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Surah AHZAAB
(Consists of 9 Ruku; H-5)
AHZAAB-The First Ruku
1. O Prophet! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and do not comply with (the wishes of) the disbelievers and the hypocrites; surely Allah is Knowing, Wise;
2. And follow what is revealed to you from your Lord; surely Allah is Aware of what you do;
3. And rely on Allah; and Allah is sufficient Protector.
4. Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him; nor has He made your wives whose backs you liken to the backs of your mothers as your mothers, nor has He made those whom you assert to be your sons your real sons; these are the words of your mouths; and Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the path.
5. Assert their relationship to their fathers; this is more equitable with Allah; but if you do not know their fathers, then they are your brethren in faith and your friends; and there is no blame on you concerning that in which you made a mistake, but (concerning) that which your hearts do purposely (blame may rest on you), and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
6. The Prophet has a greater claim on the faithful than they have on themselves, and his wives are (as) their mothers; and the possessors of relationship have the better claim in the ordinance of Allah to inheritance, one with respect to another, than (other) believers, and (than) those who have fled (their homes), except that you do some good to your friends; this is written in the Book.
7. And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Noah and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, son of Mariam, and We made with them a strong covenant
8. That He may question the truthful of their truth, and He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment.
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Surah AHZAAB has many of commands that relate to women and to social decency and so it is very near to Surah NOOR, the twenty-fourth Surah; the notable thing is that from the fourth year of HIJRAH (migration of the Prophet PBUH from Makkah to Madinah) to the seventh year of it, many of Surah descended to the Prophet PBUH that directly relate to commands about women in some manner or/and they provide commands for the righteous living socially; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this period saw the descent of Surah NISAA (women), this Surah AHZAAB (allied-forces), HASHR (banishment), HADID (iron), MUMTAHINA (the woman examined in belief), BAYYINAH (evidence), MUNAFIQUN (hypocrites), MUJADILAH (the pleading woman), HUJURAAT (apartments), NOOR (light), FATH (victory), TALAAQ (divorce), TAHREEM (prohibition); this also is notable that the Prophet PBUH married nine of his twelve wives from age 55 to age 59 (by the HIJRAH calendar), and that somewhat corresponds to the descent of these Surah; the other three include Bibi Khadijah-RA and Bibi SAUDAH-RA, whom he married at Makkah when he was at the age of 25 & of 50 respectively; and they include Bibi Ayesha-RA (whom he married at Makkah yet she came to him as his wife at Shawwal of the first year of HIJRAH); note that he spent all his youth and some of his ripe age too with respectable Khadijah-RA who was the only wife he had up-to his age of 50 and then he married SAUDAH-RA who was near to his age, and that only after the death of Bibi Khadijah; I, MSD, have provided the note on marriages of the Prophet PBUH, at end of the “book on good manners” at my writing “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith”; note also that the Holy Prophet PBUH married widow or divorced women except for Bibi Ayesha-RA and he never divorced any of the woman he married; and note also that all of women that he married were most happy with him and in fact, when Allah gave them the option to leave him if they want, at Surah AHZAAB-28 & 29, they all chose to stay with him without exception; he never did any wrong to any woman at any time anywhere and in fact, he was never even charged with any such thing even by his worst enemies all his life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Surah AHZAAB starts by addressing the Prophet PBUH to always remain attentive to Allah for strength of his belief and never comply to the wishes of disbelievers and hypocrites; it asks him to always follow the instructions of the Holy Book Quran that Allah has provided to him for the uprightness of his deeds and to always trust Allah at all situations Who knows that his deeds are most decent and Who would save him from all adverse planning of the disbelievers or/and the hypocrites; note that Surah NOON (AL-QALAM) states at the fourth AAYAT in praise of the Prophet PBUH, “and most surely you conform to sublime morality”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; though the direction that AHZAAB gives at its start, applies to all of true Muslims yet the address particularly to the Prophet PBUH is due to the reason that Allah willed that he marries ZAYNAB-RA, the divorced wife of his adopted son Zaid-RA, whereas at those times, marrying the wife of the adopted son was taken as equivalent to marrying the real daughter-in-law that was taken against morality; Allah willed to make things better in this matter that the Muslims do not take adopted relations as actual relations to them and for this, He asked the Prophet PBUH to marry her after Zaid divorces her and she completes her IDDAT (the period in waiting for the divorced or widowed woman before marrying any of men again) as insha-Allah we all would study at this Surah ahead; note that IDDAT completes when the divorced woman completes her third period after divorce or if she does not get periods, when she completes three lunar months whereas if she is pregnant at divorce, it ends at the time she gives birth to the child; as this direction to marry her was much trying for him so Allah told him not to worry about the adverse comments of disbelievers and hypocrites on this and go on with it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT gives the info that “Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him”; note that this does not actually relate to the physique, though true in that sense too, as AAYAT clarifies that it means that whatever the man says to denote someone as alike to some person in his near ones, does not mean that he has the same ruling for him as that near one, as his emotional leaning is most different to both; so it says ahead that “nor has He made your wives whose backs you liken to the backs of your mothers as your mothers (which is named as ZIHAR and Surah MUJADILAH provides the ruling for it), nor has He made those whom you assert to be your sons your real sons; these are the words of your mouths; and Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the (right) path”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT ahead guides that the Muslims shall relate whom they take as their sons, to their fathers but if they do not know their fathers, then they shall take them as their brethren in faith and as their friends and if they make a genuine mistake in relating someone of them to his true father then there is no blame on them as they had done it in good gesture but they shall not commit such thing purposely; as for their genuine mistake, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful; note that when the Prophet PBUH had freed Zaid from slavery and had adopted him as his son, the people used to call him as Zaid ibn Muhammad PBUH but after the descent of this AAYAT, they called him only as Zaid ibn HARITHA; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-6 tells that the Prophet PBUH is nearer to the Muslims than their own-selves and all their near ones; this is due to the fact that he is as spiritual father to all Muslims and AAYAT also mentions that his wives are as mothers to all Muslims; so they did not marry anyone after his departure from the world though even with that status of theirs, Allah commanded the Muslims to care for their HEJAB even from themselves; AAYAT-53 of AHZAAB addresses the Muslims, “O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for meal, not waiting for its preparation being finished- but when you are invited, then enter, and when you have taken the food, then disperse- not seeking to listen to talk; surely this gives the Prophet (PBUH) trouble, but he forbears from you (caring for manner to respect you as his guests), and Allah does not forbear from the truth; and when you ask of them (i.e. the wives of the Prophet PBUH) any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and for their hearts; and it does not befit you that you should give trouble to the Apostle of Allah, nor that you should marry his wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-6 also clarifies, “the possessors of (actual) relationship have the better claim in the ordinance of Allah to inheritance, one with respect to another, than (other) believers, and (than) those who have fled (their homes), except that you do some good to your friends; this is written in the Book (that comprises of the commands of Allah)”; for this, the notable point is that many of those Muslims who had migrated from Makkah to Madinah, have taken many of Muslims at Madinah as their brothers so the AAYAT mentions that the latter may care for the former to provide some amounts to them (and vice-versa) yet the ruling of inheritance is fixed so they would not be included in heirs; see Surah NISAA-11 & 12; now, AAYAT-7 mentions the oath that Allah took from His Prophets at the world of spirits; this also is notable that Allah took an oath from all spirits at the world of spirits which AARAAF-172 mentions, “and when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls- am I not your Lord?- they said- yes- we bear witness; lest you should say on the day of resurrection- surely we were heedless of this”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; and AALE-IMRAN-81 mentions the specific oath which Allah took from all of His Prophets as it mentions, “and when Allah made a covenant through the Prophets- certainly what I have given you of book and wisdom-- then a Messenger comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him-- He said- do you affirm and accept My pact in this?- they said- we do affirm; He said- then bear witness, and I am of the bearers of witness with you”; so the oath that this AAYAT-7 mentions is this specific oath that AALE-IMRAN-81 mentions; Al-Hamdu Lillah; there certainly is no Messenger and no Prophet after Muhammad PBUH and this also is notable that every Messenger of Allah is also the Prophet of Allah; the difference between the Prophet and the Messenger is that Allah sends the Messenger towards some specific people to whom he provides the message of Allah while the Prophet conforms it at his own time; this is because when any other of His Messengers come after these Prophets, who conforms to what they had taught to their people according to the teachings of the previous Messenger of Allah in them, they (their people) do believe in him and do help him in all manner possible; all Messengers gave the same message from Allah in essence (and that actually is the fundamental teachings of Islam) and brought that message by some written scripture that Allah gave to them or by some speech of wisdom that Allah provided to them but the Prophets clarified the teachings of the previous Messenger with an attachment to him, to the nation towards which Allah had sent him; now, Muhammad PBUH is His last Messenger (and His last Prophet too) and Allah sent him towards all of the peoples ever to come at the world at any place and at any time, with His final message (i.e. the Quran) and took it into His care that its text and its meaning both remain safe from all contamination (see Surah HIJR-9 and also AAYAT-40 of this Surah AHZAAB); so Allah took the oath from the Prophets (NABIYYEN) at the world of Spirits (AALAME-AMR) that when Allah provides them with the knowledge of His commands and the wisdom that relates to it, that His previous Messenger (RASUL) had provided by His command among their people, they have to strengthen that message of Allah among their people; here the AAYAT mentions those five who are the most eminent of them all and they all are RASUL and so they are among the NABIYYEN too (especially Ibrahim-AS and Isa-AS, though among the most eminent of Messengers of Allah, have much high significance for being among the Prophets); the observation of history does provide the info that these five most eminent Messengers were born at regular intervals to each other and it seems that there is space of time of about two thousand years between the birth of Noah-AS and of Moses-AS and about the same space is between the birth of Moses and of Muhammad PBUH (these three Messengers had to put much high efforts to present the message of Allah to their peoples); the times of Abraham-AS were just about fifteen hundred years after the birth of Noah and the space between the death of Abraham and the birth of Moses is about 540 years; note that Jesus-AS was born just about two thousand years after Abraham-AS and as such there is the space of about fifteen hundred years between the death of Moses-AS and the miraculous birth of Jesus-AS; Salam on all Messengers of Allah; there is the same space of about 540 years between the ascent of Jesus-AS to the heavens and the birth of Muhammad PBUH and these five Messengers of Allah are the most prominent of Messengers of Allah as the Quran has mentioned these five by their names distinctively here at Surah AHZAAB-7; this interesting phenomenon asks us to reflect that there is the same space of two thousand years now at this period of time since the ascent of Jesus Christ-AS, the great man and the Messenger of Allah, to heavens; so as Jesus Christ emphasized for the Bani-Israel to guide total attention towards Allah and to practice His commands genuinely as provided by Torah after about fifteen hundred years of Moses-AS, it is most probable that the prominent good Muslims (who are most sincere to Islam) rise to guide all Muslims in the present era to practice Islam genuinely as there is gap of about 1450 years (by the lunar calendar) as of now since Muhammad PBUH, made HIJRAH to Madinah; as Allah has set laws for Astronomy, Chemistry, Elementary Physics and other of subjects that govern their issues by the will of Allah, so He has also set the laws for the General History and they do govern its issues by the will of Allah; note this well that after Muhammad PBUH, who was the last of Messengers of Allah and the last of His Prophets, there is no Messenger and no Prophet of Allah (see Surah AHZAAB-40); so now all persons among the Muslims must ask Allah to raise such good righteous persons from among them who guide all of them in their virtuous concepts and in their upright practice and lead them all to the total adherence to Islam without claiming any material or spiritual status for their own selves; everything is going on in the most perfect order by the will of Allah and even in these troubled times for us Muslims, if He accepts our plea to forgive us and to provide His mercy to us, there is nothing to stop us Muslims to rise to heights; but that surely needs sacrifice of base desires from our side for which we Muslims must prepare ourselves totally without any undue reservation; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last AAYAT of the Ruku tells the reason to this specific oath that Allah took from the Prophets, which is that these truthful persons witness against the wrong persons at the Day of Judgment, that they had provided the message of Allah categorically to all persons including these wrong persons, yet these did not accept the fundamental teachings of Islam (and so their practice did not reflect that); then it would become totally clear that if these wrong persons are put into the hell-fire, it is not any injustice to them but they actually led themselves to it by their own wrong-doings; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Second Ruku
9. O you who believe! call to mind the favor of Allah to you when there came down upon you hosts, so We sent against them a strong wind and hosts, that you saw not, and Allah is Seeing what you do.
10. When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when the eyes turned dull, and the hearts rose up to the throats, and you began to think diverse thoughts of Allah.
