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Request: Sura 2 Aya 105 to 269
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:105] (no commentary available for this verse) Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Naskh, as a Quranic term, means substitution of one current law by another. It is called bada if the substitution is in the law of creation, and naskh if it is in the law of legislation.
Substitution has been effected in "creation" as well as in "legislation". The sudden changes in the course of creation, caused by the supreme will of Allah, a factor apparently incomprehensible for the human intellect, are known as miracles - like the birth of Adam and Isa, and the extraordinary performances carried out by the prophets and divinely chosen representatives of Allah. These miracles cannot be taken as effects without any cause, but are caused by a factor inconceivable by the human intellect. The effect of the creature's prayer in the course of providence is also based on the phenomenon of bada. These types of activities on the part of the creatures are a reaction to the divine action. They are governed by the possibility of bada, provided there is no contradiction. For example the "creation of a self-existing being" is a self-contradictory idea. Allah alone is the self-existing creator, and what He creates cannot be self-existing. The term "creation" itself suggests that it is not self-existing but was created whereas the term "self-existing" means that it was not created by anyone. Another example is of an "even number". It is impossible to stop it from being divided into two equal whole numbers. In view of the infinite power, possibilities and potentialities at the command of Allah it has been believed and accepted that every known operation in the creation can be changed, substituted or abrogated by His supreme will or action. The human knowledge may not comprehend the use of that which has happened and that which will happen, in the sphere of bada. It must be kept in mind that there can be no limitation to the power and ability of Allah. Imam Ali ibna Abi Talib says: "Allah has effected changes (bada) and will also effect many changes in the operation (system) of the universe."
Change {Naskh) in the "legislation" became necessary due to the gradual development of the human society. Though the spirit might have been the same but the laws and teachings for mankind in a developed society had to be other than what they were in the primitive age. The conditions and circumstances of a particular age do not appear again. There are teachings, applicable in every age, but they, keeping the essential spirit intact, take to new forms till they reach the final stage. From Adam to Muhammad, the divinely appointed teachers took into consideration the receptive capacity of the people. For example prophet Isa, knowing the limitations of his people, put off the delivery of the final message and asked them to wait for the promised prophet.
There is still much that I could say to you, but the burden would be too great for you now. However, when he comes who is the spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth: for he will not speak on his own authority, but will tell only what he hears; and he will make known to you the things that are coming. (John 16: 19 and 13)
The divine order "to do" or "not to do" a thing is based upon reason - alms should be given for helping the poor; or liquor is prohibited in order to avoid its ill-effects. The justifying reason is in the thing ordered to be done or not to be done.
Sometimes the justifying reason is in the order itself. This is true of the orders issued merely as a test of the obedience of the believers. For example, the change in the direction of Qiblah was made (Baqarah: 149) to test the obedience of the believers; or when prophet Ibrahim was asked to sacrifice his son
In the first category naskh takes place only when the substitution is necessary in view of the new development. In the second category change is made, without making less its scope and intensity, so that it may fully serve the purpose of the trial. Through naskh as well as bada the withdrawal of the previous procedure or legislation is made known. If the time-limit has already been prescribed for any law or procedure then the term naskh or bada cannot be used. Every aspect of the creation or the legislation, together with their possible manifestations, are known to the creator. Naskh or bada (substitution) cannot be attributed to Allah's ignorance or change of mind. These terms are used in relation to the creatures' knowledge of the divine will. Some orders or processes carry the restriction of the period of validity at the time of their revelation in which case the term bada or naskh cannot be applied. Sometimes it manifests afterwards. In both cases of naskh and bada, the change or substitution means notification of the discontinuation of the procedure or legislation which was in force. In connection with the events of creation or the procedures of legislation the prophets of Allah, now and then, received definite revelations about the taking place of an event, with its details, without any possibility of any change; and at times the nature of the predictions of the consequences of an act was indefinite, which, subject to conditions, could be changed. When the development reaches the ultimate stage, as verse 115 of al An-am says, there is no changing in His words. In the gradual revelation of the laws to the Holy Prophet, no abrogation of any portion of the Quran has been effected. It is generally believed that some Quranic laws, had been abrogated by its own verses, or by the sayings of the Holy Prophet; a list of which has been prepared by the jurists and the commentators, but the context of the traditions, in view of the external evidence, has been, with ulterior motives, twisted and misapplied. A careful study of the Quran with a thorough knowledge of the conclusively proved laws of the faith, passed on to us by the Holy Ahl ul Bayt, the divinely chosen purified custodians of the word of Allah, makes clear the view and proves that there are very few, not exceeding five, abrogations; and even those cannot be described as real or actual naskh. For example the order to pay alms in verse 12 of al Mujadalah was given to test the sincerity of the persons who wanted to meet and talk to the Holy Prophet privately, because most of the companions, without any reason at all, sought his audience for the sake of personal vanity. After this order none paid the prescribed alms save Ali. The purpose of the test was to make public the insincerity of the companions, therefore, it was removed when their deception was proved. This order was totally withdrawn, after condemning the niggardly attitude of the companions, in verse 13 of al Mujadalah. This order resembles the order given to prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son. When it was proved beyond doubt that Ibrahim was certainly carrying out the divine command, the order was withheld (Saffat: 103 to 107). In the same manner when only Ali carried out the order of verse 12 of al Mujadalah, it was proved that he alone, and no one else among the companions, was in the category of prophet Ibrahim, therefore, the order was withdrawn.
As the Holy Prophet said, theoretically his sayings could change or substitute (naskh) the Quranic laws. Such change or abrogation can be accepted if reported on the authority of the thoroughly purified Ahl ul Bayt, because traditions reported through other sources are conflicting and spurious.
In every age, among all human societies, in different parts of the earth, the representatives of Allah were sent to put in order the affairs of the people through laws applicable to the time and environment in which they lived. Ability of man to apply reason and understand things and events progressed and advanced with the passage of time, therefore, certain laws and commandments (pertaining to theoretical, practical, intellectual, religious and legal matters concerning day to day life) which bring harmony and peace in every aspect of existence upon the earth, as well as make man ready to explore the higher regions of spiritual satisfaction, in certain cases and circumstances had to be changed or substituted to pave way for further progress. At last the last messenger of Allah, the greatest and the most manifest sign of Allah (the term Ayat or sign taken in a broader and higher sense means the best human soul created), endowed with the divine wisdom, power and authority, was sent to give effect to the concluding part of the plan of educating and training for the final unification of mankind through the true knowledge of the immediate as well as the ultimate. In the chain of the prophets of Allah, among whom some had been made to excel others (Baqarah: 253), the last prophet, Muhammad al Mustafa, the superior-most, the seal of prophethood, came with the final discipline and guidance. Once the development had reached its maximum height, there remained no need for any further change of any kind. Therefore, no prophet was sent after his departure (see commentary of verse 7 of al Fatihah), but a man like him, after him, is necessary as an Imam, in every age, for the authentic, true, and proper explanation of the word of Allah, the Quran, and also to serve as an ideal to guide and keep mankind on the right path. The following saying of the Holy Prophet is a true interpretation of this verse:
The first of us is Muhammad,
the middle of us is Muhammad,
the last of us is Muhammad,
everyone of us is Muhammad.
Only men of understanding know that the same quality of divine energy which activated the prophethood was also manifested in imamat with equal force.
The whole universe is Allah's kingdom, He is the owner, the sovereign. Therefore, it. is a waste of time and energy, serving no purpose, if persons, i.e. polytheists and idol-worshippers, worship imaginary gods or deities.
Squabbling or hankering after proofs and miracles, as the Bani Israil did for disbelieving in that which a messenger of Allah had said, in order to disobey his orders and as well as to create doubts in the minds of the believers, is the lower nature of man, which is clearly condemned in this verse as losing the right direction of the true path.
There is a warning particularly to Muslims who must always remember that the Holy Prophet did not (ever) speak of his own desire, and that whatever he said was nothing but a revelation that was revealed to him (Najm: 3 and 4). According to verse 65 of al Nisa, even in personal matters, the messenger of Allah's orders should be accepted and carried out.
The Jews always looked for opportunities to create doubts in the minds of the people who had accepted Islam so as to bring them back to their idolatrous creeds. After the battle of Uhad they said to Ammar and Hudhayfa: If your prophet had been on the right path he would not have lost this battle. It would be better for you to join us. Ammar replied: Victory or defeat in a battle can never be a proof of truth or falsehood. It can be a test of the believers. We shall not give up the true faith.
When the Holy Prophet heard of this incident and played for Allah's blessings upon Ammar, this verse was revealed.
The Jewish prejudice against Islam is also stated in verse 51 of al Nisa. "Until Allah brings about His command" means the victories the Holy Prophet won one after the other thereafter, and the complete triumph of Islam.
Our good as well as bad deeds run before us into the court of Allah for His judgement. The influence of our deeds begins to operate as soon as they are committed. It is an effective warning to remain alert and careful at every step of our life in this world.
The Holy Prophet was fully aware of the original text of every scripture revealed to the messengers of Allah before him, and he also knew the additions, omissions and alterations made in them by their followers in the course of time. It was, therefore, made clear by him that the idea of "no one shall enter paradise except a Jew or a Christian" was a false concoction, not mentioned in any original scripture. Also refer to the commentary of verse 80 of this surah.
Wajh means face, but it also implies the following meaning:
Ala shay-in means confirming anything worthy of consideration. Alladhina la ya-lamun (those who have no knowledge) means the heathens whose beliefs. are not based upon any heavenly scripture but upon their own personal conjectures. The Quran makes known the ignorance of the Jews and the Christians who accused each other for lack of goodness in their respective creeds in spite of the fact that both of them followed the Old Testament. Among the followers of the messengers of Allah there should have been no discord if the true text of the revealed books was kept intact and applied sincerely. On the day of judgement they will know that it was bias, pride and prejudice which prevented them from accepting the true faith, Islam.
The people of Quraysh did not even allow the Holy Prophet and his companions to visit Makka in 7 Hijra for the pilgrimage. This verse is a general prophecy of the ultimate triumph of Islam and the downfall of its opponents. It also refers to the complete annihilation of the enemies of Islam, the Quraysh, after the fall of Makka. It must be noted that there is no evidence of a plan to destroy the masjids of Allah by the Quraysh of Makka. Evidently this verse refers to the plan of the hypocrites who had hatched a conspiracy to kill the Holy Prophet, when he was returning from Tabuk, and then to demolish all the masjids in Madina and other places. In true meaning, a masjid is the place where Allah is remembered and adored, therefore, all the sacred shrines of the holy Ahl ul Bayt, where only Allah, and none else, is remembered, adored and invoked, are also the masjids of Allah in a wider sense. So whoever stops people from going into these shrines and destroys them shall be disgraced in this world and shall be severely punished in the hereafter.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Wajh means face - the manifesting aspect (side) of a thing. Imam Ali ibna Abi Talib says: Beyond this moon are many moons, beyond the sun are many suns". (Bihar ul Anwar).
The east and the west mentioned here should not be confined to the directions we know in relation to the rising and setting of the sun. It also refers to the whole cosmos where there are several moons and suns, therefore, the hold of the omnipotence of Allah, the absolute, controls and directs (manifest) in all the easts and the wests of the universe. He is the all-pervading omniscient who is in everything and everything is in Him. His manifestation (wajh) serves the purpose of man. In whichever direction the mind turns there is His manifestation. (Araf: 137, Shu-ara: 28, Saffat: 5, Zukhruf: 38, Rahman: 17). The interpretation of wajh, as Allah's purpose, by the Ahmadi commentator, is a linguistic misappropriation to effect a motivated confusion.
The verb sharaqa means to beam or radiate with light. It may be physical or spiritual (Zumar: 69). The place or the direction from which the light beams is mashriq (the east), and the place or direction in which the light disappears is maghrib (the west). The terms mashriq and maghrib should be taken in a wider and more comprehensive sense to include all the lights, physical and spiritual, coming from the absolute to enlighten the various spheres of existence in the universe. In this sense Allah is the wasi-un alim.
The first creation in which the unity of the absolute is manifested is known as mashriqul wujud, and the matter in which the unity disappears and gives its place to multiplicity is known as maghribul wujud. On the other hand, as regards to the multiplicity of manifestation the matter can be taken as the mashriq of the multiplicity and the absolute as its maghrib wherein the multiplicity disappears. These are some examples of the various usages of the terms mashriq and maghrib in their singular, plural and dual forms. The particular incident of the revelation of this verse relating to the direction of qiblah (noted below) does not affect the universality which this verse signifies.
"This verse was revealed when the companions, who were sent to fight a battle, camped outside Madina. It was a dark night. The sky was full of clouds. The direction of qiblah could not be correctly ascertained, so they prayed the isha salat after making approximation, which was proved to be wrong in the morning. In Madina, they informed the Holy Prophet of that which had happened and, mindful of their mistake, prayed the said salat again. This verse was then revealed to console those faithful devotees." (Tafsir Kabir).
Tawalla (to turn) means, in this verse, that in whichever direction the Muslims turn they will win victory, or whichever direction the infidels choose to flee, they will encounter the might of Allah.
The Jews and the Christians metaphorically referred to the virtuous prophets of Allah, from Adam to Isa, as the sons of God, but this metaphorical usage gave opportunity to some theologians to corrupt the true religions and made the common people believe that Ezra or Jesus were sons of God. The pagans believed that the angels were the daughters of God. Therefore the use of the term "son" or "daughter" of Allah, as a doctrine or as a metaphor, has been condemned as the greatest sin (Luqman: 13).
When everything in the heavens and the earth and in between them is the creation of Allah, it becomes meaningless to believe that anything, in any sense, can be equal to Him. The basic and the main doctrine of Islam is "the absolute unity" of Allah.
Badi means the originator who designs, makes, begins and brings into existence for the first time, without any pre-existing similar example. Ali ibna abi Talib says:
"He (Allah) created the creation in the perfect sense of creating and began it in the perfect sense of beginning, under precisely regulating laws, and made their unlike, complex and diverse dispositions agree and fit well together, implanted and infused harmony, balance and co-ordination in their nature. (For all this) He did not have to check up on or try out their course, nor had to make use of trial and verification, nor was He enthusiastic or anxiously thoughtful that could make Him excited." (Nahj al Balagha)
Kun fa-yakun (Be, and it is.) is a term to bring home to the human mind the omnipotent will which can never be translated into any verbal expression.
Imam Ali ibna Abi Talib says: "Not by sound uttered, nor by voice heard, His word, blessed be He, is "action", beginning and proceeding from Him."
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
To refute the Christian theory of "the son of God", here and in many other verses of the Quran, the word badi has been used.
The four principles of the causative factors responsible for the existence of the finite beings are material cause, formal cause, initial cause and final cause. Anything made, owes its existence to the material out of which it is made, and the particular shape or form it has been given. These are the structural causes. The agency through which a thing is made is called the agential cause:
(1) The person who brings the material into shape is called the agential cause.
(2) The motive or the purpose which moves the agent is the final cause.
Creation (badi ) means bringing a thing into being out of nothing through the agency of the will of the agential cause without the slightest change in the essence or the attributes of the agent.
According to the Quran this is the relation of the absolute creator to all finite created beings, therefore, only the creator is eternal and none else is co-existing with Him, and there is no one as a part of Him.]
It is wrong to use this verse to prove that the Holy Prophet did not have the power to perform miracles. The Quran bears witness that he had rent asunder the moon, yet the infidels said:
"This is the same magic continuing".
(Qamar: 1 and 2).
Besides those mentioned in the Quran, a large number of miracles, performed by him, have been recorded in the books of history reported on the authentic and unbreakable evidence of the traditions. Not only the Holy Prophet, but also the divinely chosen holy Imams had performed miracles whenever they deemed it necessary and thought that it could serve a definite purpose but refused to put them to use as an answer to the challenge of any antagonistic individual or group, who even after witnessing a miracle would not accept the truth. It is also true that the belief, generated by a miracle, deprives the individual of the possibility of enjoying the real value of the faith acquired through reason and conviction. The demand for miracles (as stated in verses 90 to 93 of Bani Israil) was made to satisfy the lust for witnessing wonders. It was not the true mission of the last prophet of Allah to satisfy the vain desires of the people who merely wanted to watch and enjoy miracles, The signs of Allah are enough for those who are sure. Likewise when prophet Isa was brought before Herod to perform a miracle, he, who had already performed a large number of miracles and whose very birth was the greatest miracle ever witnessed, refused to comply with the request. At another place he said to the Pharisees: "It is a wicked, godless generation that asks for a sign;" (Matthew 12: 39)
Every messenger of Allah was put under pressure by the people either to persuade Allah to speak to them directly or make clear through some heavenly signs that whatever revealed was from Him.
The messenger of Allah was sent to preach the truth and create discipline by setting practical examples. He was not responsible for the reaction of the people. He was a warner. He will not be called upon to answer for the behaviour of the transgressors .
In view of verse 33 of al Ahzab wherein the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt had been thoroughly purified, leaving no room for infiltration of any kind of ignorance or carelessness, and the divine command in verse 7 of al Hashr that "whatever the messenger gives you accept it and whatever he forbids, abstain from it", and his supreme position as the last law-giver and the chief of the prophets, it is the people who go astray that are warned in this verse, and not the Holy Prophet. He has been addressed in order to make the people seriously take precautions against the schemes of the Jews and the Christians. The Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt were thoroughly purified and infallible, therefore, their following the desires of the Jews and the Christians was an impossibility.
Had it been possible for him to err, it would mean a fault in the judgement of the all-wise Lord in selecting him as a final warner. But any fallible believer is liable, at some time or other, to be careless and to make mistakes, so extreme care and vigilance have to be applied in following the path shown by the Holy Prophet.
The Quran was given to the Holy Prophet and those who were his flesh and blood. Their spirit was one. They were created from one light.
They are his Ahl ul Bayt. See "the essentials for the readers of the Quran" on pages 1 to 7.
The Holy Prophet had said: "Ali's flesh is my flesh. Ali's blood is my blood".
"I and Ali are of one and the same light".
According to the verse of Mubahilah (Ali Imran: 61) Ali was the nafs (self) of the Holy Prophet. It was Ali who stood by the Holy Prophet and protected him in the battle of Uhad when all his companions ran away. In all the battles which guided the course of Islamic history, it was Ali who won victories for the Muslims. It is evident from these and other incidents in history that only the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt (the Imams in his progeny) are those who studied and followed the book as it ought to be done, and it is only they who are referred to in this verse.
Please refer to the commentary of verses 47 and 48 of this surah.
This verse guides mankind to identify the genuine leaders of the true faith as well as the impostors. It also helps to understand risalat and imamat.
The covenant was made with Ibrahim, the father of Isma-il as well as Is-haq, long before either of the sons was born.
The Lord said to Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation, l will bless you and make your name so great that it shall be used in blessings:
Those that bless you I will bless,
those that curse you, I will execrate.
All the families on earth will pray to be blessed as you are blessed."
There the Lord appeared to Abraham and said", I give this land to your descendants." So Abraham built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12: 2,3, and 7)
Allah chose Hajirah to bear the first child of Ibrahim and named him Isma-il.
The angel of the Lord said to her (Hagar), "Go back to your mistress and submit to her ill-treatment ".
The angel also said: "I will make your descendants too many to be counted."
And the angel of the Lord said to her: "You are with child and will bear a son. You shall name him Ishmael, because the Lord has heard of your ill-treatment." (Genesis 16: 9 to 11)
Immediately after the birth of Isma-il, Allah made a covenant with Ibrahim. Is-haq was not born at that time.
"Live always in my presence and be perfect, so that I may set my covenant between myself and you and multiply your descendants".
Abraham threw himself down on his face, and God spoke with him and said, "I make this covenant, and I make it with you: You shall be the father of a host of nations". "I will fulfil my covenant between myself and you and your descendants after you, generation after generation, an everlasting covenant, to be your God, yours and your descendants' after you." (Genesis 17: 2, 3, 4 and 7)
Allah further blessed Isma-il with twelve princes in his progeny.
"I have heard your prayer for Isma-il. I have blessed him and will make him fruitful. I will multiply his descendants; he shall be father of twelve princes, and I will raise a great nation from him." (Genesis 17: 20)
The covenant was made with Ibrahim and not with Is-haq, a fact which the Jews overlook when they claim that the promised prophet (Deut 18: 18) should be a Jew.
