5th January Dars-e-Faizan-ul-Quran No. 5
Sura Baqra 21-39
Translation:
21. O Mankind worship your Lord who hath created you and those before you,
haply ye may become God-fearing- 22. Who hath made the earth for you a carpet
and the heaven a structure, and sent down from heaven water, and brought forth
therewith fruits as a Provision for you; wherefore set not up compeers unto Allah
while ye know. 23. And if ye be in doubt concerning that which We have revealed
unto Our bondsman, then bring a chapter like thereunto, and call your witnesses as
against Allah, if ye say sooth. 24. But if ye do it not, –and by no means ye shall, –
then dread the Fire, the fuel whereof is men and stones, gotten ready for the infidels.
25. And bear thou the glad tidings unto those who believe and do righteous
works that verily for them shall be Gardens whereunder rivers flow. So oft as they
shall be provided with a fruit therefrom they will say: this is that wherewith we were
provided afore; and they shall be vouchsafed that which is consimilar; and for them
shall be therein spouses purified, and therein they shall be abiders. 26. Verily Allah
is not ashamed to propound a similitude, be it of a gnat or of aught above it. Then
as to those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord. And to those
who disbelieve, they say what intendeth God by similitude? He sendeth many
astray thereby, and He guideth many thereby, and He sendeth not astray thereby
any except the transgressors, 27. Who break the covenant of Allah after the
ratification thereof, and sunder that which Allah hath commanded should be joined,
and act corruptly on the earth. These! they are the losers. 28. How will ye disbelieve
in Allah whereas ye were lifeless and he quickened you; thereafter He will cause
you to die, thereafter He will give you life, thereafter unto Him ye shall be returned!
29. He it is who created for you all that is on the earth, thereafter He turned to the
heaven, and formed them seven heavens. And He is of everything the Knower. 30.
And recall what time thine Lord said unto the angels: verily I am going to place a
vicegerent On the earth. They said: wilt Thou place therein one who will act
corruptly therein and shed blood While we hallow Thine praise and glorify Thee!
Allah said: verily I know that which ye know not. 31. And He taught Adam the
names, all of them; thereafter He set them before the angles, and said declare unto
Me the names of those if ye say sooth. 32. They said: hallowed be Thou no
knowledge is our save that which Thou hast taught us, verily Thou! Thou art the
Knower, Wise. 33. Allah said: O Adam! declare thou unto them the names of those
objects. Then when he had declared unto them the names of those, He said: said I
not unto you, verily I know the hidden in the heavens and the earth, and know that
which ye disclose and that which ye are wont to conceal! 34. And recall what time
We said unto the angels: prostrate yourselves before Adam, they prostrated
themselves; but not Iblis he refused and was stiff – necked and became of the
infidels. 35. And We said: Adam! dwell thou and thine spouse in the Garden, and
eat ye twain plenteously thereof as ye list, but approach not yonder tree, lest yet
twain become of the wrong-doers. 36. Then the Satan caused the twain to slip on
account thereof, and drave them forth from that which the twain were in. And We
said: get ye down, one of you an enemy unto anot her, and for you on the earth
shall be a resting-place and enjoyment for a season. 37. Then Adam learnt from his
Lord certain Words, and He relented toward him, verily He! He is the Relentant, the
Merciful. 38. We said: get ye all down from hence, and if there cometh unto you a
guidance from Me, then whosoever shall follow Mine guidance, –no fear shall come
on them, nor shall they grieve.39. And those who disbelieve and belie Our signs, –
they, shall be fellows of the Fire; therein they shall be abiders.
Commentary:
In starting the Arabic word An-nas, which signifies man in general, or man as
such – so, the word covers all the three groups we have just mentioned. And the
message delivered by the verse is:”Worship your Lord.” The Arabic word
ہدابع`Ibadah (worship) connotes expending all energies one has in total obedience to
somebody, and shunning all disobedience out of one’s awe and reverence. (Ruh
al-Bayan) We have earlier explained the meaning of the word Rabb (one who
gives nurture). Let us add that the choice of this particular name from among the
Beautiful names of Allah is very meaningful in the present context, for the
affirmation has thus been combined with the argument in a very short sentence.
The word Rabb indicates that only He is, or can be, worthy of being worshipped,
He is the final and absolute Cause of nurturing man – Who changes man through
gradual stages of development from a drop of water into healthy, sentient and
rational being, and Who provides the means for his sustenance and growth. This
truth is so obvious that even an ignorant or intellectually dull man would, on a little
reflection, not fail to see and admit that such a power of nurturing can belong only to
Allah, and not to a created being. What can a creature do for man, when it owes its
very existence to the Creator? Can a needy one come to the help of another?
And if it appears to be doing so, the act of nurturing must in reality and ultimately belong
to the One Being on whom both have to depend in order to exist at all. So, who else
but the Rabb ِّبَر can be worthy of adoration and worship?
The sentence is addressed to all the three groups of men, and for each it has a
different meaning. “Worship your Lord”: the phrase calls upon the
disbelievers to give up worshipping created beings and to turn to the Creator; it
asks the hypocrites to be sincere and true in their faith; it commands the sinning
Muslims to change their ways and try to be perfect in their obedience to Allah; and it
encourages the God-fearing Muslims to be steadfast in their worship and
obedience, and to make a greater effort in the way of Allah (Ruh-al-Bayan).
The two verses proceed to enlarge upon the theme by specifying certain special
qualities of the Rabb: ”Who created you and those before you.”
This is a quality which one cannot even imagine to belong to a created being, for it
can pertain only to the Creator – that is, the quality of giving existence to what did
not exist before, and of producing from the darkness and filth of the mother’s womb
a creature as lovely and noble as man.
In adding to the phrase:”who created you” the words,
and those before you,” the verse shows that Allah alone is the Creator of all
mankind. It is also significant that the verse mentions only “those before you” and
not “those who will come after you”, and through this omission suggests that there
will not be any Ummah (a traditional community formed by all the followers of a
prophet) to succeed the Ummah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ, for no prophet will be sent
down after the Last Prophet ﷺ, and hence no new `Ummah’ will arise.
The final phrase of verse 21 has been translated here as “so that you may
become God-fearing”. It may also be translated to mean “So that you may save
yourselves from hell”, or “So that you may guard yourselves against evil.” But the
point is that one can hope to attain salvation and paradise only when one worships
Allah alone, and does not associate anyone else with Him.
Before we proceed, we must clarify a very important doctrinal point. The phrase which has been translated here as “so that you may become God
fearing”
The Doctrine Of Tauhid: A source of peace in human life
Tauhid, the most fundamental doctrine of Islam, is not a mere theory, but the
only effective way of making man a man in the real sense of the term – it is his first
and last refuge and the panacea for all his ills. For the essence of this doctrine is
that every possible change in the physical universe, its very birth and death is
subject to the will of the One and Only Being, and a manifestation of His wisdom.
When this doctrine takes hold of a man’s mind and heart, and becomes his
permanent state, all dissension ceases to exist and the world itself changes into a
paradise for him, as he knows that the enmity of the foe and the love of the friend
equally proceed from Allah who rules over the hearts of both. Such a man lives his
life in perfect peace, fearing none and expecting nothing from anyone: shower him
with gold, or put him in irons, he would remain unmoved, for he knows where it
comes from.
This is the significance of the basic declaration of the Islamic creed, (there
is no God but Allah). But, obviously, it is not enough to affirm the Oneness of God
orally; one must have a complete certitude, and must also have the truth always
present close to one’s heart, for Tauhid is to see God as one, and not merely to
say that He is one. Today, the number of those who can respect this basic formula
of the Islamic creed runs to millions all over the world – far more than it ever did, but
mostly it is just an expense of breath: their lives do not show the colour of Tauhid; or otherwise, they should have been like their forefathers who were daunted
neither by wealth nor by power, awed neither by numbers nor by pomp and show
to turn their back upon the Truth – when a prophet could all by himself stand up
against the world, and say:”So try your guile on me, then give me
no respite” (7 :195). If the blessed Companions and their successors came to
dominate the world in a few years, the secret lay in this Tauhid, correctly
understood and practised. May Allah bless all the Muslims with this great gift!
That is to say, once one has understood that, in reality, Allah alone is the Creator
and the Provider, one will have also understood that no one else can be worthy of
worship and of being associated with Allah as an equal or rival god.
To sum up, these two verses call men to what is the essential purpose of sending
down all the Divine Books and all the prophets – Tauhid, or the affirmation and
the worship of the one God.
Tauhid is a doctrine which has an all-pervading and radically transforming
impact on every sphere of human life, internal as well as external, individual as well
as collective. For, once a man comes to believe that there is only One Being who
alone is the Creator, the Lord and Master of the universe, who alone is all-powerful
and ordains the slightest movement of the smallest atom, and without whose will no
one can harm or do good to another – such a man, rich or poor, in joy or sorrow,
would always look only towards that One Being, and gain the insight to discover
behind the veil of apparent causes the workings of the same Omnipotence.
If our modern worshippers of ‘energy’ only had some understanding of the doctrine
of Tauhid, they would easily see that power resides neither in steam nor in
electricity, but that the source of all powers is the One Being who has created
steam and electricity. To know this, however, one must have insight. The greatest
philosopher in the world, if he fails to see this truth, is no better than the rustic fool
who saw a railway-train move at the waving of a green flag and stop at the waving
of a red flag, and concluding that it was the power of the green and red flags that
controlled the movement of the huge train, made an obeisance to them. People
would laugh at the rustic, for he did not know that the two flags are merely signs,
while the train is actually run by the driver, or, better still, by the engine. A more
perceptive observer would ascribe the function to the steam inside the engine. But
he who believes in the One God would laugh at all these wise men, for he can see
through the steam, the fire and the water even, and discover behind the
appearances the might of the One and Only Being who has created fire and water,
and whose will makes them perform their allotted functions.
Employs the Arabic particle l`alla which indicates an expectation or hope, and is
used on an occasion when it is not definite that a certain action or event would
necessarily be actualized. Now, if one does really possess Iman نامٌا (faith) and
does really believe in Tauhid, one would, in consequence definitely attain
salvation and go to Heaven, as Allah Himself has promised. But here the certainty
has been expressed in terms of an expectation or hope in order to make man
realize that no human action by itself and in itself can bring salvation as a necessary
reward. One can attain salvation and go to Heaven only by the grace of Allah alone.
The ablility to perform good deeds, and Iman itself is only a sign of divine grace,
not the cause.
The next verse recounts some other qualities of Allah with regard to the act of
nurturing, with the difference that while verse 21 spoke of the bounties of Allah
pertaining to the human self, verse 22 speaks of those pertaining to man’s physical
environment. Since man’s being basically has two dimensions, one internal (Anfus) and the other external (Afaq), the two verses, in a summary way,
encompass all the kinds of blessings that descend on man from Allah.
Among the cosmic bounties, the first to be mentioned is the earth which has been
made a bed for man. It is neither soft and fluid like water on which one cannot
settle, nor hard like stone or steel that should make it difficult to be harnessed for
man’s purposes, but has been given a middle state between the soft and the hard
for man to utilize it conveniently in his daily life. The Arabic word, Firash (bed),
which literally means ‘something spread out’, does not necessarily imply that the
earth is not round, for the great globe of the earth, in spite of being round, appears
to be flat to the onlooker, and the usual way of the Holy Qur’an is to describe things
in an aspect which should be familiar to an average man, literate or illiterate, city
dweller or rustic.
