Surah No. 72

Introduction

Merits of the Surah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ قُلْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ أَنَّهُ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا قُرْآنًا عَجَبًا (1)

(72:1) Say, ‘It has been revealed to me that a group of the Jinn listened¹ and then said, “Indeed, we have heard an amazing recitation.

1. Basing his opinion on this verse, Ibn `Abbas said that the Prophet never met nor saw the Jinn. But Ibn Mas`ud’s reports say he did. Now, Ibn Mas`ud’s report is that of a witness, whereas, Ibn `Abbas’ opinion is that of a deductive type. Therefore, Ibn Mas`ud’s version prevails (Qurtubi).

Mufti Shafi` clarifies that since the verse here does not specifically say that the Prophet did not see the Jinn, the allusion in the verse could be to the occasion when he was returning from his Ta’if mission, where he was rejected. He spent the night at Nakhlah, where, while he was performing Fajr prayer reciting aloud, a group of Jinn passed by, listened to his recitation, and submitted to the Call. (On that occasion the Prophet did not see the Jinn). On the other hand, Ibn Mas`ud’s report is speaking of another incident. Working through trustworthy reports, `Allamah Khifaji has deducted that there were altogether six occasions when the Jinn met the Prophet.

Ibn Mas`ud’s report is indirectly confirmed by a report in Bukhari. It says,

(In part of a longer report, Abu Hurayrah) said, “What is it (that you reject) bones and dung?” The Prophet answered, “They are food for the Jinn. A delegation of the Nasibin Jinn had been to me - and what a nice group of Jinn they were - and asked me for provision. I prayed to Allah that they may not pass by a bone or dung but should find food upon them” (Au.).

Nasibin were the name of two towns: one in Iraq, another in Yemen (Qurtubi).

A detailed explanation of the Prophet’s encounter with the Jinn has been presented at ayah 27 of Surah al-Ahqaf (Au.).

يَهْدِي إِلَى الرُّشْدِ فَآمَنَّا بِهِ ۖ وَلَنْ نُشْرِكَ بِرَبِّنَا أَحَدًا (2)

(72:2) It leads to rectitude, and so we believed in it. Therefore, we shall never associate any with our Lord.²

2. In other words, we shall never return to paganism again. (Zamakhshari).

وَأَنَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ جَدُّ رَبِّنَا مَا اتَّخَذَ صَاحِبَةً وَلَا وَلَدًا (3)

(72:3) And He - exalted be our Lord’s Majesty³ – has not taken (unto Himself) either a wife or a son.

3. “Jaddu rabbina” has been explained by Ibn `Abbas as meaning: His acts, His commands and His Powers (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). Other explanations match with our translation (Au.).

Imam Razi points out that the word has been used in a hadith (of the Sahihayn: Au.),

That is, “No rich man’s wealth is of any avail against You.”

وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ سَفِيهُنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ شَطَطًا (4)

(72:4) And that the foolish ones amongst us used to fasten extravagant lies on Allah.

وَأَنَّا ظَنَنَّا أَنْ لَنْ تَقُولَ الْإِنْسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا (5)

(72:5) While we had thought that men and Jinn would never fasten a lie upon Allah.⁴

4. That is, we did not imagine that the Jinn and humans would fasten a lie upon Allah when they ascribed partners unto Him (Zamakhshari, Razi and others).

Thus, it was their attitude of refusal to be with those who fasten lies upon Allah that led them to belief in Him when they heard the fresh call (Sayyid).

وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًا (6)

(72:6) And that there were some men among mankind who took refuge with some men among the Jinn,⁵ and they increased them in folly.⁶

5. The allusion is to a pagan practice. When one of them had to spend a night in a valley, he would say, “I seek the refuge of the chief of the Jinn of this valley” (Ibn Jarir from Ibn `Abbas and others, Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

6. Thus encouraged, the Jinn felt themselves superior to men and added fear and folly to men through phantasm and trickery to maintain their status among them (Zamakhshari, Ibn Kathir).