11. There the true believers were tried and they were shaken with severe shaking.
12. And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was disease began to say: Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive.
13. And when a party of them said: O people of YATHRIB! there is no place to stand for you, therefore go back; and a party of them asked permission of the Prophet (PBUH), saying: Surely our houses are exposed; and they were not exposed; they only desired to fly away.
14. And if an entry were made upon them from the outlying parts of it, then they were asked to wage war, they would certainly have done it, and they would not have stayed in it but a little while.
15. And certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before, that they would not turn (their) backs; and Allah's covenant shall be inquired of.
16. Say: Flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter, and in that case you will not be allowed to enjoy yourselves but a little.
17. Say: Who is it that can withhold you from Allah if He intends to do you evil, or if He intends to show you mercy? And they will not find for themselves besides Allah any guardian or a helper.
18. Allah knows indeed those among you who hinder others and those who say to their brethren: Come to us; and they come not to the fight but a little,
19. Being niggardly with respect to you; but when fear comes, you will see them looking to you, their eyes rolling like one swooning because of death; but when the fear is gone they smite you with sharp tongues, being niggardly of the good things. These have not believed, therefore Allah has made their doing naught; and this is easy to Allah.
20. They think the allies are not gone, and if the allies should come (again) they would fain be in the deserts with the desert Arabs asking for news about you, and if they were among you they would not fight save a little.
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From this Ruku, the Surah narrates the events that relate to the battle of AHZAAB which is also named as the battle of Trench which took place from the beginning of SHAWWAL to its last, of the fifth year of HIJRAH (corresponding to the last of December 626 to last of January 627); it happened that some of chiefs of BANU-NADHIR, the Jewish tribe which the Muslims had expelled from Madinah in the fourth year of HIJRAH towards KHYBER and Syria due to their breach of the peace-treaty with them, contacted the Quraysh at Makkah and instigated them to attack the Muslims in alliance with number of tribes at different areas of Arabia and finish them off; they succeeded in their evil efforts and the Quraysh with their aid, managed to gather a force of more than ten thousand men from different tribes that marched on towards Madinah; Muslims were about three thousand in number there and in them, there were hypocrites too; this was the most severe challenge that the disbelievers gave to Muslims and it asked them that they remain even more attentive to Allah, the true Lord; there still was BANU-QURAIZAH, another Jewish tribe, residing at suburb of Madinah and at the height of war, there was high probability that they would also violate the peace-treaty with the Muslims; the Prophet PBUH got the info about the advent of Quraysh and its allies towards Madinah and at this most crucial situation, he asked his companions for the strategy to curtail the forces of the enemy; at this occasion, Salman the Persian said that back at home, when they need to respond to such enemy that seemingly is more powerful in force than theirs, they defend themselves by digging some ditch around their place to remain safe from it; so he gave the beautiful opinion to dig some long trench to defend Madinah from the attack of the advancing enemy towards them; the Prophet PBUH appreciated this good opinion and with his companions, set on to dig such trench in defense of Madinah at its north (including some area at its west) as at the south of it, there were forts of BANU-QURAIZAH with whom they had the peace-treaty, whereas other sides were covered by such huge rocks that had lava inside; the trench had to be about little more than 3 miles in length with such width that a horse remains unable to jump across it and with such depth that once a man falls in it, he remains unable to climb out except by much of assistance of other men; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that Ahadith have told explicitly that the Prophet (PBUH) told his companions while digging the trench with them, that you would soon conquer the lands of Rome and Persia, the two notable political powers of the time; they all were digging the trench to safeguard Madinah and their own selves as the Quraysh of Makkah and thousands of people of many tribes were advancing towards Madinah to finish the Muslims for once and for all; also, the Prophet PBUH has tied two of stones at his belly so that it stands its emptiness due to hunger; never has been a man born before this great man Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, who had even thought of giving such tidings and that also in such situation; Muslims did defend Madinah well at that time by the blessing of Allah as the forces of disbelievers had to return due to number of reasons which included their bad planning when they were taken by surprise at presence of the trench whereas the time-factor at that occasion became most significant; note that the weather was extremely chilly and then ultimately the stormy wind uprooted their camps; and angels were helping Muslims by the command of Allah that also caused them to withdraw their forces; and their stocks ran out due to the length of period (which was about 25 days) in which they had to camp there that they never expected; and in addition, Muslims also used the strategy of creating mistrust among all those allied forces and their allies among Jews of BANU-QURAIZAH that insha-Allah we would read ahead; note about the prophecy of the Prophet PBUH that it happened that the Muslims conquered vast areas of the Roman Empire and all of Persia within a few years of passing away of the Prophet PBUH; that is history now which totally proves Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this trying occasion brought forth the hypocrites and those persons too who had belief yet extremely weak, among the Muslims who tried to avoid facing the enemy by different fake excuses; their excuses included that all residents of Madinah, even if they join together, are unable to stand against the allied forces which had challenged them, and that their houses are unsafe as there is no person to take care of them so they have to see to them; Allah showed all persons then that with true belief on Allah, everything favors the Muslims and most certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; just as the Quraysh and its allied forces backed away, the Prophet PBUH commanded his companions to reach the forts of BANU-QURAIZAH immediately as this issue needed adequate tackling without any delay; note that when the Quraysh and its allies had seen that they were completely stranded, they tried to get the assistance of the Jewish tribe of BANU-QURAIZAH and met success in that; the Prophet PBUH got the info about this betrayal of the Jewish tribe and was worried about it; now, it happened that NU’AIM Ibn MASUD ASHJA’I, who had become Muslim recently and had kept his belief hidden, was permitted on his request by the Prophet PBUH to create friction between the allied forces and the Jewish tribe by telling such words that created doubt at each side against the other; probably, it was this occasion at AHZAAB that the Prophet PBUH gave the guidance that “war is deception”; NU’AIM-RA went to BANU-QURAIZAH and told the chiefs there that though they have given their word to Quraysh and its allies for their assistance yet they have to see that if the Muslims manage to stand this challenge, the Quraysh and its allies would return to their respective places but their tribe would be at mercy of the Muslims; so to make sure that they continue their challenge till they achieve success against the Muslims, they have to ask them to give some of their significant persons in their custody as guarantee to their sincerity; the chiefs there agreed with his presentation of situation and approved his advice; then he visited the other side and told them that the Jewish tribe is not sincere to them and it rather wants some of their significant men to bound the Quraysh and its allies so that issues are settled on their terms; as the matter proceeded in the very manner which NU’AIM had presented, they fell for his deceit so his tactful handling of the situation worked and the Muslims did not have to take-up both enemy together; note that BANU-QURAIZAH was at the back of Muslims with Madinah open at front of it and this situation was most troublesome that it had given its consent to attackers at Madinah about its assistance against the Muslims without any care to the peace-treaty that they had with them; so the Muslims punished them most severely for their betrayal at such crucial occasion as most of their men were punished by death and others with women and children were enslaved according to the custom of the day and their power was totally uprooted; this was according to the verdict that SA’AD ibn MU’ADH, the reputable Muslim person of al-Aws tribe who was nominated by the Jews for settlement of the dispute, gave against them; he had witnessed the Jews there cursing the Prophet PBUH and all Muslims and he knew totally well about their bad intentions so he gave this verdict for the necessary safety of all Muslims; keeping this detail of events in view at AHZAAB, we all would now proceed on to study this Ruku of the Surah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the first three AAYAAT at the Ruku guide attention of all Muslims to the utmost favor of Allah at AHZAAB upon them as they read, “O you who believe! call to mind the favor of Allah to you when there came down upon you hosts (of men from different tribes), so We sent against them a strong wind and hosts (of angels), that you saw not, and Allah is Seeing what you do (and He provided His assistance in that very manner of defense that the Muslims undertook); when they (i.e. the allied forces of disbelievers) came upon you from above you and from below you (i.e. tribes residing at different sides of Madinah came upon it in alliance with each other), and when the eyes turned dull, and the hearts rose up to the throats (of such Muslims who had weakness in their belief due to fear that it is the end of them), and you began to think diverse thoughts of Allah (this tells about the hypocrites who had this thought that Allah has left them at mercy of the allied forces and it seemed to them too that it is the end of them); there the true believers were tried and they were shaken with severe shaking”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku tell about such Muslims who had weakness in their belief and about the hypocrites in Muslims; six of AAYAAT ahead at this Ruku state, “and when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was disease, began to say- Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive (and they even complained that in this situation, it has become difficult for them to ease themselves at the call of nature); and when a party of them said- O people of YATHRIB (this is the other name for Madinah)! there is no place to stand for you (as the allied forces are much too strong and persons residing at Arabia have to make peace with such number of people that have challenged them, for their relations to them at future), therefore go back (and do not offer any defense against them); and a party of them asked permission of the Prophet (PBUH), saying- surely our houses are exposed; and they were not exposed; they only desired to fly away (from battleground); and if an entry (of disbelievers) were made upon them from the outlying parts of it, then they were asked to wage war (against the Muslims in whom they claim themselves to belong), they would certainly have done it, and they would not have stayed in it (i.e. in waiting) but a little while; and certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before, that they would not turn (their) backs (if they face the disbelievers); and Allah's covenant shall be inquired of; say (O Prophet PBUH to these persons)- flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter, and in that case you will not be allowed to enjoy yourselves but a little (as all have to die at some time and at some place); say (to them)- who is it that can withhold you from Allah if He intends to do you evil, or if He intends to show you mercy (i.e. if He intends to save their lives so that they get space still to make themselves better)?- and they will not find for themselves besides Allah any guardian or a helper”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the statement that “certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before” means that many of these persons weak in belief, had taken an oath by the name of Allah after the battle of UHUD at the third year of HIJRAH that now whenever the time comes to respond to attack from disbelievers, they would face them with utmost fervor; they had avoided facing the force of Quraysh at UHUD and this occasion of AHZAAB showed clearly that they were most insincere to their word; so Allah brought their evil at fore clearly by the trial at AHZAAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; from AAYAT-18 to the last AAYAT of the Ruku, Allah tells about the attitudes that these persons show at wars with the enemy and which they also showed at AHZAAB; they not only avoid facing the challenge from the enemy but they try to incite other residents of Madinah (among ANSAAR) too, to come to them and keep away from the battleground; they may come to the battleground only to find ways to avoid any challenge to them from the enemy, and that only because they may become liable to have some claim to the booty from the enemy that all Muslims collect being victorious at the battleground; they are unable to bear that all of goods collected from the enemy goes to those Muslims who are at the battleground and they get nothing; but when they see that the enemy is finding way to inflict some trouble, even death, to many of Muslims at war, their eyes show their fear as if death has got them then & there; however, as the matter gets in favor of Muslims, they talk with such sharpness of tongues that it was their assistance that had made the difference and so victory did come to them; they are most greedy towards those goods on which they may lay their hands on, so Allah would render their doings futile even if they did show some stand by chance without the true belief, against the enemy due to their timely presence at the battleground; this certainly Allah would do and it is most easy for Him to do so as it certainly is not any injustice to them who are greedy to get worldly assets only; Al-Hamdu Lillah; these people, that are hypocrites or/and most weak in their belief, fear the forces of Quraysh and their allies so much that even when they had deserted the war with Muslims due to their incapability to fight them, they think that this is just some technique of war on the part of Quraysh and their allies, and they would return to attack Muslims; so these people find it better to stay away from the battleground and if possible, rather live away at deserts where they may get the info time and again about AHZAAB whether they had truly left or the war continues; however, their presence among the true Muslims too was useless as even then they would not have fought the enemy save a little; so this is their attitude which is most averse to the cause of Muslims and for this, they even ask appreciation; the next Ruku tells about the worthy attitude of the true Muslims when they face the enemy that has challenged them with all might it has; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Third Ruku
21. Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.
22. And when the believers saw the allies, they said: This is what Allah and His apostle promised us, and Allah and His apostle spoke the truth; and it only increased them in faith and submission.
23. Of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah: so of them is he who accomplished his vow, and of them is he who yet waits, and they have not changed in the least
24. That Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He please or turn to them (mercifully); surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
25. And Allah turned back the disbelievers in their rage; they did not obtain any advantage, and Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; and Allah is Strong, Mighty.
26. And He drove down those of the followers of the Book who backed them from their fortresses and He cast awe into their hearts; some you killed and you took captive another part.
27. And He made you heirs to their land and their dwellings and their property, and (to) a land which you have not yet trodden, and Allah has power over all things.