The other bounty is that the sky has been made like an ornamented and beautiful
ceiling. The third is that Allah sent down water from the sky. This, again, does not
necessarily mean that water comes down directly from the sky without the medium of clouds – even in everyday idiom, a thing coming down from above is said to be
coming from the sky. The Holy Qur’an itself, on several occasions, refers to Allah
sending down water from the clouds:
“Did you send it down from the clouds, or did We send it?” (56:69)
“And have sent down from the rain-clouds abundant water.” (78:14)
The fourth bounty is to bring forth fruits with this water, and to provide nourishment
to man from them.
The first three of these bounties are of an order in which man’s effort or action, his
very being even, does not enter at all. There was no sign of man when the earth
and the sky already existed, and clouds and rain too were performing their
functions. As for these things, not even an ignorant fool could ever fancy that all this
could be the work of a man or an idol, or of a created being. In the case of
producing fruits and making them serve as nourishment for man, however, a
simpleton may, on a superficial view, attribute this to human effort and ingenuity, for
one can see man digging the earth, sowing the seed and protecting the plants. But
the Holy Qur’an has, in certain verses, made it quite clear that human effort has
nothing to do with the act of growing trees and bringing out fruits, for human activity
accomplishes nothing more than removing the hindrances to the birth and growth of
a plant, or protecting it from being destroyed. Even the water which feeds the plant
is not the creation of the farmer – all he does is to make the water reach the plant at
the proper time in a proper quantity. The actual birth and growth of the tree, and the
putting forth of leaves, branches and fruits is the work of Divine Power, and of no
one else. Says the Holy Qur’an :
“Have you considered the soil you till? Is it you that give them growth or We ? “
(56:63)
The only answer which man can find to this question posed by the Holy Qur’an is
that undoubtedly it is Allah alone who makes the plants grow.
In short, this verse mentions four qualities of Allah which cannot possibly be found
in a created being. Having learnt from these two verses that it is Allah, and no one
else, who brings man into existence out of nothingness, and provides the means of
his sustenance through the earth, the sky, the rains and the fruits, one cannot, if
one possesses a little common sense, help acknowledging that Allah, and no one
else, is worthy of all worship and obedience, and that the ultimate iniquity is to turn
away from Him who made man exist and gave him the means of survival and
growth, and to prostrate oneself before others who are as helpless as man. Allah
has put man at the head of all His creatures so that the universe should serve him,
while he should totally devote himself to the worship and remembrance of Allah and
obedience to Him without distraction. But there are men so given to their indolence
and ignorance that they forget the One God, and in consequence, have to serve a
billion gods.In order to rescue men from this slavery to others, the Holy Qur’an says
at the end of this verse:
“So, do not set up parallels to Allah when you know.”
The Guidance which the Holy Qur’an provides to man rests on two basic principles – Tauhid (the Oneness of God) and Risalah (Prophethood). The two preceding
verses (21 and 22) affirm the Oneness of God in presenting certain acts peculiar to
Allah alone as a proof; these two verses (23 and 24) affirm the prophethood of
Muhammad ﷺ in presenting the word of Allah as a proof. In both the places, the
mode of argument is the same. The preceding verses mention certain things which
no one could or can do except Allah – for example, creating the sky and the earth,
sending down water from the sky, bringing forth fruits with water; and the point of
the argument is that since no one except Allah can do these things, no one else
can be worthy of being worshipped. These two verses refer to a kind of speech
which cannot possibly come from anyone except Allah, and the like of which no
human being can ever produce just as the helplessness of man and other
creatures in the matter of creating the sky and the earth etc. is a demonstration of
the fact that these are the acts of Allah alone, in the same way the helplessness of
all created beings in the matter of producing something equal to or resembling the
Word of Allah is a demonstration of the fact that this is the Word of Allah alone.
Here the Holy Qur’an challenges all men the world over, those of the present and
those of the future, to produce even a small passage like this, if they suppose it to
be the work of a man, for other men may also be capable of accomplishing what
one man has achieved. In case individuals should fail in such an effort, the Holy
Qur’an allows them the facility of calling to their aid all possible helpers – they could
even hold an international ‘workshop’ for the purpose. The next verse fore-warns
them that such a venture would never succeed, and threatens with the fires of hell,
for having once acknowledged his inability to produce something to equal the Holy
Qur’an, which is a clear evidence of its being the word, not of man but of a Being
who stands above all created things, if a man still persists in his disbelief, he is only
seeking a place in hell. The Holy Qur’an asks men to beware of such a fate.
The Miraculous Qur’an is a prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ
Thus, the verses, in emphasizing the miraculous character of the Holy Qur’an,
present it as the evidence of the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ and of his truth. No
doubt, the miracles of the Holy Prophet ﷺ are innumerable, each more marvelous
than the other, but in mentioning only one of these here – one that pertains to the
sphere of knowledge, namely, the Holy Qur’an – Allah has pointed out that this is
the greatest. Even among the miracles of all the prophets this particular
miracle has a special distinction. It has been the way of Allah to show His
omnipotence by manifesting some miracles through each prophet or messenger.
But each miracle appears with a certain prophet, and ends with him. The Holy
Qur’an, on the contrary, is a miracle which is to survive till the end of time.
As for the phrase:”And if you are in doubt,” we may remark that the
verse employs the Arabic word, raib رَيب for ‘doubt’. According to Imam Raghib al
Isfahani, raib signifies a kind of hesitation or indecision or suspicion which has
no basis, and can therefore be easily overcome with the help of a little reflection.
That is why the Holy Qur’an says that having this kind of doubt (raib) is not
consistent with being a man of knowledge, even if he were not a Muslim:
“So that the people of the Book and Muslims should have no doubt”. (74:31)
Similarly, at the very beginning of the Surah Al-Bagarah the Holy Qur’an refers to
itself as the Book :”In which there is no doubt (raib).” In the present verse again
it uses the word raib to say: “if you are in doubt”, the implication
being that the truths enunciated by the Holy Qur’an are so clear and evident that
there is no room for any hesitation or indecision or suspicion to arise except for
those who do not possess knowledge.
As for the people who hesitate in accepting the Holy Qur’an as the Word of Allah,
and suspect that it is the work of the Holy Prophet ﷺ or of some other man, the
verse proposes an easy test – they should produce a passage (a Surah) resembling
or equalling the Holy Qur’an in order to substantiate their claim; but if they fail, they
should finally acknowledge the Holy Qur’an to be undoubtedly the Word of Allah.
The Arabic word “Surah” means a “limited or definite piece”; as a technical term, a
Surah is a passage of the Holy Qur’an which has been set apart from other
passages by Divine Commandment (Wahy), there being 114 Surahs in the
Holy Qur’an, some long and others very short. The present verse uses the word
Surah without the definite article “Al’, and hence includes the shortest of the Surahs
in the challenge thrown out to the doubters.
At this point, the objection can arise that the failure of one man or one group of men
does not necessarily argue the inability of another man or group in the matter. The
Holy Qur’an meets this objection by declaring:
“And do call your supporters other than Allah, if you are true”.
The Arabic word used here is Shuhada, the plural or Shahid which signifies
‘one who is present’- a witness is called a Shahid, for he has to be present in the
court of law. In this verse, the word Shuhada-” refers either to men in general –
implying that the doubters could call to their aid any men whatsoever from
anywhere in the world -, or specifically to the idols of the disbelievers of Makkah
who thought that these blocks of stone would appear on the, Day of Judgment as
witnesses in their favour.
The next verse foretells that the doubters shall never succeed, even if they tried
with all their individual or collective might, in producing a passage which could
resemble the Holy Qur’an. If they should still persist in their denial, the verse
threatens them with the fire of Hell, which has already been prepared for such
stubborn disbelievers.
The infidels of Makkah, history tells us, were ready to give up their very lives for the
purpose of obliterating Islam. In throwing out to them this challenge, the Holy Qur’an
gave them an easy chance of accomplishing their purpose, and even hurt their
tribal sense of honour by predicting that they would never be able to take up the
challenge. And yet not a single contender came up for the trial, which was a clear
admission of their helplessness and an acknowledgment of the Holy Qur’an being
the Word of Allah. This fact establishes the Holy Qur’an as the evident miracle of
the Holy Prophet ﷺ. Since the challenge still stands, the miracle too lives on, and
shall live to the end of the world.
The Holy Qur’an: A living miracle
As for the Holy Qur’an being a miracle, the subject has been thoroughly discussed
in scores of books by the greatest scholars in all the ages and in different
languages. We may mention a few outstanding ones: Nazm al-Qur’an by al
Jahiz, written in the 3rd century A.H.; ‘I’jaz al-Qur’an’ by Abu ‘Abdullah Wasiti,
written early in the 4th century; a small book, ‘I’jaz al-Qur’an’ by Ibn ‘Isa
Rabbani, written later in the 4th century; a long and comprehensive book, ‘I’jaz
al-Qur’an’ by Qadi Abu Bakr Bagillani, written early in the 5th century; the subject
has also been discussed at length in well-known books like Al-Itqan’ by Jalal al-Din
al-Suyati, ‘Al-Khasa’is al-Kubra’ by the same author, ‘At-Tafsir al-Kabir’ by Imam
Razi, and ‘Ash-Shifa’ by Qadi ‘Iyad; more recently still, ‘I’jaz al-Qur’an’, by
Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi’i’, and ‘Al-Wahy al-Muhammadi’ by Sayyid Rashid Rid-a; and
finally ‘I’jaz al-Qur’an’ by Shabbir Ahmad Uthmani. We may, in passing, draw
attention to another peculiar quality of the Holy Qur’an that, beside comprehensive
and voluminous commentaries, scores of books have been written on different
aspects of the Book of Allah and on the innumerable considerations which arise
from it.
We cannot provide even a brief resume of all that has been written on the subject,
the literature being so vast. We shall, however, give a few brief indications as to
why the Holy Qur’an is held to be a miracle of the Prophet of Islam: ﷺ
Qualities that make the Qur’an a miracle
(1) The Holy Qur’an is incomparable for its comprehensiveness even among the
Sacred Books of the world; on the one hand, it brings to man the ultimate
knowledge of a metaphysical order, and, on the other, provides guidance for all the
spheres of human life, spiritual or physical, individual or collective. Those who
suspect the Book to have been the product of a human agency should remind
themselves of the simple fact that it appeared at a time and in a place which offered
no facilities for acquiring the kind of education which is necessary for composing
such a book – in fact, the Arabs were in those days known as the Ummiyyun, ‘the
illiterates’, and that the Book came through the Holy Prophet ﷺ who could not even
read or write, and who had not tried to learn even the arts of poetry and rhetoric on
which the Arabs prided themselves. This fact, in itself, is nothing short of a miracle.
(2) The Holy Qur’an is, no doubt, guidance for all men without any distinction of time
or place, but the first to be addressed were the Arabs of the Age of Ignorance. In
affirming that no human being could produce even a few verses comparable to its
own, the Holy Qur’an did not confine the challenge merely to the richness of
meaning and the quality of wisdom, but included the mode of expression as well.
Now, the ‘illiterates’ of Arabia had no pretensions to wisdom or knowledge, but they
certainly fancied themselves for their eloquence – to them, the aliens were just ‘The
Dumb’ (Al-‘Ajam).