And, Ibn Abi Hatim documented Ibn Abi Sa’ib al-Ansari as saying, “Once we started off from Madinah those days when the Prophet had just begun his mission. We spent a night in a valley with one of the shepherds. At midnight a wolf snatched one of his sheep. The shepherd jumped and said, “O leader of the Jinn, your neighbor” (Meaning, “after all, I am your neighbor”). They heard a voice saying, “O Sirhan, release her.” The sheep returned unscratched.

Shawkani traces the report to Ibn al-Mundhir, Abu Sheikh, Ibn Marduwayh and Ibn `Asakir, but its authenticity could not be traced (Au.).

After quoting the above, Ibn Kathir remarks that most probably the wolf was actually a Jinn.

Ibn Zayd added that after Islam came, they began to seek the refuge of Allah (Ibn Jarir).

وَأَنَّهُمْ ظَنُّوا كَمَا ظَنَنْتُمْ أَنْ لَنْ يَبْعَثَ اللَّهُ أَحَدًا (7)

(72:7) They too imagined, as you imagined, that Allah will never send any (Messenger).⁷

7. That is, some men of the Jinn also believed, as some men among the pagans believed, that Allah will never raise a Messenger (Ibn Jarir).

وَأَنَّا لَمَسْنَا السَّمَاءَ فَوَجَدْنَاهَا مُلِئَتْ حَرَسًا شَدِيدًا وَشُهُبًا (8)

(72:8) And that we pried into the heaven but found it filled with stern guards and flaming missiles.⁸

8. Clouds seem to be the upper limit of the Jinn-reach into space. A hadith of Bukhari seems to be fixing this limit. It says,

`A’isha reports that she heard the Prophet say, “Angels descend down into the clouds and mention the affairs decreed in the heaven. The Shayatin steal the news and deliver them to the soothsayers. They add a hundred lies to it from their side.”

However, a report in Muslim indicates that this happens in the first firmament. To be sure, Muslim’s report could be reconciled with the one above by saying that decrees are first announced in the first firmament, before they are discussed in the clouds from where the devils pick up a piece or two (Mufti Shafi`).

Although Shafi` has a point, it seems the hadith is telling us about the place where the devils pick up news of the heavens, as angels come down to execute them; it is not telling us the limits of Jinn outreach. (Au.).

وَأَنَّا كُنَّا نَقْعُدُ مِنْهَا مَقَاعِدَ لِلسَّمْعِ ۖ فَمَنْ يَسْتَمِعِ الْآنَ يَجِدْ لَهُ شِهَابًا رَصَدًا (9)

(72:9) And surely, earlier we used to sit in some of its stations for eavesdropping. But whosoever listens now, finds for himself a flaming missile in ambush.⁹

9. Ibn Kathir writes that the Shayatin used to be pelted with fiery missiles even earlier than during the phase of Qur’anic revelation, though less frequently. But, with the advent of the Prophet, they were chased harder. Bukhari, Muslim and others have preserved the report that when they were altogether prevented from picking news, they reported back to Iblis who told them surely something new must have happened that they are being prevented from previous places of watch. He sent them across to search out whether any new event had taken place. They passed by the Prophet in Nakhlah, heard him recite the Qur’an during the Fajr Prayer, and reported back to their kind warning them (Shawkani and others).

Majid reconfirms from history. He writes, “It is a fact too curious to be overlooked by history that a century or two before the birth of the holy Prophet, the ancient oracles found themselves gradually and automatically becoming dumb – a fitting prelude to the advent of Islam. Even the voice of the great Delphi Oracle, so well-known and so important to antiquity, became still. ‘As a force in history it had long lost all power; in the first century after Christ, Delphi and Ammon had given place to Chaldean astrologers, as Strabo and Juvenal agree in saying, and Plutarch wrote a treatise inquiring into the reason; and in the fourth century, when Julian sent to consult the Delphic Oracle, the last response was uttered for him: “Tell the king, to earth has fallen the beautiful mansion; no longer has Phoebus a home, nor a prophetic laurel, nor a fort that speaks; gone dry is the talking water.’” (DB. V. p. 155).”

Sayyid offers a rejoinder: “As to where exactly the guardians take their places in space, who are they, how exactly are the ‘shihab’ shot at them, are details that the Qur’an did not elaborate upon, and hence are such details as knowing them will not add to our store of useful knowledge…

“Nor is there room for asking the functions of the ‘shihab.’ The meteorites have been there from the beginning, and will be there in future. Are they the missiles pelted at the devils? We do not know and need not inquire.