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The Ruku starts by praising the Prophet PBUH, with the message that Allah has provided him such caliber that all Muslims need to follow him in their doings as he is an excellent exemplar for him who has hopes in Allah that He would grant him JANNAAT (the beautiful gardens at paradise) at AKHIRAT which is certain to take place; and he always remembers Allah in all of his practice; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the context of this AAYAT tells that it asks all Muslims to see that Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, faced the enemy with all valor when he dug the trench with his companions and stayed at the ground when the nights were extremely cold; there was scarcity of foods and in addition, it happened that the tribe with which the Muslims had the peace-treaty, was prepared to violate it in compliance to their enemy; so it clearly asks to face adverse situations where the fatal enemy has challenged all such good Muslims who do intend to fulfill the Islamic commands with all good efforts; he had told his companions at this most trying situation that soon they would conquer the Roman territories and the Persian land; and it was most obvious there that whatever comes, he would not back-out; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah has set the world in such manner that He sees the true position of all persons so He examines all in whatever manner He wills; we all have read at beginning of Surah ANKABUT, “ALIF LAAM MIM; do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘we believe’, and not be tried? - and certainly We tried those before them, so Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will certainly know the liars”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-22, 23 & 24 ahead tell about those true Muslims who stood firm at AHZAAB and fulfilled their word; these AAYAAT read, “and when the believers saw the allies, they said- this is what Allah and His apostle promised us (that there would come trying times on them to bring the true Muslims, and also the hypocrites, at fore), and Allah and His apostle spoke the truth; and it only increased them in faith (i.e. gave much strength to their true belief) and submission (to Allah in all their practice); of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah (to face the enemy with all valor when the occasion asks for it)- so of them is he who accomplished his vow (by giving his life in the way of Allah), and of them is he who yet waits (because, though he stood firm in the way of Allah, he has returned alive but with all good intention that when he gets another chance to respond to the fatal enemy, he would be among the martyrs in the way of Allah) and they have not changed in the least; that Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He please, or turn to them (mercifully and provide them further period of time to revise their attitude and make themselves better); surely Allah is Forgiving (if they do repent on their wrongs), Merciful (to provide them TOFIQ to show that they truly have come to Islam)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note the statement of the true believers at encounter with the enemy that ‘this is what Allah and His apostle promised us (that we would certainly be examined)’, in comparison to the statement that hypocrites and those who had utmost weakness in their belief, had stated that ‘Allah and His apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive’ (AAYAT-12); so there is clear difference in perception for the same event as the true Muslims were totally attentive to Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-25 states that with all preparation to end Muslims, the disbelievers were complete losers in all manners; Allah turned them back in their rage whereas they did not obtain any financial advantage, and never did any fight take place; so Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; He certainly is Strong to defeat the disbelievers totally by such means which eyes see clearly and He is Mighty to defeat them totally by His true authority whenever He wills for it, even by His hidden forces; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last couple of AAYAAT at the Ruku tell about the incident of BANU-QURAIZAH where the Muslims advanced immediately after the disbelievers had backed-out from Madinah; it took another 25 days or so to overpower them as they had taken shelter at their fortresses, and to clear all threat that they had become to Muslims; these AAYAAT narrate that Allah drove down those of people of the book (Torah) who backed the allied force of disbelievers, from their strong fortresses and He cast awe into their hearts that they totally surrendered to Muslims and came out in open with acceptance of SA’AD Ibn MUADH as arbitrator; so Muslims killed their men capable to fight and took captive other of men and women & children according to his verdict; and Allah provided them all of their land and their living places and their assets; the result of AHZAAB was only the beginning of conquests of Muslims as the last AAYAT of the Ruku told most explicitly that they would surely get much of such land even, which they never have visited and Allah has power over all things Who would give them all this place so that they establish His law totally; it happened so, as they conquered KHYBER, the stronghold of the Jewish tribes, within couple of years of AHZAAB; the Prophet PBUH had told clearly at AHZAAB, when the disbelievers had backed out of Madinah, that from now-on, they would never be able to challenge the Muslims but the Muslims only would attack them and achieve the final victory against them insha-Allah; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Fourth Ruku
28. O Prophet (PBUH)! say to your wives: If you desire this world's life and its adornment, then come, I will give you a provision and allow you to depart a goodly departing
29. And if you desire Allah and His apostle and the latter abode, then surely Allah has prepared for the doers of good among you a mighty reward.
30. O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! whoever of you commits an open indecency, the punishment shall be increased to her doubly; and this is easy to Allah.
31. And whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Apostle and does good, We will give her the reward she deserves twice, and We have prepared for her an honorable sustenance.
32. O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! you are not like any other of the women; if you will be on your guard, then be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease yearn; and speak a good word.
33. And stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore; and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle. Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.
34. And keep to mind what is recited in your houses of the AAYAAT of Allah and the wisdom; surely Allah is Knower of subtleties, Aware.
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This Ruku relates to the beautiful guidance that Allah has provided to the respectable wives of the Prophet PBUH; He guided them that they have such esteemed status where they need to keep away from possessions that relate to world where they would live by necessities only, and care totally for AKHIRAT with utmost fervor; rather, they shall become standard for goodness to all Muslim women due to their particular status and for that they would get the reward for any of their virtuous doings twice, though whoever from among them commits an indecency, she would get its punishment in double; note that after the conquest of BANU-QURAIZAH, the Muslims did get some relief in their financial situation when the Prophet PBUH distributed the spoils received from there among them; seeing this, the wives of the Prophet PBUH, who were four in total at that time (SAUDA-RA, Ayesha-RA, HAFSA-RA and UMME-SALAMAH-RA) jointly asked the Prophet PBUH to increase their allowances; the Prophet PBUH did not appreciate this requisition as he preferred to live his life at the world by necessities only by choice; he minded it so much that he took an oath that he would avoid any intimacy to his wives for a month ahead; note that by the Islamic Jurisprudence, when a man takes an oath to avoid any intimacy to his wife or wives for four months ahead, it is termed as EELA but if it is for lesser period, then it is an ordinary oath; the Prophet (PBUH) had made an ordinary oath at this occasion to keep away from all his wives for a month but it is loosely termed as EELA sometimes and he gave the expiation for his oath after one month not prolonging it for any period ahead; the rumor spread in Madinah at this time that the Prophet PBUH has divorced his wives so Umar-RA rushed to him when he heard this to get confirmation about it; he was among the most closest of companions of the Prophet PBUH and he also was his father-in-law as HAFSA, her daughter, was one of his wives; the Prophet PBUH clarified that he has not divorced any of his wives and by his permission, Umar announced this clarification immediately among all Muslims; AAYAT-28 provided IKHTIYAR (choice) to the wives of the Prophet PBUH to remain with him with the same allowances that they are receiving presently or leave him if they intend the worldly finances & status; all of his wives chose to stay with him unconditionally then and dropped their requisition immediately; keeping this detail for its meaning, the text at the Ruku becomes much easy to get; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the couple of AAYAAT at the beginning of the Ruku ask the Prophet PBUH to direct his wives, “O Prophet (PBUH)! say to your wives- if you desire this world's life and its adornment, then come, I will give you provision and allow you to depart goodly departing; and if you desire Allah and His Apostle and the latter abode (AKHIRAT), then surely Allah has prepared for the doers of good among you, mighty reward”; AAYAAT ahead clarify this more that they would live as standard for goodness to all Muslim women and they would get the reward two times for any of their virtuous doings though whoever from among them commits an indecency, she would get its punishment too doubly; AAYAT-30 & 31 direct them, “O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! whoever of you commits an open indecency (i.e. any atrocious wrong of shameful nature), the punishment shall be increased to her doubly; and this is easy to Allah (as this will not be an injustice to them if they do commit any such wrong which is extremely shameful whereas they have such significant status among the Muslim women); and whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Apostle and does good, We will give her, the reward she deserves twice, and We have prepared for her an honorable sustenance”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that though AAYAT tells them clearly that they shall not commit any indecency yet it does not mean that any of them had any inclination to any shameful act but it is to clarify to all of them that even with their significant status, they are not free of the Islamic law; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that AAYAAT state the punishment to indecency for them as double whereas they tell that their virtuousness would get reward to them twice; it seems that their indecency would put double punishment to them at AKHIRAT and for the reward for their TAQWA (that comes to them due to their obedience to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and commitment of good deeds), they would get it two times as they get JANNAH at AKHIRAT and then in that, they accompany the Prophet PBUH as his wives there; so at AKHIRAT, the quality for the punishment is more severe to them whereas the quantity for the reward to their TAQWA is much more significant; AAYAT-31 also states that Allah has prepared for them an honorable sustenance so this implies that with firmness upon the virtuous manner of living, they would receive all necessities at their lives ahead at the world, with all convenience and with complete honor; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku ask them to adhere much more to the commands of Allah that all Muslim women have to fulfill, due to their most significant status among them; these AAYAAT ask them, “O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! you are not like any other of the women, (but only) if you take on TAQWA; then be not soft in speech (to unrelated men), lest he in whose heart is a disease yearn; and speak good word; and stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore (which was the period of JAHILLIYAT when Allah appointed the Prophet PBUH to spread the teachings of Islam so that they end its impression); and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Prophet (PBUH); Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the house! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying; and keep to mind what is recited in your houses, of the AAYAAT of Allah and the wisdom; surely Allah is Knower of subtleties, Aware”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; there are few significant points to note in these AAYAAT and the foremost of them is that the wives of the Prophet PBUH, who are as mothers to all true Muslims, are not like any other of the women but their status is much higher, when they have TAQWA (i.e. they remain obedient to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and go-on doing good deeds) as their good status counts only if they adhere more fervently to Islam; the second of them is that even though they are as mothers to all true Muslims, they would still talk with some harshness in speech and in ordinary words to all unrelated persons when it is necessary, so that no such person whose belief is weak (where Islamic teachings affect his practice but little), has any undue desire towards any of them; and this also tells that every Muslim woman has to care to speak briefly to the point to all unrelated men for necessity in the no-nonsense manner as that is the asking of the Islamic morality; note that AAYAT-53 ahead asks the Muslim man too that when he has to ask of them any goods, he shall ask it from behind a curtain as this attitude is better for him as it stops any undue desire on his part towards them and it certainly is better for them too; the third of them is that they would stay at home as the actual place for the Muslim woman is her residence; note that this instruction is well for all Muslim women that their respective homes are the places to remain for them though that may be spacious for her liking if the finances of her father (or her husband) permit though she may leave her home to fulfill some genuine necessity (which certainly would not take place often) with total HEJAB returning home as soon as she fulfills it; as the home of the Prophet PBUH had following among the Muslim women as the AAYAT has indicated that “O wives of the Prophet! you are not like any other of the women”, so the command for HEJAB affected the home of the Prophet PBUH first; the fourth of them is that she would take HEJAB and not leave her home in the manner of JAHILLIYAT (the era of extreme ignorance to the decent morality that Islam teaches) where women used to go out displaying their beauty in the most offensive manner, though she may have left her home only for genuine necessity and only for a brief period of time; at the present era, it seems that JAHILLIYAT has returned though the ignorance is not so much as was at the first JAHILLIYAT where the Prophet PBUH made things better by the command of Allah by the Holy Book Quran and even today, things would turn better by this Holy Book Quran only if only all Muslim persons decide sincerely that they would practice Islam and not hear its teachings only to ignore them; it is possible still to set the Islamic teachings in practice collectively with total attention towards Allah, the true Lord; the work is done just by the good intention for it with total TAWAKKUL (complete trust) upon Allah as He would provide ways to go ahead on the right path; Allah has told us at the last AAYAT of Surah ANKABUT, “and (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note about HEJAB that Allah has asked the Prophet PBUH at Surah NOOR-31 and at this Surah AHZAAB ahead that is at its AAYAT-59, to command all Muslim women to observe it, besides other places where the command of HEJAB is indirectly implied by AAYAAT; this term HEJAB has three aspects to it; the first aspect is that a Muslim woman must not leave her home except for some necessity (the decision about necessity would be hers, when she does care in practice about the basic teachings of Islam); the second aspect is that when she goes out of her home at some necessity and the environment is such that in general, the men care not to trouble her in any way then she might go out with her face, hands up-to wrist and feet up-to ankles uncovered though even then she would cover the whole body plus hair necessarily but if the environment is otherwise, then she would take care to cover her face too except for eyes; the third aspect is connected to the first that as soon as the necessity ends, she would return to her home without any waste of time as the basic place for her activity is her home for sure as we have just studied; with these aspects, it is fair to keep in mind that HEJAB does not relate only to the physique of the woman but it also relates to her attitudes; note well that the Satan works to this ultimate outcome that the man takes himself as an animal only in all manners and he even swears deceivingly again and again that he wants to make his attitudes better; he wants that the man and the woman come to such living of animals that they become most free in attitudes to each other, even if unrelated, as that is the biggest of his achievements against the man; that undoubtedly would lead them to many of extreme wrongs ahead so please note that only the tie of marriage justifies the most specific intimate relation of the man and the woman, and no other; Islam prohibits the woman to work in such environment that violates her basic HEJAB even, that is she becomes unable to hide her whole physique (except for her face, hands, and feet) and even with choice at work to care about her basic HEJAB, she needs to ask Allah for mercy towards her as her actual place for living her life is at her home for sure; the Muslim woman may have taken that work at extreme necessity for survival yet even then she has no option but to care for HEJAB; and certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the fifth of the significant points to note in these AAYAAT is that some of ULAMA have deduced by the 33rd AAYAT of this Surah AHZAAB that commands the wives of the Prophet PBUH in particular and all Muslim women in general to observe HEJAB, “and stay in your houses and do not display your finery (beauty) like the displaying of the First JAHILLIYAT” that it implies that there would yet come another JAHILLIYAT in manifestation of high magnitude as the first one; the relative mention denotes the coming of second one in the future as the statement would have been fine even without the mention of “first”; note that the words also are important by which we understand the meaning of the Holy Book Quran; this second JAHILIYAT is wholly in presence now all over the world that is asking all of mankind to commit to injustice in matters of life and that particularly is asking women to commit to much shameful attitudes without care to good morality; if the will of Allah is to end this present JAHILLIYAT by EHSAAN then the women among the Muslims (and even among other of peoples) would step ahead who would adhere fast to Islamic values by His approval; this adherence would manifest the good morality as Islam takes it, in all walks of life; note that the first JAHILLIYAT ended by QITAL (i.e. the war against the ill-wishers of Islam) where the men among the Muslims were able by the will of Allah to spread the Islamic teachings that established justice all over the known world at those times and so it was by ADL that it ended; Al-Hamdu Lillah; those times of ignorance needed much care to end injustice from the surroundings with total attention towards Allah, whereas these times of ignorance need much care to end the extreme shameful attitude from the surroundings with total attention towards Allah; the world needs TABLIGH (the guidance to Islamic teachings) at present times as it might bring the observant persons who incline towards virtues, to Islam and it might bring the ill-wishers of Islam to make an honorable pact with Muslims to keep away from each other; this pact might provide them the time and space to understand Islam better; the life of mankind does ask for adjustments time and again for which we Muslims do need to present Islam by ADL or/and by EHSAAN; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the sixth of them is that the wives of the Prophet PBUH shall fulfill the Islamic commands with utmost fervor for the highest of obedience to Allah and His Apostle PBUH as the instruction for them here is, “and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle (PBUH)”; this care in speech, staying at residence, taking HEJAB, obedience to Allah and His Apostle PBUH would insha-Allah provide TAQWA to all of them, who are his household members, that would wash away the impression of any wrong that any of them may have committed and keep them to highest of purity inside; note that though here the AAYAT mentions the wives of the Prophet PBUH as his household members as the address here is to them, yet he has clarified that his son-in-law Ali-RA, Fatima-RA (his daughter and the wife of Ali-RA) and their sons Hasan-RA & Hussain-RA, are also included in the general meaning of this term; the seventh of them is that they need to remain attentive to the teachings that they receive at their good homes because AAYAAT of the Quran are recited there and the Prophet PBUH present them practically which denotes the wisdom to apply them; they must always remember that Allah is Knower of subtleties so He would care for their petty virtuous deeds too which they do habitually and He is most Aware of their such virtuous deeds too which they do by intention sincerely; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Fifth Ruku
35. Surely the men who submit and the women who submit, and the believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble women, and the charitable men and the charitable women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard, and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember-- Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward.
