زَوۡجَ

33:71; 59:19.

7:190; 16:73; 30:22; 39:7.

Important Words:

رقیبا (Watcher) is derived from رقب. They say رقبه i.e. he watched him; or guarded him; or waited for him; or he kept or preserved it. رقیبis one of God’s attributes meaning, Watcher, Guardian, Keeper; One from Whom nothing is hidden.رقیب also means, an observer; a spy (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words نفس واحدة (single soul) may signify: (1) Adam; or (2) man and woman taken together, because when two things jointly perform one function, they may be spoken of as one. For instance, 2:62 speaks of one food, while it consisted of manna and quails; or (3) man and woman taken individually, because mankind may be said to have been created from one "single soul" in the sense that each and every individual is created from the seed of man who is "one soul" and is also born of woman who is likewise "one soul".

The expression, and created therefrom its mate, does not mean that woman was created out of the body of man but that she belonged to the same kind and species as man, having the same nature and the same propensities. The meaning of this expression becomes clear when elsewhere we read in the Quran: And Allah has made for you mates from among yourselves (16:73); and He has made for you pairs of your own selves, and of the cattle also pairs (42:12). This means that, like other human beings, a wife was provided for Adam from his own species. And just as other men’s wives are not created from their ribs, so was the wife of Adam not created out of his ribs; and just as our wives have been made from ourselves in the sense that they are of the same kind as ourselves, so was the wife of Adam created from his rib in the sense that she belonged to the same race as Adam did. The preposition من (from) which has given rise to this misconception has been used in the Quran not only about Adam but about other men as well (e.g. 4:60; 9:128; 10:3; 62:3, 4), and in both cases it should mean the same thing, i.e. belonging to the same kind or species. The Quran lends no support whatever to the view that Eve was actually created from the rib of Adam, as is clear from the following verses: We have created you in pairs (78:9); And of everything have We created pairs (51:50), which means that, just as God created a mate for every living thing, so did He make one for Adam. He did not need to depart from this law in respect of Adam and to create a female for him out of his own body.

The idea of Eve having been created out of the rib of Adam seems to have arisen from a saying of the Holy Prophet to the effect "Women have been created from a rib, and surely, the most crooked part of a rib is the highest part thereof. If you set yourself to straighten it, you will break it" (Bukhari, ch. on Nikah). This hadith is, however, an argument against the above view rather than in favour of it, for it makes no mention of Eve, and speaks of all women, and it is clear that every woman has not been created from a rib.

The expression "created from a rib" is evidently figurative and must not be taken literally. What it means is only that, like unto a rib, there is a sort of crookedness in the nature of woman and that this very crookedness lends charm to her. An analogous Quranic expression, viz.: خلق الانسان من عجل i.e. "man is made of (lit. from) haste" (21:38) helps to illustrate the point. These words clearly do not mean that man has been created out of a substance called عجل or haste. They mean only that man is hasty by nature. The above view has been supported by Majma‘ul Bihar, Bahrul-Muhit and Sirajul-Wahhaj, which all agree that in the above hadith the Arabic word ضلع means a certain crookedness of manners, the word itself meaning crookedness.

In fact, this hadith refers to a certain peculiarity of woman, viz. her affectation of displeasure and coquetry. This "crookedness" has been spoken of in the hadith as the highest or the best trait in her character, and those, who take affectation of anger on her part as an expression of her real anger and begin to deal harshly with her for that reason, in fact destroy woman’s most attractive and winning feature.

The verse places "the fear of God", side by side with "respect for the ties of relationship", thus emphasizing the importance of good treatment of relatives, on which the Quran lays so much stress. The Holy Prophet used to recite this verse when delivering a marriage sermon in order to remind the parties of their duties to one another.

4:2; 16:73; 39:7.

30:22.

Commentary:

By the words, a single soul, is here meant the father. The verse does not refer to Adam or for that matter to any particular man but speaks of men generally. See also 4:2.

The verse describes one of the objects of marriage, which is that man and woman may be a source of comfort and solace to each other. Man is highly social by nature, and it is his natural craving for a close companion that is supplied by marriage. Without the institution of marriage man, in most cases, would have vainly spent his whole life in search of a true and loyal companion.

23:28; 54:13.

23:28.

Important Words:

فار (gushed forth). They say فارت القدر the kettle boiled or estuated. فارت نفسه means, his stomach heaved; or he became agitated by a tendency to vomit. فار الماء means, the water gushed forth and flowed. فار العرق means, the vein became excited and flowed forth with blood (Lane & Aqrab).

تنور (fountains of the earth) is derived from the root تنر and means, a sort of fire-place or oven in which bread is baked; the surface of the ground; the highest part of the earth; any place from which water pours forth, i.e. a fountain etc.; a place where the water of a valley collects; the shining of the dawn (Lane).

