شِفَآءٌ

12:112; 27:3.

Important Words:

موعظة (an exhortation) is derived from وعظ. They say وعظه i.e. he reminded him of that which should soften his heart by the mention of reward or punishment; he exhorted or admonished or warned him; he gave him good advice or counsel; he reminded him of the results of affairs; he put him in fear. موعظة means, an exhortation or admonition or warning of the nature detailed above; sincere exhortation or warning; the exhortation which leads to repentance and reformation (Lane & Aqrab).

الصدور (the hearts) is the plural of الصدر which means, the breast, chest or bosom; the mind; the upper part of the front of a thing. Sometimes صدر is taken to signify the heart because it lies in the bosom (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse sheds some light on the secret of the Holy Prophet’s phenomenal success. It tells us that it was not due to vast armies, great riches or large numbers of followers, but to this excellent Book, the Quran, whose teaching cannot long be resisted and to which sooner or later man is bound to turn for guidance, for it is an "exhortation from your Lord" and a "cure for whatever disease there is in the hearts" as well as a "guidance and a mercy."

The Quran is موعظة (an exhortation), for: (a) it contains teachings which proceed from a genuine desire to impart good counsel, and when people see that the Prophet seeks no personal aggrandizement by promulgating these teachings but only their own good and their own welfare, they will not fail to be attracted to it; (b) the Quranic teaching is calculated to deeply affect and touch the human heart, and it lays so much stress on the love and fear of God that even the most hard-hearted man cannot remain unaffected by it; and (c) it has set forth in a beautiful manner all those principles and rules of conduct which lead to reformation and success.

The Quran, as the verse tells us, is also شفاء (cure) for all spiritual diseases and maladies. No matter how low a man may fall, there continues to arise in his mind a yearning for truth, a desire to know the reality of things; and it is when his mind is distracted by doubts and misgivings and he seeks satisfaction on questions concerning spiritual matters that the Quran comes to his rescue and dispels all his doubts, with the result that he becomes irresistibly drawn to it.

The Quran is also a "cure" for what is in the heart in the sense that it satisfies the cravings of the heart. It is in the nature of man that, when he reads about great spiritual men and learns how the great depths of religious teachings were disclosed to them, he is moved by the desire that what he believes in only as a matter of faith should become converted into a certainty and a matter of personal experience and that he should also realize what holy men in the past had realized. This is a desire which disquiets many a heart and those whose hearts are seized with this longing will find solace in this Book, and they will find therein the guidance which will lead them to God.

The Quran is also "a guidance and a mercy," which, besides other meanings, also signifies the means of rise and progress in the world. Some men are so dull of understanding that they cannot comprehend the value or depth or niceties of spiritual knowledge and the philosophy of religion. It is only the splendour of material progress that attracts their attention. For the satisfaction of such persons, God shows special material favours to those who believe in this Book.

The four points mentioned above led to the extraordinary success of Islam and, for that matter, to the success of all true religions. Those gifted with quick intelligence and true perception recognized the truth of Islam merely on finding that its teaching had the good of mankind as its only objective and that it had its basis in a sincere desire to see mankind directed to the right path. But those whose perceptive powers were less acute and less fine had their doubts satisfied by the rational arguments contained in the Quran. Those who were still slower to understand became convinced of the truth of Islam when they saw the great moral and spiritual change that its teaching brought about in the lives of its followers. And those possessed of the lowest or meanest understanding, whom riches and worldly progress alone could convince, saw the truth of Islam in the material glory and worldly grandeur that fell to the lot of its followers.

It may well be asked here what the Quran means by saying that it is a cure for whatever disease there is in the hearts, when it is the brain that is the source and fountain-head of all thoughts? In this respect it must be remembered that spiritual matters have a very deep and subtle connexion with the human heart. The experience of all spiritual men has established the fact that the heart is the seat of things pertaining to the spirit. But just as it is difficult to get a true knowledge of the soul and to ascertain the nature of its connexion with the body by material means, similarly, it is difficult to understand the connexion that exists between the soul and the human heart by the aid of physical laws. So in this matter we have naturally to rely on the testimony of those who have experience and their unanimous testimony is that the heart plays a great part in spiritual matters. This testimony is by no means inconsistent with the fact that the brain is the centre of thinking. It is quite possible that changes in the blood should have a bearing on the thoughts being good or bad, and as it is through the heart that the circulation of the blood is regulated, it is quite understandable that the heart should exercise a subtle influence on the thoughts of man. It is an admitted fact that food exercises a deep influence on man’s thoughts, and obviously this influence cannot be exercised except through the heart. In this sense, the heart may also be said to be the seat and source of thoughts. The Quran refers to this subject where it says: O ye Messengers, eat of the good and pure things and (as a result thereof) act righteously (23:52).

Commentary:

The subject of the bee has been further elaborated in this verse. It says that God inspires the bee to collect its food from different fruits and flowers and then, by means of the mechanism provided in its body and by the methods revealed to it by God, it converts the collected food into honey. That honey possesses different colours and flavours but all its different varieties are highly useful for men. This fact suggests that revelation has continued to descend on Prophets at different times and that the teachings of one Prophet differed in detail from the teachings of another, nevertheless all these revelations had this essential common quality that they proved a means of moral and spiritual regeneration for the peoples for whom they were designed.

At various places in the Quran the same words have been used with reference to the Quranic revelation as have been used here with reference to honey. Honey provides a cure for the physical diseases of man and the most essential quality of the Quranic revelation also is that it is a cure for the spiritual maladies of man. See 10:58, 17:83 & 41:45.

The words, and follow the ways of thy Lord, suggest that it is possible for every man to become a recipient of Divinerevelation. The only condition he has to fulfil for this purpose is that he should obediently follow the path designed by God and not let his natural instincts become corrupt and vitiated. If he keeps his nature pure and unsullied and is guided by his natural instincts, in the course of time he becomes the recipient of revelation which may be compared to honey in its purity and usefulness.

The verse also implies that when all creatures have been granted وحی according to their respective natural capacities, though those capacities are very limited, it is inconceivable that man, who has been endowed with far greater natural powers and for whom unlimited avenues of spiritual progress have been kept open, should have remained deprived of this great blessing.

10:58; 12:112; 16:90.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that as to a jaundiced eye all objects appear yellow, similarly to a mind which is swayed by jealousy and prejudice, even most pure and noble teachings appear impure and ignoble. Such was the case with disbelievers in regard to the teachings of the Quran.

The word "Quran" in this verse may also be taken to refer to the portion of the Quran already revealed, the portion containing prophecies about the prosperity and success of the Faithful and the ruin and destruction of disbelievers. The verse means to say that the time has come for the fulfilment of those prophecies and that the flight of the Prophet from Mecca would usher in an era of triumph for Islam and would bring discomfiture and humiliation to disbelievers.

16:104; 26:196; 46:13.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that all the teachings of the Quran have been explained in most lucid, expressive and meaningful language, but it matters little to those who have closed their hearts and ears to it, and whose eyes have been sealed up.

The expression, they are being called to from a far-off place signifies that on the Day of Judgement the disbelievers will not be allowed to approach the Throne of God, but will be called from a far-off place to render an account of their evil deeds. It may also mean that disbelievers have shut their ears to the Quran, and they refuse to ponder over it, so it remains as unintelligible to them as an indistinct and confused voice that a person hears from a far-off place.