And some of them were so mad in their hostility to the Holy
Prophet ﷺ that, if they could see a chance of hurting him in doing so, they would
readily have slit their own throats out of sheer spite. And yet no one came forward
to accept the challenge. This helplessness in a contest which should have been
easy for a people so gifted with a spontaneous eloquence – does it not argue that
the Holy Qur’an is not the word of man, but the Word of Allah? As a matter of fact,
the most discriminating among the contemporary Arabs did admit, though in
private, that the Holy Qur’an was inimitable; some of them had the honesty to say
so in public and some accepted Islam, while others in spite of this admission, could
not give up the ways of their forefathers, or sufficiently overcome tribal rivalries,
particularly their hostility to Banu `Abd Munaf, the tribe of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to
embrace Islam.
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti has, in his ‘Al-Khasa’is al-Kubra’, reported a number
of incidents which illustrate the point. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the Holy Qur’an
began to attract the attention of people even outside Makkah, the enemies of Islam
became worried about the huge crowds that would assemble there for the annual
pilgrimage and would be likely to fall under his spell. Their tribal chiefs wanted to
find an effective stratagem to prevent such a situation from arising, and they
referred the problem to Walid ibn Mughirah, the eldest and the wisest among them.
To begin with, they suggested that they could tell the pilgrims that the Holy Qur’an
was (May Allah forgive us for reporting a blasphemy) only the ravings of a lunatic.
But Walid could foresee that when the pilgrims heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ speaking
with such lucidity and eloquence, they would immediately know that the allegation
was not true. Next they thought of dismissing him as a mere poet. But Walid
warned them that, an understanding of the arts of poetry being innate in most
Arabs, the pilgrims would easily see that he was no poet. Then, they considered the
possibility of putting him down as one of the soothsayers. But Walid feared that they
would again discover how false the imputation was, and would only turn against the
accusers. In summing up his own impression of the Holy Qur’an, he said: “By God,
there is not a single man among you who knows more about Arabic poetry than
me. And, by God, I find in this speech a kind of sweetness and grace which I have
never found in the speech of any poet or of any eloquent man.” After a good deal of
thought, he finally advised them to accuse the Holy Prophet ﷺ of being a sorcerer
who employed his black art in separating sons from fathers, and wives from
husbands.
Exactly the same was the impression made by the Holy Qur’an on many other
people, who expressed similar views – for example, Nadr ibn Harith, a tribal chief;
Unais, the brother of the blessed Companion, Abu Dharr; As’ad ibn Zurarah,
another tribal chief, and Qais ibn Nasibah of the Banu Sulaim tribe. Even the vilest
enemies of the Holy Prophet ﷺ like Akhnas ibn Shariq, Abu Sufyan and, of all
persons, Abu Jahl himself are reported to have stealthily crept in the darkness of
night to the house of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to hear him reciting the Holy Qur’an, and to
have been so entranced by the Word of Allah that they could not tear themselves
away from the place till it was dawn. Yet they continued to be stubborn in their
denial, for, as Abu Jahl confessed in so many words, they had been successfully
vying with the tribe of Banu `Abd Munaf in all possible virtues, but now that their
rivals had produced a prophet, they could not come up with something to match the
claim.
In short, the Arabs failed to take up the challenge of the Holy Qur’an, and admitted
their helplessness; nor has anyone else succeeded in the attempt since then – all of
which goes to show that the Holy Qur’an can only be the Word of Allah, not of man.
(3) The Holy Qur’an made many predictions about future events, and things turned
out to be exactly as it had declared. For example, the infidels of Makkah were not
prepared to believe the prophecy that the people of Rum, or the Byzantians,
would finally rout the Persians after having suffered an initial defeat. The infidels
made it a point of honour, and put a wager on it, but were humiliated to see the
prophecy come true before the stipulated period of ten years was over.
(4) The Holy Qur’an gives a clear account of some of the earlier prophets, of their
Shari‘ah and of their peoples, and of many historical events since the beginning of
the world. Even the best scholars among the Jews and the Christians did not
possess such exact information. The Holy Prophet ﷺ, who had never attended a
school nor been in the company of a learned man, could not have provided all
these details for himself without having received the knowledge from Allah.
(5) Several verses of the Holy Qur’an disclosed what certain people had tried to
keep concealed in their hearts, and they had to confess that this was just what they
had been thinking. We shall cite only two instances.
“When two of your battalions thought of falling away…” (3:122)
“They say in their hearts, Why does Allah not punish
us for what we say?’
(6) The Holy Qur’an predicted that such and such men would not be able to do
such and such things, and then it turned out that, in spite of having the power, they
could not do these things. The Jews claimed to be the ‘Chosen of God’ and His
friends. Since one is always eager to meet one’s friends, the Holy Qur’an asked
them to substantiate their claim by wishing for death and for going back to Allah, but
at the same time declared:”And they shall never wish for it” (62:7). Now,
expressing a wish for death should not be difficult for anyone, if he wishes to
establish his bonafides; for the Jews in particular, it would have been an easy way
of refuting the Holy Qur’an. But, in spite of all their hatred for the Holy Prophet ﷺ
they knew in their hearts that the Holy Qur’an was the Book of Allah, and feared
that if they told a lie in this matter, they would actually die. And they kept quiet.
(7) When the Holy Qur’an is recited (in Arabic, of course), it affects in a strange and
indefinable way the heart of even a casual listener, Muslim or non-Muslim. History
reports many instances of people accepting Islam merely because they happened
to be passing by when the Holy Prophet ﷺ was reciting the Holy Qur’an – such was
the case, for example, of the blessed Companion Jubair ibn Mut’im
(8) The best book in the world, if read four or five times, begins to lose its charm
even for the most fervent admirer. But the peculiar quality of the Holy Qur’an, and of
it alone, is that the more one reads or recites it, the more eager one becomes to do
so again and again. Even among the sacred books of the world, the Holy Qur’an is
unique in this respect.
(9) The sacred books of many religions have been lost or no longer exist in an
integral and authentic form. But Allah has promised in the Holy Qur’an that He
Himself will protect this Book, and preserve it against the slightest change upto the
end of time. During the fourteen centuries of the history of Islam, millions of copies,
written by hand or printed, have been spread all over the globe as no other sacred
book has been. But in this respect the greatest miracle of the Holy Qur’an is that in
all the ages and in all the places where Muslims have lived, there have been
millions of people who have known the Book by heart without the alteration of a
single consonant or vowel. So, Allah has preserved His Last Book not merely in the
shape of written words, but, above all in the hearts of men. Allah is Ever-Living, so
will His Word live forever beyond the interference of created beings.
(10) There is no other book which should comprehend all the forms of knowledge
and wisdom in so short a space as does the Holy Qur’an, fulfilling all possible
spiritual needs of man, and providing him with guidance for all the spheres of his
internal or external, individual or social activity.
(11) It is not merely a theoretical guidance that the Holy Qur’an has offered. Which
other book, sacred or otherwise, has had such a vast and deep impact on the
history of mankind in such a short time? Which other book has brought about such
a radical change in the individual and collective life of millions of men within the
space of a few years? For when the Holy Prophet ﷺdeparted from this world, Islam
had, in spite of all opposition and without the modern media of communication,
already established a new order of life all over the Arabian peninsula, and within the
next few decades the message of the Holy Qur’an had reached India on one side,
and Spain on the other. Can such pervasiveness be anything but a miracle?
Answers to some doubts
Before we leave the subject, we may also deal with certain doubts which have been
expressed with regard to the miraculous nature of the Holy Qur’an. It has, for
example, been suggested that some people, at one time or another, must have
taken up the challenge of the Holy Qur’an, and produced something comparable to
it, but their compositions have not been preserved and have not come down to us.
But the objection is fanciful. The number of people hostile to Islam has, in any age,
been much larger than that of Muslims, and they have possessed far greater and
much more efficacious means of publicity than Muslims ever have. If any seemingly
successful attempt had been made to produce an imitation of the Holy Qur’an, it
would not only have been preserved but also been widely publicised. After all, the
infidels of Makkah used to bring all kinds of wild and fanatic charges against the
Holy Prophet ﷺFor instance, they accused him of having learnt all that he taught
from the monk, Buhira whom he had met only once in Syria; or, they imputed the
Holy Qur’an to the authorship of a Roman slave who, being an alien, could not have
been a master of the Arabic language and of the characteristically Arab form of
eloquence – the Holy Qur’an itself has reported this calumny. But even they, for all
their venom, never pretended to have produced something resembling the Holy
Qur’an. Anyhow, whatever funny or flimsy attempts have been made to match the
Holy Qur’an are on record in the books of history. For example, Musaylama باذِّک of
Yemen, known as the Great Liar, came out with a string of obscenities as a reply to
the Word of Allah, but his own people dismissed them for what they were worth. At
a later date, the famous man of letters, `Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa’ thought of trying
his wits against the Holy Qur’an, but soon gave up in despair.ll
11. A latter-day adventurist has been the Irish novelist James Joyce who
congratulated himself on having faced up to the Challenge of the Holy Qur’an in his
“Finnegans Wake”. Soon recognized to be at least very funny, this book can
already be seen to be going up in a smoke of jokes.
The point, however, is that if someone had really produced even three or four
verses comparable to those of the Holy Qur’an, the matter could not have gone
without being passed down to us at least by the enemies of Islam. Of late a different
kind of objection has sometimes been raised. They say that the impossibility of
successfully imitating a book does not by itself argue that it is the Word of Allah or a
miracle, for poets like Shakespeare or Hafiz too have never been imitated
successfully. But a miracle is, by definition, something which occurs without the like
means having been employed. Every poet or writer in the world, even the greatest,
is known to have undergone a process of education and training in his art, and to
have made use of certain means and methods which are humanly possible. But the
Holy Prophet ﷺ, as we have said before, did not even know reading or writing, and
was never interested in learning the arts of eloquence. Moreover, it is not merely a
question of literary style. In considering the Holy Qur’an as a miracle, we must,
above all, take into account the spiritual efficacy and. the transforming power it has,
and which it has been showing these last fourteen hundred years.
12. We may conclude this discussion by quoting a passage from the well-known
scholar of comparative religion and traditional civilizations, Frithjof Schuon: The
superhuman value of a revealed Book cannot be apparent in an absolute fashion
from its earthly form, nor from its conceptual content alone; in reality, the Divine and
therefore miraculous quality of such a Book is of an order quite other than that of
the most perfect dialectic or the most brilliant poetry. This quality shows itself first of
all in a richness of meanings – a feature that is incapable of being imitated – and
also in what might be called the underlying divine ‘magic’ which shines through the
formal expression and proves itself by its results in souls, and in the world, in space
and in time. Only this Divine substance can explain the spiritual and theurgic
efficacy of the Qura’nic verses, with its consequences in miraculously rapaid
expansion of primitive Islam in the conditions in which it took place, as well as in the
stability of Moslem institutions and the extraordinary fruitfulness of Islamic doctrine.”
(“Dimensions of Islam”, London, 1970 page 55).
Spoke of the fire of hell which has been prepared to punish those who do not
believe in the Holy Qur’an; the present verse announces the reward for those who
believe.
As for the fruits with which believers will be regaled in Paradise, some
commentators say that this concerns only the fruits of Paradise which would be
56 Tafseer Faizan ul Quran
alike in shape, but each time different in taste. Others say that these fruits would
resemble the fruits of the earth in shape alone, but their taste would be totally
different. Anyhow, the point is that the believers would have a kind of joy in
Paradise they had never known before, and that this joy would keep renewing itself
at every moment.