“Yet, those who see nothing in such Qur’anic statements, including the measures appointed by Allah to prevent corruption of His message, are not right in their such suppositions. The problem with these people is that they approach the Qur’an with prejudiced minds filled with ideas borrowed from sources other than the Qur’an. They attempt to understand the Qur’an in the light of the ideas they bring from sources other than it. Therefore, they see angels as representing goodness and obedience, the devils as representing evil and disobedience, the shooting of missiles as metaphorically speaking of measures of safety and preservation. This is because, the ideas and system of thought that they bring with them when they approach the Qur’an, do not allow for the existence in reality of angels, devils and Jinn.

The right approach to understanding the Qur’an and its explanation is to come free of concepts, intellectual presumptions, or ideas embedded at the sub-conscious level. They must rather build their entire thought-system based on nothing but what the Qur’an and Hadith have to state as realities. Further, (if there is a conflict between human thought and revelations), then, none other than the Qur’an and Hadith should be the arbitrators; no outside point of reference can be allowed to judge; and nothing can be denied or subjected to interpretation which the Qur’an affirms in clear terms, nor should anything be confirmed as true which the Qur’an denies or declares as falsehood. It is only in matters which are not clearly affirmed by the Qur’an or rejected in clear terms that one can hypothesize and seek the truth in the light of logic and sound reasoning.”

وَأَنَّا لَا نَدْرِي أَشَرٌّ أُرِيدَ بِمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَمْ أَرَادَ بِهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ رَشَدًا (10)

(72:10) And so we know not whether evil is intended for those on the earth, or their Lord intends for them rectitude.

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الصَّالِحُونَ وَمِنَّا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ كُنَّا طَرَائِقَ قِدَدًا (11)

(72:11) And that, among us some are righteous while others among us are otherwise: we have been of divergent ways.¹⁰

10. That is, some of us are believers while others are not (Ibn Kathir and others).

Suddi (and others) said that among the Jinn the same kind of sects and divisions are found as among men, such as, Jews, Christians, the Qadariyyah, Rawafidh, Khawarij, etc. (Imam Razi).

وَأَنَّا ظَنَنَّا أَنْ لَنْ نُعْجِزَ اللَّهَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَنْ نُعْجِزَهُ هَرَبًا (12)

(72:12) But we think we can never frustrate Allah in the earth, nor can we escape Him by flight.¹¹

11. That is, we can neither frustrate Him on the earth nor fly away from it into space (Zamakhshari).

وَأَنَّا لَمَّا سَمِعْنَا الْهُدَىٰ آمَنَّا بِهِ ۖ فَمَنْ يُؤْمِنْ بِرَبِّهِ فَلَا يَخَافُ بَخْسًا وَلَا رَهَقًا (13)

(72:13) Therefore, when we heard the guidance, we believed in it. Indeed, whosoever believes in his Lord, may fear neither deprivation nor a burden.¹²

12. Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said the meaning is: whoever believed may not fear any diminution of his good deeds nor any addition upon his evil deeds (Ibn Jarir).

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الْمُسْلِمُونَ وَمِنَّا الْقَاسِطُونَ ۖ فَمَنْ أَسْلَمَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ تَحَرَّوْا رَشَدًا (14)

(72:14) And that, among us some have submitted, while others are deviated. Then, those who submitted, they have sought rectitude.

وَأَمَّا الْقَاسِطُونَ فَكَانُوا لِجَهَنَّمَ حَطَبًا (15)

(72:15) As for the deviated ones, they have become fuel for Jahannum.”’

وَأَنْ لَوِ اسْتَقَامُوا عَلَى الطَّرِيقَةِ لَأَسْقَيْنَاهُمْ مَاءً غَدَقًا (16)

(72:16) Yet, had they been steadfast on the path,¹³ We would have given them water to drink in abundance.¹⁴

13. That is, the path of Islam: Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Sa`eed b. Jubayr, Sa`eed b. al-Musayyib and others (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

14. That is, after having declared faith, had they remained steady with Islam, Allah would have bestowed on them – the Jinn – abundant potable water (Ibn Jarir from Mujahid and others); while some others interpreted the “water” of the verse with “provision” `Umar (ra) remarked, “Wherever there is water, there is wealth, and wherever there is wealth, there is corruption.” This is in keeping with other verses of this nature. Allah said,

“Had they established the Tawrah and Injil, and what was sent down to them from their Lord, surely, they would have eaten from their above and from below their feet.”

