-->
Allah and His angels honour and bless the holy Prophet as the greatest of men. We are asked to honour and bless him all the more because he took upon himself to suffer the sorrows and afflictions of this life in order to guide us to Allah's Mercy and the highest inner Life.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
In classical Arabic, the term la'nah is more or less synonymous with ib'ad ("removal into distance" or "banishment"); hence, God's la'nah denotes "His rejection of a sinner from all that is good" (Lisan al-'Arab) or "exclusion from His grace" (Manar II, 50). The term mal'un which occurs in verse {61} below signifies, therefore, "one who is bereft of God's grace".
By attributing children to Him or associating gods with Him in worship.
By calling him a liar or speaking ill of him and his family.
Cf. n. 3758 above.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
By harming them physically or accusing them falsely.
Cf. iv. 112. In that passage we were told that any one who was himself guilty but accused an innocent man of his guilt, was obviously placing himself in double jeopardy; first, for his own original guilt, and secondly for the guilt of a false accusation. Here we take two classes of men instead of two individuals. The men and women of faith (if they deserve the name) and doing all they can to serve Allah and humanity. If they are insulted, hurt, or annoyed by those whose sins they denounce, the latter suffer the penalties of a double guilt, viz., their sins to start with, and the insults or injuries they offer to those who correct them. Instead of resenting the preaching of Truth, they should welcome it and profit by it.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. the first two sentences of 24:31 and the corresponding notes [37] and [38].
The specific, time-bound formulation of the above verse (evident in the reference to the wives and daughters of the Prophet), as well as the deliberate vagueness of the recommendation that women "should draw upon themselves some of their outer garments (min jalabibihinna)" when in public, makes it clear that this verse was not meant to be an injunction (hukm) in the general, timeless sense of this term but, rather, a moral guideline to be observed against the ever-changing background of time and social environment. This finding is reinforced by the concluding reference to God's forgiveness and grace.
He has forgiven what Muslim women did in the past because they were not obligated to cover up.
This is for all Muslim women, those of the Prophet's household, as well as the others. They were asked to cover themselves with outer garments when walking out of doors.
Jilbab, plural Jalabib: an outer garment; a long gown covering the whole body, or a cloak covering the neck and bosom.
The object was not to restrict the liberty of women, but to protect them from harm and molestation. In the East and in the West a distinctive public dress of some sort or another has always been a badge of honour or distinction, both among men and women. This can be traced back on the earliest civilisations. Assyrian Law in its palmiest days (say, 7th century B.C.), enjoined the veiling of married women and forbade the veiling of slaves and women of ill fame: see Cambridge Ancient History, 111. 107.
That is, if a Muslim woman sincerely tries to observe this rule, but owing to human weakness fails short of the ideal, then "Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful".
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
For my above rendering of la'in, see surah {30}, note [45]. With this passage, the discourse returns to the theme touched upon in verse {1} and more fully dealt with in verses {9-27}: namely, the opposition with which the Prophet and his followers were faced in their early years at Yathrib (which by that time had come to be known as Madinat an-Nabi, "the City of the Prophet").
See note [16] above.
Thus Zamakhshari, explaining the term al-murjifun in the above context.
I.e., "there will be open warfare between thee and them", which will result in their expulsion from Medina: a prediction which was fulfilled in the course of time.
It was necessary to put down all kinds of unseemly conduct in the Prophet's City. And here is the warning in the plainest terms. And the warning had its effect. The "Hypocrites" were men who pretended to be in Islam but whose manners and morals were anti-Islamic. Those "with diseased hearts" may have been the ones that molested innocent women. "Those who stiffed up sedition" put false rumours in circulation to excite the crowd. Alas! we must ask ourselves the question: "Are these conditions present among us to-day?"
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "slain with [a great] slaying". See in this connection note [168] on 2:191 . For my rendering of mal'unin as "bereft of God's grace", see note [73] above.
This verse is intended to deter the hypocrites. The Prophet (ﷺ) never killed any hypocrite as long as they did not join the enemy to attack and kill Muslims.
They will be deprived of the blessing and guidance of Allah. They sought to cause disorder in Allah's world-moral as well as material; but they will themselves be destroyed. Those who become outlaws, rebels against the Law, will themselves be destroyed by the Law.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. {35:42-44}, and particularly the last paragraph of verse {43}.