According to Genesis 17: 7 the covenant was between Allah and Ibrahim and his descendants, generation after generation, when Isma-il was born, so it is logical to say that it pertains to the children of Isma-il, not the children of Is-haq who was born much after this covenant. Again, after the prophecy of the birth of Is-haq when Ibrahim showed concern about Isma-il, this covenant was renewed (Genesis 17: 20), with added blessings - the Twelve Princes in the progeny of Isma-il. It differs with the covenant made with Ibrahim which includes both of his sons, Isma-il and Is-haq, and their descendants:
This is how you shall keep my covenant between myself and you and your descendants after
you: circumcise yourselves, every male among you. (Genesis 1 7: 1 0)
I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you now are aliens, all the land of Canaan, and I will be God to your descendants. (Genesis 17: 8)
Circumcision is obligatory for the Jews as well as the Muslims. The descendants of Ibrahim had the right to possess the land of Canaan but as the children of Is-haq, the Jews and the Christians, had corrupted the true faith of Ibrahim, the children of Isma-il thus became the rightful owners. In fact after the advent of the Holy Prophet, the true representative of the house of Isma-il, according to Deut: 18 : 18, all the Jews and the Christians should have embraced Islam, the religion of Allah, which Ibrahim had followed. Ibrahim was a prophet. In spite of his holding the office of the prophethood he was tested and tried by Allah before He made him an Imam. It means that a prophet is not necessarily an Imam and imamat is an office of a decidedly higher order which is granted only when one proves himself suitable and worthy after undergoing a test. "Verily, I make you an Imam for mankind" clearly indicates that like risalat, imamat is also bestowed upon the chosen representatives of Allah by Allah Himself. It is a position no one, however virtuous or godly he may be, not even Ibrahim, the prophet of Allah, could claim for himself, nor can it be conferred on any one by any individual, group or community. It is an exclusively divine action.
What was the nature of the test which Ibrahim passed to qualify himself for the imamat? To test a prophet of Allah of the calibre of Khalilullah in the elementary matters of personal cleanliness and ethics, as some commentators say, sounds meaningless. It was not an ordinary test, definitely not connected with daily habits, behavioural patterns and acts of personal cleanliness. The word kalimat has been used here in the same sense invested in verse 37 of this surah-Allah turned to Adam mercifully when he received the kalimat from his Lord. See commentary of verse 37 of this surah.
Ibrahim's trial was a test of the steadfastness of his faith in Allah. In his dream prophet Ibrahim received the command of Allah to slay his son, Isma-il. Awake, he at once carried out the command (Saffat: 105 to 108). His faith in Allah was on trial. He was certain that what he saw in his dream was the command of Allah. Allah made him an Imam of mankind, yet he had no right to hand over the office of imamat to his descendants, therefore, he requested Allah to let his descendants inherit it. He could only pray for it, which he did. And it is Allah who alone has the right to appoint an Imam. "My covenant does not include the zalim (unjust)" indicates that imamat is given only to those who have not sinned. Only an infallible can be an Imam. Like Ibrahim, Imam Husayn, his descendant, readily sacrificed his sons in the way of Allah.
Zalim (unjust) in the view of the Quran, is he who worships, or has worshipped a ghayrallah. Shirk (idolatry) in the words of the Quran is the greatest zulm or injustice. Therefore he who, at any time in his life, has been a mushrik (idolater) can never be an Imam. Besides the Holy Prophet there was no one, among his companions, who had not been an idol-worshipper, save his cousin, Ali ibna abi Talib, who alone could be rightfully chosen by providence "to receive the covenant of imamat". The Holy Prophet, therefore, under the command of Allah transferred the imamat to Ali, and after Ali to the eleven Imams in the progeny of Muhammad and Ali. In this way the covenant of Allah with Ibrahim was fulfilled, and in the progeny of Isma-il the twelve princes, the twelve holy Imams, were born.
Ismat (infallibility) required for imamat applies to purity from all kinds of sins, great or small, hidden or open, because the conduct of an individual is the outcome of his inherent character and in-built discipline. Therefore, it is downright hypocrisy to accept any man of questionable character as an Imam, arguing that hidden sinfulness should be left alone, and only outward justice should be taken into consideration. Those who have sinned but turned repentant to Allah and gave up sinning can not claim infallibility. Firstly, no one knows for sure that his sins have been forgiven by the Lord. Secondly, repentance may bring forgiveness but the term sinner can never be removed from the name of the person who has sinned. He will be called a forgiven or pardoned sinner. He cannot be equal to a man who has never sinned at all at any time in his life, like Ibrahim. The covenant made with an infallible prophet (Ibrahim) can only be fulfilled by giving imamat to those who are, inwardly and outwardly, as pure and infallible as the great prophet Ibrahim was.
The work of legislation was ended with the ministry of the Holy Prophet. Through the last messenger of Allah, the perfected and completed religion of Allah was conveyed to mankind for their material welfare and spiritual progress for all times till the end of the world; yet the mercy of the Lord must continue because an everlasting covenant was made with Ibrahim:
I will fulfil my covenant between myself and you and your descendants after you, generation after generation, an everlasting covenant. (Genesis 17: 7)
Therefore there must be an infallible Imam, a divinely commissioned guide, with power and authority delegated to him by Allah, in every age, to keep the people on the right path and direct them unto the destination determined by the merciful Lord of the worlds.
The Holy Prophet said:
Whoever dies, not knowing the Imam of his age, dies in ignorance.
Allah made Ibrahim an Imam of mankind. He was neither a ruler nor a political force, yet it was made obligatory on mankind to obey him in all temporal as well as spiritual matters, and after him, to obey those of his descendants who have been chosen as Imams. Therefore it is the duty of all Muslims to obey and follow the Imam of the age in all matters, because, as in the case of Ibrahim, political or temporal power is not necessary for an Imam in order to demand obedience from the people.
The office of imamat is not hereditary. It is Allah's covenant, which is only bestowed upon an infallible devotee of Allah who comes out successful from the tests and trials specifically prescribed for him by Allah. A sinner or a forgiven sinner cannot be an Imam. The names of the twelve Imams, the descendants of Ibrahim in the progeny of Isma-il, divinely commissioned in fulfilment of the covenant made with Ibrahim, are given below:
(According to verse 33 of Ali Imran, Allah chose and preferred Adam and Nuh and the descendants of Ibrahim and the descendants of Imran above all His creatures. The requisite merits were known to Allah only but whosoever was chosen had to undergo an evident test or trial. After Ibrahim the lineage was divided into two branches. The lineage Is-haq terminated in Isa who was raised to heavens. The descendants of Isma-il carried the light to Abdul Muttalib. Again it was bifurcated through his two sons - Abdullah, the father of Muhammad al Mustafa, and Abu Talib, the father of Ali al Murtada. Muhammad and Ali were identical with each other in spirit, character and wisdom. One reflected the other. This identity and unity was integrated in one entity through the marriage of Ali and Fatimah, the holy daughter the Holy Prophet.)
1 Ali al Murtada.
2 Hasan al Mujtaba-the elder son of Ali and Fatima.
3 Husayn al Shahid ul Shuhada-the younger son of Ali and Fatimah.
4 Ali bin Husayn al Zayn al Abidin.
5 Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir.
6 Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq.
7 Musa bin Jafar al Kazim.
8 Ali bin Musa al Riza.
9 Muhammad bin Ali al Taqi.
10 Ali bin Muhammad al Naqi.
11 Hasan bin Ali al Askari.
12 Muhammad bin Hasan al Mahdi.
(Imam Muhammad al Mahdi is alive like Khizr and Isa. He is the living Imam, for all times till the end of the world. He is the awaited saviour. At the appointed time he will appear in order to exercise the divine authority. Along with him Isa will also come back on the earth and follow the leadership of Imam al Mahdi, as Ali had followed the Holy Prophet. In this way the bifurcated descendants of Ibrahim will be reunited.)
All the above mentioned Imams were infallible from birth to their martyrdom and never received any formal education or training at the hands of any mortal, yet were the fountainheads of knowledge, wisdom and guidance.
The merit for selection to the divine office of nubuwwat, risalat, imamat, or khilafat is the degree of submission to the divine will and the ability to reflect (or to convey) the same to others, the measure of perfection which determines the state of nearness to the absolute. The test (ibtila) is the theoretical and functional knowledge of the kalimat (the most comprehensive names) on account of which Adam was given the khilafatullah (vicegerency of Allah). These kalimat are accommodated in the essence of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad. They are the manifestation of the light of the kalimat appeared before Adam for the first time.
Mathabatan and amnan, with reference to bayt, means a place of refuge, rest and peace where one earns ample recompense from Allah.
Ahdina (We took a promise or We enjoined) refers to Allah's covenant that the eternally blessed descendants of Ibrahim should keep the holy Kabah pure, and should remove the false gods whenever installed in it. In 7 Hijra the Holy Prophet, the promised prophet, for whose advent Ibrahim prays in verses 128 and 129 of this surah, after the fall of Makka, visited the holy Kabah. There, Ali stood on the shoulders of the Holy Prophet and pulled down all the idols, firmly fixed in the walls, in order to purify the sacred house of Allah
Tahhira (to purify) implies that a house for the worship of Allah already existed there before Ibrahim, which like the Kabah in the times of the Holy Prophet, was despoiled with idols. It was in ruins. Ibrahim rebuilt it. As verse 127 of this surah suggests, after purification, the place was reserved for worship of Allah only. According to verse 96 of Ali Imran, the first house made for the worship of Allah was the Kabah in Makka, and in verse 29 of al Hajj it has been referred to as bayt ul atiq (the ancient house).
Muir, Burton, Rodwel and Fretyag have tried to mislead the Christians by stating that Ibrahim had never gone to Arabia to build the holy Kabah.
These are the names of the sons of Ishmael named in order of their birth; Nebaioth, Ishmael's eldest son, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam." (Genesis 25: 13)
It is a fact that Kedar has been connected with Arabia in the Old Testament.
"Hard is my lot, exiled in Meshech, dwelling by the tents of Kedar." (PSALMS 120: 5)
Also refer to Isaiah 42: 11 and 60: 7. In Genesis 21: 14 to 21 Hajirah's wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba with her son Ismail, the appearance of the well (Zamzam) and Allah's promise to make of Ismail a great nation have been clearly mentioned.
The events concerning Ibrahim, Hajirah and Ismail, which actually took place, are given below: Ibrahim's wife Sarah had borne him no children. She had a handmaid whose name was Hajirah. She gave her to Ibrahim as a wife. Hajirah bore Ibrahim a son. Ibrahim named the child Ismail. After his birth, the peace and harmony of the family was disturbed. Sarah ill-treated Hajirah. Ibrahim was vexed on Ismail's account. He sought Allah's help. Allah, in view of Sarah's past goodness, directed Ibrahim to send away Hajirah and Ismail to a place now called Makka. Ibrahim, with the help of Jibrail, took Hajirah and Ismail out of the native land and reached Arabia. They stopped at the place where hajar aswad or the black stone is stationed. Jibrail informed Ibrahim that it was a land full of Allah's blessings and bounties, and there used to be a house (known as baytul mamur) in that place, which was held sacred and venerated by mankind in ancient times, and that it was Allah's will that Ibrahim and Ismail should rebuild the ruined house again. A shelter was made for Hajirah and Ismail so that they could live there in Ibrahim's absence because Allah had commanded Ibrahim to go back to his native land. At the time of his departure Hajirah said:
"O Ibrahim, the devotee of Allah, in whose care are you leaving us here?"
Ibrahim said:
"I leave you in the care of Allah who saved me from the fire in which Namrud threw me, and gave me all that which I needed and desired."
Hajirah said:
"I rely upon Allah. He is sufficient for me and my child."
When Ibrahim reached the mount Zi-Tavi, he stopped and turned towards the place where he left Hajirah and Ismail and prayed:
"Our Lord! Verily I have settled a part of my progeny in a barren valley near to Thy holy house, our Lord. so that they may establish prayer; so incline some hearts of men that they yearn towards them, and provide them with fruits in order that they may be grateful." (IBRAHIM: 37)
When the water in the waterskin, Ibrahim left for them, was finished, there was no water any where near them to quench their thirst. There was no milk in her breasts. The heat in the desert had dried it. The scorching sun brought the situation from bad to worse. The child was restless. He cried, cried and cried. The mother ran hither and thither, between Safa and Marwa.
From Safa to Marwa and Marwa to Safa she ran seven times because when she was on the mount of Safa she heard a voice from the mount of Marwa, and when she reached Marwa she heard a voice from Safa. There was no one in sight. Unable to see her son dying, she left him where he was lying and stood alone on the mount of Marwa. Dejected, helpless, yet worried for her son she came back. There she saw a spring of fresh and sweet water gushing forth from the earth under the feet of Ismail. In her absence Jibrail, under the command of Allah, came and produced a well full of water (known as Zamzam) - also recorded in Genesis 21: 14 to 21. She heard a voice (saying):
"Fear not. The Lord has produced this well for you and your son, but it will also serve the pilgrims who will visit His holy house which your husband and son shall build."
The flow of water increased day by day and the surrounding land became fertile. People began to come and settle there. Soon it became a flourishing town. Trade and commerce developed. When Ibrahim returned he found the wasteland in the desert a busy trade centre.
The running of Hajirah between Safa and Marwa has been prescribed as one of the essential rites of hajj.
When Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the holy Kabah, they prayed to Allah to accept their service, make them both Muslims (submissive to Allah), and also make their descendants Muslims, and raise up in them a messenger who would recite to them Allah's revelation, teach them the book and the wisdom and purify them.
This prayer shows that there had always been some men and women in the progeny of Ibrahim who were true Muslims, through whom the divine light of Muhammad and Ali passed till it reached Abdul Muttalib. Then his two sons Abdullah and Abu Talib carried it separately. Abdullah transferred it to Muhammad. and Abu Talib transferred it to Ali, the vicegerent and the successor of the Holy Prophet the first of the twelve Imams the divinely commissioned rightly guided guides for mankind. "I and Ali are from one and the same light", said the Holy Prophet
The word ummat does not always means a community or a nation. In verse 120 of al Nahl it refers to a single individual.
This prayer also shows how difficult it is to be a true Muslim. Even a distinguished prophet of Allah like Ibrahim makes a request to Allah to let him remain a Muslim.
Only those men of understanding who know and apply reason become Muslims. Those who reject Islam are fools. They are damned and disgraced for ever. Safiha nafsahu means he who makes a fool of himself, therefore, is liable to be condemned.
Aslim means to submit. The root of the word is islam (complete submission to Allah). Ibrahim submitted and surrendered to the will of Allah and became a true Muslim in the perfect sense of the word.
Having been blessed by accepting the religion of Allah, Islam, Ibrahim charged his offspring to acknowledge the purity of the path that has been chosen and asked them not to die except as Muslims. Prophet Yaqub also did the same. In Genesis I 8 : 19 this advice has been mentioned.
1t should be noted that Ismail, who was a paternal uncle of Yaqub, has been cited as the father of the descendants of Yaqub, and also in the following verses:
Ali Imran :84
Nisa: 163
An-am: 85 to 88
Sad : 45 to 48
It is evident that people used to address a paternal uncle as father. In the same way Ibrahim had addressed Azar, his uncle, as father.
The message of Allah, Islam,. is continuous, for all times.
The doctrine of personal responsibility is the most important principle of Islam. Please refer to the commentary of verse 48 of this surah.
The religion of Ibrahim the hanif (hanafa means to turn, to bend, to incline - to righteousness) is the true path, not the path of the Jews or the Christians. Therefore the path of the faithful representatives and advocates of the Ibrahimic faith is the right path.
The religion of Islam is universal, for all people, in every age. Therefore, it is necessary for every follower of Islam to believe in all the prophets and messengers of Allah and in what was revealed to them. No other religion besides Islam demands from its followers to believe equally in the sinless purity of the conduct and character of other prophets of Allah, and in the truthfulness of other sacred scriptures as the revealed words of Allah.
The Jews and the Christians would have become the followers of the true faith if they had accepted the teachings of the earlier prophets and acknowledged the prophethood of the Holy Prophet, but they opposed the Holy Prophet right from the beginning and on many occasions tried to kill him
Sibgh means dye-colouring or immersion in water. The Christian church has adopted it as a religious ceremony of baptism. By immersion in or sprinkling water on every convert, he or she is admitted to their faith. The Christian baptism, this verse reminds, does not really introduce a man to the true faith. The true faith is universal. The Christian baptism rejects and denies all prophets and messengers of Allah. The divine baptism inspires love for goodness (tawalla) and dislike for evil (tabarra) which is the true nature of man. It colours or conditions the mind and behaviour of the believers so that he or she should adhere to godliness and reject godlessness.
The dye-colouring of Allah means to take on the colour of the attributes of Allah and involve the soul deeply in the divinity of the Lord. It inspires the believer with the conviction that the Lord of the universe is one. He loves every created being.
Those who love Allah must love every thing Allah loves.
Allah is the Lord of all created beings. He is the Lord of the worlds - the universe. He is not biased against anyone, nor shows favouritism towards any. Those who sincerely devote themselves to Him receive, in return of their goodness, His special grace.
This is a warning to the Jews and the Christians and all those who believe that they alone are the "beloved children of God."
"Whosoever goes on the right path, verily he does so for himself; and he who goes astray does so to his own loss; and no one who carries a burden shall bear another's burden; and We never punish until We have sent a messenger (among them)." (Bani Israil: 15)
Verse 18 of al Fatir and verse 7 of al Zumar also refer to this truth.
Please refer to the commentary of verses 20 and 135 of this surah. The question put in this verse is, in fact, a disapproval of the belief of the Jews and the Christians, as it has been used in verse 195 of al Araf to condemn the idolworshippers.
Please refer to the commentary of verses 23, and 134 to 139 of this surah.
For "the east and the west belong to Allah" see commentary of verses 107 and 115 of this surah.
Qiblah is the direction towards which the face is turned. In Makka, the Holy Prophet used to face Jerusalem at the time of praying salat, but the holy Kabah was always between him and the first qiblah Even in Madina, he continued to pray towards Jerusalem for seventeen months, after which Allah accepted the Holy Prophet's request to change the qiblah, because the Jews of Madina had been mocking the Muslims for not having their own qiblah.
In fulfilment of the divine promise to bless Ibrahim and Ismail, it was necessary to make the house built by them, the final qiblah for the worship of Allah, by the followers of the perfected and completed religion of Allah, for all times.
Reference to surah al Fil makes it clear that to keep safe the highly venerated house of Allah, Allah Himself destroyed the army of Abraha who came to demolish the holy Kabah. This change was also a prophecy that Makka would, one day, come into the hands of the Muslims, and that it would be cleared of the false gods, because a centre of idolatry could never have been the qiblah of a thoroughly monotheistic faith.
To understand this verse it is necessary to know the meanings of some important words and phrases used in it.
(1) Ummat does not always mean a community or a nation. In verse 120 of al Nahl it refers to a single individual-Verily Ibrahim was a people (ummat) obedient to Allah.
Madina is located between Makka and Jerusalem. Facing Jerusalem, standing in Madina, meant turning the hinder parts of the body towards Makka. Since the Holy Prophet knew that the holy Kabah in Makka was going to be the ultimate qiblah, he did not like to turn his back towards it.
The Jews knew that the Holy Prophet was the final messenger of Allah (see verse 40 of this surah)
They also knew that the holy Kabah, with the "black stone" set in one of its corners, was destined to be the qiblah of the true believers.
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone." (Psalms: 118 : 22 and Matthew 2 1 : 42).
Prophet Isa said: "He will bring those bad men to a bad end, and hand the vineyard over to other tenants, who will let him have his share of the crop when the season comes." It was a parable narrated to the Jews. It happened exactly as the Jews were warned. When the Jews failed to fulfil the covenant, the covenant of Allah was transferred to the descendants of Ismail.
Then Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the main corner-stone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that yields the proper fruit." When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they saw that he was referring to them. (Matthew 21 :42 to 45).
The kingdom of God, the spiritual leadership of mankind, transferred to the descendants of Ismail, remains with the family of the Holy Prophet, the divinely chosen holy Imams.
For it was he whom the Lord your God chose from all your tribes to attend on the Lord and to minister in the name of the Lord, both he and his sons for all time. (Deut: 18: 5)
Isa said: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another to be your advocate, who will be with you for ever. (John 14: 16).
Isa referred to the Holy Prophet as the advocate or the comforter who would succeed him and be with the people for ever. Isa's prophecy is proved true in the Holy Prophet and his descendants, the last of whom is our living Imam.
Allah informed the Holy Prophet that nothing, not even Allah's signs, would make the Jews and the Christians follow his qiblah, the true religion of Allah - Islam, because, out of their stupidity and arrogance, they did not like a descendant of Ismail to be the promised prophet. Also the Jews and the Christians did not follow each other's qiblah or religion.
Allah warns the Muslims (through the Holy Prophet) that if they try to make a compromise with the Jews and the Christians, after the knowledge (Islam) has come to them, then they will certainly be among the disbelievers.
As explained in many verses of this surah (40,41,42,75,77,78,79,89,90,91,101,105, 109, 124) the Jews and the Christians knew that the Holy Prophet was the promised prophet as clearly mentioned in their books, but they deliberately concealed the truth.
The Jews and the Christians concealed the truth because it threatened the continuity of their attachments, old habits and position, otherwise they knew the truth of the "prophetic message" clearly but withheld it and denied its exposure to others. It is a reiteration of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet to reassure those believers who were weak in faith, and a positive statement to exhort the disbelievers who refused to believe in him as a genuine messenger of Allah. It is a warning to the followers of the Holy Prophet (through him) not to be of doubters.