Commentary:

It should be remembered that the punishment which overtook the people of Noah was not merely due to the gushing forth of the water from a spring. But, as is clear from other passages of the Quran, the real source of the Deluge were the clouds. Rain fell in such abundance that there was water everywhere and as sometimes happens during heavy rain, water also began to gush forth from the depths of the earth, and springs and fountains began to sprout, and thus water, both from the heavens and the earth, flooded the whole land. In 54:12, 13, we read, Then We opened the gates of heaven with water pouring down; and We caused the earth to gush forth with springs; so the waters met for the purpose that had been decreed. Similarly v. 45 below also speaks of water from both the heavens and the earth. In fact, it appears from the Quran that Noah lived in a mountainous country where springs were found in abundance, for in v. 44 Noah’s son is represented as saying, I shall soon betake myself to a mountain which will shelter me from the water, which shows that Noah lived at the foot of a mountain. Obviously when floods were rising fast on all sides, his son could not think of going to a far off mountain and taking shelter there.

The word کل (all) does not here mean all the animals of the earth. It only means all such animals as Noah needed. It has been similarly used in a restricted sense in other verses of the Quran as well. For instance, in 27:24, which speaks of the Queen of Sheba, we read, "She has been given everything." But all commentators are agreed in holding that by "everything" is here meant all that the Queen of Sheba needed and not everything in the literal sense of the word. If she had possessed "everything" in the literal sense of the word, she would have had in her possession everything existing in the world and Solomon dared not have said to her ambassador, Go back to them, for we shall surely come to them with hosts, against which they will have no power, and we shall drive them out from there in disgrace, and they will feel abased (27:38). Moreover, the Ark certainly was not big enough to carry a pair of all kinds of animals found in the world. The addition of the word "two" also shows that it was meant that as few animals were to be taken as were absolutely necessary.

The words, except those against whom the word has already gone forth, do not mean "except those of whom thou hast been informed," but "except those against whom God’s judgement has already been passed."

15:20; 16:16; 21:32.

36:37; 51:50.

7:55; 39:6.

Commentary:

This verse points to the law of nature that heaven and earth work in unison and this harmonious co-operation of the celestial and terrestrial bodies is responsible for the successful working of the universe. For instance, when rain falls from heaven the earth brings forth its vegetation which is thus the common result of both heaven and earth. The same law works in the spiritual universe, for just as there is a heaven and an earth in the material world there is also a spiritual heaven and a spiritual earth. Rain and light come down from the spiritual heaven, and the spiritual earth becomes enligh-tened and revived into a new life. Just as good soil cannot fail to yield its treasures after the descent of rain, similarly, unsullied human nature cannot withhold its treasures after the descent of heavenly water which is Divinerevelation. God’s Prophets attract men as a magnet attracts iron. There was therefore, no cause for wonder if Islam spread quickly. The wonder would have been if it had not spread so fast, because then one would have been entitled to ask why the soil did not bring forth its verdure and herbage when rain had fallen at the proper time.

The verse refers to another important natural law, viz. God has made in the earth mountains which keep water stored up in the form of snow which, on melting, feeds rivers and springs. If the store of snow on the tops of mountains were exhausted, rivers and springs would be dried up and the land would lie dry and desolate. An analogous law operates in the spiritual world. In the spiritual realm certain individuals are like mountains and serve as reser-voirs, storing up the Word of God, while certain other individuals are like rivers and springs which water the world but cannot keep the water stored up. Prophets are the mountains of the spiritual world, while savants and ulema, learned in religious lore, are its rivers and springs, and the common people provide the soil which these rivers and springs, being themselves fed by the melted snow of the mountains, water and make fertile. Should these mountains disappear, there would be no springs and no rivers and the earth would dry up and be ruined.

Though the present verse refers only to fruits, elsewhere the Quran speaks of God having made pairs—male and female—of all things (36:37; 51:50). This is a truth which of all religious Scriptures the Quran was the first to propound. It is true that even in pre-Islamic days the Arabs had discovered that the date trees were male and female, but they could go no further. It was the Quran that made known to the world the great truth that all fruit-trees, in fact, everything, had male and female. The people could not at first understand it. But now, after a lapse of 1350 years, scientific research has confirmed the Quranic announcement and scientists have begun to discover pairs even in inorganic matter.

The verse draws our attention to the fact that the law that everything has a pair applies to the human intellect also. Until heavenly light descends on it, man cannot have true knowledge, which is born of a combination of Divinerevelation and human reason. So it is impossible to have true knowledge of God independently of the revelation sent to the Holy Prophet. Similarly, human reason cannot fail to accept the Word of God revealed to the Holy Prophet if it is presented to it in a proper manner.

