Surah 15. Al-Hijr

Alif-Lãm-Ra. These are the verses of the Book; the clear Quran.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Alif Lam Ra. These are the Ayats of Revelation of a Qur'an that makes things clear. ^{1932 1933 1934}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

For these letters, see Appendix 1.

Cf. x. 1. and n. 1382.

Note how appropriately the different phrases in which the Qur-an is characterised bring out its different aspects as a Revelation. Let us just consider the phrases used at the beginning of the six A.L.M. Suras of which this is the last in order of arrangement. In x.1 we read, "Ayats (or verses or Signs) of the Book of Wisdom", the theme being the wonders of Allah's creation, and its relation to His Revelation. In xi. 1 we read, "a Book, with verses basic or fundamental, further explained in detail": the theme is Allah's Justice and punishment, to preserve the fundamental scheme of His Laws. In xii. 1 we read, "The Symbols verses of the Perspicuous Book"; the wonderful unfolding of Allah's Plan is explained in Joseph's story. In xiii. 1 we read, "The Signs (or verses) of the Book": the contrasts in the modes of Allah's Revelation and its reception by man are pointed out, but not illustrated by detailed examples as in Joseph's perspicuous story. In xiv. 1 we read, "A Book revealed to lead out of darkness into light": the theme being Abraham's prayer for man to be rescued from the darkness of false worship into the light of Unity. Here,in xv.1 we read, "Ayats (or verses) of Revelation,-of a Qur-an that makes things clear (or perspicuous)": the theme being an explanation of evil, and how Allah's Truth is protected from it.

'The day will come when' the disbelievers will certainly wish they had submitted 'to Allah'.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 lit., had been Muslims.

Again and again will those who disbelieve wish that they had bowed (to Allah's Will) in Islam. ¹⁹³⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The time must inevitably come when those who allow themselves to be deceived by falsehood or deliberately break Allah's Law will find themselves in a terrible plight. They will then wish, ardently and again and again, that they had sought Allah's Will and walked in the light of Truth. That time may be early or late,-in this life, or at death, or at the Day of Judgment, but it must come. Man's own highest interest requires that he should awake to the Reality before it is too late for repentance.

'So' let them eat and enjoy themselves and be diverted by 'false' hope, for they will soon know.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Leave them alone to enjoy (the good things of this life) and to please themselves: let (false) Hope amuse them: soon will knowledge (undeceive them). ^{1936 1937}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Literally, "to eat", Cf. v. 66 and n. 776.

The foolish and the wicked set great store by the pleasures of this world. In their pride they think they have all knowledge. In the fulness of knowledge they will see how wrong they were. Meanwhile those who have received the Light should not for a single moment wonder at the apparent prosperity of the ungodly in this world. They should leave them alone, confident in the goodness and justice of Allah.

We have never destroyed a society without a destined term.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand. ¹⁹³⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Kitabun ma'lum: literally, "a writing known". There are many shades of meaning implied, (1) For every people, as for every individual, there is a definite Term assigned: their faculty of choice gives them the opportunity of moulding their will according to Allah's Will, and thus identifying themselves with Allah's Universal Law. During that Term they will be given plenty of rope; after that Term is past, there will be no opportunity for repentance. (2) Neither the righteous nor the ungodly can hasten or delay the doom: Allah's Will must prevail, and He is All-Wise. (3) The destruction of a people is not an arbitrary punishment from Allah: the people bring it on themselves by their own choice; for the fixed Law or Decree of Allah is always made known to them beforehand, and in many ways.

No people can advance their doom, nor can they delay it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Neither can a people anticipate its Term nor delay it. ¹⁹³⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vii. 34. Also see the last note.

They say, 'O you to whom the Reminder¹ is revealed! You must be insane!

  - Mustafa Khattab

 i.e., the Quran.

They say: "O thou to whom the Message is being revealed! Truly thou art mad (or possessed)! ¹⁹⁴⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Al-Mustafa was accused by the ungodly of being mad or possessed, because he spoke of higher things than they knew, and acted from motives purer and nobler than they could understand. So, in a minor degree, is the lot of all the righteous in the presence of an ungodly world. Their motives, actions, words, hopes, and aspirations are unintelligible to their fellows, and they are accused of being mad or out of their senses. But they know that they are on the right path, and it is the ungodly who are really acting against their own best interests.

Why do you not bring us the angels, if what you say is true?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Why bringest thou not angels to us if it be that thou hast the Truth?" ¹⁹⁴¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 8-9, and notes 840, 841. On the part of the unbelievers, this is a mere taunt. They neither believe in Allah nor in angels nor in revelation nor in any but material things. It is ridiculous to suppose that they could be taken seriously.

We do not send the angels down except for a just cause, and then 'the end of' the disbelievers will not be delayed.

  - Mustafa Khattab

We send not the angels down except for just cause: if they came (to the ungodly) behold! no respite would they have! ^{1942 1943}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Angels are not sent down to satisfy the whim or curiosity of the unbelievers. They are sent to bring inspiration to Allah's messengers and to execute Allah's decrees.

If the angels were to appear before the ungodly, it would mean that they came to execute just punishment, and then there would be no hope of respite possible for the ungodly.

It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder, and it is certainly We Who will preserve it.

  - Mustafa Khattab

We have without doubt sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). ¹⁹⁴⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The purity of the text of the Qur-an through fourteen centuries is a foretaste of the eternal care with which Allah's Truth is guarded through all ages. All corruptions, inventions, and accretions pass away, but Allah's pure and holy Truth will never suffer eclipse even though the whole world mocked at it and were bent on destroying it.