The unity of qiblah symbolises the unity of the purpose of the religion, and binds all the believers (who try to reach the ultimate goal by performing selfless good works as pure actions, remaining on the path of tawhid) into one brotherhood or a discipline. According to Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq "Wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together" gives glad tidings to the true believers that wherever they may be, at the time of the zahur (reappearance) of the living Imam, they will be brought together under his banner. Many Muslim commentators say that this refers to the day of judgement. It is a meaningless interpretation because in this verse only the believers are addressed and not the whole of mankind, comprising believers and disbelievers, who will be summoned on the day of judgement for final examination and retribution.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
As has already been pointed out in the commentary of verse 115 of this surah, specific direction does not mean that manifestation of Allah is restricted to that direction only. He is manifest in all directions. The order to turn to a particular direction, while praying, was a test of obedience for the followers of the faith as mentioned in verse 143 of this surah, and also to create unity of purpose in the minds of the praying believers.
Every one has a direction in life, the ultimate object of which is Allah. As mentioned in verse 177 of this surah performing good deeds in the overall interest of the society (to possess the theoretical and functional virtues, the root of which is faith in Allah - Tawhid) minimises the importance of the turning towards the east or the west as a virtue.
Huwa (He) is generally translated to mean "everyone" (kul), but the Shia grammarians assert that it refers to Allah.
Muwalliha is also recited as muwallaha. Muwallaha, past participle, means He is the ultimate object of the direction of every one 's mind. Muwalliha, present participle, means He is directing everyone towards a particular direction, as has been said in verse 48 of al Ma-idah. The purpose of various precepts and methods of worship is to test competitive striving for owning virtues. Notwithstanding the different directions of striving, every man will reach the same destination. The absolute is all pervasive. The Holy Prophet said: "Do not abuse nature which some people take as the first cause of the whole phenomenon. The importance and the sanctity of the holy Kabah has been established by binding all Muslims to turn their faces towards it, wherever and in whatever circumstances they may be.
Yazid destroyed the holy Kabah. Walid held a feast of debauchery on the roof of the house of Allah. Abdul Malik and Mansur constructed their own Kabahs in Damascus and Baghdad respectively for pilgrimage. Yet these rulers are respected by {non-Shia) Muslims as khalifatul muslimin and spiritual leaders (Tamaddun Islam-Tabari).
Alaykum hujjatun - so that people (the Jews and the Quraysh) will have no accusation against you. The Jews used to boast that Muhammad bowed towards their temple in Jerusalem. The Quraysh observed that instead of turning to the religious centre of the Jews, Muhammad should have preferred the house built by Ibrahim and Ismail.
Wa-li-utimma nia-mati alaykum refers to the perfection of religion and completion of Allah's favour (Ma-idah: 3). In 11 Hijra, on the 18th Dhil Hajj, at Ghadir Khum, the Holy Prophet chose Ali as his successor (refer to page 6 for details). After this event verse 3 of al Ma-idah was revealed. In other words the religion of Allah, Islam, was perfected when imamat was established to succeed risalat, which is the completion of Allah's favour. It also refers to the fulfilment of the promise Allah made with Ibrahim in connection with the descendants of Ismail (see commentary of verse 124 of this surah and Genesis 17:20).
La-allakum tahtadun also refers to the divinely established institution of imamat for the guidance of the faithful for all times, in fulfilment of the promise made by Allah in connection with the descendants of Ismail.
By making Kabah the qiblah Allah had fulfilled his covenant made with Ibrahim and Ismail. None but the unjust refuse to believe in the risalat of the Holy Prophet and imamat of his holy Ahl ul Bayt.
To fulfil the prayer of Ibrahim (Baqarah: 129), Allah sent the Holy Prophet as a messenger, to make known His commands and signs, to educate and refine the people, to teach them the book and the wisdom and that which they did not know, and establish the sacred house built by Ibrahim and Ismail (Baqarah: 125) as a sanctuary (duly purified by the Holy Prophet and Ali ibna abi Talib), and show the true qiblah towards which all the devotees must turn their faces.
The journey in this life is from darkness into light, from ignorance to knowledge. An open heart will receive that knowledge if it is directed to the message and the messenger.
If you remember Allah, avoiding other than He, you are in the midst of reality. Allah, reality, will reflect the remembrance - if the sincere seeker remembers Allah, Allah remembers him.
Forgetfulness can never be attributed to the all-perfect. His remembrance refers to His special favours and bounties bestowed on those who remember Him.
To be grateful {shukr) is the key to the fulfilment and application of remembrance which neutralises desires and generates joy of inner contentment - deep and peaceful.
The opposite of this condition is Kufr-the falling over hurdles on the road of disobedience.
Refer to the commentary of verse 45 of this surah.
Those, who die and give themselves fully for the sake and in the way of Allah, are not dead. They are alive, attached and closely connected with the ever-living Allah.
It is reported that verse 154 was revealed for the Muslims who were slain in the battle of Badr. In those days the new converts to Islam, like the disbelievers, thought that death means loss of life for ever.
Fisabilillah means "in the way of Allah" or "for the cause of truth". "The way of the devils" means "for the cause of falsehood" (Nisa: 76). Sale's interpretation of fisabilillah (wars fought against non-Muslims to propagate Islam) is a deliberate distortion. There is no compulsion in religion (Baqarah: 256), therefore, the Holy Prophet went to war only when it was forced upon him.
All the created beings are given the opportunity to prove their potential, therefore, everyone is tried with something of fear, hunger, and loss of possessions and children. Those who have attained the highest spiritual maturity through personal virtues, ability to exercise patience, with faith and reliance upon Allah, face the trials successfully and reach the highest stations nearest to Allah. Each individual occupies a different status according to the degree of faith and patience he employs to encounter the test and trial. Some souls are not considered fit to be tried. It is their misfortune. The exemption may be to let their infidelity or hypocrisy grow to its full scope for which there is a painful punishment. (Ali Imran: 178).
The Holy Prophet and the twelve holy Imams occupy the highest status near Allah with reference to the faith in and reliance upon Allah, personal virtues and ability to exercise patience. For the cause of truth, in the way of Allah, they gladly suffered every kind of misery, hardship and calamity of the utmost severity throughout their lives. Only once in the history of the world all kinds of trials, mentioned in this verse (155), to the maximum conceivable degree, have been happily and triumphantly endured and coped with by Imam Husayn and his family and friends in the desert of Karbala. No less was the situation of the other holy Imams under the tyrannical rule of the Ummawi and Abbasi rulers.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The soul of every conscious being will taste death (Ali Imran: 185), therefore, this verse does not refer to the departure of the soul from the body. It refers to a particular state of blissful life which the souls of the non-Muslims are deprived of.
The term "life" and "death" has also been used in the Quran to signify "knowledge" and "ignorance" (Ya Sin: 70), or "belief" and "disbelief" (An-am: 123) respectively.
The life the soul lives after its departure from the body can be termed as death if it is more painful and miserable than the life of this world when it was in the body, because it has been deprived of the bliss it enjoyed here. And if the life of the hereafter is more blissful than here, the life of this world should be described as death.
The Holy Prophet has rightly observed: This world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever.
A poor Jew once asked Imam Hasan to tell him how could his poverty be a paradise and Imam's plenty be a prison?
The Imam replied: "If you would know the miseries awaiting the disbelievers, and the blessings in store for the believers in the life of hereafter, you will then agree that even your present plight is a paradise compared to those miseries, and my affluence here is a prison for me as compared to the blessings that will be bestowed on me there."
Life and death should be understood in the sense of gain and loss in the various stages man passes through, as described by the Quran in verse 154 of this surah. In verse 169 of Ali Imran it is advised not to think that those who are slain in the way of Allah are dead, because they are alive, getting sustenance from their Lord. It means that they are in direct communion with their cherisher and sustainer. The term shahid, in the Quran, refers to this state of existence.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
This is the attitude of a faithful when a misfortune befalls him or he suffers a loss. It is the summary of all that which Islam teaches. We are His. We unconditionally submit to His will. We shall return to Him. He is our destination. Whoso makes his life a true expression of this description becomes His prime favourite for His grace, blessings and guidance. The Holy Prophet who stands first and foremost in submission to Allah is the ideal model of this expression which has further been elaborated in verse 163 of Ali-Imran.
It is reported that when Ali ibna abi Talib heard the news of the martyrdom of Hamza, his and the Holy Prophet's dearest uncle, in the battle of Uhad, he said:
INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAYHI RAJI-UN
And afterwards Allah revealed these words to the Holy Prophet in this verse.
Those who face misfortunes with a smile, knowing that it is the Lord's way of teaching patience and understanding, are the followers of the right path. The Lord prays for and blesses them - salawat is the word for Allah's blessings. In view of the extraordinary merits, achievements and excellence, mentioned on pages I to 7, and in the commentary of verse 7 of al Fatihah, and verses 2 to 5 and 30 to 39 and 124 of al Baqarah, and other verses of the Quran, only the holy Ahl ul Bayt of Muhammad al Mustafa can be joined with him for receiving Allah's salawat (see verse 56 of al Ahzab). Therefore, every true faithful says: "ALLAHUMMA SALLI ALA MUHAMMADIN WA ALI MUHAMMAD".
Safa and Marwa are two clusters of rocks between which the pilgrims run back and forth during hajj. They are the scene of Hajirah's running to and fro in search of water, after being left alone with Ismail in the blistering heat and wilderness of Makka. Please see the commentary of verses 125 and 126 of this surah. Before the Holy Prophet had purified and perfected the rituals of hajj, Usaf, an idol, was kept on Safa, and Nu-allah, another idol, was kept on Marwah, therefore, people did not like to go to these rocks. Through this verse, the said stigma has been removed and running between the two rocks has been made an obligatory function of the hajj.
Sha-a-irillah means signs of Allah, which remind a person of Allah or a representative of Allah - a prophet or an imam, whose remembrance itself would be an act of virtue or devotion to Allah. It is in this sense that the followers of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad give respect to alams, tazias, zarihs, associated with the holy Imams.
Allah is grateful {shakir) means appreciation of good deeds and liberal rewarding in return.
Those who withhold what has been revealed to them of the book, be they Jews (who knew the truth about the Holy Prophet - refer to verse 40, 75 to 79, 89 to 91, 101, 105, 109 and 124 of this surah; and the holy Kabah - Psalms 118: 22 and Matthew 21: 42) or be they the Muslim hypocrites (who know the true interpretation and application of verses - Ahzab: 33; Shura: 23; Nisa: 54 and 59; Ali Imran: 61 and 103;
Tawbah: I 19; Rad: 43, Hud: 17; and Ma-idah: 3, 55, 67 in connection with the event of Ghadir Khum) are cursed by Allah and by the angels and by those who follow His right path. In verses 86 and 87 of al Nisa also the angels and the believers join Allah to curse the wicked. In verse 56 of al Ahzab, Allah and His angels bless the Holy Prophet; and Allah commands the believers to send blessings on him. Unless we join Allah and His angels to curse the enemies of the Holy Prophet, our asking Allah for sending blessings on him will be incomplete. Therefore, the followers of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad bless the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt and curse their enemies. Justice demands that we identify the devil as a devil, and curse him even if he is disguised in the garb of a Muslim like Yazid and others. Cursing and expression of dislike and disgust for any evil or evildoer is essential to remain on guard against wickedness, as has been made clear in the above-noted verse and verse 7 of al Fatihah, therefore, tabarra has been prescribed as one of the fundamentals of the religion.
The Jews were most vehemently cursed by Musa for not observing all his commandments (Deut 28: 15-68).
Those who recognise falsehood and condemn it, undoubtedly revert to the path of reality through repentance and true submission. Allah is ever-available for those who turn away from their nafs. As a consequence of this real repentance, they will be mending their way of life, that is, unifying their intentions and actions along the path that will bring them the promised bliss and mercy.
Kufr is the rejection of truth, wilfully by perversity or indolence, or it is disbelief in that which is preached by the Holy Prophet. All disbelievers or non-Muslims are not included in this category. A clear exception is mentioned in verse 98 of al Nisa. Those mentioned in verse 106 of al Barat have to wait for the command of Allah to be punished or to be pardoned. Hell is only for those who wilfully and perversely reject the truth, or those who have the means to know the truth but do not care to do so.
( 162)
Those who will be punished will abide in hell according to the state they have reached in this life, without respite. The chastisement is eternal.
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq says: Since the pious would have lived a virtuous life as long as they stayed in this world, they deserve eternal bliss. Similarly the wicked would have spent their days in depravity and immorality as long as they lived in this world, they deserve to be condemned for ever.
There is no god but Allah. There is only One God, and all attributes belong to Him. His main attribute is an all-encompassing beneficence and mercy. The "unity of God" is the main and single fundamental upon which the whole structure of the religion of Islam rests, through which all guidance and enlightenment emerge.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The word wahid (one) is not used in any numerical sense, nor in the sense of order (the first of any second), nor in the sense of the oneness of a genus or a specie, nor in any other general term, but it is used in the sense that He is indivisible, unanalysable organically, chemically, geometrically, logically, mentally or physically, or in any sense whatsoever. This unity, in essence, does not correspond to any limitation. Since He is unlimited, a second, an equal, or an opposite to Him is not conceivable.
Ibna Babwah writes in the book of Tawhid: In the battle of Jamal a Bedouin asked Ali:
"Do you say that God is One?"
Some companions did not like the idea of asking such a question at a time when Ali was fighting a war, and they rebuked him.
But Ali ibna abi Talib said:
"Do not disapprove his question, because what he asks is the very object of this battle. We are demanding the true answer to this question (same faith in the unity of Allah) from our enemy." Then Ali gave the above-noted description of Tawhid.
Having said that there is only one God, the e creation and its duality is described. Nature's diversity is caused by one source and it will revert to the same source. There are heavens and earth, day and night, land and sea, dryness and wetness, life and death; and man, who is the highest form of creation, is given the consciousness to experience all of these, to explore the meaning behind them. Whoever contemplates on the nature of creation, will reach the conclusion that it is one divine power that activates and enlivens all the diverse manifestations.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The harmony in the working of the universe is referred to in the Quran as a sign of the unity of the maker. Man is asked to reflect over this creation and realise the divine unity in the midst of diversity and amongst the various forces of nature that work in perfect harmony. (See quotation from Nahj al Balagha on page 20).
As has been pointed out by Imam Musa bin Jafar al Kazim to his disciple, Hisham bin Hakam: Verily Allah perfected His arguments with reasoning, assisted His messengers with miracles, and proved His rububiyat with His signs.
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq has explained the part reasoning plays in determining the relationship between man and God and its limitations. Reasoning (the internal) and the prophet (the external) are the two proofs Allah puts forward to let the people, who understand, have unshakeable faith in Allah. There is no use of the external proof (the prophet) if the heart and mind are not convinced through the internal proof (the reasoning). There may be religious doctrines beyond the grasp of limited human intellect but there should be no religious assertion contradictory to rational thinking. This shows that the only medium for understanding the absolute and securing nearness to Allah is sound logical reasoning. After reaching the final stage of the realisation of His existence and unity, the medium between him and the absolute becomes the divine revelation.
( 165)
To love, adore and worship a ghayrallah (other-than-Allah) is bound to bring about punishment .
The Arabic phrase ka-hubbillah means the love of idol-worshippers for their idols and their leaders which should have been for Allah. This also refers to the followers of the false and self-appointed leaders among the Muslims who usurped authority to keep them away from the true divinely commissioned rightly guided religious leaders. Those believers who are stronger in love for Allah not only love everything that Allah loves but also love the true leaders of the religion of Allah because they love to love that which Allah loves in order to please Allah. Therefore the followers of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad love or hate anything or anyone for the sake and in the cause of Allah
In the next life the followers of misguidance will recognise their false leaders, the usurpers, and will wish to be given another chance to experience this life with true light, "the genuine leaders," but there will be no escape from the fire. Allah will show them their actions, done pursuant to their judgements, to prove that as promised justice has been done to them.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
This verse makes clear that every individual, in the next life, will be conscious of his deeds in this life. The continuity of the human memory and consciousness, after death, indicated in this verse, dismisses the idea of transmigration of soul.
The Ahmadi interpretation of fire as intense feelings of regret and deprivation, instead of physical suffering, is to belittle the gravity of the divine punishment from which the transgressors shall never come out.
To determine what food is lawful or unlawful is a very intricate procedure. The injunction is to eat all that is suitable and good, and avoid causes of harm based on the satanic pattern. Unlawful are not only those things which Allah prohibits but even unforbidden things acquired unlawfully - by usurpation, by theft and cheating etcetera. Those who lay stress only on the apparent aspects of religion make a show of dislike to unlawful things but devour things unlawfully acquired (Ma-idah: 63).
"Follow not the footsteps of Shaytan" means follow the way of Allah which has been shown by
the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt.
To be far off the mainstream of divine order and mercy and to fall away from the ordered direction into disorder, cast off and cut away from the light of knowledge, is the fate of those who seek guidance from Shaytan, who misleads, misguides, transgresses, and makes people speak against Allah what they do not know.
To blindly follow in the footsteps of one's forefathers or leaders, is to discard the sacred responsibility of seeking the truth. The fathers or those who came first before the true message was delivered through the Holy Prophet, were in senseless ignorance, and whoever follows their direction will be away from the guided path. The greatest barrier which the Holy Prophet broke was that of narrow-minded tribal despotism and nationalism. This verse strongly condemns blind following of those traditions of the ancestors which do not tally with sound reasoning and divine guidance.
Those who cover themselves with the dark veil of ignorance (Kufr-infidelity) are deaf, dumb and blind, therefore, the impact of the call of the message of Allah is lost. There is no response. The kafir is devoid of understanding.
The Holy Prophet and the holy Imams have enjoined to say bismillah before eating, and to say Alhamdulillah after eating. In this way eating, an act of unification at the physical level, becomes a function of devotion. The state of gratitude to Allah is bound to increase love for Allah, and thus increases the quality of worship and devotion.
There is a clear description of some of the forbidden edibles. These foods were also forbidden by the law of Musa, and by Isa. The Jews had forbidden some foods to themselves without any authority (Ali Imran: 93). In verse 147 of al An-am prohibitions, exclusively imposed upon the Jews due to their rebellion, have been mentioned. Also refer to al Ma-idah: 3, and al Nahl: 115.
Innama excludes everything besides that which has been mentioned.
"The animals over which any other name than Allah has been invoked" brings to light the fact that everything in the universe belongs to Allah whose name is invoked when we eat or drink anything lawful.
Ghayra baghin means "not for enjoyment" but to satisfy an unavoidable necessity.
La adin means "without any intention" to break the prescribed laws of Allah, or not exceeding the minimum to satisfy the actual want.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The divine mercy is such that when it is absolutely necessary for survival, or in circumstances beyond one's control, there is no blame if one transgresses temporarily. Allah's mercy will overcome the evil of the transgression. The spirit of the divine law must be observed in normal as well as extraordinary conditions. Under no circumstances any revolt against any divine law is allowed.
The Muslims are warned not to act like the Jews who conceal that which Allah has revealed and buy error for right direction and punishment for forgiveness.
Concealing of truth is compared to eating nothing but fire into their bellies or reducing the soul to ashes. On the day of reckoning, such persons will be isolated from communion with Allah. His mercy which purifies polluted souls will not include them. It indicates that on the day of judgement Allah will speak to some sinners, purify them of their sins, and grant them amnesty.
Allah's book is true. It contains and encompasses the knowledge of the diversity of creation. Dispute and difference can only relate to the diversity of creation, not to the laws that govern it. Those who go against the book doubt the genuineness of the Quran as the revealed word of Allah. The opponents of the book among the Jews concealed or misinterpreted the prophecy about the advent of the Holy Prophet, clearly mentioned in their scripture. See al Baqarah: 40.
According to the Holy Prophet whoever puts this verse into practice attains perfection in faith. The theory and practice of piety have clearly been mentioned in this verse. Faith in Allah and welfare of the mankind have been founded as the essence of the religion of Allah, Islam.
Please refer to the "note" written by Aqa Mahdi Puya in verse 148 of this surah.
Righteousness is this that one should believe:
In this verse the law of qisas (requital, settlement) is set forth in detail. It is enforceable strictly according to the demands of justice tempered with the spirit of mercy. Allah is the forgiving, and therefore man must be able to forgive. The heirs of the slain have the choice to pardon the murderer if someone on behalf of him pays them the blood-price, after which brotherhood is again restored among the parties concerned. Before the advent of Islam, more often than not, the scenario after a murder was a chain of brutal and bloodthirsty reactions. The families and the tribes of both the slayer and the slain used to engage themselves into a war of attrition, generation after generation, involving innocent men, women and children. Islam, through the Holy Prophet, put a stop to this barbaric collective human behaviour and gave a just and kind system of justice to the human race, which for the first time, without ignorance and superstition, applied compassion and understanding in order to live in peace and harmony. "Payment should be made according to recognised usage in a good manner" is called diyat (blood-money). In the end this verse says that moderation in punishment is an alleviation from the Lord. Verse 92 of al Nisa prescribes moderation when the murder is not premeditated and intentional. Verse 93 of al Nisa clearly declares that a great punishment awaits the murderer who kills a believer intentionally. In addition to the legal penalty, in the hereafter, he will abide in hell for ever.
