مَسْجُورِ

81:7.

Important Words:

المسجور (swollen) is derived from سجر. They say سجر الماء النھر i.e. the water filled the stream. سجر التنور (sajjara) means, he filled the oven with firewood and heated it. سجر الماء means, he made the water to flow forth whithersoever it would. مسجور means, filled; kindled; still or quiet, or still and full at the same time; empty (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

It is the characteristic of the Quran that when it has to make a firm declaration and impart emphasis and certainty to that declaration it swears by, or cites as witnesses, certain beings or objects or natural laws or phenomena. In the first few verses the Surah swears by certain things intimately connected with Moses—the counterpart of the Holy Prophet. It was on the Tur that the revelation was vouchsafed to Moses which embodied his Law and the prophecies which spoke about the appearance of a great Divine Prophet from among the brethren of the Israelites. That Prophet was to be the like of Moses and was to shine forth from mount Paran and to come with ten thousand saints, holding in his right hand a fiery law (Deut. 18:18 & 33: 2). Evidently, the Holy Prophet was the Divine Messenger spoken of in the prophecy. His advent is likened in the Quran to the advent of Moses (73:16). He shined forth from mount Paran, holding the Quran in his right hand and entered Mecca at the head of ten thousand saintly warriors. The Surah then cites, as evidence, the "Inscribed Book" which is the Bible or the Quran, preferably the latter, and which stands as a standing and incontrovertible testimony to the truth of the claims of the Holy Prophet. "The Frequented House"—the Ka‘bah,—more than anything else, shows that the religion of which it forms the citadel and the centre is God’s Final Dispensation. The site where the Ka‘bah stands was a dry barren waste where no sign of human or animal life was visible. Here, long centuries ago, a holy man of God—the Patriarch Abraham, aided and assisted by his son, Ishmael, while raising its foundations, had prayed that the place may become a haven of safety and security and may constitute the centre from where God’s Unity and Oneness may be proclaimed and preached. It was "this barren waste that didst not bear and didst not travail with child"which gave birth to the greatest son of man, as was spoken of old (Isa. 54:1). Here it was (as was foretold) that "the glory of God rose and shone; the multitudes of camels came, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all came from Sheba and brought gold and incense and shewed forth the praises of the Lord" (Isa. 60:1-6).

The reference in the words "the Elevated Roof," being to heaven, the verse (v.6) signifies that the disbelievers are so unwise as not to see this simple fact that whereas the Prophet continuously receives Divine help and his cause progresses and prospers, failure dogs their footsteps and all their designs and plans against the Prophet prove abortive. In the words"the Swollen Sea," the reference may be to the Mediterranean Sea where Pharaoh and his mighty hosts were drowned while pursuing the Israelites or they may refer to the battlefield of Badr where all the great leaders of the Quraish were killed, as it was known as البحر i.e. the sea (Nihayah). The words may also apply to the Quran which like a fathomless sea of spiritual knowledge continues to throw out treasures of divine knowledge. "Why do not the disbelievers," the verse purports to say, "take a lesson from these patent facts and realize that opposition to God’s Messengers does not pay and will end in their ruin?"