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Quran, listen ,read translation, understand & act

Surah Ash-Shams, 91 1-10

Audio discussion of the summary:

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وَالشَّمۡسِ وَضُحٰٮهَا  ۙ‏ ﴿91:1﴾وَالۡقَمَرِ اِذَا تَلٰٮهَا  ۙ‏ ﴿91:2﴾ وَالنَّهَارِ اِذَا جَلّٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:3﴾ وَالَّيۡلِ اِذَا يَغۡشٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:4﴾وَالسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:5﴾ وَالۡاَرۡضِ وَمَا طَحٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:6﴾ وَنَفۡسٍ وَّمَا سَوّٰٮهَا ۙ‏﴿91:7﴾ فَاَلۡهَمَهَا فُجُوۡرَهَا وَتَقۡوٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:8﴾قَدۡ اَفۡلَحَ مَنۡ زَكّٰٮهَا ۙ‏ ﴿91:9﴾ وَقَدۡ خَابَ مَنۡ دَسّٰٮهَا ؕ‏ ﴿91:10﴾

(91:1) By the sun and its heat and brightness,1(91:2) and by the moon as it follows it; (91:3) and by the day as it displays the sun’s glory, (91:4) and by the night as it envelopes the sun;2(91:5) and by the sky and by Him Who made it;3 (91:6) and by the earth and by Him Who stretched it out; (91:7) and by the soul and by Him Who perfectly proportioned it,4 (91:8) and imbued it with (the consciousness of) its evil and its piety:5 (91:9) He who purifies it will prosper, (91:10) and he who suppresses it will be ruined.6

Notes

1. The word duha as used in the original applies both to the light of the sun and to its heat. Although in Arabic its well known meaning is the time between sunrise and meridian when the sun has risen high, at that height it does not only give light but heat too. Therefore, when the word duha is attributed to the sun, its full meaning can be expressed more appropriately by its radiant brightness than by its light, or by the time of the day that it indicates.

2. That is, when the night comes, the sun hides and its light remains hidden throughout the night. This state has been described, saying that the night covers up the sun, for the night actually signifies the sun’s hiding behind the horizon because of which its light cannot reach that part of the earth where the night has fallen. 

3. Who established it: Who established it like a vault over the earth. In this verse and in the two succeeding verses, the word ma has been used. A section of the commentators has taken this ma as an infinitive, and interpreted these verses to mean: By the heaven and its being established, by the earth and its being spread out, and by the human self and its being balanced. But this meaning is not correct for the reason that the following sentence: Then inspired it with its wickedness and its piety, does not fit in with the context. Other commentators have taken ma here in the meaning of mun or alladhi and they interpret the sentence to mean: Who established the heaven, who spread out the earth, and who balanced the human self. This second meaning is correct in our view, and no one can object that ma in Arabic is used of lifeless things and irrational creatures, For in the Quran itself there are numerous instances that ma has been used in the meaning of mun, e.g. wala antum abiduna ma aabud (nor are you the worshippers of Him Whom I worship), fankihu ma taba lakun-mia-an-nisa (so, marry from among the women those whom you like), wala tankihu ma nakaha abaaukum min-nisa (do not marry those women whom your fathers had married). 

4. Proportioned it: Gave man such a body which by virtue of its erect stature, its hands and feet, and its brain was most appropriate for him to live as man in the world. He blessed him with the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell which on account of their combination and their characteristics could become the best means of obtaining knowledge for him. He endowed him with the faculties of thinking, reasoning, imagination, memory, discrimination, judgment, will-power and such other mental powers by virtue of which he is able to perform the functions fit for man in the world. In addition, proportioning also means that man was not created a sinner by birth and a criminal by instinct but on right and sound nature, and was not characterized with any inborn crookedness because of which he may be unable to adopt the right path even if he wanted to do so. This same thing has been expressed in Surah Ar-Room, saying: Be steadfast on the nature whereupon Allah has created mankind, (verse 30), and the same has been explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him) in a Hadith, saying: Every new-born child is born on true human nature; it is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian afterwards. Its example is of an animal giving birth to complete and sound young one. Do you find any one with a torn or slit ear? (Bukhari, Muslim). That is, it is the polytheistic people who on account of their superstitions of ignorance tear and slit the ears of animals afterwards; otherwise God does not cause an animal to be born with torn ears from its mother’s belly. In another Hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: My Lord says: I had created all My servants on true faith (i.e. on sound nature); then the satans came and led them astray from their faith (i.e.. the true natural faith) and made unlawful what I had made lawful for them, and commanded them to associate with Me those for whom I had sent down no authority. (Musnad Ahmad; Muslim also has related a saying from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in similar words).

5. The word ilham is derived from lahm which means to swallow. According to this very basic meaning, the word ilham is used terminologically for Allah’s inspiring a man with a concept or idea unconsciously. Inspiring the human self with its wickedness and its piety and virtue has two meanings: (1) That the Creator has placed in it tendencies to both good and evil, and this is the thing that every man feels in himself. (2) That Allah has endowed every man’s unconscious mind with the concept that there is a moral good and there is a moral evil, that good morals and acts and evil morals and acts are not equal and alike. Fujur (immorality) is an evil thing and taqva (abstention from evils) a good thing. These concepts are not new to man; he is conscious of these by nature, and the Creator has endowed him with the ability to distinguish between good and evil naturally. This same thing has been said in Surah Al-Balad: And We showed him both the highways of good and evil. (verse 10); and in Surah Ad-Dahr, thus: We showed him the way, whether to be grateful or disbelieving (verse 3); and the same has been expressed in Surah Al-Qiyamah, saying: In man there is the reproaching self (conscience) which reproaches him when he commits evil (verse 2), and man knows his own self best, even though he may offer many excuses. (verses 14-15). 

Here, one should also understand well that Allah has blessed every creature with natural inspiration according to its position and nature, as has been pointed out in Surah TaHa: Who has given a distinctive form to everything and then guided it aright. (verse 50). For example, every species of animals has been given inspirational knowledge according to its needs by virtue of which the fish learns to swim, the bird to fly, the bee to make the beehive and the weaver-bird to build the nest instinctively. Man also in view of his different capacities has been granted separate kinds of inspirational knowledge. His one capacity is that he is an animal being; as such the most significant instance of the inspirational knowledge that he has been given is that the human child starts sucking the mother’s milk soon on birth, which no one could teach it, had it, not been taught of it instinctively by God. Another position of man is that he is a rational being. As such God has been blessing him with inspirational guidance continuously since the time of his creation, by virtue of which he has been discovering things and making inventions to develop his civilization. Anyone who studies the history of these discoveries and inventions will realize that there was hardly any which might be the result of man’’s own effort or thought, but mostly it so happened that suddenly an idea struck a person and he discovered or invented something. Besides these two, another position of man is that he is a moral being. In this position too Allah has blessed him by inspiration with discrimination between good and evil and of the realization of the good to be good and of the evil to be evil. This sense of discrimination and realization is a universal truth on account of which no human society in the world has ever been without the concepts of good and evil; there has never been in history, nor is there now, a society which may not be having some kind of a system of rewarding the good and punishing the evil. This fact being prevalent in every age, at every place, and at every stage of civilization is a clear proof of its being natural and innate. Furthermore, this is also proof that a Wise Creator possessed of knowledge has endued man’s nature with it, for in the elements of which man is made up and the laws which govern the material system of the world, no human origin of morals can be traced out. 

6. This is for which an oath has been sworn by the things mentioned in the above verses. Let us now consider how those things bear upon it. The rule that Allah has followed in the Quran is that to bear testimony to the truth that He wants to impress on the human mind, he cites some of the most conspicuous, common-place things which every man sees in his surroundings, or in his own self. Accordingly here, pairs of contradictory things have been cited, each unlike the other in its effects and results, rather opposite and reverse. The first pair is of the sun and the moon. The light of the sun is intensely bright and also hot. As against it the moon has no light of its own. Even if it is there in the sky when the sun shines, it is without light. It shines when the sun hides, and even then its light is neither so bright that it may change the night into day nor is there any heat in it that it may have the same effect as the sun’s light. Nevertheless, it has its own effects which are quite different from the effects of the sun. Likewise, there is the pair of the day and the night. Each is the reverse of the other. The effects and results of each are so different from the other that no one can say they are alike; so much so that even a most foolish person cannot possibly say that the day’s being the day or the night’s being the night does not make any difference. Likewise, there is the pair of the sky and the earth; the former has been raised high by the Creator and the latter spread like a carpet beneath it. Although both are serving the same universe, its system and expediencies, yet there is a world of difference between their functions and their effects and results. After citing these universal evidences, man’s own self has been considered, and it has been said that after balancing it with suitable combination of the limbs, senses and mental powers and faculties the Creator has placed in it tendencies, inclinations and motives to both good and evil, which are contradictory to each other, and made him understand by inspiration the distinction between the two: that one is fujur, which is evil, and the other is taqva, which is good. Now, if the sun and the moon, the day and the night, the earth and the heaven, are not alike but necessarily different from each other in their effects and results, how can fujur and taqva of the self be alike in spite of being reverse of each other? Man himself in this world does not regard and acknowledge the good and the evil as equal, no matter what criteria of good and evil he might have devised for himself according to his self-propounded philosophies. In any case, about whatever he regards as good, he holds the opinion that it is appreciable and worthy of praise, reward and recompense. On the contrary, about whatever he regards as evil, it is his own objective opinion that it is worthy of condemnation and punishment. But the real judgment does not lie with man; it lies with the Creator, Who has inspired man with his fujur and taqva. The fujur is that which is fujur in the sight of the Creator and the taqva is that which is taqva in His sight. And both have separate results in the sight of the Creator. The result of the one is that he who purifies his self, should attain to eternal success, and the result of the other is that he who suppresses his self, should be a failure. 

Tazkiyah means to purify, develop and cultivate. In the context it clearly means: The one who purifies his self of fujur and develops it to the level of taqva and cultivates in it the good, will attain to eternal success. As against this, the word dassaha has been used, the infinitive of which is tadsiyah, which means to suppress, conceal, seduce and lead astray. The meaning of this also becomes clear from the context; i.e. the one who suppresses the tendency in his self towards good instead of developing and cultivating it, who seduces it into doing evil, and makes fujur dominate over taqva so as to cover it up completely, like the dead body which is buried and covered with earth, will be a failure. Some commentators have interpreted this verse to mean: Truly successful was he whom (whose self) Allah purified, and a failure he whom (whose self) Allah suppressed. But this commentary is, firstly, opposed to the style of the Quran in view of the language, for if Allah had meant to say this, He would have said: Truly successful was the self which Allah purified and a failure the self which Allah suppressed; secondly, this commentary clashes with the other statements of the Quran on this subject. In Surah Al- Aala, Allah says: Truly successful was he who adopted purity. (verse 14). In Surah Abasa, Allah has addressed His Messenger (peace be upon him), saying: And you would not be responsible if he did not adopt purity. In both these verses, adoption of purity has been regarded as an act of man. Besides, the truth stated at many places in the Quran is that man in this world is being put to the test. For example, in Surah Ad-Dahr, it is said: We created man from a mixed sperm-drop to try him, and so We made him capable of hearing and seeing. (verse 2). In Surah Al-Mulk it is stated: Who created death and life that he may try you to see which of you is best in deeds. (verse 2). Now, obviously, if the examiner at the outset encourages one candidate and discourages the other, the test would he a farce. Therefore, the correct commentary is that which Qatadah, Ikrimah, Mujahid and Saeed bin Jubair have given, saying that the subject zakkaha and dassaha is man and not God. As for the Hadith which Ibn Abi Hatim has related on the authority of Juwaybir bin Saeed from Dahhak from Ibn Abbas, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself interpreted this verse to mean: Truly successful was the self whom the Almighty Allah purified. This saying is not confirmed to be from the Prophet (peace be upon him), for its one reporter Juwaybir, has been rejected as a narrator of Hadith, and Dahhak did not meet Ibn Abbas. However, the Hadith which Imam Ahmad, Muslim, Nasai and Ibn Abi Shaibah have related on the authority of Zaid bin Arqam, is correct which says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pray: O Allah, grant my self its taqva and purify it; You alone are the best to purify it; You alone are its Guardian and Master. In almost similar words, this supplication of the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been related by Tabarani, Ibn Marduyah and lbn al-Mundhir from Abdullah bin Abbas and Imam Ahmad from Aishah. It actually means that man can only desire and seek taqva and tazkiyah; as for its attainment, it depends in any case on Allah’s grace and favor alone. And the same is also true of tadsiyah: Allah does not suppress a self forcibly, but when a man is resolved on iniquity, Allah deprives him of the grace of taqva and tazkyah, and leaves him alone to suppress and bury his self under any heap of filth he likes.