Verse 9 of al Hujurat says that if two groups of believers fight one another, promote peace between them. Then if one of them turns aggressive against the other, fight against the aggressive party till it returns to Allah's authority. If it does so, make peace among them equitably and be impartial.
Compare these practical ways of ensuring peace and harmony among the conflicting forces, a regular and day-to-day phenomenon in the human society, with the imaginary, decorative and unreasonable slogans introduced by the Christian Church:
"When a man hits you on the cheek, offer him the other cheek too; when a man takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to every one who asks you; when a man takes what is yours; do not demand it back." (Luke 6: 29 and 30)
At no time in history the Christian or any other authority could put this principle into practice.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Ma-ruf means anything known, recognised, approved, and according to customary usage. Its opposite is munkar - rejected, disapproved and contrary to common sense and religious laws.
In matters pertaining to the relatives, charity and maintenance of widows or divorced wives, ma-ruf means moderation in the light of common sense. In the case of amr bil ma-ruf it means obligatory duties prescribed by Islam. In Nahya anil munkar, munkar means forbidden prohibitions.
Qassa, the root of qisas, means to cut, divide and differentiate. Life is balanced by discrimination between good and bad, light and darkness, life and death. The proper justice of retaliation is discrimination without which we become transgressors by not enforcing Allah's law of balance. Therefore, the guilty should be paid back in the same coin. The people against whom the crime is committed should know what punishment has been given and how it is carried out. This way the boundaries of transgression are clearly marked and made known.
La-allakam tattaqun points out that the purpose of ordaining penalty for the crime is to make people abstain from evildoing.
What one leaves behind should be clearly defined, according to the law of inheritance as well as one's own wishes. No vagueness is allowed in Islam, because the path is that of awareness, discrimination, and knowledge.
In verse 8 of al Adiyat also khayr refers to wealth, as in this verse. Khayr according to most commentators means abundant wealth or large property.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Although the Sunni school thinks that this verse has been abrogated by verse 11 of al Nisa, but its proper study makes it clear that the distribution of wealth among the heirs is to be effected after taking the will (bequest) of the deceased into consideration. The Holy Prophet and Imam Ali had clearly, in many instances, advised those, who sought their guidance, to bequeath or not to bequeath according to the merits and circumstances of the seekers of guidance. Here the word kutiba means "laid down". It can be compulsory or optional according to the merits and circumstances of the case.
To alter or to misinterpret the word of Allah is a major sin. Beware. He is hearing, knowing. The wishes of a departed being should not be altered. In case of disagreement, proper settlement, within shari-ah, should be made so as not to deprive the rightful heirs, nor let those, in whose favour the bequest has been made, suffer any undue loss.
Fasting is a means of restraining and controlling the nafs, so that contentment (rida), and all the other blessings of this great discipline may be experienced. The fasting of the ordinary man is to withhold only from food and drink. The fasting of the pious man is to curb sensory desires, to refrain from looking at the unlawful, hearing the harmful, and thinking about the distasteful, or about what stimulates the lower nature. The fasting of a true believer is to seal the heart from paying any attention to other-than-Allah (ghayrallah), and safeguard himself with thorough awareness of the divine laws. Fasting (sawm) is one of the obligatory functions of the faith, next only to the prescribed 5 times a day prayers (salat), in importance. It trains the Muslims to guard themselves against evil as well as conditions them to suffer physical affliction and exercise self control in the defence of faith and the faithful.
Fasting, although not as perfectly regulated and decisive as in Islam, was prescribed for the followers of the previous prophets also, and was also in vogue, in varying forms, in different parts of the world. Among the Jews it was done in times of sorrow and affliction. Among the Hindus in India, fasting is undertaken as a penance or to achieve spiritual power. The Sabians were also prescribed fasting for one full month and the object of fasting among them was almost identical to Islamic fasting.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
This verse is wrongly stated to be abrogated by the next verse, which, in fact, deals with some of the details of the conditions to be observed during the fasting.
Fasting is prescribed "for a certain number of days" - and as per the next verse they are the days of the month of Ramadan. The deeper benefits of fasting are gained when one is in good health. However, both in sickness and travel, these benefits are unlikely to be realised, therefore, exemption from fasting is provided, but a number of other days should be selected to fast in lieu of the obligatory fasts that have not been observed due to sickness or travel, and also a redemption (fidyah) should be effected by feeding a poor man for every missed fast. Aged people, nursing mothers and other cases in which the health is sure to be harmed by fasting can forego fasting altogether, but feed the poor instead, giving away the equivalent of one man's food daily for each fast missed.
It is better to fast as well as feed the poor to obtain a greater return from Allah. The fidyah is a concession allowed to the sick and the old but if they know the deeper benefits of fasting they must fast instead of availing the concession. The Holy Prophet and the holy Imams used to give away whatever they had in the way of Allah but in the month of Ramadan, they were more liberal and open-handed, because the month of Ramadan is the month of Allah.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Yutiquna means the ability to do something with great difficulty. The old and the sick come in this category. It is unreasonable to say that "so whoever witness this month (Ramadan) shall fast in it" (see next verse) cancels this passage. According to the holy Ahl ul Bayt this passage has not been abrogated. Tawaqa means ability with hardship, and tawa-a means ability with ease. This subtle difference was pointed out by Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq. This passage applies to those who are able to fast but due to some weakness it is very difficult for them to do so.
The month of Ramadan is that in which the complete Quran was revealed to the Holy Prophet in the night of Qadr (Dukhan: 3; Qadr: I ). Thereafter he was intimated to deliver it gradually to the people as and when Allah deemed it suitable.
All schools of Islam agree that the whole Quran was sent to baytul ma-mur and thereafter it was revealed to the Holy Prophet on suitable occasions during a period of 23 years. Bayt ul ma-mur is said to be the celestial counterpart of the holy Kabah. It is an allegorical term used for the heart of the Holy Prophet. The book of Allah and its connection with the Holy Prophet has been explained in detail in the commentary of verse 2 of this surah. The readers are requested to please study it carefully to know that the divinely chosen Holy Prophet was commissioned to guide the whole mankind till eternity after he had received the whole guidance and wisdom (the Quran), and that he delivered it to the people gradually whenever he received the divine command.
The Quran is a guidance to mankind, and the Holy Prophet according to Nisa : 79; A-raf: 158, Anbiya: 107, had been sent as a messenger to all mankind; therefore, Islam is a universal religion.
According to Matthew 15: 24 prophet Isa had said: "I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and to them alone."
Allah is very near, nearer than the jugular vein. Awareness of this fact serves two purposes-it stops man from drifting towards evil, and secondly it gives him heart and confidence to rely upon Allah alone, independent of all created beings, making him understand the ever-living reality of Allah who alone controls the whole universe and that which takes place in it.
He answers the prayer of every sincere supplicant when he calls on Him. Allah hears every cry of help and gives to His devotee that which is best in his interest, known to His infinite wisdom alone. Acceptance of prayer does not mean immediate fulfilment of whatever is sought.
"So they should answer My call" means man should carry out Allah's will expressed through His commandments to regulate and discipline the life of this world.
"And believe in Me" means awareness of the ever-living presence of the almighty and all-knowing Lord creator, equal to or like unto whom is no one.
To get that which is desired man has to make efforts and employ all the means at his disposal, arranged and provided by Allah, and then invoke Him to let the labour bear fruit. To use the available means properly, to apply the native faculties, and to pay close attention he needs guidance for which he invokes the highest authorities from whom nothing is hidden and for whom nothing is impossible. Through prayers guidance is received as to how the efforts should be made to fulfil the desires. The merciful Lord who is also all-wise knows what is profitable (An-am: 41). Sometimes Allah puts His devoted servants to test and trial (Baqarah: 155). In this sense man's efforts and his prayers are inseparable.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The act of invocation has been recommended by Allah Himself, because it helps to make the efforts of man fruitful. This passage dismisses the fatalist view that man's destiny is predetermined, regardless of his actions; this verse not only recommends prayer but also promises a response, showing that prayer which is a human action, has its effect on determining the destiny. The prayer to which response is promised should be a sincere cry from the depth of the heart. If there is predestination as the fatalists say, then this verse and verse 5 of Al Fatihah become meaningless. Please refer to the commentary of al Fatihah: 5.
Imam Ali ibna abi Talib says: Put faith in Allah. Seek His protection.
Direct your prayers, requests, solicitations and supplications to Him and Him alone.
To give as well as to withhold lies in His (only in His) power.
Ask as much of His favours as you can.
Know that Allah owns the treasures of the heavens and the earth. Not only He has given permission to ask for His mercy and favours, but also has promised to listen to your prayers. He has not appointed guards to prevent your prayers reaching Him. Invoke His help in difficulties and distress. Implore Him to grant you long life and sound health. Pray to Him for prosperity.
Think over it that by simply granting you the privilege of praying for His favours and mercy, He has handed over the keys of His treasures to you. Whenever you are in need, pray, and He gives His favours and blessings.
Sometimes you find requests are not immediately granted. Do not be disappointed. Fulfilment of desires rests with the true purpose or intention of the pray-er. More often fulfilment is delayed because the merciful Lord wants to bestow upon you suitable rewards. In the meantime bear patiently hardships, believing sincerely in His help. You will get better favours, because, unknowingly, you may ask for things which are really harmful to you. Many of your requests, if granted, may bring eternal damnation.
So, at times, withholding fulfilment is a blessing in disguise.
During the fast eating and drinking, after the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night, is prohibited until night. (For other conditions see books of fiqh). In the beginning cohabitation between man and wife was not allowed for those who observed fast, whether night or day, but the future second caliph and some other companions confessed to the Holy Prophet that they had transgressed this prohibition (Tafsir Baydawi). Through this verse cohabitation between man and wife during the night was made lawful.
Man's actions must follow certain patterns, starting with the gross, and gradually ascending to the subtlest of the subtle. There were very few truly obedient devotees of Allah (the Ahl ul Bayt) who observed every command of Allah, but the merciful Lord also takes into consideration the wishes of the "not so careful Muslims."
It is incumbent upon each one of the faithful to seek the roots of justice and right balance deeply. The purpose of sawm is to curb mean and lower tendencies such as wrongfully consuming even things lawfully possessed and letting greed dominate every aspect of life.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Swallowing up other people's rights and usurping unjustly the possessions of others have been declared unlawful (also see Nisa: 29).
In Islam religious duties and other prescribed actions like fasts, festivals and pilgrimage, are carried out according to the lunar calculation. The reasons are given below:
(1) Even an illiterate person can determine the day of the month and the month of the year according to the different shapes and forms of the moon, which cannot be calculated from the sun.
(2) Man can experience the joy and satisfaction of fulfilment in every type of season, which is not possible if solar calendar is followed.
(3) Acts of worship do not become seasonal rituals.
(4) The lunar year is shorter than the solar year. So the devotee gets more opportunities, in his lifetime, to turn to Allah, and obtain more benefits.
The inclination of some to adopt the solar calendar, with reference to acts of worship, under the influence of Christian propaganda, should be discouraged, because it was Paul, who, in order to please the pagan Romans, introduced the solar calendar.
On account of superstitious customs before Islam, the Arabs, after putting the 'Ihram' did not enter their houses through the regular doors, but made new back entrances to get into their abodes. This verse put an end to this false belief.
The true interpretation of this verse is that every occasion has its own door of approach. Every arena, physical, intellectual, or spiritual, has its natural point of entry. The intelligent man recognises the right door, unsuperstitiously, and in order to enter depends on knowledge. Entering from behind is a figurative expression for rejecting the right course, and entering through the (regular) door means following the right path. The house is the "house of guidance". Righteousness is this that one should approach the "house of guidance" through its door, the right path. "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate", said the Holy Prophet. To know the true guidance one has to turn to Ali as the Shia school (Islam original) rightly does. The Mutazali sect of Sunni school and the sufis also follow the teachings of Imam Ali ibna abi Talib.
The message of Islam is universal. From early times the Muslims were only permitted to fight in self defence. When there is no option, and in the face of persecution, however, the Muslims must fight. The strength of Islam lies in its certainty of ultimate victory over aggression, transgression, and ascribing falsehood to Allah and His last prophet. Fitna can mean oppression, persecution, seduction - all implying the "discord" that attachment with ghayrallah (other-than-Allah) brings about. It is used as in verse 217 of this surah - war is detestable but fitna is worse than slaughter. Islam promotes peace, order and harmony in the human society and keeps man on the right path. When the enemies of Islam found that the light of this message was sweeping darkness from every corner, the disbelievers vowed to annihilate it. It was only then that, no recourse being left for the believers, they had to resolutely take up the sword in defence. Verses 39 and 40 of al Hajj also give permission to fight when any people is wronged, oppressed and persecuted.
If Numbers 25: 1 to 3 and 31: 7 to 18 in the Old Testament are read carefully one comes to the conclusion that when the Israelites, in Shitim, began to worship the gods of Moab the Lord God asked Moses to "take all the leaders of the people and hurl them down to their death before the Lord."
And they made war on Midians as the Lord has commanded Moses, and slew all the men. The Israelites took captive the Madianite women and children, and carried off all their cattle, their flocks and their property. They burnt all their cities. Moses asked them to kill every male child and every women who has had intercourse with a man.
So in the way of Allah, the prophets were commanded to put an end to the activities of the disbelievers who wanted to destroy the true devotees of Allah in order to stop the advancement and progress of the religion of Allah. The Quran commands the Muslims not to exceed the limits but to fight evil until its power base is dislodged, and if the kafirs desist then to show mercy. Compared to what the other prophets did, as commanded by Allah, to destroy the unbelievers, the role assigned to the Holy Prophet as the "mercy unto the worlds" was the most benign of all the campaigns undertaken by His messengers to liberate mankind from the clutches of the enemies of Allah. He fought and killed the enemy whenever war was imposed on him.
Nobody who has any idea of the miserable conditions of the early Muslims, would for a moment imagine that this handful of people could have wantonly set themselves to provoke the active hostility of the whole world about them. They would quietly have borne any provocation rather than take the risk of fighting numberless hordes. If they did engage themselves in this way, one would presume that circumstances had forced them to it; unless their very existence was in peril, they could not possibly have thought to plunge themselves into a mortal struggle. This is so clear a priori that even if the initiative did appear to be taken by Muslims, no sane minded person would for a moment suppose that they were really offensive wars - they must have been offensive with a defensive import. The circumstances had forced them to take action, and if the Holy Prophet had not been quick to it and had waited for a formal assault from the other side, he would only have given the enemy time to collect their forces; and who can doubt that in that case, the world would soon have heard the last of this little band of Muslims.
Yet such is the perversity of prejudice that no such considerations, obvious as they are, are allowed to have any weight with writers like Muir, Sale, Neoldeke and others. All they can see is that in the battle of Badr and its prelude, the raid of Abdullah bin Jahsh, it was the Muslims that began the quarrel with the infidels. What the infidels had been doing all the time before is, as a matter of principle, ignored and forgotten.
How deep-rooted was the acrimony which drove the infidels on against the new converts, may be easily judged from their pursuing them down even to Abyssinia, to where the Muslims had fled to avoid the horrible tortures they were suffering at their hands. The infidels would not let them live in peace even in other lands. Could it be imagined that they could all complacently see them flourish and develop their mission from a centre only 70 miles away from themselves? What are the facts? Soon after the emigration of the Holy Prophet, they wrote to the chief of Madina, Abdullah ibna Obay, as follows:
You have given protection to our man. We have sworn by God that you either kill him or expel him, otherwise we will come upon you with all of us. and kill your fighting men and take hold of your women as lawful for us"
Obay bin Kab says, "When the Holy Prophet and his people came to Madina and the Ansars took them under their protection, all the Arabs were united to make an assault upon them. They never lay down to sleep except with their weapons with them."
This is not the place to give an account of the various wars and battles that were fought. They will be described under the various verses relating to them.
This is merely an introduction that may help us to understand the true state of things at the time. All this is quietly passed over by European critics of Islam.
Finally it should be noted that as without jihad correspondence of the Holy Prophet to the career of prophet Musa would fail to be perfect, Islam would also fail to be a complete and perfect religion for the world. Fighting has well been said to be the direct necessity of human nature, a religion that did not provide for it, did not regulate its principles and define its rightful limits, would not be a perfect religion, much less a final religion for the world.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
In spite of all that has been said that Islam prefers peaceful methods of preaching the truth, and that it never took any initiative in waging wars against its opponents, the fact is that Islam recognises the right of taking the initiative in using force against those who persist in ungodly activities causing human degradation or social and moral deterioration. But this measure can only be adopted by the prophet of Allah or his vicegerents, authorised by Him, and none else. As Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir says: "A war may be termed as holy or godly (jihad) if the object is to make people give up submission to the ghayrallah and to submit only to Allah's authority and the divine will. But if the purpose is to make them give up submission to one creature in order to submit to any other, it is the usual war waged for selfish and worldly gain. Hence it is unholy and thus condemned by Islam." Taking this definition in view, it is obvious that no war is holy unless it is sanctioned and allowed by the person who is perfectly pure from every kind of ungodliness and is constantly in communion with the universal will of the absolute.
However, Islam enjoins on Muslims to be always ready, well prepared and well equipped to meet all exigencies, or an eventuality which may unexpectedly develop against them, then they should gather as much strength as they can, so that their opponents, the opponents of the divine cause, may refrain from any unprovoked aggression. (Anfal: 60).
The order is to kill the enemy (against whom fighting has been enjoined) wherever they are found, whilst the war goes on. It does not refer to unbelievers in general.
"And drive them out from where they drove you out" refers to Makka, wherein the holy Kabah, the centre of Islam, is located, because it belonged to the Muslims but was usurped by the infidels unlawfully.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Fitna
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:106]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:107]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:108]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:109]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:110]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:111]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:112]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:113]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:114]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:115]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:116]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:117]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:118]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:119]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:120]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:121]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:122]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:123] (see commentary for verse 122)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:124]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:125]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:126] (see commentary for verse 125)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:127]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:128] (see commentary for verse 127)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:129] (see commentary for verse 127)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:130]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:131]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:132]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:133]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:134]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:135]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:136]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:137]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:138]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:139]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:140]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:141]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:142]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:143]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:144]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:145]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:146]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:147]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:148]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:149]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:150] (see commentary for verse 149)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:151]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:152]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:153]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:154]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:155] (see commentary for verse 154)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:156]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:157]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:158]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:159]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:160]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:161]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:162] (no commentary available for this verse)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:163]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:164]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:165] (no commentary available for this verse)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:166]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:167] (see commentary for verse 166)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:168]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:169]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:170]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:171]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:172]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:173]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:174]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:175] (see commentary for verse 174)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:176]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:177]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:178]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:179]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:180]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:181] (see commentary for verse 180)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:182] (see commentary for verse 180)
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:183]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:184]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:185]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:186]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:187]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:188]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:189]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:190]
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:191]
LA FATA ILLA ALI, LA SAYF ILLA DHULFIQAR
(There is no hero save Ali, there is no sword save dhulfiqar)
Ali, the champion of Islam, and his God-sent sword fought against the pagans of Makka and their allies and the Jews and the Christians in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet. After him, he never took part in the hostile campaigns directed against the non-Muslims of the world by the companions of the Holy Prophet. It is because of the policies carried out by those companions, that men like Gibbon declared that Islam was preached by the sword, as he (wrongly) concluded that what the followers did, must have been the policy of the preacher. He failed to identify the true followers of the prophet of Islam, Ali and his sons, who, after the Holy Prophet, took the sword in their hands, not to enslave the non-Muslims and appropriate their wealth, but to save Islam from the evil of hypocrisy which had emerged in full force to mutilate the beautiful face of Islam. "I shall not cease to fight against the hypocrites until the last of them is driven out from the fold of the true believers," said Imam Ali ibna abi Talib. In Kerbala Imam Husayn bin Ali used the dhulfiqar for the last time to distinguish between right and wrong or truth and falsehood. When this purpose was served the God-sent sword was sheathed for ever till the return of the last living Imam. The event of Kerbala clearly separated and identified the two camps the camp of Allah and the camp of Shaytan. The Imams in the progeny of Imam Husayn, through piety, reason and wisdom, preached the true religion of Allah. The hypocrisy of the usurpers, through ruthless intimidation and shameless treason, opposed them to crush and destroy the Islam original kept alive by the Ahl ul Bayt. Yet the Islam original flourished. The severest despots could not obliterate it.
Showing mercy when one has the upper hand is enjoined in this verse. On all occasions, the lover of Allah attempts to draw near Him by taking on the appropriate attribute of Allah. Mercy and forgiveness for the enemies if they desist from fighting has been recommended. No other creed or religion has this provision.