Thus, the fruits of Paradise13 may share a common name with the fruits of the
earth, but they will be of a different nature.
13. We must sound a note of caution here. Our modernists have for some time
been quite fond of asserting that in speaking of the fruits of Paradise and its other
joys, the Holy Qur’an has employed only a metaphysical mode of expression in
order to suggest spiritual bliss which, by its very nature, is intangible. We do not
mean to rule out the possibility or the desirability of analogical or symbolical
interpretations of the verses of the Holy Qur’an. In fact, many authentic Muslim
scholars, particularly the Sufis, have made such attempts which have proved to be
very illuminating in many ways. But no genuine Sufi has ever claimed that
symbolical interpretation (I`tibar) is the same thing as exegesis (tafsir), or that his
own interpretation was exclusively the only valid one. The purpose of analogical
interpretation has always been to serve as an aid in spiritual realization or in the
elaboration of metaphysical doctrines, and not to negate or oppose the regular
mode of exegesis. What our modern exegetes overlook in their zeal and in their
simplicity is the obvious fact that if a thing is being used as a metaphor or a symbol,
it does not necessarily argue that it does not exist objectively. In allowing for
symbolical interpretations, we must carefully remember that since the Holy Qur’an
has spoken of the fruits of Paradise and of similar things, they must have an
objective existence, though not a physical one (in the current sense of the word),
and even though we have no knowledge as to their nature and state – all of which
we can safely leave to Allah Himself. That way lies security, for that is the Straight
Path.
The wives which the believers will have in Paradise, will be clean externally and
pure internally – that is to say, free from everything that is physically disgusting like
excrement and menstruation, and from everything that is morally disgusting like bad
temper or unfaith fulness.
The joys of Paradise will also be unlike the joys of the earth in that they will not be
short-lived, nor will one have to be trembling with the fear of losing them, for the
believers shall live in perpetual bliss forever.
In giving these good tidings to those who believe, the Holy Qur’an adds another
condition – that of good deeds -, for without good deeds, one cannot deserve such
good tidings on the merit of ‘Iman نامٌا(faith) alone. ‘Iman itself can, no doubt, save a
man from being consigned to the fires of hell for ever, and every Muslim, even if he
is a great sinner, will finally be taken out of hell, once he has undergone a period of
punishment. But no one can altogether escape the fires of hell unless he has been
doing good deeds defined by the Sharl’ah. (Ruh al Bayan: Qurtubi)
In the foregoing verses, it was affirmed that the Holy Qur’an does not admit of any
kind of doubt, and that if someone should have a suspicion as to its being the Word
of God, he should try to produce even a small Surah comparable to it. These two
verses refer to an objection raised by the disbelievers with regard to the Holy
Qur’an, and provide an answer to them. They had been saying that had the Qur’an
been the Word of Allah, it would not have employed contemptible creatures like an
ant or a gnat in its parables, for such a thing goes against the sublimity and majesty
of Allah, when it would embarrass even a man with some sense of dignity. The
Holy Qur’an points out that when one intends to speak of a detestable thing or
person or situation, in a parable, the use of a gnat or something even more
contemptible neither transgresses the principles of eloquence or logic, nor does it
go against the sense of dignity or modesty, and hence Allah does not feel shy in
using such imagery. The Holy Qur’an also shows that doubts of this kind arise only
in the minds of those whom their disbelief has drained of all power to see things in a
proper perspective, while such empty misgivings never touch the minds and hearts
of true believers.
Qur’anic Parables: Test and guidance
The Holy Qur’an proceeds to suggest even a raison d’etre for the use of such
parables: they serve as a test for men. In the case of those who are ready to think
and to understand, they become a source of guidance; but for those who refuse to
understand, out of indifference or out of a stubborn hostility and denial, they are a
cause of greater confusion and misguidance. In elaborating this point, the Holy
Qur’an specifies that these parables throw into confusion only those disobedient
and rebellious people who disavow the covenant they have made with Allah, break
all those relationships which Allah has commanded them to keep intact, and
consequently produce an ever-widening disorder and anarchy in the world.
Who is fasiq?
The Arabic word used by the Holy Qur’an in speaking of the disobedient is Al
fasiqin, its root being fasaqa which means to go outside or to stray beyond a limit’.
In the terminology of the Shari’ah, fisq signifies ‘going beyond the circle of
obedience to Allah, or transgressing the commandments of Allah’. Now,
transgression does not stop at being merely disobedient in one’s actions, but can
sometimes lead to outright denial and disbelief. So, the word fasiq is applied to a
disbeliever (kafir) as well – such a use of the word is frequent in the Holy Qur’an.
A Muslim who is a habitual sinner is also called a fasiq – this is how the jurists
(Fuqaha’) ordinarily use the word, making the fasiq a counterpart of the kafir
on the opposite side. That is to say, a man who commits a major sin and does not
repent, or who insists on committing minor sins and makes it a habit, would be
called a fasiq in the terminology of the Fuqaha’; on the other hand, a man who
commits such sins publicly and openly without being ashamed of it is called a
kafir. (See Mazhari)
Living by the Covenant with Allah
The Covenant which the transgressors disavow refers to the one that all men made
with Allah before any of them came down to the earth. The Holy Qur’an says that
Allah brought together the spirits of all men, and asked them:”Am I not
your Lord?” And they replied with one voice: “Yes” (7:172). This acceptance and
affirmation of Allah as their only Lord and Master requires that men should in no
way be disobedient to Him. Allah’s books and His prophets come down to the world
to remind them of this Covenant, to renew it, and to teach them in detail how to act
upon it. Now, those who break this Covenant, how can they ever be expected to
learn from the prophets and the books of Allah?
Injunctions and related considerations:
(1) Verse 26 shows if one intends to explain something useful or essential for the
spiritual guidance of one’s readers or listeners, it is neither sinful nor reprehensible
to refer to something which is generally supposed to be contemptible or dirty, nor
does it go against the dignity of the writer or the speaker. Examples of the use of
such images or parables occur in the Holy Qur’an, the Hadith, and in the writings of
the Sufis and other great Muslim scholars, all of whom have disregarded the
habitual idea of modesty or seriousness in the interest of the real object to be
attained.
(2) The reference to the disavowing of one’s covenant with Allah indicates that the
infringement of a contract or agreement made with one’s fellow men is a grave sin,
which may have the consequence of depriving a man of the ability to do good
deeds.
(3) Verse 27 shows that it is essential for us to maintain the relationships which the
Shari’ah has commanded us to keep intact, and that it is forbidden to break them.
Indeed, religion itself signifies the divinely ordained laws which bind us to fulfil our
obligations with regard to Allah (Huququllah) and with regard to His servants
(Huquq al-‗Ibad). According to this verse, the fundamental cause of disorder in
human society is the sundering of these relationships.
The Holy Qur’an says that real losers are those who go against divine
commandments. There is a suggestion here that real loss pertains to the other
world, the loss of this world being too small a thing to be worthy of serious
consideration.
Islamic concern about relationship to others
The cutting asunder of what Allah has commanded should be joined includes all
kinds of relationships — the one between Allah and His servant, the one between a
man and his parents and relatives, between him and his neighbours and friends,
between one Muslim and another, between one man and another. Actually, Islam
means fulfilling one’s obligations with regard to all these relationships,. And this is
also the way to follow the Shari’ah. Deficiency in fulfilling these obligations produces
all kinds of disorder among men, and thus the transgressors end up by being
destructive for others and for themselves. It is these, the Holy Qur’an says, who are
the losers — in this world as in the other.
The earlier verses affirmed the existence and the Oneness of Allah, and
prophethood, giving self-evident proofs and refuting the whimsical and false notions
of the doubters and the disbelievers. These two verses speak of the blessings
which Allah has showered on man, pointing out that all the same there are men
who do not recognize the bounty of Allah and persist in their denial — the
suggestion being that if they do not want to take the trouble of considering the
arguments which have been advanced by the Holy Qur’an in the earlier verses,
they should, as every man with an undistorted nature must, at least be grateful to
their benefactor, for even this would be a way of realizing why they should be
obedient to Allah.
The first of these two verses refers to the blessings which are particular to the very
being of man — that is to say, he had no life before Allah gave him existence. The
second verse refers to the general blessings which are common to man and other
creatures — firstly, the earth and all that it contains and on which man’s life
immediately depends, and secondly, the skies with which life on earth is directly
related.
Verse 28 begins by expressing surprise at those who insist on being ungrateful to
Allah and on denying Him. On the face of it, the disbelievers had never denied Allah
but only the Holy Prophet ﷺ, all the same, the Holy Qur’an equates such a denial
with the denial of Allah Himself.
Then, the verse reminds man that once he was “dead” (amwat), or that he had
no life. He existed, if at all, in the shape of billions of lifeless particles aimlessly
floating; Allah brought them together, made them into a man, and gave them life.
The verse proceeds to warn him that Allah will take away his life, and then give it
back to him a second time. This second life refers to the Day of Judgment when
Allah will collect the lifeless and scattered particles of each and every man again,
and give-him a new life. Thus, the first ‘death’ or ‘state of lifelessness’ was at the
beginning before man received life from Allah; the second death comes when a
man completes the life-span allotted to him; and the second life will be given on the
Day of Judgment.
The verse ends by telling man that he will ultimately go back to Allah. This, of
course, refers to the Resurrection when all men will rise from their graves, will be
assembled for giving an account of their deeds, and be finally punished or
rewarded according to what they had been doing in the world.
According to this verse, the chief blessing of Allah for man is life, for without life he
cannot profit from any other blessing. This is obvious enough. But the verse counts
death too as a blessing. It is so, because physical death is the door to the perpetual
life of the other world after which there is no death.
In recounting the blessings which man has received from Allah, verse 29 refers to
Allah having created for man “all that the earth contains.” This small phrase
comprehends all kinds of benefits which accrue to him from the earth and its
produce. Then, the verse speaks of the creation of the sky and its division into
seven skies or heavens, as they are usually called in English. In this context, the
Holy Qur’an uses the Arabic word, Istawa which initially means ‘to stand upright,
to climb’, and thence signifies ‘to turn or pay attention to something’, and, in a wider
sense, ‘to take a straight and firm decision which nothing can hinder’. The
implication here is that Allah being Omniscient and Omnipotent, it was not at all
difficult for Him to create the universe, once He had decided to do so.
The life in ‘Barzakh’
(The period between death and resurrection)
(1) Verse 28 shows that a man who does not apparently deny Allah, but refuses to
accept the Holy Prophet ﷺ as the Messenger of Allah, and the Holy Qur’an as the
Book of Allah, would still be counted among those who do not believe in Allah.
(2) Verse 28 mentions only one kind of life which is to follow one’s physical death –
that is, the life which will begin on the Day of Resurrection – but says nothing about
the life in the grave, although the Holy Qur’an and Hadith explicitly speak of how
people will be questioned about their faith in their graves, and will also receive some
reward or punishment. Now, this life in the grave is something intermediary
(Barzakh) between the life which man has in this world and one he will have in
the other. In other words, it is a state in between the two, resembling the life one
has while dreaming; it can be called a supplement to the life of this world as also a
prelude to the life hereafter. In short, this intermediary life is not in itself a distinct
entity, and hence need not be mentioned separately.
