Topic: Fear Allah

33:36.

51:18, 19.

Important Words:

الاسحار (latter part of the night) is the plural of السحر i.e. the time before dawn. الاسحار is in the plural number but has been translated as singular for the sake of convenience. السحر also means, the side or end of a thing (Aqrab).

Commentary:

The qualities or attributes of a true believer mentioned in this verse represent four stages of spiritual progress: (1) When a man embraces true Faith, he is very often subjected to persecution; therefore, the first stage through which he has to pass is that of patience and steadfastness; (2) When persecution comes to an end and a believer is free to act as he pleases, he carries into practice the teachings which he was unable fully to act upon before. Thus the second stage relates to "living truthfully", i.e. living up to one’s conviction. (3) When, as a result of faithfully carrying out the commandments of their Faith, true believers attain to power, even then humility does not take leave of them. They remain as "humble" in spirit as ever. (4) Nay, their sense of service still increases. They "spend" whatever Allah has given them for the welfare of humanity. But, as the concluding words of the verse point out, all this time they continue praying to God in the stillness of the night to forgive any falling short, on their part, of the high ideal of the service of humanity.

A true Muslim is expected to display all these qualities. He must show an unflinching patience and steadfastness under the severest trials and must live up to his conviction and carry into actual practice the noble ideals of his religion. Again, he must spend what God has given him of wealth, knowledge, influence, etc., in the service of humanity and must at the same time never be remiss in the discharge of the duties he owes to God. He should not only pray during the fixed hours of the day but should also pass parts of his nights in prayer and worship of the Lord. Special stress is laid in the Quran on the Prayer in the latter part of the night (17:80; 73:3-7). The word الاسحار (lit. latter parts of nights) has been used in the plural number to hint that a true believer should not be satisfied with praying in the latter part of the night only once or twice but should make it a habit to rise regularly for the Tahajjud Prayers.

See 2:62.

Important Words:

یقتلون (seek to kill). See 2:62.

بشرھم (announce to them). See 2:26.

Commentary:

Disbelievers are here warned that if they do not accept the Signs of God and persist in rejecting and fighting His Messengers and are not prepared to accept the arbitrament of divine revelation and of reason, they cannot escape Divine punishment. No Prophet of God, whatever circumstances faced him, ever failed in his mission. No amount of persecution or attempts to murder the Prophets ever succeeded in arresting or retarding the progress of their faith. The history of religion provides a standing testimony to this fact; and the Holy Prophet of Islam—the Greatest of all Prophets—was not going to be an exception.

The expression فبشرھم بعذاب الیم translated as "announce to them a painful punishment" literally means, "give them the glad tidings of a painful punishment". The word بشر (give glad tidings) has been used with a twofold purpose; (1) to signify that the promised punishment is extraordinarily great, the word بشارة literally meaning a news that changes the colour of the skin of the listener; (2) to point to the fact that the disbelievers have been deprived of a great blessing. They were invited to God’s favour which was truly glad tidings but, having rejected it, they incurred His wrath and brought punishment on their heads.

57:26.

Commentary:

As hunting is ordinarily done in a jungle where one is generally alone and where there is none beside God to observe one’s breaking Divine commandments, the verse fittingly mentions hunting to illustrate تقوی or God-fearingness. While engaged in hunting, man’s abstention from violating Divine commandments would show that he has really done so out of the fear of God. It is thus that, by an outward act, the inner condition of a man’s heart may become revealed.

The verse also serves as an introduction to the commandment that follows in the next verse and prepares believers for the acceptance of an injunction which ran counter to the prevalent practice.

21:106.

Important Words:

مقامی (My tribunal) is derived from قام which means, he stood up or he stood still. مقام means, the place of stationing; a place of continuance; stay, residence or abode; social standing, rank; God’s Judgement Seat or Tribunal (Lane, Aqrab & Mufradat). See also 55:47.

