. we have here an allusion to the allegation of Muhammad’s opponents, in his own as well as later times, that what he described as divine revelation was in reality an outcome of his own poetical invention.
This the Qur’ān refutes by alluding to the fundamental difference between poetry – especially Arabic poetry – and divine revelation as exemplified by the Qur’ān: whereas in the former the meaning is often subordinated to the rhythm and the melody of the language, in the Qur’ān the exact opposite is the case, inasmuch as here the choice of words, their sound and their position in the sentence – and, hence, its rhythm and melody – are always subordinated to the meaning intended.”
Qatadah said that `A’isha was asked whether the Prophet ever said poetry.
She replied, “The most despised thing to him! Yet, occasionally he would quote a line, but all wrong.
Abu Bakr would offer correction and he would say, ‘I think I am incapable of doing it right, and it does not befit me that I should say poetry” (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
Although the Prophet admitted, as in Bukhari, reported by Ubayy b. Ka`b that, “Surely, some poetry contains wisdom” (Razi and others).
We also have Bayhaqi recording that when the Prophet met `Abbas b.
Mirdas he told him, “Are you not the one who said, `Abbas corrected him, “But rather it is, The Prophet remarked (perhaps to Mirdas’ discomfiture), “It’s all the same” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).
What he meant by saying “It’s all the same” is that so far as the meaning was concerned, it made no difference whether you said, `Uyayna and Aqra`, or Aqra’ and `Uyayna.” But it is the rhyme which matters, without which a line is not poetry (Au.).
Ibn Kathir reports Sha`bi as having said, “There was not anyone in the family of `Abd al-Muttalib (the Prophet’s grandfather), neither male nor female, but who said poetry ex cept the Prophet.”
Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir give some more examples of how the Prophet invariably got mixed up while quoting poetry. For example, he tried to quote the second-half line of Tarafah and said, But the correct version runs as follows:
There are a few lines that have been attributed to the Prophet as the nearest he came to saying poetry. One of them he said at the time of the digging of the Trench. They are, But these are not the Prophet’s own lines. It is `Abdullah ibn Rawaha who had composed them. Further, the Prophet did not sing the lines.
He only joined the chorus at the end of the lines (Ibn Kathir).
Nonetheless, writes Kashshaf, and, following him, Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir, two instances of the Prophet saying what could be considered as poetry could be cited. One, when he injured his finger. The report is in the Sahihayn. He said: Are you but a finger that has bled? And received what you did in Allah’s way? And another when he said in Hunayn: I am a Prophet, that is no lie I am the son of `Abd al-Muttalib.
These are, however, extempore utterances that are not poetical pieces, but at best, smack of poetry. Many non-poets, writing prose, delivering sermons, or composing proverbs, have uttered rhythmical lines although ordinarily they never said poetry nor anyone thought they had become poets. Occasional stitching, as Qurtubi remarks, does not convert a man into a tailor.
[It might also be noted that no one said poetry under imminent threat to his life, as was the situation in Hunayn, when the need was to quickly move away from the dangerous situation rather than say poetry. Further, such composition is the share of every Arab with some mastery over the language, without being a poet; such is the characteristic of the language itself. Note for example the following lines that Imām Ghazali, a dry Sufi, wrote in the introduction to one of the chapters. We have split the prose lines to make the point, The lines go on filling quarter of a large page, flowing out effortlessly here, as at the beginning of every chapter of his book “The Revival of Islamic Sciences”:Au.].
In fact, Ibn Kathir continues, the Prophet did not approve of poetry for himself, although he accepted it from his Companions, especially those who inveighed against the pagans.
As for himself, we have a report in Abu Da’ud, `Abdullah ibn `Amr said that he heard the Prophet say, “I would not care for what I brought if I drank the potion, or hung an amulet or composed poetry on my own.” And, back to the hadīth text, what the Prophet meant by saying, “I would not care for what I brought...” is, ‘it would not matter whether I brought revelation or not if I believed in potions, amulets or poetry.’ Since they stand in contrast to the Qur’ān and its message.