Fighting evil should continue until its power base is dislodged, after which it should be stopped. Fitna has been explained in verse 191 of this surah.
"Din should be only for Allah" makes it clear that the purpose of fighting in the way of Allah is to remove persecution, corruption and mischief which suppress liberty and do not allow people to choose between truth and falsehood so that they may willingly believe in Allah and follow His commandments. The root of evil is in polytheism. It should be uprooted. When our living Imam returns, he will put an end to polytheism and make available true freedom for mankind. In verse 40 of al Hajj it is said that Allah repels some men by means of others to keep safe synagogues, churches and cloisters so that every man may have the freedom to remember God according to his own belief, because there is no compulsion in religion (Baqarah: 256). Only Islam, and no other religion, gives freedom to one and all to worship one true God - Allah.
"And if they desist" means when the polytheists renounce false gods and idol-worshipping and come into the fold of the true faith, Islam, and believe in the one and only true God.
Rajab, Dhilqad, Dhilhajj and Muharram are the sacred months. The men of Allah are allowed to inflict injury on those who violate the sanctity of the sacred months and attack the believers, because under the law of retaliation justice demands that the aggressors be punished, but when the enemy desist from continued confrontation, peace, bound by agreement, should prevail and be adhered to. The muttaqin have been described in verse 2 of this surah.
Muhsin (derived from ihsan) is he who acts well, does good deeds and spends in the way of the most perfect, good and bountiful Allah. Allah, therefore, loves the Muhsin. When a man gets what he deserves, proportionate to his deeds, it is called justice (adl); but if one is given more in view of one's needs, more than what one deserves, it is called ihsan (to give for a present).
Islam views closefisted miserliness as ungodliness, which keeps the miser away from paradise and throws him into hell.
By not spending in the way of Allah, individuals cast themselves and their nation into perdition and both are destroyed.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Man's life and his possessions are not his own. They belong to Allah. Man only holds them as a trust. He should not use them to please himself. He must spend of his possessions and readily give his life in the way of Allah to promote His cause, as Imam Husayn did in Kerbala. But he must protect his life and property when there is no danger to the religion or to the mission of Allah, as the Holy Prophet did at the time of the treaty of Hudaybiya, as Ali did in Siffin, and as Hasan did with Mu-awiya.
The date and the month for performing hajj is fixed, whereas umra, an abridged ritual, can be performed at any time.
To inculcate restraint, perseverance, sincerity and purity of intention, submission, and dedication to the service of Allah, a thorough discipline has been prescribed for performing hajj and umrah. [Please study "Hajj and Umrah guide" and "Supplications for Hajj and Umrah", published by the Peermahomed Ebrahim Trust, or any such publication published by the Shia publishing houses.
Hajj is a week of total loyalty. The body is denied all kinds of comforts. The mind and the heart are tuned to bask in the light of devotion. It enables man to rise to the glorious heights of spiritual bliss. The proud, rich and the egotistic celebrities are made to know and realise their true insignificance, otherwise, in any other situation, they would prefer to spend any amount to avoid association with the ordinary people and being brought to the level of the meek . No distinction of wealth, fame, birth, colour or nationality are of any use when the hajj begins. All are in the service of the Lord. It is a training ground to put the idea of the brotherhood of man into practice. Whoso fails to do in day-to-day life what he has experienced during the hajj, is not a true believer. There is no other religion which has such an institution to inspire effective voluntary control to curb brutality and pride, so easily acquired by the men of the world. Islam would have been labelled as an imperfect code of life if hajj has not been prescribed as an obligatory duty.
The criticism of the slaughter of animals by the opponents of Islam is unreasonable. Animals have been created by the creator to provide food for the human beings. There is "life" in everything man or animal eats or drinks. Therefore saving or sparing "life" is not possible. This is the law of nature. The very existence of life depends upon the proper consuming of life. Life in the lower stages of creation has been purposely created to be sacrificed to serve the survival of the species in the higher realm. Similarly, man has been created to sacrifice his self which is dearest to him, to reach the higher realms of divinity or spiritual bliss. It is true that purposeless slaughter of animals is a waste of Allah's bounty when it is carried out in contravention to the laws of the author of nature. Even for those who hold animals sacred, the surest way to show their concern is to slaughter them at the proper time, because one day they will be eliminated by death. So, if an animal is to die anyway, it is better to use it for sustenance of human life, rather than letting it go waste. The merciful creator, therefore, has allowed slaughter of animals for the sustenance of human life.
In the days of ignorance, man sacrificed man to please his man-made gods. Islam stopped this practice. Instead, to keep alive the spirit of the intended sacrifice of Ismail by Ibrahim, to show his obedience to his Lord, sacrifice of animals has been prescribed. On the other hand, Islam prohibits purposeless killing of animals. As long as a haji is in ihram he cannot kill even a mosquito. Hunting is not only forbidden during the hajj but also as a sport in ordinary life. Imam Ali, on his death bed, asked his children to take care of the birds he had domesticated, or else to set them free. Once a disciple of Imam Jafar al Sadiq killed some pigeons in exasperation. The Imam asked him to give one dinar in charity for every pigeon he had killed as an expiation.
The companions of Imam Hasan tried to make a dog run when the unclean animal came near them while they were having meals with the Imam. The Imam prevented them and began to eat one morsel himself and gave another to the dog. He said: "I should feel ashamed if a creature of Allah looks at my food and I turn it away."
At the call of duty a true believer must be ready to act as commanded, therefore, the impracticable and imaginary tenderness, which actually is not so, should not be allowed to take root. One must kill even a human being if proved guilty of murder and lawfully condemned to death. The misconceived feeling of tenderness is a moral weakness which can be removed by proper training.
If the holy Kabah is held in reverence, it is not idolatry. The spirit of holding in veneration things dedicated to Allah (or godliness) without any intention of worshipping them, even if it is the psyche of the idol-worshippers, is not idolatry. The holy edifice was built by Ibrahim and Ismail, the two distinguished friends of Allah, for the exclusive remembrance of the true Lord. The pagans appropriated it and used it as their temple. The two other friends of Allah, the Holy Prophet and Imam Ali, cleared the sacred house of the idols and restored it to its original purpose. They destroyed the false gods but retained the really venerable black stone used by Ibrahim in construction of the holy house, because this stone was sent down by Allah. Likewise the respect paid to Safa and Marwa, on account of its association with Ibrahim and Ismail, has been preserved.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
"Whoever profits by combining umrah with hajj means that after performing umrah, the
pilgrim casts off ihram and puts it on again at the time of hajj, but by combining umrah with hajj he does not have to journey again for hajj after umrah, and also does not have to be in ihram all the time during the intervening period. The second caliph, nominated by the first caliph, who opposed this in the life time of the holy Prophet, issued orders to discontinue it and muta ul nisa, and hayya ala khayril amal from the azan. However, the later jurists did not follow his order for discontinuation of the muta ul hajj but the muta ul nisa and hayya ala khayril amal had been discontinued by the ignorant people in contravention of the divine commandments (Nisa: 24).
Shawwal, Dhilqad and Dhilhajj are the well known months. One can start the pilgrimage in these months but the principal performance of hajj has been prescribed in the month of Dhilhajj. During these days the pilgrim enters the state of purity in which he is entirely absorbed with Allah. Taqwa is the best provision, because by resigning oneself to Allah and abstaining from all that which connects with worldly matters, devotion to Allah becomes total. Everything which pertains to rafas (sexual intercourse), fasaq (fornication), jidal (quarrelling with one another) are forbidden.
"Take provision" means to plan and carry sufficient provisions for the journey so as not to be a burden on others. Some people used to go for pilgrimage to Makka without sufficient provisions, on the pretence that they trust in Allah's help, thus becoming a burden on their fellow travellers. Making provision may also mean making provision for the journey of life with piety and righteousness. Surely the best provision is taqwa - guarding against evil or safeguarding with full awareness of divine laws. If the men of understanding desire increase in provision, here and in the hereafter, then they should know the boundaries and fortify them.
Fazl means bounty, the sustenance one obtains by trade and commerce.
Mash-aril haram, the holy sign or monument, is the place known as muzdalifa, where the pilgrims halt for a night while returning from Arafat on the evening of the 9th Dhilhajj.
Despite the dissimilarity of colour, age and gender, the pilgrims stand equal in the eyes of Allah, on the plain of Arafat. The Quraysh and the Kanana tribes imagined themselves superior to other people, therefore, they used to stay behind and did not join the multitude.
Hajj is a meeting with the Lord . The ignorant Arabs used to boast about the achievements of their fathers. The father is merely a physical source, whereas the real source is Allah. The pilgrims are asked to remember and glorify only Allah.
Most men seek only physical fulfilment, therefore, they shall have no share in the hereafter. Those who pray only for the present life indicate that they feel themselves secure in the other life (for which they do not pray) and do not need the help of Allah. The true seekers, with inner certainty, glorify Allah and invoke Him to grant them good in this world, and good in the hereafter. Islam guides man to achieve success in both the worlds. This prayer, for both the lives taught to the Muslims by the Quran, indicates that Islam wants man to adopt the middle course between materialism and asceticism.
The doers of good deeds must call upon Allah to accept their accomplishments.
As soon as the good or the bad deeds are done by an individual, the result at once comes before him. Allah is swift in reckoning.
The specific reference here is to the three days after sacrifice-called the days of tashriq. The normal state of a true seeker is to be in perpetual remembrance of Allah, safeguarding himself with full awareness of His laws, knowing for certain that all shall be gathered before Him.
No particular person is referred to in these verses; the reference is to the miscreants in general. The enemy of truth and Islam is his own enemy. He is a shattered being, the breakdown between what is said and what is really meant, and, therefore, causes mischief and destruction of the natural order, and tries to break up the divine system. Such men assured the Holy Prophet to rely on their co-operation, but hatched plans, in secret, to make mischief both in his lifetime and after. They refused to adopt piety because pride and self-elevation led them astray. Hell is their resting-place.
Thalabi, Ghazali, the author of Ahya-ul Ulum, and all the Shia commentators say that this verse was revealed to praise Ali ibna abi Talib, when he slept in the bed of the Holy Prophet, during the night of hijrat.
Immediately after the death of Abu Talib, Abu Sufyan, the chief of the branch of Umayyah, succeeded to the principality of Makka. A zealous votary of the idols, a mortal foe of the line of Hashim, he convened an assembly of the Quraysh and their allies. All tribal heads held a conference on the instigation of Abu Sufyan and Abu Jahl. It was resolved that one man from every tribe should go to the Holy Prophet's house in the darkness of the night and kill him jointly, in order to divide the guilt, and baffle the vengeance of the Bani Hashim. In the stupidity of their ignorance, they forgot that Allah is seeing, hearing, and His hand (Ali) was alive, who, from his earliest days, had committed himself to save the Holy Prophet at all costs. In the dark night, the conspirators surrounded the house of the Holy Prophet. Meanwhile, Allah commanded the Holy Prophet to leave Makka at once and go to Madina. The Holy Prophet intimated Ali of the divine plan and asked him to lie down on his bed, in order to lead the enemies into thinking that it was the Holy Prophet himself who was sleeping, thus giving him enough time to go away from Makka (unnoticed). Ali asked the Holy Prophet if his lying down in his bed would save the Holy Prophet's life, to which he answered in the affirmative. So Ali lay down on the Holy Prophet's bed, covering himself with his blanket. Ali made a willing choice of certain death, as the blood-thirsty enemies were lurking around the house to kill the Holy Prophet in his bed at any time during the night.
Ali willingly agreed to die because:
(1) in his opinion the life of the Holy Prophet was more valuable than his own;
strike him - a singular example of willing surrender to Allah's will;
Silm means iman, the inner core or depth of the faith. The use of this word in this verse points out that "you who believe" are those who know and believe in the religion but are unaware of the scope and extent of the depth of iman, so they are invited to surrender and submit with perfect belief and thorough conviction; then alone they will not follow the footsteps of Shaytan, who is an open enemy.
As reported by Ayashi, Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir had also explained this verse as above and added that it also means that all Muslims are enjoined to believe in imamat and follow its divine guidance after the risalat, which ended with the Holy Prophet.
By not following the imamat of Ali, after the Holy Prophet, the Muslim ummah was easily deceived by the whims and fancies of incompetent and selfish leaders, and by not paying attention to the command of Allah to submit, as given in this verse, the ignorant Muslims were caught in the web of sects, sub-sects, and many schismatic schools of thought. The safest way to enter into submission is to follow the Holy Prophet and the holy Imams of his Ahl ul Bayt.
Those who made a show of becoming Muslims to save their private interests will certainly backslide, but their defection shall not affect the cause of Allah in any way, nor cause any inconvenience to those who believe in Allah. Those who go astray shall be the losers.
"The coming of Allah" means the execution of Allah's will to punish the disbelievers through His laws which are absolute. Allah's decree encompasses all existence, seen or unseen. It operates in every situation and phenomenon. The total ecological balance, and the overall outcome of any system, are contained within the laws of reality, therefore, the result is already settled - all matters emanate from Allah and return to Allah. The disbelievers and those who backslide shall be punished in consequence of the inevitable execution of Allah's will. Verses 33 and 34 of al Nahl also state the same reality, using the same phrase. Similarly verse 2 of al Hashr refers to the arrogance of the Jews whose evil (persistent mischief-making to upset the peaceful life of the people of Madina) destroyed them, because the divine laws take their course without fail.
(21l)
Ni-mat means bounty or grace. In this verse it means the word of Allah, the Quran. Those who change its wording (or its meaning) after it has been revealed to the Holy Prophet (and duly explained by him) shall be severely punished.
The rich Jews who, through usury, had multiplied their wealth, used to jest at those believers who had migrated into Madina with the intention of settling in it. Since they had to leave behind everything they possessed in Makka, they were reduced to a state of extreme poverty. According to this verse, the true worth of a man is determined by his piety, independent of his wealth. Material possessions shall be of no use on the day of resurrection. Piety {taqwa) will reign supreme.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Mankind was ignorant, closely associated with each other in waywardness and lack of knowledge, before the revelation of divine wisdom. Therefore, prophets were sent to enable people to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong. It agrees with verse 19 of Yunus. So the purpose of the divine mission was not to bring unity among the people who differed in their religious ideologies, but to develop their aptitude for choosing the right path by pinpointing evil and evildoers.
"And only those to whom the scriptures were given differed concerning it, after clear proofs
had come to them, through hatred of one another", refers to the Jews and the Christians who profusely corrupted their scriptures.
It also refers to the Muslims who misinterpret the verses of the Quran.
This verse is reported to have been revealed at the time of the battle of Khandaq, when the restless Muslims kept on asking:
"When comes Allah's help?"
Before them the famous Arab warrior, Amr bin Abdwud, astride on his horse, was proudly repeating his challenge for a man-to-man combat. The Muslims were on the brink of losing faith in Allah and His prophet as they had done in the battle of Uhad. Every one, among them, was hiding his head, lest the messenger of Allah might command him to accept the challenge. Some, among them, began to narrate the daring acts of the dare-devil in order to discourage their friends. Though they are held as great heroes of Islam by their ignorant followers, they refused to go to fight the challenger when asked by the Holy Prophet, because they relied more upon the advice of their comrades than on Allah's help. After that the Holy Prophet wanted to know who would go to meet the enemy? He repeatedly asked this question. Every time only Ali came forward. At last Ali, "the total faith," as aptly described by the Holy Prophet, went to fight against Amar bin Abdwud, "the total disbelief". Ali, in no time, killed the formidable champion of the invaders. When the total faith of Ali in Allah and His messenger, through his matchless bravery, was established, there came a violent storm which ruined the enemy camp and routed their fighting forces. They dispersed in chaos and disorder and ran all the way to Makka in utter disappointment and defeat.
"Now surely Allah's help is near" was revealed in praise of the faith, strength and bravery of Ali.
Then the Holy Prophet declared:
"The one strike of Ali on the day of Khandaq is superior to the prayers of both the worlds."
Also refer to verses 9, 10 and 25 of al Ahzab.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
This verse confirms the saying of the Holy Prophet that his companions would follow in the footsteps of the Jews and the Christians in deviating from the right path and wavering in faith. Verse 213 and 214 of this surah also confirm that the prophets came to develop the aptitude of man for distinguishing between right and wrong and test his ability to choose the right path. Reaction to the prophetic mission varies according to the receptibility of an individual. Therefore, the followers of the last prophet are not an exception to this general rule. They cannot be said to be equal in faith. Some were certain. Some were doubtful. Some were sincere. Some were hypocrites.
Islam is the only religion which makes spending (in the way of Allah) obligatory. Every Muslim must follow the divine commandments as to how the bounties of Allah, given to him, should be shared with his less fortunate relatives and fellow-creatures. This verse tells us the order in which charity should be given. First, in the list, are the parents, then the near kindred, the orphans, the needy and the wayfarer. There is no reward if parents and the nearer kindred are overlooked in order to meet the demands of others. The needs of the parents should be cared for as a duty without the embarrassment of their having to ask for the same. The Holy Prophet advised his followers to take care of the parents, brothers and sisters, and the nearest relatives first, and then the others. It must also be noted that wars (in self-defence) require funds. To finance such wars is as important as spending for the helpless relatives, because it is in the interest of the whole community that the invaders should not be allowed to destroy the polity of the faithful.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
What should be spent in the way of Allah? Whatever good that may benefit others is the answer. As Zakat (the poor-tax) is compulsory, it cannot be made a part of "whatever good you do", which has no connection with Zakat. Also, Zakat cannot be spent on the members of the family. The word afwa in verse 219 of this surah makes it clear that only surplus should be given. The Holy Prophet has defined the surplus, and how much and to whom it should be given. In all events moderation is the guideline.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
There cannot be peace without battle against evil. Islam dislikes war, and yet without war against corruption and injustice, the by-products of aggressive infidelity, peaceful existence and freedom of worship of One God cannot be preserved. Love of peace, harmony and freedom is rooted in the hatred of injustice, hypocrisy and chaos, which should be isolated and kept at bay by those who believe in Allah and submit to Him (Hajj: 40). Please refer to the commentary of 190 to 194 of this surah, and verse 39 of al Hajj. Permission to fight has been given to put an end to persecution and mischief-making, in order to establish freedom of worship. The mission of the Holy Prophet was based upon rational doctrines to establish the (divine) rule of law for the welfare of the whole human race. To stop this universal movement, the pagans, the Jews and the Christians left no stone unturned, because they wanted to maintain the status quo of the exploitation of man by man, to serve the interests of the wicked, devilish and brutal ruling classes. But the Holy Prophet could not give up his divinely commissioned mission, so he did not. He had to take steps to liquidate kufr in order to serve the cause of truth. Before him the other messengers of Allah did the same. Even the followers of Christ and Buddha could not do without pre-emptive strike to forestall hostile actions. Of course, this may give licence to the mischief-makers to guise their personal interests in the garb of "the larger interest of the humanity"; therefore, to cancel the misuse of this principle, the Quran has prescribed certain qualifications in a person, or group of persons, who alone are entitled to resort to the right of a pre-emptive strike.
This verse should be read in continuation of the commentary of the above verse. Also refer to the commentary of verse 194 of this surah. For fitna see commentary of verse 190 and 191 of this surah.
Jihad (from jahada) means to strive, take great pains, and to give away life, property and everything in the way of Allah (see commentary of verse 216 of this surah).
Actions such as taking intoxicants, or seeking quick and easy wealth through gambling, draw us away from reality and dull our sense of comprehending and distinguishing things. Man's reason for existence is to grasp reality. All intoxicating substances have been defined by the Holy Prophet and the holy Imams of his Ahl ul Bayt.
Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school, says that any liquor, not prepared by grapes, is not prohibited.
Mawlvi Muhammad Ali, a Sunni scholar, in his translation of the Quran says:
"Those who think that the verse under discussion does not contain a prohibition have failed to understand the language of the Quran. When the harm of a thing is stated to be greater than its advantage, it is sufficient indication of its prohibition, for no sensible person would take a course which is sure to bring him a much greater loss than an advantage."
Even after the revelation of this verse some of the companions of the Holy Prophet used to drink non-grape wines and come to pray salat in the masjid, on account of which verse 43 of al Nisa and verses 90 and 91 of al Ma-idah were revealed to prohibit intoxicants and gambling.
The Holy Prophet said: "Curse of Allah be on liquor, its maker and he who assists him, bearer, loader, distributor, seller, purchaser, consumer and whoever uses its sale proceeds and profit."
Imam Ali ibna abi Talib said: If a drop of liquor falls into a well and a minaret is built on its nearby land I will not recite azan from it; and if it falls into a river and in its dry bed grows grass, I will not let my horse graze on it.
Liquor is ummul khaba-ith, the mother of all vices. An intoxicated person ceases to be a human being, becomes a brute and loses the ability to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong.
The effect of these verses worked wonders with the Arab Muslims. In the opinion of the social reformers who labour day and night to put an end to the drinking habits of non-Muslim communities it is a miracle. Drinking was second nature to the heathen Arabs. The Jews and the Christians were also sunk deep into this wicked addiction.
