Ruku 306 ع

17:45; 59:25; 61:2; 62:2.

Commentary:

The word من (who) taken to mean both animate and inanimate things, the expression "who are in the heavens and the earth and the birds with their wings outstretched" would signify three classes of beings i.e. (1) angels of the heaven; (2) animate and inanimate things which live upon or are related to the earth such as man, animals, vegetables, and minerals; (3) and the birds which fly in the air. Taken in a spiritual sense, the words "who are in the heavens," would mean persons of very high spiritual status, and "who are in the earth" would signify those unfortunate worldly-minded persons whose whole attention and efforts are devoted to material pursuits and who have no thought or time for spiritual things, and the words "the birds with their wings outstretched" would apply to those people whose spiritual condition is midway between that of the two above-mentioned categories. At one time they soar spiritually so high as to touch the very confines of the celestial firmament and at another time sink so low as to grovel in the dirt and dust of the earth.

The words کل قد علم صلاته و تسبیحه may mean: (i) each one of these beings and things knows his or its own mode of prayer and praise; (ii) God knows the reality of the prayer and praise of each one of these classes, God being the subject of the verb علم. Moreover, whereas the clause "Whose praises all who are in the heavens and the earth celebrate," refers to the collective testimony that the whole universe bears to the Unity and Holiness of God the words, "each one knows his own mode of prayer and praise," refer to the evidence which everything bears to Divine Unity and Holiness individually and separately by carrying out faithfully the task allotted to it by God. This may be the significance of the words "his own mode of prayer and praise." صلاة (prayer) has different meanings with reference to different objects; used about God, it means Divine mercy; used about angels, it means their asking forgiveness of God for men and used about men it means the prescribed form of Prayer (Lane & Aqrab).

3:190; 5:121.

30:49.

13:14.

Important Words:

رکاماً (piles up) is derived from رکم. They say رکم الشیء i.e. he heaped up, piled up or accumulated the thing; he collected together the thing and put one part of it upon another. رکام means, clouds or sand collected together and piled up (Lane & Aqrab).

ودق (rain) is derived from the root ودق (wadaqa). They say ودق الیه i.e. he became near to him. ودق السماء means, it rained. ودق السیف means, the sword became sharp. الودق means, rain, violent or gentle (Lane & Aqrab).

سنا (flash) is infinitive noun from سنا (sana). They say سنت النار i.e. the fire became high in its light. سنا البرق means, the lightning shone, shone brightly or gleamed or shot up. سنا means, light, or the light of lightning; or light shining or diffusing itself and rising, a high light; shining of weapons (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse gives another simile about the spiritual development of man and about the changes and processes which it undergoes to reach its perfection. The knowledge of such changes and processes is essential to the spiritual pilgrim because without such knowledge he may not know what turnings and crossroads he may have to meet on the way and consequently may despair of success. The verse purports to say that man’s spiritual development is like the formation of clouds from vapours. It begins in this way. The sun of God’s love and grace shines upon that inexhaustible store of man’s capacity to receive and assimilate the Divine Word with which he has been endowed and then it raises vapours which are moved about by the winds of Divine mercy. Just as in the earlier stages the vapours are not visible, so does the change wrought in the pilgrim’s mind by the Sun of Divine love and grace remain unfelt in the earlier stages of his spiritual development with the result that the impatient spiritual wayfarer sometimes loses patience and gives up the endeavour in despair. The simile points out that like invisible vapours which assume a visible form, the change in man’s moral and spiritual progress under Divine mercy assumes a palpable form and begins to be dimly perceptible. But the character and nature of the change is still in a formative stage, where it has not yet attained fixity and strength enough to be helpful to others. The progress, however, continues till like vapours that condense and take the form of showers of rain and sometimes of hail, the God-intoxicated spiritual wayfarer, who has donned the mantle of a Divine Messenger, becomes بشیر i.e. the Bearer of good news for the believers and نذیر i.e. Warner for those who reject the heavenly messages. Even among the believers his influence is not uniform; some benefit by his precept and practice more than the others according to their natural aptitudes, as are the different parts of earth benefited by rain according to the nature of the soil.

Or the significance of the verse may be that for some the revealed Law serves as timely rain which proves highly beneficial and for others it takes the form of hail and storm which brings in its wake destruction and ruin.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the spiritual development of man referred to in the preceding verse is not always uniform and uninterrupted. Sometimes it is very rapid, at another time it is slow and yet some other time it comes to a dead stop. This ebb and flow in the spiritual development of man is called قبض (contraction) and بسط (expansion) or the alternation of night and day in spiritual termin-ology. Everything in the world is subject to the law of acceleration and retardation and so is the spiritual evolution of man.

25:55.

Commentary:

This verse describes the nature and form of the progress of spiritual pilgrims to their destined goal. The progress of some of them is extremely slow. They creep and crawl to their destination. Others go quicker like animals that move on two legs, yet others go faster like four-legged animals. What is hinted at here is speed and not the method of locomotion. The four-legged animals are, as a rule, speedier of movement than the bipeds or the crawlers. The same is the case with the spiritual travellers.

3:24.

Important Words:

مذعنین (running in all submission) is active participle from أذعن which is derived from ذعن. They say أذعن له i.e. he was or became quick in obedience to him or it; he was or became humble to him; he confessed to him. The Quranic words یأتوا الیه مذعنین mean, they come quickly in obedience (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse signifies that disbelievers suffer from one or all of the three spiritual diseases or that some of them suffer from one disease and others from other diseases.

In fact, the three main things that stand in the way of a man’s spiritual progress and retard and arrest it, are doubt, fear and envy. These must be conquered before any real and substantial progress is possible.