[Scholars have explained that by “the potion” he meant that medication which contains, in any quantity, the unlawful, although he allowed it to his followers. As regards amulet, it is such of them he disapproved of that contain pagan lines, or words that smack of idolatry. Otherwise, if it is Qur’ānic verses, it is allowable, although Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi has said that wearing amulet is not the Sunnah, but rather recitation is. On the other hand Khattabi did not see anything wrong if it contains Qur’ānic verses. Finally, the report itself (of Abu Da’ud above) is not too strong: `Awn al-Ma`bud - Au.].
58. Majid brings out a fine point of distinction between what the apparent words suggest as the objection raised by the pagans, and what in actual fact they could have meant. He writes, “This is said in answer to the pagans who held the holy Prophet to be a poet. Now, a poet in their parlance, did not mean a versifier. Poetry according to them, as according to most primitive peoples, was not a fine art, but a sort of magical utterance, inspired by powers from the Unseen: and the poet in their estimation was more allied to soothsayer than to a literary composer. ‘The Arabian poet (Shaa`ir), as the name indicates, was originally one endowed with knowledge hidden from the common man, which he acknowledge he received from a demon, his special Shaytan (Satan). As a poet he was in league with the unseen powers and could by his curses bring evil upon the enemy. Satire was therefore a very early form of Arabian poetry‘ (Hitti, op.cit. p.94f ).”
لِيُنْذِرَ مَنْ كَانَ حَيًّا وَيَحِقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ (70)
(36:70) That he may warn him who is alive,59 and the word may be realized against the unbelievers.60
59. Yusuf Ali almost paraphrases Tabari’s words, “‘Alive’, both in English and Arabic, means not only ‘having physical life’, but having all the active qualities which we associate with life. In religious language, those who are not responsive to the realities of the spiritual world are no better than those who are dead.
The Message of Allah penetrates the hearts of those who are alive in the spiritual sense. ”
60. That is, the word of punishment, that whoever denied out of contumacy shall be punished (Au.).
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا خَلَقْنَا لَهُمْ مِمَّا عَمِلَتْ أَيْدِينَا أَنْعَامًا فَهُمْ لَهَا مَالِكُونَ (71)
(36:71) Have they not seen how We have created for them among things that Our Hands fashioned:61 cattle, of which they are masters?62
61. Usage of the words “Our Hands” is only figurative (Zamakhshari), meaning “handiwork”; and the intent is, “Our Hands fashioned” without involvement of any other, implying, in other words, ‘created them, all by Himself ’ (Thanwi).
62. So that, a herd of a hundred camels can be lined up and driven from place to place by a little boy (Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir in effect). In fact, they can be lined up for slaughter taking place right before their eyes, but, do not bolt away en-masse, except for the individual’s struggle when the knife is actually applied (Au.).
The Qur’ān characterizes unbelievers as “qawmun la ya`qilun.” Domestication of animals is an example and draws some curious explanations from the scientists since domestication works against the Darwinian theory of evoLūtion. How does one explain the presence of tcattle among the humankind? The answer given by the respected community of scientists is that they came into homes by accident and then decided to stay on. It was easier to get fed here rather than in the forests where they had to compete for food, kill or get killed. But why only the cattle, and, in addition, cats and dogs? Why not the beautiful antelopes? Or the cutelooking rabbits? Or the much loved parrots? Why do the birds fly off after ten years in the cage, where they do not have to compete for food nor get snatched by an eagle, but rather, as in zoos, live with the whole family, parents and children, twittering morning and evening? And the cat, that turns up home after a decade, dropped a thousand miles away by a tired master? And how about goats? Did they escape from the tiger, who only feasted on one of the flock, and chose to live with man who feasts on not one, but the entire flock, generation after generation, slaughtered mercilessly? Someone could perhaps suggest to the scientists to cage up one of wild animals – tigers, jackals, sparrows - and then see whether it will return when released in a forest after twenty years of captivity. They could also try and domesticate jackals, and after a decade line up a hundred of them to lead them out to the parallel street, not for slaughter, but as proof of their stupid explanations. They will say, “Ah, the process requires millions of years.” Yes, yes. Millions of years! How true. He forgets that he claims in his other books that the oldest Man has not been around here for more than 100,000 years. Or, is he honest? Alright, 100,000 years.