The ayah could have been aimed at the Makkans from whom Islam had received similar response: some believing, others not, and the unbelievers were undergoing a seven year drought (Ibn Kathir and others).

لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ ۚ وَمَنْ يُعْرِضْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ رَبِّهِ يَسْلُكْهُ عَذَابًا صَعَدًا (17)

(72:17) So that We might test them thereby. Nevertheless, whoever turned away from the remembrance of his Lord, He shall thrust him into a rigorous chastisement.¹⁵

15. Or, an ever-increasing, rising chastisement. (Ibn Jarir from Ibn `Abbas).

وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا (18)

(72:18) And that places of worship are for Allah alone, therefore, invoke not any besides Him.¹⁶

16. It is reported that when Jews and Christians entered their places of worship, they worshipped other than Allah and hence this ayah (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

The above is the meaning of the majority. But two other meanings are possible for the word “masajid”: (i) Prostration, meaning, all prostrations should be reserved for Allah alone, and (ii) those parts of the body on which a man rests when in prostration: the two feet, knees, hands, and nose - in all seven bones. (Razi).

وَأَنَّهُ لَمَّا قَامَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ يَدْعُوهُ كَادُوا يَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِ لِبَدًا (19)

(72:19) And that when the slave of Allah stood invoking Him, they were well-nigh upon him in swarms.¹⁷

17. That is, when the Prophet (and his followers) stood in Prayers in the Haram, pagan men and Jinn surrounded him in swarms in amazement (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَدْعُو رَبِّي وَلَا أُشْرِكُ بِهِ أَحَدًا (20)

(72:20) Say, ‘I invoke my Lord alone, and associate not any with Him.’¹⁸

18. The newly witnessed Prayer amazed them, but when anger overtook them, they began to press on the Prophet to give up his mission and re-join them. This verse could be in response to that situation (Ibn Kathir, differently worded).

قُلْ إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا رَشَدًا (21)

(72:21) Say, ‘I have no power to cause you harm or rectitude.’

قُلْ إِنِّي لَنْ يُجِيرَنِي مِنَ اللَّهِ أَحَدٌ وَلَنْ أَجِدَ مِنْ دُونِهِ مُلْتَحَدًا (22)

(72:22) Say, ‘No one will ever protect me from Allah, nor will I ever find, apart from Him, a refuge.

إِلَّا بَلَاغًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِسَالَاتِهِ ۚ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَإِنَّ لَهُ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا (23)

(72:23) Save deliverance from Allah,¹⁹ and His Messages. And, whoso disobeyed Allah and His Messenger, he shall indeed have the Fire of Jahannum, abiding therein forever.’

19. That is, “I have no power of good or evil for you, except that I am but able to deliver the messages of Allah (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا رَأَوْا مَا يُوعَدُونَ فَسَيَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ أَضْعَفُ نَاصِرًا وَأَقَلُّ عَدَدًا (24)

(72:24) Until when they see that which they are promised, then they will surely know who is weaker in helpers and fewer in numbers.

قُلْ إِنْ أَدْرِي أَقَرِيبٌ مَا تُوعَدُونَ أَمْ يَجْعَلُ لَهُ رَبِّي أَمَدًا (25)

(72:25) Say, ‘I know not whether what you are promised is nigh, or my Lord will appoint for it a distant term.²⁰

20. In this context we might quote a hadith preserved by Abu Da’ud:

On the authority of Sa`d b. Abi Waqqas, the Prophet used to say, “My Ummah is not weaker in the sight of my Lord, than that He should defer her by half a day.” When asked, Sa`d explained that the “half a day” allude to 500 years.

The above hadith has been explained (ref. Munawi) as referring to the Day of Judgment, where this Ummah will not be detained by 500 years. Some others have thought that it refers to the term allotted to this Ummah on this planet: 500 years.