The words, He causes the night to cover the day, point to yet another fundamental law of nature that the night serves as a covering for the day, and by pointing to this law the Quran dispels the popular misconception that the light of the Quran could not spread amidst the prevailing im-penetrable veil of darkness. Just as the darkness of night is removed to give place to the light of the day, similarly, the present darkness of sin and iniquity will be followed by the spiritual light of truth and righteousness. Darkness, in fact, possesses no independent existence and a single ray of the sun dispels and dissipates it. The Sun of Islam will now dispel the darkness of unbelief and infidelity.

32:17.

Commentary:

The verse shows that from a spiritual point of view Zachariah’s family was an ideal one.

11:38.

11:41; 54:13-14.

Important Words:

أعین is the plural of عین which means, (1) the eye; (2) look or view; (3) the people or inmates of a house; (4) brothers from the same father and mother and (5) one’s protection and honour (Lane & Aqrab). See also 11:38.

زوج means, two persons of the same species, i.e. a male and a female. See also 2:26 & 6:144.

For فار and تنور see 11:41.

Commentary:

The expression, against whom the word has already gone forth, refers to those rejecters of truth whose destruction had already been decreed; and the words, address Me not, mean "do not intercede with Me." In spite of this clear Divine commandment Noah did pray to God to save his son. This shows that he did not regard the Divine commandment contained in the words "against whom the word has already gone forth" as applicable to his son. This was an error of judgement on Noah’s part and all Prophets are liable to make such errors. See also 11:38-48.

Important Words:

وطرا (want) has no verb. It means, a want, a need, an object of want or need; or that which one proposes to accomplish or of which one is desirous. They say قضی منه وطرہ i.e. he accomplished or obtained his want from him (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

As the verse deals with an incident of very great historical importance, it demands and deserves a somewhat detailed explanation. Zaid bin Harith, to whom the words "on whom Allah had bestowed favours and on whom thou also had bestowed favours" refer, belonged to the tribe of Kalb. In his childhood he was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Mecca where he was bought by Khadijah’s brother and given over to her. On her marriage with the Holy Prophet Khadijah presented Zaid to him who at once emancipated him. Zaid was so much attached to the Prophet that when later his father and uncle begged of the Holy Prophet to let him go with them as the grief of his separation from home had almost killed his mother, the Prophet readily gave his permission. But Zaid himself flatly refused to part company with the Holy Prophet, exclaiming that he was dearer to him than his father and mother. The Prophet was so deeply touched by Zaid’s fidelity and love for him that he at once declared him (Zaid) to be his son and henceforward Zaid came to be known as the Prophet’s son. Zaid remained throughout his life a most beloved and faithful disciple of the Holy Prophet and sealed his fidelity to Islam and the Prophet with his blood on the battlefield of Mu’tah.

Zainab was the daughter of the Holy Prophet’s aunt, hence a full-blooded Arab, intensely proud of her ancestry and exalted social status. Islam had envisaged and given to the world a civilization and culture in which there were to be no class divisions, no hereditary nobility, no vested interests. All men were to be free and equal in the sight of God. The Holy Prophet wanted to start with his own family the carrying into actual effect of this noble ideal of Islam. He wished to marry Zainab to Zaid, who in spite of having been liberated by the Prophet and called his son, unfortunately still carried the stigma of slavery in the minds of some people. It was exactly this stigma of slavery, this invidious distinction between 'free' and 'slave' which the Holy Prophet sought to remove by Zainab’s marriage to Zaid. In deference to the Holy Prophet’s wish Zainab agreed to the proposal. The purpose of the Holy Prophet was achieved. The marriage levelled to the ground all class distinctions and divisions. It was a practical demonstration of Islam’s noble ideal. The marriage, however, ended in failure, not so much due to a difference in the social status of Zainab and Zaid as to the incompatibility of their dispositions and temperaments and also due to a feeling of inferiority from which Zaid suffered. The failure of the marriage naturally grieved the Holy Prophet. But it also served a very useful purpose. In pursuance of Divine command, as mentioned in the latter part of the verse under comment, the Prophet himself married Zainab, thus cutting at the very root of another obnoxious and deep-seated Arab custom, viz. that it was a sacrilege to marry the wife of one’s adopted son. The custom of adoption was abolished and with it went also this foolish notion. Thus Zainab’s marriage with Zaid served one very noble object and its failure another highly useful purpose.

The words "fear Allah" signify that Zaid wanted to divorce Zainab, and as divorce according to Islam is very hateful in the sight of God, the Holy Prophet exhorted him not to do so.

