الرحمن

See 1:1.

Commentary:

See 1:1.

Commentary:

God revealed Himself through His Prophets and Messengers to whom He gave His Word. The Quran constituted the culmination of Divine revelation. This revelation of God to man through His Word was not due to any good act on man’s part. It was a sheer gift flowing from God’s beneficence.

96:3.

Commentary:

The word الانسان (man), besides its general connotation, may also signify here "the Perfect Man," i.e. the Holy Prophet, in whom Divine attributes found their most perfect and complete manifestation. The verse thus signifies that out of beneficence God created man in order that he may rise to the highest peaks of spiritual development and may reflect in his person Divine attributes.

Commentary:

Man’s creation and his power to express himself was also due to God’s beneficence.

6:97; 10:6; 36:39-40.

Commentary:

See next verse.

13:16; 16:49; 22:19.

Commentary:

The verse, read along with the preceding one, shows that from the largest celestial body to the smallest stemless plant, all things are subject to certain laws and they perform regularly, punctually, and unerringly their allotted tasks. In the huge solar system, which is but one of millions of such systems, every orb proceeds safely on its destined course and never deviates from it. A little disturbance in or deviation from their set course would bring down in pieces the whole universe which has been created for the service of man. It is inconceivable, therefore, that man for whose service this vast and complicated but perfectly regulated universe has been brought into being should have been created without a purpose. The life of man surely has a grand divine aim to which repeated reference has been made in the Quran.

42:18; 57:26.

Important Words:

المیزان (measure) is derived from وزن. They say وزن الشیء i.e. he raised the thing in order to know its weight or measure. وزن الرجل (wazuna), means, the man was or became of sound and weighty opinion. وزن means, weight; measure; توازن means to be equal to one another in weight, measure or value; equilibrium; المیزان means, balance; measure; counterpart; justice. They say, استقام میزان النھار i.e. it was midday (Aqrab).

Commentary:

The whole universe is subject to a uniform law and all its constituent parts unite to form a glorious harmony of structure and motion. If this harmony or equilibrium between different things is in the least disturbed, the whole universe would fall to pieces. But God has kept all the laws that regulate the world under His exclusive control, beyond the reach of man.

Commentary:

See next verse.

11:85-86; 17:36; 26:182; 83:2-4.

Commentary:

As there is an all-comprehensive harmony in the whole universe, so is man—the crown and object of creation—enjoined to maintain a just balance and to treat with equity and justice his fellow beings, giving, every one his due, and to avoid extremes, and follow the golden mean in the discharge of his duties towards his Creator. This is the significance of the expressions, "you may not transgress the measure" and "fall not short of measure."

Important Words:

الانام (creatures) means, mankind or the jinn or all the creatures that are on the surface of the earth; everything having a soul (Lane & Aqrab).

50:10-11.

Commentary:

See next verse.

Important Words:

العصف (husk) is inf. noun from عصف (‘asafa). They say عصف الریح i.e. the wind blew violently or vehemently. The Arabs say عصف بھم الدھر i.e. the time destroyed them. عصف الزرع means, he cut the corn before it attained maturity. عصف means, the herb of corn or the seed-produce; the husk; straw; the stalk or stem of corn (Lane & Aqrab).

الریحان (fragrant plants) is derived from راح and means, any sweet-smelling plant; or its extremities when the first of its blossoms come forth upon it or its leaves; offspring; a bounty or gift of God; sustenance (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This and the preceding two verses briefly point to all those natural things which are so essential for the physical development of man, عصف being the fodder for animals which form an indispensable part of his life. The verses purport to say that when, out of His unbounded grace and beneficence, God has created all the things that are necessary for man’s physical life, is inconceivable that He should have omitted to provide the things which are so essential for his spiritual growth, which is the very aim and object of his life. For that purpose God sent His Messengers and Prophets and through them He revealed Himself. The words العصف (husk) and الریحان (fragrance) may point respectively to the physical and spiritual needs and requirements of man.

Important Words:

آلاء (favours) is the plural of إلو (ilwun) or ألو (alwun) and إلی (ilyun) or ألی (alyun), etc., which all mean, benefit, benefaction, favour, boon or blessing; might or power; attribute or good quality. An Arab poet says:

ھم الملوک و أبناء الملوک لھم

فضل علی الناس فی الا لاء و النعم

i.e. they are kings and the sons of kings; they possess superiority over people on account of their might (or attributes) and gifts (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The dual form in تکذبان may have been used for the two classes of jinn and men referred to in v.34 below, or it may signify two classes of men only, viz. believers and disbelievers, leaders and their followers, the rich and the poor, or the white or coloured races. Or it may have been used to impart emphasis to denote the dignity of the commandment embodied in the sentence. Such dual form is generally used in the Arabic language. See also 50:25.

The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that when the verse فبأی آٓلاء ربکما تکذبان is recited the believers present should respond by the expression: اللھم ولا بشیء من آلا ئک نکذب فلک الحمد i.e. "none of Thy favours, Our Lord, do we deny and for Thee is all praise." (Ibn Kathir).

6:3; 15:27, 29.

Important Words:

صلصال (ringing clay) is derived from صلصل which means, it sounded or made a clashing, ringing, tinkling or repeated sound. صلصال means, clay not made into pottery, so called because of its making a sound; or clay mixed with sand which, when it becomes dry, makes a sound and when baked is فخار or dry clay that makes a sound by reason of its dryness (Lane & Aqrab). See also 15:29.

الفخار (baked pottery) is derived from فخر i.e. he boasted or recounted his glorious deeds or qualities, or he arrogated to himself greatness and nobility; he magnified himself by boasting. فخر (fakhira) means, he disdained or scorned. فخار means, baked pottery or baked vessels of clay, applied specially to empty vessels (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

After having mentioned the creation of the celestial firmament and of the placing in it of the sun and the moon and of their regular and punctual movements, followed by a mention of the vegetables spreading of the earth and of all the that grow on it, the Surah, in the present verse proceeds to refer to the coming into existence of man, the climax, of all creation.

The creation of man from dry, ringing (صلصال) may signify that he has been created from matter in which the faculty and attribute of speech lay latent. As صلصال emits a sound only when struck with something extraneous, its use here is intended to hint that man’s power to respond is subject to his being able to receive the Divine Call.

Three words have been used in the Quran to express the different stages of the creation, and of the spiritual development of man. The first stage is expressed by the words خلقه من تراب i.e. God created him out of dust (3:60). The second stage is described by the expression خلقکم من طین i.e. He created you from clay (6:3), which means that after having received a sprinkling of Divine Word man attained the power of discrimination by which he could distinguish between right and wrong. At the third stage which is called the stage of فخار (baked pottery) man is tested and tried and is made to pass through the fire of trials and tribulations. So it is after he has successfully passed the tests and has attained spiritual maturity that he is received into Divine Presence.

7:13; 15:28; 38:77.

Commentary:

For a detailed note on the creation of the jinn from fire, see 15:28.

2:116; 26:29.

Commentary:

Every spot on earth, in relation to other spots, is an east and a west. This phenomenon is described as the two easts and the two wests. Moreover, the earth being round, the east of the Eastern Hemisphere is the west of the Western Hemisphere and the west of the Western Hemisphere is the east of the Eastern Hemisphere and thus there are two easts and two wests. In the modern political parlance the two easts may be the Near East and the Far East, and the two wests, Europe and America. The verse seems to signify that, God being the Lord of the whole world, the light of the Quran will first spread in the east and then will illumine the west and thus the "whole earth will shine with the light of her God" (39:70).