Quran, listen ,read translation, understand & act

Surah Al-Balad, 90: 1-20

Audio discussion of the summary:

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لَاۤ اُقۡسِمُ بِهٰذَا الۡبَلَدِۙ‏ ﴿90:1﴾ وَاَنۡتَ حِلٌّ ۢ بِهٰذَا الۡبَلَدِۙ‏ ﴿90:2﴾ وَوَالِدٍ وَّمَا وَلَدَ ۙ‏ ﴿90:3﴾لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا الۡاِنۡسَانَ فِىۡ كَبَدٍؕ‏ ﴿90:4﴾اَيَحۡسَبُ اَنۡ لَّنۡ يَّقۡدِرَ عَلَيۡهِ اَحَدٌ​ ۘ‏ ﴿90:5﴾يَقُوۡلُ اَهۡلَكۡتُ مَالًا لُّبَدًا ؕ‏ ﴿90:6﴾ اَيَحۡسَبُ اَنۡ لَّمۡ يَرَهٗۤ اَحَدٌ ؕ‏ ﴿90:7﴾ اَلَمۡ نَجۡعَلۡ لَّهٗ عَيۡنَيۡنِۙ‏ ﴿90:8﴾ وَلِسَانًا وَّشَفَتَيۡنِۙ‏ ﴿90:9﴾وَهَدَيۡنٰهُ النَّجۡدَيۡنِ​ۚ‏ ﴿90:10﴾ فَلَا اقۡتَحَمَ الۡعَقَبَةَ ۖ‏ ﴿90:11﴾ وَمَاۤ اَدۡرٰٮكَ مَا الۡعَقَبَةُ ؕ‏﴿90:12﴾ فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ ۙ‏ ﴿90:13﴾ اَوۡ اِطۡعٰمٌ فِىۡ يَوۡمٍ ذِىۡ مَسۡغَبَةٍ ۙ‏ ﴿90:14﴾ يَّتِيۡمًا ذَا مَقۡرَبَةٍ ۙ‏﴿90:15﴾ اَوۡ مِسۡكِيۡنًا ذَا مَتۡرَبَةٍ ؕ‏ ﴿90:16﴾ ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَتَوَاصَوۡا بِالصَّبۡرِ وَتَوَاصَوۡا بِالۡمَرۡحَمَةِ ؕ‏ ﴿90:17﴾ اُولٰٓـئِكَ اَصۡحٰبُ الۡمَيۡمَنَةِ ؕ‏ ﴿90:18﴾ وَالَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا بِاٰيٰتِنَا هُمۡ اَصۡحٰبُ الۡمَشۡـئَـمَةِ ؕ‏ ﴿90:19﴾عَلَيۡهِمۡ نَارٌ مُّؤۡصَدَةٌ‏ ﴿90:20﴾

(90:1) Nay!1 I swear by this city2 (90:2) – this city wherein you have been rendered violable–3(90:3) and I swear by the parent and his offspring:4 (90:4) Verily We have created man into toil and hardship.5 (90:5) Does he think that no one can overpower him?6 (90:6) He says: “I have squandered enormous wealth.”7(90:7) Does he believe that none has seen him?8(90:8) Did We not grant him two eyes, (90:9) and a tongue and two lips?9 (90:10) And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)?10 (90:11) But he did not venture to scale the difficult steep.11 (90:12) And what do you know what that difficult steep is? (90:13) It is freeing someone’s neck from slavery; (90:14) or giving food on a day of hunger (90:15) to an orphan near of kin; (90:16) or to a destitute lying in dust;12 (90:17) and, then besides this, he be one of those who believed,13 and enjoined upon one another steadfastness and enjoined upon one another compassion.14 (90:18) These are the People of the Right Hand. (90:19) As for those who rejected Our Signs, they are the People of the Left Hand.15 (90:20) Upon them shall be a Fire that will hem them in.16

Notes

1. As we have explained in(E.N.1 of Surah Al-Qiyamah), to begin a discourse with a Nay and resume it with an oath means that the people were asserting a wrong thing to refute which it was said: Nay, the truth is not that which you seem to assert, but I swear by such and such a thing that the truth is this and this. As for the question what it was to refute which this discourse was sent down, it is indicated by the theme that follows. The disbelievers of Makkah said that there was nothing wrong with the way of life that they were following, as if to say: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die in the natural process of time. Muhammad (peace be upon him), without any reason, is finding fault with this way of life and warning us that we would at some time in the future be called to account for it and rewarded and punished accordingly. 

2. This City: the city of Makkah. There was no need here to explain why an oath was being sworn by this City. The people of Makkah were well aware of the background and importance of their city and knew how in the midst of desolate mountains, in an un-cultivated, barren valley, the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had brought his wife and suckling child and left them there without any support; how he had built a House there and proclaimed to the people to visit it as pilgrims when there was no soul for miles around to hear the proclamation, and then how this city had eventually become the commercial and religious centre of Arabia and was blessed with such sacredness that there was no other place of security beside it in that lawless land for centuries. 

3. Three meanings of the words in the text have been given by the commentators:

(1) That you are a resident of this city and your residence here has further enhanced the glory of this city. 

(2) That although this city is a sanctuary; a time will come when for some time it will become lawful for you to fight and kill the enemies of the true faith here. 

(3) That in this city where even killing of animals and cutting of trees is forbidden for the people of Arabia, and where everyone is living in perfect peace, you, O Prophet, have no peace, and persecuting you and devising plans to kill you has been made lawful. 

Although the words are comprehensive enough to cover all the three meanings, yet when the theme that follows is considered, one feels that the first two meanings bear no relevance to it, and only the third meaning seems to be correct.

4. As the words “father and children he begot” have been used indefinitely, and this is followed by the mention of man, father could only imply Adam (peace be upon him) and children the human beings who existed in the world, exist today and will exist in the future.

5. This is that for which the oaths as mentioned above have been sworn. Man’s being created in toil means that man in this world has not been created to enjoy himself and live a life of ease and comfort, but the world for him is a place of enduring and undergoing toil, labor and hardship, and no man can be immune from this. The city of Makkah is a witness that a servant of Allah toiled and struggled hard, then only did it become a city and the centre of Arabia. In this city of Makkah the condition of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a witness that he is enduring every kind of hardship for the sake of a mission; so much so that there is full peace here for the wild animals but no peace for him. Then, every man’s survival, from the time he is conceived in the mother’s womb till the last breath of life, is a witness that he has to pass through trouble, toil, labor, dangers and hardships at every step. The most fortunate of us is also exposed to grave dangers of death before birth or of elimination by abortion while in the mother’s womb. At birth he is only a hair-breadth away from death. After birth he is so helpless that had there not been somebody to look after him, he would perish uncared for and unnoticed. When he became able to walk he stumbled at every step. From childhood to youth and old age he had to pass through such physical changes that if any change had taken a wrong turn, his very life would have been at stake. Even if he is a king or a dictator, at no time he enjoys internal peace from the fear that a rebellion might arise against him somewhere. Even if he is a conqueror he is never at peace from the danger that one of his generals might rise in revolt against him. Even if he is a Korah of his time, he is ever anxious to increase his wealth and to safeguard it. Thus, there is no one who may be enjoying perfect peace freely and without hesitation, for man indeed has been created into a life of toil and trouble. 

6. That is, is man, who is ever exposed to such hazards, involved in the delusion that he can do what he likes, and there is no superior power to seize and suppress him? The fact, however, is that even before the occurrence of the Hereafter in this world itself, he sees that his destiny every moment is being ruled by some other Being against Whose decrees all his plans and designs prove ineffective. A single jolt of the earthquake, a blast of wind, a flood in the river and a sea-storm are enough to show how weak and feeble man is against the divine forces. A sudden accident can reduce a strong and robust person to a cripple; one turn of the fortune deposes a mighty sovereign from the position of authority. When the fortunes of the nations, which have climbed to the very apex of glory and prosperity, change, they are humiliated and disgraced even in the world where no one could dare look at them in the face. How has then this man been deluded into thinking that no one else can have power over him.

7. Literally: I have destroyed heaps of wealth, i.e. squandered and wasted it. These words show how proud the speaker was of his wealth. The heaps of wealth, that he spent was so insignificant as against his total wealth that he did not mind squandering it carelessly. And to what purpose did he squander it? Not for a genuine, good cause as becomes evident from the following verses, but for display of his wealth and expression of his pride and glory. Bestowing rich awards on poetic admirers, inviting and feeding hundreds of thousands of people on marriage and death ceremonies, gambling away heaps of wealth, attending festivals with large entourages, trying to excel others in display of glory and grandeur, having heaps of food cooked on ceremonial occasions and throwing invitations to all and sundry to come and eat, or arranging and supplying running meals at the residence so as to impress the people around with one’s generosity and large heartedness; such were the expenditures of ostentation, which in the days of ignorance were regarded as a symbol of man’s munificence and magnanimity, and a sign of his greatness. For these they were praised and admired; on these their praises were sung; and on account of these they prided themselves against the less fortunate. 

8. That is, doesn’t this boaster understand that there is also a God above him, Who sees by what means he obtained this wealth, in what ways he spent it, and with what intention, motive, and purpose he did all this? Does he think that God will put any value on his extravagance, his fame-mongering and his boasting. Does he think that like the world, God too will be deluded by it.

9. That is, have We not given him the means of obtaining knowledge and wisdom? Two eyes does not imply the eyes of the cow and buffalo, but human eyes, which if used intelligently can help man see all around himself those signs which lead to the reality and distinguish the right from the wrong. The tongue and lips do not merely imply the instruments of speech but the rational mind behind these instruments which performs the functions of thinking and understanding and then uses them for expressing its ideas, motives and designs. 

10. That is, We have not left him alone after granting him the faculties of thinking and reasoning so that he may have to search out his own way, but We have also guided him and opened up before him both the highways of good and evil, virtue and vice, so that he may consider them seriously and choose and adopt one or the other way on his own responsibility. This same subject has been expressed in (Surah Ad-Dahr, Ayat 2-3), thus: Indeed We created man from a mixed sperm-drop, to try him, and so We made him capable of hearing and seeing. We showed him the way, whether to be grateful or disbelieving. For explanation, see (E.Ns 3 to 5 of Surah Ad-Dahr). 

11. The words in the original are: fa-laqtaham-al-aqabah. Iqtiham means to apply oneself to a hard and toilsome task, and aqabah is the steep path that passes through mountains for ascending heights. Thus, the verse means: One of the two paths that We have shown him, leads to heights but is toilsome and steep; man has to tread it against the desires of his self and the temptations of Satan. The other path is easy which descends into chasms, but does not require any toil from man; one only needs to give free reins to himself, then he automatically goes on rolling down the abyss. Now, the man to whom We had shown both the paths, adopted the easy down-hill path and abandoned the toilsome path, which leads to the heights. 

12. Since in the foregoing verses the extravagances of man which he indulges in for ostentation and expression of superiority to others, have been mentioned, now here it is being stated as to what expenditure of wealth it is which leads man up to moral heights instead of causing him to sink into moral depravity and perversion. But in this there is no enjoyment for the self; on the contrary, man has to exercise self-restraints and make sacrifices. The expenditure is that one should set a slave free, or should render a slave monetary help so as to enable him to win his freedom by paying the ransom, or free a debtor from his debt, or secure release of a helpless person without means from penalties. Likewise, the expenditure is that one should feed a nearly related orphan (i.e. an orphan who is either a relative or a neighbor) who is hungry, and a needy, helpless person who might have been reduced to extreme poverty and might have none to support and help him. Helping such people does not win a person fame and reputation, nor feeding them brings him the admiration for being wealthy and generous which one usually wins by holding banquets to thousands of well-to-do people. But the path to moral and spiritual heights passes on steep uphill roads only. 

