061- AL-SAF
THE RANKS
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# Whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth glorifies God, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. # O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? # Grievously odious is it in the Sight of God that you say that which you do not do. # Truly God loves those who fight in His way in ranks, as if they were a solid structure. # And [remember] when Moses said unto his people, “O my people! Why do you hurt me, though you know well that I am the Messenger of God unto you?” So when they swerved, God caused their hearts to swerve; and God guides not iniquitous people. # And [remember] when Jesus son of Mary said, “O Children of Israel! Truly I am the Messenger of God unto you, confirming that which came before me in the Torah and bearing glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me whose name is Aḥmad.” And when he came unto them with clear proofs, they said, “This is manifest sorcery.” # Who does greater wrong than one who fabricates lies against God, while he is being called to submission? And God guides not wrongdoing people. # They desire to extinguish the Light of God with their mouths, but God completes His Light, though the disbelievers be averse. # He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to make it prevail over all religion, though the idolaters be averse. # O you who believe! Shall I direct you to a commerce that will save you from a painful punishment: # that you believe in God and the Messenger and strive in God’s way with your wealth and your souls? That is better for you, if you but knew. # He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter Gardens with rivers running below, and goodly dwellings in Gardens of Eden—that is the great triumph— # and something else that you love: help from God and a victory nigh. So give glad tidings to the believers. # O you who believe! Be helpers of God, just as Jesus son of Mary said to the apostles, “Who are my helpers unto God?” The apostles replied, “We are helpers unto God.” Then a group from the Children of Israel believed and a group disbelieved. So We strengthened those who believed against their enemies, and they came to prevail.
Commentary
# Whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth glorifies God, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.
1 All that exists bears witness to God’s Lordship and Oneness. He is the Mighty in that He overcomes all that is other than Him and nothing can overcome Him (R); cf. 57:1; 59:1; 62:1; 64:1. For the meaning of the various modes in which God is said to be glorified in the Quran, see 64:1c.
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# O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do?
# Grievously odious is it in the Sight of God that you say that which you do not do.
2–3 It is reported that some Muslims would say, “If we knew the deeds most beloved to God, we would expend our wealth and souls to perform such deeds.” So God directed them to the works most beloved to Him, saying, Truly God loves those who fight in His way in ranks, as if they were a solid structure (v. 4). But when the Muslims were tested at the Battle of Uḥud (see 3:121c; 3:155c), they retreated, and so God chastised them by revealing, O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? (Q, R, Ṭ, W), meaning, “Why did you claim that you would do what is most beloved to God, but then not do it?” These verses can also be seen as a reference to the hypocrites, who when fighting is enjoined upon them say, Our Lord! Why hast Thou prescribed fighting for us? (4:77; R). V. 2 can also be taken as a reference to all believers, as they have agreed to fulfill that which God has required of them through humility and surrender to God, but if they do not fulfill their promise, they can be accused of claiming falsely to do something that in fact they do not do (R). In this vein, the Prophet is reported to have said, “Whosoever claims for himself qualities that he does not have is not one of us; let him prepare his seat in Hell.” Regarding those who love to be praised for what they have not done, see 3:188: Do not suppose that those who exult in what they have brought about and love to be praised for what they have not done—do not suppose that they are delivered from the punishment; theirs is a painful punishment.
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# Truly God loves those who fight in His way in ranks, as if they were a solid structure.
4 In contrast to vv. 2–3, this verse praises those who heed God’s Command to strive in His way. That God loves those who fight in His way in ranks indicates both His Contentment with them and praise for them (R). Solid structure suggests a building made of bricks that are sealed together so that there are no cracks between them. Here it is a metaphor for the Muslim community, who are joined by bonds of love and brotherhood, as in 49:10: The believers are naught but brothers, and in a famous ḥadīth: “A Muslim believer is a mirror reflection of another Muslim. A believer is a brother to another believer; he safeguards him from destruction and prevents his annihilation during his absence.” In this regard, another ḥadīth states, “The entire Muslim group is like one single body. If the eye aches, then the whole body is in pain, and if the head aches, then the whole body is in pain.” For the importance of the brotherhood of Muslims, see commentary on 49:9–12.
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# And [remember] when Moses said unto his people, “O my people! Why do you hurt me, though you know well that I am the Messenger of God unto you?” So when they swerved, God caused their hearts to swerve; and God guides not iniquitous people.
