Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
It is derived from the sentence wa tartt kullu ummat- in jathiyat-un of verse
28, implying thereby that it is the Surah in which the word jathiyah has
occurred.
Period of Revelation
The period of the
revelation of this Surah also has not been mentioned in any authentic tradition,
but its subject matter clearly shows that it was revealed consecutively after
Surah Ad Dukhan. The close resemblance between the contents of the two Surahs
makes them look like the twin Surahs.
Subject Matter and Topics
It answers the doubts and objections of the disbelievers of Makkah about Tauhid
and the Hereafter and warns them for their attitude that they had adopted
against the message of the Qur'an.
The discourse begins with the
arguments for Tauhid. In this connection, reference has been made to the count-
less Signs that are found in the world, from man's own body to the earth and
heavens, and it is pointed out that everywhere around him man finds things which
testify to Tauhid which he refuses to acknowledge. If man sees carefully the
variety of animals, the day and night, the rainfall and the vegetation thereby,
the winds and his own creation, and ponders over them intelligently, without
prejudice, he will find these Signs sufficiently convincing of the truth that
this universe is not Godless, nor under the control of many gods, but it has
been created by One God, and He alone is its Controller and Ruler. However, the
case of the person who is determined not to acknowledge and wants to remain
involved in doubts and suspicions is different. He cannot be blessed with the
faith and conviction from anywhere in the world.
A little below, in the
beginning of the second section, it has been reiterated that the things man is
exploiting in the world, and the countless forces and agencies that are serving
his interests in the universe, did not come into being just accidentally, nor
have they been provided by the gods and goddesses, but it is One God alone, Who
has supplied and subjected these to him from Himself. If only a person uses his
mind properly and rightly, his own intellect will proclaim that God alone is
man's real Benefactor and He alone deserves that man should pay obeisance to
Him.
After this, the disbelievers of Makkah have been taken to task and
reproved for their stubbornness, arrogance, mockery and insistence on disbelief
with which they were resisting the invitation of the Qur'an they have been
warned that this Qur'an has brought the same blessing which had been granted to
the children of Israel before, by virtue of which they became distinguished
above all the people of the world. Then, when they failed to recognize the true
worth of this blessing and disputed their religion and lost it, this blessing
now has been sent to them. This is such a code of guidance which shows the clear
highway of Religion to man. The people who would turn it down by their own
folly, would only prepare for their own doom, and only such people would become
worthy of God's succour and mercy who would adopt obedience to it and lead a
life of piety and righteousness.
In this connection, the followers of the
Holy Prophet have been instructed that they should forbear and pardon the absurd
and foolish behavior towards them of the people fearless of God, for if they
showed patience God Himself would deal with their opponents and would reward
them for their fortitude.
Then, there is a criticism of the erroneous
ideas that the disbelievers hold about the Hereafter. They said that life was
only this worldly life there was no life hereafter. Man dies in the course of
time just as a watch stops functioning suddenly. The body is not survived by any
soul, which might be seized and then breathed again into the human body some
time in the future. In this regard, they challenged the Holy Prophet, saying:
"If you lay a claim to this, then raise our dead forefathers back to life." In
answer to this, Allah has given the following arguments:
"You do not say
this on the basis of any knowledge but are uttering this grave thing on the
basis of conjecture. Do you really have the knowledge that there is no other
life after death, and the souls are not seized but are annihilated?"
"Your this claim rests mainly on this that you have not seen any dead person
rising back to life and returning to the world. Is this basis strong enough for
a person to make a claim that the dead people will never rise to life? When you
do not experience and observe a thing, does it mean that you have the knowledge
that it does not exist at all?
It is utterly against reason and justice
that the good and the bad, the obedient and the disobedient, the oppressor and
the oppressed, should be made equal ultimately. Neither a good act should bear a
good result nor an evil act an evil result; neither the grievances of the
oppressed be redressed nor the oppressor be punished, but everyone should meet
with the same fate ultimately. Whoever has formed this view about the universe
of God, has formed a patently wrong view. The unjust and wicked people adopt
this view because they do not want to face the evil results of their deeds, but
this world of God is not a lawless kingdom; it is rather a system based on the
Truth, in which there can be no question of the injustice of regarding the good
and the bad as equal.
That the creed of the denial of the Hereafter is
highly destructive of morals. This is adopted only by such people as are the
slaves of their lusts, and for the reason that they should have full freedom to
serve their lusts. Then, when they have adopted this creed, it goes on making
them more and more perverse till at last their moral sense becomes dead and all
avenues of guidance are closed against them.
After giving these arguments
Allah says most emphatically: "Just as you did not become living of your own
accord, but became living by Our power, so you do not die of your own accord,
but die when We send death on you. And a time is certainly coming when you will
all be gathered together. If you do not believe in this because of your
ignorance and folly today, you may not; when the time arrives, you will see for
yourself that you are present before your God and your whole book of conduct is
ready accurately, which bears evidence against each of your misdeeds. Then you
will come to know how dearly has your denial of the Hereafter and your mockery
of it cost you."