Yasara, the root of maysir, means to divide a thing into parts or portions. Maysir means a game of chance to seek quick and easy wealth, an unearned profit. Gain or loss is a matter of chance. This verse prohibits all games of chance and gambling.
For al afwa see commentary of verse 215 of this surah.
Acting rightly and generously towards the orphans and those without guardians will not only directly benefit the giver as well as the receiver, but also be reflected in an improved human society. Therefore there are several verses, such as Baqarah: 177 and al Balad: 11 to 16, revealed to the Holy Prophet to provide the basis for doing good to fellowmen
Islam allows partnership with an orphan, and guardianship and trusteeship of an orphan, with strict injunctions to maintain correct separate accounts in order to safeguard the orphans's interest at all events.
Inter-marriage between the believers in God and the idolaters has also been prohibited by Tawrat and Injil.
You must not intermarry with them, neither giving your daughters to their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons; if you do, they will draw your sons away from the Lord and make them worship other gods. (Deut 7: 3 and 4)
Do not unite yourselves with unbelievers; they are no fit mates for you. What has righteousness to do with wickedness? Can light consort with darkness? ( 2 Corinthians 6: 14)
According to verse 21 of al Rum, Allah created for us from ourselves spouses that we may find repose in them, and caused between us love and compassion, therefore, spiritual affinity is essential between two life-partners, which is not possible if one believes in Allah and the other is an infidel who, spiritually and intellectually, is on the animal level, caught in the cobweb of falsehood, wickedness and mental retardness. It would be an unholy alliance. The infidel partner may draw the faithful away from the Lord and make him or her worship the imaginary deities and false gods. More often than not the children are affected by the conflicting beliefs of the parents. The risk is quite unnecessary, because any adverse response will lead directly to hell.
The school of Ahl ul Bayt, in view of verse 5 of al Ma-idah, allows temporary marriage with the women of those who received the scriptures. (See books of Fiqh for details about marriage between the various schools of thought.)
The natural cyclical discharge of woman is a purifying process - it removes discarded cells and purifies her body. So men have been commanded not to approach women, during the menstrual discharge, until they become clean.
"You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her during her period of menstruation. (Leviticus 17: 19)
The divine laws had been given to mankind through the Holy Prophet whose life is a perfect model for the followers of the religion of Allah. In Sahih Bukhari, under the chapter of menstruation, a false, baseless and disgraceful report has been narrated by one of the wives of the Holy Prophet to malign him, which, in fact, is a deliberate character assassination. Such kind of reporting makes clear that the followers of these schools of thought have failed to understand the true status of the Holy Prophet.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Yat-hurna means cessation of menstruation or the state after ghusl (bath) - for details refer to fiqh.
Min haythu amarakum means "as ordained"-see next verse.
Yuhibbul mutatahhirin refers to the purification of the body as well as the mind. Islamic instructions and restrictions bring forth mental and physical refinement, both equally important.
Sexual relations among the human beings is a very delicate matter. The Quran deals with it in a manner which not only takes into consideration the physical sensuality but also makes certain that man should rise above the animal level and temper his sensual urges with moral and spiritual discipline. Even the language used to provide the essential guidance in this connection has been very carefully worded so as not to let the issue be described in a lewd style - the literary way and technique of the then Arabic poets.
Woman is compared to tillage. The real object of conjugal union should be for the reproduction of human life for the service of the Lord.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
"Do with your tillage as you like" explains "Do with them as ordained" of the previous verse, but keep in mind that women are a tillage, therefore, dealing with it in a wasteful or unnatural way is foolish and detestable.
Qaddimu li-anfusikum Allah commands man to do good. Therefore, "not to do good" cannot be justified under any pretext, not even because of swearing by Allah. Allah cannot be made an urdah (obstacle) in the way of doing good, safeguarding against evil, and making peace between men. It is an injunction to abstain from making "swearing by Allah" a pretext for withholding oneself from doing good. Good must be done at all events. For example the "swearing by Allah" of a husband in anger, that he will not go to his wife, has been forbidden. (See also al Qalam: 10; al Ma-idah: 89).
Vain oath means unintentional swearing, which is a common habit with most people in their ordinary conversation. Allah will not hold any one accountable for vain oaths, but He will call His creatures to account for their real intentions and what they do. Verbal swearing has no value. However, swearing with full consciousness of the seriousness of the undertaking, binds the swearer to do as resolved provided the deed to be done is legal and good. Before Islam, it was a custom among the Arabs that when a husband avowed to discontinue conjugal relations with his wife, the wife was left in a lurch - neither a married woman nor a divorcee. The Quran ignores the swearing concerning disassociation with wives and gives four months for reconsideration and reconciliation; after which, if the husband still desires separation he should divorce his wife, otherwise the wife can refer the matter to the hakim shara (competent authority on Islamic laws) and obtain freedom from the bond of marriage to wed someone else.
Fa-in- fa-u means if they return to their wives within the prescribed four months Allah will forgive them.
Talaq means letting a woman free from the bond of marriage or dissolution of the contract of marriage. Talaq should be put to use only when reconciliation is not possible in spite of best efforts. To warn the husbands who, unjustly and without reason, divorce their wives, the phrase "Allah is surely hearing, knowing" has been added. Only Islam safeguards the interests of women. According to the Holy Prophet, of all the permissible acts, divorce is the one most disliked by Allah, so as to keep in check any indiscriminate use of this pragmatic sanction. Therefore, in Islam, divorce is the most loathsome of the permitted acts. Marriage is an alliance of two individuals who love each other. Without love and understanding, it becomes a soulless body. In this situation, the sooner it is undone the better. If due to events and reasons, beyond control, day to day life of a married couple becomes a burden and a misery, separation is necessary and is an act of charity. Islam has the essential and elastic laws to deal with every type of case and circumstance and to control the harmony of the society as well as to safeguard the interest of every individual.
Divorce, though legalised by Islam, has been so controlled and restricted through the observations of the Holy Prophet that its indiscriminate use is not possible by those who sincerely believe in Allah and follow the teachings of the Holy Prophet and his holy Ahl ul Bayt. For them it is almost impossible to resort to divorce.
Quru means menstrual period. The divorced woman is required to keep herself in waiting for three menstrual periods, during which the husband has to support and care for her. In the course of these three months, if it is found out that she is pregnant, then the parental propriety of the offspring is established. Above all, the door of reconciliation remains open. If there is real love between them, the husband can take the wife back before the expiry of iddat (prescribed period of waiting). Such a practical arrangement is not available in any religion except Islam.
The legal rights given to women by Islam brought a revolutionary change in human society for the first time. So far woman was a wicked creature, the agent of the devil, and therefore was treated like a chattel, occupying the lowest position in the family and community. Islam gave women an honourable status, similar to men. It was a dynamic change, unknown to history, because it was never even considered, in pre-lslamic period, that women could have rights over men.
"But the men are a degree above women" refers to the natural differences which separate men from women. Allah is all-wise, therefore, particularly in the case of divorce, man can initiate the course of divorce, but a woman cannot. She, no doubt, can go to a qadi to obtain separation on the ground of unbearable maltreatment and demand dissolution of marriage by surrendering her right to mahar (dowry). This provision is reasonable because it prevents women from obtaining separation on flimsy grounds.
Islam gives women the right of choosing her life-partner. No one can compel her to accept any man as her husband. The matter lies entirely on her independent judgement. So she does not have the right to take the initiative for annulment of wedlock. Yet she has a recourse. She can go to a mujtahid or hakim sharah and obtain separation and then marry again whomsoever she likes.
"Divorce may be pronounced twice". These two pronouncements can be revoked. It is an effective check to prevent divorce on account of emotional outbursts and high-handedness of a husband who may recover his balance of mind and reconsider his unreasonable pronouncement. Before Islam, a man could divorce his wife as many times as he liked and take her back. To stop this absurd farce, only two revocable pronouncements of Talaq have been prescribed by Islam. After the third announcement, the Talaq is complete and becomes irrevocable. Even after Talaq the husband has to treat the divorced wife with kindness. It is not lawful for the husband to take back or withhold any part of what he has given to his wife or promised to give her as mahar (dowry).
"What she gives up to become free" refers to khula or mubarat, the recourse a wife can avail to obtain separation, explained above, by the arbitration of the hakim sharah or mujtahid, by returning the dowry if she has taken it in advance, or by foregoing it.
"If you fear" refers to the lawfully constituted religious authority - hakim sharah or mujtahid. If the husband revokes his decision he must keep his wife in good relationship and honour, and respect her.
The pronouncement of Talaq more than once at a time is meaningless in view of the "divorce may be pronounced twice" (the opening words of this verse) because it stipulates chances of reconciliation after the first, and if not, after the second pronouncement.
As mentioned in verse 97 of al Barat, "these are the limits of Allah", are the divine commandments.
After the third, final and irrevocable pronouncement of divorce the husband cannot take his divorced wife back until she marries another man and the next husband agrees to divorce her. This is a sufficient reason to conclude that all the three pronouncements of Talaq cannot be said at one time. The consequences of the third pronouncement check indiscriminate pronouncement of Talaq.
A husband has the right to divorce his wife but he cannot abuse her or refuse to pay her dues. Whoever does this, exceeds the limits (disobeys Allah's commandments). He must set her free with kindness and give her all her entitlements. The laws of Allah should not be taken in mockery. It shows how serious is the matter of divorce. There are prescribed laws in Islam, yet people (men and women) have the freedom to act according to their conscience; and if they are mindful of the fact that Allah is the knower of all things, they shall not go astray and do injustice to their own souls.
The non-Shia schools do not observe the restrictions given in these verses in the matter of divorce.
"It may not even be properly expressed in words at all. This is admitted to be irregular but is not the less effective. One form of making a divorce irrevocable, the pronouncing of it thrice, one in each "tubr"(period of woman's purity) is allowed to be regular by Hanafis though condemned in the matter of intention. If a man pronounces a divorce whilst in a state of inebriety from drinking fermented liquor, such as wine, the divorce takes place. Repudiation by any husband who is sane and adult is effective, whether he be free or slave, willing or acting under compulsion; and even though it were uttered in sport or jest, or by mere slip of the tongue instead of some other word." (Fatwas Alamgiri - cited by Hughes)
No doubt the Islamic law of divorce has been criticised as contemptible and ridiculous.
The Shia school condemns all irregular forms of divorce. For Shias it is necessary that the man who pronounces a divorce be an adult, sane and free in his choice, will, design and intention. It does not take effect if given implicatively or ambiguously, even if there is intention. According to the teachings of the holy Imams, it is also absolutely necessary that the pronouncement must be made by the husband in the presence of two just witnesses; non-fulfilment of this condition renders the divorce null and void. If the husband pronounces the divorce, in an irregular manner, even a hundred times, the woman remains his wife. (For details see books of fiqh).
After the first or second Talaq, if both the husband and wife agree to be reunited, in a lawful manner, they are allowed to do so. The woman has a right to take her own decision. Her relatives or guardians are warned not to prevent her in any way from exercising her rights. Even though the period of waiting may elapse, the husband can marry the divorced wife, if the third irrevocable Talaq has not been pronounced.
Though this verse was revealed for the divorced mothers, it applies to all mothers. See al Ahqaf: 15.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Darra (transitive) means to harm. Tadarrur (intransitive) means to suffer harm. In verse 12 of al Nisa mudarr has been used which means "either to harm or suffer harm.". In this verse it is said that on account of the child or the disagreement between the parents, none of the three (father, mother or the child) should be harmed by any of them. Please refer to fiqh for proper understanding of the issues pertaining to the rights and duties of the mother and the husband during the period of suckling of their babies, and the duties of the heir of the husband, and employment of a wet-nurse.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The wife of a deceased man should keep herself in waiting for four months and ten days, even if she had no intercourse with her dead husband. If she is pregnant she should wait upto the prescribed period or the delivery, whichever is later.
There is no harm if some one desires to marry a widow who is keeping herself in waiting for the prescribed period (iddat), and indirectly speaks his mind, but there should be no confirmation of the marriage tie until the period of waiting is completed.
Faridah is the dowry known as mahar. Even if the marriage is not consummated the husband must make provision for the divorced woman, according to his means, whether he is rich or poor.
"He in whose hand is the marriage tie", according to the holy Ahl ul Bayt, is the wali - father or grandfather of the wife, and if none of them is available, the legal authority - hakim sharah.
The wife is entitled to receive the amount of dowry directly; but if she is a minor her guardian (wali), on her behalf, shall receive the payment. It is unreasonable to say that the husband himself is the wali, because he is the person who must pay the dowry; and it is the wife or her guardian who is paid, or approached for half refund (if dowry has been paid in advance) or for foregoing the full amount. The husband cannot plead for the concessions due to himself. As far as shariah is concerned, the rules of breaking a marriage contract are clear. The seeker of spirituality is advised to go beyond the call of shariah, with generosity and good-naturedness, to help the divorced wife. Man, who has the upper hand over woman, must reflect the fadl of the bountiful beneficent. "Allah sees what you do", refers to the mutual kindness and charitable disposition with which the members of the brotherhood of the believers in Allah should deal with each other; and it is a warning to the husbands if they foolishly believe that they can hide any evil intention while dealing with their wives.
Wasta means middle. Many commentators say that the middle prayer is the afternoon (asr) prayer, coinciding with the peak of daily activity, most likely to be overlooked, although it is a duty of a devout believer to remember Allah in the midst of worldly pursuits. According to al Baqarah: 143 ummatan wasatan implies a group of people who are balanced, anchored, well-behaved, persevering, and away from the danger of extremes. If that which is the best is properly attended to, then generally speaking, the entire pattern of worship will be sound.
Qumu lillahi qanitin (stand up with devotion, truly obedient to Allah) prescribes qunut, recitation of any Quranic dua, while standing and raising both the hands, palms joined together, in front of the face. Concentration and presence of mind are essential for praying the salat, a regulated system of worship which gives man the opportunity to establish communion with his creator, five times a day. Salat prescribed by Islam, is not the ritualistic movements of the body. Its demand of employing all mental powers enables man to reflect divine attributes in his character, otherwise mere ritual has been condemned in the following verses.
Woe, therefore, to such performers of prayer, who are unmindful of their prayer, who would (pray) to be seen. (Ma-un: 4 to 6)
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Salat prayed in danger, is called salat ul khawf. According to this verse salat cannot be missed under any circumstances.
In verses 11 and 12 of al Nisa the law of inheritance has been clearly mentioned. The rights of women as wives have been dealt with in verses 227 to 237 of al Baqarah. In this verse it has been emphasised that a woman should be protected at all times. Man's authority over woman brings about the direct responsibility of her welfare upon him. She should not have to be worried about her protection, provision, and livelihood.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
According to Manhaj us Sadiqin and Majma-ul Bayan verse 235 of al Baqarah and verses 11 and 12 of al Nisa abrogate this verse. A close study of these verses does not bring out any contradiction. Verse 235 of al Baqarah only fixes the obligatory period of waiting for a widow, therefore, if the widow stays in her husband's house, she is entitled to receive the advantages of the bequest her husband makes for her according to this verse; and verses 11 and 12 of al Nisa grant the widow her share, in addition to the benefits mentioned in this verse. These two verses safeguard the rights and freedom of the widow, but do not reduce the utility of the bequest, therefore, there is no abrogation.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
"Provision according to custom" is an extra grant to the widow in addition to the dowry which must be paid to her. This verse and verse 236 of this surah enjoin on men to employ piety, grace, love and clemency in dealing with women even when they are separated, in addition to the rights given to her.
In this verse the word signs {ayat) has been used for the divine laws which are the guiding signs for a disciplined life to achieve success in this world and salvation in the hereafter. These are clear and unambiguous. The Quran repeatedly invites man to think and apply reason for progress and advancement.
The historical reference here is to the children of Israil, who ran away from their homes in thousands out of fear of the plague, thinking that their timely flight would save them from death. On account of their lack of faith in Allah, death caught up with them under His command. Their bodies turned into dust. Only their bones were lying scattered on the ground. Inspired by Allah, their prophet Ezikiel prayed for them by reciting a particular name, after which, Allah brought them to life again, showing that Allah does what He wills. There is no escape from the will of the Lord.
In the opinion of Ahmadi commentators, no miracle (bringing the dead out of the living and the living out of the dead) took place; it is only a metaphorical description. The materialistic tendency to deny any event beyond the natural course known to man can be justified only if man can claim knowledge of all the factors functioning in the working of the universe. It is a wise saying that the more a man knows, he realises how less he knows. There is no reason at all for any sensible and intelligent person to deny things which are decidedly beyond the acknowledged limitedness of human experience, observation and conceivability, yet the modern commentators deny the omnipotence of Allah and the supernatural forces functioning in the universe, on which all religions are based. Allah is the master of His will. He does what He wills. Every faithful believer must rely on Allah and should not fear death. Fear of bodily death in this life leads to moral and spiritual death. His life belongs to Allah. He should live it as desired by Him and surrender it to His command.
See commentary of verses 190 to 193 of this surah.
Qardan hasanan, a goodly loan, is given without any consideration for its repayment, or time of repayment. In fact, it is completely forgotten as soon as it is given. The rewards of a goodly loan, offered to Allah to seek His pleasure only, are manifold. It brings about echoes of the goodness of the creator. The return from the merciful Lord corresponds to the purity and sincerity of the intention of the lender. This goodly loan, in this verse, refers to the spending in the way of Allah and striving in the cause of Allah.
To restrict or increase the means of subsistence is exclusively in the hands of Allah.
After Musa several prophets were sent to maintain his law (Tawrat), but as time passed, people started neglecting the law and took to idolatry. Ultimately a time came when the Jews had no prophet to guide them. In those days their enemies from the tribe of Jalut had captured all the land on the Mediterranean including Egypt and Palestine. They killed 440 princes and noblemen of Bani Israil and enslaved them. The Bani Israil prayed to Allah for a prophet. Allah appointed Samuel as their prophet. They asked Samuel to choose a king for them. Samuel warned them about what the kings would do, but they refused to listen to him. They said: "No, we will have a king over us; then we shall be like other nations, with a king to govern us, to lead us out to war and fight our battles." (1 Samuel 8: 19 and 20).
Samuel again warned them that they might not fight even if fighting was ordained for them. And when fighting was ordained for them, they turned back, except for a few of them. In this verse fighting for the emancipation of the people from the tyranny of the oppressors has been described as fighting in the way of Allah.
(In continuation of verse 246).
Samuel said to the Jews that Allah had raised Talut (Saul) to be a king over them. According to 1 Samuel 10: 23 he was a head taller than anyone else. There was no one like him in the nation of Jews. He was called Talut on account of his height and strength. The people despised Talut's kingship because he did not have wealth, which they had in abundance.
The essential qualities required in a leader are clearly discernible if careful attention is paid to the reply given by Samuel:
leader of the people (temporal or spiritual) is chosen by Allah, not by the people.
physique. The chosen leader is given knowledge and physical strength by Allah Himself. The true
leader possesses divinely endowed knowledge and strength to guide and protect the people whom
Allah loves and cherishes.
sovereignty and the kingdom of the universe belong to Allah, therefore, on His behalf, the authority
to lead and guide the created beings, is with him whom Allah chooses. He chooses whomever He
likes, whether the people like it or not.
people receive and use for the satisfaction of their needs and wants are given to them by Allah. No
human being can claim credit for providing them to the people. What is good and what is bad for
the people is known only to Allah. This knowledge is given to those leaders whom He Himself elects
to lead and guide the people.
Man's hypocrisy, doubt, denial, bickering and disagreement about leadership, in spite of clear and specific prophetic directions, arise in all religions. The same thing occurred among the Muslims after the departure of the Holy Prophet. The Holy Prophet, in compliance with Allah's command, had appointed Ali as his vicegerent and successor in the open assembly of ashira and in the large gathering at Ghadir Khum. Ali's superiority over others in knowledge and physical strength is unquestionable. It is acknowledged by all. Please refer to pages I to 7, and the commentary of verses 2 to 5, 30 to 39 and 124 of this surah, to know the divine decrees and clear prophetic directions, according to which Ali alone was the true divinely chosen successor of the Holy Prophet. But, while the Holy Prophet was on his deathbed, the Muslims began to lobby for and squabble over power, following their limited and imperfect logic, intending to build a Muslim empire based upon heathen theories and practices, instead of following the guidance given by Allah and His last messenger. As long as man continues to passively remain under the influence of his baser tendencies, this state of chaos and confusion in the affairs of his life will continue, as it did after the departure of the Holy Prophet, when the Muslim ummah refused to obey the command of Allah (Ma-idah: 67), conveyed to them by the Holy Prophet at Ghadir Khum, in spite of the fact that total submission to the decisions of the Holy Prophet has been prescribed as the first fundamental condition of the faith, by the Quran, in verse 65 of al Nisa.