5 The hurt Moses’ people caused him can be attributed to several events. The first was when they challenged Moses by saying, Show us God openly (4:153), and worshipped the golden calf (see 7:148–52; also 2:92–93; 20:88). Then, after they had been provided manna from Heaven, they said, O Moses, we will not endure one food (2:61). And finally they refused to enter Israel and fight with him, saying, O Moses! We shall never enter it, so long as they remain therein. So go forth, thou and thy Lord, and fight! We shall sit here (5:24). They swerved means that they inclined away from the truth (Q, R). Here their swerving can be read as referring to their deeds, as a result of which moral and spiritual “swerving” became manifest in their hearts. They thus came to be among the iniquitous, those whose outward actions manifest their inner iniquity, and for this they were left to wander astray. For God guides not iniquitous people (cf. 5:108; 9:24, 80; 63:6).
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# And [remember] when Jesus son of Mary said, “O Children of Israel! Truly I am the Messenger of God unto you, confirming that which came before me in the Torah and bearing glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me whose name is Aḥmad.” And when he came unto them with clear proofs, they said, “This is manifest sorcery.”
6 A function of every Divine messenger is to confirm the revelations that have come before; thus 6:92 says of the Quran, This is a blessed Book that We have sent down, confirming that which came before it (cf. 35:31; 46:30). That the prophets would confirm one another is said to be part of the primordial covenant that they made with God in 3:81 and 33:7. The prophets’ confirmation of other messengers is also understood to refer to those who would follow them in time, and several verses are interpreted as references to the mention of the Prophet Muhammad in the Old and New Testaments (see 7:157c). The name Aḥmad means “most praised”; it derives from the same root as Muhammad—ḥ-md—and has long been recognized by Muslims as one of the many honorific names given to the Prophet by God Himself. This is based upon a saying of the Prophet: “I have several names: I am Muhammad; I am Aḥmad; I am al-Māḥī (the Effacer) by means of whom God eliminates unbelief.” Many other aḥadīth simply refer to the Prophet as Aḥmad. Some Muslims have likened Jesus’ reference to Aḥmad here in the Quran to the reference to the Paraclete (Gk. Paraklētos) or Advocate of whom Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John 14:15–16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever” (see also John 16:7–14; Āl, R). Such an interpretation is, however, complicated by the next verse, 14:17, where the Advocate or Paraclete is said to be “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you,” and by 14:26, where the Advocate is again equated with the Holy Spirit. The clear proofs refers to the many miracles that Jesus performed, such as breathing life into a clay bird, healing the blind and the leper, and raising the dead; see 5:110. The accusation that such evidentiary miracles are manifest sorcery is also brought against Moses (10:76; 27:13). It is also a charge the disbelievers are said to bring against the Prophet Muhammad, as in general those who disbelieve say to the Truth when it comes to them, “This is naught but manifest sorcery” (34:43).
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# Who does greater wrong than one who fabricates lies against God, while he is being called to submission? And God guides not wrongdoing people.
7 To fabricate lies against God (cf. 3:94; 6:21, 93, 144; 7:37; 10:17; 11:18; 18:15; 29:68) indicates seeking to lead others astray by falsely attributing words of revelation to God (see 6:93, 144), declaring what is lawful to be unlawful and what is unlawful to be lawful (see 16:116), and reverting to a false creed after being shown the truth (see 7:89). While he is being called to submission could also be read in the active voice, “while he [the Prophet] calls them to submission.” In both cases it expresses amazement that people could fabricate lies against God or deny God in any way while a prophet is present among them (Q).
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# They desire to extinguish the Light of God with their mouths, but God completes His Light, though the disbelievers be averse.
8 They desire to extinguish the Light of God with their mouths by saying that it is sorcery, poetry, or soothsaying (JJ). This phrase is repeated in 9:32, where it is said of Jews and Christians who make human judgment a higher authority than the word of scripture. Light is frequently associated with the guidance that comes through the prophets and revelation (see 6:91; 7:157; 21:48; 42:52; 57:9, 28). That God completes His Light thus implies completing His Guidance. In this context, the Light of God is also interpreted as a reference to the Quran, Islam, or the Prophet (Q), who is referred to elsewhere as a luminous lamp (33:46). According to a Shiite interpretation, this verse refers to those who would seek to extinguish the walāyah/wilāyah, that is, the sanctity and rightful successorship of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, though God completes his position as leader (imāmah). This light is believed to be the light referred to in 64:8: So believe in God and His Messenger and the light We have sent down (Kā); see 64:8c.