36. And it befits not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Apostle (PBUH) have decided the matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle (PBUH), he surely strays off a manifest straying.
37. And when you said to him to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor: Keep your wife to yourself and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; and you concealed in your soul what Allah would bring to light, and you feared men, and Allah had greater right that you should fear Him. But when Zaid had accomplished his want of her, We gave her to you as wife, so that there should be no difficulty for the believers in respect of the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished their want of them; and Allah's command shall be performed.
38. There is no harm in the Prophet doing that which Allah has ordained for him; such has been the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and the command of Allah is a decree that is totally done:
39. Those who deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and do not fear anyone but Allah; and Allah is sufficient to take account.
40. Muhammad (PBUH) is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Last of the Prophets; and Allah is Cognizant of all things.
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The first AAYAT of this Ruku explicitly states that the virtues of the Muslim woman have utmost significance at AKHIRAT for her in the same way as virtues of the Muslim man has importance there; note that the manner of expressions of the Holy Book Quran is that it addresses men but women are included in such commands which are relevant even to them; however, some women at that time raised this issue in front of the Prophet PBUH and in response to it, Allah sent this AAYAT at AHZAAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the placement of this AAYAT also elucidates this matter that though the wives of the Prophet PBUH have an exceptionally high status among the Muslim women, yet all have the total chance to gain the highest of status at AKHIRAT by their virtuous doings; at the present era, the women who are keen to present themselves as equals to men in worldly matters, need to understand that at the world, the woman has been given in care of the man (i.e. her father before marriage and her husband after it) for her own advantage but at AKHIRAT, where the virtuous deeds count, they certainly are equals; the manifest point is that even the physique of the woman does not agree that she is equal to the man at the world yet everyone has got the task according to his/her placement and she is certainly most respectable as the assistant to the man; Surah NISAA-34 declares that the men are overseers upon the women at the world as Allah has given authority to some over some and because the men spent their finances on the women (as the man pays the MEHR to the woman at their marriage that is his liability and he sees to all of her genuine financial needs too at the married life); so this AAYAT at NISAA implies that virtuous women would remain obedient to the husband and would remain loyal to him safeguarding in his absence (his honor by avoiding all disloyalty to him and his assets that are in her custody); however, if the husband fears that she is developing the attitude of extreme rebellion to him, he would admonish her as best as possible for him; if her attitude still shows that she does not accept his authority in issues of life, he would leave her alone at her sleeping place (and he would take his bed apart from her at the room or elsewhere at the residence); then also if she is reluctant to accept his authority and to live under his command then that is most shameful for the woman according to Islam and he is allowed even to beat her lightly (in such manner according to the Ahadith that he does not hit her at the face and the punishment does not leave any evident mark on her physique); note that Islam mostly asks for the corporal punishment where the offence is much shameful according to the Islamic teachings though here, he would take it as the last resort; if she ultimately gives-in and totally obeys her good Muslim husband, who leads her on the right path, then he must not search ways to impose his authority (as that would only denote his perversion in the matter); he must remember that though Allah has given him authority over her yet He certainly is Most Exalted and Greatest (so He would punish him on his unlawful doings against his wife who also is among His slaves); Al-Hamdu Lillah; note for each of these ten virtues that this AAYAT at AHZAAB in study, has mentioned categorically that “submission” means to care for the pleasure of Allah in whatever deeds a person undertakes with total submission to Him; “belief” means to believe in all significant Islamic teachings sincerely; “obedience” means to remain obedient to Allah and to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH; “truthfulness” means to remain firm on the commitment to Islam at all situations; “patience” means to bear the troubles that come in life with attention towards Allah keeping away from all wrongs and to live the life at the world by necessities; “humbleness” means to do all virtuous deeds, especially the reading of Salah, with attention towards Allah in the manner by which the Prophet PBUH has clearly guided; “to provide charity” means to give to the needy from whatever surplus the person has after the fulfillment of his/her needs; “to fast” means to keep all SIYAM at the month of Ramadhan; “guarding the private parts” means to avoid adultery (and fornication) with all care to chastity that Islam asks of all Muslim persons; “remembrance of Allah” means to see the pleasure of Allah in whatever the Muslim person does, so even his/her speech denotes his/her attention towards Allah as that would surely comprise of such terms that praise Allah all the time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that there is an authentic Hadith which Tirmidhi has narrated that the Prophet PBUH said, “if anyone guarantees me about what is between his jaws and what is between his legs then I guarantee him Paradise” and note also that this AAYAT asks Muslims persons, all of men and women, to commit totally to the five pillars of Islam (except for Hajj) which are to develop true belief inside upon Allah, to read Salah, to help the needy by Zakat and to keep fast during the holy month of Ramadhan; all Muslims shall see to these with utmost care though providing Zakat or/and keeping fast are subject to having surplus amounts and sound health respectively; the absence of mention of Hajj here is because the Muslim person is liable to it only when he/she has sufficient resources to perform it and the way to it is safe from any challenge to his/her belief, life, property & honor whereas the Muslim woman needs MAHRUM (such male relative who is disallowed to marry her like her father, brother etc.) too to perform Hajj or she accompanies her husband; note also that once a person starts his/her virtuous doings from submission to Allah, he/she comes to the remembrance of Allah with commitment to all virtuous deeds that are mentioned at this AAYAT though some good persons may have much quantity of them due to high chances received in life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at this Ruku relate to the marriage of ZAYNAB-RA the daughter of JAHASH, to Zaid-RA the son of HARITHA, and then after he had divorced her and she had passed her IDDAT, to the Prophet PBUH; note that the Prophet PBUH had taken another ZAYNAB-RA who was the daughter of KHUZAIMA, in his marriage too in the fourth year of HIJRAH who had died within a few months of their marriage, so she was the only wife of the Prophet PBUH, besides Khadijah-RA, who died in his life-time; Surah AHZAAB had begun by addressing the Prophet PBUH to always remain attentive to Allah for strength of his belief and never comply to the wishes of disbelievers and hypocrites and though this direction that AHZAAB gives at its start, applies to all true Muslims yet the address particularly to the Prophet PBUH is due to the reason that Allah willed that he marries ZAYNAB-RA, the divorced wife of Zaid-RA who was his slave whom he had released from slavery and had adopted as his son; so this Ruku takes-on that matter now whereas this is notable that at those times, marrying the wife of the adopted son was taken as equivalent to marrying the real daughter-in-law which was considered against morality; Allah willed to make things better in this matter that the Muslims do not take adopted relations as actual relations to them and for this, He asked the Prophet PBUH to marry her when Zaid had divorced her and her IDDAT is over (and when Allah issued this command to the Prophet PBUH, then he adjusted himself to it and bore it in his mind); Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the brother of ZAYNAB was reluctant to marry her to Zaid when he had extended his proposal for her and she also was not happy with this proposal yet the Prophet PBUH had told him to marry her to Zaid and had asked her to accept him as her husband; AAYAT-36 refers to this matter as it reads, “and it befits not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His apostle have decided the matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His apostle, he surely strays off a manifest straying”; so her brother married her to Zaid and she accepted this at that time; however, she could not bring herself to agree with the situation that she, one of the ladies of noble standing, is married to such man who has been released from slavery; the friction between them ultimately led to their divorce though the Prophet PBUH did try that the situation does not worsen to this stage; note that Allah had provided him awareness that their marriage would come to an end yet he did try according to the manifest commands of Islam, that some reconciliation between them does occur; note in comparison, the event that Surah KAHF has narrated about Moses-AS and KHIDHR where Moses had objected at some acts of KHIDHR as they were seemingly against the clear commands of Allah and though he had come to KHIDHR to gain some intellect from him by the command of Allah, yet surely he had to object at such of his doings, being the Messenger of Allah, to do justice to his liability for certain; see also the note at the tenth Ruku of KAHF; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so this tells that though he knew this outcome yet he did advise him to the better manner to deal with the matter; however, it did become most obvious that the marriage of Zaid & ZAYNAB is over and by the command of Allah, the Prophet PBUH would have to take her as his wife that would rectify her grief as she was not happy with her marriage with Zaid at the first place; but he knew well that the mean persons, who seek chance to humiliate him, would pounce on this issue and would ignore completely that his task is to provide such virtuous teachings that make attitudes better; so he kept his intention to marry her most concealed for the time being which he has developed due to the command of Allah though he knew well that he has to do it ultimately as Allah had commanded it; but Allah willed that this intention does come in open at that very time and that he discards the fear of all mean persons among the disbelievers and the hypocrites; so Allah told him that He has given her into his marriage and now, he only has to accept it manifestly; note that ZAYNAB-RA sometimes mentioned this honor with pleasure (and with gratitude to Allah) that Allah had mentioned in the Quran that He gave her into the marriage of the Prophet PBUH; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-37 presents the situation, “and when you said to him to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor (i.e. Zaid Ibn HARITHA)- keep your wife to yourself and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; and you concealed in your soul what Allah would bring to light (i.e. the Prophet PBUH shall marry her when this matter is over according to the command of Allah), and you feared men, and Allah had greater right that you should fear Him; but when Zaid had accomplished his want of her (and she completed her IDDAT), We gave her to you as wife, so that there should be no difficulty for the believers in respect of the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished their want of them; and Allah's command shall be performed”; the notable thing here, besides the mention that Allah has given ZAYNAB to the Prophet PBUH as his wife, is that though the true Muslims have to obey the Prophet PBUH in his commands yet when he gives some advice as request but not as command, they may not apply it to practice though its absence in practice would need his assent; another notable thing here is that Allah gave splendid honor to Zaid-RA by mentioning him as “to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor”, and with that He mentioned him by his name at this AAYAT; note that Zaid is the only one of SAHABA (companions of the Prophet PBUH) who is mentioned by name in the Quran; still another notable thing here is that it tells the Prophet PBUH that he shall not fear any person where he has to fulfill the task that Allah has demanded of him (and as for this specific task, he had developed his intention to do it in accordance to the command of Allah, yet at the same time, he did worry about the talks of mean persons around) and AAYAAT ahead are explicit on this; Al-Hamdu Lillah; they tell explicitly that when Allah asks him to do something, he would not decide on it whether it would seem fine or awkward at some given situation but he shall do it then & there; those who had been His Messengers had surely done what He had demanded of them and the word of Allah is the decreed affair; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-38 & 39 read about this, “there is no harm to the Prophet (PBUH) doing that which Allah has ordained for him (and he does not need to worry about the talks of mean persons as Allah would punish them severely); such has been the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before- and the command of Allah is a decree that is totally done- (so this course of Allah was for all His Messengers in particular before Muhammad PBUH too and it generally is for all) those who deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and do not fear anyone but Allah (in submission to His command); and Allah is sufficient to take account (of all those mean persons who blame the good persons upon submission to commands of Allah, the true Lord)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-40, the last AAYAT of the Ruku, explicitly declares that Muhammad PBUH is the last of all Prophets of Allah so after him, Allah would not send any Prophet, any Messenger, any Apostle to the world as He has provided the Quran, the final message of Allah, to all mankind through him to practice; note that all Messengers of Allah are His Prophets too for certain, so when Allah has categorically stated that Muhammad PBUH is the last of His Prophets (NABIYYEN), it explicitly tells that he also is the last of His Messengers (RUSUL); Al-Hamdu Lillah; so now, the Message of Allah exists written with us in the form of the Holy Book Quran and Allah has taken the responsibility for its protection upon Himself so that His Word (that He gave to Adam) is not violated that he would keep the Truth always clear for all to accept or to reject so no injustice takes place when He judges all persons at the time of HASHR; it certainly is the only miracle that Allah provided to Muhammad PBUH and He gave protection to everything that was related to its text and its meaning as He mentioned at Surah HIJR-9; there were such people who wrote it beautifully with utmost care at all times and places even before the printing manner for it was available, by the will of Allah and there stood people namely HUFFAZ from the very time of its descent that still stand for it, by the will of Allah so these HUFFAZ remembered it amazingly, word by word by heart; Ahadith, that report the Sunnah of the Last Prophet Muhammad PBUH and explain the Holy Book Quran most clearly for practice, remain totally secured at the good books that the compilers of Ahadith compiled for them (that the students of Islam learn thoroughly at different Islamic schools), by