Introduction to Surah Ha-Meem As-Sajdah (Fussilat)

Name

The name of this surah is made up of two words: Ha-Meem and As-Sajdah. This means “the surah that begins with Ha-Meem and in which, at one point, there occurs a verse of prostration (sajdah).”

Period of Revelation

According to reliable reports, this surah was revealed after Hazrat Hamzah (RA) accepted Islam and before Hazrat Umar (RA) accepted Islam. Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the earliest biographer of the Prophet (peace be upon him), relates — on the authority of the well-known Tabi’i Muhammad ibn Ka’b al-Qurazi — the following account:

Once some chiefs of the Quraysh were sitting in an assembly in the Masjid al-Haram, while in another corner of the mosque the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sat alone. This was the period when Hazrat Hamzah had already embraced Islam, and the Quraysh were growing increasingly anxious at the steadily rising numbers of Muslims. At this point, Utbah ibn Rabi’ah (father-in-law of Abu Sufyan) said to the assembled Quraysh chiefs: “Gentlemen, if you agree, let me go and speak with Muhammad (peace be upon him) and put a few proposals before him. Perhaps he will accept one of them, and we in turn will accept it, so that he might give up his opposition to us.” All those present agreed, and Utbah got up and went to sit beside the Prophet (peace be upon him).

When the Prophet turned his attention to him, Utbah said: “Nephew, you know the standing you hold among your people by lineage and family. But you have brought a great calamity upon your people. You have caused division within the community, declared the whole nation foolish, disparaged the religion of your people and their gods, and made statements implying that all our forefathers were disbelievers. Now hear me out — I put some proposals before you; consider them, and perhaps you will accept one of them.” The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Abu’l-Walid, speak, I am listening.”

Utbah then said: “Nephew, if what you have set out to do is meant to gain wealth, we will together give you so much that you will become the richest among us. If you seek greatness through this, we will make you our chief. And if some jinn is troubling you that you are unable to drive off yourself, we will summon the finest physicians and have you treated at our own expense.” Utbah went on speaking in this manner while the Prophet listened in silence. He then said, “Abu’l-Walid, have you said all you wished to say?” Utbah said, “Yes.” The Prophet said, “Very well, now listen to me.”

He then recited Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim and began reciting this very surah, while Utbah sat with both hands braced behind him on the ground, listening intently. On reaching the verse of prostration (verse 38), the Prophet prostrated, then raised his head and said, “O Abu’l-Walid, you have heard my answer; now it is for you to decide what to do.”

Utbah got up and walked back toward the assembly of Quraysh chiefs. As people saw him approaching from a distance, they said, “By God, Utbah’s face has changed — this is not the face he left with.” When he sat down, they asked him, “What did you hear?” He said: “By God, I heard speech the like of which I had never heard before. By God, it is neither poetry, nor sorcery, nor soothsaying. O chiefs of Quraysh, take my advice and leave this man to himself. I believe this speech will have consequences. Consider — if the Arabs prevail over him, you will be spared from having raised your hand against your own kinsman, and others will deal with him. But if he prevails over the Arabs, then his sovereignty will be your sovereignty, and his honor will be your honor.”

On hearing this, the Quraysh chiefs exclaimed, “O father of Walid, his magic seems to have worked on you too!” Utbah replied, “I have told you my opinion; now do as you see fit.” (Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, pp. 313–314)

Several other traditionists have narrated this account, with minor verbal differences, on the authority of Hazrat Jabir ibn Abdullah as well. Some versions add that when the Prophet, in the course of his recitation, reached the verse: “But if they turn away, then say: I warn you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt that struck ‘Ad and Thamud,” Utbah involuntarily placed his hand over the Prophet’s mouth and said, “For God’s sake, have mercy on your people.” Later, he explained to the Quraysh chiefs the reason for this act, saying, “You know that whatever Muhammad says comes true — I feared that a punishment might descend upon us.” (For details, see Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. 4, pp. 90–91; Al-Bidayah wa’n-Nihayah, vol. 3, p. 62.)

Subject Matter and Themes

The discourse revealed by Allah in response to this conversation with Utbah does not engage at all with the foolish things he had said to the Prophet (peace be upon him). This is because what he had said was, in essence, an attack on the Prophet’s intentions and his intellect. Underlying all his talk was the assumption that there was, in any case, no possibility that the Prophet was truly a prophet or that the Qur’an was truly revelation — so his motive for this mission must be either a desire for wealth and power, or else — God forbid — some derangement of mind. In the first case, Utbah wished to bargain with him; in the second, he was insulting him by offering to pay for his “treatment.” When opponents descend to this level of absurdity, it is not the business of a person of dignity to answer them point by point — rather, his task is to disregard such talk entirely and simply state what he has to say.

Setting aside Utbah’s remarks altogether, this surah takes up the opposition that the disbelievers of Makkah were mounting, with extreme stubbornness and bad conduct, in order to defeat the message of the Qur’an. They would tell the Prophet: whatever you do, we will not listen to a word you say. We have placed coverings over our hearts, we have sealed our ears, and a barrier has arisen between us and you that will never let us meet.