But the parrot has been in the cage for 100,000 years. Open the cage and see whether it flies faster or the evoLūtionist’s intellect flies off faster.
How true the Qur’ān: “innahum qawmun la ya`qilun” (Au.).
وَذَلَّلْنَاهَا لَهُمْ فَمِنْهَا رَكُوبُهُمْ وَمِنْهَا يَأْكُلُونَ (72)
(36:72) And We subdued them unto them, so that some of them are for their ride, while some of them they eat.63
63. Hence we have been instructed to say when we mount one of them (43: 13),
“Blessed is the One who subdued this to us, although we could not have subdued it (ourselves)” - Zamakhshari.
وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ وَمَشَارِبُ ۖ أَفَلَا يَشْكُرُونَ (73)
(36:73) And for them there are in them (other) benefits, and drinks. Will they not then give thanks?
وَاتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لَعَلَّهُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ (74)
(36:74) Yet they have taken deities other than Allah for worship,64 hoping that they might be helped.
64. “... alluding .. to objects of worship consciously conceived as such – i.e., idols, imaginary deities, deified persons, saints, etc., - as well as to abstract concepts like power, wealth or ‘luck’, which may not be consciously ‘worshipped’ but are nevertheless often revered in an almost idolatrous fashion” (Asad).
لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ (75)
(36:75) (But) they are not capable of helping them, in fact, they are (merely) a host of theirs who will be brought up (for judgment).65
65. There have been two opinions.
Mujahid said that the deities (forces) as well as their worshippers will be presented for judgment. But Qatadah believed that the allusion is to the devotees who believe in false gods (forces), in whose defense they are ready to fight in this world, but which themselves will be brought forth before them for judgment (Ibn Jarir).
Qatadah’s opinion has been strengthened by that of Hasan al-Busri (Ibn Kathir).
In Shabbir’s words: Far from these false deities helping them out on the Judgment day, they will in fact, get their devotees arrested.
Mujahid’s opinion is supported by the ahadīth. One in Tirmidhi is on the authority of Abu Hurayrah. The Prophet said, “Allah will gather together the people in one plain. Then the Lord of the world will appear before them and say, ‘Will not every man follow what he was worshipping?’ Then, for him who had worshipped the Cross, He will present his Cross (as a living god). He who worshipped an image, He will present him his image.
He who worshipped the fire, He will present him his fire. Then those who worshipped them will follow them (into Hellfire). Only Muslims will remain.”
Similar reports are in other works such as Muslim (Qurtubi).
Yusuf Ali comments: “There is some difference of opinion among Commentators as to the exact meaning to be attached to this clause. As I understand it, the meaning seems to be this. Man is apt to forget or turn away from the true God, the source of all the good which he enjoys, and to go after imaginary powers in the shape of gods, heroes, men, or abstract things like Science or Nature or Philosophy, or superstitious things like Magic, or Good-Fortune or Ill- Fortune, or embodiments of his own selfish desires. He thinks that they might help him in this Life or in the Hereafter (if he believes in a Hereafter).
But they cannot help him: on the contrary all things that are false will be brought up and condemned before Allah’s Judgment-seat, and the worshippers of the Falsehoods will also be treated as a troop favouring the Falsehoods and therefore worthy of condemnation. The Falsehoods, therefore, instead of helping them, will contribute to their condemnation.”
فَلَا يَحْزُنْكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّا نَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ (76)
(36:76) So, let not their words grieve you. Verily, We know what they conceal and what they reveal.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الْإِنْسَانُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ (77)
(36:77) Has not man seen that We created him of a sperm-drop? And lo! there he is, an open adversary.66
66. “Disputant” is another possible connotation of the textual word “khasim” (Zamakhshari). “... Razi equates here the term ‘khasim’ (lit. ‘contender in argument’) with the highest manifestation of what is described as ‘natiq’ (articulate [or ‘rational’] being)” – Asad.