the will of Allah so that the clarification of it remains available at all times and at all places; its language Arabic still is very much active language of the world by the will of Allah and in fact, the Holy Book Quran receives, and has always received, the highest value in the Arabic literature; note also that Allah protected the Muslims from the enemy when they had put the Holy Book Quran into practice individually and collectively with all fervor and this tells in clearest of terms that whoever and whatever relates to it, Allah would certainly provide security for all such, as He has taken the provision of security to the Quran as His responsibility; today, there are such good printing foundations that by the will of Allah, publish it with utmost care to its text and provide it in totally the same manner as Allah descended it to the mankind for the Guidance to the right path; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this also is undeniable fact (which also expresses its security that Allah has provided to it) that the disbelievers have always remained unable to imitate the Quran as it has amazing integrity not only in its meanings but also in its words; so the AAYAT explicitly presents the established fact in totally plain terms that Muhammad PBUH was and is the last of Messengers of Allah to all peoples of the world, that come after him at any of times and at any of places in the world to live-on their lives; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the placement of this AAYAT tells explicitly that as last of Messengers of Allah, Muhammad PBUH had to set an example that Muslims would not take the adopted relations as the real ones in practice; he is the last Messenger of Allah and the significance of the issue demands that he clarifies it by his own practice to settle it for once and for all; and he is not the actual father of any man including Zaid though spiritually, he certainly is the father to all true Muslims; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the AAYAT mentions explicitly that “he is not the father of any of your men” as he did have four daughters though three of them died in his lifetime except for Fatima-RA who lived for 6 months ahead after the end of his life at the world whereas all his male children had died at infancy; this AAYAT implies in clearest of terms that whoever believes in someone as among the Prophets of Allah after Muhammad PBUH, he/she is out of the fold of Islam undoubtedly, for certain, indeed; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Sixth Ruku
41. O you who believe! remember Allah, remembering frequently,
42. And glorify Him morning and evening.
43. He it is Who sends His blessings on you, and (so do) His angels, that He may bring you forth out of utter darkness into the light; and He is Merciful to the believers.
44. Their salutation on the day that they meet Him shall be, Peace, and He has prepared for them an honorable reward.
45. O Prophet! surely We have sent you as witness, and as bearer of good news and as warner,
46. And as one inviting to Allah by His permission, and as light-giving torch.
47. And give to the believers the good news that they shall have a great grace from Allah.
48. And be not compliant to the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and leave ignored their annoying talk, and rely on Allah; and Allah is sufficient as Protector.
49. O you who believe! when you marry the believing women, then divorce them before you touch them, you have in their case no term which you should reckon; so make some provision for them and send them forth a goodly sending forth.
50. O Prophet (PBUH)! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet (PBUH), if the Prophet (PBUH) desired to marry her-- specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
51. You may put off whom you please of them, and you may take to you whom you please, and whom you desire of those whom you had separated provisionally; no blame attaches to you; this is most proper, so that their eyes may be cool and they may not grieve, and that they should be pleased, all of them with what you give them, and Allah knows what is in your hearts; and Allah is Knowing, Forbearing.
52. It is not allowed to you to take women afterwards, nor that you should change them for other wives, though their beauty be pleasing to you, except what your right hand possesses and Allah is Watchful over all things.
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The Ruku starts by the guidance to all Muslims to persist on remembrance of Allah at all times; note that “remembrance of Allah” means to see the pleasure of Allah in whatever the Muslim person does, so even his/her speech denotes his/her attention towards Allah as that would surely comprise of such terms that praise Allah all the time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; certainly, all attitudes of Muslims would show this remembrance and their deeds also would manifest it; note that SALAH (that is the most virtuous deed that the Muslim person commits) and SABR (the patience that relates to his inside which asks him to live by necessities at the world) are the highest features that relate to His remembrance; Al-Hamdu Lillah; at Surah AN’AAM, Allah asks the Prophet PBUH, “say- surely, (as for) me, my Lord has guided me to the right path, that is the religion which is totally right, the faith of Ibrahim the upright one, and he was not of the polytheists; say- surely my SALAH and my sacrifice (of desires that may ask for assets and status at the world) and (so) my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; no associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit; say- what! - shall I seek a Lord other than Allah? And He is the Lord of all things; and no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed” (AN’AAM-161 to 164); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the notable thing about SALAH is that it brings the Muslim person near to Allah as he persists on His remembrance by it so whereas SABR stops him from any attachment to the world by remembrance of Allah, SALAH brings him to the attachment of AKHIRAT by remembrance of Allah, the true Lord; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah asks the attitude of SABR from all Muslims (especially those who have the knowledge of the Quran) who would not only live by Islam but being the force of Allah, they would also ask all to live by Islam (by TABLIGH only in these current times unless they are challenged at the war-field); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the true remembrance of Allah is the only thing that provides the peace to hearts; Surah RA’AD states about such righteous persons who are truly attentive to Allah that He guides them to Himself as they are “those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah; surely by Allah's remembrance only, are the hearts set at rest” (RA’AD-28); at Surah BAQARAH, before asking the true Muslims for SABR and SALAH, AAYAT-152 reads “Remember Me, I would remember you” which actually tells, “Remember Me (in the world), I would remember you (at AKHIRAT)”; “Remember Me (in your near-ones), I would remember you (in angels)”; “Remember Me (today), I would remember you (tomorrow)”; “Remember Me (in your happiness), I would remember you (in your troubles)”; “Remember Me (wherever you are), I would remember you (wherever you are)”; “Remember Me (at all times), I would remember you (at all times)”; it is the honorable word that Allah gives to all persons that have goodness in them to believe in Him and to do their deeds according to that belief; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-43 & 44 tell that Allah sends His blessings on the true Muslims which has brought them out of darkness (i.e. wrong ways that is mentioned in plural as wrong ways are many) towards the right path (which is the light mentioned in singular as this only is the virtuous manner of living) and this has given them the strength to bear wrongs of the disbelievers and the hypocrites against them; and angels always pray Allah for the true Muslims that Allah forgives them on any of wrongs that they may commit and that they always receive-on blessings from Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the true Muslims would get the greetings at the Day when they meet Allah by SALAM (peace) and there, they would have the most honorable reward; so DUA to remain on the right path and to get mercy from Allah is necessary for safety at AKHIRAT with necessary acceptance of the message that the Prophet PBUH has brought to all peoples of the world; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that authentic Ahadith have told the Muslims that they shall never show pride on high quantity of their good deeds as each of them is fruitful only when Allah accepts it into their document of deeds by His mercy; so each of good deeds does need the mercy of Allah for certain; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-45 & 46 ahead read, “O Prophet (PBUH)! surely We have sent you as witness (so he would testify at the Day of Judgment that he did provide the message of Allah to peoples at his time and after him, his UMMAH took-up the task), and as bearer of good news (for the righteous persons) and as warner (for all those who are disbelievers); and as one inviting (all peoples of the world) to Allah by His permission (this means that though all Muslims have to invite all peoples to Islam yet he particularly has this beautiful task as the Messenger of Allah), and as light-giving torch (to the right path)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; he shall particularly provide the good news to the true Muslims that they shall receive highest of bonuses even at life at the world when they are totally attentive to Allah, the true Lord; so this happened as the Muslims rose to height when they spread Islam by the blessing of Allah and got much convenience in living at the world, due to gain of much resources that they got by enemy; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-48 emphasizes that the Prophet PBUH shall not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites and here it means specifically that he shall not stop his task i.e. TABLIGH of Islam to all peoples due to adverse attitudes of such persons even, who are inclined to disbelief or who show hypocrisy; he shall ignore the adverse talks that they commit to, and he shall trust Allah totally (as he has always done) because He would provide safety from all adverse planning that the disbelievers and the hypocrites make against Islam; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT ahead directs the Muslims that if any of them marries any of the Muslim woman and then divorces her when he has not yet availed valid privacy with her, she will not make any IDDAT (specific period in waiting before remarrying) due to this marriage with him though he would have to provide some necessary provision to her; this necessary provision would be the half of her MEHR (the amount that the man has to give to the woman to take her as his wife which is among her rights on him) that had been mentioned for her for this marriage; however if it is unmentioned for some reason, he would have to give her MUTATUN-NIKAH (as necessary provision that shall be a worthy complete eastern dress to her); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku ahead provide the ruling specifically for the marriage of the Prophet PBUH which tells among other things, that he would not divorce any of his wives; AAYAT-50 tells that Allah has permitted number of wives for him but this is an exceptional permission for him as Muslims in general, are allowed to keep four wives only at one time for them; note that when he married ZAYNAB-RA on the command of Allah, he already had four wives with him; it tells that he may take wives from his first cousins but they must have migrated to Madinah and not stayed behind at Makkah; this AAYAT makes lawful to him by the term “whom your right hand possesses”, those slave-women too whom he takes from the prisoners of war according to the custom of the day; it is not totally clear how many slave-women he did have though the maximum number has been mentioned as three (among them, only REHANA-RA of BANU-QURAIZAH is confirmed to be her slave-woman as MARIAH-QABTIYAH-RA had achieved the status of his wife); so he had twelve wives including MARIYAH-QABTIAH whereas he probably had two of slave-women which included one other besides REHANA; see the note at end of my writing “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith” for detail to his respectable wives; note that even if taken that he did have two of slave-women, the total figure comes to fourteen and it is most certain that his sexual relations never went beyond these women while the reason for his legitimate relation to them was never any lust as he certainly had the beautiful angelic character; note that he spent all his youth and some of his ripe age too with respectable Khadijah-RA, who was fifteen years older than him and the only wife he had up-to his age of 50, and then he married SAUDAH-RA who was very near to his age, and that only after the death of Bibi Khadijah-RA; “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith” also provides the general issues that relate to number of marriages of the Prophet PBUH at end of its “book on good manners”; and it is most notable that the Holy Prophet PBUH had married widowed or divorced women only except for Bibi Ayesha-RA and he never divorced any of his wives; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this AAYAT at end, tells that Allah has provided rulings for those women too whom the Muslims take in marriage and He is Forgiving on their faults about their wives and Merciful to provide space to them to make the situation better which relates to their wives; the significant thing to mention here is that there are some issues in which the Prophet PBUH has exceptional rulings which mostly relate to his family besides the permission to take more than four wives at one time as for instance, he was not allowed to divorce any of his wives and none of Muslims was allowed to marry any of them after him; he was not allowed to marry any of women from among people of the book; he and his family members were not allowed to take SADAQAH and his descendants too are not allowed to take it; his heritance of tangible assets, was not distributed according to his directive; and he was permitted to treat his wives differently as he pleases which is not for other of Muslims (as they have to care for all their wives by total justice in issues where they may exercise control) and AAYAT-51 ahead is explicit on this; however, it is notable that as this was permission from Allah to him and not His command so he did care for all of them by total justice though he did ask Allah for forgiveness on more inclination of heart towards any of them; note that more inclination of heart to any of wives is not questionable even for an ordinary Muslim who may have four wives together at one time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-51 clarifies that even if the Prophet PBUH does treat his wives in different manners, they would still be happy with him (due to their prominence among the Muslim women) and would not grieve (on the difference he keeps among them) and would be pleased with whatever provisions the Prophet PBUH gives to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah knows that the Prophet PBUH is most sincere to his task of spreading the teachings of Islam which asks that he has utmost relief at his good household; the last AAYAT of the Ruku gives this info explicitly that the Prophet PBUH would not take any other woman except from among the women that AAYAT-50 has categorically mentioned; it reads, ”it is not allowed to you (O Prophet PBUH) to take women afterwards (that means besides those women who are categorically mentioned), nor that you should change them for other wives (that means the Prophet PBUH shall not divorce any of his wives, that are presently his wives or would come into his marriage), though their beauty be pleasing to you (but they do not conform to the women mentioned and note here that the Prophet PBUH also is among mankind who does have natural attraction towards woman, but not any lust towards them), except what your right hand possesses (that is if he wants to take some woman as his slave-woman from among the prisoners of war then there is no count for that) and Allah is Watchful over all things (so He knows well that the Prophet PBUH is most sincere to his task and has nothing negative in his person)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that with this open permission to marry many of women and to take many of slave-women, the Prophet PBUH took five women only, after the descent of this AAYAT, as his wives; these five of his most respectable wives were JAVERIA, UMME-HABIBAH, SAFIYAH, MAYMUNAH and MARIAH (may Allah be pleased with all his wives who are the mothers of the true Muslims) and he probably took only two of slave-women and so with all said, the notable point is that he must be given credit that he reserved himself to these fourteen women when he was allowed to take high number of them and that even was to establish good relations then with tribes at Arabia as the tribes gave respect to such person, who lived virtuously and who married any woman from their tribe providing her utmost respect; so the outcome of these marriages was that these tribes checked averse attitudes against Muslims and tended to peace; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Seventh Ruku