Great merits of the acts of virtue mentioned in these verses have been described by the Prophet (peace be upon him). For instance, about fakku raqabah (freeing a neck from bondage) many ahadith have been related in the traditions, one of which is a tradition from Abu Hurairah, to the effect, The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The person who set a believing slave free, Allah will save from fire of Hell every limb of his body in lieu of every limb of the slave’s body, the hand in lieu of the hand, the foot in lieu of the foot, the private parts in lieu of the private parts. (Musnad, Ahmad, Bukhari. Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasai). Ali bin Husain (Zain al-Abedin) asked Saad bin Marjanah, the reporter of this Hadith: Did you hear it yourself from Abu Hurairah? When he replied in the affirmative, Zain al- Abedin called out his most valuable slave and set him free there and then. According to Muslim, he had an offer of ten thousand dirhams for the slave. On the basis of this verse, Imam Abu Hanifah and Imam Shafi have ruled: Setting a slave free is superior to giving away charity, for Allah has mentioned it before the mention of charity. 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) has mentioned the merits of rendering help to the needy in many ahadith, one of which is this Hadith from Abu Hurairah: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who strives in the cause of rendering help to the widow and the needy is like the one who endeavors and strives in the cause of jihad for the sake of Allah. And Abu Hurairah says, I think that the Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: He is even like him who keeps standing up in the Prayer constantly, without ever taking rest, and like him who observes the fast continuously without ever breaking it: (Bukhari, Muslim). 

As for the orphans, there are numerous sayings reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him). Sahl bin Saad has reported, The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: I and the one who supports a nearly related of un-related orphan, shall stand in Paradise like this, saying this he raised his index finger and the middle finger, keeping them a little apart. (Bukhari). Abu Hurairah has reported this saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): The best among the Muslim homes is the home wherein an orphan is treated well and the worst the one wherein an orphan is mistreated. (Ibn Majah, Bukhari in Al-Adab al-Mufrad). Abu Umamah says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who passed his hand on the head of an orphan, only for the sake of Allah, will have as many acts of virtue recorded in his favor as the number of the hair on which his hand passed, and the one who treated an orphan boy or girl well, will stand in Paradise with me like this, saying this the Prophet (peace be upon him) joined his two fingers together. (Musnad Ahmad, Tirmidhi). Ibn Abbas says, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who made an orphan join him in eating and drinking, Allah will make Paradise obligatory for him unless he commits a sin which cannot be forgiven. (Sharh as-Sunnah). Abu Hurairah says: A man complained before the Prophet (peace be upon him), saying: I am hard-hearted. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: Treat the orphan with kindness and love and feed the needy one. (Musnad Ahmad). 

13. That is, in addition to these qualities it is essential that one should be a believer, for without faith no act is an act of virtue, nor acceptable in the sight of Allah. At numerous places in the Quran it has been stated that only such an act of virtue is appreciable and becomes a means of salvation as is accompanied by faith. In Surah An-Nisa, for example, it has been said: The one who does good deeds, whether man or woman, provided that the one is a believer, will enter Paradise (verse 124). In Surah An-Nahl: Whosoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, provided that he is a believer, We shall surely grant him to live a pure life in this world, and We will reward such people (in the Hereafter) according to their best deeds (verse 97). In Surah Al-Momin: Whoever does good, whether man or woman, provided that he is a believer, all such people shall enter Paradise wherein they shall be provided without measure. (verse 4). Whoever studies the Quran, will see that in this Book wherever the good reward of a righteous act has been mentioned, it has always been made conditional upon the faith, a good act without faith has nowhere been regarded as acceptable to God, nor has any hope been given for a reward for it. 

Here, the following important point should also not remain hidden from view: In this verse it has not been said: Then he believed, but: Then being among those who have believed. This means that mere believing as an individual and remaining content with it is not what is desired; what is desired is that every new believer should join those who have already believed so as to form a party of the believers, to bring about a believing society, which should work for establishing the virtues and wiping out the vices as demanded by the faith.

14. These are two of the important characteristics of the believing society, which have been expressed in two brief sentences. The first characteristic is that its members should exhort one another to patience, and the second that they should exhort one another to compassion and mercy. 

As for patience, we have explained at many places that in view of the extensive meaning in which the Quran has used this word, the entire life of a believer is a life of patience. As soon as a man steps on to the path of the faith, test of his patience starts. Patience is required to be exercised in performing the acts of worship enjoined by Allah; patience is needed in carrying out the commands of Allah; abstention from the things forbidden by Allah is not possible without patience; patience is needed in abandoning the moral evils and in adopting the pure morals. Temptations to sin faced at every step can be resisted only by recourse to patience. On countless occasions in life obedience to God’s law entails losses, troubles, hardships and deprivations, and disobedience to the law seems to bring benefits and pleasures. Without patience no believer can fare well on such occasions. Then, as soon as a believer has adopted the way of the faith, he has to meet with resistance not only from his own self and personal desires but also from his children, family, society, country and nation, so much so that he is even required to abandon his country and undertake Jihad in the cause of God. Under all these conditions only the quality of patience can cause a man to remain steadfast to principles. Now, obviously, if every believer individually was put to such a hard test, he would be faced with the danger of defeat at every step and would hardly be able to pass through the test successfully. On the contrary, if there existed a believing society, every member of which was not only himself possessed of patience but all its members also were supporting one another mutually in the test of patience, successes would fall to its lot, a tremendous power would be generated to face the evil, a mighty force of good individuals would be ready to help bring the entire society on to the path of virtue and righteousness. 

As for mercy and compassion, it is the distinctive feature of the society of believers that they are not a merciless and unjust people but a society whose members are merciful and compassionate to humanity at large and sympathetic and friendly among themselves. A believer as an individual is an embodiment of Allah’s quality of mercy and the group of the believers as a party also is a representative of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him), who has been described thus: O Muhammad (peace be upon him), We have sent you to be a real blessing for the people of the world. (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 107). The highest moral quality which the Messenger (peace be upon him) tried his utmost to inculcate among his followers was this very quality of mercy. Consider the following of his sayings, which show what importance he attached to it. Jarir bin Abdullah says that the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Allah does not show mercy to him who does not show mercy to others. (Bukhari, Muslim). 

Abdullah bin Amr bin al-aas says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The Rahman (Merciful) shows mercy to those who show mercy (to others). Show mercy to those who live on the earth, the One who is in heaven will show mercy to you. (Abu Daud, Tirmidhi). 

Abu Saeed Khudri has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who does not show mercy, is not shown mercy. (Bukhari in Al-Adab al-Mufrad). Ibn Abbas says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who does not treat our young ones mercifully and does not treat our elderly ones respectfully, does not belong to us.(Tirmidhi). 

Abu Daud has related this same saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on the authority of Abdullah bin Amr, thus: The one who did not feel pity on our young and did not respect our elderly does not belong to us. 

Abu Hurairah says: I have heard Abul-Qasim, the truthful (peace be upon him), say: The heart of the wretched one is deprived of the quality of mercy altogether. (Musnad Ahmad, Tirmidhi). 

Iyad bin Himad relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Three kinds of men belong to Paradise, one of whom is the person who is kind and compassionate to every relative and every Muslim. (Muslim). 

Numan bin Bashir has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: You will find the believers like a body in the matter of mutual kindness, love and sympathy, so that if one part of the body suffers the whole body suffers and becomes restless because of it. (Bukhari, Muslim). 

Abu Musa al-ashari says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The believer is for the other believer like a wall each part of which supports and strengthens the other part. (Bukhari, Muslim). 

Abdullah bin Umar has reported that the Prophet said: A Muslim is a brother of the other Muslim: neither treats him unjustly, nor withholds his help from him. The person who works to fulfill a need of his brother, Allah will seek to fulfill his need; and the one who rescues a Muslim from an affliction, Allah will rescue him from an affliction of the afflictions of the Resurrection Day; and the one who conceals the fault of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his fault on the Resurrection Day. (Bukhari, Muslim). 

These traditions indicate what kind of a society is envisaged by the Quranic instruction given in this verse, which exhorts the righteous people to join the group of the believers after they have affirmed the faith. 

15. For an explanation of the people of the right hand and of the left hand, see(E.Ns 5, 6 of Surah Al-Waqiah). 2

16. That is, fire will be so covering them from every side that they will find no way of escape from it.

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Surah Al-Fajr, 89: 21-30

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كَلَّاۤ اِذَا دُكَّتِ الۡاَرۡضُ دَكًّا دَكًّا ۙ‏ ﴿89:21﴾وَّجَآءَ رَبُّكَ وَالۡمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا ۚ‏ ﴿89:22﴾وَجِاىْٓءَ يَوۡمَـئِذٍۢ بِجَهَنَّمَ  ۙ​ يَوۡمَـئِذٍ يَّتَذَكَّرُ الۡاِنۡسَانُ وَاَنّٰى لَـهُ الذِّكۡرٰىؕ‏ ﴿89:23﴾يَقُوۡلُ يٰلَيۡتَنِىۡ قَدَّمۡتُ لِحَـيَاتِى​ۚ‏ ﴿89:24﴾فَيَوۡمَـئِذٍ لَّا يُعَذِّبُ عَذَابَهٗۤ اَحَدٌ ۙ‏ ﴿89:25﴾وَّلَا يُوۡثِقُ وَثَاقَهٗۤ اَحَدٌ ؕ‏ ﴿89:26﴾ يٰۤاَيَّتُهَا النَّفۡسُ الۡمُطۡمَـئِنَّةُ  ۖ‏ ﴿89:27﴾ ارۡجِعِىۡۤ اِلٰى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرۡضِيَّةً​ ۚ‏ ﴿89:28﴾فَادۡخُلِىۡ فِىۡ عِبٰدِىۙ‏ ﴿89:29﴾ وَادۡخُلِىۡ جَنَّتِى‏﴿89:30﴾

(89:21) But no;15 when the earth is ground to powder, (89:22) and when your Lord appears16with rows upon rows of angels, (89:23) and when Hell is brought near that Day. On that Day will man understand, but of what avail will that understanding be?17 (89:24) He will say: “Would that I had sent ahead what would be of avail for this life of mine!” (89:25) Then on that Day Allah will chastise as none other can chastise; (89:26) and Allah will bind as none other can bind. (89:27) (On the other hand it will be said): “O serene soul!18 (89:28) Return to your Lord19 well-pleased (with your blissful destination), well-pleasing (to your Lord). (89:29) So enter among My (righteous) servants (89:30) and enter My Paradise.” 

Notes

15. That is, you are wrong in thinking that you may do whatever you like in your life of the world, but you will never be called to account for it. The meting out of rewards and punishment denying which you have adopted this mode of life, is not anything impossible and fictitious, but it has to come to pass and it will certainly come to pass at the time being mentioned below. 

16. Although literally the words jaa Rabbuka mean your Lord will come, obviously there cannot be any question of Allah Almighty’s moving from one place to another; therefore, this will inevitably have to be understood as an allegoric expression, which is meant to give an idea that at that time the manifestations of Allah Almighty’s power and His majesty and sovereignty will appear fully, as, for example, in the world the arrival of a king in person in the court is more awe-inspiring than the mere array of his forces and chiefs and nobles. 

17. The words in the original can have two meanings: 

(1) That on that Day man will remember whatever he had done in the world and will regret, but what will remembrance and regretting avail him then. 

(2) That on that Day man will take heed and accept admonition: he will realize that whatever he had been told by the Prophets was true and he committed a folly when he did not listen to them; but what will taking heed and accepting the admonition and realizing one’s errors avail then. 

18. Peaceful and fully satisfied soul: The man who believed in Allah, the One, as his Lord and Sustainer, and adopted the way of life brought by the Prophets as his way of life, with full satisfaction of the heart, and without the least doubt about it, who acknowledged as absolute truth whatever creed and command he received from Allah and His Messenger, who withheld himself from whatever he was forbidden by Allah’s religion, not unwillingly but with perfect conviction that it was really an evil thing, who offered without sacrifice whatever sacrifice was required to be offered for the sake of the truth, who endured with full peace of mind whatever difficulties, troubles and hardships he met on this way and who felt no remorse on being deprived of the gains and benefits and pleasures in the world which seemed to accrue to those who followed other ways but remained fully satisfied that adherence to true faith had safeguarded him against those errors. This very state has been described at another place in the Quran as sharh sadr. (Surah Al-Anaam, Ayat 125). 

19. This he will be told at the time of his death as well as on the Day of Resurrection when he will rise from the dead and move towards the Plain of Assembly and also on the occasion when he will be presented in the divine court. At every stage he will be assured that he is moving towards the Mercy of Allah Almighty.

