037- AL-SAFFAT
THOSE RANGED IN RANKS
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# By those ranged in ranks, # and the drivers driving, # and the reciters of a reminder, # truly your God is One, # Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, and Lord of the easts. # Truly We adorned the lowest heaven with an ornament, the stars, # and a guard against every defiant satan. # They listen not to the Highest Assembly, for they are repelled from every side— # cast out, and theirs shall be a punishment everlasting— # save one who snatches a fragment as a piercing flame pursues him. # So ask them, are they more difficult to create, or those whom We created? Truly We created them from a viscous clay. # Indeed, but thou dost marvel, while they scoff. # And when they are reminded, they do not remember. # And when they see a sign, they seek to scoff, # and say, “This is naught but manifest sorcery. # What! When we have died and are dust and bones are we to be resurrected, # and our fathers of old?” # Say, “Yes, and debased will you be.” # Then there will be but a single cry. And they will then behold. Ȋ They will say, “Oh, woe unto us! This is the Day of Judgment.” ! This is the Day of Division that you used to deny. # Gather those who did wrong together with their spouses and that which they used to worship # apart from God, and guide them unto the path of Hellfire. # And stop them. Surely they are to be questioned: # “What ails you that you do not help one another?” # Nay, but this Day they will surrender. ‘ And they will turn to one another, questioning each other, # saying, “Truly you used to come to us from the right.” # They reply, “Nay, but you were not believers. # And we had no authority over you. Rather, you were a rebellious people. # So the Word of our Lord has come due for us; truly we shall taste [it]. # We caused you to err for truly we were errant.” # Verily that Day they will share in the punishment. # Thus do We deal with the guilty. # Indeed, when it was said unto them, “There is no god but God,” they waxed arrogant, # saying, “Are we to forsake our gods for a poet possessed?” # Nay! He has come with the truth and confirmed the messengers. # Truly you shall taste the painful punishment. # And you shall not be requited, save for that which you used to do. # Not so for God’s sincere servants. # For them there shall be a known provision, # fruits. And they will be honored # in Gardens of bliss, # upon couches, facing one another, # with a cup from a gushing spring brought round, # white, delicious to those who drink thereof. # No headiness lies therein; nor are they intoxicated by it. # And theirs shall be maidens of modest gaze with lustrous eyes, # as if they were hidden eggs. # And they will turn to one another, questioning each other. # One among them will say, “I had a companion # who would say, ‘Are you among those who confirm? # What! When we have died and are dust and bones, are we to be requited?’” # He will say, “Will you look?” # So he will look and see him in the midst of Hellfire. # He will say, “By God! You did well-nigh destroy me; # and if not for the blessing of my Lord, I would have been among the arraigned. # Are we then not to die, # but our first death, and are we not to be punished? ` This indeed is the great triumph!” # For the like of this, then, let the laborers labor. # Is this a better welcome or the tree of Zaqqūm? # Truly We have made it a trial for the wrongdoers. # Truly it is a tree that emerges in the depths of Hellfire. # Its spathes are as the heads of satans. # They will eat thereof and fill their bellies therewith. # Then on top of it they will have a brew of a boiling liquid. # Then their return shall be unto Hellfire. # Truly they found their fathers astray; # yet they hasten in their footsteps. # And before them most of those of old had indeed gone astray, # though We had indeed sent warners among them. # So behold how those who were warned fared in the end. # Not so for God’s sincere servants. # And indeed Noah cried out to Us. How excellent are those who respond! # We saved him and his people from great distress, # and We made his progeny endure, # and We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations: # “Peace be upon Noah throughout the worlds.” # Thus do We recompense the virtuous. # Truly he was among Our believing servants. # Then We drowned the others. # And surely among his party was Abraham, # when he came unto his Lord with a sound heart, # when he said unto his father and his people, “What do you worship? # Is it a perversion, gods apart from God, that you desire? # What, then, think you of the Lord of the worlds?” # Then he cast a glance at the stars # and said, “Truly I am sick.” # But they turned their backs on him. # Then he went quietly to their gods and said, “Will you not eat? # What ails you that you speak not?” # Then he turned upon them, striking with his right hand. # Then they came to him rushing. # He said, “Do you worship that which you carve, # while God created you and that which you make?” # They said, “Erect a building for him and cast him into the fire.” # They desired to scheme against him, so We made them the lowest. # And he said, “Truly I am going unto my Lord. He will guide me. # My Lord, give unto me from among the righteous.” # So We gave him glad tidings of a gentle son. # When he had become old enough to partake of his father’s endeavors, Abraham said, “O my son! I see while dreaming that I am to sacrifice you. So consider, what do you see?” He replied, “O my father! Do as you are commanded. You will find me, God willing, among those who are patient.” # But when they had submitted and Abraham had laid him upon his forehead, # We called unto him, “O Abraham! # Thou hast been true to the vision.” Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous. # Truly this was the manifest trial. # Then We ransomed him with a great sacrifice. # And We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations: # “Peace be upon Abraham.” # Thus do We recompense the virtuous. # Truly he was among Our believing servants. # And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet from among the righteous. # And We blessed him and Isaac. And among their progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves. # And We were gracious unto Moses and Aaron. # We saved them and their people from great distress # and helped them, so that they were the victors. # And We gave the two of them the Book that makes clear, # and guided the two of them upon the straight path. # And We left [a blessing] upon them among later generations: # “Peace be upon Moses and Aaron.” # Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous. # Truly they were among Our believing servants. # And truly Elias was among the message bearers # when he said to his people, “Will you not reverence? # Do you call upon Baal and leave the most beautiful of creators? # God is your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old.” # But they denied him; so they are surely to be arraigned. # Not so for God’s sincere servants. # And We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations: # “Peace be upon Elias.” # Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous. # Truly he was among Our believing servants. # And truly Lot was among the message bearers. # Behold! We saved him and his family all together, # save for an old woman who was among those who lagged behind. # Then We destroyed the others. # And truly you pass by them in the morning # and at night. Do you not understand? # And truly Jonah was among the message bearers. # Behold! He fled to the full-laden ship, # and then cast lots and was among those rejected. # Then the fish swallowed him, for he was blameworthy. # And had he not been among those who glorify, ń he would have tarried in its belly till the Day they are resurrected. # So We cast him, sick, upon the barren shore. # And We caused a gourd tree to grow over him. # Then We sent him unto a hundred thousand or more. # And they believed; so We granted them enjoyment for a while. # So ask them, does your Lord have daughters while they have sons? # Or did We create the angels female, while they were witnesses? # Behold! It is of their own perversion that they say, # “God has begotten,” while truly they are liars. # Has He chosen daughters over sons? # What ails you? How do you judge? # Do you not reflect? # Or have you a manifest authority? # Bring your Book, then, if you are truthful. # They have made kinship between Him and the jinn—yet the jinn know that they will surely be arraigned; # Glory be to God above that which they ascribe. # Not so for God’s sincere servants. # For truly neither you nor that which you worship # can tempt any against Him, # save he who is to burn in Hellfire. # “There is none among us, but that he has a known station. # And truly we are those who are ranged [in ranks]. # Truly we are those who glorify.” # Indeed, they used to say, # “If only we had a reminder from those of old, # then we would indeed be God’s sincere servants.” # But they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know, # for indeed Our Word has already gone forth unto Our message bearers # that they will surely be helped, # and that Our host will surely be victorious. # So turn away from them for a time, # and observe them; for they will soon observe. # Do they seek to hasten Our Punishment? # When it alights in their very midst, evil will be the morning of those who were warned! # So turn away from them for a time, # and observe; for they will soon observe. # Glory be to thy Lord, the Lord of Might, above that which they ascribe. # Peace be upon the message bearers. # And praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
Commentary
# By those ranged in ranks,
# and the drivers driving,
# and the reciters of a reminder,
1–3 These verses are in the form of a Divine oath, common in the Quran, in which God swears by various created phenomena. The three verses can be understood as descriptions of a single reality or of three different realities (R). Most read them as references to three sets of angels: angels ranged in ranks before God, angels who drive the clouds, and angels who recite the Quran (IJ, Q, Ṭ, Z). Ranged in ranks renders ṣāffāt ṣaffan, which can also mean “the spreaders spreading,” a reading that may refer to the angels spreading their wings (R) or to birds, as in 24:41, by the birds spreading their wings (ṣāffāt; cf. 67:19; Z). Drivers can also mean the angels who drive human beings away from committing acts of disobedience or who drive the satans away from human beings (Aj, R). Driving renders zajara, which can also mean “to rebuke.” In light of this interpretation, some understand reminder as a reference to the Quran, by which God rebukes the disbelievers (Ṭ), or to everything that rebukes those who are disobedient to God (Z). Reciters is then read to mean anyone who recites the Book of God (Z). Additionally, these three verses could also be read as a description of the stages in prayer: ranged in ranks refers to people as they stand for prayer; driving refers to the recitation of the formula “I seek refuge in God from the accursed Satan” (aʿūdhu bi’Llāhi min al-shayṭān al-rajīm), which is recited at the beginning of the prayer and at the commencement of the recitation of the Quran (see 16:98c); and the reciters of a reminder refers to the recitation of the Quran during the prayer (R). A few more speculative interpretations relate these groups to different types of scholars (AJ, R, Z), mujtahids (interpreters of Islamic Law; R), types of Quranic verses (R), or spiritual types (Aj).