53. O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for meal, not waiting for its preparation being finished- but when you are invited, then enter, and when you have taken the food, then disperse- not seeking to listen to talk; surely this gives the Prophet trouble, but he forbears from you, and Allah does not forbear from the truth; and when you ask of them any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and for their hearts; and it does not befit you that you should give trouble to the Apostle of Allah, nor that you should marry his wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah.
54. If you do a thing openly or do it in secret, then surely Allah is Cognizant of all things.
55. There is no blame on them in respect of their fathers, nor their brothers, nor their brothers' sons, nor their sisters' sons nor their own women, nor of what their right hands possess; and be careful of Allah; surely Allah is Witness of all things.
56. Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe! call for blessings of Allah on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.
57. Surely (as for) those who speak evil things of Allah and His apostle, Allah has cursed them in this world and the hereafter, and He has prepared for them a chastisement bringing disgrace.
58. And those who speak evil things of the believing men and the believing women without their having earned (it), they are guilty indeed of a false accusation and a manifest sin.
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Surah AHZAAB goes on to relate decent social manners to live at the Islamic environment and the first AAYAT of this Ruku directs explicitly to such manners that relate to visiting each other; though it mentions these manners for visiting the houses of the Prophet PBUH yet these are valid in general except for the direction that no person should marry the wives of the Prophet PBUH after him ever; AAYAT guides explicitly that the Muslims shall not enter the houses of the Prophet PBUH unless they are invited there for a meal where they shall care to reach on such time that it is about ready to serve and they shall leave as soon as they finish the meal without any delay; their futile sitting before or/and after the meal that makes it gathering for mutual talks, disturbs the Prophet PBUH but due to his decent manners, he forbears from mentioning it and does not disclose his disturbance; Allah tells here that He does not forbear from speaking that which guides attitudes of all persons to virtuousness; if the Muslims have to ask something needed from any of wives of the Prophet PBUH, they shall ask from behind the curtain (the Quran uses the term HEJAB here to express the required attitude) as that keeps check on tendencies at both sides so that they remain to decency; according to this direction, Muslims would see that they do not enter any of private houses without invitation (or due permission); and reach there when the food is about ready to serve and leave the place just as they finish eating of it and not seek talks to make it some place of meeting (except when the invitation mentions such sitting after the meal); at all places, the Muslims shall speak to unrelated women at extreme necessity only and only with care to HEJAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; one of Ahadith relates about the descent of this AAYAT which Bukhari has recorded at the Book of Asking Permission; briefly, it relates from ANAS Ibn Malik, who used to serve the Prophet PBUH when he came to Madinah, that it descended during the marriage of the Prophet PBUH with ZAYNAB, the daughter of JAHASH, when at the morning he had invited some people who took their meal and went away but a group of them stayed and prolonged their stay; so the Prophet PBUH got up and went out, and ANAS-RA accompanied him, till he came to the lintel of Ayesha’s dwelling place and when he thought that those people had left by then, he returned but found that they were still sitting there and had not yet gone; so he went out again and again reached the lintel of Ayesha’s dwelling place where ANAS accompanied him again; then waiting for some period of time again, he returned when he thought that those people must have left by then, and did find that those people had left the place; ANAS narrates that at that time the verse for HEJAB was revealed, and the Prophet PBUH set a screen between me and him (& his family); note that ANAS had reached the age of 15 years then, which is taken by normalcy as the age of adolescence; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-54 ahead states, “if you keep something open or keep it in secret, then surely Allah is Cognizant of all things”; so all Muslims shall live in such manner that their intentions even, remain virtuous as Allah knows their intentions too and they must certainly keep check on all of their attitudes; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-55 tells the exception to HEJAB and mentions such persons who may visit the wives of the Prophet PBUH without it; it reads, “there is no blame on them in respect of their fathers, nor their brothers, nor their brothers' sons, nor their sisters' sons nor their own women (so they would observe HEJAB to women that are not Muslims so that those women do not affect their psyche by their own manner of living, in any adverse manner), nor of what their right hands possess (i.e. their female slaves); and be careful of Allah (i.e. they have to care for His pleasure in all deeds that they do); surely Allah is Witness of all things”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT tells that Allah sends His blessings to the Prophet PBUH and the angels ask Allah for such blessings to him (and they pray Allah for the true Muslims too that Allah forgives them on any of wrongs that they may commit and that they always receive-on blessings from Allah as we have seen at AAYAT-43); Allah commands the Muslims at this AAYAT that they also must ask Allah for such blessings to him even if he already is among those whom Allah has provided the highest of status at the world and at AKHIRAT, because that would satisfy their love for the Prophet PBUH when they do give him something highly worthy from their side sincerely; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that it is feasible to send DURUD to the Prophet PBUH (which is DUA to Allah to ask His blessings for him) and present SALAM to him from anywhere as mentioning his virtues in all good manner with love for him that occurs with acceptance of his Sunnah in practice, is in itself, one of the most virtuous acts though it must not raise his status to other than a man; ULAMA often guide to this that angels take that SALAM to him (by the will of Allah) but it is not feasible to speak to him even, in the direct manner; he had told at the very beginning of his mission of spreading Islam that he is not able to save anyone at AKHIRAT who does not take-up the belief & the practice in Islam and that message remains noteworthy ever; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last couple of AAYAAT at the Ruku note that whoever would speak adversely of Allah and His Messenger, Allah would certainly curse all such persons at this world and at AKHIRAT so whatever they do, it would backfire on them and He has prepared extreme chastisement that would totally disgrace them at the world and at AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; as for those wrong persons who accuse the Muslim women for wrongs that they had not even thought of, which not only grieves them but also men related to them (especially their fathers and their husbands), they are not only guilty of false accusation but also of one of major sins; they have no shame as they blame the good Muslim women by false accusation in open to misguide other persons too, who have shame but little, to say such evil; they would certainly see the consequence of their wrong-doing not only at AKHIRAT but even at the world very soon, as this slander will never go unpunished; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Eighth Ruku
59. O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
60. If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then they shall not be your neighbors in it but for a little while;
61. Cursed: wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering.
62. (Such has been) the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah.
63. Men ask you about the hour; say: The knowledge of it is only with Allah, and what will make you comprehend that the hour may be nigh.
64. Surely Allah has cursed the disbelievers and has prepared for them a burning fire,
65. To abide therein for a long time; they shall not find a protector or a helper.
66. On the day when their faces shall be turned back into the fire, they shall say: O would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the apostle!
67. And they shall say: O our Lord! surely we obeyed our leaders and our great men, so they led us astray from the path;
68. O our Lord! give them a double punishment and curse them with a great curse.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku gives the command of HEJAB for the Muslim women most explicitly; it reads, “O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments (so HEJAB asks for additional clothing to women); this will be more proper, that they may be known and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving (if a Muslim woman falls short of fulfilling the demand of HEJAB in total even with her good efforts), Merciful (so He would provide space to her to apply HEJAB in even better way)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that there were ill-wishers of Islam at Madinah that were most mischievous persons among the Jews and among the hypocrites who troubled some of the Muslim women by immoral comments when they came out of their homes for some necessary tasks; so this AAYAT asked the Muslim women to take HEJAB on them so that these mischievous persons do not have any excuse that they did not recognize them that they are Muslim women, or else they would have not thrown immoral comments to them; at those times, the surroundings were somewhat permissive to pass adverse comments upon the slave-women so the mischievous persons took advantage of this and made it an excuse for their immoral comments; note also that this term HEJAB has three aspects to it; the first aspect is that a Muslim woman must not leave her home except for some necessity (the decision about necessity would be hers, when she does care in practice about the basic teachings of Islam); the second aspect is that when she goes out of her home at some necessity and the environment is such that in general, the men care not to trouble her in any way then she might go out with her face, hands up-to wrist and feet up-to ankles uncovered though even then she would cover the whole body plus hair necessarily but if the environment is otherwise, then she would take care to cover her face too except for eyes; the third aspect is connected to the first that as soon as the necessity ends, she would return to her home without any waste of time as the basic place for her activity is her home for sure; with these aspects, it is fair to keep in mind that HEJAB does not relate only to the physique of the woman but it also relates most highly to her attitudes; see also the supplementary note that relates to AAYAT-59 of AHZAAB and AAYAT-31 of NOOR, after the note at the fourth Ruku of Surah NOOR; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next three AAYAAT warn the hypocrites and all such persons who are not true to their belief but intend to fulfill only those commands of Allah that they find convenient to them and fruitful in their view for worldly achievements; it also warns all such persons too who seek to spread rumors especially those that may disgrace the Muslim women; AAYAT-60 mentions explicitly that if they do not desist from spreading rumors, Allah would put them into disgrace and they would be at the mercy of the Prophet PBUH so they would live at Madinah for some period only; and to wherever they depart, even there they would live as cursed by Allah and their position would remain of such disgrace that wherever they are found, they shall be seized and murdered violently; AAYAT-62 mentions that this has always been the manner of Allah with respect to those that were alike to them who have gone before them; the AAYAT especially, emphatically and explicitly mentions to every person that “you shall not find any change in the course of Allah”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-63 tells that no person knows when the hour, the last day of the world, would take place as its knowledge is only with Allah and that might be very near to them; and the last five AAYAAT of the Ruku after that, tell about the Day of Judgment; note that the Quran mentions the hour and the Day of Judgment at places together in such manner as one comes right after another; this manner of presenting them together is most pronounced at Surah NAZI’AAT where AAYAAT-6 to 9 read, “the day on which the quaking one shall quake (i.e. the last day of the world); what must happen afterwards shall follow it (i.e. the Day of Judgment); hearts on that day (of Judgment) shall palpitate; their eyes cast down”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; in addition to other places, note that AAYAAT-8, 9 & 10 at Surah TOOR tell about the last day of the world and the AAYAAT ahead of them tell about the first day of AKHIRAT; this also is the manner of expression at Surah TAKWIR where its first six AAYAAT relate the six events at the last day of the world (i.e. QIYAMAT) and its next eight AAYAAT relate the six events at the Day of Judgment (the day of HASHR); the Quran has its own beautiful manner of expression that explicitly tells all issues related to the man to guide him to the virtuous way of living, though it does ask the man highest of alertness to study it good by its context; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-64 to 68 at this Ruku tell that surely Allah has cursed the disbelievers and has prepared for them a burning fire at AKHIRAT where they would abide for very long time and they shall not find a protector or a helper for them at that true life of AKHIRAT when their faces shall be turned over into the hell-fire; they shall have extreme repentance at their disobedience of Allah and His Messenger and they would ask Allah to put double punishment to their leaders and put highest of curse on them as they misled them at life at the world; this depiction of all these persons, implies that those who do not show obedience to Allah, the true Lord, and do not follow the Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH, they are asking for most severe punishment at the Day of Judgment where Allah would judge all persons for their belief and their deeds; they must repent here at the world and make things better for themselves now; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Last Ruku
69. O you who believe! be not like those who spoke evil things of Musa, but Allah cleared him of what they said, and he was worthy of regard with Allah.