The Jewish law was much more severe: see notes 3703 and 3704 to xxxiii. 26. That severity is mitigated in Islam. But it is a universal principle that any element which deliberately refuses to obey law and aggressively tries to subvert all order in society, secretly and openly, must be effectively suppressed, for the preservation of the life and health of the general community.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See 7:187 .
Cf. vii. 187 and n. 1159, where the idea is further explained. The knowledge of the Final Hour is with Allah alone. The fact of its coming is certain; the exact time when it will come has not been revealed. If it were, it would disturb our thoughts and life. "Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth." But at any given moment it cannot be far distant. In theological language, each individual's death is a Final Hour, a Qiyamat Sugra (Lesser Day of Judgement). In that sense it is not the same for all individuals, and is certainly always near.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
As in several other instances in the Qur'an, the "face", being the noblest and most expressive part of a human person, represents here man's "personality" in its entirety; and its being "tossed about in the fire" is symbolic of the annihilation of the sinner's will and his reduction to utter passivity.
The face is the expression of their Personality, their Self; and turning upside down is a sign of degradation and ignominy. When the Retribution comes, the evil ones will be humiliated, and they will wish that they had followed right guidance when they had the chance. They will then fall to accusing their leaders who misled them. But they forget their own personal responsibility.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "reject them (il'anhum) with a great rejection" , i.e., "from Thy grace".
Cf. xxv. 69 and n. 3129, and xi. 20 and n. 1515. The double Penalty invoked will be because (1) they went wrong themselves and (2) they misled others.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
This is an allusion to the aspersions occasionally cast upon Moses by some of his followers and mentioned in the Oid Testament (e.g., Numbers xii, 1-13), as well as to the blasphemous demands of which the Qur'an speaks - e.g., "O Moses, indeed we shall not believe thee until we see God face to face" ( 2:55 ) or, "Go forth, thou and thy Sustainer, and fight, both of you!" ( 5:24 ). These instances are paralleled here with the frequently cited accusations that Muhammad had "invented" the Qur'an and then falsely attributed it to God, that he was a madman, and so forth, as well as with frivolous demands to prove his prophethood by bringing about miracles or - as is re-stated in verse {63} of this surah - by predicting the date of the Last Hour.
The Quran does not specify how Moses was slandered by some of his people. Some narrations suggest that he was either falsely accused of adultery (see footnote for 28:76), killing his brother Aaron (who died a natural death), or having a skin disease since he, unlike others, used to bathe with his clothes on.
The people of Moses often vexed him and rebelled against him and against God's Law. Here the reference seems to be to Num. xii. 1-13. It is there said that Moses's own sister Miriam and his brother Aaron spoke against Moses because Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. God cleared Moses of the charge of having done anything wrong: "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house." Miriam was afflicted with leprosy for seven days as a punishment, after which she was forgiven, as also was Aaron. This is the Old Testament story. The holy Prophet was also attacked because of his marriage with Zainab bint Jahsh, but not by his own circle, his motives were of the highest and were completely vindicated as we have seen above.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The expression qawl sadid signifies, literally, "a saying that hits the mark", i.e., is truthful, relevant and to the point. In the only other instance where this expression is used in the Qur'an (at the end of 4:9 ) it may be appropriately rendered as "speaking in a just manner"; in the present instance, however, it obviously relates to speaking of others in a manner devoid of all hidden meanings, insinuations and frivolous suspicions, aiming at no more and no less than the truth.
We must not only speak the truth as far as we know it, but we must always try to hit the right point; i.e., we must not speak unseasonably, and when we do speak, we must not beat about the bush, but go straight to that which is right, in deed as well as in word. Then Allah will make our conduct right and cure any defects that there may be in our knowledge and character. With our endeavour directed straight to the goal, we shall be forgiven our errors, shortcomings, faults, and sins of the past.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
This is salvation, the attainment of our real spiritual desire or ambition, as we are on the highway to nearness to Allah.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The classical commentators give all kinds of laborious explanations to the term amanah ("trust") occurring in this parable, but the most convincing of them (mentioned in {Lane I, 102}, with reference to the above verse) are "reason", or "intellect", and "the faculty of volition" - i.e., the ability to choose between two or more possible courses of action or modes of behaviour. and thus between good and evil.
Sc., "and then failed to measure up to the moral responsihility arising from the reason and the comparative free will with which he has been endowed" (Zamakhshari). This obviously applies to the human race as such, and not necessarily to all of its individuals.