***
# truly your God is One,
# Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, and Lord of the easts.
4–5 These verses constitute the “answer to the oath” invoked in the previous three verses, as if to say, “The Lord of all that is mentioned above is One” (IJ). Lord of the easts refers to the succession of points on the horizon through the year from which the sun rises (IJ). The rising of the sun, sharaqa, derives from the same root, sh-r-q, as the word for “east,” mashriq (cf. 55:17; 70:40). In this sense, easts (mashāriq) evokes the sense of “places of rising” for the sun or even “horizons.”
***
# Truly We adorned the lowest heaven with an ornament, the stars, z and a guard against every defiant satan.
# They listen not to the Highest Assembly, for they are repelled from every side—
# cast out, and theirs shall be a punishment everlasting—
# save one who snatches a fragment as a piercing flame pursues him.
6–10 These verses refer to God’s having prevented evil jinn, here referred to as every defiant satan, from listening to the discourse of the heavenly assembly, as in 67:5: Truly We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them missiles against the satans; and We have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze. The role that certain jinn are said to have played in facilitating the work of fortune-tellers and sorcerers is alluded to in 15:16–18; 67:5; 72:8–9. Made of a more ethereal substance than human beings, the jinn gained access to some aspects of the discourse between the angels, but then deceived human beings, leading them astray with half-truths; see the introduction to Sūrah 72; 72:8–9c; 67:5c. It is believed that after the Prophet Muhammad began receiving revelations, God cut off all such access to angelic discussions for the jinn, establishing angels as sentries and repelling the jinn with meteors.
The Highest Assembly (v. 8) refers to the assembly of the angels, regarding which no one has knowledge unless it is provided directly from God. The Prophet is reported to have said that God asked him about what the Highest Assembly disputed (see 38:69), to which he responded that he did not know. Then he said, “So He put His Hand between my shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my innermost being, and knowledge of all things between the East and the West came unto me.” For more on the Highest Assembly, see 38:69–70c.
Save one who snatches a fragment (v. 10) refers to the few jinn who are able to eavesdrop on some part of the heavenly discourse, after which they are struck by a piercing flame (IJ, IK), though on occasion they are able to send what they have heard down to a soothsayer before being struck (IK).
***
# So ask them, are they more difficult to create, or those whom We created? Truly We created them from a viscous clay.
11 A command to the Prophet to ask those who deny the Resurrection whether resurrecting them after they have died would be more difficult than resurrecting other beings God has created (Ṭ). Those whom We created refers either to the angels, the jinn, and all that is in the heavens and on the earth or to previous generations of human beings (IJ). The verse can also be seen as a reference to v. 5 and thus to all of the created order, as in 40:57: Surely the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of mankind. But most of mankind know not (Ṭ). Several verses describe the creation of the human being from various forms of earth: from dust (3:59); from dried clay, made of molded mud (15:26); from dried clay, like earthen vessels (55:14); and, in the present verse, from a viscous clay; for the manner in which these can be seen as representing different phases of human development, see 55:14c.
***
# Indeed, but thou dost marvel, while they scoff.
12 The Prophet marvels at the Quran, while the disbelievers scoff at it (Ṭ). Or the Prophet marvels at their disbelief in the Quran and the Resurrection, while they scoff at him (IJ).
***
# And when they are reminded, they do not remember.
# And when they see a sign, they seek to scoff,
13–14 The disbelievers do not benefit from being reminded (Ṭ), or when the Quran admonishes them, they do not remember or take heed (IJ). They then scoff at the Quran or at clear evidence and proof of Muhammad’s prophethood, such as the splitting of the moon (see 54:1c; IJ).
***
# and say, “This is naught but manifest sorcery.
15 This verse may be a response to the miracles sent as proofs (IJ) or to the Quran itself, as in 46:7: Yet when Our signs are recited unto them as clear proofs, those who disbelieve say to the truth when it comes to them, “This is manifest sorcery.” In deriding the Prophet, the disbelievers often labeled him a sorcerer (see also 10:2; 11:7; 34:43; 38:4; 46:7; 51:52; 54:2; 74:24), a charge also leveled against Moses (see 7:109; 10:76; 20:57, 63; 26:34; 27:13; 28:36; 40:24; 51:39) and Jesus (see 5:110; 61:6) by those who rejected the messages they brought.
***
# What! When we have died and are dust and bones are we to be resurrected,
# and our fathers of old?”
# Say, “Yes, and debased will you be.”
16–18 These verses express a common objection to the Quranic understanding of bodily resurrection (cf. 13:5; 17:49, 98; 23:35, 82–83; 27:67; 36:78–79; 37:53; 50:3; 56:47–48; 79:11); see 36:78–79c.
***
# Then there will be but a single cry. And they will then behold.
19 Cf. 79:13. This is the cry that will call human beings to rise from the grave for the Day of Judgment. Cry translates zajrah, which indicates a sudden cry or shout that directs some kind of behavior, like halting an animal or making it start (Z). Two cries or blasts are spoken of in 39:68: at the first creation will come to an end, whereupon whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth will swoon, save those whom God wills; at the second everyone will be resurrected for the Judgment. A single cry (ṣayḥah or zajrah; cf. 36:29; 36:49; 38:15; 79:13) is understood as a reference to the second blast (Z), at which the disbelievers will then behold what they had denied.
***
# They will say, “Oh, woe unto us! This is the Day of Judgment.”
# This is the Day of Division that you used to deny.
20–21 Woe unto us translates waylatanā; wayl, or woe, is an exclamation of existential and spiritual regret found elsewhere in the Quran (see 2:79c; 5:31; 18:49; 21:14, 47, 97; 25:28; 36:52; 68:31), often when the certainty of Divine Punishment is realized. Here it comes when the disbelievers behold the realities of the Judgment that they had denied. The Day of Division (44:40; 77:13–14, 38; 78:17; see also 10:28; 30:14, 43) is another name for the Day of Judgment, evoking the manner in which God will judge between the virtuous and the iniquitous and then divide them from one another in a categorical manner.