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Surah Al-Fajr, 89: 15-20

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فَاَمَّا الۡاِنۡسَانُ اِذَا مَا ابۡتَلٰٮهُ رَبُّهٗ فَاَكۡرَمَهٗ وَنَعَّمَهٗ  ۙ فَيَقُوۡلُ رَبِّىۡۤ اَكۡرَمَنِؕ‏ ﴿89:15﴾وَاَمَّاۤ اِذَا مَا ابۡتَلٰٮهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيۡهِ رِزۡقَهٗ ۙ فَيَقُوۡلُ رَبِّىۡۤ اَهَانَنِ​ۚ‏ ﴿89:16﴾ كَلَّا​ بَلۡ لَّا تُكۡرِمُوۡنَ الۡيَتِيۡمَۙ‏ ﴿89:17﴾ وَلَا تَحٰٓضُّوۡنَ عَلٰى طَعَامِ الۡمِسۡكِيۡنِۙ‏ ﴿89:18﴾ وَتَاۡكُلُوۡنَ التُّرَاثَ اَكۡلًا لَّـمًّا ۙ‏ ﴿89:19﴾ وَّتُحِبُّوۡنَ الۡمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا ؕ‏ ﴿89:20﴾

(89:15) As for man,8 when his Lord tests him by exalting him and bestowing His bounties upon him, he says: “My Lord has exalted me.” (89:16) But when He tests him by straitening his sustenance, he says: “My Lord has humiliated me.”9 (89:17) But no;10 you do not treat the orphan honourably,11 (89:18) and do not urge one another to feed the poor,12 (89:19) and greedily devour the entire inheritance,13(89:20) and love the riches, loving them ardently.14

Notes

8. Now, criticizing the general moral state of the people, it is being said: After all, why shouldn’t the men who have adopted such an attitude in the life of the world, be ever called to account, and how can it be regarded as a demand of reason and justice that when man has left the world, after doing all he could, he should never receive any reward or suffer any punishment for his deeds.

9. This then is man’s materialistic view of life. He regards the wealth and position and power of this world alone as everything. When he has it, he is filled with pride and says God has honored me; and when he fails to obtain it, he says: God has humiliated me. Thus, the criterion of honor and humiliation in his sight is the possession of wealth and position and power, or the absence of it, whereas the truth which he does not understand is that whatever Allah has given anybody in the world has been given for the sake of a trial. If he has given him wealth and power, it has been given for a trial to see whether he becomes grateful for it, or commits ingratitude. If he has made him poor, in this too there is a trial for him to see whether he remains content and patient in the will of God and faces his hardships bravely within permissible bounds, or becomes ready to transgress every limit of morality and honesty and starts cursing his God. 

10. That is, this is not all the criterion of honor and disgrace, for the real criterion is the moral good and evil. 

11. That is, as long as his father is alive, your treatment of him is attentive and when his rather dies, even the paternal and maternal uncles and the elder brothers, to say nothing of the neighbors and distant relatives, neglect him.

12. That is, nobody in your society feels any urge to feed the poor. Neither a man himself feels inclined to feed a hungry person, nor is there among the people any urge to do something to satisfy the hunger of the hungry, nor do they exhort one another to do so. 

13. In Arabia, the women and children were as a rule deprived of inheritance and the people’s idea in this regard was that the right to inheritance belonged only to those male members who were fit to fight and safeguard the family. Besides, the one who was more powerful and influential among the heirs of the deceased, would annex the whole inheritance without qualms, and usurp the shares of all those who did not have the power to secure their shares. They did not give any importance to the right and duty so that they should honestly render the right to whom it was due as a duty whether he had the power to secure it or not.

14. That is, you have no regard for the permissible or the forbidden, the lawful or the unlawful. You feel no qualms about acquiring wealth in any way or by any means, fair or foul, and your greed is never satisfied however much you may have acquired and amassed.

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Surah Al-Fajr, 89: 1-14

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وَالۡفَجۡرِۙ‏ ﴿89:1﴾ وَلَيَالٍ عَشۡرٍۙ‏ ﴿89:2﴾ وَّالشَّفۡعِ وَالۡوَتۡرِۙ‏ ﴿89:3﴾ وَالَّيۡلِ اِذَا يَسۡرِ​ۚ‏ ﴿89:4﴾ هَلۡ فِىۡ ذٰلِكَ قَسَمٌ لِّذِىۡ حِجۡرٍؕ‏ ﴿89:5﴾ اَلَمۡ تَرَ كَيۡفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍۙ‏ ﴿89:6﴾ اِرَمَ ذَاتِ الۡعِمَادِۙ‏ ﴿89:7﴾ الَّتِىۡ لَمۡ يُخۡلَقۡ مِثۡلُهَا فِى الۡبِلَادِۙ‏ ﴿89:8﴾ وَثَمُوۡدَ الَّذِيۡنَ جَابُوا الصَّخۡرَ بِالۡوَادِۙ‏ ﴿89:9﴾ وَفِرۡعَوۡنَ ذِى الۡاَوۡتَادِۙ‏ ﴿89:10﴾ الَّذِيۡنَ طَغَوۡا فِى الۡبِلَادِۙ‏﴿89:11﴾ فَاَكۡثَرُوۡا فِيۡهَا الۡفَسَادَۙ‏ ﴿89:12﴾فَصَبَّ عَلَيۡهِمۡ رَبُّكَ سَوۡطَ عَذَابٍ ۙۚ‏﴿89:13﴾ اِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالۡمِرۡصَادِؕ‏ ﴿89:14﴾

(89:1) By the dawn, (89:2) and the ten nights, (89:3) and the even and the odd, (89:4) and by the night when it departs. (89:5) Is there in this an oath for one endowed with understanding?1(89:6) Have you2 not seen how your Lord dealt with Ad (89:7) of Iram,3 known for their lofty columns, (89:8) the like of whom no nation was ever created in the lands of the world?4 (89:9) And how did He deal with Thamud who hewed out rocks in the valley?5 (89:10) And with Pharaoh of the tent pegs6 (89:11) who transgressed in the countries of the world (89:12) spreading in them much corruption? (89:13) Then their Lord unloosed upon them the lash of chastisement. (89:14) Truly your Lord is ever watchful.7

Notes

1. Much difference of opinion has been expressed by the commentators in the commentary of these verses, so much so that in respect of “the even and the odd” there are as many as 36 different views. In some traditions the commentary of these verses has also been attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), but the fact is that no commentary is confirmed from him, otherwise it was not possible that anyone from among the companions, their immediate successors, and later commentators would have dared to determine the meaning of these verses by themselves after the commentary by the Prophet (peace be upon him). 

After a study of the style one clearly feels that there was an argument already in progress in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was presenting something and the disbelievers were denying it. At this, affirming what the Prophet (peace be upon him) presented, it was said: By such and such a thing, so as to say: By these things, what Muhammad (peace be upon him) says is wholly based on the truth. Then, the argument is concluded with the question: Is there an oath in it for a man of understanding. That is, is there a need for yet another oath to testify to the truth of this matter. Is this oath not enough to persuade a sensible man to accept that which Muhammad (peace be upon him) is presenting.

Now the question arises: what was the argument for the sake of which an oath was sworn by these four things? For this we shall have to consider the whole theme which, in the following verses, commences with: Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Aad, and continues till the end of the Surah. It shows that the argument concerned the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter, which the people of Makkah were refusing to acknowledge and the Messenger (peace be upon him) was trying to convince them of this by constant preaching and instruction. At this oaths were sworn by the dawn, the ten nights, the even and the odd, and the departing night to assert: Are these four things not enough to convince a sensible man of the truth of this matter so that he may need yet another evidence for it? 

After having determined the significance of these oaths in the context, we would inevitably have to take each of these in the meaning relevant to the subsequent theme. First of all, it is said: By Fajr. Fajr is the breaking of day, i.e. the time when the first rays of the light of day appear in the midst of the darkness of night as a white streak from the east. Then, it is said: By the ten nights. If the context is kept in view, it will become plain that it implies each group of the ten nights among the thirty nights of the month, the first ten nights being those during which the crescent moon starting as a thin nail, goes on waxing every night until its major portion becomes bright. The second group of the ten nights being those during which the greater part of the night remains illumined by the moon. And the last ten nights being those during which the moon goes on waning and the nights becoming more and more dark until by the end of the month the whole night becomes absolutely dark. Then, it is said: By the even and the odd. Even is the number which is divisible into two equal parts, as 2, 4, 6, 8, and the odd the number which is not so divisible, as l, 3, 5, 7. Generally, it may imply everything in the universe, for things in the universe either exist in pairs or as singles. But since the context here concerns the day and the night, the even and the odd mean the alternation of day and night in the sense that the dates of the month go on changing from the first to the second, and from second to the third, and every change brings with it a new state. Last of all, it is said: By the night when it is departing, i.e. when the darkness which had covered the world since sunset may be at the verge of disappearing and the day be dawning. Now let us consider as a whole the four things an oath by which has been sworn to assert that the news which Muhammad (peace be upon him) is giving of the meting out of rewards and punishments is wholly based on the truth. All these things point to the reality that an all-Powerful Sustainer is ruling over this universe and nothing of what He is doing is absurd, purposeless, or lacking wisdom. On the contrary, a wise plan clearly underlies whatever He does. In His world one will never see that while it is night, the midday sun should suddenly appear overhead, or that the moon should appear one evening in the shape of the crescent and be followed next evening by the full moon, or that the night, when it falls, should never come to an end, but should become perpetual, or that there should be no system in the alternation of the day and night so that one could keep a record of the dates and know what month was passing, what was the date, on what date a particular work is to begin, and when it is to finish, what are the dates of the summer season and what of the rainy or winter season. Apart from countless other things of the universe if man only considers this regularity of the day and night intelligently and seriously, he will find evidence of the truth that this relentless discipline and order has been established by an Omnipotent Sovereign God; with it are connected countless of the advantages of the creatures whom He has created on the earth. Now, if a person living in the world of such a Wise, Omnipotent and All-Mighty Creator denies the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter, he inevitably commits one of the two errors: either he is a denier of His powers and thinks that though He has the power to create the universe with such matchless order and discipline, He is powerless to recreate man and mete out rewards and punishments to him or he denies His wisdom and knowledge and thinks that although He has created man with intellect and powers in the world, yet He will neither ever call him to account as to how he used his intellect and his powers, nor will reward him for his good deeds, nor punish him for his evil deeds. The one who believes in either is foolish in the extreme. 

2. After reasoning out the judgment from the system of day and night, now an argument is being given from man’s own history for its being a certainty. The mention of the conduct of a few well known tribes of history and their ultimate end is meant to point out that the universe is not working under some deaf and blind law of nature, but a Wise God is ruling over it, and in the Kingdom of that God only one law, which man describes as the law of nature is not working, but a moral law also is operative, which necessarily calls for retribution and rewards and punishments. The results of the working of the law have been appearing over and over again even in this world, which point out to the people of understanding as to what is the nature of the kingdom of the universe. Any nation which carved out a system of life for itself, heedless of the Hereafter and of the rewards and punishments of God, was ultimately corrupted and depraved, and whichever nation followed this way, was eventually visited with the scourge of punishment by the Lord of the universe. This continuous experience of man’s own history testifies to two things clearly:

(1) That denial of the Hereafter has been instrumental in corrupting every nation and sending it ultimately to its doom; therefore, the Hereafter indeed is a reality clashing with which leads, as it has always led, to the same inevitable results. 

(2) That retribution for deeds will at some time in the future take place in its full and complete form also, for the people who touched the extreme limits of corruption and depravity and were visited with punishment had been preceded by many others who had sown seeds of corruption for centuries and left the world without being visited by any scourge. 

The justice of God demands that all those people also should be called to account at some time and they too should suffer for their misdeeds. Argument from history and morals for the Hereafter has been given at many places in the Quran and we have explained it everywhere accordingly. For example, see ( E.Ns 5, 6 of Surah Al-Aaraf); (E.N. 12 of Surah Younus); (E.Ns 57, 105, 115 of Surah Houd); (E.N. 9 of Surah Ibrahim); (E.Ns 66, 86 of Surah An-Naml); (E.N. 8 of Surah Ar-Room); (E.N. 25 of Surah Saba); (E.Ns 29, 30 of Surah Suad); (E.N. 80 of Surah Al-Momin); (E.Ns 33, 34 of Surah Ad-Dukhan); (E.Ns 27, 28 of Surah Al-Jathiah); (E.N. 17 of Surah Qaf); (E.N. 21 of Surah Adh-Dhariyat).

