يَأْتِي

Commentary:

عرشھا (a throne for her) signifies the throne which Solomon had ordered to be built for the Queen in accordance with the custom of the day. It seemed to be a practice in vogue at that time that when the ruler of a State paid a visit to another ruler, a throne was built for the reception of the royal guest. Solomon also ordered a throne to be built for the reception of the Queen. It is called 'her throne' because it was specially built for her use.

The expression یأتینی (will bring me) means, will prepare for me.

7:36; 20:124.

Important Words:

خوف (fear) is derived from خاف i.e. he feared. خوف denotes fear about the future. یحزنون (shall grieve) is derived from حزنwhich means, he felt regret, grief, and sorrow. حزنه means, he made him sorrowful. حزن (grief) generally, though not always, relates to what is past.

Commentary:

As Adam was to become the progenitor of a great race and the harbinger of a new era, a timely announcement was made to mankind through him that they should be prepared to receive guidance from their God from time to time. Thus the verse holds out the promise that among the descendants of Adam there would continue to appear great souls who would invite people to truth and guidance, and that those who followed such holy persons would attain salvation. Their hearts would be so filled with the true faith that they would enjoy peace and tranquillity of mind in all circumstances. No fear about the future or regret about the past would trouble them, as they would attain nearness to God and their hearts would be to them a paradise.

Commentary:

While speaking of "the day" as in the present verse, the Quran uses the words "will you not then see" and when speaking of "the night" as in the preceding verse it uses the words, "will you not then hearken", the reason being that one cannot properly see at night.

6:159; 16:34; 89:23.

Important Words:

یاتیھم الله (Allah should come to them) is a metaphorical expression, meaning, Allah should come to them with His punishment, i.e. Allah should punish them. The metaphor ایتان الله i.e. coming of God, is used by the Quran elsewhere also (16:27; 59:3). In contrast to this, the Quran uses the metaphor توب الله i.e. turning of God, to express His turning with mercy (2:38; 9:117.) Similarly, ایتان الملئکة i.e. the coming of the angels, indicates their coming with punishment.

ظلل (coverings) is the plural of ظلة (zullah) which is derived from ظل and اظل the latter word meaning, he or it afforded or cast a shadow. But whereas ظل (zill) the plural of which is ظلال or اظلال means, shadow, ظلة whose plural is ظلل, means, a covering or a shade, i.e. a thing that casts or gives a shade or a shadow (Aqrab). The word ظلة or ظلل is generally used in connection with punishment (Mufradat).

الغمام (clouds) for which see 2:58. The word has been used by the Quran both in connection with mercy (7:161) and punishment (25:26).

Commentary:

The form of speech has been changed here from the second to the third person. The verse has apparently been addressed to either disbelievers or to hypocrites and the weak in faith. If it be taken to refer to disbelievers, as the change of form in the address indicates, it would mean that by desisting from belief they are, as it were, waiting for the punishment of God, and the verse incidentally hints that appointed punishment would come to them through raining clouds. The reference is to the Battle of Badr, when God helped believers by sending down clouds and rain (Bukhari), as was promised (25:26), and also sent down angels (8:10) who inspired the believers with courage and filled the hearts of the disbelievers with fear (8:13). Some of the disbelievers are reported to have actually seen the angels on that day (Zurqani). The matter was then "decided"; for, on that memorable day, all the chief leaders of the Quraish were killed, the Muslims obtaining a decisive victory which broke the power of the enemy. The coming of clouds refers to the rainfall which on the battlefield of Badr proved a blessing for the Muslims. It made the sand firm for them, while the land on the side of the enemy, being clayey, became slippery.

If, however, the verse be taken to refer to the hypocrites or the weak in faith, as the preceding two verses would suggest, then the clause, that Allah should come to them in the coverings of the clouds, would mean that if they did not mend their ways, God would have to chastise them even though they were apparently resting in the shade of faith, which is likened to a غمام or cloud. As shown under Important Words above, the word غمام (clouds) is sometimes used in connection with God’s mercy (7:161).

Important Words:

التابوت (heart) is derived from تاب i.e. he returned; he returned to God; he repented; he left off the way of sin and began to tread the path of rectitude. التابوت means: (1) a chest or box, as things are repeatedly taken out of, and returned to, it; (2) a coffin or a bier; (3) chest or breast or bosom or the ribs with what they contain, as the heart, etc. (Lane); (4) the heart which is the storehouse of knowledge, wisdom and peace (Mufradat).