***
# Gather those who did wrong together with their spouses and that which they used to worship
# apart from God, and guide them unto the path of Hellfire.
22–23 Here those who did wrong may refer to all wrongdoers, only to the idolaters (IJ), or to all those who disbelieve in God (Ṭ). Their spouses translates azwājahum, meaning that the idolatrous men and women would be gathered together (Q, R, Z). Azwājahum can also mean “their companions” or “those of their kind,” indicating that those given to particular vices would be gathered with wrongdoers of the same disposition (IJ, IK, Q, Z). It could also mean those of their particular sect or creed (IJ) or their comrades among the satans (IJ, Z, R), to which reference is made in 43:36: And whosoever turns blindly away from the remembrance of the Compassionate, We assign to him a satan who is then a companion unto him. Three different things can be meant by that which they used to worship: idols, Satan himself, or the many satans (IJ). In this context, some understand guide them to mean “show them” or “demonstrate to them” (IJ, Q, R) by informing them about the path of Hellfire that they are following (Z). It can also be understood as a command to the angels to lead them to the Fire (IK).
***
# And stop them. Surely they are to be questioned:
24 Stop them means to detain them (IJ, R, Ṭ). The content of the question appears in v. 25, but some propose that they are to be questioned means the disbelievers will be asked whether the Fire pleases them (Ṭ) or about the deeds they have committed (IJ, Ṭ).
***
# “What ails you that you do not help one another?”
# Nay, but this Day they will surrender.
25–26 By way of rebuke, the disbelievers are asked why they did not help one another as they had claimed they would (IK). But they will be subject to God’s Command and Decree; they will not be able to avoid them (IK, Ṭ), and should thus be certain of receiving punishment (Ṭ).
***
# And they will turn to one another, questioning each other,
27 Human beings will turn to the jinn and question them (Ṭ), or human beings will question one another, blaming each other for their fate (IK), similar to their lamenting the companionship of other disbelievers in 25:28–29, when they say, Oh, woe unto me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so for a friend! He did indeed cause me to go astray from the Reminder after its having come to me.
***
# saying, “Truly you used to come to us from the right.”
# They reply, “Nay, but you were not believers.
# And we had no authority over you. Rather, you were a rebellious people.
# So the Word of our Lord has come due for us; truly we shall taste [it].
# We caused you to err for truly we were errant.”
# Verily that Day they will share in the punishment.
# Thus do We deal with the guilty.
28–34 Those who were weak and oppressed will say to those who were in power and used their power to lead others astray, You used to come to us from the right, meaning, “You came to us from a position of power and influence over us and led us astray,” or “You made falsehood attractive and concealed the truth” (IK; see also 33:66–68; 34:31–33; 40:47–48). To which the leaders respond that they (their followers) would not have been led astray if they had not already been inclined to disbelief. The leaders’ saying, We had no authority over you, is similar to Satan’s statement to his followers, And I had no authority over you, save that I called you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves (14:22). Neither the leaders nor Satan had any authority or proof to substantiate their claims; thus the people who followed them did so because they themselves were a rebellious people. For this reason, the corrupt leaders remind those who followed them of their own folly, saying, Nay! But you were guilty (34:32). Although the leaders among the disbelievers and those they led astray will share in the punishment, 29:13 says of those who sought to lead others astray, Surely they will bear their own burdens, and others’ burdens along with their own. Those who were led astray by others are also said to request, Our Lord! Give them a twofold punishment, and curse them with a great curse (33:68); see 7:38–39c.
***
# Indeed, when it was said unto them, “There is no god but God,” they waxed arrogant,
# saying, “Are we to forsake our gods for a poet possessed?”
35–36 When, during their life in this world, the disbelievers were told to testify that There is no god but God, they rejected it. And when they were told to hearken to the revelation, their reaction was the same, as in 5:104: And when it is said unto them, “Come unto that which God has sent down, and unto the Messenger,” they say, “Sufficient for us is that which we have found our fathers practicing.” In the same vein, when it is said unto them, “Believe as the people believe,” they say, “Shall we believe as fools believe?” (2:13). They accuse the Prophet of being a poet possessed (see also 52:30; 69:41), because they have no ability to address the content of the message; they thus seek to discredit the messenger, as when the disbelievers scoff, Confused dreams! Nay, he has fabricated it! Nay, he is a poet! (21:5).
***
# Nay! He has come with the truth and confirmed the messengers.
37 This is a response to the accusation that the Prophet is a poet possessed (v. 36). Here the truth refers to the Quran (IJ, Q, Ṭ) and its message of Divine Oneness (IJ, Q). Just as the Quran confirms the revelations before it (see 2:41, 89,
91, 97, 101; 3:3, 81; 5:48; 6:92; 35:31; 46:30), so too does the Prophet Muhammad confirm the messengers before him, meaning that he brings what they had brought (IJ).
***
# Truly you shall taste the painful punishment.
38 See commentary on 32:14: And taste the punishment everlasting for that which you used to do: and 32:20: Taste the punishment of the Fire that you used to deny.
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# And you shall not be requited, save for that which you used to do.
39 That the disbelievers are only requited for that which they used to do (cf. 27:90; 52:16; 66:7) indicates that they are only punished for what they have committed and brought upon themselves, as in 10:44: Truly God does not wrong human beings in the least, but rather human beings wrong themselves.
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# Not so for God’s sincere servants.
40 Those who are sincere will be spared being taken to account for their bad deeds and will be forgiven (IJ); see commentary on 39:10: Surely those who are patient shall be paid their reward in full without reckoning.
***
# For them there shall be a known provision,
# fruits. And they will be honored
# in Gardens of bliss,
# upon couches, facing one another,
41–44 Some say the provision is the Garden itself (IJ, IK), while others say it refers to the provisions of the Garden (IJ, Ṭ, Z). That it is a known provision indicates that, unlike the provisions of this world, those in Paradise are certain that heavenly provisions will always be available (R) or that they will receive the provision that they have merited for their deeds in this world (R). That they are honored is considered the greatest recompense (Z) in Gardens of bliss (cf. 5:65; 10:9; 22:56; 31:8; 56:12; 68:34). They are facing one another (cf. 15:47; 56:16), so that no one is facing the back of another (IK, Q, Ṭ); that no one shall be made to sit behind another is thus a sign that they are all being honored. Elsewhere the couches of Paradise are described as embroidered couches (56:15), arrayed (52:20), upon which they recline in the shade with their spouses (36:56); see 52:20c.
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# with a cup from a gushing spring brought round,
45 See also 43:71 and 76:15, where those in Paradise are served from goblets made of gold, silver, and crystal. That the cup, here indicating the drink within the cup, is from a gushing spring (cf. 56:18) indicates that it is pure and the source never runs dry. Every such mention of the heavenly cups or goblets is seen by some as a reference to the wine of heaven (Ṭ); for the positive nature of this paradisal wine, see 56:18–19c. That it is brought round implies that there are servants in attendance (Ṭ).
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# white, delicious to those who drink thereof.
46 The wine of heaven is said to be whiter than milk (IJ, R), though here some say that white describes the cup rather than the wine (IJ, Ṭ, Z).
***
# No headiness lies therein; nor are they intoxicated by it.
47 Cf. 56:18. Headiness translates ghawl, which derives from the verb ghāla, meaning to snatch or grab something or to destroy it. Here the absence of ghawl is understood to mean that heavenly wine does not cause headache or stomach ailment, that it does not destroy the intellect, or that there is nothing harmful, disdainful, or sinful in it (IJ, T). In fact, it can be understood to mean that this wine contains none of the negative effects found in earthly wine (IJ, Ṭ), in which there is great sin and [some] benefits for mankind (2:219), but the harm of which is greater than the benefits. In 5:90 wine is said to be a means of defilement of Satan’s doing and is therefore forbidden in Islamic Law.