3. Aad Iram implies the ancient tribe of Aad, who have been called Aad-ula in the Quran and Arabian history. In Surah An-Najm, it has been said: And that We destroyed the ancient people of Aad (verse 50), i.e. the Aad to whom the Prophet Houd (peace be upon him) had been sent, and who were punished with a scourge. As against them the people of Aad who remained safe and flourished afterwards are remembered as Aad-ukhra in Arabian history. The ancient Aad are called Aad-lram for the reason that they belonged to that branch of the Semetic race which descended from Iram, son of Shem, son of Noah (peace be upon him). Several other sub-branches of this main branch are well known in history. One of which were the Thamud, who have been mentioned in the Quran; another are the Aramaeans, who in the beginning inhabited the northern parts of Syria and whose language Aramaic occupies an important place among the Semetic languages. 

The words dhat-ul-imad (of lofty pillars) have been used for the Aad because they built high buildings and the pattern of architecture of erecting edifices on lofty pillars was introduced by them in the world. At another place in the Quran this characteristic has been mentioned in connection with the Prophet Houd (peace be upon him), who said to them: What, you erect for mere pleasure a monument on every high spot, and build huge castles as if you were immortal. (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 128-129). 

4. That is, they were a matchless people of their time; no other nation in the world compares with them in strength, glory and grandeur. At other places in the Quran, it has been said about them: Your Lord made you very robust. (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 69). As for the Aad, they became arrogant with pride in the land, without any right, and said: Who is stronger than us in might. (Surah HaMim As- Sajdah, Ayat 15). When you seized somebody, you seized him like a tyrant. (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayat 130). 

5. The valley: Wad-il-Qura, where the Thamud carved out dwellings in the mountains, and probably in history they were the first people who started cutting out such buildings into the rocks. (For details, see (E.Ns 57, 59 of Surah Al- Aaraf); (E.N. 45 of Surah Al-Hijr); (E.Ns 95, 99 of Surah Ash- Shuara). 

6. The words dhul-autad (of the stakes) for Pharaoh have also been used in (Surah Suad, Ayat 12). This can have several meanings. Possibly his forces have been compared to the stakes, and “of the stakes” means “of great forces”, for it was by their power and might that he ruled a firmly established kingdom; it might also imply multiplicity of forces, and the meaning may be that wherever his large armies camped, pegs of the tents were seen driven into the ground on every side; it may also imply the stakes at which he punished the people, and it is also possible that the pyramids of Egypt have been compared to the stakes, for they are the remnants of the grandeur and glory of the Pharaohs, and seem to have been driven into the ground like stakes for centuries. 

7. The words “ever watchful in ambush” have been used metaphorically for keeping watch on the movements and activities of the wicked and mischievous people. An ambush is a place where a person lies hiding in wait to attack somebody by surprise. The victim, thoughtless of his fate, comes and falls a prey. The same is the case against Allah of those wicked people who spread mischief in the world and have no sense and fear that there is God above them, Who is watching all their misdeeds. Therefore, they go on committing everyday more and more evils fearlessly until they reach the limit which Allah does not permit them to transgress. At that very moment His scourge descends upon them suddenly.

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Surah Al-Ghashiyah, 88: 17-26

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اَفَلَا يَنۡظُرُوۡنَ اِلَى الۡاِ بِلِ كَيۡفَ خُلِقَتۡ‏﴿88:17﴾ وَاِلَى السَّمَآءِ كَيۡفَ رُفِعَتۡ‏﴿88:18﴾ وَاِلَى الۡجِبَالِ كَيۡفَ نُصِبَتۡ‏﴿88:19﴾ وَاِلَى الۡاَرۡضِ كَيۡفَ سُطِحَتۡ‏﴿88:20﴾ فَذَكِّرۡ ؕ اِنَّمَاۤ اَنۡتَ مُذَكِّرٌ ؕ‏ ﴿88:21﴾لَـسۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ بِمُصَۜيۡطِرٍۙ‏ ﴿88:22﴾ اِلَّا مَنۡ تَوَلّٰى وَكَفَرَۙ‏ ﴿88:23﴾ فَيُعَذِّبُهُ اللّٰهُ الۡعَذَابَ الۡاَكۡبَرَؕ‏ ﴿88:24﴾ اِنَّ اِلَيۡنَاۤ اِيَابَهُمۡۙ‏ ﴿88:25﴾ ثُمَّ اِنَّ عَلَيۡنَا حِسَابَهُمْ‏ ﴿88:26﴾

(88:17) Do (these unbelievers) not observe the camels: how they were created? (88:18) And the sky: how it was raised high? (88:19) And the mountains: how they were fixed? (88:20) And the earth: how it was spread out?7 (88:21) So render good counsel, for you are simply required to counsel, (88:22) and are not invested with the authority to compel them.8(88:23) But whoever will turn away (from the Truth), (88:24) Allah will chastise him with the most terrible chastisement. (88:25) Surely to Us is their return; (88:26) and then it is for Us to call them to account. 

Notes

7. That is, if they deny the possibility of the Hereafter, have they never looked around themselves and considered how the camels were created, how the heaven was raised high, how the mountains were firmly set and how the earth was spread out? When all these things could be created, and exist before them in their finished form, why can the Resurrection not take place? Why cannot a new world come about, and why cannot Hell and Heaven be possible? Only a foolish and thoughtless person would think that the coming into existence of only those things which he has found existing, on opening his eyes in the world, is possible, because they already exist. As for the things, which he has not yet observed and experienced, he should thoughtlessly pass the judgment that their coming into being is impossible. If he has any common sense, he should think as to how the things, which already exist, came into being? How did the camel possessing precisely the same characteristics as needed for the beast required by the desert dwellers of Arabia come into being? How did the sky whose atmosphere is filled with air to breathe in, whose clouds bring rain, whose sun provides light and warmth in the day, whose moon and stars shine at night, come into being? How did the earth spread out on which man lives and passes his life, whose products fulfill all his needs and requirements on whose springs and wells his life depends? How did the mountains rise up from the surface of the earth, which stand fixed with earth and stones of different colors and a variety of minerals in them? Has all this happened without the artistic skill of an All-Powerful, All- Wise Designer. No thinking and intelligent mind can answer this question in the negative. Unless it is stubborn and obstinate, it will have to acknowledge that each one of these things was impossible, had not an Omnipotent, Wise Being made it possible. And when an All-Powerful, Wise Being created these things, there is no reason why the Hereafter should be regarded as remote from reason and impossible.

8. That is, if a person does not listen to reason, he may not. You have not been appointed to force the will of the deniers: your only task is to distinguish the right from the wrong for the people and warn them of the consequences of following the wrong way; so this is the task you should continue to perform.

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Surah Al-Ghashiyah, 88:1-16

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هَلۡ اَتٰٮكَ حَدِيۡثُ الۡغَاشِيَةِؕ‏ ﴿88:1﴾ وُجُوۡهٌ يَّوۡمَـئِذٍ خَاشِعَةٌ ۙ‏ ﴿88:2﴾ عَامِلَةٌ نَّاصِبَةٌ ۙ‏﴿88:3﴾ تَصۡلٰى نَارًا حَامِيَةً ۙ‏ ﴿88:4﴾ تُسۡقٰى مِنۡ عَيۡنٍ اٰنِيَةٍؕ‏ ﴿88:5﴾ لَـيۡسَ لَهُمۡ طَعَامٌ اِلَّا مِنۡ ضَرِيۡعٍۙ‏ ﴿88:6﴾ لَّا يُسۡمِنُ وَلَا يُغۡنِىۡ مِنۡ جُوۡعٍؕ‏ ﴿88:7﴾ وُجُوۡهٌ يَّوۡمَـئِذٍ نَّاعِمَةٌ ۙ‏ ﴿88:8﴾لِّسَعۡيِهَا رَاضِيَةٌ ۙ‏ ﴿88:9﴾ فِىۡ جَنَّةٍ عَالِيَةٍۙ‏﴿88:10﴾ لَّا تَسۡمَعُ فِيۡهَا لَاغِيَةً ؕ‏ ﴿88:11﴾ فِيۡهَا عَيۡنٌ جَارِيَةٌ​ ۘ‏ ﴿88:12﴾ فِيۡهَا سُرُرٌ مَّرۡفُوۡعَةٌ ۙ‏﴿88:13﴾ وَّاَكۡوَابٌ مَّوۡضُوۡعَةٌ ۙ‏ ﴿88:14﴾وَّنَمَارِقُ مَصۡفُوۡفَةٌ ۙ‏ ﴿88:15﴾ وَّزَرَابِىُّ مَبۡثُوۡثَةٌ ؕ‏ ﴿88:16﴾

(88:1) Has the news of the overwhelming event reached you?1 (88:2) Some faces2 that Day shall be downcast with fear, (88:3) be toiling and worn-out; (88:4) they shall burn in a Scorching Fire; (88:5) their drink shall be from a boiling spring. (88:6) They shall have no food except bitter dry thorns3 (88:7) that will neither nourish nor satisfy their hunger. (88:8) On that very Day some faces shall be radiant with joy, (88:9) well-pleased with their striving.4 (88:10) They will be in a lofty Garden (88:11) wherein they shall hear no vain talk.5 (88:12) In it there shall be a flowing spring, (88:13) and couches raised high, (88:14) and goblets laid out,6 (88:15) and cushions arrayed in rows, (88:16) and rich carpets levelled out. 

Notes

1. The overwhelming: the Resurrection which will overshadow the whole world. One should know that here the Hereafter as a whole is being depicted, which comprehends all the stages from the upsetting of the present system to the resurrection of all human beings and the dispensation of rewards and punishments from the divine court. 

2. Some faces: some persons, for the face is the most conspicuous part of the human body by which man’s personality is judged and which reflects the good or bad states through which man passes. 

3. At some places in the Quran, it has been stated that the dwellers of Hell will be given zaqqum to eat; at another place it has been said that they will have no other food but ghislin (washing from wounds), and here that their only food will be thorny dry grass. There is, in fact, no contradiction between these statements. This may as well mean that Hell will have many different compartments in which different categories of the criminals will be lodged according to their crimes, and subjected to different punishments. This may also mean that if they try to avoid zaqqum they will be given ghislin, and if they try to avoid even that, they will only get thorny grass. In short, they would get nothing to suit their taste. 

4. That is: they will be overjoyed to see the best results in the Hereafter of their endeavors and deeds in the world; they will be satisfied to see that they had, in fact, made a profitable bargain in that they had adopted a life of faith, virtue and piety, by sacrificing the desires of the flesh, undergone hardships in carrying out their obligations, endured afflictions in obeying the divine commands, incurred losses and suffered deprivation of benefits and pleasures while trying to avoid sins and acts of disobedience. 

5. This thing has been mentioned at several places in the Quran as a major blessing of Paradise. (For explanation, see(E.N. 38 of Surah Maryam); (E.N. 18 of Surah At-Toor); (E.N. 13 of Surah Al-Waqiah); (E.N. 21 of Surah An-Naba). 

