الصافات

See1:1.

Commentary:

See. 1:1.

Important Words:

و (by) means, also; then; while; during; at the same time, together; with; but; however. It is also synonymous with رب(rubba) i.e. frequently; sometimes, perhaps. It is also a particle of swearing meaning, 'by' or 'I swear' or 'I cite as witness.' (Aqrab & Lane).و has been used in the present and the next two verses in the sense of 'by' or 'I swear' or 'I cite as witness.'

The words الصافات صفا (who range themselves in close ranks) may signify: (1) Muslims standing in close rows behind their Imam in the five daily Prayers, or (2) Muslims who stand in battle array facing the enemy.

For a collective explanatory note on this and the next two verses see v. 4.

Commentary:

In this and the next two verses, God has sworn by certain beings or things or has cited them as witnesses. Ordinarily, when a person takes an oath, his object is to supply the deficiency of insufficient testimony or to add weight or conviction to his assertion. In fact, by so doing he calls God to witness that he speaks the truth, when there is no witness in the case. But such is not the case with the Quranic oaths. When the Quran adopts such a form, the truth of the statement it makes is not sought to be proved by a mere allegation but by a solid argument implied in the oath itself. Sometimes, these oaths refer to the obvious laws of nature and by implication draw attention to what may be inferred from what is obvious. Another object of a Quranic oath is to make a prophecy the fulfilment of which establishes its truth. For a collective note on this and the next verse see v. 4 below.

Important Words:

الزاجرات زجرا (who drive away the enemy vigorously) may signify: (a) Muslims who wage a relentless war against their evil passions; or (b) Muslims who fight and drive away the enemy of Islam vigorously or (c) the custodians of law and order.

Important Words:

التالیات ذکرا (who recite the Reminder—the Quran) may refer to Muslims reciting the Quran regularly.

Commentary:

The description given in this and the preceding two verses may apply to believers and as such the clause, "those who range themselves in close rows," may signify the believers who stand in rows behind their Imam in the five daily Prayers or those who stand in battle array facing the enemy. The next verse, "and they drive away the enemy vigorously," may refer to the believers who wage a veritable war against their own passions, and keep them under restraint, or to believers who hold the enemy effectively in check. And the words "and they recite the Reminder—the Quran" may mean Muslims who recite the Quran and remember God and glorify Him in the day and night Prayers, or even when they are engaged in fighting against the enemy.

These verses read in conjunction with the verse that follows embody both a prophecy and a statement of fact. As a statement of fact, they signify that there live in all times and among every people a group of righteous and God-fearing Muslims who, by word and deed and by precept and practice, bear testimony to the great truth, viz. إن إلھکم لواحد i.e. God is One.

As a prophecy, however, the verses signify that though at present the whole of Arabia is sunk deep in idol-worship and moral turpitude but a community of the Faithful will soon be born who not only will themselves glorify God and sing His praises and make the whole country resound with their hosannas but will also succeed in establishing Divine Unity in the land.

These verses may have yet another interpretation, viz. that if a representative gathering of the learned men of various Faiths were held in a peaceful atmosphere and the basic religious principles were discussed and debated impartially and dispassionately in a calm atmosphere, under the supervision of the custodians of law and order, the inevitable outcome of the deliberations of such a gathering will be the affirmation of the doctrine that "God is One".

5:74; 16:23; 22:35.

Commentary:

See preceding verse.

19:66; 38:67; 44:8; 78:38.

Commentary:

مشارق (Sun’s risings) being the plural of مشرق which means, the place where the sun rises; the words رب المشارق may signify that God is the Lord, the Source and Centre of every kind of light, or the implied reference in the words "the Lord of sun’s risings" may be to the spread of Islam first in eastern countries, then from there to other parts of the world.

15:17; 41:13; 67:6.

Commentary:

It is not only the beautiful appearance of planets and stars at night that is meant here. It would be too trivial for a Divine revealed Book to make special mention, merely of the ornamental character of these heavenly bodies. They serve another very useful spiritual purpose. In fact, the verse points to a parallelism between the physical and spiritual realms, viz. that just as physical heaven is sustained by physical planets and stars, so is the spiritual heaven sustained by its spiritual counterparts who are the Prophets and Divine Reformers. Each one of them serves as an ornament for the spiritual heaven, as the stars and planets beautify and embellish the physical heaven.

15:18; 41:13; 67:6.

Important Words:

مارد (rebellious) is active participle from مرد which means, he exalted himself; he was insolent and audacious in pride and in acts of disobedience; he was excessively proud or rebellious; he was refractory; he outstripped others in pride or disobedience; مارد therefore means, rebellious, excessively proud, insolently disobedient (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The analogy between the physical and spiritual systems, which was begun in the preceding verse, is continued in the present one. We are here told that just as each star serves as an ornament for the physical heaven and guards it by gravitation and other means which are yet unknown to man, similarly every Prophet is an ornament for the spiritual heaven, and by appearing at a time when his presence is urgently needed, helps to guard the same. Moreover, every Prophet fights and routs those wicked people who seek to distort the Word of God and frustrate His designs. The word "satans" in the verse refers to disbelievers who refuse to obey their Prophet and seek to make spiritual progress independently of him. Against such people the doors of spiritual heaven are firmly barred.