The clause, "And then…thou shouldst fear Him," may apply to both Zaid and the Holy Prophet. Applying to Zaid it would mean that Zaid did not like that the cause of his separation from Zainab should come to light, perhaps because as the words "fear Allah," indicate the fault lay more with him than with Zainab. As, however, applying to the Holy Prophet, the words would signify that as the marriage between Zaid and Zainab was arranged at his instance and wish, he naturally did not like its breaking. The clause also shows that the Prophet feared that the break-down of the marriage which was arranged by him and which had been entered into in deference to his special wish, but which resulted in an ostensible failure of the experiment in Islamic brotherhood, would cause some mental confusion and uneasiness among people whose faith was weak. This was the anxiety that lay heavy on the Prophet’s heart. The words, "thou didst fear men," seem to point to this fear of his. But, as mentioned above, God had His own purpose in the failure of this marriage. He wanted to show that there was nothing in this failure to be afraid of. On the contrary, it was a blessing in disguise and was intended to serve a great purpose and therefore the Prophet’s fear was unfounded.

Christian and other hostile Critics of Islam pretend to find in the Holy Prophet’s marriage to Zainab a basis for mean attacks on him. It is stated that the Prophet, having by chance seen Zainab, became enamoured of her beauty and Zaid, having come to know of his desire to marry her, sought divorce from her. The fact that the Holy Prophet’s most inveterate enemies, before whose eyes the whole affair had actually taken place, dared not attribute the base motives ascribed to him by these critics after so many centuries, completely knocks the bottom from under this base and totally unfounded charge. Zainab was the Prophet’s own cousin and being so closely related to him he must have seen her many times, for "Purdah" had not as yet been enjoined. Besides, it was in deference to his own persistently expressed wish that Zainab had reluctantly agreed to marry Zaid. It is on record that she and her brother had desired before her marriage with Zaid that she should be taken in marriage by the Holy Prophet himself. What wasit that prevented the Holy Prophet from marrying her when she was a virgin and when she herself ardently desired to get married to him? The whole story evidently seems to be a figment of the "fertile" imagination of the Holy Prophet’s hostile critics and it is an insult to human intellect to give the least credence to it. But while there are some Christian critics like Muir and Margoliouth who find fault with the Holy Prophet for having married Zainab, there are others better informed and more honest like the good and noble Rev. Bosworth Smith who found nothing in this marriage to cavil at. The Rev, gentleman says:

"It should be remembered, however, that most of Mohammed’s marriages may be explained, at least, as much by his pity for the forlorn condition of the persons concerned, as by other motives. They were almost all of them widows who were not remarkable either for their beauty or their wealth, but quite the reverse. May not this fact, and his undoubted faithfulness to Khadijah till her dying day, and till he himself was fifty years of age, give us additional ground to hope that calumny or misconception has been at work in the story of Zainab" - ("Mohammed and Mohammedanism").

4:2; 7:190; 16:73; 30:22.

Commentary:

The word أنزل (has sent down) which is transitive from نزل has different significations when used with regard to different things. When used in connection with the Word of God, it means أوحی i.e. He revealed. And when used about things of constant daily use, it means أعطی i.e. he gave or bestowed. The word has been used in the latter sense in the present verse and in vv. 7:27 and 57:26.

Special reference in the words "eight pairs of cattle" is to the pairs of goat, sheep, camel and the ox mentioned in 6:144-145, perhaps because they are animals of daily use for man. The expression "the threefold darkness," may refer to the three stages of development of the human child, viz. نطفة (sperm drop), علقة (clot) and مضغة (lump of flesh) or to the other three forms which are described in the following three verses:

(1) He is created from a gushing fluid which issues forth from between the loins and the breast-bones (86:7-8).

(2) He it is Who fashions you in the wombs as He wills (3:7).

(3) Verily, God has brought you forth from the inside of your mothers (16:79).

Or the words, "the threefold darkness" may refer to the three critical periods of pregnancy, when a little carelessness may cause miscarriage, i.e. (a) from the second to the third month of pregnancy; (b) from the third to the fifth month and (c) the beginning of the eighth month.

13:4; 36:37.

Commentary:

The verse implies a subtle allusion to the object of man’s creation, one of the main themes of the Surah. The verse, like several other Quranic verses states that God has created all things in pairs. There are pairs not only in animal life, but also in vegetables, and even in inanimate things. There are pairs also in spiritual things. Even heaven and earth make a pair. Unless water comes from heaven and the sun gives warmth and light to the earth there can be no vegetation. Similarly, the human soul, which has been compared to earth in the foregoing verses, can find no scope for the manifestation of its latent and inherent powers and attributes unless the light of revelation descends upon it.

44:56; 52:23; 56:21.

Commentary:

Again the word زوجان (pairs) may spiritually represent two kinds of righteous works of the believers—(1) those they had done for their own spiritual advancement and (2) those services which they had rendered to their fellow beings.