Surah 32
(Prostration)
(Makkan Period)
Title
The word sajdah (prostration) occurs in verse 15 of this surah. The surah's title is, thus, derived from that reference.
Period of Revelation
The stylistic features of the surah seem to indicate that it must have been revealed in the early part of the middle Makkan period. This, because the discourse does not seem to be set against the backdrop of the Muslims' severe persecution which underlies the later Makkan sirahs.
Subject Matter and Themes
The surah aims to dispel people's doubts about the Islamic doc- trines of monotheism, the Hereafter and Prophethood and invites them to believe in them. The Makkan unbelievers used to say, among theinselves, that the Prophet (peace be on him) made up and then propagated strange things. He announced, for example, what would happen after death: that people will be resurrected after they had been absorbed into the earth, that they will have to face a reckoning and that there is a Paradise and Hell. He also stressed that their gods and goddesses and their holy men were of no consequence. Instead, the One True God should be the sole object of their worship and devotion. He also claimed that he was God's Messenger who received revelation from on high and that what he expounded was the Word of God rather than his own. Strange indeed were the things, they said, he sought to instruct them in. The surah thus focuses on responding to the unbelievers' contentions.
The unbelievers were asked in the surah to reflect on the truths propounded by the Qur'an. They were also asked to consider the working of the heavens and the earth and to ponder over their births, their structures and constitutions. Do these not bear out the veracity of the Prophet's message given to them through the Qur'ān? Does the working of the Universe provide any rational basis to affirm the existence of One God or is it of a multiplicity of gods? Is reflection on the Universal system as a whole not sufficient to persuade one to believe that He Who created human beings in the first instance certainly has the power to create them again?
The surah graphically portrays what will happen in the Here- after. After giving people tidings of the rewards they will receive if they choose to believe and warning them of the dire conse- quences they will face if they choose to disbelieve, the Qur'ān exhorts them to give up unbelief before they are overtaken by its evil consequences. They are also urged to embrace the teachings of the Qur'an, which are conducive to their own well-being in the World-to-Come.
They are then told that God, out of His Mercy, does not seize the wrong-doers instantly after they commit wrongs, inflicting griev- ous punishment on them. Rather, He subjects them only to minor losses, sufferings and adversities. These are intended to alert them and arouse them from their state of negligence and heedlessness. If a person wakes up as a result of these minor sufferings and injuries it is all the better for him.
The unbelievers are then told that the Scripture was not being sent to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) for the first time in history. After all, the Arabs knew that in the past the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) had received the Scripture. Thus, there was no justification for them making a big fuss about the Qur'ān's revelation. They are, however, emphatically told that the Qur'ān is certainly the Word of God; that what had happened in Moses' time as far as revelation from God is concerned had been repeated with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). Leadership from now on would be entrusted only to those who believed in the Scripture revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). As for those who rejected it, their fate was sealed.
The unbelievers' attention is then drawn to the ruins of those earlier nations that they encountered when traversing their trade routes. They are asked to ponder the tragic end of those evil-do- ing nations and to consider whether they would like to follow in their footsteps, meeting the same fate. They are also asked not to be swayed by the glittering appearance of things. True, at the time none but a few youths, slaves and poor people paid heed to the Prophet's message and a torrent of taunts and ridicule was showered upon such believers from all directions. All this had led many people to believe that Islam would not endure; that in a short while it would flop. But all this was sheer misperception. For we find over and over again that highly unexpected changes occur in the annals of history. Could the unbelievers not observe that a patch of land that had lain dead up until a moment ago was suddenly revived by a little rainfall whereby the earth began to pour out its treasure of luxuriant vegetation?
At the end of the surah, the Prophet (peace be on him) is told that the unbelievers mock his teachings. Furthermore, they derisively ask him when he will achieve the decisive victory he has been predicting. In response, the unbelievers are told that when the Day to judge between the believers and unbelievers comes, the time for acceptance of the Prophet's teaching will already have passed. So now is the right time to accept his teaching. However, if they are keen to see God's final decision, they should bide their time.