'Satans' who carry on a wicked campaign against the Word of God are of two categories: (a) Internal enemies of the Muslim Community such as "the hypocrites," etc. They are called شیطان مارد (the rebellious satan) in the Quran and (b) external enemies or disbelievers who are described in the Quran as شیطان رجیم (satan, the rejected). The words شیطان مارد (rebellious satan) may also refer to astrologers and soothsayers who in time of spiritual darkness before the advent of a Divine Reformer, ply their evil trade and to a certain extent succeed in deceiving simple-minded people.

26:212-213.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that all the tall claims of astrologers and soothsayers that they have access to the secrets of the unknown are false and unfounded. They do not and cannot have access to well-guarded divine secrets (15:10). It further appears from the Quran that none can know the Word of God until it is revealed to a Prophet (72:27-28). If it were possible for "satans" to have access to things that are under the special protection of God such as His Word, etc. then its very sanctity and inviolability would have become subject to serious doubts. In fact, divine secrets are God’s specially guarded preserve to which satans can have no access (26:213) and which are made known only to God’s chosen servants and His Elect.

Important Words:

دحورا (repulsed) is derived from دحر. They say دحرہ i.e. He (God) drove him away; expelled or banished him; expelled him with ignominy. دحور means, driven away, rejected or cast away (Lane & Aqrab).

واصب (perpetual) is active participle from وصب which means, it continued; was constant; was fixed; settled or firm. وصب علی الامرmeans, he kept, attended or applied himself constantly perseveringly, or assid-uously to the thing and managed it or conducted it well. واصب therefore would mean, perpetual, constant, permanent (Lane & Aqrab). See also 16:53.

15:19; 67:6.

Important Words:

ثاقب (piercing) is derived from ثقب. They say ثقب الشیء i.e. he pierced the thing, made a small hole in it. ثقب الکوکب means, the star shone brightly as though it pierced through the darkness. ثقب رأیه means, his judgement was penetrating. ثاقب means a star, a lamp, fire; a flame or a shooting star shining brightly or things piercing through the darkness and dispelling it (Lane & Aqrab).

For شھاب see 15:19.

Commentary:

The words, "But he who snatches away something by stealth," signify that as long as the Word of God is preserved in the heavens it is quite safe and secure against all interference, stealing or snatching, but after it is revealed to a Prophet, "satans," or the enemies of God’s Prophets, seek to misrepresent or misinterpret it by misquoting the Prophet or by tearing a passage out of his revelation and mixing falsehood with it, or they even try to represent the Prophet’s teaching as their own.

The expression, "then there pursues him a piercing flame of fire," signifies that during the time when there is no Prophet or Divine Reformer in the world, satans, to a certain extent, succeed in hoodwinking simple-minded people, but with the coming of a Prophet or a Divine Reformer their falsehood becomes exposed and people can easily see the truth. شھاب ثاقبmay represent the Prophet of the day or the ever-living Prophet i.e. the Holy Prophet, from among whose followers Divine Reformers continue to bring to naught the wicked designs of "satans" seeking to tamper with the teachings of Islam.

The verse may also be taken as referring to the physical phenomenon of the falling of meteors at the time of the appearance of a Prophet or a great Divine Reformer. In the time of the Holy Prophet, meteors fell in such large numbers that disbelievers thought that both heaven and earth were about to fall asunder (Kathir, under 72:9). From Hadith, it appears that in the time of Jesus also meteors fell in unusually large numbers. With regard to his Second Coming the Gospels say: And there shall be the signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars (Matt. 24:29). Meteors also fell in exceptionally large numbers in 1885 when Ahmad, the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, was about to announce his claim to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. For a detailed discussion of شھاب مبین (bright flame) and شھاب ثاقب(piercing flame) see 15:19.

6:3; 23:13; 32:8; 38:72.

Important Words:

لازب (cohesive) is active participle from لزب which means, it was or remained fixed, settled, firm or constant; it (mud) cohered, and became hard. لازب means, adhering or adhesive or cohesive clay or mud; being or remaining fixed, settled, firm, or constant (Lane).

In the word من (whom) the allusion may be to those righteous Companions of the Holy Prophet to whom reference has been made in vv. 2-5 above. In this sense of the word the verse under comment would mean that the doubters and deniers of truth can bear no comparison with those true and noble Companions of the Holy Prophet who have been created of cohesive clay i.e. they are of firm and strong character.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the coming into being of a company of truly righteous and God-fearing men through the Holy Prophet and the establishment of Islam on a firm footing in Arabia is indeed a marvel to wonder at even by the Prophet himself. The disbelievers, as is their wont, ridicule the possibility ever of such an event taking place.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that though the disbelievers will witness many signs yet they will not profit by them, on the contrary, they will mock and jeer at them.

23:84; 27:69.

13:6; 27:68; 50:4.

Commentary:

"Resurrection" referred to in this verse may mean Resurrection after death or it may mean the great moral transformation brought about by the Holy Prophet. The verse purports to say that when disbelievers are told that they will have to account for their rejection of the teaching of Islam about the next life they say that they cannot believe that such a thing can ever happen, and with respect to the great change that Islam is destined to bring about in the lives of men, their denial, too, is firm and unequivocal.

Important Words:

داخرون (abased) is the plural of داخر which is active participle from دخر (dakhara & dakhira) which means, he was or became abject, mean, contemptible, despicable or abased (Lane).

The verse replies to the firm denial by disbelievers of the possibility of Resurrection after death or of "resurrection" of the morally and spiritually dead Arabs mentioned in the preceding two verses with an even firmer affirmation that such a thing shall certainly come to pass, and, besides being disgraced on the Judgement Day, their pride will be humbled in the dust in this very life.