6. That is, filled goblets already supplied so that they do not have to ask for them.

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Surah Al-A’la,87: 1-19

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سَبِّحِ اسۡمَ رَبِّكَ الۡاَعۡلَىۙ‏ ﴿87:1﴾ الَّذِىۡ خَلَقَ فَسَوّٰى ۙ‏ ﴿87:2﴾ وَالَّذِىۡ قَدَّرَ فَهَدٰى ۙ‏﴿87:3﴾ وَالَّذِىۡۤ اَخۡرَجَ الۡمَرۡعٰى ۙ‏ ﴿87:4﴾فَجَعَلَهٗ غُثَآءً اَحۡوٰىؕ‏ ﴿87:5﴾ سَنُقۡرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنۡسٰٓىۙ‏ ﴿87:6﴾ اِلَّا مَا شَآءَ اللّٰهُ​ؕ اِنَّهٗ يَعۡلَمُ الۡجَهۡرَ وَمَا يَخۡفٰىؕ‏ ﴿87:7﴾ وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلۡيُسۡرٰى ​ۖ​ۚ‏ ﴿87:8﴾ فَذَكِّرۡ اِنۡ نَّفَعَتِ الذِّكۡرٰىؕ‏ ﴿87:9﴾ سَيَذَّكَّرُ مَنۡ يَّخۡشٰىۙ‏﴿87:10﴾ وَيَتَجَنَّبُهَا الۡاَشۡقَىۙ‏ ﴿87:11﴾ الَّذِىۡ يَصۡلَى النَّارَ الۡكُبۡرٰى​ۚ‏ ﴿87:12﴾ ثُمَّ لَا يَمُوۡتُ فِيۡهَا وَلَا يَحۡيٰىؕ‏ ﴿87:13﴾ قَدۡ اَفۡلَحَ مَنۡ تَزَكّٰىۙ‏﴿87:14﴾ وَذَكَرَ اسۡمَ رَبِّهٖ فَصَلّٰى​ ؕ‏ ﴿87:15﴾ بَلۡ تُؤۡثِرُوۡنَ الۡحَيٰوةَ الدُّنۡيَا ۖ‏ ﴿87:16﴾وَالۡاٰخِرَةُ خَيۡرٌ وَّ اَبۡقٰىؕ‏ ﴿87:17﴾ اِنَّ هٰذَا لَفِى الصُّحُفِ الۡاُوۡلٰىۙ‏ ﴿87:18﴾ صُحُفِ اِبۡرٰهِيۡمَ وَمُوۡسٰى‏ ﴿87:19﴾

(87:1) Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High,1 (87:2) Who created all things and fashioned them in good proportion;2 (87:3) Who determined3 and guided them,4 (87:4) Who brought forth the pasture,5 (87:5) and then made it into a blackish straw.6 (87:6) We shall make you recite and then you will not forget,7(87:7) except what Allah should wish.8 He knows all that is manifest and all that is hidden.9 (87:8) We shall ease you to follow the way of Ease. (87:9) So render good counsel if good counsel will avail.10 (87:10) He who fears (Allah) shall heed it,11 (87:11) but the wretched will turn away from it. (87:12) He will be cast into the Great Fire. (87:13) Then he will neither die in it, nor live.12 (87:14) He who purified himself shall prosper,13 (87:15) remembering his Lord’s name14 and praying.15 (87:16) No; but you prefer the present life,16 (87:17) whereas the Hereafter is better and more enduring.17 (87:18) This, indeed, was in the ancient Scrolls, (87:19) the Scrolls of Abraham and Moses.18

Notes

1. Literally: “Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High.” This can have several meanings and all are implied: 

(1) Allah should be remembered by the names which fit Him, and no such name should be used for His exalted Being which, with regard to its meaning and sense, does not fit Him, or which reflects some aspect of deficiency, lack of reverence, polytheism about Him, or which refers to some wrong belief in respect of His Being, attributes, or works. For this purpose, the safest way is that only such names be used for Allah, which He himself has mentioned in the Quran, or which are a correct translation of these names in other languages. 

(2) Allah should not be remembered by the names as are used generally for the created beings, or the created beings should not be called by names as are specifically meant for Allah. And if there are some attributive names which are not specifically meant for Allah, but may also be used for the created beings, such as Rauf (Kind), Rahim (Compassionate), Karim (Generous), Sami (Hearing), Basir (Seeing), etc. one should exercise due care not to use them for man as they are used for Allah. 

(3) Allah should not be mentioned in a way or in a state which reflects lack of respect for Him; for example, to mention His name when engaged in mockery or jest, or when in the lavatory, or while committing a sinful act, or before the people who might behave insolently in response, or in assemblies where the people are engaged in absurd things and might laugh off His mention, or on an occasion when it is feared that the hearer will hear it disdainfully. About Imam Malik, it is related that when a beggar begged him for something and he did not have anything to give, he would not turn away the beggar, saying that Allah would help him, as is commonly done by the people, but he would excuse himself in some other way. When asked why he did so, he replied: When the beggar is not given anything and one makes an excuse, it inevitably displeases him. On such an occasion, I do not like to mention Allah’s name, for I do not like that somebody should hear His name in a state of annoyance and displeasure.

In the Hadith, it has been reported from Uqbah bin Amir Juhani that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had enjoined recitation of Subhana Rabbi yal-Aala in sajdah on the basis of this very verse, and the recitation of Subhana Rabbi yal- Adheem in ruku on the basis of the last verse of Surah Al- Waqiah, viz. Fa-sabhih bismi-Rabbi-kal-Adeem. (Musnad Ahmad, Abu Daud, lbn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Hakim, Ibn al- Mundhir). 

2. That is, He created everything, from the earth to the heavens, in the universe, and gave whatever he created the right proportion and balance and gave every creature the best conceivable form and shape. The same thing has been expressed in Surah As-Sajdah, thus: Who gave everything He created the best form (verse 7) Thus, the creation of everything in the world giving it due order and proportion, is an express sign of the truth that some Wise Designer is its Creator. Had the creation of the countless things in the universe been the result of a chance accident, or the work of many creators, there could be no order and balance, no beauty and inner coherence among the many things existing in the world. 

3. Set a destiny: Determined beforehand what would be the function of a certain thing in the world, and for that purpose what would be its size, its form and shape, its qualities, its place of location, and what opportunities and means should be provided for its survival, existence and functioning, when it should come into being, and when and how it should cease to be after completing its part of the work. Such a scheme for a thing is its destiny (taqdir). And this destiny Allah has set for everything in the universe and for the entire universe as a whole. This means that the creation has not come about without a pre-conceived plan, haphazardly, but for it the Creator had a full plan before Him, and everything is happening according to that plan. (For further explanation, see (E.Ns 13, 14 of Surah Al-Hijr); (E.N. 8 of Surah Al-Furqan); (E.N. 25 of Surah Al-Qamar). (E.N. 12 of Surah Abasa). 

4. That is, nothing was just created and left to itself, but whatever was created to perform a certain function, it was also taught the method of performing that function. In other words, He is not merely the Creator but Guide too. He has taken the responsibility to give guidance to whatever He has created in a particular capacity to fit its nature and to guide it in the way suitable for it. One kind of guidance is for the earth, the moon, the sun, and the stars and planets, which they are following in performing their role. Another kind of guidance is for water, air, light and the solid and mineral elements, and they are performing the same services for which they have been created accordingly. Still another kind of guidance is for vegetables, according to which they take root and spread in the earth, sprout up from its layers, obtain food from wherever Allah has created it for them, produce stem, branches, leaves, blossom and fruit, and fulfill the function which has been appointed for each of them. Still another kind of guidance is for the countless species of animals of the land, and water, and for each member of the species, the wonderful manifestations of which are clearly visible in the life of the animals and in their works, so much so that even an atheist is compelled to concede that different kinds of animals possess some sort of inspirational knowledge which man cannot obtain even through his instruments, not to speak of his senses. Then, there are two different kinds of guidance for man, which correspond to his two different capacities. One kind of guidance is for his animal life, by which each child learns to suck milk spontaneously on birth, by which the eyes of man, his nose, ear, heart, brain, lungs, kidney, liver, stomach, intestines, nerves, veins and arteries, all are performing their respective functions, without man’s being conscious of it, or his will’s having anything to do with the functions of these organs. This is the guidance under which all physical and mental changes pertaining to childhood, maturity, youth and old age go on taking place in man, independent of his will, choice, even his consciousness. The second kind of guidance is for his intellectual and conscious life, the nature of which is absolutely different from the guidance for unconscious life, for in this sphere of life a kind of freedom has been transferred to man, for which the mode of guidance meant for voluntary life is not suitable. For turning away from this last kind of guidance, man may offer whatever arguments and excuses he may like, it is not credible that the Creator Who has arranged guidance for everything in this universe according to its capacity, might have set for man the destiny that he may appropriate numerous things in His world freely, but might not have made any arrangement to show what is the right way of using his choice and what is the wrong way. (For further explanation, see (E.Ns 9, 10,14, 56 of Surah An-Nahl); (E.N. 23 of Surah TaHa), ( E.Ns 2, 3 of Surah Ar-Rahman); (E.N. 5 of Surah Ad-Dahr). 

5. The word maraa as used in the text means the fodder for animals but the context shows that here it does not imply mere fodder but every kind of vegetation that grows out of the soil. 

6. That is, He does not only bring about spring but autumn as well. You witness both the manifestations of this power. On the one side, He causes lush green vegetation to grow, the freshness of which pleases the hearts and, on the other, He renders the same vegetation pale, dry and black rubbish, which is blown about by winds and swept away by floods. Therefore, no one here should be involved in the misunderstanding that he will only experience spring and will never see autumn. This same theme has been expressed at several other places in the Quran in other ways. For example see (Surah Younus, Ayat 24); (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 45); (Surah Al-Hadid, Ayat 20). 

7. Hakim has related from Saad bin Abi Waqqas and Ibn Marduyah from Abdullah bin Abbas that the Prophet (peace be upon him) repeated the words of the Quran for fear lest he should forget them. Mujahid and Kalbi say that even before Gabriel finished recitation of the revelation the Prophet (peace be upon him) would start repeating the initial verses lest he should forget them. On this very basis Allah assured him that he should listen quietly when the revelation was coming down, for, We shall enable you to recite it; then you will remember it forever. You should have no fear that you will forget any word of it. This is the third occasion where the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been taught the method of receiving the revelation. The first two occasions have been referred to in(Surah TaHa, Ayat 114)and (Surah Al-Qiyamah, Ayats 16-19). This verse proves that just as the Quran was sent down to the Prophet (peace be upon him) as a miracle, so also its each word was preserved in his memory as a miracle and no possibility was allowed to remain that he should forget anything of it, or that he should utter another synonymous word for any word of it. 

8. This sentence can have two meanings: First, that the preservation of the entire Quran word for word in your memory is not a manifestation of your own power but the result of Allah Almighty’s bounty and grace; otherwise if Allah so willed, He could cause it to be forgotten. This same theme has been expressed at another place in the Quran, thus: O Muhammad! We may, if We so will, take back from you all of what We have revealed to you. (Surah Bani Israil, Ayat 86). Another meaning can also be: Your forgetting something temporarily, or your forgetting a verse or a word occasionally is an exception from this promise. What has been promised is: You will not forget any word of the Quran permanently. This meaning is confirmed by the following tradition of Bukhari: Once while leading the Fajr Prayer the Prophet (peace be upon him) happened to omit a verse during the recitation. After the Prayer Ubayy bin Kaab asked if the verse had been abrogated. The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied that he had forgotten to recite it. 

9. Although the words are general, and they mean that Allah knows everything, whether it is open or hidden, yet in the context in which they occur, they seem to mean: O Prophet, your reciting the Quran along with Gabriel is known to Allah and your fear for which you do so is also in Allah’s knowledge. Therefore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is being assured that he will not forget it. 

10. Generally, the commentators take these as two separate sentences. They interpret the first sentence to mean: We are giving you a simple code of law, which is easy to practice and act upon, and the second sentence to mean: Admonish the people if admonishing be useful. but in our opinion, the word fa-dhakkir connects the two sentences in meaning, and the theme of the second sentence bears upon the theme of the first sentence. Therefore, we interpret these sentences to mean: O Prophet, We do not want to put you to any hardship concerning the preaching of Islam by demanding that you should make the deaf to hear and the blind to see the way, but We have appointed an easy way for you, which is this: Give admonition when you feel that the people are inclined to benefit by it. As to who is inclined to benefit by the admonition and who is not, this you can only know through general preaching. Therefore, you should continue your general preaching, but your object should be to search out those from among the people who will benefit by it and adopt the right way. Such people alone are worthy of your attention and you should pay full attention only to their instruction and training. You need not abandon them and pursue those about whom you find by experience that they are not inclined to accept any admonition. Almost this very theme has been expressed in Surah Abasa in another way, thus: As for him who is indifferent, to him you attend, though you would not be responsible if he does not reform. And the one who comes to you running, of his own will and fears, from him you turn away. By no means: This is but an Admonition. Let him who wills, accept it. (verses 5-12). 

11. That is, only the one who has fear of God and of evil consequences, will consider whether or not he is following a wrong way, and he only will heed the admonition of the Servant of Allah, who is distinguishing guidance from misguidance for him and guiding him to true successes and piety. 

12. That is, he will neither die so as to escape the punishment nor live as one truly lives so as to enjoy the pleasures of life. This punishment is for those who do not at all accept the admonition of Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and persist in disbelief, polytheism and atheism till death. As for those who believe in their hearts but are cast into Hell because of their evil deeds, it has been said in the Hadith that when they will have undergone their punishment, Allah will give them death; then intercession on their behalf will be accepted, and their scorched bodies will be brought to the canals of Paradise, and the dwellers of Paradise will be asked to sprinkle water on them; then by that water they will come to life even as vegetation grows up when water is sprinkled on the earth. This theme has been reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Muslim on the authority of Abu Saeed Khudri and in Bazzar on the authority of Abu Hurairah. 