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# And theirs shall be maidens of modest gaze with lustrous eyes,
48 Of modest gaze indicates maidens who look at none but their own husbands (Aj, Q). For other references to the maidens who await the righteous in Paradise, see 38:52; 44:54c; 52:20; 55:56, 72; 56:22; 78:33. Other verses indicate that righteous earthly spouses will join one in the Garden (see 13:23; 36:56; 40:8; 43:70). The sexual joys of Paradise alluded to in this verse are not a sublimated form of the joys of earthly sexuality, but symbolize spiritual union. What one experiences here below is a mere reflection of paradisal joy, but allusion cannot be made to it except by using the language of earthly sexual union, since it is the most intense form of pristine sensual pleasure known in this world.
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# as if they were hidden eggs.
49 The word for “egg” (bayḍ) is closely related to the word for “white” (bayyāḍ or abyaḍ), which in the context of the maidens of Paradise (Iṣ), as in English, is taken as an allusion to purity. The mention of eggs can also be connected to the use of white in v. 46 to describe the wine of Paradise. In 3:106–7 those who enter Paradise are spoken of as those whose faces whiten. Some say that what is intended by eggs is pearls (IJ, IK, Ṭ), as in 56:22–23: Wide-eyed maidens, the likeness of concealed pearls (Q). Hidden refers to the inside of the egg (or pearl), or it means that the egg (or pearl) itself is never touched (IK, Ṭ).
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# And they will turn to one another, questioning each other.
# One among them will say, “I had a companion
# who would say, ‘Are you among those who confirm?
# What! When we have died and are dust and bones, are we to berequited?’”
50–53 The inhabitants of the Garden ask one another about their state in the world (IJ). A companion refers to the satan assigned to each person (see 43:36c; IJ, Ṭ) or to a believer’s companion who denied the Resurrection and would ask
the believer in astonishment, “Are you among those who confirm the Resurrection?” (IJ, IK, Ṭ). The first part of v. 53 reflects a question posed in several Quranic verses (cf. 13:5; 17:49, 98; 23:35, 82–83; 27:67; 36:78–79; 37:16–17; 50:3; 56:47–48; 79:11), while the second part of v. 53 mocks the belief in a final reckoning. When they have died, and the believer goes to the Garden and the idolater goes to the Fire, the believer sees the state of the disbeliever (Ṭ), and according to 7:46–50, the disbelievers in Hell can see the believers in Paradise. Thus some say this passage refers to the two companions discussed in 18:32–43
(IJ).
***
# He will say, “Will you look?”
# So he will look and see him in the midst of Hellfire.
# He will say, “By God! You did well-nigh destroy me;
# and if not for the blessing of my Lord, I would have been amongthe arraigned.
54–57 The believer then says to his companions in the Garden, Will you look? (IJ, IK, Ṭ). Then he sees his companion from this world in the midst of
Hellfire in the Hereafter and knows that, had he followed him, he would have suffered the same fate and that if not for God’s Blessing in guiding him, he too would have been arraigned unto the punishment (30:16; 34:38). Thus Ibn Kathīr glosses these verses with 7:43, where the believers say, Praise be to God, Who guided us unto this. We would not have been rightly guided, had God not guided us.
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# Are we then not to die,
# but our first death, and are we not to be punished?
# This indeed is the great triumph!”
58–60 These verses are a continuation of the words of the believer from the previous verses or the words of all of the believers in Paradise expressing joy at realizing that they will not suffer death again and that they have avoided Divine Punishment. Attaining to the Garden is referred to as the great triumph in over a dozen verses; for the blessings of the Garden, see commentary on 5:119; 44:51–57.
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# For the like of this, then, let the laborers labor.
61 The message of this verse is to let those in this world perform righteous deeds, so that they too may attain the honor that God has bestowed upon these believers in the Hereafter (Ṭ). This verse can be understood as the words of God (Z) or as the words of the believers in the Garden.
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# Is this a better welcome or the tree of Zaqqūm?
# Truly We have made it a trial for the wrongdoers.
62–63 In contrast to the fruits bestowed upon the believers as a known provision in the Garden (vv. 41–42), the disbelievers are given the tree of Zaqqūm, which is said to bear pain and sorrow (Z). As it is known that there is no good in Zaqqūm, the rhetorical question is posed here as a rebuke to the disbelievers for the course they have chosen (Z). Its effects are best described in 44:43–46: Truly the tree of Zaqqūm is the food of the sinner, like molten lead boiling in their bellies, like the boiling of boiling liquid (also see 56:51–53; commentary on 44:43–46). That Zaqqūm is a trial (fitnah) means that eating from it is a punishment in the Hereafter (IJ, Z).
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# Truly it is a tree that emerges in the depths of Hellfire.
64 That the tree of Zaqqūm emerges from Hell or in the depths of Hellfire means that its roots grow from the bottom of Hell and it is nourished by fire (IK). Some say that its roots reach to the depths of Hell, while its branches rise through its other levels (Z).
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# Its spathes are as the heads of satans.
# They will eat thereof and fill their bellies therewith.
# Then on top of it they will have a brew of a boiling liquid.
65–67 That its spathes are as the heads of satans indicates that it bears sheer evil (Z) or that its spathes are like snakes (IJ). The disbelievers eat thereof because they are commanded to do so (see 56:53); they fill their bellies either because of severe hunger or because they are forced to eat it even though they despise it (Z). Both interpretations allude to the fact that their own avaricious natures have forced them to continue to eat from Zaqqūm. But if they are satiated, then thirst overwhelms them, and they are given a drink that burns their faces and tears apart their intestines (Z). The brew of a boiling liquid (cf. 6:70; 10:4; 18:29; 38:57; 44:46; 47:15; 78:24–25; 88:5) that the disbelievers are made to drink stands in sharp contrast to the cool and pleasing drinks presented to the believers in the Garden (see 37:45–47; 76:5–6, 17–18, 21; 83:25–28) and to the rivers of water, milk, honey, and wine described in 47:15.
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# Then their return shall be unto Hellfire.
68 After receiving the punishment outlined in vv. 62–67, the disbelievers will be returned to Hellfire (IJ, Z). This verse is thus understood to mean that the boiling water lies outside of Hellfire and that they go back and forth between these punishments, as in 55:43–44: This is Hell, which the guilty denied; to and fro shall they pass, between it and boiling waters (IK, R).
***
# Truly they found their fathers astray;
# yet they hasten in their footsteps.
69–70 Because their fathers had followed a different set of beliefs, the disbelievers waxed arrogant when told to bear witness that there is no god but God (Ṭ), preferring the way of their forefathers to the one to which the Prophet called them (R), as in 2:170: When it is said unto them, “Follow what God has sent down,” they say, “Nay, we follow that which we found our fathers doing.” What! Even though their fathers understood nothing, and were not rightly guided? (cf. 5:104; 7:28; 11:109; 43:22–23).
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# And before them most of those of old had indeed gone astray,
# though We had indeed sent warners among them.
71–72 These verses serve as an affirmation that most human collectivities have gone astray and rejected the prophets God sent to them. This aspect of history may be cited as counsel for the Prophet to be patient and to continue in calling the people to religion, since the prophets before him, whose stories are recounted in the remainder of this sūrah, had also been rejected, but ultimately prevailed (R).
***
# So behold how those who were warned fared in the end.
73 Addressed to the Prophet, this verse also serves as a warning to the disbelievers (R) and as a segue to the stories of Noah, Abraham, Lot, and other prophets in the remainder of the sūrah. This verse, about those who were warned, is repeated as part of 10:73; other verses enjoin people to consider the final ends of the deniers (3:137; 6:11; 16:36; 43:25), the guilty (7:84; 27:69), the workers of corruption (7:86, 103; 27:14), and the wrongdoers (10:39; 28:40); see 10:39c.
***
# Not so for God’s sincere servants.
74 This verse follows upon v. 71, meaning that those who are sincere have not gone astray, or upon v. 73, meaning that the end of those who are sincere is not the same as that of the disbelievers (R). The latter interpretation is borne out by the following accounts, in which prophets such as Noah and Lot are saved along with small groups of their followers.
