045- AL-JATHIYAH
UPON THEIR KNEES
Al-Jāthiyah
A late Makkan sūrah, al-Jāthiyah is believed to have been revealed immediately after Sūrah 44, al-Dukhān. Although some maintain that the entire sūrah is from the Makkan period, others maintain that v. 14 is from the Madinan period. The sūrah takes its name from v. 28, which states that on the Day of Judgment every community will be upon its knees (cf. 19:68). It is also known to some as al-Sharīʿah, because it is the only sūrah to employ the term sharīʿah, which later came to denote Islamic Law. Another name is al-Dahr (“Time”), a reference to al-dahr in v. 24, which can mean “time,” “fate,” or “the passage of time.” The initial reference to the revelation of the Book can be seen as being connected to the second to last verse of the previous sūrah: We have only made this easy upon thy tongue, that haply they may remember (44:58).
Al-Jāthiyah contains one of the most explicit and extended Quranic discussions of “the signs of God,” enjoining people to reflect upon them and describing the fate that will befall those who deny them. It begins with a discussion of the signs of God in revelation and in the created order and the fate of those who fail to believe in them and understand them (vv. 2–15). A brief mention of the Children of Israel (vv. 16–17) segues into an address to the Prophet Muhammad (vv. 18–19), which is followed by a reiteration of the fate that befalls those who deny God’s insights, or signs (vv. 20–21). The remainder of the sūrah continues the focus upon those who deny God’s signs and the Final Judgment (vv. 22–26) and upon the great peril that awaits them on the Day of Judgment (vv. 27–37).
(source: “The Study Quran” a new translation and commentary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)
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