Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
It is derived frog the sentence, wa amru-hum shura baina hum, of verse 38,
implying thereby that it is a Surah in which the word shura has occurred.
Period of Revelation
Although it could not be known from any authentic
traditions, yet one feels after a study of its subject matter that this Surah
might have been sent down consecutively after Ha-Miim As Sajdah, for it seems to
be, in a way, a supplement to it. This will become clear to every person who
first studies Surah Ha-Mim As Sajdah carefully and then goes through this Surah.
He will see that in that Surah the Quraish chiefs had been taken to tack for
their deaf and blind opposition so that anyone in Makkah and in its out-skirts,
who had any sense of morality and nobility left in him, should know how
unreasonably the chiefs of the people were opposing Muhammad (upon whom be
Allah's peace), and as against them, how serious he was in everything he said,
how rational was his standpoint and how noble his character and conduct.
Immediately after that warning this Surah was sent down, which did full justice
to teaching and instruction, and made the truth of the Holy Prophet's message
plain in such an impressive way that anyone who had any element of the love of
the truth in him and who had not been blinded by the errors of ignorance, could
not help being influenced by it.
Theme and Subject Matter
The
discourse begins in a way as if to say: "Why are you expressing surprise and
amazement at what Our Prophet is presenting before you? What he says is not new
or strange, nor anything novel, which might have been presented for the first
time in history: that Revelation should come down to a man from God and he
should be given instructions for the guidance of mankind. Allah has been sending
similar Revelations with similar instructions to the former Prophets before
this. It is not surprising that the Owner of the Universe should be acknowledged
as Deity and Ruler, but what is strange is that one should accept another as
divine and deity in spite of being His subject and slave. You are being angry
with him who is presenting Tauhid before you, where as the shirk that you are
practicing with regard to the Master of the Universe is such a grave crime as
may cause the heavens to break asunder. The angels are amazed at this boldness
of yours and fear that the wrath of Allah might descend on you any moment."
After this the people have been told that a person's being appointed to
Prophethood and his presenting himself as a Prophet does not mean that he has
been made master of the people's destinies and he has come to the world with
that very claim. Allah has kept the destinies in His own hand. The Prophet has
come only to arouse the heedless and guide the strayed ones to the Right Path.
To call to account those who do not listen to him and to punish or not to punish
them is Allah's own responsibility. and not part of the Prophet's work.
Therefore, they should take it out of their head that the Prophet has come with
a claim similar to those that are made by their so called religious guides and
saints to the effect that he who would not listen to them, or would behave
insolently towards them, would be burnt to death: In this very connection, the
people have also been told that the Prophet has not come to condemn them but he
is their well wisher; he is warning them that the way they are following will
only lead to their own destruction.
Then, an answer has been given to the
question: Why didn't Allah make all human beings righteous by birth, and why did
He allow the difference of viewpoint owing to which the people start following
each and every way of thought and action?The answer given is this: Owing to this
very fact has it become possible for man to attain to the special mercy of
Allah, which is not meant for other dumb creatures, but is only meant for those
endowed with power and authority, who should take Allah as Patron and Guardian
not instinctively but consciously by willing choice. Allah supports the man who
adopts this way and guides and helps him to do good and right and admits him
into His special mercy. On the contrary, the man who misuses his option and
makes his patron those who are not, in fact, the guardians, and cannot be, are
deprived of divine mercy. In this connection, it has also been made clear that
only Allah is the Patron of man and of all other creatures. Others are neither
the patron nor have the power to do full justice to patronage. Man's success
depends only on this that he should make no mistake in choosing a patron for
himself by the use of his free choice, and should take only Him his Guide Who,
in reality, is the real Patron.