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# And indeed Noah cried out to Us. How excellent are those whorespond!
75–82 These verses give the broad contours of Noah’s story. For more detailed accounts, see 11:25–48; 23:23–30; 26:105–21, and Sūrah 71. Additional brief accounts are also found in 7:59–64; 10:71–73; 21:76–77; 29:14–15; 54:9–15.
75 Noah cried out may be a reference to Noah’s calling upon God to help him against his opponents or to save him from the flood (IJ) or to Noah’s supplication to God in 71:5–26 (Ṭ). Those who respond would then refer to God and the blessings He brought upon Noah by saving him and his small group of followers from the flood (IJ).
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# We saved him and his people from great distress,
76 His people refers to those who responded to Noah’s call to follow God. According to traditional accounts, though Noah called people to God for hundreds of years (see 29:14), few people followed him. Great distress refers to the insults he suffered (IJ, IK) or to his being separated from his people (IJ).
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# and We made his progeny endure,
# and We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations:
# “Peace be upon Noah throughout the worlds.”
77–79 As the only line of human beings to survive the flood, Noah’s progeny endured. He was also blessed with being remembered well, in a manner befitting his status, by later generations (IK). His story is thus left as a sign for the worlds (29:15; cf. 54:15). The prayer for peace upon Noah throughout the worlds means, “May all of mankind, the jinn, and the angels wish him peace” (R, Z).
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# Thus do We recompense the virtuous.
80 Cf. 6:84; 12:22; 28:14; 37:105, 110, 121, 131; 77:44. For the virtuous, see 29:69c. The manner in which God rewards the virtuous, or those who do what is good and beautiful, is with greater beauty, as in 42:23: And whosoever accomplishes a good deed, We shall increase him in goodness thereby; and 55:60: Is the reward of goodness aught but goodness?
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# Truly he was among Our believing servants.
81 This refrain appears here for Noah and at the end of three of the other accounts of prophets that follow in this sūrah (Abraham, v. 111; Moses, v. 122; and Elias, v. 132).
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# Then We drowned the others.
82 Those who drowned are elsewhere said to be those who denied God’s signs (see 7:64; 10:73), since they were an evil people (21:77).
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# And surely among his party was Abraham,
83 His party could refer to the party of Noah or to that of Muhammad (IJ, R,
Ṭ) and in either case means that they were of the same religion and creed (IJ, Ṭ).
According to some, the only two prophets between Noah and Abraham were the Arabian prophets Hūd and Ṣāliḥ (R, Z).
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# when he came unto his Lord with a sound heart,
84 That Abraham had a sound heart means that he never inclined to idolatry (IJ, R, Ṭ, Z), that his heart was free from doubt (Qm, Ṭb), that his heart was free from all vice and he only desired for others what he desired for himself (R), or that there was none but God in his heart (Ṭb), and that he was completely submitted to Him; see 26:89c.
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# when he said unto his father and his people, “What do you worship?
# Is it a perversion, gods apart from God, that you desire?
85–96 This is one of several passages in which Abraham argues with his people regarding the inanity of their idolatry (cf. 2:258; 6:83; 21:51–67). As alRāzī observes, the Quran invokes the story of Abraham in the context of the Prophet Muhammad’s disputations with the idolaters, because even the idolatrous Arabs had great respect for Abraham as one of their most prominent forefathers; see 43:26–27c.
86 The subtle grammatical structure of this verse allows it to be read in several different ways: “Do you perform perversion and worship gods other than God!” (IJ); “Do you desire gods apart from God out of perversion” (R, Z); “Do you desire perversion—gods apart from God?” (R); or “Do you desire gods apart from God in perversion?” (R). In all four readings, the verse is an expression of rebuke and amazement.
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# What, then, think you of the Lord of the worlds?”
87 This verse may mean, “Do you think that God would permit inanimate objects to share in the worship that is His due alone, or do you think that He is of their same genus, such that you should make them equal in worship?” (R). It could also be understood to mean, “What, then, do you think God will do with you when you meet Him, while you have been worshipping other gods?” (IK, Ṭ).
***
# Then he cast a glance at the stars
# and said, “Truly I am sick.”
88–89 Cast a glance at the stars is an idiomatic expression meaning to contemplate something, interpreted here to mean that Abraham cast his glance upward while contemplating what to do. Some say he feigned reading his own future, which is then the basis for his claiming to be sick (IJ). His claim to be sick could also mean that his heart was sickened because of the worshipping of other gods (IJ, IK) or that he was feigning an illness in order to avoid going to a religious festival where idol worship would have occurred (IK, Ṭ). The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, “Abraham did not lie, save three times: two were for the sake of God, his saying, Truly I am sick, and his saying, Nay, but it was the largest of them that did this [21:63]; and his saying regarding Sarah, ‘She is my sister’” (Ṭ).
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# But they turned their backs on him.
# Then he went quietly to their gods and said, “Will you not eat?
# What ails you that you speak not?”
# Then he turned upon them, striking with his right hand.
90–93 Elsewhere, Abraham warns his people, And by God, I shall scheme against your idols after you have turned your backs (21:57). The people had placed food before the idols, so Abraham mockingly asked why the idols did not eat it (IK). Then he destroyed all but the largest of them (see 21:58–59c), which he accused of having been responsible for smashing the other idols, as a means of mocking their beliefs; see 21:62–63c.
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# Then they came to him rushing.
# He said, “Do you worship that which you carve,
# while God created you and that which you make?”
94–96 The question in these verses is, “Do you worship what you make rather than the One Who made you?” V. 96 can also be understood to mean that God creates human beings and all that they do (IK), since He is the only one who can create. In this latter sense, it is related to the affirmation of God’s Omnipotence in such verses as 3:128: Naught is thine in the matter; 3:154: The decision belongs entirely to God; and 12:21: And God prevails over His affair, but most of mankind know not.
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# They said, “Erect a building for him and cast him into the fire.”
# They desired to scheme against him, so We made them the lowest.
# And he said, “Truly I am going unto my Lord. He will guide me.
97–99 For the story of the attempt to burn Abraham in a fire, which God then commanded, Be coolness and peace for Abraham (21:69), see commentary on 21:68–70. Abraham says, I am going unto my Lord, when he decides to leave his people, declaring that he will go where God commands him; or he says it before he is cast into the fire, meaning that he is prepared to die and that God will guide him to the Garden or save him from the Fire (IJ). From a spiritual perspective, this passage alludes to the manner in which people should smash the idols of the things upon which they rely and depend only upon God (Aj).
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# My Lord, give unto me from among the righteous.”
100 This verse, which is understood by most to be a prayer for a righteous son, can also be interpreted as a prayer asking God to allow Abraham to be among the righteous.
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# So We gave him glad tidings of a gentle son.
101 The son announced here is understood to be either Isaac or Ishmael (IJ, Ṭ). Here it is God Who gives Abraham glad tidings; in all the other accounts angels come to Abraham with glad tidings of a son (see 11:69c; 15:53; 29:31; 51:28). Together these verses indicate that God gave glad tidings through the intermediary of the angels.
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# When he had become old enough to partake of his father’s endeavors, Abraham said, “O my son! I see while dreaming that I am to sacrifice you. So consider, what do you see?” He replied, “O my father! Do as you are commanded. You will find me, God willing, among those who are patient.”
102 Although various aspects of Abraham’s prophetic mission are addressed in over two hundred Quranic verses, this is the only passage to address what is known in the Biblical tradition as the Binding of Isaac. Partaking of his father’s endeavors refers to joining Abraham in his work, being able to travel with him, or having reached the age at which he could worship (IJ, Ṭ). Some say this phrase refers to his being thirteen years old (IJ). It could also be understood as an allusion to his having begun to manifest some aspects of the gift of prophethood. The Arabic literally reads, “I see in the dream that I sacrifice you,” but because the visions of all prophets are said to be true, it is interpreted to mean that he received the command to do so in his dream, not that he had a vision of the actual sacrificing (IJ, Ṭ). What do you see employs the same verb, “to see” (raʾā), used in the announcement of Abraham’s dream. In this sense, it may allude to the prophethood of Abraham’s son.
