ٱقْتَرَبَ

6:76; 10:102.

45:7; 77:51.

Commentary:

The verse draws the attention of the Meccans to the great and numerous changes that were taking place around them, which pointed to the approach of a new era. All signs pointed to the fact that idolatry was going to disappear from the country, giving place to Islam. The word ملکوت (kingdom) refers to the control which God exercises over heaven and earth. See also 6:76.

The words بای حدیث (in what thing) may also be rendered as "by means of what thing". In this case, the last sentence of the verse would mean that when disbelievers had reached their term, they would have no time left to believe and repent. The sentence thus constitutes a sort of exhortation to them to make haste and avail themselves of the present opportunity before it is too late.

In the former sense of the words, (i.e. as rendered in the text), the sentence would mean, "When the disbelievers are rejecting the Quran,which is such a perfect and complete Law, what else is left for them to believe in?"

54:2-3.

Commentary:

As stated above (see Introduction to this Surah) according to western writers the Surah was revealed towards the 9th or 10th year of the Call. If this assumption be accepted as correct the verse under comment would mean that the time of migration of Muslims from Mecca has arrived as a result of which circumstances will come into being which will bring about the destruction of material might of the Meccans and their glory will depart. The verse may also be considered as pointing to the spread of Islam in Medina where the foundations had been laid for the future greatness and glory of Islam. It seems strange that the so-called learned western writers should have blundered into assigning to the revelation of this Surah a date which was very close to the time of the Hijrah and the spread of Islam in Medina and thus should have unwittingly provided evidence that the Quran is a Divine Book which contains prophecies according to which a small and weak community within the space of a few years came to occupy a predominant position in a vast country like Arabia, and Mecca which from time immemorial had refused to submit to any conqueror fell to Muslim arms.

The word اقترب signifies that the early signs of the impending Divine punishment have already begun to appear and yet disbelievers give no heed to this grim fact. It shows that they are completely heedless of the dreadful event that is about to overtake them.

14:43.

Commentary:

The words, the fulfilment of true promise draws nigh, refer to the destruction of the power of Gog and Magog and the triumph of Islam through the Promised Messiah whose advent by the consensus of Muslim scholarly opinion has been foretold in the verse, "He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of truth that He may cause it to prevail over all religions" (61:10). The domination of Gog and Magog will be followed by catastrophic occurrences in the world which eventually will result in the triumph of Islam and the vanquishment of the forces of falsehood and materialism as represented by Gog and Magog.

21:2.

Important Words:

انشق (is rent asunder) is derived from شق. They say شق الشیء i.e. he split, clave, tore or rent the thing. شق العصا means, he broke the staff, i.e. he separated himself from the community. An Arab would say, شق عصا المسلمین i.e. he created disunion and dissension among the Muslims. انشق القمر means, the moon was or became rent asunder; or according to some, the affair became manifest (Lane, Aqrab & Mufradat).

القمر (the moon). قمر الشیء means, the light of the thing became intense. أقمر اللیل means, the night became bright with the light of the moon. القمر means, the moon in its third night and after; the moon absolutely. أقمار العلم و شموسه means, the ulema or learned men of the people. القمران means, the sun and the moon (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Whether or not "splitting of the moon" into two parts, observable by the naked eye, contravened any physical law of nature, it cannot be denied that the event lacks historical evidence which could at all be described as unimpeachable. At the same time no one can presume to have fathomed all divine mysteries or fully comprehended or encompassed all the secrets of nature. It is not possible to imagine that such an event, affecting a considerable area of the globe, should have remained unnoticed in the observatories of the world or that it should have remained unrecorded in books of history. But the incident having found a mention in such reliable collections of Hadith as Bukhari and Muslim and having been narrated successively in traditions of reliable authority and reported by such learned Companions of the Holy Prophet as Ibn Mas‘ud and Ibn ‘Abbas, does show that some natural phenomenon of unusual importance must have taken place in the time of the Holy Prophet. Some commentators of the Quran—Radi among them—have sought to solve the difficult problem by declaring the incident to be a lunar eclipse. Imam Ghazali and Shah Wali Allah also hold the view that the moon had not in fact been rent asunder, but that God had so contrived that it appeared to the beholders as such. However, taking into consideration the forceful language in which it has been mentioned in the Quran, the incident appears to be something more than a mere lunar eclipse. It indeed constituted a great miracle shown by the Prophet at the insistent demand of disbelievers (see Bukhari & Muslim). It seems to be a vision of the Holy Prophet in which the Companions of the Holy Prophet and some of the Quraish were made to share—just as the rod turning into a serpent was a vision of Moses in which the magicians were made to share. Alternatively, it may be that just as the striking of seawater by Moses with his rod coincided with the ebb of the tide and thus assumed the character of a miracle, because God alone knew when the sea would recede and it was He Who commanded Moses to strike the waters at the time of recession, similarly God may have commanded the Holy Prophet to show the miracle of the cleaving asunder of the moon at a time when a heavenly body was to take such a position in front of the moon that it caused the moon to appear to the beholders as split into two parts.

But the most plausible explanation, which is also possessed of very deep spiritual significance of this, one of the most outstanding miracles shown by the Holy Prophet, lies in the fact that the moon was the national emblem of the Arabs and the symbol of their political power, just as the sun at that time was the national ensign of the Persians. When Safiyyah, the daughter of Huyay bin Akhtab, a leader of the Jews of Khaibar, mentioned to her father that she had seen in a dream that the moon had fallen into her lap, he slapped her face saying that she wanted to marry the leader of the Arabs. After the fall of Khaibar Safiyyah’s dream was fulfilled when she was married to the Holy Prophet (Zurqani & Usdul-Ghabbah). Similarly, ‘A’ishah had seen a dream that three moons had fallen in her private apartment which saw its fulfilment when the Holy Prophet, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar were buried there one after the other (Mu’atta’, KitabuI-Jana’iz). According to this sense of the word و قمر the verse would signify that the hour of destruction of their political power with which the disbelieving Arabs had been threatened in 53:58 has already arrived. The word الساعه (Hour) in that case would refer to the Battle of Badr in which all the chiefs and leaders of the Quraish were killed and the foundations of the complete destruction of their power were laid. Thus the verse constituted a mighty prophecy which met with remarkable fulfilment, nearly eight or nine years after its announcement. Moreover, the Holy Prophet has been called "illuminating moon" (قمراً منیراً) in the Quran. In this sense of the word the verse would mean that after the Holy Prophet’s separation from the Quraish, the "Hour" of the destruction of their power would arrive, and it happened likewise. About a year after the Migration of the Holy Prophet to Medina, the Battle of Badr was fought which broke the Quraishite power.

Taking the expression انشق القمر in the sense, "the affair has become manifest," the verse would mean that the hour of the destruction of the Quraishite power has arrived and that now it would become manifest that the Prophet was a true Divine Messenger.

The word الساعة, besides the Battle of Badr, may apply to the Battle of the Ditch and the Fall of Mecca, as these three events combined to bring about complete and total annihilation of the power of pagan Arabs.