سکینة (tranquillity) is derived from سکن i.e. it became calm and tranquil. سکینة means, peace, tranquillity, calmness, freedom from agitation and disturbance (Aqrab & Lane).

بقیة (legacy) is derived from بقی i.e. he or it remained behind; or he or it continued or lasted for long or forever. بقیة means, that which remains behind, i.e. legacy; remainder; remains; remnant; residue; relic; the best portion of a thing, as it is always the best part of a thing that survives. فلان بقیة القوم means, such a one is the best and the most excellent of the party (Lane).

Commentary:

Though commentators have differed about the significance of the word تابوت and the Bible mentions it as an "ark" or chest, the description of the Quran definitely shows that the word has been used here in the sense of "heart" or "bosom.'' The words of the Quran are: wherein there will be tranquillity from your Lord. Now this description cannot apply to an ark or a chest; for, far from granting peace and tranquillity to others, the ark spoken of by the Bible could neither protect the Israelites against defeat nor could it protect itself, and was carried away by the enemy. Even Saul who took with him the ark during his campaigns, suffered crushing defeats, so much so that even the enemy pitied him and he met with an ignominious end. Such an ark could not be a source of tranquillity to the Israelites. What God gave them was a heart full of tranquillity which was aided by angels who buoyed up the Israelites and filled their hearts with courage and perseverance so that, after the coming of the said tranquillity, they successfully resisted the attacks of the enemy and inflicted heavy defeats on them.

Another favour which God conferred on the Israelites has been referred to in the word بقیة or legacy. God imbued their hearts with the noble qualities which characterized their ancestors, the people or the descendants of Moses and Aaron. The legacy left by the descendants of Moses and Aaron did not consist of any material things but referred to the good qualities which they were given as the heritage of their great ancestors. This heritage was similar to the one to which reference has been made in the words, that (he) may be heir to me and to the House of Jacob (19: 7). Evidently, it is not a material heritage but a spiritual and moral heritage that is mentioned in this verse. Similarly, the followers of Gideon were imbued with a spiritual and moral بقیة i.e. such noble attributes of Moses and Aaron and their descendants as God had endowed them with. It was a sign that it was God Who had set up Gideon as king over the tribes of Israel so that he might protect them against the ravages of their enemy and breathe into them a martial spirit, a work which saw its consummation in the days of David.

Important Words:

تحی الموتی (Thou givest life to the dead). For the meaning of حیاة (life) and موت (death) and میت (dead person) see 2:20; 2:29; 2:57 and 2:74.

یطمئن (be at rest) is derived from طمئن. They say طمئن ظھرہ i.e. he bent his back low. طمئن الشیء means, he made the thing calm and set it at rest. اطمأن means, it or he was at rest; it or he became calm after being agitated; it or he became docile and submissive. المطمئن means, (1) one who is calm and tranquil or in a state of rest or ease; that which is motionless and stationary; (2) if used in connection with some piece of land, it means a low-lying, soft piece of land (Aqrab).

صرھن الیك (make them attached to thyself). صرھن is derived from صار with واو as the central root letter. They say صار الشیء الی نفسه i.e. he inclined the thing to himself. صار وجھه الی means, he inclined his face towards me. صرت الغصن لاجتنی الثمر means, I inclined the branch towards myself in order to pluck the fruit. صار with ی as the central root letter, means, he cut a thing, etc. into pieces (Aqrab). The Quran uses here صار with واو as the central root letter as the dammah in صرھن indicates. Moreover, the preposition الی (to) determines the significance of the word in the sense of inclining or attaching and not cutting.

جزء (each) is derived from جزاء. They say جزأ الشیء i.e. he divided the thing into parts. So جزء means, part or portion or division of a thing (Lane). Thus, if a thing consists of, and comprises, a group, the word part or division would signify each member of it.

Commentary:

This verse provides yet another illustration of the process of life and death arranged by God in this world. In other words, the rise of a fallen nation is further discussed. Abraham asked God to show him how He caused a people to come to life after they had become fallen and degraded.

The difference between إیمان (belief) and اطمینان (heart being at rest) is that in the former state one simply believes that God can do a thing, while in the latter one receives the assurance that the thing would be done in his case also. Abraham did indeed believe that God could bring a dead people to life, but what he desired was the personal satisfaction of knowing that He would do so in the case of his own posterity as well; hence the words, so that my heart may be at rest.