Commentators are divided as to whether the son to be slain was Isaac or Ishmael (IJ). While many earlier commentators, such as al-Ṭabarī, take Isaac to be the son in question, several later commentators, such as al-Rāzī and Ibn Kathīr, favor Ishmael, some of whom go so far as to assert that the attribution to Isaac derived from a corruption of the Bible (IK). Those who see this verse as a reference to Ishmael interpret 19:54–55 as a reference to his fulfilling his promise to allow himself to be sacrificed: And remember Ishmael in the Book. Verily he was true to the promise, and he was a messenger, a prophet. He used to bid his people to prayer and almsgiving, and he was pleasing unto his Lord (IK, Q, R).
Although this story may appear to be similar to the Biblical account, it differs in several significant details. Abraham does not act immediately upon his dream, but asks the potential “sacrifice,” his son, for his opinion. His son then becomes a willing participant in the sacrifice, surrendering himself to the Will of God when he says, You will find me, God willing, among those who are patient. Some say that it was the son who suggested he be laid upon his forehead (v. 103) and that he told his father to use his garment as a shroud when the sacrifice was complete (IK, Ṭ). Thus Abraham’s son is not a passive participant, as in the Biblical account, where he remains unaware of the Divine Command and asks, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Rather, he is a free and active participant who chooses complete obedience to God at the greatest personal sacrifice.
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# But when they had submitted and Abraham had laid him upon his forehead,
103 That they submitted means they submitted to God’s Command (IJ, IK) or that they devoted themselves completely to God (R). Abraham laid his son upon his forehead, so that he would not have to see his face when sacrificing him (IK, Ṭ). According to Islamic tradition, the ritual of stoning Satan on the ḥajj is connected to this event, as Satan is said to have attempted to intervene in the performance of the sacrifice, at which time Abraham twice stoned him, each time with seven pebbles, until he disappeared (IK, Q, Ṭ).
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# We called unto him, “O Abraham!
104 Before Abraham could sacrifice his son, God called to him, and when he turned, Abraham found a fine white-horned ram to take his son’s place in the sacrifice (IK). According to some accounts, the horns of this ram were kept in the Kaʿbah, but were lost when the Kaʿbah burned down in 63/683. This substitution of a ram for Abraham’s son serves as the basis for the ritual of slaughtering an animal that is required as the final rite of the ḥajj.
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# Thou hast been true to the vision.” Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous.
105 That Abraham was true to the vision means that he carried out what he was commanded and that he achieved its goal by demonstrating complete obedience to God (R). Regarding the last sentence, which serves as a refrain in this sūrah, see 29:69c; 37:80c.
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# Truly this was the manifest trial.
106 That the command to sacrifice is described as a trial is also understood to mean that it was a blessing (Q), as it is through severe trials that God brings His pious servants the best reward in this life and the next, if they are able to faithfully endure them, as did Abraham (Ṭb).
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# Then We ransomed him with a great sacrifice.
107 According to tradition, the great sacrifice that ransomed the son was a ram that had grazed in the Garden of Paradise for forty years (IK, Q, Ṭ) and was brought to Abraham by the Archangel Gabriel (Ṭb).
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# And We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations:
# “Peace be upon Abraham.”
108–9 See 37:77–79c.
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# Thus do We recompense the virtuous.
- Cf. 6:84; 12:22; 28:14; 37:80, 105, 121, 131; 77:44; see 29:69c; 37:80c.
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# Truly he was among Our believing servants.
- See 37:81c.
***
# And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet from among the righteous.
112 Cf. 11:71; 15:53–54. That Isaac is mentioned here is cited by some as support for the argument that it is Ishmael who is mentioned in v. 101 (IK, Ṭb), since Abraham’s fulfillment of the test with his first son is presented as the basis for his being given glad tidings of a second son. Others understand this verse as a separate statement affirming that Isaac was the subject of the sacrifice and was to be given the gift of prophethood (Q, Ṭ).
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# And We blessed him and Isaac. And among their progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves.
113 Him can refer to Abraham or Ishmael (Q). The blessing upon them is understood either as a multitude of offspring or the line of prophethood issuing through them (Q). That there will be both the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves among their progeny can be understood as a reminder that merely being descendants is not sufficient for salvation; they must also be believers and perform good deeds. In this way it is seen as a response to the attitude of some Jews and Christians when they say, We are the children of God, and His beloved ones (5:18).
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# And We were gracious unto Moses and Aaron.
114–20 For the Quranic account of Moses, see 7:103–55; 10:75–93; 17:101–4; 18:60–82; 20:9–97; 26:10–66; 27:7–14; 28:3–46; 40:23–45; 43:46–56; 44:17–31.
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# We saved them and their people from great distress
114–15 That God was gracious unto Moses and Aaron is a reference to either all of the worldly and religious blessings they were given (Ṭs) or specifically the gift of prophethood (IJ). Their being saved from the great distress means either that they were saved from the rule of Pharaoh and his people (Z; cf. 44:30–31) or that they were spared from being drowned in the sea like Pharaoh and his host (Q, R, Z).
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# and helped them, so that they were the victors.
116 Some see them and they here as references to Moses, Aaron, and their people, though others maintain that they refers only to Moses and Aaron (IJ, Q).
***
# And We gave the two of them the Book that makes clear,
# and guided the two of them upon the straight path.
117–18 The Book that makes clear is the Torah, which, like all revealed books, clarifies hidden matters of which people are ignorant (Ṭb). Thus it is also described as a Book wherein is a guidance and a light, by which the prophets who submitted [unto God] judged those who are Jews, as did the sages and the rabbis, in accordance with such of God’s Book as they were bidden to preserve and to which they were witnesses (5:44). Regarding their being guided upon the straight path, see 1:6c.
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# And We left [a blessing] upon them among later generations:
# “Peace be upon Moses and Aaron.”
119–20 See 37:77–79c.
***
# Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous.
- Cf. 6:84; 12:22; 28:14; 37:80, 105, 110, 131; 77:44; see 29:69c; 37:80c.
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# Truly they were among Our believing servants.
122 See 37:81c.
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# And truly Elias was among the message bearers
123 Elias (Ilyās) is regarded by many as another name for the prophet Idrīs (see 19:56–57; 21:85; IK, Q, Ṭ), though it is more likely that they are two different prophets, Elias (or Elijah) and Idrīs (or Enoch).
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# when he said to his people, “Will you not reverence?
# Do you call upon Baal and leave the most beautiful of creators?
# God is your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old.”
# But they denied him; so they are surely to be arraigned.
# Not so for God’s sincere servants.
124–28 As in the story of Abraham above, Elias rebukes his people for failing to worship God alone. Baal is said to be the name of an idol that the people worshipped, a word in their language for “Lord” (IJ, IK, Q), or the name of a woman whom they worshipped (IJ, Q). For their denial, they are arraigned unto the punishment, except for God’s sincere servants (Q).
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# And We left [a blessing] upon him among later generations:
# “Peace be upon Elias.”
129–30 See 37:77–79c. The Arabic for Elias in v. 123 (as well as 6:85) is Ilyās, but here it is Ilyāsīn, which many believe is another rendering of the same name (Q, Ṭ). But it can also be read as a plural form, meaning “the Ilyāses,” or “the family of Ilyās,” which is then understood to mean Ilyās and those who followed his religion (Q, Ṭ, Z).
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# Thus indeed do We recompense the virtuous.
- Cf. 6:84; 12:22; 28:14; 37:80, 105, 110, 121; 77:44; see 29:69c; 37:80c.
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# Truly he was among Our believing servants.
- See 37:81c.
