AL-NOOR
(Verses 46 – 57)
This
group of 12 verses in Surah Al-Nur requires special understanding. So let us go
through these in some detail:-
لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا
آيَاتٍ مُّبَيِّنَاتٍ وَاللَّهُ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ (24:46)
Ø Guidance
to the Straight Path with the help of fully explained revelations is at Allah’s
will. Personal efforts alone may mean little.
وَيَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا
بِاللَّهِ وَبِالرَّسُولِ وَأَطَعْنَا ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّى فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم مِّن
بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَمَا أُوْلَئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ (24:47)
24:47 And they say: We believe in Allah and the messenger, and
we obey; then after that a faction of them turn away. Such are not believers.
Ø Having
declared belief in Allah and His messenger and pledged obedience as well a
group from amongst them turns away. Such people are not to be treated believers
ab-initio.
وَإِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى
اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
(24:48)
24:48 And when they appeal unto Allah and His messenger to judge
between them, lo! a faction of them are averse;
Ø A
sign of such people is that when called to Allah and His messenger for judgment
they come up with repugnance.
24:49 But if right had been with them they would have come unto
him willingly.
Ø Had
they been right they would come to the messenger cheerfully.
24:50 Is there in their
hearts a disease, or have they doubts, or fear they lest Allah and His
messenger should wrong them in judgment? Nay, but such are evil-doers.
Ø Hearts
of such people are diseased, they harbor doubts and they fear that Allah and
His messenger would wrong them in judgment. Such people are evil-doers.
24:51 The saying of (all
true) believers when they appeal unto Allah and His messenger to judge between
them is only that they say: We hear and we obey. And such are the successful.
Ø It
is certain that the believers when asked to come to Allah and His messenger for
judgment only utter that they hear and obey. Such people are the successful.
وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ
وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَخْشَ اللَّهَ وَيَتَّقْهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ
(24:52)
24:52 He who obeyeth Allah and His messenger, and feareth Allah,
and keepeth duty (unto Him): such indeed are the victorious.
Ø The
fact is that those who obey Allah and His messenger while fearing their Creator
Lord and keeping duty to Him are the sure victorious.
24:53 They swear by Allah solemnly that, if thou order
them, they will go forth. Say: Swear not; known obedience (is better). Lo!
Allah is Informed of what ye do.
Ø Yet
another qualification of the infamous group amongst believers is that they
resort to swearing that in case the messenger orders them to go out they will
do so. It should be known to all that displayed obedience is better than mere
swearing. Allah certainly knows what such people do.
24:54 Say: Obey Allah and
obey the messenger. But if ye turn away, then (it is) for him (to do) only that
wherewith he hath been charged, and for you (to do) only that wherewith ye have
been charged. If ye obey him, ye will go aright. But the messenger hath no
other charge than to convey (the message), plainly.
Ø Let
this be known very clearly that in the scenario of obeying Allah and His
messenger only those go aright who obey the messenger. Those who do not do so
will bear the burden while the messenger has no other responsibility towards
them than to convey the message openly and in plain words.
24:55 Allah hath promised such of you as believe and do good
works that He will surely make them to succeed (the present rulers) in the
earth even as He caused those who were before them to succeed others; and that
He will surely establish for them their religion which He hath approved for
them, and will give them in exchange safety after their fear. They serve Me.
They ascribe no thing as partner unto Me. Those who disbelieve henceforth, they
are the miscreants[i].
Ø Allah
promises such believers who do good works and serve Him ascribing no thing as
partner with Him to establish them in the land devoid of all fears with
established way of life that He approves for them. Those who give in to
rejection after that are the miscreants.
24:56 Establish worship and pay the poor due and obey the
messenger, that haply ye may find mercy.
Ø Allah’s
mercy is certainly for those who establish worship, pay the poor due and
discharge right obedience to the messenger.
24:57 Think not that the
disbelievers can, escape in the land. Fire will be their home, a hapless
journey's end!
Ø It
must be very clear that the disbelievers can never escape in the land the fire
that is their home and it certainly is a very miserable end.
POINTS
FOR CONSIDERATIONS
The
first verse of Surah An-Nur “(Here is) a Surah which We have revealed
and enjoined, and wherein We have revealed plain tokens, that haply you may
take heed” appears to be
strange because the whole Qur’an is a revelation from Almighty Allah and is
enjoined on believers (rather all humans) too.
This
aspect, however, becomes understandable in the light of further reading of this
verse wherein “plain tokens” and “you may take heed” are mentioned; probably
this Surah is an example in itself that mentions plain tokens that need not be
missed for acceptance and implementation. Those who do not take heed to the
contents of this Surah must re-read the above first verse and search in their
heart the seeds of hypocrisy.
The
selected group of twelve verses (verses 46-57) appears to be containing a central
theme of this Surah. Contents of these verses are summarized as under:-
1.
His revelations are for human Guidance but
at His pleasure. Revelations alone cannot and do not provide guidance; seekers
of guidance must look for His pleasure as well.
2.
A group from amongst the believers
declares belief in Allah and His messenger and pledges obedience as well but prefers
to turn away when it suits them. Such people are to be treated as unbelievers’
ab-initio. A sign of such people is that when called to Allah and His messenger
for judgment they come up with repugnance. Had they been right they would have come
to the messenger cheerfully. Hearts of such people are diseased, they harbor
doubts and they fear that Allah and His messenger would wrong them while
judging their affair. Such people are evil-doers.
3.
It is certain that the believers when
asked to come to Allah and His messenger for judgment heartily utter that they
hear and obey. Such people are the successful. The fact is that those who obey
Allah and His messenger while fearing their Creator Lord and keeping duty to
Him are the sure victorious.
4.