The verse proceeds to describe a vision of Abraham. By asking him to take four birds, God hinted that his posterity would rise and fall four times. This rise and fall was witnessed twice among the Israelites, and the same phenomenon was to be repeated among the followers of the Holy Prophet of Islam who was descended from Abraham through Ishmael. The power of the Jews, the progeny of Abraham through Isaac, was crushed twice, first by Nebuchadnezzar and then by Titus (the Quran, 17:5-8; the Bible, II Kings ch. 25 and Enc. Brit. under Jews); and each time God raised them after their fall, the second revival having been brought about by the acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Emperors. As to the power of Islam, it was first rudely shaken when Baghdad fell to the arms of the Tartars, after which it again revived owing to the conquerors being won over to Islam. The second fall came later when there was a general and wholesale decline of Muslims both in the spiritual and the political field. The final rise is being arranged by God through the Ahmadiyya Movement founded by Ahmad, the Promised Messiah.

Referring to the verse under comment, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said, "We are more deserving of entertaining شك than Abraham" (Muslim). Here شك does not mean "doubt" but an intense hidden desire anxiously awaiting fulfilment, for the Holy Prophet never entertained any doubt. This shows that Abraham also never doubted and his question was not prompted by doubt but simply by an anxious desire. He had firm faith in the power of God and fully believed that He could restore a fallen people to prosperity; what he wanted was simply the satisfaction of his hidden desire, i.e. an assurance that God would do so in the case of his people also. The word شك therefore here only means the feeling of anxiety in the mind, or the state of commotion or disturbance of the heart and mind (Lane).

The double fall and subsequent rise of the Israelites and of the posterity of Ishmael making the total number of such phenomena four may be interpreted in another way also. The Israelites were a fallen people before Moses and God raised them through him. They fell again before the time of Jesus and were again given new life through him. Similarly, the Ishmaelites were a fallen people before the advent of the Holy Prophet who gave them new life, and they are again a fallen people now when they are being given a new life by Ahmad, the Promised Messiah.

Many commentators have translated the word صرھن as, "cut them into pieces and mince them", but this is clearly wrong; for as explained under Important Words above صار یصور (with واو as the central root letter) means "inclining" and not "cutting", particularly when it is used with the preposition الی. So the expression صرھن would mean "make them inclined towards thyself", so that they may become attached to thee. In this case the placing of a جزء of the four birds each on a hill would mean, putting each separate bird on a separate hill, and not placing portions of the minced meat thereon. The commandment to place the four birds separately on separate hills is to point to the fact that the rise and fall of the progeny of Abraham would take place at four distinct and separate times. The word جزء has been used in this sense elsewhere also (15:45).

5:33; 14:10; 40:84.

Commentary:

The enemies of truth never admit their defeat. They continue to seek new pretexts for refusing to believe in it. When the Jews were told that they had opposed the Prophets of God through covetousness (3:181-182), they retorted by saying that they did not oppose Muslims through covetousness but because, animals unlike them, the Muslims devoured even that which they offered as sacrifices, instead of burning them at the altar according to the Jewish Law (Lev. 1:11-17). Thus, it was not they but the Muslims who were greedy and covetous and they could not, therefore, consistently with the Law of Moses, accept the Prophet who did not observe that Law.

The Quran answers this objection by saying that the observance of the law about burnt offerings was no criterion to test the truth of a Prophet, because that could easily be done by an impostor. It was البینات (clear signs) only that demonstrated and established the truth of a claimant. But even if observance of burnt offerings was the criterion of a true Prophet, the Jews had no right to raise an objection; for in that case the question arose, why did they reject those Prophets who strictly conformed to that law? The fact that the Jewish demand referred to in the words, that which you speak of, has been mentioned in the verse separately from clear signs, shows that what the Jews spoke of was not a miracle, but that they were only referring to the law about burnt offerings, and not to the miracle of fire descending from heaven to consume a sacrifice, as is generally but wrongly believed.

22:48; 26:205; 27:72-73; 37:177-178.

Commentary:

The verse gives a direct answer to the disbelievers’ demand for the sign of punishment and says that instead of benefiting by the sign of mercy which has been given to them in the form of the Quran, these ill-fated people persist in their demand for punishment. They will have this Sign and the punishment will come upon them also all of a sudden and from quarters least expected. But they will have to wait for أجل مسمی i.e. a fixed and appointed term.