The Trust is something given to a person, over which he has a power of disposition; he is expected to use it as directed or expected, but he has the power to use it otherwise. There is no trust if the trustee has no power, and the trust implies that the giver of the trust believes and expects that the trustee would use it according to the wish of the creator of the trust, and not otherwise.
Cf. lix. 21, where the hypothetical sending down of the Qur-an to the Mountains is mentioned, and it is mentioned that such Parables are put forth in order to aid men to reflection.
The Heavens, the Earth, and the Mountains, ie., other creatures of Allah, besides man, refused to undertake a Trust or a responsibility, and may be imagined as happy without a choice of good or evil being given through their will. In saying that they refused, we imply a will, but we limit it by the statement that they did not undertake to be given a choice between good and evil. They preferred to submit their will entirely to Allah's Will, which is All-Wise and Perfect, and which would give them far more happiness than a faculty of choice, with their imperfect knowledge. Man was too audacious and ignorant to realise this, and the result has been that man as a race has been disrupted: the evil ones have betrayed the Trust and brought Punishment on themselves, though the good have been able to rise far above other Creation, to be the muqarrabin, the nearest ones to Allah: lvi. 11 and lvi. 88. What can be higher than this for any creature? It follows incidentally from this that the Heavens and the Earth were created before man was created and this is in accordance with what we know of the physical world in science: man came on the scene at a comparatively late stage.
Hamala: to undertake, bear, carry (the Trust or responsibility), to be equal to it. This is the ordinary meaning, and the majority of Commentators construe so. But some understand it to mean "to carry away, run away with, to embezzle (the thing entrusted); hence to be false to the Trust, to betray the Trust." In that case the sense of verses 72-73 would be: "Allah offered the Trust to other creatures, but they refused, lest they should betray it, being afraid from that point of view: but man was less fair to himself: in his ignorance he accepted and betrayed the Trust, with the result that some of his race became Hypocrites and Unbelievers and were punished, though others were faithful to the Trust and received Allah's Mercy". The resulting conclusion is the same under both interpretations.
See ii. 30-34 and notes. Allah intended a very high destiny for man, and placed him in his uncorrupted state even above the angels, but in his corruption he made himself even lower than the beasts. What was it that made man so high and noble? The differentiating quality which Allah gave man was that Allah breathed something of His own spirit into man (xxxii. 9; xv. 29 and n. 1968; and other passages). This meant that man was given a limited choice of good and evil, and that he was made capable of Forbearance, Love, and Mercy. And in himself man summed up Allah's great world: man is in himself a microcosm.
Zalum (translated "unjust") and Jahul (ignorant) are both in the Arabic intensive form; as much as to say, 'man signally failed to measure his own powers or his own knowledge.' But Allah's Grace came to his assistance. Where man did his best, he won through by Allah's Grace, even though man's Best was but a poor Good. How did man generically undertake this great Responsibility, which made him Vicegerent on earth (ii. 30)? Here comes in the doctrine of a Covenant, express or implied, between Allah and Humanity. See vii. 172,73 and notes 1146-48 also v. 1 and n. 682. A Covenant (Mithaq) necessarily implies Trust, and its breach necessarily implies Punishment.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
In other words, on those who offend against what their own reason and conscience would have them do. This suffering, whether in this world or in the hereafter, is but a causal consequence - as the lam al-'aqibah at the beginning of this sentence shows - of man's moral failure, and not an arbitrary act of God. (Cf. in this connection note [7] on 2:7 . which speaks of God's "sealing" the hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth.)
This is a guarantee from Allah that if the hypocrites and polytheists ever turn to Him in repentance, He is always willing to forgive them.
Man's generic Covenant, which flowed from his exercising the option given him, choosing Will, Forbearance, Love, and Mercy, made it necessary that breach of it should carry its own punishment. Breach of it is here classed under two heads: those who betray their Trust act either as Hypocrites or as Unbelievers. Hypocrites are those who profess Faith but bring not forth the fruits of Faith. Unbelievers are those who openly defy Faith, and from whom therefore no fruits of Faith are to be expected.
Those who remain firm to their Faith and their Covenant (see notes 3781-82) will receive the aid of Allah's Grace; their faults and weaknesses will be cured; and they will be made worthy of their exalted Destiny. For Allah is Oft-Forgiving and Most Merciful. So ends a Sura which deals with the greatest complications and misunderstandings in our throbbing life here below, and points upwards to the Great Achievement, the highest Salvation.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.