Yet another qualification of the
infamous group amongst believers is that they resort to swearing that in case
the messenger orders them to go out they will do so. It should be known to all
that displayed obedience is better than mere swearing. Allah certainly knows
what such people do. Let this be known very clearly that in the scenario of
obeying Allah and His messenger only those go aright who obey the messenger
willingly and cheerfully. Those who do not do so will bear the burden of their
misdoings while the messenger has no other responsibility towards them except
to convey the message openly and in plain words.
5.
Allah promises such believers who do
good works and serve Him ascribing no thing as partner with Him to establish
them in the land devoid of all fears and with the established way of life that
He approves for them. Those who surrender to rejection after that are the
miscreants. Allah’s mercy is certainly for those who establish worship, pay the
poor due and discharge right obedience to the messenger. It must, however be
very clear that the disbelievers can never escape in the land the fire that is
their home and it certainly is a very miserable end.
Verse 55 of Surah Al-Nur amongst
the group of twelve verses under discussion is pivotal in nature that spells
out the following five points:-
1.
Allah promises that those believers who
are given to performing good deeds will be made to succeed in the earth as here
to fore.
2.
Second part of the promise is that their
way of life as approved by Him will also be established.
3.
Third part of the promise is that their
state of fear will be exchanged with peace.
4.
Adding to the earlier mentioned two
conditions (belief and performance of good deeds) two more conditions are
spelled out for such successors. These being worshiping Allah and ascribing no
thing as partner with Him.
5.
Those who resort to rejecting Allah’s
message (including the above mentioned successors) are termed as
miscreants.
Allah’s promise in this verse must
not be taken to mean that all this will be caused through some magic wand and
that those mentioned here are exempted from performance. Here it is rather made
conditional with the performance and that too good one in all respects and from
all aspects. Availability of resources and the presence of worldly means to
realize this promise have been amply satisfied by Him. Anyone who finds some
ambiguity or something lacking in this regard must ask itself of the
preconditions that are necessary to the fulfillment of the promise and the
extent to which he/she measures up to.
This verse is referring to
successive generations both individually as well as collectively. It tells us
of the filtering process established by Almighty Allah of discerning the
miscreants from amongst the people who qualify on the laid down four conditions
in any manner or to any degree.
Restricting Verse 55 to only the
rulers in this world may not go well with the spirit of this verse but the
central theme discussed in these twelve verses does clarify the position of
those who had a pressing urge to rule the believers after the prophet. Viewing
from this perspective following may be considered:-
1.
Governance or ruler-ship is a test for
those who claim to possess the laid down four qualities to any degree. The aim
is to let them go through the filtering process meant to single out the
miscreants.
2.
Those who fully qualify to be the
servants of Allah are very rarely given the task of governing the people. They
normally preach and guide people through personal example to the way desired by
Allah Almighty. Ruler prophets from amongst the messengers of Almighty Allah
(and also the rightly guided Imams) are extremely few and can be counted on
fingertips. This, probably, is just to manifest His power and make it serve as
an example and to let the people have a taste of the rule of Allah’s servants
too.
3.
Imagining or visualizing that there
might have been some laxity or some failure on the part of Allah’s real servants
to measure to the laid down standards must take in to consideration the
tremendous efforts put in by them to guide the people. In this scenario the
attitude and the performance of the large majority of humans who worked in
violation of the preconditions and qualified to be the miscreants talked about
in this verse should also not escape those who prefer to imagine or visualize
in this manner.
4.
Realization of the mentioned promise in
full is ostensibly still awaited; but do remember and note that it will be
realized in this very world.
Those who do not fulfill the laid
down four conditions in any manner or to any degree are not to be considered
going through the filtering process mentioned in this verse. They out rightly
qualify for the hell fire. Such people do however get the chance of living and
governing just to certify their rejection of the truth so that they are left
with no excuse, howsoever lame, to plead their case on the Day of Judgment. Those
believers who do claim to be such are put through the filtering process for
proving to be miscreants are otherwise.
Non fulfillment or partial realization
of the second and third part of the promise of the Creator Lord (second part of
the promise is that their way of life as approved by Him will also be
established; third part of the promise is that their state of fear will be
exchanged with peace) leads towards the weak resolve of supposed believers and
also certifies that this world is only a trial phase of human life. Actual life
will, most certainly, be in the world hereafter. It is there that Allah’s
servants will surely rule. This part of the promise will however be made to
realize in this world too; may be for a limited period as compared to the
normal span of Allah’s measure of time and space.
[i] Those who reject Allah’s manifest Signs.
2:99; those who go against the covenant made with Allah even though they were
His messengers. 3:81-82; those people of the Book who do not have belief in
Allah, do not forbid what is wrong and do not enjoin what is right. 3:110;
those who fail to judge by what Allah has revealed. 5:47; Those of the people
of the Book who disapprove belief in Allah and the revealed scripture,
particularly the Qur’an. 5:59; those of the children of Israel who do not
believe in Allah, the Messenger and the Qur’an. 5:81; those idolaters who have
no regard for the ties of kinship or of covenant, they entice you with good
talk but are averse from you in their heart. 9:8; those Hypocrites who have
forgotten Allah, who enjoin evil, who forbid what is just, who are niggardly
and who rejected Allah and His messenger. 9:67 & 84; those who disgrace
chaste women without due evidence. 24:4; those who are destined destruction.
46;35; those hard hearted believers who do not engage in remembrance of Allah.
57:16; those from the line of the Prophet Noah and Prophet Ibrahim [p.b.u.t]
who deviated from the scripture, swerved from the balance and gave up the right
use of weapons - such people were/are many in numbers. 57:25-26; those who
forget Allah. 59:19.
No comments:
Post a Comment