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# He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to make it prevail over all religion, though the idolaters be averse.
9 He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to make it prevail over all religion is repeated verbatim in 9:33 and 48:28. Guidance can here be seen as a reference to the Quran (Aj, Āl) or to the truth itself (Q). All religion is understood to mean all religions (Q); see 9:32–33c; 48:28c. Almost all classical commentators interpret Religion of Truth here and in 9:33 and 48:28 as a reference to Islam and thus see all three verses as a reference to the triumph of Islam over all other religions. But as the Quran attests to the veracity and salvific efficacy of other religions (see, e.g., 2:62c; 5:69c), the Religion of Truth can be more broadly understood to mean all revealed religions. From this perspective, the disbelievers’ aversion to the completion of God’s Light in v. 8, can be understood as a reference to the idolaters who desire to extinguish the light of all revelation and to the People of the Book, most of whom reject the completion of revelation in the Prophet Muhammad. V. 9 would then refer only to the idolaters, as they are opposed to all truthful religion, whereas the People of the Book still seek the Religion of Truth in one form or another. See the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.”
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# O you who believe! Shall I direct you to a commerce that will save you from a painful punishment:
# that you believe in God and the Messenger and strive in God’s way with your wealth and your souls? That is better for you, if you but knew.
10–11 These verses can be seen as addressing the wish expressed by the Companions when they said, “If we knew the deeds most beloved to God, we would expend our wealth and souls to perform such deeds” (see 61:2–3c). The commerce that saves from a painful punishment is the one that is based upon the Hereafter rather than this world. When one strives in the way of God with one’s wealth and self or soul, it is then said, Truly God has purchased from the believers their souls and their wealth in exchange for the Garden being theirs. They fight in the way of God, slaying and being slain. [It is] a promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran. And who is truer to His pact than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have made (9:111). That is better for you thus means that faith or belief (īmān) and striving (jihād) are better for one than one’s wealth and one’s soul (Aj).
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# He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter Gardens with rivers running below, and goodly dwellings in Gardens of Eden—that is the great triumph—
12 Attaining “the Garden” is referred to as the great triumph in over a dozen verses; for the blessings of Paradise, see commentary on 5:119; 44:51–57. Regarding God’s causing people to enter Gardens with rivers running below, see 2:25c; 3:195; 5:12; 48:5; 64:9.
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# and something else that you love: help from God and a victory nigh. So give glad tidings to the believers.
13 Something else that you love can be a reference to another commerce, thus referring back to v. 10 (Q, R, Ṭ), or to another “blessing” in addition to the forgiveness and Gardens mentioned in v. 12 (Āl, Z). The victory nigh is understood as a reference to the conquest of Makkah or the victories over Byzantium and Persia soon after the death of the Prophet (Q, Z). Victory translates fatḥ, which can also mean “opening” and can thus be seen as a reference to either opening the gates of nearness to God, opening the gates of the Unseen (Aj), or opening the heart to spiritual realities.
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# O you who believe! Be helpers of God, just as Jesus son of Mary said to the apostles, “Who are my helpers unto God?” The apostles replied, “We are helpers unto God.” Then a group from the Children of Israel believed and a group disbelieved. So We strengthened those who believed against their enemies, and they came to prevail.
14 Be helpers of God indicates being helpers for God’s religion and His Prophet (R), since God has no need of human assistance. As helpers is here a noun rather than a verb, as it is in 47:7, If you help God, He will help you, it implies that to be a believer is to be a helper of God at all times (R). Those who are helpers of God are then likened to Jesus’ apostles, whose name in Arabic, ḥawāriyyūn, is thought by some to indicate purity (R). While some maintain that ḥawāriyyūn is from the Ethiopic ḥawārya meaning “apostle,” others see it as deriving from the word ḥawwara, meaning “to transform” or “to whiten” (Iṣ). The title could thus refer to those who transform and purify the souls of people by guiding them in religion and knowledge (Iṣ). The ḥawāriyyūn are also said to be those who are fully devoted to a prophet and are thus purified from any faults (Ṭs). The Prophet is reported to have said, “Every prophet has his apostle (ḥawārī), and my apostle is Zubayr” (Iṣ). A group among the Israelites then confirmed the prophethood of Jesus, while others disbelieved. According to many commentators, those who disbelieved includes not only those who rejected Jesus, but also those who maintained that Jesus was God as well as those who maintained that he was the son of God (R, Ṭs).
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