(The Prophet drove home the main point expressed in this verse quite effectively). It has been recorded by Ahmad and Ibn Majah on the authority of Busr b. Jahhaash the Qurashi that, The Prophet spat in the palm of his hand and then placing his index finger in it said, “Allah Most High says, ‘How can you, O son of Adam, frustrate Me when I created you from something like this? But when your spirit reaches here’ – pointing to the throat (i.e., when death approaches – ‘you say, “(Now) I expend in charity.” But where is the time for charity?’“ The above report is from Ibn Majah which Haythami treated as Sahih.
Ahmad has a longer version (Au.).
Ibn Kathir presents another hadīth on this topic which comes from the Sahihayn. It says, “When death approached a man, and he lost all hopes of life he instructed his folks, ‘When I am dead, collect together for me a lot of wood, set it ablaze until when it has eaten my flesh and has reached my bones burning it all, then wait for a windy day and scatter it all in a river.’ They did (as told). Allah gathered him together and asked, ‘Why did you do it?” He answered, ‘Out of Your fear.’ So Allah forgave him.”
`Uqbah b. `Aamir added, ”I heard him say, ‘He was a coffin-shroud thief.’
وَضَرَبَ لَنَا مَثَلًا وَنَسِيَ خَلْقَهُ ۖ قَالَ مَنْ يُحْيِي الْعِظَامَ وَهِيَ رَمِيمٌ (78)
(36:78) He strikes for Us an example, and forgets his own creation.67 He says, ‘Who will quicken the bones when they are decomposed?’68
67. That is, one who disputes against the quickening of the dead forgets his own creation, how he was a mere drop of sperm to which Allah gave the powers of speech and intellect (Ibn Jarir).
Asad more or less expands on the same theme in modernistic terms: “Lit., ‘he coins for us a simile (mathal)’ – an elliptic allusion to the unwillingness of ‘those who deny the truth’ to conceive of a transcendental Being, fundamentally different from all that is graspable to by man’s sense of imagination, and having powers beyond all comparison with those which are available to any of the created beings.. Since they are enmeshed in a materialistic outlook on life, such people deny – as the sequence shows – all possibility of resurrection, which amounts to denial of God’s creative powers and, in the final analysis, of His existence.”
68. The following incident became the cause of revelation of this verse.
Ubayy b. Khalaf went up to the Prophet with a piece of decayed bone. He crushed it to powder with his fingers and scattering them in the air asked, “Muhammad, who will gather these together and quicken it?” The Prophet answered, “Allah.
He will give it new life. Moreover, He will deal you death, quicken you, and then cast you into the Fire.” Allah revealed this verse, and, ironically, it was the Prophet who killed Ubayy at Badr.
But there is difference in the identity of the person. Some said it was `As b.
Wa’il al-Sahmi. A third opinion, attributed to Ibn `Abbas is that it was `Abdullah b. Ubayy (Ibn Jarir).
Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir attribute the identity of Ubayy b. Khalaf ’s to Ibn `Abbas.
Ibn Kathir discounts the report which names `Abdullah b. Ubayy since the chapter is Makkan while `Abdullah was a Madinan. (The confusion, because of similarity in names - `Abdullah b. Ubayy and Ubayy b. Khalaf - is understandable: Au.). Reports in Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Marduwayh, Bayhaqi and Hakim, who declared it Sahih, agree on Ibn `Abbas identifying `As b. Al-Wa’il as the one involved (Shawkani).
قُلْ يُحْيِيهَا الَّذِي أَنْشَأَهَا أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ خَلْقٍ عَلِيمٌ (79)
(36:79) Say, ‘He will quicken them who created them the first time. He is, of all creation, knowing.‘
الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ الْأَخْضَرِ نَارًا فَإِذَا أَنْتُمْ مِنْهُ تُوقِدُونَ (80)
(36:80) He who made for you of the green trees fire, and behold, from it you kindle.69
69. The allusion is to the practice of campers rubbing two twigs together to obtain a spark. It is said that there was a plant, whose twigs, despite dripping with water, yielded spark (Au.) Asad adds: “...evidently an allusion to the metamorphosis of green – i.e., water containing – plants into fuel, be it through desiccation or manmade carbonization (charcoal), or by millennial, subterranean process of decomposition into oil or coal.”