To avoid chaos, discord and confusion which would lead to the destruction of the foundation of the Islamic society, the Holy Prophet took special precautions, which no other prophet before him had ever taken, to guide the people through clear actions, statements and signs that, after him, they should remain attached to his Ahl ul Bayt and follow their leadership. Unfortunately, the people chose to follow policies which led them astray into the hands of the devil.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The instructions inferred from this verse are as under:
Legislation, process of governing and administration of justice are the functions of a sovereign. And sovereignty belongs to Allah, He delegates all the functions to a single person as His vicegerent, or chooses different persons to carry out one or more of them separately. Samuel had been entrusted with the authority to convey legislation and administer justice. When the people requested for a king as an executor, Allah appointed Talut as their king. It means in the presence of a divine legislator and judge, an executor can also be appointed . It makes clear that Samuel (the prophet) had no right to appoint an executor. It also gives permission to allow the people to have a say in the formation of the executive authority. The voice of the people may also be heard in addition to the book and the sunnah of the Holy Prophet, if not contradictory to these two agencies, in legislative and judicial functions. But to claim sovereignty, which belongs only to Allah, is to return to the days of ignorance. It is not Islam.
Jihad (war in the way of Allah) was prescribed and carried out by the prophets also.
The reaction of the people to the divine appointment of the executor can be favourable or unfavourable. The Jews did not like the appointment of Talut as a king. Likewise, the Muslims also did not approve the Whenever the question of succession to the Holy Prophet in the matters of legislation, execution and justice is dealt with, the implications of this verse should be taken into consideration. Verse 55 of al Nur gives strength to the point of view of the followers of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad.
The tabut (3 yards X 2 yards) was a holy ark or chest which contained divine signs, understood by the prophets of Allah only. It was so divinely blessed that whenever carried by the Jews into the battlefield, the enemy invariably ran away. It was passed on from one prophet to another, and had miraculous properties. It is reported to contain the garments of Musa, the turban of Harun and some sacred relics. It was brought back from Shiloh to help the Jews in the war against the Philistines. The ark mentioned in verse 39 of al Taha (Exodus 2: 3) is not this ark.
According to the Ahmadi commentators tabut means heart, into which Allah sends down peace of reassurance (tranquillity). He quotes verse 4 of al Fat-h.
"Put him into the ark, and cast it into the river", (Taha: 39).
Can any sensible person put the word "heart" in the place of "ark"? It would mean that Allah commanded the mother of Musa to put him into her heart and cast her heart into the river. It is an absurd interpretation. The word baqiyyah is interpreted by them as "the best of a thing", whereas it means "that which is left behind". This kind of interpretations are put forward by the Ahmadi (also known as Qadiani) commentators because their prime motive is to deny miracles attributed to the prophets of Allah, as Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, the false prophet of Qadian could never ever produce a miracle. The list of their twisting of the verses of the Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophet is very long which cannot be discussed here. They are always in search of some imaginary meaning of the word, other than the actual one, be it the most obscure and far-fetched, to serve their purpose. Such misinterpretations are presented with the full force of as many conjectures as possible. The Qadiani (Ahmadi) school is diametrically antagonistic to the faith of the Ahl ul Bayt who are the only divinely authorised custodians and teachers of the Quran according to the hadith al thaqalayn.
The Holy Prophet said:
My Ahl ul Bayt are like the ark of Nuh. Whoso gets into it is saved and whoso stays away is drowned and lost.
Verse 35 of Yunus and verse 22 of al Mulk make it clear that a true guide is he who is guided and appointed by Allah Himself. He does not receive any type of education and training from any one other than Allah.
So any one, who is not guided and appointed by Allah as a guide, is an impostor.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The executor appointed by Allah (see verse 247 of al Baqarah) should have the divine signs, the sacred heritage of the divinely chosen lineage which is endowed with the tranquillity (sakinah), on account of which no worldly or temporal force or consideration would frighten him from the way and cause of Allah. Such an appointed executor who slept in the bed of the Holy Prophet on the night of the migration is praised in verse 207 of al Baqarah (see commentary); and the sorry plight of the man who by himself claimed the executorship with the help of his comrades is exposed in verse 40 of al Tawbah. On every occasion it was Ali, the beloved of Allah and His messenger, who fearlessly strived in the cause of Allah and destroyed the enemies of Allah and His messenger, while the rest of the companions either watched the fighting from a safe distance or ran away from the battlefield; this was so because there was tranquillity in Ali's heart from the Lord, as has been confirmed by verse 26 of al Tawbah and verse 26 of al Fat-h. Besides this in-built tranquillity, the appointed executor must possess the divine heritage of the holy house, therefore, in view of the saying of the Holy Prophet that "Ali is to me as Harun was to Musa", the divine authority to guide and administer human society cannot be claimed by any one who does not belong to the holy Ahl ul Bayt (Nisa: 54).
This verse depicts the differentiation between those who are the real followers of the path of submission and truth, and those who are not. He who leads the people must have the knowledge of what is good and what is evil for his followers, and also should be able to find out ways and means to correctly ascertain the sincerity of their faith. Talut tests his men by means of the river (saying: whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is certainly of me, except he who takes as much of it as fills his hand), but only a few of them are found faithful.
It must be noted that although the men with Talut were aware of their weakness against Jalut, they did not desert him, but history is a witness to the fact that some of the companions of the Holy Prophet not only ran away from the battlefield (Uhad) but also advised their comrades to return to their former state of idolatry, because they loudly announced that the Holy Prophet had been killed. They did not realise that Ali (the hand of Allah) was there to defend the Holy Prophet and disperse the hordes of enemy soldiers single-handedly and turn the impending defeat into a glorious victory. Ali did the same in every battle that the Holy Prophet fought against the infidels (see the books of history written by well-known Muslim authors), but after the departure of the Holy Prophet, the deserters became the heroes of Islam and Ali was forced to withdraw himself from the public life, although he continued to guide the sincere followers who came to him to seek guidance and wisdom.
The supplicants first ask the Lord to pour patience, and then make their footsteps firm, after which victory is besought.
An account of the formidable strength of the mighty forces of Jalut is given in 1 Samuel 17: 4 to 11. Dawud killed Jalut in single combat. The Philistines, when they saw that their hero was dead, turned and ran.
A similar event took place in the early days of Islam. The infidels of Makka with a mighty host of twelve thousand warriors encircled Madina to destroy a few hundred Muslims, including women and children. On the suggestion of Salman, a ditch was dug around the city in six days. This battle is known as the battle of khandaq (ditch) or ahzab. Amr bin Abdwad, a warrior who used to defeat one thousand soldiers single-handedly, jumped over the ditch and threw an open challenge to the Muslims. The Holy Prophet turned towards his companions, and invited each of them to go and fight Amr on behalf of Islam, but there was fear and panic in their hearts, as some of them had been close to him in the days of their infidelity and had witnessed his acts of bravery and strength. No one came out at the call of the Holy Prophet. Then Amr shouted aloud the names of the famous companions, one by one, but each looked aside. The Holy Prophet repeated his call three times. There was no response. Each time only Ali came forward and said:
"I am ready to fight him O the messenger of Allah."
After the third call the Holy Prophet put his turban on Ali's head and said:
"Verily, here goes total belief to fight against total disbelief."
"Allahu akbar' said Ali and hit Amr with his sword. It cut his sword, shield, iron head-gear in half, and Amr's head was lying on the ground.
"Here is the head of the enemy of Allah and Islam O messenger of Allah", Ali said and put Amr's severed head before the Holy Prophet.
The Holy Prophet said:
"One strike of Ali, on the day of khandaq, is superior to all worship of both the worlds put together."
Please also refer to the commentary of verse 214 of this surah.
In the battle fought between the Jews and the Philistines the enemy ran away when Dawud killed Jalut; in like manner the whole army of infidels of Makka left the battlefield in chaos and confusion when Ali killed Amr, completely routed and annihilated. These two events are meaningfully connected because perhaps there is no other battle where an army of a large number of fighting men left the battlefield when only one warrior was killed. And Allah gave him (the conquering warrior) kingdom and wisdom. Since kingdom belongs to Allah, He grants it to whom he likes, on merit after test and trial, to exercise divine authority on His behalf. It was given to Dawud. It was given to Ali (as imamat). The right to administer the human society was also given to Ali. It is another issue that the people did not allow him to do so, but the office of imamat given to him could not be usurped by any one, because the ability to guide and wisdom, particularly bestowed by Allah, cannot be stolen.
The last part of this verse says that the purpose of war is not to gain territorial expansion but to dispel mischief and establish peace on the earth.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Before Adam "survival of the fittest" was the driving force among all types of creatures. In the struggle for existence, every living being used all available means, good or bad, to obtain maximum resources, without giving any thing to other fellow beings. It was almost an animal society. It was evil. Islam stopped it. With the development of intellectual faculties and inspiration, natural tendencies gave place to The symbolic events that took place in ancient times have been reported, in the Quran, to condition the minds of the Muslims for coping with similar exigencies and occurrences, most likely to happen again and again.
Although all the prophets of Allah are equally truthful and holy, but in the same way that some signs are clearer and contain deeper messages than others, so Allah's messengers are of different ranks. The particular mention of Musa and Isa is to point out their distinguished positions as the reformers. Musa was directly addressed by Allah, and Isa was assisted by the ruhul qudus (the holy spirit). Both these prophets of Allah glorified the Holy Prophet and gave to the people the glad tidings of his arrival. Refer to the text of the Bible (Deut 18: 5, 18, 19; Acts 3: 22 to 25; John 14: 16, 17; John 16: 7 to 14) mentioned in the commentary of al Baqarah: 40.
It would be a false and contradictory statement if it was said that the above-noted verses of the Old and the New Testaments refer to Jesus, because Isa himself, like Musa, gave the news of the advent of the Holy Prophet in John 14: 16, 17 and John 16: 7 to 14.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
In addition to the guiding statements of the two distinguished prophets of Allah - Musa to whom Allah spoke, and Isa to whom He gave clear miracles and strengthened with the holy spirit. there are several verses in the Quran, according to which the Holy Prophet occupies the highest place in the company of all the prophets of Allah. He is the superior-most messenger of Allah. The glory of the divinity of the Lord manifests, reflects and radiates in him to maximum perfection. Endowed with perfection, he was sent as a "mercy unto the worlds" (Ambia: 107). The other prophets were sent to guide a particular people in a particular place (Matthew 10: 5 and 6), therefore, in view of their limited mission, they are not on the level of the Holy Prophet who was sent to guide and discipline the whole mankind for all times (Saba: 28). As the Holy Prophet is the best of all the prophets of Allah, a distinguished group among his followers has been raised up by Allah as khayra ummatin, the best of all the people (see commentary of verse 110 of Ali Imran).
To understand kalamallaku (Allah spoke) it is necessary to refer to verse 51 of al Shura:
"It is not to any mortal (man) that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration or through (from behind) a veil,"
Allah does not speak in the sense attributed to the created beings who use the mouth and the tongue to produce sound. The veil can be anything which can be caused to produce sound.
This verse implies that a large number of messengers were sent by Allah. He made some of these messengers to excel others, and some of them He exalted in rank. In the end He sent the best of them all, the Holy Prophet, to guide mankind on the right path and prevent the people of the world, in all times, from going astray in the direction of Shaytan, their avowed enemy. There is no compulsion in religion. It is not the plan of the almighty that guidance should be imposed upon any individual or community. There is complete freedom to any person who wants to go astray. Allah does not keep any one on the right path under duress if he himself, through reason and intelligence, does not make willing efforts to walk on the right path. The followers of the prophets, including the followers of the Holy Prophet, fought one another, went astray and followed the path of the devil as soon as the divinely commissioned guides, with clear signs and arguments, had left them. If Allah had willed, this straying could be stopped. He brings about what He wills. He could guide the people without the agency of the prophets, but He has given freedom to man to use reason and intelligence to distinguish between good and evil and make efforts to do good and earn reward, or make mischief and collect punishment. The door of guidance is kept open for those who sincerely seek the true direction.
As for those who strive in Us, We certainly show them our paths. (Ankabut: 69).
To fulfil this promise, the merciful Lord has established the divine institution of imamat as soon as the risalat came to an end-Ali ibna abi Talib is the first and Muhammad al Mahdi, the living Imam, is the last of the twelve divinely commissioned and infallible holy guide-leaders.
To keep himself on the right path, man has been asked to seek Allah's help by reciting al Fatihah in every salat. See the commentary of verses 5 to 7 of al Fatihah.
The guidance has been made known. Now whosoever goes right, it is only for the good of his own soul that he goes right, and whosoever errs, errs only to hurt himself. Each soul earns only on its own account. According to the following verses, man has been given an independent free will to act:
BAQARAH : 48
AN-AM : 165
HIJR : 42
BANI ISRAIL : 7 and 15
ANKABUT : 6
FATIR : 17
ZUMAR : 7
HA MIM : 46
DAHR : 2
The individual differences in the prophets of Allah are on account of the level of intelligence and the needs of the people amongst whom they were sent, to show them what was right and what was wrong. The manner of receiving the inspiration from Allah and the nature and limitation of every prophet's mission were determined in accordance with the ability of the people to understand and grasp the message. The last message of Allah was perfect, complete, final and conclusive. Therefore, the prophet who was chosen to deliver the final message was the most superior of all the prophets. He was not only the last prophet but also the foremost in total submission to the will of Allah.
Musa was honoured with the divine speech, Isa with the holy spirit, Ibrahim with shuhud (vision), but the Holy Prophet had the distinction of receiving the divine inspiration and revelation through all the mediums-see verse 43 of al Anfal and verse 60 of Bani Israil for vision in dreams, verse I of Bani Israil for vision in wakefulness; verses 192 to 195 of al Shu-ara, verse 52 of al Shura for the holy spirit; verses 1 to 16 of al Najm and verses 1 to 4 of al Rahman for direct instructions .
This verse clearly states that the discord and strife among the followers of the prophets is due to belief (iman) and disbelief (kufr), therefore, the apologetic attempt of some of the theologians to justify the dissension and conflict between the various religions or the sects of each religion as the outcome of ijtihad or discretion is based upon conjecture, and therefore, untenable.
According to Quran, such differences between the people of the scriptures is due to their rebellious attitude against the clearly manifested will and command of Allah. See verse 19 of Ali Imran and verses 13 of 14 of al Shura. The responsibility for wrongdoing rests with the man; and whatever good he does is from Allah.
Please refer to the commentary of verses 3, 195 and 215 of this surah for spending out of what Allah gives, and verses 48 and 123 of this surah for intercession. To provide or give help in cash and kind to the needy has been identified with the "spending in the way of Allah". It is an exhortation, not a compulsion. According to your conscience you have the liberty to spend in the way of Allah "out of what He has given to you", whether you have large means or a moderate income.
"Before the day comes" implies that one has to do good in this world. What you sow (in this life) you shall reap (in the life of the hereafter). "There will be no bargaining, nor any friendship nor intercession" means that wrongdoers will not be able to claim salvation in exchange of good deeds done by their ancestors or their posterity; or on account of the acts of their religious leaders as the Christians think that Jesus, by his blood, has redeemed the sins of his followers. This verse categorically denies this type of assertion and warns the people not to indulge in such a false belief. The wicked will be punished.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
To make the social life in this world egalitarian every individual should contribute to the welfare of the human society out of what Allah gives him. The overall effect of this system covers every person in the community.
"The unbelievers are the unjust" implies that injustice is the root of all other wrongs. According to verse 13 of Luqman ascribing partners unto Allah is the greatest injustice.
This verse is known as the ayat ul kursi-the verse of the seat or throne of the almighty, omnipotent and wise authority of Allah. This verse is an ayah of protection. In it is mentioned all that we the mortals can ever know about Allah.
"Allah is He beside whom there is no god" - please refer to the commentary of verse 1 of al Fatihah for the word "Allah".
Not only the denial of false gods, but also the belief in the absolute unity of Allah without any complexity of any kind, in any sense, in His ever-living and self-subsisting supreme being, is the first and the foremost doctrine of Islam. Complexity suggests an interdependence among the components which means the "whole" depends upon the performance of the components. All the prophets of Allah, before the Holy Prophet, also preached the unity of Allah, but the perfect unity made known through the Holy Prophet could not be presented to the people of earlier times because their intellect and perception had not developed enough to understand the ever-living and self-subsisting being of Allah. The following words, spoken by Isa, are quoted as an example:
There is still much that I could say to you, but the burden would be too great for you now. However, when he comes who is the spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but will tell only what he hears; and he will make known to you the things that are coming. (John 16: 12 and 13).
Every prophet of Allah preached the unity of Allah. The idea of trinity was not given by Isa. It is an after-thought of the Christian church. Please read the following quotations from the Old and the New Testaments.
Old Testament:
God spoke, and these were His words:
"I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other god to set against me.
You shall not make a carved image for yourself nor the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth". (Exodus 20: I to 4).
Hear O Israel, the Lord is our Lord, One Lord. (Deut 6: 4)
"I am the Lord, the Lord is my name; I will not give my glory to another god, nor my praise to any idol." (Isaiah 42: 8)
Thus says the Lord, Israel's king, the Lord of hosts, his ransomer:
"I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god but me." (Isaiah 44: 6)
"I am the Lord, there is no other; there is no god beside me."
"I am the Lord, there is no other."
"There is no god but Me; there is no god other than 1."
"I am God, there is no other." (Isaiah 45: 5, 18, 21, 22).
"I am God, there is no other." (Isaiah 46: 9)
"I am He; I am the first, I am the last also. (Isaiah 48: 12)
New Testament:
A false god has no existence in the real world.
There is no god but one.
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all beings comes. (1 Corinthians 8: 4 and 6)
One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. (Ephesians 4: 5 and 6).
Prophet after prophet came and awakened man step by step and degree by degree. Finally the Holy Prophet, the brightest light, was sent to expose and explain the ultimate truth, as promised by Allah, to enlighten the human mind and heart with the knowledge through which man can become aware of the Lord God, but comprehends only what his power of contemplation can bear.
It is reported that there are three kinds of existence;
(1) WAJIB UL WUJUD The self-existing existence. The primal cause. There can never be any effect without a cause. The universe, therefore, was created by the self-existing creator, the primal cause.
(2) MUMKIN UL WUJUD The creatures or created beings whose creation is possible only if the creator so wills.
(3) MUMTANI UL WUJUD The impossible existence. The existence of another being like Allah is not possible because there cannot be two equals in the sense of oneness. If there are two equals in this sense, then there is no meaning in their being two, separated from each other. They must be one. If there are two such beings then there must be a dividing factor which makes the two as two and maintains their two separate entities, in which case the dividing factor will be the wajib ul wujud, therefore, such an existence is neither possible nor real.
Wajib ul wujud, therefore, means the self-existing existence of the ever-living and self-subsisting creator. To maintain His self-existing existence He must be an omnipotent authority who not only owns absolute knowledge of the existence but also the will that does what it wills. His control is absolute. His attributes are His self, inseparable from Him from any point of view or in any imaginable meaning or sense, as the meaning is inseparable from a word or as equiangularity is inseparable from an equilateral triangle. As the limited knowledge of the finite being cannot conceive of anything without referring to its attributes, we give names to the attributes of Allah, with the help of our visualisation, to have a suggestive idea of His absolute existence. Therefore, the Shia school holds it as a cardinal doctrine of faith not to think of any of His attributes as a separate entity from His existence. All the attributes of Allah are one absolute unity, because, if they are not, then it would mean complexity, which negates the absolute independence of the omnipotent authority. His existence means His authority, His authority means His knowledge, and likewise all His attributes are so linked together that they are one indivisible unity. Allah is a transcendental reality. He is unknowable. He is an infinite being, beyond the conceivability of our finite consciousness. He is inconceivable. He is hayyul qayyum, the ever-living, the self-subsisting (Ali Imran: 2; Ta Ha: 111, Mumin: 65).
Imam Ali says: O He!
O He whom none knows what He is,
nor how He is,
nor where He is,
nor in what respect He is;
except He. (Dua al-Mashlul)
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Qayyum is a magnified form of the adjective qayam - standing, lasting, enduring. It implies He who stands by Himself, and all others stand because of His (eternal) endurance. His relation to His creatures is like the source of light to the rays of the light, or like the mind to the concepts, not like the relation of an architect or a builder to a construction he builds. It is exactly as Ali ibna abi Talib has said-"Every thing stands by means of Him". He is the self-subsisting everlasting, therefore, He is the first and the last, and the apparent and the hidden (Hadid: 2 and 3); and He is the knower of all things, and He is with everything but is not computed with anything (Mujadilah : 7; Ma-idah: 73).
While trying to visualise His attributes, it is necessary not to be misled by the finite inferences. His activity does not at all mean movement to perform an act by employing energy as we do. Awareness of His attributes, based upon reason and contemplation, may appear pure and perfect to us, but, in fact, it remains a shadow of the reality which transcends all faculties of comprehension.
"Slumber does not overtake Him", means that He is not influenced by any change whatsoever. He is beyond time and states, for He encompasses time and all states. He is the ever vigilant, or the true and perfect vigilance itself.
"Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His" means that He is the creator of matter. If the "matter" is not created by Allah, and is said to be eternally existing as He is, then He is only a fashioner of things out of matter, in which case nothing belongs to Him. There is no propriety in this conjecture. It is unreasonable to say that there are two independent eternal equals. If matter is accepted as an independent and uncreated eternal, then Allah, to prove His existence, will need the matter to carry out His creative plan, otherwise the matter will remain idle. There is no meaning in the idea of two eternal equals, separated from each other. They must be one. If there are two such beings, then there must be a dividing factor which makes the two as two and maintains their two separate entities, in which case the dividing factor, superior in will and authority will be the ever-existing supreme being.
"Who can intercede with Him, except by His permission?" implies that though Allah is the almighty and the absolute sovereign but as He is also the merciful, the compassionate, He has given permission to "Muhammad and Ali Muhammad", the thoroughly purified, to intercede on behalf of the sinners. The issue of intercession has been dealt with in detail in the commentary of verse 48 of this surah. Please refer to it.
"He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases", means Allah's omniscience. The finite beings cannot hide anything from Allah. They cannot comprehend anything except what He pleases, no matter whatever knowledge and intelligence they possess. The facts which are unknown or unknowable to the finite beings are known to the infinite. Allah's knowledge is infinite and absolute. He is the knowing who knows ahead and in advance (in term of time and space) the origin and causality of knowledge. Although the ordinary human beings do not perceive that which is known to Allah only, but those who have been endowed with the divine knowledge are aware of the secrets of the universe.
In "His kursi (seat of authority and knowledge) extends over the heavens and the earth", although kursi literally means "chair", like arsh (used in other verses of the Quran) means "throne", but both these words have been used metaphorically. They refer to the divine knowledge and authority of the supreme, almighty and sovereign Allah, in relation to all that which has been created by Him. His "relation" with His creation, in time and space, remains unconditionally unaffected. His control over everything, created by Him, is perfect, complete and absolute. There is no limitation to the infinity of His existence, because the ever-existing existence is only His and it is He who gives existence to whom He wills. When we say "He is here, there and everywhere", we only make use of our limited and inadequate ability to understand and express His absolute infinity. He is the creator of time and space, therefore, His infinite existence cannot be conceived by the help of the knowledge derived from the system based upon experience and induction.
According to the Ahl ul Bayt kursi or arsh, not connected with any kind of matter, is the manifestation of His knowledge and authority in relation to all that which has been created. It includes all the heavens and the earth. Arsh refers to Allah's hold and sway over all creation. In other words, the creation as a whole is the kursi or the throne of Allah from which all His divine attributes of knowledge, wisdom, might and glory manifest.
"And the preservation of them does not tire Him" means the creation, as a whole, is sustained by Him, and its continued existence is maintained by Him. The laws (created by Him), governing the operation of creation, produce fatigue, therefore, He is independent of such laws. His absolute existence is eternal and everlasting.
"He is the most high, the great", according to the Holy Prophet, is one of the most important verses of the Quran, which deals with the unity of Allah, His attributes, His relation to His creatures, the position of man in the order of creation, his instinctive desire to turn unto Him, his means of salvation and the ultimate reward and punishment.
In order to prevent the total seizure of mind and heart by the greatness of the kursi, mentioned in this verse, it is made clear in the end that Allah alone is the most high, the greatest.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
This verse states a psychological fact that the submissive attitude of the mind and heart towards any sacred object cannot be obtained by force or compulsion, therefore, only a clear view of the sacred generates the spontaneous conviction to adopt the right and reject the wrong. It is not an imperative but an indicative statement. There is no room for considering this verse as having been abrogated by any other verse dealing with jihad. This verse also asserts that after the right way has become clearly distinct from error, man must reject the false gods and believe in Allah.
This verse confirms that which has been said, in detail, in the commentary of verses 190 to 193 of this surah, about the false accusation by the European historians that the Holy Prophet used the sword to preach Islam.
Sir Edward Dennison Ross says:
"For many centuries the acquaintance which the majority of Europeans possessed of Muhammadanism was based almost entirely on distorted reports of fanatical Christians which led to the dissemination of a multitude of gross calumnies. What was good in Muhammadanism was entirely ignored, and what was not good, in the eyes of Europe, was exaggerated or misinterpreted. It must not, however, be forgotten that the central doctrine preached by Muhammad to his contemporaries in Arabia, who worshipped the stars; to the Persians who acknowledged Ormuz and Ahriman; the lndians, who worshipped idols; and the Turks, who had no particular worship, was the unity of God, and that the simplicity of his creed was probably a more potent factor in the spread of Islam than the sword of the ghazis".
Even William Muir, the worst enemy of Islam, in the following passage, admits that:
It is strongly corroborative of Muhammad's sincerity that the earliest converts to Islam were not only of upright character, but his own bosom friends and people of his household; intimately acquainted with his private life, who could not fail otherwise to have detected those discrepancies which ever more or less exist between the professions of the hypocritical deceiver abroad and his actions at home."
Through this verse peace, love and mutual understanding have been prescribed for the Muslims. Also refer to verse 125 of Bani Israil. There is no need for compulsion in religion because verse 2 of al Dahr says: "Verily, we have shown him (man) the (right) way; (whether) he be grateful or disbelieving (ungrateful)!"
Taghut (the devil) means the inordinate, the rebel, the wrongdoer, the strayer, like Shaytan. The word taghut, in this verse, implies all the devilish tendencies and activities which mislead the people. The first step towards genuine belief in Allah is the rejection of the devil.
In other words hatred of the wicked (tabarra) takes precedence over the love of Allah and His chosen friends (tawalla). It is essential to clean the heart and the mind from the disturbing influence of falsehood and then expose them to the reflection of truth, otherwise conflicting impressions will create confusion and distort the beauty of the beloved. See verse 6 of al Ma-idah.
Urwatil wuthqa means a strong rope - the firmest handhold. According to Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir, a true faithful, in order to remain attached with Allah and enjoy genuine godliness, must seek attachment with the thoroughly purified Ahlul Bayt (Allah's chosen friends) and love them (as ordained in verse 23 of al Shura). Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq has said that the firmest handhold means having complete faith (trust) in Allah. The Holy Prophet has declared that every faithful must hold fast the rope of Allah, Ali, because he, who remains attached with Ali, will never go astray. Ali is the ideal of the true faith in Allah. The true mode and manner of the faith is perfectly integrated in the divinely commissioned successors to the Holy Prophet - Ali and the holy Imams of the Ahlul Bayt, therefore, tawalla (love of Allah and Muhammad and Ali Muhammad) has been prescribed as one of the articles of the furu ud din.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
It is clearly indicated that faith consists of two fundamental factors:
(1) The negation of what is against the legislative will of Allah - tabarra.
(2) Belief in Allah and whatever He wills and commands - tawalla.
Be averse to the wicked and be good to the virtuous. Be with the flowers as a flower and be far away from the thorns.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:192]
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Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Wali
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 2:257]
Nur means the light of the faith or the true awareness about Allah and firm conviction in His authority.
Zulumat means the darkness of the disbelief in Allah or the ignorance and uncertainty about Allah.
See verses 35 and 36 of Ibrahim.
Idol-worshippers, in ancient times, revered their kings as the representatives of God. Nimrud, in the days of prophet Ibrahim, claimed divinity. Boastful of his temporal power, he disputed with Ibrahim about the authority of the prophethood bestowed upon him by Allah, since Ibrahim's authority clashed with his absolute sway over the people, whose lives, he argued, depended on his decision; he could kill them at any time or let them live. Ibrahim rendered his argument null and void by pointing out his helplessness against the divine forces working in nature. Although there was no reply, yet Nimrud, an obstinate disbeliever, could not draw advantage from this clear guidance. The Ahmadi commentator says that ata does not mean "gave"; it means "promised". It is about the grant of kingdom to Ibrahim, in this verse, as well as in verse 54 of al Nisa. Even if it is taken as "promised", then Allah is the best fulfiller of promise. All His promises are fulfilled. To say that Allah's promise made with Ibrahim was a bogus and false undertaking is certainly kufr (disbelief in Allah).
"I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to occupy", says Genesis 15: 7; and the Quran repeats it in this verse.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The personal pronoun of the third person singular in the objective case hu may refer to Ibrahim, and the mulk means kingdom, the spiritual as well as rightful (see verse 54 of al Nisa); and if it refers to Nimrud then the mulk would mean temporal and actual though not rightful. However, the meaning and application of this verse remains the same as explained above.
Wherever "giving life after death" is used in Quran, the Ahmadi commentator and his like say that it is a metaphorical reference to the revival of the stagnant nations, because the Ahmadis are averse to the fact that Allah and His chosen friends are able to cause miracles. To them the death and revivification of prophet Uzayr, referred to in this verse, was only a vision, not an actual happening. Since their self-made prophet was unable to work any miracle, the Ahmadis have decided not to accept the agency of miracles at all. To show their point of view as the only truth, the Ahmadi commentator says: "it appears that" and then quotes the events connected with Ezekiel from chapter 37 of Ezekiel and misinterprets them to serve his perverted ideas, although there is nothing in common in the event referred to in this verse and the events mentioned in the above noted chapter of the Old Testament. It is not Ezekiel but Ezra (Uzayr) who is referred to in this verse. It refers to the death and revivification of Uzayr and his donkey, whilst the events in chapter 37 of Ezekiel refer to the revival of a town. It was prophet Uzayr who, like Ibrahim in the next verse, prayed and asked Allah to show him how the dead are brought back to life again.
The true account of the events that took place is given below:
Nebuchadnezzar conquered and destroyed Jerusalem. The corpses of the inhabitants were left to be eaten by the wild beasts and birds of prey. When prophet Uzayr passed by the ruins of the city, he wondered if the people whose desiccated bones were lying on the ground could ever be brought to life again so as to rebuild the devastated town? So Allah caused him and his donkey to die. After seventy years, Cyrus gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem. Within thirty years Jerusalem was an active city again. When Uzayr died, it was morning. After hundred years he was brought to life again. The sun had not yet set. "How long have you tarried?" the angel, who was sent to meet Uzayr, asked him.
I have tarried a day, or part of a day," he replied.
No! You have tarried a hundred years," the angel informed him. He also asked him to look at his food and drink in his bag. It was as fresh as it was a hundred years ago. He looked at his donkey. There were only its bones lying beside him. As he was looking at his donkey, its scattered bones were joined together and it stood before him, alive and breathing. The purpose of this miracle was to make prophet Uzayr an instructive example to those who either do not know how the dead will be brought to life again on the day of resurrection, or who disbelieve in Allah's warning. So when it became clear to Uzayr, he said: "I know that Allah has power over all things."
At home he found his son, born after his departure, one hundred years old; his young maid one hundred and twenty years old, and all his grandchildren older than him. They looked at the fifty year old Uzayr and wondered. Uzayr became a living sign of Allah's omnipotence.
The words of this verse are very clear. Ibrahim asked Allah to show him how Allah gives life to the dead, so that his heart may be at ease. It is narrated that as directed by Allah, Ibrahim took a pigeon, a peacock, a cock and a crow, cut them into very small pieces, mixed them together and put portions of the mixture on the top of four separate mountains, and then called out to them; they came flying to him as individual birds. It became clear to Ibrahim that Allah does what He wills because He is mighty, wise.
The Ahmadi commentator wrongly refers to ''Abraham said: O Lord God, how can I be sure that I shall occupy it?" (Genesis 15 : 8). He does it to lower the status of Ibrahim, a true prophet of Allah, by saying that Ibrahim had asked Allah about a factor which any ordinary man of common sense knows without receiving information from anyone. Genesis 15: 8 refers to Ibrahim's prayer about the kingdom Allah promised to give him, whereas this verse refers to Ibrahim's request to show him how the dead will be brought to life again. When his arguments lead him to a dead end, the Ahmadi commentator presumes that this verse has been tampered with, because he cannot prove that this verse refers to the promise that the land of Canaan will be given to Ibrahim, although he gives irrelevant references from the Bible.
Some spiritualists say that the slaying of the four kinds of birds is meaningful for those who aspire for a spiritual life.
(1) The pigeon stands for social life - the love for family, friends and associates, which must be sacrificed.
(2) The cock stands for animal passion which must be killed.
(3) The crow stands for greed which must be destroyed.
(4) The peacock stands for worldly adornment which must be smothered.
When all the above four desires are crushed, the soul merits the bliss of the eternal life.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says;
"Allah gives life and causes to die, and then He gives life to the dead", mentioned in verses 258, 259 and 260, makes clear the power and authority of almighty Allah, but to deny the miracles associated with the prophets of Allah, the Ahmadi commentator and others like him rely on conjecture to find out metaphorical parallels, as if they are aware of all that is possible or impossible, and the laws governing the operation of creation.
Of such a claim, verse 51 of al Kahf says:
"I made them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor at the creation of themselves, nor am I He who chooses those who lead (the people) astray, (as My) helpers."
In the following two Persian lyrics, life on earth in relation to heavenly existence has been meaningfully described.
(1) What does the mosquito know from where came the garden and how it grew. It is born in the spring and dies in the autumn.
(2) The heavenly existence addresses life on earth:
"For us, a century of years is only a breath,
an ocean of yours a moisture,
we only see and move on."
The terms life and death can be applied, in the physical sense, to a man or any other creature, a group of men or a nation. It can also be applied to a man's or a nation's spiritual rise and fall, with reference to knowledge or faith or any accomplishment. In both the meanings it may take place in its usual or natural course, known to us, or it may take place on account of an unusual course. not known to or unknowable to us. Whatever takes place is an effect of Allah's will.
Though many a commentator says that these verses refer to Ibrahim and the Israelite prophets. yet the Jews and the Christians of today may not accept their conclusions, based upon the references to the Old and the New Testaments, as likely and reliable. The Shia commentators rely on the reports and opinions of the Ahl ul Bayt whose source of information is the Holy Prophet whom Allah Himself gave the wisdom and knowledge of all creation directly. The ideas, theories and events presented by the scholars of the highest calibre, by referring to the Old or the New Testament or any other book, cannot be accepted if these do not agree with the Quran or the explanation or interpretation given by the holy Imams.
"Giving out" is the means to collect more. In the habits of Arabic speech, the number seven often implies its multiples, or great numbers. Please refer to the commentary of verses 3, 195 215 and 254 of this surah. Whatever is spent in the way of Allah, out of that which Allah gives, will be returned repeatedly, added and amplified, in this world and in the hereafter, provided the conditions mentioned in the next two verses are fulfilled .
True spending or giving should have no strings attached - it should be done in the way of Allah. Spending in the way of Allah grows the means of the spender manifold, provided he does not make it known, or cause harm by following it up with reproach - mannan meaning to give expression to the good done or reminding one of the favours done to him as a reproach, and azan meaning harm or inflicting a slightest injury. Even a mention of any favour may put the concerned person to shame or humiliation in the eyes of others.
Imam Husayn bin Ali used to give alms from behind the door, so that the needy might not feel ashamed and humiliated. His son, Imam Ali bin Husayn, used to kiss the hand of the needy before giving anything in charity, because, according to verse 104 of al Tawbah, it is Allah who takes the alms.
Qawlun ma-ruf - kind speech and forgiveness, refers to forbearance if the seeker of help makes unreasonable demands. Spending in the way of Allah is a means of purification. If it causes injury, it will add impurity. If you are a lover of the forbearing, you will imitate His attribute. On no account must you show any sign of anger or irritation at the poor man's importunity.
It is mentioned in the Minhajus Sadiqin that when Imam Ali ibna abi Talib asked Prophet Khizr to say something good, Khizr said:
"To give in the way of Allah to please Allah is the best charity."
"Do you know that which is better than this?" Ali asked him.
"No", Khizr replied.
Ali said: "The self-respect of the poor, who depends on Allah, is better than the charity the wealthy give to the needy."
Khizr observed that Ali's opinion should be written in gold. Spending in the way of Allah is a social commitment, which generates love among the people and promotes brotherhood.
Imam Ali ibna abi Talib says that he who has wealth but does not show off, or he who has the power to avenge but forgives, or he who gives good counsel even to his enemy, or he who spends in the way of Allah with no strings attached, without making it known, is the true hero.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
To attach strings to charity, or to make it known, or to reproach the overly solicitous seeker of help, is an exercise in futility and renders the charity useless.
While giving Zakat and sadqa, one positively lays claim to the act of goodness done in obedience to Allah, but salat is an act of devotion which implies self-denial; the devotee is engrossed in the greatness of the absolute. Sublime was the devotee, Ali ibna abi Talib, who performed these two different acts at the same time - prayed as well as spent in the way of Allah, and, therefore, was declared to be the wali of the faithful along with Allah and His messenger, in verse 55 of al Ma-idah.
We are barren like rocks. To be fertile and of benefit to ourselves and to others, we must cover ourselves with the moist earth of ihsan (giving more than what one deserves). If we cause harm or injury, it is as if the fertile soil was washed off, leaving us once again barren.
Spending and giving of what one wants to keep, benefits man twice over; it speeds up the process of inner purification as well as promotes the welfare of the human society. Islam lays special stress on the spending in the way of Allah because it is a universal religion, perfected and completed by Allah who has prescribed mercy for Himself in verses 12 and 54 of al An-am. Islam, when translated into action, takes the form of salat, Zakat and sadqa. And faith, unless proved by actions, is a bogus claim. Neither Allah accepts it nor His servants give it any importance.
If the spirit or the intention behind the spending is to seek pleasure of Allah, then. if the means are large the corresponding spending will also be substantial and big-hearted and if the means are moderate, even then the spending will be sufficient. When heavy rain falls the tall trees of a garden bring forth their fruit twofold, but even light rain is sufficient, because rooted very deep, they draw adequate nutrition from the soil.
In the days of the Holy Prophet, the early Muslims lived in a hostile environment. It was a period of test and trial. The overwhelming forces of falsehood made their lives a bed of thorns, their relentless persecution hunted them, therefore, in the face of the preponderant danger to their lives and property, they had to sacrifice whatever they owned, lives as well as possessions, whenever either or both of them were needed. Under such circumstances the minimum sacrifice deserves maximum reward.
This verse assures the sincere believers in particular and other members of the human society in general that every act of virtue has its own energy to make both the lives (here and hereafter) meaningful and rewarding, even if there were no external agents to nourish them.
Islam prescribes spending in the way of Allah, but does not treat it as a tax to be collected by the government. It is a moral responsibility to carry out the religious duty. It develops conscientiousness to observe the obligations prescribed by religion voluntarily to our utmost feasibility.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
It is a warning to those who do good, but render it null and void by doing bad deeds by and by. Man is always in need of quick recompense from Allah in the shape of His bounties, therefore, it is downright stupidity to let the good deeds go waste. If one does not guard one's good actions, they will be wiped out.
This verse is a summation of the preceding verses from 261 to 266. The priority in life is to spend in the way of Allah of the good things that we earn and possess, and of what Allah has given us out of the earth; and not to give that which we reject as bad, because we ourselves would not take it unless its price is lowered, therefore, in verse 92 of Ali Imran we are reminded:
You will not attain unto piety until you spend of that which you love.
The rich are warned not to give their rejected and unwanted things as charity to the poor.
Fahsha literally means indecency. In this verse it means selfishness or close-fistedness which is, in fact, a worst type of indecency. Shaytan frightens us with loss. He rises in us at the time of giving. So those men of large or moderate means who spend freely to enjoy life but fear that they would be short of those things which they give to the needy, and so withhold them, play in the hands of Shaytan.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Miserliness due to the fear of poverty is an indecent tendency prompted by Shaytan who enjoins selfishness upon those who have devilish characteristics, whereas those who are godly in nature always expect grace and abundance from Allah, therefore, give what they receive from Him.
Hikmah, not only means intellectual power and ability to apply reason but also implies spiritual perception and command over divine guidance, particularly bestowed by the grace of Allah, to. make right use of knowledge on all occasions. Allah gives permission to fathom the depth of the ocean of wisdom to those who actively seek it from Him with devoted determination.
The highest form of hikmah is revelation revealed to the divinely chosen and the thoroughly purified by the almighty all-wise. Please read verse 33 of al Ahzab with verses 77 to 79 of al Waqi-ah The creator Lord created a group of His chosen representatives, thoroughly purified them, gave them His wisdom, and then commissioned them to guide mankind, in every age and every clime, till eternity. One after another the prophets of Allah came with divine guidance at every stage of development in the human society; and in the end the last messenger of Allah, the Holy Prophet, came with the final message, after which the office of prophethood was terminated. To protect and preserve the revealed truth in its original form, uncorrupted, the merciful Lord, after risalat, established the institution of imamat, and appointed Imams (guide-leaders). Through the Imams of the Ahl ul Bayt, the thoroughly purified, the divine guidance will continue to guide the people to the end of this world. Allah has shown him (man) the right way (Dahr: 3), and given him the free choice to identify these rightly guided guides and obtain true guidance, or reject them and go astray.
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