13. Who purified himself: Who affirmed the faith giving up disbelief and polytheism, adopted good morals giving up evil morals, and performed good deeds giving up evil deeds. Success does not imply worldly prosperity, but true and real success whether worldly prosperity accompanies it or not. (For explanation, see (E.N. 23 of Surah Younus), (E.Ns 1,  11,  50 of Surah Al-Mominoon); (E.N. 4 of Surah Luqman). 

14. To remember Allah signifies His remembrance in the heart as well as with the tongue. 

15. That is, he did not remain content only with remembering Allah but proved by performing the Prayer that he is also practically prepared to obey God in Whom he has affirmed the faith, and will remember His name as long as he lives. In this verse mention has been made of two things respectively: First, to remember Allah, then to perform the Prayer. Accordingly, the method enjoined is that the Prayer be begun with Allahu Akbar. This is an evidence to prove that all the elements of the procedure that the Prophet (peace be upon him) has taught of performing the Prayer, are based on the allusions in the Quran. But, no one else, apart from the Messenger (peace be upon him) of Allah, could by combining these injunctions and allusions give the Prayer the form that it has. 

16. That is, O man, all your thoughts and endeavors are only for the world, its ease and comforts, its benefits and enjoyments. You regard whatever you gain here as the real gain and whatever you lose here as your real loss. 

17. That is, the Hereafter is preferable to the world for two reasons: First, that its comforts and pleasures are far superior to all the blessings of the world; second, that the world is transitory and the Hereafter everlasting.

18. This is the second place in the Quran where reference has been made to the teachings of the Books of the Prophets Abraham and Moses (peace be upon them). The first reference was made in section 3 of Surah An-Najm.

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Surah At-Tariq,86: 1-17

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وَالسَّمَآءِ وَالطَّارِقِۙ‏ ﴿86:1﴾ وَمَاۤ اَدۡرٰٮكَ مَا الطَّارِقُۙ‏ ﴿86:2﴾ النَّجۡمُ الثَّاقِبُۙ‏ ﴿86:3﴾ اِنۡ كُلُّ نَفۡسٍ لَّمَّا عَلَيۡهَا حَافِظٌؕ‏ ﴿86:4﴾ فَلۡيَنۡظُرِ الۡاِنۡسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَؕ‏ ﴿86:5﴾ خُلِقَ مِنۡ مَّآءٍ دَافِقٍۙ‏ ﴿86:6﴾ يَّخۡرُجُ مِنۡۢ بَيۡنِ الصُّلۡبِ وَالتَّرَآئِبِؕ‏ ﴿86:7﴾ اِنَّهٗ عَلٰى رَجۡعِهٖ لَقَادِرٌؕ‏﴿86:8﴾ يَوۡمَ تُبۡلَى السَّرَآئِرُۙ‏ ﴿86:9﴾ فَمَا لَهٗ مِنۡ قُوَّةٍ وَّلَا نَاصِرٍؕ‏ ﴿86:10﴾ وَالسَّمَآءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجۡعِۙ‏ ﴿86:11﴾ وَالۡاَرۡضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدۡعِۙ‏﴿86:12﴾ اِنَّهٗ لَقَوۡلٌ فَصۡلٌۙ‏ ﴿86:13﴾ وَّمَا هُوَ بِالۡهَزۡلِؕ‏ ﴿86:14﴾ اِنَّهُمۡ يَكِيۡدُوۡنَ كَيۡدًا ۙ‏﴿86:15﴾ وَّاَكِيۡدُ كَيۡدًا ۚۖ‏ ﴿86:16﴾ فَمَهِّلِ الۡكٰفِرِيۡنَ اَمۡهِلۡهُمۡ رُوَيۡدًا‏ ﴿86:17﴾

(86:1) By the heaven, and the night-visitor, (86:2) what do you know what the night-visitor is? (86:3) It is the piercing star. (86:4) There is no living being but there is a protector over it.1(86:5) So let man consider of what he was created.2 (86:6) He was created of a gushing fluid, (86:7) emanating from between the loins and the ribs.3 (86:8) Surely He (the Creator) has the power to bring him back (to life).4 (86:9) On the Day when man’s deepest secrets shall be put to the test5 (86:10) he shall have no power, and no helper. (86:11) By the heaven with its recurring cycle of rain,6 (86:12) and by the earth ever bursting with verdure, (86:13) this (Qur’an) is surely a decisive Word, (86:14) not a flippant jest.7 (86:15) They are devising a guile,8 (86:16) and I too am devising a guile.9(86:17) So leave the unbelievers to themselves; respite them awhile.10

Notes

1. A Guardian: Allah Almighty Himself, who is looking after and watching over every creature, big or small, in the earth and heavens. He it is who has brought everything into existence, who is maintaining and sustaining everything in its place and position, and who has taken the responsibility to provide for every creature and to protect it from calamities till an appointed time. On this, an oath has been sworn by the heaven and by every star and planet which appears in the darkness of the night. (Although lexically, an-najm ath-thaqib is singular, it does not imply any one star but the star in the generic sense). The oath signifies that the existence of each star (among the countless stars and planets that shine in the sky at night) testifies to the fact that there is a Being who has created it, illuminated it, suspended it in space, and thus is watching over it in a manner that neither it falls from its place nor collides with any other of the countless stars in their movements, nor does any other star collide with it. 

2. After inviting man to ponder over the heavens, he is now being invited to consider his own self and see how he has been created, who is it who selects one spermatozoon from among billions of spermatozoa emitted by the father and combines it at some time with one ovum out of a large number of the ova produced by the mother, and thus causes a particular human being to be conceived? Then, who is it who after conception develops it gradually in the mother’s womb until it is delivered in the form of a living child? Then, who is it who in the mother’s womb itself brings about a certain proportion and harmony between its bodily structure and its physical and mental capabilities? Then, who is it who watches over it continuously from birth till death, protects it from disease, accidents and calamities and provides him with countless means of life and opportunities for survival in the world of which he is not even conscious, not to speak of having the power to provide these for himself. Is all this happening without the planning and supervision of One God? 

3. “A fluid gushing forth” means ejaculation of semen (maain) carrying the sperm (nutfa), one of the minute, usually actively motile gametes-a mature male reproductive cell in semen, which serves to fertilize the female ovum. Sperms are produced by testes. Each testes has 800 small tubules and each tube about 2 feet long, semeniferous tubules which produce sperms about 200-300 million every day. There are 2 valves around urethra. Both are tightly closed to hold and store semen before its expulsion. The inner valve stays tightly closed to prevent backward ejaculation into the urinary bladder and the outer valve intermittently contracts and relaxes 3-7 times along with surrounding muscles contraction to generate force for propelling the semen out (dafiqin). (Ref. Spinal Cord Medicine, Demos Medical Publishing Inc. New York USA, Chapter 26, Page 354). 

4. Sulb is the backbone (vertebral column) and taraib the ribs. There are 12 pairs of ribs. Of them, 7 pairs are called true ribs as each of them is attached between the vertebra (backbone) and the sternum (breast bone), and the remaining 5 are called false ribs as they are also attached to the vertebral column but not to sternum. Ejaculation is a highly complex process which requires smooth coordination of multiple sections of the nervous system. Mechanism of emission and propulsions is caused by 2 spinal cord centers. The spinal cord is 43-45 cm long and is continuation of brain tissue and occupies its place in the center of upper spinal bony vertebral column. It is the proper functioning, integrity and continuity of these 2 spinal cord centers located between vertebrae (sulb) and ribs (taraib) connecting spinal cord and sex organs along with the valves around urethra by the nerves which are responsible for ejaculation. (Ref. Spinal Cord Medicine, Demos Medical Publishing Inc. New York USA, Chapter 2, Page 16).

5. That is, His bringing man into existence and watching over him from the time conception takes place until death, is a clear proof that He can create him once again after death. If He had the power to create him in the first instance and man stays alive in the world by His power alone, what rational arguments can be presented for the conjecture that He does not have the power to do the same thing a second time? To deny this power man will even have to deny that God has brought him into existence, and the one who denies this may well come out one day with the claim that all books in the world have been printed accidentally, all cities of the world have been built accidentally, and there has occurred on the earth an explosion by chance which made all the factories start functioning automatically. The fact is that the creation of man, the structure of his body, the existence of the powers and capabilities working within him, and his survival as a living being all this is a much more complex process than all those works that have come to be accomplished through man, or are still in the process of being accomplished. If such a complex work with such wisdom, proportion and order could be accomplished just through a chance accident, what else could not be regarded as accidental by a mentally deranged person? 

6. The hidden secrets: the acts of every person which remained a secret to the world as well as those affairs which came before the world only in their apparent form, but the intentions, aims and secret motives working behind them remained hidden from the people. On the Resurrection Day all this will be laid bare and not only will the acts and deeds of every person be examined but it will also be seen what was his motive and intention and object of so acting. Likewise, it also remained hidden from the world, even from the doer of the act himself, what effects and influences of his act appeared in the world, to what extent they spread and for how long they continued to work. This secret will also be revealed on the Resurrection Day and it will be fully examined as to what were the consequences of the seed that a person sowed in the world, what fruit it bore and for how long it affected the later generations for better or for worse. 

7. The words dhat ar-raje have been used for the sky. Literally raje means to return, but metaphorically this word is used for the rain in Arabic, for rain does not fall just once, but returns over and over again in the season and sometimes out of season as well. Another reason for calling the rain raje is that water rises as vapor from the oceans of the earth and then falls back as rain on the same earth. 

8. That is, just as the falling of rain from the sky and the splitting of the earth to put out shoots is no jest but a serious reality, so also the news which the Quran gives that man has to return to his God is no jest but a definite and decisive reality and an unchangeable truth which has to be fulfilled.

9. That is, these disbelievers are devising every kind of plan to defeat the invitation of the Quran; they wish to blow out this candle; they are creating all sorts of doubts In the people’s minds; they are inventing false accusations against the Prophet (peace be upon him) who has brought it, so as to frustrate his mission in the world and perpetuate the darkness of ignorance and unbelief which he is struggling so hard to remove. 

10. That is, I am planning that none of their devices should succeed so that they are utterly defeated in their designs, and the light which they are trying their utmost to put out, spreads far and wide.

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Surah Al-Buruj,85: 1-22

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وَالسَّمَآءِ ذَاتِ الۡبُرُوۡجِۙ‏ ﴿85:1﴾ وَالۡيَوۡمِ الۡمَوۡعُوۡدِۙ‏ ﴿85:2﴾ وَشَاهِدٍ وَّمَشۡهُوۡدٍؕ‏ ﴿85:3﴾قُتِلَ اَصۡحٰبُ الۡاُخۡدُوۡدِۙ‏ ﴿85:4﴾ النَّارِ ذَاتِ الۡوَقُوۡدِۙ‏ ﴿85:5﴾ اِذۡ هُمۡ عَلَيۡهَا قُعُوۡدٌ ۙ‏ ﴿85:6﴾وَّهُمۡ عَلٰى مَا يَفۡعَلُوۡنَ بِالۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ شُهُوۡدٌ ؕ‏﴿85:7﴾ وَمَا نَقَمُوۡا مِنۡهُمۡ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡ يُّؤۡمِنُوۡا بِاللّٰهِ الۡعَزِيۡزِ الۡحَمِيۡدِۙ‏  ﴿85:8﴾ الَّذِىۡ لَهٗ مُلۡكُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ​ؕ وَ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَىۡءٍ شَهِيۡدٌ ؕ‏ ﴿85:9﴾ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ فَتَـنُوا الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ وَ الۡمُؤۡمِنٰتِ ثُمَّ لَمۡ يَتُوۡبُوۡا فَلَهُمۡ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمۡ عَذَابُ الۡحَرِيۡقِؕ‏ ﴿85:10﴾ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَعَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ لَهُمۡ جَنّٰتٌ تَجۡرِىۡ مِنۡ تَحۡتِهَا الۡاَنۡهٰرُ ؕ ذٰلِكَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡكَبِيۡرُؕ‏ ﴿85:11﴾ اِنَّ بَطۡشَ رَبِّكَ لَشَدِيۡدٌ ؕ‏ ﴿85:12﴾ اِنَّهٗ هُوَ يُبۡدِئُ وَيُعِيۡدُ​ ۚ‏ ﴿85:13﴾ وَهُوَ الۡغَفُوۡرُ الۡوَدُوۡدُۙ‏﴿85:14﴾ ذُو الۡعَرۡشِ الۡمَجِيۡدُ ۙ‏ ﴿85:15﴾ فَعَّالٌ لِّمَا يُرِيۡدُ ؕ‏ ﴿85:16﴾ هَلۡ اَتٰٮكَ حَدِيۡثُ الۡجُـنُوۡدِۙ‏ ﴿85:17﴾ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَثَمُوۡدَؕ‏ ﴿85:18﴾ بَلِ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا فِىۡ تَكۡذِيۡبٍۙ‏ ﴿85:19﴾ وَّاللّٰهُ مِنۡ وَّرَآئِهِمۡ مُّحِيۡطٌۚ‏ ﴿85:20﴾ بَلۡ هُوَ قُرۡاٰنٌ مَّجِيۡدٌ ۙ‏ ﴿85:21﴾ فِىۡ لَوۡحٍ مَّحۡفُوۡظٍ‏﴿85:22﴾

