Quran The Clot 96:19
16 No! Do not obey him. But prostrate and
draw near [to Allah ].
16"Sajdah" (prostration) here implies the Prayer, so as to say: "O Prophet, continue to perform your Prayer fearlessly as you have been in the past, and seek your Lord's presence through it." In the Sahih of Muslim and other books of Hadith there is a tradition from Hadrat Abu Huraira to the effect: "The servant is nearest to his Lord when he is in the state of prostration", and in Muslim there is also a tradition from Hadrat Abu Hurairah that when the Holy Prophet recited this verse, he performed a sajdah of recital.
Recite in the
name of your Lord who created -
Taught man that
which he knew not.
·
Indeed, to your
Lord is the return.
[11-19] What do
you think: if (the Servant) be on the right path, or be exhorting to piety?
What do you think, if the one forbidding be belying (the Truth) and turning
away? Does he not know that Allah sees?11 By
no means!12 If
he does not desist, We shall drag him by his forelock, the forelock that is
lying and utterly sinful.13 So
let him call his band of supporters.14 We,
too, shall call the angels of torment.15 Nay,
never! Do not obey him, and prostrate yourself and draw closer (to your Lord).16
1As we have explained in
the Introduction, when the Angel said to the Holy Prophet, "Read",
the latter replied, "I cannot read!"" This indicates that the
Angel had presented these words of the Revelation before him in the written
form and had asked him to read them. For if the Angel had meant that he should
repeat what he recited, he should not have replied, saying "I cannot
read!"
2"Read in the name of
your Lord": Bismillah and read. This shows that the Holy Prophet (upon
whom be peace) even before the coming down of this Revelation regarded and acknowledged
Allah alone as his Lord. That is why there was no need to ask who his Lord was,
but it was said: "Read in the name of your Lord."
3Only the word khalaqa
(created) 'has been used absolutely, and the object of creation has not been
mentioned, This automatically gives the meaning: "Read in the name of the
Lord, Who is the Creator, Who created the whole universe and everything in
it."
4After making mention
generally of the creation of the universe, mention has been made of man in
particular, saying how Allah made him a perfect man starting his creation from
an insignificant and humble state. 'Alaq is plural of 'alaqah, which means congealed
blood. This is the primary state of the embryo which appears a few days after
conception. Then it assumes the form of a lump of flesh, then afterwards it
gradually takes human shape. (For details, see AI-Hajj: 5 and the corresponding
E.N.'s 5 to 7).
5That is, "It is a
great favor of Allah that starting man's creation from a most insignificant
state He made him possessor of knowledge which is the noblest attribute of creation,
and He made him not only possessor of knowledge but also taught him the art of
writing by the use of pen, which became the means of propagation, progress,
dissemination and preservation of knowledge on a large scale. Had He not given
man the knowledge of the art of pen and writing (by inspiration) his
intellectual faculty would have stagnated, and it would have had no opportunity
to develop, expand and become a means of transmission of knowledge from one
generation to the next and make future progress.
6That is, Man originally
was absolutely illiterate. Whatever of knowledge he obtained, he obtained it as
a gift from Allah. Whatever doors of knowledge at any stage did Allah will to
open for man, they went on opining up before him. This same thing has been
expressed in the verse of the Throne, thus: "And the people cannot
comprehend anything of His knowledge save what He Himself may please to
reveal." (Al-Baqarah: 255). Whatever man looks upon as his own scientific
discovery was, in fact, unknown to him before. Allah gave him its knowledge
whenever He willed without his realizing that Allah by His grace had blessed
him with the knowledge of it.
These verses were the very
first to be revealed to the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace), as is stated in
the Hadith reported by Hadrat `A'ishah. This first experience was so intense
and tremendous that the Holy Prophet could not bear it any more. Therefore, at
that time he was only made aware that the Being Whom he already knew and
acknowledged as his Lord and Sustainer was in direct communion with him, had
started sending down Revelations to him, and had appointed him as His Prophet.
Then after an intermission the opening verses of Surah al-Muddaththir were
revealed in which he was told what mission he had to perform after his
appointment to Prophethood. (For explanation, see Introduction to
Al-Muddaththir)
7That is, man should never
adopt an attitude of ignorance and rebellion against the Bountiful God Who has
been so generous to him.
8That is, when the man has
attained wealth, honor and rank and whatever else he desired to attain in the
world, he becomes rebellious instead of being grateful and transgresses the
boundaries of servitude to Allah.
9That is, "Whatever he
might have attained in the world, which makes ,him behave arrogantly and
rebelliously, in the end he has to return to your Lord. Then he will realize
what fate awaits him in consequence of his such attitude and behavior."
10"A Servant" :
the Holy Messenger of Allah himself. The Holy Prophet has been mentioned by
this epithet at several places in the Qur'an. For example, "Glory be to
Him Who transported His servant one night from the Masjid al Haram to the
distant Temple." (Bani Isra'il: 1); "All praise is for Allah Who has
sent down this Book to His servant." (AI-Kahf: 1); "And that when the
servant of Allah stood up to pray, the people got ready to assault him."
(Al-Jinn: 19). This shows that it is a special style of love by which Allah
makes mention of His Messenger Muhammad (upon whom be His peace and blessings)
in His Book. Besides, it also shows that Allah after appointing His Messenger
to Prophethood had taught him the method of performing the Prayer. There is no
mention of this method anywhere in the Qur'an, saying: "O Prophet, perform
the Prayer in this and this way." Hence, this is another proof that the
Revelation sent down to the Holy Prophet did not only consist of what has been
recorded in the Qur'an, but besides this, other things also were taught to him
by revelation, which are not recorded in the Qur'an.
11The audience here
apparently is every just man, who is being asked: Have you watched the act of
the person who prevents a Servant from God's worship? What do you think: if the
Servant be rightly guided, or warning the people to fear God and refrain from
evil, and this forbidden be denying the Truth and turning away from it, what
will his act be like? Could this man adopt such an attitude had he known that
Allah is watching the man who is exhorting others to piety as well as him who is
denying the truth and turning away from it? Allah's watching the oppressor and
his wrongdoing and the oppressed and his misery by itself implies that He will
punish the oppressor and redress the grievances of the wronged and down-trodden
person.
12That is, the person who
threatens that he would trample the neck of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace and blessings) down when he performed the Prayer, would never be able to
do so.
14As we have explained in
the Introduction, when the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) rebuked Abu Jahl
on his foolish behavior, he had retorted: "O Muhammad, on what strength do
you threaten me? By God, my supporters in this valley far exceed yours in
number." At this it is being said: "Let him call his band of
supporters."
15According to the
explanation given by Qatadah, the word zabaniyah in the original, is used for
the police in Arabic idiom, and zaban actually means to push away. The kings
too kept armed attendants who would push out the one with whom the king was
annoyed and angry. Therefore, what Allah means is: "Let him call his
supporters; We too shall summon Our Police, i.e. the angels of torment, to deal
with him and his supporters."
16"Sajdah"
(prostration) here implies the Prayer, so as to say: "O Prophet, continue
to perform your Prayer fearlessly as you have been in the past, and seek your
Lord's presence through it." In the Sahih of Muslim and other books of
Hadith there is a tradition from Hadrat Abu Huraira to the effect: "The
servant is nearest to his Lord when he is in the state of prostration",
and in Muslim there is also a tradition from Hadrat Abu Hurairah that when the
Holy Prophet recited this verse, he performed a sajdah of recital.
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