حَیٍّ

2371

Important Words:

رتقا (a closed-up mass) is inf. noun from رتق (rataqa). They say رتق الثوب i.e. he repaired or sewed up the cloth. رتق الشیء means, he repaired or closed up the thing. رتق is the contrary of فتق. The expression فتق المسک means, he took out the musk from the bladder of deer.فتق الثواب means, he slit, rent or opened up the cloth. They say رتق فتقھم i.e. he closed up the breach that was between them; he reconciled them. The Arabs say: ھو الراتق والفاتق i.e. he is the reformer of the affair. The word رتقhere means, ذواتی رتق i.e. things closed up, or better a closed-up mass, and فتق refers to the splitting of the amorphous mass or to the throwing off of the planets of the solar system.

Commentary:

The verse, by pointing to a great scientific truth, draws attention to a spiritual phenomenon of equally great importance. It refers to the pre-material stage of the universe and purports to say that the heavens and the earth or the whole universe or particularly the solar system has developed out of an amorphous or nebular mass. God, in accordance with the laws which He had set in motion, split the mass of matter, and its scattered bits became the units of the solar system ("The Universe Surveyed" by Harold Richards, and "The Nature of the Universe" by Fred Hoyle). God then created all life out of water. The verse seems to imply that like the material universe a spiritual universe also develops out of an amorphous mass of confused ideas and foolish beliefs. Just as God in His infallible wisdom and in pursuance of a great design split the mass of matter and its scattered bits became the units of the solar system, in the same way He brings about a new spiritual order in a world weltering in the morass of confused ideas. When mankind sinks into an impenetrable gloom of moral turpitude and spiritual atmosphere becomes dense and oppressive, God causes a light to appear in the form of a Heavenly Messenger who shakes up the overspreading spiritual gloom, and out of this confused and lifeless mass of moral depravity and spiritual degeneration a spiritual universe is born which begins to reach out from its centre and eventually embraces the whole earth, receiving life and direction from the impetus behind it. Just as all physical life is created from water, so does spiritual universe receive life from heavenly water which is Divine revelation. See also General Introduction.

The words "the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass," in a physical sense may signify that there is no rain from heaven, and the earth becomes parched and dried up and grows no vegetation, and life tends to become extinct. Spiritually speaking they may mean that there is a cessation of Divine revelation and the hearts and brains of men become corrupt and spiritual darkness enshrouds the entire face of the earth. Thus the whole verse may refer both to the general physical phenomenon and to the cessation of Divine revelation. The words "then We opened them out," may refer to the throwing off of the planets of the solar system. Physically speaking they would mean that God sends down rain from heaven, and spiritually speaking they may signify that Divine revelation descends i.e. a Prophet is raised to whom God reveals Himself and to whom He vouchsafes His Word.

Again spiritually speaking the words "And We made from water everything living" signify that when the period of the cessation of revelation which has been called فترة in the Quran (5:20) ends, God sends a Messenger, who by means of Divine revelation, brings about complete moral revolution among his people and gives, as it were, new life to a spiritually dead people. Alluding to the physical phenomenon the words would mean that when on account of a long period of drought the earth becomes parched and dry, God sends down fresh rain from heaven and the earth begins to bloom and blossom and vibrate with a new life. Thus briefly the verse signifies that as no physical life can exist without water, similarly no spiritual life is possible without the water of Divine revelation.