(3) According to verse 29, everything in the universe has been created for man. It
means that there is nothing in the universe from which man does not derive some
benefit in one way or the other, directly or indirectly. There are things which man
uses physically as food or medicine; other things are useful for him without his
knowing it; even poisonous or dangerous things do him some good; even things
which are forbidden for him in one of their aspects, may in some other aspect be
quite beneficial; finally, almost everything can serve to teach him a lesson or
illuminate him in the interest of his life in the Hereafter. The great Sufi Ibn `Ata’
remarks in connection with this verse: ‘Allah has created the universe for you so
that it should serve you and you should serve Allah. A wise man should thus know
that he will certainly get what has been created for him, and should not, in worrying
about it, forget the Being for whom he himself has been created’ (Al-Bahr al-Muhit).
On the basis of verse 29, some scholars have came to the conclusion that since
everything in the world has been created for man, it is essentially legitimate (Halal) and permissible (Mubah) for man to make use of everything, except the
things which have been forbidden by the Shari’ah. So, the use of a thing is to be
regarded as lawful so long as the Holy Qur’an or the Hadith does not forbid it.
On the contrary, some other scholars say that the mere fact of a thing having been
created for the benefit of man does not argue that it automatically becomes lawful
to make use of it. So, the use of everything is essentially unlawful unless an explicit
statement in the Holy Qur’an or the Hadith, or an argument based on them
establishes the use of a thing as legitimate.
There are still other authentic scholars who have not taken sides in this controversy.
Ibn Hayyan, in his commentary ‘Al-Bahr al-Muhit’, points out that this verse does not
provide a valid basis for, either of the two views, for the letter lam in the phrase:
khalaqa lakum indicates causation, signifying that the universe has been “created
for your sake.” So, one cannot draw any conclusion from the phrase as to the use
of everything being essentially legitimate or illegitimate. The injunction with regard to
the legitimacy or the illegitimacy of the use of particular things have been provided
elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith, and it is obligatory to follow these
injunctions.
(5) shows that the earth was created before the skies, as indicated by the word:
Thumma (‘then’). Another verse of the Holy Qur’an seems to be saying the opposite:
“He spread out the earth after this.” (79:30) But it does not
necessarily mean that the earth was created after the skies. What it actually implies
is that although the earth had already been created when the skies came into
being, yet a final shape was given to it after the reation of the skies. (A1-Bahr al
Muhit, etc.)
(6) According to, the, skies are seven in number. This shows that the opinion of the
ancient Greek astronomers and some Muslim philosophers, who used to speak of
nine heavens, was no more than a conjecture.
The preceding verses recounted the general and some of the particular blessings
of Allah, and asked man to recognize them and not to be ungrateful and
60 Tafseer Faizan ul Quran
disobedient to his Benefactor. Now, ten verses, beginning with the 30th, tell the
story of the father of mankind, Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, in continuation of this theme and also
by way of illustration. For, blessings are of two kinds – tangible and intangible. Food,
water, money, houses, or lands are some of the tangible blessings; while honour,
happiness or knowledge are intangible ones. The earlier verses were concerned
with blessings of the first kind; these verses speak of those of the second kind – that
is to say, how Allah bestowed the gift of knowledge on Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, made the
angels prostrate themselves before him to show their respect, and gave men the
honour of being his sons.
The creation of Adam
The present three verses relate how Allah, having decided to create Adam and to
make him His deputy on the earth, spoke of it to the angels – seemingly by way of a
trial, suggesting that they should express their opinions in this matter. The angels
submitted that they could not understand why men were being chosen to be-the
deputies, for some of them would shed blood and spread disorder on this earth.
They thought that they themselves were more suited to perform this function, as the
nature of angels is wholly good, no evil deed can possibly come out of them, they
are totally obedient to Allah, and should hence be more capable of managing the
affairs of the world. In replying to them, Allah first adopted the mode of authority,
and told the angels that they knew nothing about the nature and the needs of
deputation on the earth, and that Allah alone was the one to know it fully. The
second answer was in the mode of wisdom – Adam had been given preference
over the angels on account of his superiority in the station of knowledge, because in
order to function properly as a deputy on the earth one must know the names, the
properties and the characteristics of the things to be found there, and the angels
had no aptitude for this kind of knowledge.
(1) A question arises here as to why Allah chose to speak of His decision to the
angels. Was it merely to inform them? Was it to seek their advice? Or, was it to
make them express their opinion on the subject?
Why Allah discussed Adam’s creation with angels?
As for seeking advice, it is obvious enough that one turns for advice to wise and
trustworthy people only when one cannot see all the aspects of a problem clearly,
and does not want to depend on one’s own knowledge and understanding alone, or
when the rights of others are equal to one’s own, and they too have to be
consulted, as happens in the counsels of the world. Evidently, neither of the two
situations obtain in the present case. Allah is the creator of the universe, and knows
everything about the smallest particle of dust; He sees and hears everything,
apparent or hidden. How can He stand in need of anyone’s advice? Similarly, He
does not run the universe under the parliamentary system, in which all have equal
rights and everyone has to be consulted directly or indirectly. He is the Lord and
Master, and all His creatures, be they men or angels, are His slaves – no one has
the right to question Him about His actions, and to ask Him why He did this or why
He did not do that: “He cannot be questioned as to what He
does, while they are to be questioned.” (21:23)
In fact, Allah did not mean to seek the advice of the angels, nor was there any need
for it, but He, in His wisdom, gave a mere statement the form of a consultation in
order to teach men the advisability of mutual consultation. After all, the Holy Prophet
ﷺ was a messenger of Allah, and all the information he needed in dealing with the
affairs of the world could have been conveyed to him by means of revelation, and
yet the Holy Qur’an asks him to seek the advice of his Companions, so that the
Islamic community should learn this lesson from him and the way of mutual
consultation should be established through him. In short, this is the first raison d’etre
of the mode of expression adopted by Allah. (Ruh al-Bayan)
The other has been suggested by the Holy Qur’an itself. Before the appearance of
man, the angels had taken it for granted that Allah would not create a being who
should be superior to them and greater in knowledge – as has been reported in a
narration coming down from the blessed Companion Ibn `Abbas رضي الله عنه
and cited by Ibn Jarir رضي الله عنه in his commentary. But Allah knew that He
would create a being who would be superior to all other creatures and greater than
them in knowledge, and who would receive the gift of divine vice regency. So, Allah
mentioned this in the assembly of the angels so that they may disclose what they
had been thinking. Speaking according to their own lights, they very humbly
submitted that a creature like man who carried within himself a tendency towards
evil and disorder and who would not balk even at blood-shed, could not be
expected to maintain peace and order on the earth, while they themselves, being
free of all evil, and perfect in their obedience and devotion, could perform the
function more satisfactorily. They did not mean to raise an objection to the choice
which Allah had made, for angels are innocent of such sentiments; they were only
being curious, and wanted to know the raison d’etre of such a choice.
To begin with, Allah gave them a very brief reply “I know what you
do not know”, implying that they are not aware of the nature and the requirements
of divine vice regency, which had led them to suppose that only pure and innocent
beings could fulfill the conditions necessary for such a responsible position.
Then, Allah demonstrated the truth to them in a vivid form. He gave to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ kind of knowledge for which he alone had been endowed with the proper
aptitude, and not the angels. That is to say, He taught him the names, the
properties and qualities of all the existents, animate or inanimate. Angelic nature is
not capable of such awareness – for example, an angel cannot really experience
the pain of hunger and thirst, the tumult of passions, and the torment from the bite
of a scorpion or a snake, or the exhilaration from an intoxicant. Only Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ
had the capacity to learn such things, and he was taught to know them. Then, there
is no indication in the Holy Qur’an to show that he was taught in privacy, apart from
the angels. It may well be that the teaching in itself was open to the angels as well
as to him; his nature allowed him to receive it, and he learnt the lesson, while, they
were impeded by their own proper nature, and could not. Or, it may be that the
teaching did not take an external form at all, but that the Adamic nature was made
to carry this particular kind of knowledge within itself without the need of a formal
education, just as an infant does not have to be taught how to suck the mother’s
milk, or a duckling how to swim. As to the question why Allah, being omnipotent, did
not change the nature of the angels and make them learn these things, we shall
say that the question, in fact, boils down to this: Why did not Allah change the
angels into men? For, if their nature had been altered, they would no longer have
remained angels, but become men.
In short, through this demonstration Allah made the angels realize how wrong they
were in supposing that He would not create any being superior to them in any way,
and that they themselves were more suitable for being the vice regents of Allah
than Adam ملاسلا ہٌلع. Since they failed to name the things which Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ could,
they came to see that purity and innocence is not the criterion in choosing a deputy
or vice regent but the knowledge of the things which are to be found on the earth, of
the ways of using them, and of the consequences which would follow from such a
use.
We can also infer a general principle from the episode – it is necessary for a ruler to
know fully the nature, the temperament and the peculiarities of the people over
whom he is to rule, without which he cannot enforce justice and order. If one does
not know the pain of being hungry, how can one deal justice to the man who has
unjustly been kept hungry?
We may also point out that in expressing their opinion, the angels were neither
raising an objection, nor being vain and proud, nor asserting their right; it was, on
their part, only a humble submission, and an offer of their services. When they
found that there was another being who was, with his special kind of knowledge,
more suitable for the function, they as humbly acknowledged the fact and withdrew
their earlier opinion in saying: “To You belongs
all purity! We have no knowledge except what You have given us. Surely, You
alone are the all-knowing, the all-wise.” In the present context, the phrase, “To You
belongs all purity” also has the implication that Allah is free from the charge of
having withheld from the angels the knowledge which He gave to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ,
for, being the all-knowing and the all-wise, He gives to each creature the kind and
the degree of knowledge and understanding which He, and He alone, knows to be
in consonance with the specific nature of that creature.
Another question which may arise out of this episode is: How did the angels come
to know that man would shed blood? Did they possess the knowledge of hidden
things and of divine secrets? Or, was it a mere conjecture on their part? Most of the
authoritative scholars believe, on the basis of certain: Athar ‘ or reports
available about the blessed Companions, that it was Allah Himself who had
informed the angels on this occasion as to how man would behave on the earth.
(See Ruh a1-Maani’).
