يُدَبِّرُ ٱلْأَمْرَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥٓ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
Commentary:
As mentioned above the principal theme of the Surah under comment is the progressive expansion and eventual triumph of Islam. In the present verse, however, reference has been made to a very serious crisis that was destined to come over Islam in its chequered career. Islam was to pass through a period of sustained progress and prosperity during the first three centuries of its life. The Holy Prophet is reported to have pointedly alluded to this fact in a well-known saying, viz. خیر القرون قرنی ثم الذین یلونھم الخ i.e. the best century is the one in which I live, then the next century, then the century after that. Then there will spread falsehood at the hands of people who will take pride in their wealth and riches and will grow fat on the earnings of others (Tirmidhi & Bukhari, Kitabush-Shahadat). As foretold in this saying of the Prophet, Islam began to decline after the first three centuries of uninterrupted conquests and growing prosperity, till it suffered a very serious check in about 271 A.H. when its gradual decline set in. The process of decline and decay continued till it reached its nadir in the next one thousand years. It is to this period of a thousand years that reference has been made in the words, then shall it go up to Him in a day the duration of which is a thousand years. In another of his sayings the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that Faith will ascend to the Pleiades and a man of Persian descent, namely the Promised Messiah, will bring it back to the earth (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir). With the appearance of the Promised Messiah in the 14th century A.H., the process of decay has been arrested and a renaissance of Islam has taken place. The indications are, and prophecies in Divine Scriptures and those in the Hadith lend support to the inference, that the present renaissance of Islam will extend over a much longer period and its spiritual conquests will not stop unless they have embraced in their orbit almost the entire globe.
The verse refers to a very serious crisis that was destined to come over Islam in its chequered career. Islam was to pass through a period of sustained progress and prosperity during the first three centuries of its life. The Holy Prophet is reported to have pointedly alluded to this fact in his saying: 'The best century is the one in which I live, then the next century, then the century after that '(Tirmidhi & Bukhari, Kitabush-Shahadat). Islam began to decline after the first three centuries of uninterrupted conquests. The process of decline and decay continued in the next thousand years. It is to this period of a thousand years that reference has been made in the words, then will it go up to Him in a day the duration of which is a thousand years. In another of his sayings the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that Faith will ascend to the Pleiades and a man of Persian descent will bring it back to the earth (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir). With the appearance of the Promised Messi