70. O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and speak the right word,
71. He will put your deeds into a right state for you, and forgive you your faults; and whoever obeys Allah and His apostle, he indeed achieves mighty success.
72. Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it; and man assumed it; surely he is unjust, ignorant;
73. So Allah will chastise the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, and Allah will turn (mercifully) to the believing men and believing women, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku asks the true Muslims never to speak anything that grieves the Prophet PBUH whereas AAYAT-56 & 57 have told explicitly, “surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet (PBUH); O you who believe! call for blessings of Allah on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation; surely (as for) those who speak evil things of Allah and His apostle, Allah has cursed them in this world and AKHIRAT, and He has prepared for them a chastisement bringing disgrace”; these AAYAAT state that the true Muslims shall never be like those who spoke evil things about Moses, though Allah cleared him of what they said; according to context, this probably means that Bani-Israel used to complain to Moses-AS time & again for things he was not liable to and did not show any credit to him that he led them to freedom by the command of Allah; AAYAT-70 asks the true Muslims to speak in most virtuous manner that they do not speak ill of any righteous person ever as this would lead to the displeasure of Allah; the speech of a Muslim person must not grieve any person as it is capable to hurt especially those who are most sensitive; when true Muslims do care for their speech that it does not grieve any good person then Allah would make their deeds better and He would forgive their wrongs; this would lead them to much obedience to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and due to that, they would indeed achieve mighty success; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-72 reads, “surely We offered the trust (AMANAT) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it; and man assumed it; surely he is unjust, ignorant (if he does not fulfill the demand of this AMANAT)”; note for awareness of this AAYAT that Allah presented this AMANAT to all of His creation (especially mountains as it needed much strength to bear it) yet all of them shrank away from bearing it as they feared justly and wisely that they are not capable to fulfill its demand according to their creation (as they worship Allah without any free-will) but the man took it; note that Allah asks for total sincere obedience from all of His creation and the Man and the Jinn, the only two of His creation whom Allah has given the free-will, must certainly obey Him by their free-will; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all persons among the mankind took this AMANAT upon them at the world of spirits where Allah has presented it to them and this AMANAT comprises of commands of Allah which all persons have to fulfill as their obligations so that the life of the man in general, manifests most clearly that he is the KHALIFAH of Allah who has to bring all of mankind to live according to His guidance; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the man has to believe truly in TAUHID (Allah only is the Creator of all the creation and He always has all His attributes and He only is the true Lord); in AKHIRAT (Allah would judge all peoples of the world at the Day of Judgment); in RISALAT (Allah had sent His Messengers to the world to provide the Guidance to the right path); these are the fundamental teachings of Islam from all times though in practice, Islam manifested completely at the golden times of the last Messenger Muhammad PBUH only and that is what Allah stated in one of the last AAYAAT of the Holy Book Quran which reads that “this day (O Muslims) have I perfected your DEEN for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen for you as DEEN al-Islam” (Surah MA’EDAH-3); here the term DEEN is used as the complete code of life that comprises of all commands of Allah that He has provided to the man while YAUMUD-DEEN (the day of DEEN) means the Day of Judgment as we have studied at Surah FATIHA; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the man fully understood even at that time at the world of spirits where he took this liability upon him, that all those who do not fulfill necessary demands of Islam (the complete code of life set by Allah that comprises of His commands), all such persons would be punished by the hell-fire and that would show clearly that those are totally unjust and ignorant as they also had taken this liability upon them when all of the mankind took it; certainly, Allah would care for all those believing men and believing women who do fulfill their word and remain sincerely committed to the commands of Allah; the last AAYAT tells about the two sections of the mankind there at AKHIRAT; one of them would be of hypocrites and the polytheists, both men and women, so it would include all disbelievers in Allah, the true Lord; the other would be of the true believers among the mankind, both men and women, to whom Allah would show utmost forgiveness and total mercy at AKHIRAT; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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Surah SABA
(Consists of 6 Ruku; MK-7)
SABA-The First Ruku
1. (All) praise is due to Allah to Whom belongs what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and to Him is due (all) praise in the hereafter; and He is the Wise, the Aware.
2. He knows that which goes down into the earth and that which comes out of it, and that which comes down from the heaven and that which goes up to it; and He is the Merciful, the Forgiving.
3. And those who disbelieve say: The hour shall not come upon us. Say: Yea! by my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you; not the weight of an atom becomes absent from Him, in the heavens or in the earth, and neither less than that nor greater, but (all) is in a clear book
4. That He may reward those who believe and do good; these it is for whom is forgiveness and an honorable sustenance.
5. And (as for) those who strive hard in opposing Our AAYAAT, these it is for whom is a painful chastisement of an evil kind.
6. And those to whom the knowledge has been given see that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, that is the truth, and it guides into the path of the Mighty, the Praised.
7. And those who disbelieve say: Shall we point out to you a man who informs you that when you are scattered the utmost scattering you shall then be most surely (raised) in (to) a new creation?
8. He has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness in him. Nay! those who do not believe in AKHIRAT are in torment and in great error.
9. Do they not then consider what is before them and what is behind them of the heaven and the earth? If We please, We will make them disappear inside the earth or bring down upon them a portion from the heaven; most surely there is a sign in this for every servant turning (to Allah).
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Surah SABA guides most explicitly to the awareness that Allah only is truly Powerful and He would certainly give to each person what he/she truly deserves at AKHIRAT; it guides that whatever someone gets from the worldly assets, that must not make him/her forget that he/she has to answer for his/her belief at AKHIRAT and so he/she shall only use it for the pleasure of Allah and he/she shall not let anyone misguide him/her as at AKHIRAT, every person has to face the consequence for all his/her doings totally alone where repentance on the wrong-doings would be useless; it guides that He only has provided the physical needs and the spiritual need of all persons so every person shall remain most attentive to Allah at the world so that he/she gets the true success at AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Surah starts by the praise of Allah that everything among His creation in the heavens and in the earth praises Him; the Man and the Jinn too have to praise Him truly showing their gratitude to Him, by the free-will that He has provided to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; at AKHIRAT, it would become totally obvious that all praise truly is for Him only, as the Man and the Jinn would see the outcome of their doings there clearly; He has all true wisdom so He directs all doings of men to bring the outcome that He intends from them and He is totally aware of all doings of men; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the second AAYAT states, “He knows that which goes down into the earth (i.e. seeds and corpses) and that which comes out of it (i.e. the fruits, vegetables, harvests, crops and at AKHIRAT, the dead would come out of it) and that which comes down from the heaven (i.e. rains and angels that descend with commands of Allah) and that which goes up to it (i.e. the water particles and the doings of men and also the spirits of good persons which go to ELIYYEN); and He is the Merciful, the Forgiving”; so He eliminates much of impression of wrong doings of men so that they get ample space at life to prove that they deserve Jannah, by getting the pleasure of Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-3 & 4 tell about the last day of the world that even if the disbelievers speak against it, it is sure to come as then Allah would raise all persons from dead after it at the Day of HASHR that is the Day of Judgment, where He would provide the good results of the righteous doings of those persons who kept to the true belief and did all their deeds according to that true belief; nothing escapes away from the knowledge of Allah, the true Lord, whether small or large and He has kept record of all things in writing in clear book; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-5 tells, “and those (of extreme disbelievers) who strive hard in opposing Our AAYAAT (at life at the world), these it is for whom is a painful chastisement of an evil kind (at AKHIRAT, the true life)”; so every person would receive what he/she deserves there due to the life that he/she spent at the world; there, all those who did understand the Quran would see manifestly that it certainly presented the truth about the Day of Judgment; certainly, it guides to the true path of Allah, Who has all authority to keep the world to the manner He intends so here also, there always remains His praise; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the couple of AAYAAT ahead that are AAYAAT-7 & 8 mention the objection that the disbelievers raised against the Day of HASHR, which read, “and those who disbelieve say- shall we point out to you a man who informs you that when you are scattered the utmost scattering you shall then be most surely (raised) in (to) a new creation?- he has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness in him; (Allah replies to their doubt that) nay! those who do not believe in AKHIRAT are in torment (at AKHIRAT which is sure to come) and in great error (at life at the world)”; this tells that though they did believe in Allah yet with addition of much wrongs to their belief as they believed in Him with this notion that He would not bring any judgment upon them ever and there were such persons in them too who had this notion that if it does come, those whom they believed in as equal in authority to Allah (including even their idols), would save them from all wrath of Allah; the Satan misguides the disbelievers in such manner that they lose their sanity and take wrong notions by their own; certainly, Allah has guided all persons to the right path and certainly, He would bring the Day of HASHR where He would judge all persons according to their belief and according to all their doings at life at the world as He has told the Man clearly; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last AAYAT of the Ruku mentions the authority of Allah, “do they not then consider what is before them and what is behind them of the (nearby) heaven and the earth?- if We please, We will make them disappear inside the earth or bring down upon them a portion from the (nearby) heaven; most surely there is a sign in this for every servant turning (to Allah)”; Allah has created the nearby heaven above all of mankind in such manner that it does not fall upon the earth and He has created the earth in such manner that keeps all of mankind to it; if Allah wills, He would make the earth swallow up the disbelievers (as He does show by earthquakes) and He would make some part of the nearby heaven fall upon them (as He does show when He makes a meteoroid survive a trip through the atmosphere and hit the ground as meteorite); seeing this sign, every person among the mankind needs to believe in Allah, and all such persons who really do believe in Allah, must remain steadfast upon their belief with clear acceptance that AKHIRAT would certainly take place so their good belief and their good deeds according to it, would lead them to the true success at that true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Second Ruku
10. And certainly We gave to DAWUD excellence from Us: O mountains! sing praises with him, and the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him,
11. Saying: Make ample armor (coats of mail), and assign time for the making of coats of mail and do good; surely I am Seeing what you do.
12. And (We made) the wind (subservient) to Solomon, which made a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey in the evening, and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the will of his Lord; and whoever turned aside from Our command from among them, We made him taste of the punishment of burning.
13. They made for him what he pleased of fortresses and images, and bowls (large) as watering-troughs and cooking-pots that will not move from their place; give thanks, O family of DAWUD! and very few of My servants are grateful.
14. But when We decreed death for him, naught showed them his death but a creature of the earth that ate away his staff; and when it fell down, the jinn came to know plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in abasing torment.
15. Certainly there was a sign for Saba in their abode; two gardens on the right and the left; eat of the sustenance of your Lord and give thanks to Him: a good land and a Forgiving Lord!
16. But they turned aside, so We sent upon them a torrent of which the rush could not be withstood, and in place of their two gardens We gave to them two gardens yielding bitter fruit and (growing) tamarisk and a few lote-trees.