It is only then that they became curious about the raison d’etre of man being chosen as the vice regent in spite of his propensity to evil. Besides demonstrating the superiority of Adam in knowledge, Allah dispelled the misgivings of the angels with regard to the evil propensities in man by the short and simple answer: “Certainly, I know what you do not know.” There is a subtle suggestion here – what makes man fit for viceregency is just the peculiarity which, in the eyes of the angels, made him unfit for this function. For, a deputy or vice regent is needed on the earth just for the purpose of preventing blood-shed and disorder; if there is no possibility of disorder in a place, where is the need for sending there an administrator? Thus, it was the Divine Will and Wisdom that, just as Allah had created beings as innocent and sinless as the angels, or beings as totally evil as Satan and his progeny, or beings like the jinns in whom evil dominated over good, He would also create beings in whom good and evil should be equally mixed, who should try to conquer the evil in themselves and to grow in goodness so as to seek and attain the pleasure of their Creator. Man is the vice regent of Allah on the earth (2) These verses tell us that a vice regent was appointed to keep order on the earth and to promulgate divine laws. From here we learn the basic principles for the governance of men on the earth. The ultimate sovereignty in the universe belongs to Allah Himself, as is explicitly stated in many verses of the Holy Qur’an:”Judgment belongs to Allah alone” (6:57): “The sovereignty of the skies and the earth belongs to Him alone” (9:116); “Verily, His is the Creation and the Command.” (7:54) But He has, in His wisdom, chosen to send His vice regents to the earth for maintaining spiritual and temporal order. Their function is to announce and promulgate divine commandments, to teach men how to abide by these laws, and sometimes even to exercise temporal power as well as spiritual authority under divine guidance. The appointment is made directly by Allah Himself, and is in no sense a reward for the good deeds or the spiritual effort of the individual concerned. There is a total consensus of all the authentic scholars of the Islamic Ummah on the doctrine that prophethood is not a thing which one can attain through one’s personal effort or on the merit of one’s good deeds, but that Allah Himself, in His supreme knowledge and wisdom, chooses certain individuals for acting as His messengers, prophets and vice-regents. The Holy Qur’an has explicitly declared it in several verses : “Allah chooses His messengers from among the angels and from among men; surely Allah is All Hearing, All-Seeing” (22:75); “Allah knows best whom to entrust with His message” (6:124). These vice regents receive divine commandments directly from Allah, and then promulgate them in the world. The chain of vice regents began with Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and continued in the same way upto the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The Holy Prophet ﷺ was the last Caliph of Allah on earth (5) The Holy Prophet ﷺ came to the earth as the last vice regent (Khalifa), the last Messenger (Rasul) and the last prophet (Nabiyy) of Allah, endowed with certain special qualities peculiar to him which he does not share with any other prophet. We may mention some of these characteristics: (a) Each of the earlier prophets was sent for the guidance of a particular country or people, and his authority was limited to his jurisdiction alone, – for example, Musa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and Isa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ – (Moses and Isa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ were sent to Bani’
Isra’il (the Israelites). But the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been sent for the guidance of all
the men and all the jinns, and his authority extends to all the members of the two
species. The Holy Qur’an has declared the universality of his prophethood in these
words: “Say: 0 mankind, I am
the messenger of Allah to you all, of Him to whom belongs the sovereignty of the
skies and of the earth” (7:158). A hadith of the Sahih of Muslim reports the Holy
Prophet ﷺ as having said that he had been made superior to all other prophets in
six things. The first of these is, of course, the universality of his prophethood.
(b) Just as the viceregency and prophethood of all the earlier prophets was limited
to particular peoples and countries, in the same way it was also limited to specific
periods; when the age of one prophet was over, another prophet would come to
take his place as the new vice regent. On the contrary, the Holy Prophet
Muhammad $ has been sent by Allah as the last of all prophets; his prophethood is
not circumscribed within a specific period, but shall last till the end of time.
(c) It has so happened that the teachings and the Shariah of each of the earlier prophets would remain intact for a time, but then gradually people would start deviating from them and distorting them till they became unrecognizable; at this stage Allah would send a new prophet with a new Shari’ah. But the Sharl’ah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is to remain alive in its integral form upto the end of the universe. Allah has taken upto Himself the responsibility of protecting the words and the meanings of the Holy Qur’an: “It is We who have sent down the Remembrance (i.e. the Holy Qur’an) and We are its Protector” (15:9). Similarly, He has made a special provision for the preservation of the Hadith which contains the teachings of the Holy Prophet ﷺ that is to say, in spite of all the vicissitudes of time there shall remain till the Doomsday a group of people who will preserve these teachings and transmit them accurately to others, and who will receive help and protection from Allah Himself. Since Allah has ordained the survival of the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith, there is obviously no need for a new prophet or messenger or vice regent and no room for a new Shariah.
(d) Contrary to the case of all the earlier prophets, the prophethood and
viceregency of the last of them, Muhammad ﷺ , is not limited to a particular period,
but is to continue upto the end of time, and those who succeed him for the
preservation of spiritual and temporal order in the world, are to be, not the vice
regents of Allah, but the vice regents of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his deputies. A
hadith reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim both says:
“The Israelites were governed by their prophets. When a prophet died, another
would come to take his place. And beware ءافلخ, no prophet is to come after me. Of
course, there will be my deputies (Khulafa’), and there will be many of them.’
The issue of Caliphate after the Holy Prophet ﷺ
(e) Allah has ordained that after the Holy Prophet ﷺ his Ummah, or the Islamic
community, shall as a body enjoy the privilege which has been that of the prophets عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ.
That is to say, the Ummah as a collective body has been declared to be
innocent and under the special protection of Allah Himself, so that it will never
unanimously agree upon a doctrinal error or a deviation, and hence any decision
which has been arrived at in religious matters through the consensus of the
Ummah is to be regarded as manifestation of Divine Commandment. That is why
the consensus of the Ummah has been accepted as the third source of the
Shari’ah, the first two being the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith. For the Holy Prophet ﷺ
has himself:”My Ummah shall never collectively agree
upon error.” And we have already referred to another hadth which tells us that no
matter how much the world has changed or how indifferent people have grown to
the Truth, there shall always remain in the Islamic Ummah a group of people who
will defend and preserve the Truth, and who will finally win.
(6) Since it has been ordained that the Islamic Ummah as a body shall never go
wrong, the responsibility of choosing a deputy to the Holy Prophet ﷺ has also been
entrusted to it. Now, for the governance of the earth the legitimate way is that the
Ummah should select a Khalifah who, once chosen, would solely be responsible for
the maintenance of spiritual and temporal order. And it is also possible that there
should be a single Khalifah for the whole world.
The first to succeed the Holy Prophet ﷺ as his deputies were the First Four Great
Khulafa, known as al-Khulafa’ al-Rashideen (or the rightly-guided ones,
commonly translated as the ‘Orthodox Caliphs’), and the Khilafat تفلاخorder
functioned according to the proper principles upto the end of their time. So, their
decisions are not merely temporary judgments, but have a permanent legislative
value, and carry an authority in their own degree, for the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said: ‘Follow my way steadfastly, and the way of the rightly
guided Khalifahs.’
After the age of the rightly-guided Khalifahs, different rulers appeared in different
regions, but none of them can be described as a Khalifah of the whole Islamic
community in the proper sense of the term, though they may be called the Amirs
of particular regions. When it became practically impossible for all the Muslims
of the world to agree upon one man as their Khalifah, and it became customary to
have a separate Amir رٌما for each region, people accepted the principle that the
man who had been chosen or acknowledged by the majority of the Muslims in a
country, should be called the Amir of that country. The basis for this procedure has
been provided by the Holy Qur’an itself:”And they conduct their
affairs by mutual consultation” (42:38).
The modern legislative assemblies are a form of mutual consultation, with the
difference that they are quite free to make whatever laws they like according to their
own opinion, while an Islamic legislative assembly, its members and their Amir all
shall be bound by the law which Allah has sent us through the Holy Prophet ﷺ.
There are certain specific conditions for the membership of an Islamic assembly as
well as for the choice of an Amir. And, most important of all, laws must be made
within the bounds of the basic principles laid down by the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah,
the authority of which the assembly cannot have the right to question.
Let me give a brief summary of the whole discussion. The verses which tell us of
how Allah informed the angels about his intention to send a vice regent to the earth,
provide us with some of the fundamental principles of the governance of man:
(a)The sovereignty of the skies and of the earth belongs to Allah Himself.(b)The
function of promulgating the Commandments of Allah on the earth is performed by
a vice regent who is at the same time a messenger of Allah and His Prophet
ﷺ(c)The chain of such vice regents ends with the Holy Prophet ﷺ for he is the last
Messenger and Prophet ﷺ.(d)Now the function of viceregency is performed by the
deputies of the Holy Prophet ﷺ.(e)Such a deputy (Khalifah) is to be chosen by the
Ummah or Islamic community.
14. (1) Some Modernists have zealously taken to the habit of interpreting these
verses as implying that man as a vice regent of Allah is required to make a
‘progress’ in ‘Science’ – that is, in the empirical study of physical phenomena; a so
called ‘Muslim’ translator of the Holy Qur’an has even had the temerity to translate
the name ‘Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ’ by the English word ‘Man’, thus denying the existence
and prophethood of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ. In order to dispel such grave errors and
distortions of word and meaning, let us point out that the ‘names’ which Allah taught
to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ not refer merely to the chemical or biological or psychological
properties of things and men, but to their essential qualities and aptitudes – we are
using the word ‘essential’ in the technical and metaphysical sense of the word in
which it was originally used in the West too. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi
adds in his ‘Bayan al-Qur’an’ that the knowledge of the ‘names’ even includes a
knowledge of the injunctions of the Shari`ah as to the distinction between the lawful
and the unlawful. Then, there are many great Sufis who maintain that Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ was given the knowledge of ‘the names of Allah’ – not of all the divine names in
detail, of course, for it is not possible for a created being to comprehend the Infinite,
but of divine names in a summary form. This interpretation has been advanced by
as authentic a commentator as Qadi Thanaullah of Panipat in his ‘Tafsir al-Mazhari’.
In the explanation of this subtle point we may say that everything that exists reflects
some divine attribute, which in its turn is a manifestation of a divine name; thus,
divine names are the essential principles or roots of all things, and one who knows
divine names does also know things in their inner natures.
(2) With regard to the question of the vice regency of Allah, we cannot pass over a
very serious distortion of the authentic doctrine which has been introduced by the
Modernists and seems to be growing in currency. Under the influence of Western
Humanism, and specially in their indifference to doctrinal matters, the Modernists
have come to identify the prophet and the father of mankind, Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ totally
with the biological species called ‘man’, and have made out as if every individual
member of this species, unconditionally and without any qualifications, is born to be
a vice regent of Allah. The error has been promoted by a thoughtless misreading of
Sufi metaphysical texts and Sufi poetry. What our Modernists have never cared to
learn is the concept of degrees and their distinctions. The Sufis, no doubt, often
speak of ‘man’ as being the vice regent of Allah, but what they are actually referring
to is not a biological organism or species, but Al-Insan Al-Kamil’, ‘the Universal Man’ – a term which the orientalists have wrongly rendered as ‘the perfect man’, thus
introducing ethical implications in the sphere of pure metaphysics. In the writings of
the Sufis, prose and poetry both, ‘Man’ also stands for ‘the Total and Essential
Reality of man’ (Al-Hagigah al-Jdmi’ah al-Insaniyyah). Now, the Universal Man par
excellence is the Holy Prophet $ this is the first degree of “manhood” to which
belong the Aulia’ (Men of Allah or the great saints) and those rulers who dealt
justice according to the Shari’ah.
Then, there are lower degrees pertaining to the pious and the virtuous Muslims
down to the lowest degree where stand people who are sinful, yet, being Muslims,
can hope for salvation. Allah alone knows best as to who belongs to which degree;
below the degree of the blessed Companions one can never speak with certitude. If
we allow ourselves to associate vice regency with an ordinary Muslim, it would only
be viceregency, so to say, by reflection, just as the ‘Iman of every Muslim is only a
reflection of the ‘Iman of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Anyway, the necessary condition of
receiving even a faint reflection of viceregency and “Manhood” is that one should
be a Muslim, for, as the Holy Qur’an has explicitly declared, ‘Allah shall not now
accept any faith except Islam.’ As for attributing viceregency of “Manhood” to
common man as such is concerned, it can at best only be viceregency, to use
Aristotelean terms, in potency and not in act – it cannot be effective unless it is
actualized through a total submission to the Shari’ah and a strenuous spiritual effort
and waiting upon the grace of Allah. In fact, the highest excellence open to man
now is to be in word and deed and thought a perfect follower of the Sunnah, the
way of the Holy Prophet ﷺ.
