مَقَامَ

Important Words:

اَولیان (the two who were in a better position) is derived from ولی being the dual of اولی which means, one more worthy or more competent or more entitled or more deserving or better fitted or having a better claim to do a thing, etc. (Lane). See also 4:136.

استحقااثما (the two are guilty of sin) and استحق علیھم (against whom they sinfully deposed). The word استحق is derived from حقwhich means, it was or became suitable to the requirements of wisdom, justice, right and truth; it was or became right, proper, correct or true; it became established as a truth. استحقه means, he demanded it as his right or due; he had a right or title or claim to it; he deserved or merited it. They say استحق اثما i.e. he did what necessitated sin; or he was guilty of a sin and deserved it being said of him that he was a sinner. The expression علیھم added the word استحق means "against them", the particle علی sometimes meaning "against". استحقھا علی المشتری means, he has a right to it in preference to the purchaser, i.e. he has a better claim to it as against the buyer. The words استحق علیھم therefore, would mean, they (the two witnesses who were in a better position to give true evidence) gave false evidence against their just rights, seeking to deprive them (heirs of the deceased) of their rights by giving false evidence against them.

Commentary:

See collective note on 5:109.

79:41-42.

Commentary:

The foregoing verses have dealt with the very important subject, viz. that progress and advance in material sciences which makes man devote his whole attention and effort to the pursuit of physical pleasures and comforts and leads him away from God, results in loss of mental poise and peace which in the Quranic terminology is also called Hell—another name for international conflicts and wars. In the present and the following few verses we are told that pursuit of spiritual knowledge and higher moral values gives man perfect contentment and equanimity in this life and in the Hereafter.

The "two Gardens" referred to in the present verse may signify peace of mind which is the result of leading a good life and freedom from gnawing cares and anxieties which come in the wake of life spent in the pursuit of material pleasures and comforts. One Paradise consists in giving up one’s desires for the sake of God in this world and the other in being blessed with God’s pleasure in the next. A true believer perpetually basks in the sun of God’s grace in this life which cares cannot disturb. This is Paradise upon earth which is granted to a God-fearing man and in which he constantly dwells; the promised Heaven in the next world is only an image of the present Paradise, being an embodiment of the spiritual blessings which such a man enjoys in this life. It is to this paradisiacal state of a true believer that the two Quranic verses refer, viz. "We are your friends in this life and in the Hereafter," (41:32) and "for them are glad tidings in the present life and also in the Hereafter" (10:65).

The "two Gardens" may also refer to the mighty Byzantine and Iranian Empires of which the conquest was promised to the Muslims. The Holy Prophet in a vision was given the keys of the palaces of the Emperors of Constantinople and Iran. The vision was literally fulfilled during the Caliphate of ‘Umar when these countries were conquered by Muslim armies. The fact that in a hadith, Saihan and Jaihan, the two rivers of Iran; and Furat (the Euphrates) and Nil (the Nile) have been spoken of as the rivers of Paradise (Muslim), lends powerful support to the view that the "Gardens" spoken of in the verse were the fertile valleys watered by these two sets, each of two rivers.

23:58; 55:47.

Commentary:

The verse means: (1) who fears to stand before his Lord as a guilty person; (2) who fears the Majesty of his Lord.