Indeed, We sent messengers before you 'O Prophet' among the groups of early peoples,

  - Mustafa Khattab

We did send apostles before thee amongst the religious sects of old: ¹⁹⁴⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Shiya'un, plural of Shi'atun = a sect, a religious division. Mankind sees fragments of Truth at a time, and is apt to fall into fragments and divisions. All true messengers of Allah come to reconcile these fragments or divisions, for they preach the true Gospel of Unity. So came Al-Mustafa to bring back to Unity the many jarring sects among the Jews, Christians, and Pagans. His mission was held up to ridicule, but so was the mission of his predecessors. Mockery itself should not discourage the preachers of Truth.

but no messenger ever came to them without being mocked.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But never came an apostle to them but they mocked him.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is how We allow disbelief 'to steep' into the hearts of the wicked.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Even so do We let it creep into the hearts of the sinners ¹⁹⁴⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If evil and disbelief exist in the world, we must not be impatient or lose our faith. We must recognise that if such things are permitted, they are part of the Universal Plan and purpose of Allah, Who is All-Wise and All-Good, but Whose wisdom and goodness we cannot fully fathom. One consolation we have, and that is stated in the next verse and the next note.

They would not believe in this 'Quran' despite the 'many' examples of those 'destroyed' before.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That they should not believe in the (Message); but the ways of the ancients have passed away. ¹⁹⁴⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Sects, divisions, and systems invented by men tend to pass away, but Allah's pure Truth of Unity endures for ever. This we see in history when we study it on a large scale. Cf. the parable in xiv. 24-26 Khalat: I have translated it here in the same sense as in xiii. 30 x. 102, and other places. Some Commentators give it a slightly different shade of meaning. The other meaning is seen in xlviii. 23.

And even if We opened for them a gate to heaven, through which they continued to ascend,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Even if We opened out to them a gate from heaven and they were to continue (all day) ascending therein ¹⁹⁴⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 35. The spiritual kingdom is open to all to enter. But the entrance is not a mere matter of physical movement. It is a question of a total change of heart. Evil must cease to be evil, before it can see or enjoy Good. If we could suppose Evil, like Bottom the weaver, to be "translated" or in some way carried up to heaven, it would only think that the Truth was an illusion, and the reality was mere witchery. The taint is in its very nature, which must first be purified and rendered fit for the reception of light, truth, and bliss.

still they would say, 'Our eyes have truly been dazzled! In fact, we must have been bewitched.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

They would only say: "Our eyes have been intoxicated: nay we have been bewitched by sorcery."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Indeed, We have placed constellations in the sky, and adorned it for all to see.

  - Mustafa Khattab

It is We who have set out the Zodiacal Signs in the heavens and made them fair-seeming to (all) beholders; ^{1949 1950}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Evil having been described, not as an external thing, but as a taint of the soul, we have in this section a glorious account of the purity and beauty of Allah's Creation. Evil is a blot on it, not a normal feature of it. Indeed, the normal feature is the guard which Allah has put on it, to protect it from evil.

In the countless millions of stars in the universe which we see, the first step in our astronomical knowledge is to find marvellous order, beauty, and harmony, on a scale of grandeur which we appreciate more and more as our knowledge increases. The first broad belt that we distinguish is the Zodiac, which marks the sun's path through the heavens year after year and the limit of the wanderings of the moon and the planets. We make twelve divisions of it and call them Signs of the Zodiac. Each marks the solar path through the heavens as we see it, month after month. We can thus mark off the seasons in our solar year, and express in definite laws the most important facts in meteorology, agriculture, seasonal winds, and tides. Then there are the mansions of the moon, the mapping out of the Constellations, and the other marvellous facts of the heavens, some of which affect our physical life on this earth. But the highest lessons we can draw from them are spiritual. The author of this wonderful Order and Beauty is One, and He alone is entitled to our worship.

And We protected it from every accursed devil,

  - Mustafa Khattab

And (moreover) we have guarded them from every evil spirit accursed: ^{1951 1952}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Taking the physical heavens, we can imagine the supreme melody of harmony- guarded from every disturbing force.

Rajim: driven away with stones, rejected, accursed. Cf. iii. 36.

except the one eavesdropping, who is then pursued by a visible flare.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Some jinn used to eavesdrop on the angels in heaven so they could disclose this information to their human associates. But this practice came to an end when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent with the message of Islam. See 72:8-10.

But any that gains a hearing by stealth is pursued by a flaming fire bright (to see). ^{1953 1954}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. lxxii. 8-9.

A shooting star. Cf. xxxvii. 10.

As for the earth, We spread it out and placed upon it firm mountains, and caused everything to grow there in perfect balance.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance. ^{1955 1956}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Majesty, order, beauty and harmony are shown in all Allah's Creation, but especially in the heavens. Coming nearer to man, Allah's care for man and His goodness are shown (besides His other qualities) in His creation of the earth. In highly poetical language, the earth is described as spread out like a carpet, on which the hills act as weights to keep it steady.

And every kind of thing is produced on the earth in due balance and measure. The mineral kingdom supports the vegetable and they in their turn support the animal, and there is a link of mutual dependence between them. Excess is eliminated. The waste of one is made the food of another, and vice versa. And this is a chain of gradation and inter-dependence.

And We made in it means of sustenance for you and others, who you do not provide for.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And We have provided therein means of subsistence for you and for those for whose sustenance ye are not responsible. ¹⁹⁵⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

See last note. 'We provide sustenance of every kind, physical, mental, spiritual, etc., for you (i.e. for mankind). But We do more. We provide for everyone of Our creatures. And there are those of which mankind is not even cognisant. We provide for them also. There are those who may at first sight appear hostile to man, or whom man may consider hostile, such as wild and noxious animals. They are Our creatures, and We provide for them also, as they are Our creatures. But there is due order and balance in the economy of Our universal Plan.'