Allah is the creator of the language
(2) This episode, according to Imam al-Ash’ari, shows that language as
such has been created by Allah Himself, and not invented by man – its use by
different kinds of men has later on produced the many forms of language.
(3) One should note a subtle suggestion here in the use of two words. In asking the
angels for the names of things, Allah said, “Tell Me”; but in commanding
Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ to do so, He said “Tell them.” The difference in the mode of
expression shows that Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ was given the rank of a teacher, and the
angels that of pupils. It is thus an indication of his superiority over them. Another
thing the episode indicates is that an increase or decrease is possible in the degree
of knowledge the angels possess, for they were given, through Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, at
least a primary knowledge about a thing which they did not know before.
The episode recounted in the foregoing verses has shown how the angels came to
learn that Adam was superior to them in so far as he possessed the forms of
knowledge necessary for the function of divine vice regency, while they themselves
did not, nor did the jinns. Now, Allah willed to manifest this superiority in a visible
and concrete form. So, He commanded the angels to prostrate themselves before
Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ in his honour. They obeyed except Iblis or Satan who, in his
pride, refused to do so.
If we go by the words of the Holy Qur’an, the command was given to the angels
alone, but, in excepting Iblis from those who obeyed, the text also suggests that
the command was given to all the created beings that existed at that time and
possessed understanding, including the jinns as well as the angels. But the Holy
Qur’an mentions the angels alone, because when superior beings like the angels
were required to show their respect for Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, inferior creatures like the
jinns must, it goes without saying, have been ordered to do the same.
Angels prostrate before Adam
(1) In this verse, the angels have been commanded to prostrate themselves before
Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ. Another verse of the Holy Qur’an tells us that the parents and the
brothers of Yusuf عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ (Joseph) on reaching Egypt, prostrated themselves
before him (12:100). Evidently such a prostration cannot have been intended as an
act of worship, for worshipping anyone other than Allah is an act of association
(Shirk) and infidelity (Kufr), and hence cannot possibly be allowed by any
Shariah. So, it appears that in the days of the ancient prophets prostrating oneself before somebody must have been just an act of courtesy or a way of showing one’s respect, and enjoyed the same value as we do in our own days things like a simple greeting, a handshake, the kissing of hand, or standing up in someone’s honour. Imam Al-Jassas has said in his Ahkam al-Qur’an that it was permissible in the Shariah of the earlier prophets عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ to prostrate oneself in honour of one’s
elders, but that the Shari’ah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has forbidden gestures like
prostrating oneself, or bowing down very low or standing with one hand placed on
the other in the manner of the Salah before someone, all of which may suggest an
act of worship, and has allowed only greeting (Salam) and hand-shake as a gesture
of courtesy or respect.
It is easy to understand the raison d’etre of such a prohibition. Association, infidelity
and the worship of anyone other than Allah are things which in their nature go
against the very principle of ‘Iman (faith), and cannot therefore be tolerated by
any Shari’ ah. There are, however, certain acts and gestures which are not in
themselves acts of ‘association’ or infidelity, but may, on account of the ignorance or
indifference of people, become a prelude to ‘association’ and infidelity. So, the
Shariahs of the earlier prophets did not forbid such acts in an absolute manner, but prevented them from being used as the instruments of ‘association’ and infidelity. For example, making pictures of living things is not in itself an act of ‘association’ or infidelity, and was hence permissible in the earlier Shari’ahs. In speaking of how the jinns used to serve Sulayman عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ (Solomon) the Holy Qur’an itself says:”They made for him whatever he liked – places of worship, and pictures.” (34:13) Similarly, prostrating oneself before somebody as a gesture of respect was permissible in the earlier Shariahs. But gradually the practice opened
the way to ‘association’ and infidelity on account of people’s ignorance and
thoughtlessness, and even caused grave distortions in the Shariahs of different prophets, which had to be rectified by other prophets and other Shariahs.
Since the Holy Prophet ﷺ is the last of all the prophets and messengers of Allah,
and his Shari’ah is the last of all Shariahs and is to remain valid upto the end of time, Allah has, in order to protect it against all distortion, stopped every chink through which ‘association’ or idolatry could possibly enter. That is why this Shari’ah has strictly forbidden all those practices which had at one time or another served as a means towards ‘association’ or idol-worship. For example, making pictures of living things has been totally banned; prostrating oneself before somebody, even as a mark of respect, has been forbidden; it is not permissible to offer one’s Salah (prayer) at those hours of the day which the infidels had reserved for worshipping their gods, for even this slight and external correspondence might lead to ‘association’; and, according to a Hadith reported by Muslim, one is not allowed to call one’s slave an “abd”, nor is a slave allowed to
call his master a “rabb” – the words respectively signify “a slave” and ‘one who
gives nurture’, and are as such harmless, but they can be misconstrued, and may
mislead ignorant slaves or helpless and subjugated people into the worship of their
masters: hence the prohibition.
With regard to the question of prostration, we may add that, according to some
authentic scholars, Salah, the basic form of Islamic worship, comprises of four kinds
of actions – standing upright, bowing, sitting down, and prostrating oneself; the first
two of these, standing up and sitting down, are actions which one habitually does in
the course of one’s daily chores, and which one also performs as acts of worship in
the course of a Salah (prayer), but the other two, bowing down and prostrating
oneself, are actions which one does not go through as a matter of habit, and which
are characteristically associated with Salah (prayer) and `Ibadah (worship); hence it
is that the Islamic Shari’ah has identified them with acts of worship, and forbidden
the Muslims to bow down or prostrate themselves before anyone other than Allah.
Given that the Holy Qur’an itself speaks of prostration as a mark of respect, one
would wish to know on what grounds it has been affirmed that the Islamic Shari’ah
has forbidden this practice. As to this question, we may point out that several well
known narrations coming down to us from the Holy Prophet ﷺ through quite a large
number of his blessed Companions, are there to establish that prostrating oneself
before somebody as a mark of respect is unlawful (haram). To cite only one
such narration, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said that, if he could allow people to
prostrate themselves before anyone other than Allah as a mark of respect, he
would have ommanded wives to prostrate themselves before their husbands. This
clearly shows that prostration as a mark of respect is absolutely forbidden, and no
allowance can, in this respect, be made in favour of any created being. We may
add that the Hadith we have just referred to has come down to us through twenty
Companions, while, according to Tadrib al-Rawi, the famous book on the
fundamentals of the science of Hadith, a Tradition which has been reported by only
ten Companions is called Mutawatir, and enjoys the same authority in the
matter of injunctions as the Holy Qur’an.
(2) The Holy Qur’an describes Iblis or Satan as an infidel. His infidelity does not
arise from disobedience in his action, for, according to the Shari’ah, giving up an
obligation in practice is only a sin and a transgression, and does not constitute
infidelity. Iblis became an infidel, because he had defied and challenged a divine
commandment, and had, in refusing to prostrate himself, virtually said that, in his
opinion, Adam was not worthy of it.
(3) Iblis had attained such a high degree in science and knowledge that he was
called Ta‘us al-Mala’ikah: “The Peacock Among the Angels.” How did
he, then, come to commit such a suicidal error? Some scholars say that it was
because of his pride and vanity that Allah took back from him the wealth of
knowledge and understanding, and hence he came to act like an ignorant fool.
Others have suggested that his error was due to self-love and ambition. The
famous commentary, ‘Ruh al-Bayan’ resolves the question by quoting a line of
verse in Arabic which shows that once the aid of Allah has been withdrawn from a
man, he can no longer save himself from sins, and all the effort he makes only
serves to push him farther and farther into misguidance. May Allah, in his mercy,
save all of us from such a fate! The commentary draws from it the conclusion that
one should not be vain about one’s learning or one’s deeds or even about one’s
Iman (faith), for Iman is valid only if it lasts till one’s final breath and into the
first stage of one’s journey to the other world.
This is a continuation of the story of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ. When his superiority over the
angels and his fitness for the role of vice regent had been announced to the angels
and been acknowledged by them, and Iblis had been condemned as an infidel and
expelled from Paradise on account of his pride and his defiance of divine authority,
Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ (Eve), his wife, received a command from Allah to
live in Paradise and enjoy its blessings. But they were also instructed not to eat the
fruit of a particular tree. Now, having been disgraced because of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ,
Iblis or Satan had an account to settle with him, and as soon as he got the
opportunity, he tricked them into eating from this tree. Because of this error on their
part, they too were ordered to leave Paradise, and to go down and live on the earth.
They were at the same time warned that their existence on the earth would no
longer be full of perpetual bliss as it had been in Paradise, but that there would be
dissension and enmity among men, their progeny, which would spoil the joy of
earthly life.
Since these events took place after Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ had been created and the
angels had been commanded to prostrate themselves before him, some scholars
have concluded from it that the creation of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and the prostration of the
angels took place somewhere outside Paradise, and that he was sent there later
on. But the words of the Holy Qur’an do not exclude the other interpretation that
both the events took place in Paradise, but that he had not been told at that time
where he was to live, which was done later.
When Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ were sent to live in Paradise, they were allowed
to eat whatever they liked ‘at pleasure’ – the Arabic word in the text being
‘Raghadan, which signifies provision for which one does not have to work, and
which is never exhausted nor falls short. Thus, their life was totally free from all
care.
They were commanded not to go near a certain tree – which was an emphatic way
of asking them not to eat its fruit. The tree has not been given a specific name either
in the Holy Qur’an or in the Hadith. Some commentators say that it was wheat,
others say that it was a fig-tree or a grape-vine. But it is not really necessary to
make specific what the Holy Qur’an has left vague. (See Qurtubi)15
15. Even the Bible does not name the tree. As to the apple being the fruit
concerned, it is only a popular misunderstanding arising from the fact that the Latin
word “Malum” means an “apple” as well as a “sin, or evil.
According to the Holy Qur’an, it was Satan who ’caused them to slip’ (azallahuma).
It clearly shows that the error and disobedience of Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ was
not of the kind which technically constitutes a sin, but arose out of a
misunderstanding produced by Satan. They ate the forbidden fruit, because Satan
had cleverly deceived them.
16. We may note that in the previous episode the Holy Qur’an used the name Iblis – a word which comes from the root Balas , ‘to be disappointed’, and hence
signifies “one who has lost all hope of receiving the grace of Allah.” In the present
episode he has been called Al-Shaytan- a word which comes from the root
Shatn, “to be far away”, and hence signifies “one who has been removed far
away from the mercy of Allah.” Iblis is a proper name, while Shaytan is the name of
a genus. When the Holy Qur’an speaks of Al-Shaytan, it always refers to Iblis. But
the common noun Shaytan, or its plural Shayatin refers to the genus, which
includes men and jinns both. It would be interesting to add that the root Shayt
means ‘the excess of anger and rage’, and may possibly be the basis of the word
Shaytan.
Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ in Paradise
(1) In allowing Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ to eat at pleasure, and in forbidding
them to go near the tree, Allah used, according to the text of the Holy Qur’an, the
verbs for the dual number, thus including both in the address. But in asking them to
live in Paradise Allah did not address both of them, but said: “You and
your wife.” This form of address yields two. legal principles: (a) the husband is
responsible for providing a dwelling-place for his wife (b) for the purpose of dwelling
the wife is dependent on the husband, and she must live in the house in which her
husband lives.