Commentary:

The Quran has used both the singular and the plural number of the first personal pronoun with reference to the Supreme Being. Where the Power and Majesty of God are meant to be expressed, the plural number is used; and where His Self-Sufficiency and Independence are intended to be emphasized or where the Power and Majesty of God are not meant to be stressed, the singular number is used. Or, as some Muslim divines have stated, where God intends to bring about a result through the agency of angels, the plural number is used; but where a work is to be performed through some special Divinedecree, the singular person is resorted to. The present verse combines both.

The words, This is for him who fears to stand before My Tribunal and fears My warning, make it clear that the promises of victory and success are meant for those only who properly appreciate and realize the Majesty of God and His Power and who believe that God is the Master of the Day of Judgement and who fear lest their sins should bring upon them the punishment of God. Such a belief is a necessary condition for the fulfilment of the promises of God’s help. This shows that mere nominal acceptance of Islam is no surety for success and victory.

73:20; 74:55; 76:30; 80:12.

Commentary:

The word تذکرة (exhortation) being derived from ذکر and meaning eminence and honour (Lane), the verse purports to say that Muslims will achieve honour and eminence by following the teachings of the Quran and that their enemies will come to grief by rejecting it. The expression یخشی (who fears) implies that for achievement of the great and noble object of the establishment of Divine Unity on earth, which the Muslims have in view, the perfect teaching of the Quran alone is not sufficient unless it is accompanied by the purification of their hearts. The verse further says that the Quran not only guides to the right path those who grope in the darkness of doubt and disbelief but also leads the believers to the highest pinnacles of spiritual eminence and glory.

67:13.

Commentary:

The expression بالغیب (in secret) may signify that the righteous servants of God fear Him while He is hidden from their eyes or when they are themselves hidden from the eyes of the people.

79:41.

Commentary:

In the present and the next few verses have been mentioned the attributes and characteristics of those Elect and Beloved of God who attain true success in life and are the real recipients of Divine favours and blessings. They may not have wealth and may not acquire material strength and power, though these things also fall to the lot of the followers of Divine Prophets, yet they do succeed in their life-mission which is to establish righteousness on earth and to implant the love of God in the hearts of men. They leave behind them a community of devoted followers who after their departure from this world carry on their mission with zeal, sincerity and perseverance.

4:47.

9:112.

Commentary:

This verse embodies a most effective repudiation of the charge that Christian missionaries and publicists are in the habit of levelling at Islam, viz. that it accords a lower status to women. The Quran has repeatedly said that Muslim women stand on the same level with Muslim men, and that they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain. Besides, Islam confers on women all the political and social rights which men enjoy. Only their spheres of activities being different, their duties are different. It is this difference in duties of both the sexes that has been mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, misunderstood by hostile critics of Islam as implying a lower status for women.

The ten outstanding attributes of Muslim men and women mentioned in this verse have been appropriately described in an ascending order.

The first stage of the spiritual development of a believer is that of اسلام which in this verse has been used in the sense of intellectual acceptance of truth. The next stage is that of ایمان which implies the giving of peace and safety to others and testifying to the Divinely-revealed Teaching. At the stage of اسلام a Muslim accepts truth because reason and common sense demand of him this acceptance, while at the stage of ایمان he combines emotions and feelings with reason, and becomes intellectually and emotionally a true believer. The third stage of spiritual development is that of قنوت which signifies total obedience to God’s commandments. At this stage the spiritual wayfarer finds himself irresistibly attracted towards his Creator, and his submission to Divine commandments proceeds from his love for the Supreme Being. The next stage in the spiritual journey is reached when a believer becomes صادق which means that he identifies himself completely with truth, and faces trials and temptations with complete equanimity. His faith becomes pure and free from all dross of hypocrisy and love of worldly things. The fifth stage is that of صبر; when identification with truth becomes a permanent feature of a believer’s character. The stage of خشوع is a still higher stage in spiritual progress. It indicates an attitude of humility which the believer develops after he has gained complete victory over trials and tribulations consequent upon the growing consciousness of his own weakness and that of the perfection and completeness of the Divine Being. The next stage is that of متصدق. At this stage the believer becomes conscious that he is not to live for himself alone but should share God-given blessings with other fellow beings. At the stage of صائم which is the next high spiritual stage the believer learns to sacrifice his own legitimate needs and comforts for the benefit of others and at the ninth stage of حافظین فروجھم he scrupulously guards all the avenues through which sin can find access to his mind. At the tenth stage i.e. الذا کرین الله, which is the last stage and which forms the climax of spiritual growth and development, the believer is so completely engrossed in God as to have become lost in His remembrance.