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# And truly Lot was among the message bearers.
133 For other narrative accounts of Lot, who is considered to be either Abraham’s nephew or cousin, and Lot’s people, see 7:80–84; 11:77–83; 15:57–77; 26:160–73; 27:54–58; 29:26–35; 54:33–38, and the similar Biblical narrative in Genesis 19.
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# Behold! We saved him and his family all together,
# save for an old woman who was among those who lagged behind.
134–35 Him and his family refers either to Lot’s immediate family or to all those who followed him. The old woman who . . . lagged behind is Lot’s wife; see 7:83; 15:59–60; 26:171; 27:57; 29:32.
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# Then We destroyed the others.
136 After they refused to pay him any heed, the people of Lot’s town were destroyed by stones of baked clay (11:82; 15:74) or a torrent of stones (54:34) that are said to have rained down upon them as a torment from Heaven (29:34); see also 7:84.
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# And truly you pass by them in the morning
# and at night. Do you not understand?
137–38 These verses are addressed to the people of Makkah, who some say would pass by the remnants of Lot’s town on their travels to Syria (IJ, Ṭ). Others say that they refer to God’s having made the region of Lot’s people into a foul body of water that is on a well-traveled route (IK). But they fail to reflect upon the implications of these ruins (Ṭ).
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# And truly Jonah was among the message bearers.
139 For other accounts of the story of Jonah, see 6:86; 10:98; 21:87–88; 68:48–50. As in the Bible, Jonah is said to have fled from his prophetic mission upon a ship. Thus in 68:48 Muhammad is counseled, Be not like the companion of the fish, who cried out while choking with anguish. Raised as a poor child and in the care of ascetics and scholars from the age of seven until the age of twenty-five, Jonah was called to deliver God’s message to the people of Nineveh (Kisāʾī, Qiṣas al-anbiyāʾ).
***
# Behold! He fled to the full-laden ship,
# and then cast lots and was among those rejected.
140–41 According to the Biblical book of Jonah, Jonah, having fled “from the presence of the Lord” (1:3), is presented as having brought a tempest upon the ship (1:4–6). Realizing that some evil had beset them, the sailors cast lots to see on whose account they were beset. When the lots fell to Jonah, they said, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (1:7–8). When they discerned that it was on account of Jonah’s “fleeing from the presence of the Lord” that the tempest had come upon them, Jonah told them to cast him into the sea (1:12). They nonetheless strived to reach shore without sacrificing Jonah, but when the seas continued to rage, “they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging” (1:15). According to some Quranic commentators, the sailors remained hesitant to throw Jonah in the sea; so he threw himself directly into the fish’s mouth when it rose, by God’s Command, to carry him away (IK). He then remained in the belly of the fish for three, seven, or forty days according to different accounts; according to another account he was swallowed in the morning and cast out in the evening (IK).
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# Then the fish swallowed him, for he was blameworthy.
142 Jonah was blameworthy for having fled Nineveh. It is reported that when he began calling them to repent, the Ninevites beat him. He continued preaching to them for forty days, but they dismissed him as mad (Kisāʾī, Qiṣaṣ alanbiyāʾ). God then told Jonah to retreat to a hill above the city to watch the punishment come upon them, but when they repented and were spared, Jonah went away in anger, and thought We had no power over him (21:87). Some say that he was angry that they were not punished for having rejected him, and thus he fled on the ship (Kisāʾī, Qiṣaṣ).
***
# And had he not been among those who glorify,
# he would have tarried in its belly till the Day they are resurrected.
143–44 Had it not been for the life of devotion lived before these events, Jonah would have remained in the belly of the fish (IK, Ṭ). Thus some relate this story to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, “Seek to know God in times of ease, and He will know you in times of difficulty” (IK). This verse can also be understood as a reference to Jonah’s having cried out in the darkness, “There is no god but Thee! Glory be to Thee! Truly I have been among the wrongdoers” (21:87; Aj, IK, Ṭ); for the more extensive prayer and repentance of Jonah in the Bible, see Jonah 2:1–9. If not for his praising God, he would have remained in the belly of the fish alive until the day on which human beings are resurrected (Aj), or the belly of the fish would have been his grave until the Day of Resurrection (Aj, Ṭ).
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# So We cast him, sick, upon the barren shore.
145 Jonah was washed up on the shore in answer to his prayers while in the belly of the fish, as in 21:88: So We answered him, and saved him from grief. Thus do We save the believers. Jonah’s sickness was either that his body was weak or his heart was sick at having disobeyed God.
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# And We caused a gourd tree to grow over him.
146 The gourd tree is understood to be beneficial for both the shade and the nourishment it provides (IK). In the Book of Jonah, the tree appears at the end of the story (4:6–10), growing and withering in a miraculous fashion.
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# Then We sent him unto a hundred thousand or more.
147 Having repented, Jonah was then sent back to Nineveh, whose people had also repented and now accepted Jonah. Thus 10:98 says of them, Why has not a single town believed and benefitted from its belief, other than the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and We granted them enjoyment for a while.
***
# And they believed; so We granted them enjoyment for a while.
148 The people of Nineveh now heeded Jonah’s warning and, according to the Biblical account, declared a fast to atone for their sins; the king issued a decree declaring that human beings and animals should refrain from food and water, and all people must turn away from evil and violence (see Jonah 3:7–9). God then allowed them to enjoy their life on earth, spared of any Divine Punishment, until their appointed end (IK).
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# So ask them, does your Lord have daughters while they have sons?
149–53 These verses, similar to 43:16 and 52:39, now turn to criticism of the belief that God has sons or daughters (cf. 2:116; 6:100; 9:30; 10:68; 17:40, 111; 18:4; 19:35, 88–93; 21:26; 25:2; 39:4; 43:16, 81–82; 52:39; 72:3). The idolaters are initially asked how they can attribute daughters to God, when they themselves prefer sons and are distressed by daughters, as in 16:57–58: And they assign unto God daughters—glory be to Him!—while they have that which they desire. And when one of them receives tidings of a female [child], his face darkens, and he is choked with anguish (cf. 43:17). Criticism is aimed not only at the belief itself, but also at its lack of internal logic; see also 43:16; 52:39; 53:21–22.
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# Or did We create the angels female, while they were witnesses?
150 The question asks, “How have they been able to assign gender to the angels, whom they view as consorts of God, when they have no knowledge of their creation?” See also 43:19: And they have made the angels, who are servants of the Compassionate, females. Did they witness their creation?
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# Behold! It is of their own perversion that they say,
# “God has begotten,” while truly they are liars.
151–52 Perversion renders ifk, which is also understood to mean
“delusion,” “deception,” or “falsehood”; see 29:61c. The idolaters’ assertion that God has begotten is related to their saying that angels are females, as some of them conceived of God as having consorts with whom He begat other deities. Thus 6:101 asks, How should He have a child when He has no consort, and He created all things?
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# Has He chosen daughters over sons?
153 Similar to this verse, 17:40 asks, Did your Lord favor you with sons, while He took females from among the angels [for Himself]? Surely you speak a monstrous word!
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# What ails you? How do you judge?
154 This verse asks, in effect, “What kind of reasoning would make you say such things?” (IK) or “Given the incoherency of your worldview, how can you maintain such things?” Cf. 10:35; 68:36.
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# Do you not reflect?
155 This verse is one of the Quran’s many invitations to reflect upon the nature of God’s creation in order to facilitate spiritual understanding; see also 3:191c; 11:24, 30; 16:17; 30:8; 45:23c; 56:62. Here the implication is that if the idolaters did indeed reflect, they would see the falsity of their claims and the vacuity of their worldview.
