الأعراف
Al-A'raf
The Heights • makkah • 206 Verses
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بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
1:1.
الٓمٓصٓ
2:2; 3:2; 29:2; 30:2; 31: 2; 32:2.
Commentary:
According to Ibn ‘Abbas, the combined four letters المص are the abbreviations of the words انا الله اعلم وافصل i.e. "I am Allah, I know and I explain". The contents of this Surah justify this interpretation, because the Surah not only embodies Divine knowledge but "explains" at a greater length and with a greater wealth of illustrations the subject dealt with in the previous Surah. See also note on الم in 2:2.
2:2; 3:2; 29:2; 30:2; 31:2; 32:2.
According to Ibn-e-‘Abbas, the combined four letters Alif Lam Mim Sad signify "I am Allah, the All-Knowing and I explain." For the first three letters see note {16}, and the letter Sad stands for Ufassilu, i.e. I explain. The contents of this Surah justify this interpretation, because the Surah not only embodies Divine knowledge of, but explains at greater length and with a greater wealth of illustrations, the subject dealt with in the preceding Surah. The letter Sad has also been understood to mean, "Most Truthful."
كِتَٰبٌ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ فَلَا يَكُن فِى صَدْرِكَ حَرَجٌ مِّنْهُ لِتُنذِرَ بِهِۦ وَذِكْرَىٰ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
6:52; 19:98; 25:2.
Commentary:
This verse is addressed to each and every believer, and not particularly to the Holy Prophet. The believers are told that the Quran is God’s own revelation and not the outcome of the Prophet’s mind, and since it is the revealed Word of the All-Knowing God, they should feel no straitness or hesitance in acting upon its injunctions and preaching them to others.
ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ ۗ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
33:3; 39:56.
Commentary:
No patronage or help from any quarter can be of avail to a people in opposition to God and His Messengers. This is a lesson writ large on the pages of history and is well worth remembering.
33:3; 39:56.
وَكَم مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَٰهَا فَجَآءَهَا بَأْسُنَا بَيَٰتًا أَوْ هُمْ قَآئِلُونَ
7:98; 21:12; 28:59.
Important Words:
بیاتا (by night) is the noun-infinitive from بات i.e. he passed the night. بات یفعل کذا means, he did such a thing by or at night; or he passed the night doing such a thing; or he entered upon the night doing such a thing. اتاھم الامربیاتا means, the thing or event happened to them at night, or in the latter part of the night (Aqrab). See also 4:82.
قائلون (slept at noon) is derived from قال (of which the aorist is یقیل and not یقول) i.e. he slept or rested during mid-day; or he drank water, etc. at mid-day. So قائل means, one sleeping or resting during mid-day. قیلولة means, the act of sleeping or resting during mid-day. قائلة means, mid-day (Aqrab).
Commentary:
The particle فا in فجاءھا here means "and". If, however, it be taken to mean "then" and the words that follow be translated as "then Our punishment came upon them", then the verb اھلکنا (have We destroyed) will have to be rendered as "We had decreed to destroy". Two separate and distinct hours, viz. (1) the latter part of the night and (2) mid-day are here mentioned as the two times when divine visitations generally come upon men. These are the times when people are often in a state of sleep or negligence.
7:98; 21:12; 28:59.
Latter part of the night and also midday are here mentioned as particularly the two times when Divine visitations generally come upon a people. These are the hours when they are often asleep or are in a state of negligence.
فَمَا كَانَ دَعْوَىٰهُمْ إِذْ جَآءَهُم بَأْسُنَآ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَٰلِمِينَ
21:15.
Commentary:
The reason why even confirmed atheists have been found to cry to God for help when Divine punishment overtakes them, is that at such a dreadful time, man becomes not only conscious of his own utter helplessness but also of the might and power of a Higher Being.
21:15.
The reason, why even confirmed atheists have sometimes been found to cry to God for help when punishment overtakes them, is that at such a dreadful time realization comes to man not only of his own utter helplessness but also of the might and power of a Higher Being.
فَلَنَسْـَٔلَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْـَٔلَنَّ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
28:66.
5:110.
Commentary:
The verse embodies the important principle that in one way or another all are responsible to God. The people will be questioned as to how they received God’s Messengers, and the Messengers will be questioned as to how they delivered the Divine Message and what response the people gave them.
28:66.
5:110.
The verse embodies the important principle that in one form or another all are responsible to God. All people will be questioned how they received God’s Messengers, and the Messengers will be questioned how they delivered the Divine Message and what response was made by the people to it.
فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِم بِعِلْمٍ ۖ وَمَا كُنَّا غَآئِبِينَ
Commentary:
God’s purpose in questioning the Messengers and the people (7:7 above) would not be to gain information or supplement His knowledge,––for He is All-Knowing—but, on the contrary, to impress upon both parties the extent and perfection of His own knowledge. After the people and the Prophets will have said what they will have to say, God Himself will tell them in detail what they did and what they should have done but failed to do, and thus the all-comprehensiveness of God’s knowledge will be fully brought home to them.
وَٱلْوَزْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْحَقُّ ۚ فَمَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
21:48; 23:103; 101:9-10.
Important Words:
موازینه (whose scales). موازین is the plural of میزان which is derived from وزن. They say وزن الشیء i.e. he weighed the thing, or he determined or estimated the weight of the thing. وزن الشعر means, he composed verses according to the fixed measure. وزن الشیء (with different vowel point at the central root letter) means, the thing became heavy and weighty. وزن which is noun-infinitive means, the act of weighing; or the weight of a thing; or weightiness. وزن الرجل means, he was a person of weighty opinion. میزان means, a weighing instrument; a balance; a pair of scales; the weight of a thing; the measure of a verse (Lane & Aqrab)
Commentary:
The verse does not mean that pairs of scale will actually be set up and human actions and deeds weighed like material things. The language used is figurative. Material things are indeed weighed in scales made of metal or wood, but the weighing of things which are not material means determining their real value or worth or importance.
The verse also throws interesting side-light on the fact that on the Day of Reckoning it is only good works that will carry weight. In the following verse, the Quran makes the point further clear by saying, those whose scales are light, (i.e. those who have no good works to their credit or who have only evil works which carry no weight), it is they who shall have ruined their souls.
21:48; 23:103; 101:9-10.
The language used here is figurative. Material things are weighed in scales made of metal or wood, but the weighing of things which are not material signifies determining their real value, worth or importance.
وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ خَسِرُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا يَظْلِمُونَ
23:104; 101:9-10.
Commentary:
The words, whose scales are light, mean, those whose good deeds are few and evil deeds many. The word ظلم (rendered as being unjust to) literally means, to put a thing in the wrong place, and is here used to signify that the disbelievers did not treat the signs of God in the manner in which they should have been treated. They were meant to instil fear of God and humility in the minds of the people; but, on the contrary, disbelievers became all the more arrogant and insolent and received the signs of God with mockery and derision.
23:104; 101:7-8.
The word Zulm, literally meaning 'to put a thing in the wrong place' (Lane), is here used to signify that the disbelievers did not treat the Signs of God in the manner in which they should have been treated. The Signs were meant to instil fear of God and humility into their minds, but instead they became all the more arrogant and insolent and rejected them with mockery and derision.