Ibn Hajr remarked, however, that the hadith does not declare it unlikely that the deferment cannot be beyond half a day.

However, this report, which is also in other collections, has been declared weak by Haythami. But Hakim remarked, with Dhahabi agreeing with him, that this is trustworthy by the standards set by the Sheikhayn: Bukhari and Muslim. (Au).

In this connection we might mention another hadith recorded by Ahmad. It is of interest because it is in the context of the Last Hour and matches in its contents with other reports.

A narrator reports Abu Tha`labah al-Khushani, a Companion of the Prophet, as saying in Fustat during the caliphate of Mu`awiyyah, while the latter was planning an attack on Constantinople, “By Allah, this Ummah cannot be weaker (than that it should not be deferred) by half a day. So when you see in Syria that a single man’s food is (shared) by his whole family, then, that will be the time that Constantinople will fall.”

Some scholars have mooted that the time allotted to this Ummah is one day, which is 1000 years, over which another five hundred could be added. However, as Ibn Hajr notes, some scholars have thought that humans have been granted 50,000 years (i.e., one day by Allah’s count: Au.), out of which no one knows how much has passed and how much has remained.

Nonetheless, the above report matches with other reports which say that Muslims will be besieged in Syria by the (Western) Christians. Later, they will bring an army of a million, but would not be able to defeat the Muslims (Au.).

عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلَا يُظْهِرُ عَلَىٰ غَيْبِهِ أَحَدًا (26)

(72:26) Knower of the Unseen. He discloses not His Unseen to anyone.²¹

21. The above Qur’anic statement does not mean that Allah does not let anyone know any of the ghayb. A difference has to be made between “news of the ghayb (anba’ al-ghayb)”] and “al-ghayb” (the Unseen per se). Prophets are given some “news of the ghayb” such as, those pertaining to heaven and hell, angels, affairs of the Judgment Day, etc. (Thanwi, Ma`arif),

Imam Razi points out that it should not be surprising that Allah should inform something of the “news of the ghayb” to one of his slaves. (E.g., Fir`awn’s dream: Au.). However, Alusi points out, such passing of information is not revelation and not wholly dependable.

Qurtubi writes that when `Ali was about to start off for the battle (against the Khawarij), someone told him to delay his departure by three hours; otherwise he risked defeat. `Ali rebuked him saying that they did not need any fortune-teller after the Prophet’s appearance. Of course, he emerged victorious despite the prediction.

We may add that in our times while Abul Hasan Ali was in an airport waiting for his flight, a friend and follower whispered to him not to fly by that flight because he had dreamed that the craft had crashed. Abul Hasan Ali advised him not to mention his dream to anyone, and to just forget about it, because he was going fly by that aircraft anyway. Of course, he survied dozens of plane journeys after that (Au.).

إِلَّا مَنِ ارْتَضَىٰ مِنْ رَسُولٍ فَإِنَّهُ يَسْلُكُ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ رَصَدًا (27)

(72:27) Save only to such a Messenger as He approves, and is well-pleased with, in which case He sends before him and behind him watchers.’²²

22. Dahhak said that when Allah sent an angel carrying revelations, He also sent with him guards from among the angels, accompanying the Message-carrier, to ascertain that the devils do not introduce anything into the message (Ibn Jarir).

لِيَعْلَمَ أَنْ قَدْ أَبْلَغُوا رِسَالَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَحَاطَ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ وَأَحْصَىٰ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عَدَدًا (28)

(72:28) So that he may know they conveyed the messages of their Lord.²³ And He encompasses all that is with them, and He has enumerated all things in numbers.

23. That is, this system of guard-angels accompanying the message was adopted in order that the Prophet would know that the messages were delivered correctly. Ibn `Abbas however explained that the system was adopted so that the pagans should feel assured that they – the carrier-angels – had delivered the messages intact (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

Another possibility is that the pronoun is for Allah, i.e., so that “Allah knows that the message was properly delivered,” where, “Allah knows” would be taken in the sense of “Allah took care.”

There are equivalents of this method of making a statement, e.g.,

“So that Allah may know those who were truthful, and may know the liars” (Razi, Ibn Kathir).