They had given him clear notice that he could continue his mission, but that they would do everything in their power to oppose him. Their strategy to defeat him was that whenever he or any of his followers tried to recite the Qur’an to people, an uproar would immediately be raised, with enough noise made that not a word could be heard.

They were also actively engaged in twisting the meaning of Qur’anic verses to spread all kinds of misunderstanding among the public — taking what was said one way and presenting it as something else, finding crookedness in straightforward statements, lifting a word from one place and a phrase from another out of context, and mixing in fabrications of their own to manufacture new accusations, all in order to turn people’s opinion against the Qur’an and the Messenger who presented it.

They raised strange objections, one example of which is presented in this surah: they argued that if an Arab delivers a discourse in the Arabic language, what miracle is there in that? Arabic is his mother tongue; anyone can compose something in his own language and then claim it was revealed to him by God. It would have been a miracle if this man had suddenly stood up and delivered eloquent speech in some other language he did not know — only then could one conclude that this was not his own composition but was being revealed to him from above.

The essence of the response given to this blind and deaf opposition is as follows:

1. This is speech sent down by God Himself, and it is in the Arabic language. The truths set out plainly within it hold no light of knowledge for the ignorant, but those with understanding perceive this light and benefit from it. It is a mercy from God that He sent down this discourse to guide mankind; if someone regards it as a burden instead, that is his own misfortune. Good news is for those who benefit from it, and warning is due to those who turn away from it.
2. If you have placed coverings over your hearts and made your ears deaf, the Prophet has not been charged with making someone listen who does not wish to listen, or forcing his message into the heart of someone who does not wish to understand. He is a human being just like you — he can only convey his message to those who wish to hear, and make it understood to those who wish to understand.
3. Close your eyes and ears and cover your hearts if you wish, but the reality remains that your God is only One, and you are not the servants of anyone else. Your stubbornness cannot change this reality. If you accept it and correct your conduct accordingly, you will benefit yourselves; if you refuse, you will bring ruin upon yourselves.
4. Do you even realize against whom you are committing this shirk and kufr? Against the God who created this vast universe, who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, from whose bestowed blessings you benefit on this earth, and on whose provided sustenance you live. You make His partners out of His own insignificant creatures, and when someone tries to make you understand this, you turn away out of sheer obstinacy.
5. Well then — if you will not accept it, be warned that a punishment like the one that fell suddenly upon ‘Ad and Thamud stands ready for you. And even that punishment will not be the final penalty for your crime; beyond it lie the reckoning of the Day of Gathering and the fire of Hell.
6. Truly unfortunate is the person who becomes attached to such devils among jinn and men, who make everything appear attractive to him from every side, who dress up his follies before him in pleasing colors, and who never let him think rightly for himself nor let him hear the truth from anyone else. Such foolish people today keep egging one another on, each spurring the other to go further, but when the Day of Resurrection comes and disaster strikes, each of them will say that if only those who misled him fell into his hands, he would trample them underfoot.
7. This Qur’an is an unshakeable book. You cannot defeat it with your petty schemes and weapons of falsehood. Whether falsehood attacks openly or covertly and indirectly, it will never succeed in overcoming it.
8. Today this Qur’an is being presented to you in your own language so that you may understand it — yet you complain that it should instead have come in some foreign tongue. But had We sent guidance for the Arab nation in a foreign language that no one here understood, this would have meant, in effect, that you did not truly want guidance at all — that you are only inventing fresh excuses not to accept it.
9. Have you ever considered what fate awaits you if it should indeed turn out that this Qur’an truly is from God, given how far you have gone in denying it and opposing it?
10. You are not accepting it today, but soon you will see with your own eyes that the message of this Qur’an has spread across every horizon, and that you yourselves have been overcome by it. At that time you will realize that what you were being told was the truth.

Alongside these answers to the opponents, the surah also addresses the concerns facing the believers — and the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself — in that atmosphere of intense resistance. For those who had accepted faith, even remaining steadfast on the path of belief, let alone preaching it, had become extremely difficult; anyone identified as having become a Muslim found his life made unbearable. Facing the enemy’s fearsome show of unity and their power that seemed to dominate on every side, the believers felt utterly helpless and without any support.

In this situation, they were first given courage by being told that they were not, in reality, without support — rather, whoever firmly holds to the belief that God is his Lord, and stands firm upon that conviction, has angels sent down upon him who accompany him from this world into the Hereafter. They were then further encouraged by being told that the best of people is the one who himself does good, calls others toward God, and firmly declares, “I am a Muslim.”

The question that weighed most heavily on the Prophet (peace be upon him) at this time was how a path for the message could be found through such obstacles blocking its way. The answer given to him was that these seemingly formidable barriers only appear so on the surface — but the weapon of good character is the very weapon that will break and melt them away. He was told to persevere patiently with this, and whenever Satan tried to provoke him into resorting to some other weapon, to seek refuge in God.

---

This is a translation of the introductory commentary (typically attributed to Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi’s Tafheem-ul-Qur’an) preceding Surah Ha-Meem As-Sajdah (Fussilat).