After this, it has been explained what
the Din being presented by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace) really is:
Its primary basis that as Allah Almighty is the
Creator, Master and real Patron of the Universe and Man, He alone is Man's
Ruler, He alone has the right to give Man Faith (Din) and Law (system of belief
and practice) and judge the disputes of man and tell what is Truth and what is
falsehood. No other being has any right whatever to be man's lawgiver. In other
words, like the natural sovereignty, the sovereignty with regard to lawmaking
also is vested only in Allah. No man or creature, apart from Allah, can be the
bearer of this sovereignty. And if a person does not recognize and accept this
Divine rule of Allah, it is merely futile for him to recognize the natural
sovereignty of Allah.
On this very basis has Allah ordained a Din (True
Religion) for Man from the very beginning. It was one and the same Religion that
was vouchsafed in every age to all the Prophets. No Prophet ever founded any
separate religion of his own. The same one Religion has been enjoined by Allah
for all Mankind since the beginning of creation, and all the Prophets have been
following it and inviting others to follow it.
This Religion and Creed
was not sent so that man may rest content only with believing in it, but it was
sent with the purpose and intention that it alone should be introduced,
established and enforced in the world, and no man made religion be made to
prevail in Allah's earth apart from His Religion. The Prophets had not been
appointed only to preach this Religion but to establish it particularly in the
world.
This same was the original Religion of mankind, but after the
death of the Prophets, selfish people created new creeds by creating schisms for
vested interests due to self conceit, vanity and ostentation. All the different
religions and creeds found in the world today have resulted from corruption of
the original Divine Truth.
Now, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be
Allah's peace,) has been sent so that he may present before the people the same
and original Religion in place of the various practices and artificial creeds
and man made religions, and may try to establish the same. On this, if instead
of being grateful, you feel angry and come out to fight him, it is your folly;
the Prophet will not abandon his mission only because of your foolishness. He
has been enjoined to adhere to his faith at all costs and to carry out the
mission to which he has been appointed. Therefore, the people should not cherish
any false hope that in order to please thee he would cater to the same whims and
superstitions of ignorance which has corrupted Allah's Religion before.
You do not understand how great an impudence it is against Allah to adopt a man
made religion and law instead of the Religion and Law enjoined by Allah. You
think it is an ordinary thing and there is nothing wrong with it. But in the
sight of Allah it is the worst kind of shirk and a grave crime whose punishment
will be imposed on all those who enforced their own religion on Allah's earth
and those who adopted and followed their religion.
Thus, after presenting
a clear and visible concept of Religion it is said: "The best possible method
that could be employed for your instruction and for bringing you to the Right
Path has already been employed. On the one hand, Allah has sent down His Book,
which is teaching you the truth in a most impressive way in your own language;
and on the other, the lives of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace) and his Companions are present before you by which you can see for
yourselves what kind of men are prepared by the guidance given in this Book.
Even then if you do not accept this guidance, nothing else in the world can
bring you to the Right Path. The only alternative, therefore, is that you should
be allowed to persist in the same error in which you have remained involved for
centuries, and made to meet with the same doom which has been destined by Allah
for such wrongdoers."
While stating these truths, brief arguments have
been given, here and there, for Tauhid and the Hereafter, the world worshipers
have been warned of the evil consequences and their punishment in the life
hereafter, and the disbelievers have been criticized for the moral weaknesses,
which were the real cause of their deviation from the truth. The Surah has been
concluded with two important themes.
First, that the Holy Prophet was
wholly unaware of this concept of the "Book" or the True Faith during the first
forty years of his life and then his sudden appearance before the people with
those two things, is a manifest proof of his being a Prophet.
Secondly,
his presenting his own teaching as the teaching of God does not mean that he
claims to have spoken to God, face to face, but God has conveyed to him this
Guidance, as in the case of all other Prophets, in three ways: He speaks to His
Prophets either through Revelation, or from behind a veil, or He sends an angel
with the message. This thing was clarified so that the opponents did not have an
opportunity of accusing the Holy Prophet of claiming to have spoken to God, face
to face, and the lovers of the truth should know by what methods Allah gave
instruction to the man whom He had appointed to the mission of Prophethood.