(85:1) By the heaven with its impregnable castles;1 (85:2) by the Promised Day,2 (85:3) and by the witness and what is witnessed:3(85:4) the people of the pit were destroyed (85:5) with fire abounding in fuel, (85:6) while they sat around it, (85:7) and were witnessing what they did to the believers.4 (85:8) Against these they had no grudge except that they believed in Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Praiseworthy, (85:9) to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. Allah witnesses everything.5 (85:10) Surely those who tormented the believing men and the believing women and then did not repent, theirs shall be the chastisement of Hell, and theirs shall be the chastisement of burning.6 (85:11) As for those who believed and acted righteously, theirs shall be Gardens beneath which rivers flow. That is the great triumph. (85:12) Stern indeed is your Lord’s punishment. (85:13) He it is Who creates for the first time and He it is Who will create again, (85:14) and He is the Ever Forgiving, the Most Loving (85:15) – the Lord of the Glorious Throne, (85:16) the Executor of what He wills.7(85:17) Has the story of the armies reached you, (85:18) the armies of Pharaoh and Thamud?8(85:19) The unbelievers are indeed engaged in denying it, calling it a lie, (85:20) although Allah surrounds them. (85:21) Nay; but this is a glorious Qur’an, (85:22) inscribed on a well-guarded Tablet.9

Notes

1. Literally: By the heaven having constellations. Some of the commentators have interpreted it to mean the twelve signs of the zodiac in the heavens according to ancient astronomy, However, according to Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, Hasan Basri, Dahhak and Suddi it implies the glorious stars and planets of the sky.

2. That is, the Day of Resurrection. 

3. The commentators have expressed many different views about “the witness” and “that which is witnessed”. In our opinion what fits in well with the context is that it is every such person who will witness the Day of Resurrection, and that which is witnessed is the Resurrection itself, the dreadful scenes of which will be seen by all. This is the view of Mujahid. Ikrimah, Dahhak, lbn Nujaih and some other commentators. 

4. The people of the ditch were those who had burnt the believers at stake and witnessed their burning themselves. Destroyed were: Cursed were they by God and they became worthy of Hell torment. On this an oath has been sworn by three things: 

(1) By the heaven having constellations. 

(2) By the Day of Resurrection which has been promised. 

(3) By the dreadful scenes of the Day of Resurrection and all those creatures who will witness those scenes. 

The first of these testifies to the truth that the Sovereign, Absolute Being Who is ruling over the glorious stars and planets of the universe, cannot allow this contemptible, insignificant creature called man to escape His grip. The second thing has been sworn by on the basis that the wicked people committed whatever tyranny they wanted to commit, but the Day of which men have been fore-warned is sure to come when the grievances of every wronged person will be redressed and every wrongdoer will be brought to book and punished. The third thing has been sworn by for the reason that just as these wicked people enjoyed witnessing the burning of the helpless believers, so will all human beings on the Day of Resurrection witness how they are taken to task and burnt in Hell. 

Several events have been mentioned in the traditions of the believers having been thrown into pits of blazing fire, which show that such tyrannies have been inflicted many a time in history. 

One of the events has been reported by Suhaib Rumi from the Prophet (peace be upon him), saying that a king had a magician at his court who on becoming old requested the king to appoint a boy who should learn magic from him. Accordingly, the king appointed a boy. But the boy while going to the magician’s place and coming back home also started visiting on the way a monk, who was probably a follower of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), and being influenced by his teaching turned to a believer. So much so that by his training he acquired miraculous powers. He would heal the blind and cure the lepers. When the king came to know that the boy had believed in the Unity of God, he first put the monk to the sword; then wanted to kill the boy, but no instrument and no device had any effect on him. At last, the boy said to the king: If you are bent upon killing me, shoot an arrow at me with the word: Bi-ismi Rabbil-ghulam (in the name of this boy’s Lord) in front of the assembled people, and I shall die. The king did as he was told and the boy died. There upon the people cried out that they affirmed faith in the Lord of the boy. The courtiers told the king that the same precisely had happened which he wanted to avoid: the people had forsaken his religion and adopted the boy’s religion. At this the king was filled with rage. Consequently, he got pits dug out along the roads, got them filled with fire and ordered all those who refused to renounce the new faith to be thrown into the fire. (Ahmad, Muslim. Nasai, Tirmidhi, Ibn Jarir. Abdur Razzaq. Ibn Abi Shaibah, Tabarani. Abd bin Humaid). 

The second event has been reported from Ali. He says that a king of lran drank wine and committed adultery with his sister resulting in illicit relations between the two. When the secret became known, the king got the announcement made that God had permitted marriage with the sister. When the people refused to believe in it, he started coercing them into accepting by different kinds of punishment; so much so that he began to cast into the pits of fire every such person who refused to concede it. According to Ali, marriage with the prohibited relations among the fireworshippers has begun since then. (Ibn Jarir). 

The third event has been related by lbn Abbas, probably on the basis of the Israelite traditions, saying that the people of Babylon had compelled the children of Israel to give up the religion of the Prophet Moses (peace he upon him), so much so that they cast into pits of fire all those who refused to obey. (Ibn Jarir, Abd bin Humaid). 

The best known event, however, relates to Najran, which has been related by Ibn Hisham, Tabari, Ibn Khaldun, the author of Mujam al-Buldan and other Islamic historians. Its resume is as follows: Tuban Asad Abu Karib, king of Himyar (Yaman), went to Yathrib once, where he embraced Judaism under the influence of the Jews, and brought two of the Jewish scholars of Bani Quraizah with him to Yaman. There he propagated Judaism widely. His son Dhu Nuwas succeeded him and he attacked Najran which was a stronghold of the Christians in southern Arabia so as to eliminate Christianity and make the people accept Judaism. Ibn Hisham says that these people were true followers of the Gospel of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him). In Najran, he invited the people to accept Judaism but they refused to obey. Thereupon he caused a large number of the people to be burnt in the ditches of fire and slew many others with the sword until he had killed nearly twenty thousand of them. Daus Dhu Thalaban an inhabitant of Najran escaped and went, according to one tradition, to the Byzantine emperor, and according to another to the Negus, king of Abyssinia, and told him what had happened. 

According to the first tradition, the emperor wrote to the king of Abyssinia, and according to the second, the Negus requested the emperor to provide him with a naval force. In any case; an Abyssinian army consisting of seventy thousand soldiers under a general called Aryat, attacked Yaman, Dhu Nuwas was killed, the Jewish rule came to an end, and Yaman become a part of the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. 

The statements of the Islamic historians are not only confirmed by other historical means but they also give many more details. Yaman first came under the Christian Abyssinian domination in 340 A.D. and this domination continued till 378 A.D. The Christian missionaries started entering Yaman in that period. About the same time, a man named Faymiyun (Phemion), who was a righteous, earnest, ascetic man and possessed miraculous powers, arrived in Yaman and by his preaching against idol-worship converted the people of Najran to Christianity. These people were ruled by three chiefs: Sayyid, who was the principal chief like the tribal elders and responsible for external affairs, political agreements and command of the forces, Aqib, who looked after the internal affairs and Usquf (Bishop), the religious guide. In southern Arabia Najran commanded great importance, being a major trade and industrial center with tussore, leather and the armament industries. The well-known Yamanite wrapper and cloak (hulla Yamani) was also manufactured here. On this very basis, Dhu Nuwas attacked this important place not only for religious but also for political and economic reasons. Dhu Nuwas put to death Harithah (called Arethas by the Syrian historians), killed Sayyid of Najrain and also killed his two daughters in front of their mother Romah and compelled her to drink their blood and then put even her to death. He took out the bones of Bishop Paul from the grave and burnt them, and ordered women, men, children, aged people, priests and monks, all to be thrown into the pits of fire. The total number of the people thus killed has been estimated between twenty and forty thousand. This happened in October, 523 A.D. At last, in 525 A.D. the Abyssinians attacked Yaman and put an end to Dhu Nuwas and his Himyarite kingdom. This is confirmed by the Hisn Ghurab inscription which the modern archaeologists have unearthed in Yaman. 

In several Christian writings of the 6th century A.D. details of the event relating to the “people of the ditch” have been given, some of which are contemporary and reported from eye-witnesses. Authors of three of these books were contemporaries with the event. They were Procopeus, Cosmos Indicopleustis, who was translating Greek book of Ptolemy under command of the Negus Elesboan at that time and resided at Adolis, a city on the sea-coast of Abyssinia, and Johannes Malala from whom several of the later historians have related this event. After this, Johannes of Ephesus (dated 585 A.D) has related the story of the persecution of the Christians of Najran in his history of the Church from a letter of Bishop Mar Simeon who was a contemporary reporter of this event. Mar Simeon wrote this letter to Abbot von Gabula; in it Simeon has reported this event with reference to the statements of the Yamanite eye-witnesses present on the occasion. This letter was published in 1881 A.D. from Rome and in 1890 A.D. in the memoirs of the martyrs of Christianity Jacobian Patriarch. Dionysius and Zacharia of Mitylene have in their Syriac histories also related this event. Yaqub Saruji also in his book about the Christians of Najran has made mention of it. Bishop Pulus of Edessa’s elegy on those who perished in Najran, is still extant. An English translation of the Syriac kitab al-Himyarin (Book of the Himyarites) was published in 1924 from London, which confirms the statements of the Muslim historians. In the British Museum there are some Abyssinian manuscripts relating to that period or a period close to it, which support this story. Philby in his travelogue entitled Arabian Highlands, writes: Among the people of Najran the place is still well known where the event of the people of the ditch (ashab al-ukhdud) had taken place. Close by Umm Kharaq there can still be seen some pictures carved in the rocks, and the present day people of Najran also know the place where the cathedral of Najran stood. 

The Abyssinian Christians after capturing Najran had built a church here resembling the Kabah, by which they wanted to divert pilgrimage from the Kabah at Makkah to it. Its priests and keepers wore turbans and regarded it as a sacred sanctuary. The Roman empire also sent monetary aid for this “kabah”. The priests of this very “kabah” of Najran had visited the Prophet (peace be upon him) under the leadership of their Sayyid, Aqib and Bishop for a discussion with him and the famous event of the mubahala (trial through prayer) took place as referred to in (Surah Al-Imran, Ayat 61). (For details. see (E.Ns 29 and 55 of Surah Al-Imran). 

5. In these verses those of Allah Almighty’s attributes have been mentioned on account of which He alone deserves that one should believe in Him, and the people who feel displeased at one’s believing in Him, are wicked and unjust. 1

6. Punishment of burning has been mentioned separately from the torment of Hell because they had burnt the oppressed people to death by casting them into the pits of fire. Probably this will be a different and severer kind of fire from the fire of Hell in which those people will be burnt. 

7. He is the All-Forgiving: If a person repents and reforms himself, he can hope to be received by Allah in His mercy. All-Loving: He has no enmity with His creatures that He would subject them to torment without any reason, but He loves the creatures He has created and punishes them only when they do not give up the attitude of rebellion against Him. Owner of the Throne, means that He alone is the Ruler of the kingdom of the universe: no one who is a rebel can escape His grip and punishment. The mention of His being Exalted is meant to warn man for his meanness when he adopts an attitude of arrogance against such a Being. Last of all, “He is Doer of whatever He intends: no one in the entire universe has the power to obstruct and resist what Allah wills to do.

8. The address is directed to the people who in their false pride of having powerful hosts, are breaking the law of God on His earth. They are being warned, as if to say: Do you know what evil fate was met before by those who broke the bounds set by Allah on the strength of the power of their hosts. 

9. That is, the writ of the Quran is unchangeable and imperishable. It is inscribed in the guarded tablet of God, which cannot he corrupted in any way. Whatever is written in it has to be fulfilled: even the whole world together cannot avert its fulfillment.