67:13.

Commentary:

Though the Holy Prophet knew that Zainab being the divorced wife of Zaid known to be his adopted son, his marriage to her would give rise to much criticism among the Arabs, he did not at all hesitate to marry her when he found that it was God’s command to do so. In the performance of his sacred mission the Holy Prophet never cared for the feelings and susceptibilities of anybody. In fact, God’s Prophets do not fear anyone in the discharge of their duties. So, the words "thou didst fear men" in v. 38 should be taken as signifying that the Holy Prophet did not fear men but he feared for them, lest by regarding Zainab’s marriage with Zaid a miscalculation of the Prophet, they might injure their own souls.

6:165; 39:8; 53:39.

36:12.

Important Words:

مثقلة (heavily laden soul) is derived from ثقل which means, it was or became heavy, weighty or ponderous; it was or became heavy, weighty or preponderant ideally; he was or became slow, lazy, wanting in activity or intelligence. ثقلت المرأةmeans, her pregnancy became apparent. أثقله means, he overburdened him. مثقل of which مثقلة is feminine gender means, heavily burdened or burdened beyond his power; overburdened; weighed down or oppressed by disease, debt, etc. (Lane & Aqrab). See also 4:41.

Commentary:

The word وزر may here signify the burden of duty or responsibility; or it may mean the remorse or shame which a person feels when he commits a sin or crime. Taking it in the first sense, the expression لا تزر وازرة وزر أخری would mean that the personal duty or responsibility of one person cannot be shifted to, or discharged by another. Everyone has to carry his own cross. Taking the word in the second sense the expression cuts at the root of the doctrine of Atonement on which the whole fabric of Christianity stands. The verse purports to say that no person can relieve any other person of his grief or sorrow, nor can he share with him the remorse or regret that afflicts his conscience after he has committed a crime. Evidently as these feelings have their origin in the heart of man, they cannot be transferred to or shared by another person. The punishments of Hell are only the spiritual embodiments of man’s evil actions done in this life and the person who committed the evil deeds quite clearly will not share these spiritual embodiments of his actions with another person who had not committed those evil deeds.

35:19.

Commentary:

The expression بالغیب (in secret) may mean that (1) a believer fears God while he does not see Him; (2) he behaves as a righteous and God-fearing person even when other people are not seeing him, i.e. he is sincere and honest in his belief and actions.

40:59.

Commentary:

The verse refers to two classes of men—believers who are described as obedient men endowed with knowledge and understanding; and disbelievers who are their opposites.

3:160.

Commentary:

The verse lays down شوری (mutual consultation) as the basic principle which should guide Muslims in the transaction of their national affairs. This simple word contains the nucleus of a representative form of government of which the west is so proud. The Khalifah or Head of an Islamic State is bound to take counsel with the representatives of the people when he is to take a decision of vital national importance. See also 4:59.

Incidentally, the verse implies a prophecy that the harassed and persecuted followers of the Holy Prophet would soon be entrusted with the great responsibility of conducting the affairs of a great State. The Surah was revealed at Mecca very early in the Holy Prophet’s ministry when the very fate of Islam was hanging in the balance and the then poor and helpless Muslims did not even know where to lay their heads. The following verses also point to the great responsibilities of Muslims when vast political power would fall into their hands.

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.

21:50; 55:47; 79:41-42.

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.