(2) In this context the Arabic word ‘uskun (live) suggests that their stay in
Paradise was to be temporary, not permanent which is a usual condition for the
ownership of a house. Allah did not say that Paradise had been given to them, but
only asked them to live there, for Allah knew that certain things were going to
happen on account of which they would have to leave this dwelling-place.
Moreover, the right to ‘own’ a dwelling-place in Paradise is earned through ‘Iman
(faith) and good deeds, which one can acquire only after the Day of Judgment. The
Fuqaha’ (jurists) have derived from it the principle that, if a man asks someone to
live in his house, the other man does not thereby acquire the ownership of the
house nor the right to a permanent stay. (Qurtubi)
(3) In allowing Adam and Hawwa to eat at pleasure, Allah used the verb
for the dual number, and said: ” meaning ‘eat both of you’. This indicates that in
the matter of food the wife is not subservient to her husband, but can eat whatever
she needs or likes, as can the husband.
(4) Allah also allowed them to eat from wherever they liked. This shows that man
has the right to move freely from one place to another according to his needs or
wishes.
(5) Allah did not want them to eat the fruits of a certain tree, but as a precautionary
measure He commanded them not to approach it even. It is from here that the
Fugaha’ have derived one of the basic principles of Islamic law, which requires that
the things or actions which are likely to serve as means to sin or as its instruments
are equally forbidden. That is to say, there are certain things which are not
forbidden in themselves, but when there is a danger that in making use of them a
man would become involved in an unlawful activity, they too have to be forbidden.
The Prophets are innocent of all sins
(6) As we have seen here, Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ had been forbidden to eat the fruit of a
certain tree, and had also been warned against the machinations of his enemy,
Satan, and yet he had eaten the forbidden fruit. It is seemingly a sin, while the
Holy Qur’an, the Hadith and rational arguments too establish the innocence and
sinlessness of all the prophets. There is an absolute consensus of the four great
Imams of Islamic law and of all the authentic scholars on the doctrine that each and
every prophet is innocent of and protected against all sins, major or minor. Some
people have suggested that prophets are not protected against minor sins, but the
majority of authentic scholars do not agree with this opinion. (Qurtubi) It is
necessary for prophets to be thus protected, because they are sent down to be the
guides of men – if a guide can go against the commandments of Allah and commit
a sin, major or even minor, people would no longer be ready to trust his word or
deed. If one cannot have trust and faith even in the prophets, how can the work of
spiritual guidance be possible? Hence the necessity of prophets being sinles[.
The Holy Qur’an does, however, relate certain incidents which tend to suggest that
a certain prophet committed a sin, and drew upon himself the displeasure of Allah.
The story about Adam eating the forbidden fruit is one such instance.
According to the consensus of the authentic scholars, in all cases a prophet comes
to commit an error through a misunderstanding or just forgetfulness, and it is never
a deliberate and wilful transgression of divine commandment. As is well-known, a
Mujtahid is one who possesses the necessary qualifications for finding out
through analogical deduction the rule for a case regarding which no specific
commandment is present in the Holy Qur’an or the Hadith; if he makes a mistake in
determining the rule, he still receives a reward from Allah for having made the effort.
The mistake made by a prophet is always of this nature, or is due to oversight and
hence pardonable, and cannot be called a ‘sin’ in the technical sense. Moreover, a
prophet, being under the protection of Allah, can never show oversight or
forgetfulness in things which are directly concerned with his prophetic and
legislative function, but only in personal matters. (See al-Bahr al-Muhit)
The station of the prophets, however, is so exalted, that even a little oversight on
the part of a great man is considered to be a great error. That is why such slips on
the parts of certain prophets have been described in the Holy Qur’an as ‘sins’, and
Allah has shown his displeasure too, although they are not ‘sins’ in their nature.
As for the error committed by Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ commentators have advanced several
explanations:
(a) A certain tree was pointed out to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ as being forbidden. But it was
not this particular tree alone that was intended, but all the trees of this kind. The
Hadith too relates a similar case. Holding a piece of silk and some gold in his hand,
the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that those two things were forbidden to the men in his
Ummah. Obviously the ban does not apply to these very pieces of silk and gold
alone, but to silk and gold as such. But it is quite possible for someone to imagine
that only the particular pieces which the Holy Prophet ﷺ held in his hand were
forbidden. Similarly, Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ thought that the prohibition applied only to the
particular tree which had been pointed out to him. Satan exploited this mis
understanding, and assured him on oath that, being a well-wisher, he could never
advise him to do something which was wrong or harmful, and that the forbidden
tree was quite different, and not the one from which he was asking him to pluck a
fruit.
(b) Satan may have suggested to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ that the prohibition was valid only
upto a period after
he had been created, just as infants are denied heavy food till they have grown up,
and that since Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ had now grown stronger, the ban too had been lifted.
(c) It is equally possible that, when Satan told him that if he ate this fruit, the eternal
bliss of Paradise would be guaranteed for him, Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ forgot the prohibition.
This verse of the Holy Qur’an seems to give credence to such a possibility: “Adam forgot, and We did not find him steadfast.” (20:115)
Anyhow, the essential point is that Adam did not deliberately and willfully disobey
Allah; all that he did was an act of oversight or the kind of mistake which a Mujtahid can make. The error was not, properly speaking, a sin, but Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ
being so close to Allah, and in view of his station of a prophet, even this lapse was
regarded as very serious, and described as a `sin’ in the Holy Qur’an. But the Holy
Qur’an tells us that when he repented and prayed for pardon, Allah forgave him.
A question arises here as to how Satan got into Paradise for seducing Adam and
Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ when he had already been expelled from there for refusing to
prostrate himself. There are many possible ways in which he can have played his
trick. Possibly he never met them, but planted the suggestion in their minds from
afar – a thing which Satan can always do, and of which we have a specimen in the
work of the hypnotists. It is equally possible that Satan, being one of the jinns whom
Allah has given certain unusual powers denied to man, assumed the shape of a
snake or of something else, and thus succeeded in entering Paradise. Perhaps it
was because of this disguise that Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ did not remember Allah’s warning
that Satan was his enemy. According to the Holy Qur’an, Satan assured them on
oath that he was one of their well-wishers (7:21). It apparently suggests that he did
actually meet them, and speak to them face o face.
The Holy Qur’an says that Satan :”brought them out” of the state in which
they had been living. In actual fact, they were ‘brought out’ under a divine
command, but since Satan served as a means and as an intermediary, the action
has been attributed to him.
17. The words of the Holy Qur’an do not in the least imply that Satan had any
power whatsoever to act on his own. So, any Manichean dualism is totally out of
the question.
In commanding Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ to go down from
Paradise, Allah also said ‘Some of you (shall be the) enemies of
some.’ If Satan had not been turned out of the skies till then, he is included in this
address, the implication being that the enmity between Satan on the one hand, and
Adam and Hawwa’ and their progeny on the other, would continue on the earth too.
But if Satan, as some scholars maintain, had already been expelled, then the
addressees are Adam and Hawwa’ عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and their progeny; the implication
would now be that Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ’ would have to undergo a double
punishment, firstly that of being banished from Paradise, secondly that of seeing
enmity arise among their children which must make life unpleasant for parents.
(Baran al-Qur’an)
They were also told that the earth would be a temporary dwelling-place for them,
and that they would have to leave it too, which also meant that they would not find
real peace of mind there.
Descension of Adam was not a punishment
That is why the command for Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ to go down to the earth was not
withdrawn even when he had been pardoned: only the mode was now altered.
Earlier the command had been given in the mode of authority, and the sending
down to the earth intended as a punishment: hence the reference to the enmity
among men. Now, it was in the mode of wisdom, and the sending down to the
earth, an honour – the honour of vice regency. Hence the reference to things
Viceregency involves. In commanding Adam and Hawwa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and their
progeny to live on the earth, Allah told them that He would be sending down to men
His guidance – that is, the injunctions of the Shari’ah – through revelation, and that
those who follow it faithfully shall be free from sorrow and anxiety – in other words,
they shall not have to grieve about any loss in the past, nor to worry about some
misfortune in the future.
The obedient are freed of worries
(4) Verse 38 promises two great rewards to those who follow divine guidance – they
will fear, and they will not grieve. Fear is the anxiety one feels in apprehending
some trouble or pain in the future. Grief is the sorrow arising from the loss of
something valuable or from one’s failure in attaining a desired object. One can see
that these two rewards comprehend all the possible forms of comfort and peace.
Then, the text of the Holy Qur’an makes a subtle distinction between the two. In
saying that those who follow divine guidance will have no fear, it speaks in general
terms and uses a noun – the Arabic Phrase: لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ is to be translated literally as
‘no fear upon them’. But in the next phrase وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ, the Holy Qur’an employs a
verb, placing before it a pronoun as the subject. The literal translation of the phrase
is: ‘they shall not grieve’. The implication here is that being totally free from all sense
of loss is possible only to Men of Allah or the saints18 who follow divine guidance in
all its details; as for the others, no man whether an emperor or a billionaire, can help
being grieved at the loss of a valued object or the frustration of a desire, all of which
is but a necessary part of the scheme of things. The ‘friends of Allah’ do not have to
grieve, because they annihilated their own desires and their very will in submitting
themselves totally to the will of Allah. The Holy Qur’an also tells us that those who
go to Paradise will thank Allah for having removed from them all regret and sorrow:
َ”All praise belongs to Allah who has put away all sorrow from
us” (35:34). It means that some degree of sorrow is inevitable for every human
being except those who have perfected and made fast their relationship with Allah.
Let us make it clear that the verse does negate all grief and sorrow in the case of
the ‘friends of Allah’, but the negation applies only to the loss of worldly things and
the frustration of worldly desires. As for the anxiety about the other world and the
fear of Allah and the deep sense of awe before His Glory, the ‘friends of Allah’ are
far ahead of other men in these. It has been reported that the Holy Prophet ﷺoften
appeared to be worried and in deep thought – this was not for fear of any trouble or
loss in the worldly sense, but on account of his anxiety for his Ummah, and of his
awe before Divine Glory.
Nor does this verse imply that prophets and saints should not feel the instinctive
and all too human fear when confronted by things which are generally known to
inspire dread. The Holy Qur’an itself relates how the prophet Musa (Moses) عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ
was struck with fear when his stick turned into a dragon: “Musa
felt a fear in himself.” (20:67)
18. The word “Saints” is very weak and only an approximate translation of the
Arabic phrase “Awliya-Allah”, ‘the friends of Allah’ – a concept which has only a faint
resemblance with the Christian idea of a ‘saint’. Consequently, the term ‘men of
Allah’ has been used most frequently throughout this commentary.
But it was only an instinctive and physical fear, and the incident anyhow belongs to
the early days of his prophethood, for when Allah said: ‘Do not be afraid’, the
fear disappeared altogether. We may explain the incident in another way also. His
fear did not arise as it does in the case of ordinary men, from the apprehension of
some harm or hurt from the dragon, but from the likelihood that the extraordinary
event might lead the Israelites into misguidance. So, this fear was not worldly, but
other-worldly.
Dive into the profound journey of the Quran’s initiation and uncover its historical and spiritual significance 4th January Dars-e-Faizan-ul-Quran No. 4
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين
Masha Allah
Allah kareem samjanye ki toufeeq ata farmaye.
Ameen