*** # Or have you a manifest authority?
# Bring your Book, then, if you are truthful.
156–57 Manifest authority is understood as a reference to revelation, as when Moses is reported to have been sent with a manifest authority (4:153; 11:96; 23:45; 40:23; 44:19; 51:38). Thus, while vv. 154–55 reproach the idolaters for having no intellectual proofs to substantiate their assertion that God has begotten offspring, these verses reproach them for having no revealed source to substantiate their claims. In the same vein, 35:40 asks rhetorically, Do they have a share in the heavens, or did We give them a book, such that they stand upon a clear proof from it? (cf. 34:44; 46:4; 57:37–38; 68:47); see 35:40c; 46:4c.
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# They have made kinship between Him and the jinn—yet the jinn know that they will surely be arraigned;
158 Despite all of the claims that the idolaters make regarding the jinn, the jinn themselves know that they are powerless before God and that, like human beings, they will be arraigned before God on the Day of Judgment. Thus Satan, regarded by most as the head of the evil jinn, will say to human beings after they have disbelieved as a result of following his prompting, Surely I am quit of you. Truly I fear God, the Lord of the worlds (59:16; cf. 14:22).
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# Glory be to God above that which they ascribe.
- Cf. 21:22; 23:91; 37:180c.
***
# Not so for God’s sincere servants.
160 Cf. vv. 74, 128. God’s sincere servants do not ascribe to the jinn kinship with God, as do the idolaters.
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# For truly neither you nor that which you worship
# can tempt any against Him,
# save he who is to burn in Hellfire.
161–63 Neither the disbelievers nor the jinn have any power to misguide or mislead, as God has already decreed each individual’s final end. This passage thus reflects another aspect of God’s Words to Satan, As for My servants, truly thou hast no authority over them (17:65). Satan himself acknowledges this, saying, I shall cause them to err all together, save Thy sincere servants among them (38:82–83; cf. 15:39–40).
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# There is none among us, but that he has a known station.
164 These are understood to be the words of the angels (R, Ṭ), each of whom is assigned a station that is never left; some remain bowing, never straightening their spines; others remain prostrating, never lifting their heads (Z). In the immediate context, this verse is a declaration that they, like the jinn, know that any worship of them is misplaced (R). More broadly speaking, that all angels have a known station indicates that they have, like all created things other than human beings and jinn, no freedom to move from one station or level of being to another. In contrast, human beings and jinn have unknown stations and only reach their final known stations at the moment of death. As Ibn ʿArabī writes of human beings and jinn, “[Their] stations are designated and ordained within God’s Knowledge and unseen by them. Each of them reaches his station at the end of his breaths. Thus his last breath is in his known station upon which he dies. That is why they have been called to travel. Hence they travel, either upwardly by answering the summons or the revealed Law (Sharīʿah) or downwardly by answering the command of desire whence they know not, until after the object of desire has been attained. Hence each individual among man and jinn reaches in his traveling the known station for which he was created” (Futūḥāt, I 258.35–40).
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# And truly we are those who are ranged [in ranks].
# Truly we are those who glorify.
165–66 The combination of the reference to their being ranged [in ranks] for prayer and worship (IK, R) and their glorifying God indicates that it is the angels who are meant. Ranged [in ranks] can also be understood as a reference to the hierarchy in which the angels are arranged, which is part of the universal hierarchy of existence.
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# Indeed, they used to say,
# “If only we had a reminder from those of old,
# then we would indeed be God’s sincere servants.”
# But they disbelieved in it. So soon they will know,
167–70 Before the revelation of the Quran, the idolaters reportedly claimed that were a reminder, meaning a revealed Book like the Torah or the Gospel, to come to them, they would devote themselves to worshipping God. Then when the Quran came, they denied it (R); see also 6:155–57c. This is similar to their denial of the Prophet in 35:42–3. Nonetheless on the Day of Judgment, they will know the truth of what they rejected (cf. 15:3, 96; 29:66; 40:70; 43:89).
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# for indeed Our Word has already gone forth unto Our message bearers
# that they will surely be helped,
# and that Our host will surely be victorious.
171–73 God has already informed His messengers that they will prevail over the disbelievers, in both this world and the next (IK), as in 40:51–52: Truly We shall help Our messengers and those who believe during the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses arise, the Day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will not benefit them and theirs will be the curse, and theirs will be the evil abode. From a Quranic perspective, all prophetic missions are ultimately victorious, because God has decreed, “I shall surely prevail, I and My messengers!” (58:21).
***
# So turn away from them for a time,
174 Cf. 3:178. On the one hand, the Prophet is told to turn away from the disbelievers so that he can concentrate upon tending to the believers, as in 51:54–55: So turn away from them, for thou shalt not be blamed. And remind, for truly the reminder benefits the believers. On the other hand, he is told to turn away from them, because God will deal justly with them in due time, as in 54:6: So turn away from them on the Day wherein the Caller will call unto a terrible thing. The words for a time are understood to mean until death (IJ, Q), until the Day of Resurrection (R), until the Command is given to fight the disbelievers (IJ), until the Battle of Badr, (IJ, Q, R), or until the conquest of Makkah (IJ, Q, R). Thus some claim that this verse has been abrogated by other verses enjoining the Prophet and his followers to fight (IJ, IK, Q); see also commentary on 9:1–5, 29.
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# and observe them; for they will soon observe.
175 Cf. 3:179. The Prophet is told to observe what befalls the disbelievers in this life and the next, for they will observe the Divine Aid and Support that comes to him in this life and the great reward that he will receive in the next (R). It could also be understood to mean that they will soon observe the punishment of the Day of Resurrection (Q).
***
# Do they seek to hasten Our Punishment?
176 The Prophet had warned the idolaters of an impending punishment, but they mocked the warning, saying things such as When will this promise come to pass, if you are truthful? (10:48; 21:38; 27:71; 34:29; 36:48; 67:25), and going so far as to say, O God, if this be the truth from Thee, rain down stones upon us from the sky, or bring upon us a painful punishment (8:32). For other passages where the disbelievers challenge the Prophet to hasten their punishment, see 10:50–51; 13:6; 22:47; 26:204; 27:46, 72; 29:53; 38:16; 51:14.
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# When it alights in their very midst, evil will be the morning of those who were warned!
177 The punishment will then alight upon the disbelievers when they least expect it, as in 29:53: And it will surely come upon them suddenly, while they are unaware (cf. 21:40; 26:201–2; 39:56).
*** # So turn away from them for a time,
# and observe; for they will soon observe.
178–79 Cf. vv. 174–75. The repetition of these verses can be seen as a reaffirmation of this essential lesson (IK), or the first instance can be understood as a reference to observing things in this world and this second instance as a reference to observing the events of the Hereafter (R).
***
# Glory be to thy Lord, the Lord of Might, above that which they ascribe.
180 Cf. 23:91; 37:159. On one level, above that which they ascribe refers to the partners that the idolaters ascribe to God (IJ), but on another level it refers to God’s complete transcendence beyond all that is other than Him (Q) and the inability of any human description of God to attain to God’s true Nature, since naught is like unto Him (42:11). In this vein, the sixth Shiite Imam, Jaʿfar alṢādiq, is reported to have said, “Whosoever likens God to His creatures assigns partners unto Him. God does not resemble anything, and nothing resembles Him. And whatever occurs to the mind, He is other than that.”
***
# Peace be upon the message bearers.
# And praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
181–82 Regarding the messengers, the Prophet is reported to have said, “If you send peace upon me, send peace upon the messengers, for I am a messenger among the messengers” (IK, Q, Ṭ); regarding greetings of peace upon the Prophet, see 33:56c. It is reported that the Prophet would often recite vv. 180–82 at the end of his prayers (Q) and that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, in a saying sometimes attributed to the Prophet (IK), counseled, “Whosoever desires that the greatest measure of reward be measured for him on the Day of Resurrection, let his last words at any gathering be Glory be to thy Lord, the Lord of Might, above that which they ascribe. Peace be upon the message bearers. And praise be to God, Lord of the worlds” (Bg).
Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others
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