Yusuf Ali expands: “Even older and more primitive than the method of striking fire against steel and flint is the method of using twigs of trees for the purpose.. The Arab method was to use a wooden instrument called the Zinad. It consisted of two pieces to be rubbed together. The upper one was called the `Afar or Zand, and the lower the Markh. The markh is a twig from a kind of spreading tree, the Cynanchuin viminale, of which the branches are bare, without leaves or thorns. When they are tangled together, and wind blows, they get ignited and strike fire (Lane’s Arabic Lexicon). In modern Arabic Zand is by analogy applied to the flint pierce used for striking fire with steel.”
But not always did the Arabs depend on Zand. They simply rubbed together two twigs – usually either from Markh or `Afar – to obtain fire.
This is reported as the statement of Ibn `Abbas (Ibn Kathir).
أَوَلَيْسَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُمْ ۚ بَلَىٰ وَهُوَ الْخَلَّاقُ الْعَلِيمُ (81)
(36:81) Is He not then, who created the heavens and the earth, able to create the likes of them? Yes indeed. He is the All-knowing, the Great Creator.
إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ (82)
(36:82) His only command when He wishes a thing, is to say to it, ‘Be,’ and (lo) it is.70
70. Ibn Kathir quotes in brief a report in Ahmad that we reproduce in full here. It speaks of the extent of Allah’s Power: The Prophet reports Allah as having said, “O My slaves, all of you are in error except he whom I guided.
Therefore, ask guidance of Me, I shall guide you. All of you are poor except he on whom I bestowed.
Therefore, ask me I shall bestow on you. All of you are sinners except he whom I saved.
Therefore, whoever of you knew that I have the power to forgive, and sought My forgiveness, I forgive him and do not care. If the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, became altogether like the most pious of My slaves, it will not increase in My dominion by the weight of a gnat. And if the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, became altogether like the most wicked of My slaves, it will not decrease in My dominion by the weight of a gnat. And, if the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, were to gather together in a field and each of them asked Me for the most that he can imagine, and I gave to every petitioner of you, it will not decrease in My kingdom by aught except that if one of you were to pass by an ocean and dip a needle and then pull it out. That is because I am the Great Bestower, Creator, Exalted, do what I want. My giving is merely My word, as My chastisement is merely My word. Indeed My affair, when I decree a thing to be is to say, ‘Be’, and it is.”
The above report is from Tirmidhi who declared it of Hasan status although it has its corroborators coming through other chains (Ibn Kathir).
Some people have difficulty in understanding this verse. How could Allah address a thing which is not yet in existence? There are two answers.
One, Allah chose this manner of expression to impress on us His creative power: it does not take much for Him to create. He can do it in a moment. Second, the thing to be created is already in His knowledge to which He says “Be”, and it comes into existence. The conversion of an idea into a thing needs no more than a word of command (Au.).
فَسُبْحَانَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ مَلَكُوتُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ (83)
(36:83) So glory to Him in whose hands is the realm of every thing, and unto whom you will be returned.71
71. What is the meaning of the word “malakut?” Zamakhshari answers that the meaning is the same as that of “mulk” meaning “dominion.”
Ibn Kathir adds: It is constructed on the same pattern as “jabarut” from “jabr”. He disagrees with the notion that “mulk” is for the physical world while “malakut” for the world of spirits.
[In contrast, “malakuti” is used in the sense of “divine,” or “heavenly”, as against the physical world (“malakut”),
especially in Sufi terminology:Au.].
In any case, the word “malakut” has been used by the Prophet also. It is from Ahmad. Hudhayfah (ra) says, “One night I joined the Prophet as he stood in Prayer. He recited the seven long chapters of the Qur’ān (Surah 2-8) in seven cycles (raka`at).
When he raised his head from the deep bow (ruku`) he would say, ‘Allah hears him who praises him,’ and then add, ‘Praise to the owner of dominion, power, Pride and Greatness.‘ His ruku` was similar (in length) to that of his standing posture (qiyam), and his prostration was like his deep bow. (He left after the Prayer) but my legs were as if broken” (Ibn Kathir).