The implied reference in the words أجل مسمی is to the migration of the Holy Prophet to Medina and the punishment demanded by the disbelievers is elsewhere expressed in the words, "O Allah! if this indeed be the truth from Thee, then rain down upon us stones from heaven or bring down upon us a grievous punishment" (8:33). The punishment came upon the disbelievers in the form of the Battle of Badr which took place about a year after the Holy Prophet left Mecca. It broke the power of the Quraish and all their prominent leaders were killed. Their defeat was crushing and most unexpected. They could never conceive that their well-armed and fully equipped army would be defeated by a handful of 313 ill-armed Muslims who had come to the field of battle quite unprepared, because they had no idea when they left Medina that they would be meeting a regular and fully armed host. The words, "it will come upon them unexpectedly" may also have a general application, meaning that when Divine punishment is delayed, the disbelievers begin to think that all the warning was but an illusion and a fantasy and consequently they become lulled into a false sense of security and even increase in transgression. It is when they are in this state of complacency that the punishment comes upon them quite unexpectedly and destroys them.

4:20, 26; 24:20.

Important Words:

الفاحشة (lewdness) is derived from فحش. They say فحش الامر i.e. the matter or the affair or the thing was or became foul, evil, immodest or lewd; or it became excessively foul, etc. فحشت المرأة means, the woman became foul or ugly. فاحشهmeans, he vied with him or strove to surpass him in foul or obscene speech or language, etc. فاحشة therefore means, an excess or enormity or anything exceeding the bounds of rectitude; or a thing excessively and enormously foul, evil, immoral, lewd or obscene; a sin or crime which is excessively foul; adultery or fornication. فحشاءbesides giving the same meaning as فاحشة also signifies avarice or niggardliness in the payment of Zakah or the poor-rate (Lane).

Commentary:

The women referred to in this verse are those guilty of foul or immoral conduct short of adultery. Abu Muslim and Mujahid, among others, have also held this view.

The words, confine them to the houses until death overtake them or Allah open for them a way, mean that they should be prevented from mixing with other women until they reform themselves or get married, marriage being an effective means of weaning people from immoral practices. As the offence mentioned is a serious one, four witnesses are considered necessary in order to prevent injustice being done to women.

Some scholars have sought to interpret the verse in the light of a saying of the Holy Prophet which runs as follows: "Learn from me, Allah has indeed opened for them a way, which is that if an unmarried couple commit fornication with each other they should receive a hundred stripes and should be banished for one year. But if a married man commits adultery with a married woman, then they should receive a hundred stripes each and be stoned to death" (Jarir, iv. 182). These scholars hold that the word فاحشة (fahishah) mentioned in the verse means "adultery" and that this verse prescribed that the women who committed adultery were to be detained in their houses till their death or till the time when God should open a way for them, i.e. reveal the law concerning them; and that the law which was afterwards revealed was to the effect that an unmarried woman committing fornication should receive a hundred stripes and one year’s banishment, while a married woman guilty of adultery should be stoned to death after she had received a hundred stripes. This interpretation, however, is open to many objections:

1. If the words, confine them to the houses until death overtake them or Allah open for them a way, mean that they were to be detained in their houses until God gave His law concerning them, the question is, what hindered God from giving His law at the very time of the revelation of the verse under comment? There is no hint here that the time was not yet ripe for such a law to be revealed. In this case, the only inference will be that God hesitated to give the necessary law at the time when this verse was revealed because He was not yet decided, the matter being still under His consideration. Such a supposition cannot be made about God.

2. The law mentioned in the above-quoted hadith is not found in the Quran.

3. The Holy Prophet’s own practice was against this hadith. No less than four persons were stoned to death for adultery in his lifetime, but none of them was given the punishment of a hundred stripes before being stoned as the above-mentioned hadith prescribes.

It may also be pointed out here that according to the usage of the Quran, the word فاحشة (fahishah) does not always mean "adultery" but as shown under Important Words above, it is also applied to all sorts of excesses or sins or crimes or acts exceeding the bounds of rectitude. For this meaning of the word the reader is referred to 33:31 which says: O wives of the Prophet, if any of you be guilty of فاحشة مبینة (manifestly dishonourable conduct); and 65:2 which says: unless they commit فاحشة مبینة (an act which is manifestly foul); and 7:29 which says: and when they commit فاحشة (a foul deed). In none of these verses does the word فاحشة mean adultery.