17. This We requited them with because they disbelieved; and We do not punish any but the ungrateful.
18. And We made between them and the towns which We had blessed (other) towns to be easily seen, and We apportioned the journey therein: Travel through them nights and days, secure.
19. And they said: O our Lord! make spaces to be longer between our journeys; and they were unjust to themselves so We made them stories and scattered them with an utter scattering; most surely there are signs in this for every patient, grateful one
20. And certainly the Satan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a party of the believers.
21. And he has no authority over them, but that We may distinguish him who believes in AKHIRAT from him who is in doubt concerning it; and your Lord is the Preserver of all things
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This Ruku tells about DAWUD-AS and about his son Solomon-AS; they both were kings of the Israelites after TALUT, with all necessary things to benefit from, at their disposal keeping to the commands of Allah; their period is from about 1100 BC that comes to about three hundred years after Moses-AS; Suleiman was the heir to David, and they both were among the wisest persons of the Bani-Israel for which they praised Allah all the time much; in addition to being king of Israelites, Allah had also provided Suleiman the rule over jinn and over birds, the language of whom he understood well; Allah had also made the wind subservient to him that it took him to places far-away just in a morning or just in an evening which normally took a month of travel to reach at those times; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah tells at this Ruku for DAWUD-AS, “and certainly We gave to DAWUD excellence from Us- O mountains! sing praises (of Allah) with him, and (commanded this also to) the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him, saying- make ample armor (coats of mail), and assign a time to the making of coats of mail and do good; surely I am Seeing what you do”; and He tells at this Ruku for Solomon-AS, “and (We made) the wind (subservient) to Suleiman, which made a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey in the evening, and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the command of his Lord; and whoever turned aside from Our command from among them, We made him taste of the punishment of burning; they made for him what he pleased of fortresses and images, and bowls (large) as watering-troughs and cooking-pots that will not move from their place; give thanks, O family of DAWUD! and very few of My servants are grateful”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; these AAYAAT indicate a few things and the foremost of them is that they both never showed any pride on their wealth & status at the world but prayed for the highest of ranks at AKHIRAT; the second thing is that DAWUD praised Allah, the true Lord, in such manner that even the mountains and birds sang the praise of Allah with him so it is notable that they understood his praise to Allah and joined him in it; the third thing that even though DAWUD was the king of Israelites, he worked to make armor that were iron-mails for defense at wars because Allah provided him such ability that iron became pliant for him at his hands; the fourth thing is that when Solomon intended to travel, the wind took him to places that were at a month’s journey from his place at those times, only within a morning or only within an evening by the will of Allah; the fifth thing is that Allah made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and there were jinn who worked before him by His command with the awareness that He had given to them that whoever turned aside from His command from among them, He would make him taste the punishment of extreme burning; the sixth thing is that these jinn made strong fortresses and images for him that he intended for, as all those who were at his service needed worthy shelters and maintenance to them, to live in convenience and that needed immense work; as for their making of images, this needs some elaboration upon them so I, MSD, would provide some detail to this insha-Allah; note that Islam detests making or taking of still-pictures of living-beings at random, except with total decency for necessity for the genuine official needs; note also that Islam does allow the making or taking of pictures that are other than living-beings and even plants, flowers and trees are included in the allowed pictures and even those blurred pictures that do not present the living beings vividly; there are authentic Ahadith that sternly warn those who make (or take) still-pictures of living-beings, at all the notable books of Ahadith; SABA-13 here, that mentions that the jinn used to make images (which included the making of faces at stones that protruded at the ground), actually tells that at those times, there was no prohibition to present images, pictures and faces at stones yet Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, prohibited them categorically; there are authentic Ahadith to this effect in all notable books of Ahadith and among them is that a man came to Ibn-Abbas-RA and said, that his sustenance is from the manual profession that he makes pictures; Ibn-Abbas told him that the Prophet PBUH had said that whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it; hearing this, that man heaved a sigh and his face turned pale so Ibn Abbas said to him that if he does want to make pictures, he should make pictures of trees and other non-living objects; another Hadith tells that the Prophet PBUH said, “angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or there are pictures (of living-beings)”; still another Hadith tells that “those who make these pictures (of living-beings) will be (severely) punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them- make alive what you have created“; the rule to adhere to at these times of FITNAH is that the care to HEJAB is necessary in all usage of all such modern technical gadgets that present the visual presentation of persons too with their voices like the Television; here the available channels would only be few and these few channels would operate to their respective specified tasks; all such channels that presents drama & fiction would care about the Islamic morals in the plot and the presentation and the portrayal of the few women relevant to the story in the most decent manner possible and they would be at or above the age of thirty years; as for mobile cell-phones, it is most necessary for all those who do care to live by Islam, to avoid video in them as the problem at these gadgets is that these save the video at individual choice of the common Muslim person who may incline by satanic pursuance, to the erroneous trend that is in vogue at these current times to take anything without censor; the good Muslims have to see this too firmly that they do not put these phones to use for taking the still pictures of living-beings; in official needs, it is possible with the technical gadgets that we have today to identify persons by the print of their thumb & fingers and by their eyes rather than taking all image of the face, so by the good management of such gadgets for official needs at current times, it is totally possible to care about the necessary command of HEJAB; may Allah provide awareness and realization to all Muslims to keep all modern technical gadgets to the Islamic manner of living in these current times, as Islam is the complete code of life, that asks all Muslims to see to its rulings in all fields of life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the seventh thing that these AAYAAT indicate, is that by using the copper at hand, they also made such extremely large bowls that may keep pools of water that all persons at his service used for drinking and such huge vessels for cooking that were fixed to the ground for cooking of foods that they used for their intake there; the last of these things that these AAYAAT indicate is that due to such blessings of Allah on them, all members of the family of DAWUD need to show the gratitude that DAWUD has shown at all times; Al-Hamdu Lillah; for AAYAT-14 ahead, note that there were such wrong persons at Arabia and even at other places at times of the Prophet PBUH, who took jinn as such powerful that they could save them from troubles ahead as according to them, they were able to see what is ahead at the future; though jinn are physically stronger than the man yet because of his spiritual power and because Allah has appointed angels to see to his protection, jinn avoid attacks on the man; they are among the three of creation that possess the awareness of the self and these three are Angels, Jinn and the Man, and Allah has given the last two among them the free-will to apply in practice to gain the pleasure of Allah by that; Al-Hamdu Lillah; though Allah allowed Solomon, Salam on him, as an exception to enslave jinn and make them work for him yet this must not be cited for attacking them as an authentic Hadith has clarified that other of men are disallowed to control them through their spiritual supremacy; this also is notable that AAYAT-6 of Surah JINN tells that the group of jinn who had listened to the Quran had remarked, “and that persons from among men used to seek refuge with persons from among jinn, so they (i.e. those men) increased them (i.e. jinn) in wrongdoing (i.e. pride)”; this remark came from them because when the disbelievers rested at jungles and deserts, they used to take refuge of jinn for their safety, so this increased the unplaced pride of jinn; see also the note at the fourth Ruku at BAQARAH; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so AAYAT-14 clarifies that when Allah brought death to Solomon, nothing told about his death but termites that ate away his staff on which he had leant so when it fell down then the jinn became aware of his death and regretful that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in such abasing torment which they were in; so AAYAT elucidates that they did not even know about something that remained at their front for much time (i.e. presumably a period of more than a month) so when that is the case then it is most obvious that they certainly are most unable to see any unseen that the future holds; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Ruku ahead narrates about Saba that were the people who lived at the territory of Yemen who in their prosperity, forgot the remembrance of Allah and thus led themselves to destruction; they were most prosperous of nations and had all convenience in living at their area; they had made dams at different places to utilize available water to height and among them, SADDE-MA’ARIB (the dam at MA’ARIB) was most significant that had the highest of efficiency to serve them for storage of water; they had made this dam after some 250 to 300 years after the era of the Queen of Saba about whom we have read at Surah NAML; there were two rows of beautiful gardens at left and right that went-on to many of miles at their area with fruits that were most notable in quality and quantity and it also was the hub of such goods that came from the eastern areas; they used to travel with much of these goods to the ancient Syria (that included Palestine) that Allah had blessed, where the goods from Europe used to land; so the import & export of different goods to & fro at these places had also affected their economics most positively; Allah had provided security at way towards Syria to them as there were many of towns that were located at its main route and at close distances to each other so the caravans at travel had all safety at hand during their travel even at nights; however, after more than 1000 years of prosperity, there stood such persons in them who complained that they have got too much ease at life and they wanted some adventure therein; without any shame, they asked Allah to test them by troubles at way to Syria and not by convenience at their journeys; compare this attitude to the attitude of Bani-Israel, whom Allah had provided their food for sustenance at the desert, who had told Moses to bring forth for them what the earth grows; see BAQARAH-61 and see also its AAYAT-195 that asks clearly, “and spend in the way of Allah and cast not yourselves to perdition with your own hands, and do good (to others); surely Allah loves the doers of good”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; when such time came upon them that they did not show any gratitude to Allah for the beautiful gardens that Allah had given them, Allah put extreme punishment upon them; with other of punishments, He made the dam at MA’ARIB collapse and that brought total destruction to both of the beautiful gardens they had which after that, only bore bitter fruit and growing tamarisk and a few lote-trees; this happened around 120 years back from the birth of the Prophet PBUH so there is not much time-period that had passed upon their downfall, at the times of the Prophet PBUH; undoubtedly, this downfall came to them by their own ingratitude; and as for their disrespect to Allah by their plea to Him to test them by troubles at way to Syria, He made them stories at history and scattered them with an utter scattering in such manner that whoever survived from them, went to different places all over the land; most surely there are signs in this for every patient and grateful person; these are the two good traits that DAWUD and Solomon showed when Allah had provided them much of the worldly assets and highest of status at their peoples; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last two AAYAAT of the Ruku state, “and certainly the Satan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a party of the believers; and he has no authority over them, but that We may distinguish him who believes in AKHIRAT from him who is in doubt concerning it; and your Lord is the Preserver of all things”; these AAYAAT point-out that the thought which the Satan had about the mankind, did have substance as many persons of Saba did follow him except for those who were truly attentive to Allah; note that Surah HIJR-39 & 40 tell that “the Satan said (when Allah put curse upon him for all times ahead)- my Lord! because Thou hast made life evil to me, I will certainly make (their evil deeds) fair-seeming to them on earth, and I will certainly cause them all to deviate (away from the Truth); except Thy servants from among them, the devoted ones”; another thing that these AAYAAT indicate is that the Satan has no authority over the mankind but he does have power of putting thoughts at inside of men and he uses that power to misguide persons among the mankind to wrongs; these AAYAAT also tell that with all his pursuance, he is unable to misguide those persons who seek shelter of Allah against him at all times and at all places; Al-Hamdu Lillah; and these AAYAAT are explicit on this too that Allah gave him the permission to try all his efforts against the mankind because Allah intended that those who truly believe in AKHIRAT, come in open clearly and those too come in open clearly, who disbelieve in it; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Third Ruku
22. Say: Call upon those whom you assert besides Allah; they do not control the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth nor have they any partnership in either, nor has He among them any one to back (Him) up.
23. And intercession will not avail aught with Him save of him whom He permits. Yet, when fear is banished from their hearts, they say: What was it that your Lord said? They say: The Truth. And He is the Most High, the Great.
24. Say: Who gives you the sustenance from the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah. And most surely we or you are on the right path or in manifest error
25. Say: You will not be questioned as to what we are guilty of, nor shall we be questioned as to what you do.
26. Say: Our Lord will gather us together, then will He judge between us with the true justice; and He is the greatest Judge, the All-knowing.
27. Say: Show me those whom you have joined with Him as associates; you dare not (as certainly there is none, and you remember that) He is Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.
28. And We have not sent you but to all men as bearer of good news and as warner, but most men do not know.
29. And they say: When will this promise be (fulfilled) if you are truthful?
30. Say: You have the appointment of the day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on.
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The Ruku answers to those persons who disbelieve in AKHIRAT, at its beginning and it tells ahead that Allah only provides for the sustenance of the mankind, and He only has given the Guidance to the right path by His Messengers; He has all authority to decide for all His creation with total awareness of everything; Al-Hamdu Lillah; He is taking all matters to the destination He intends with total might and with total wisdom; certainly, He only has the true authority and He only would decide when to bring the end of the world; note that these AAYAAT address such disbelievers who had this notion that He would not bring any judgment upon them ever and also such disbelievers who had this notion that if it does come, those whom they believed in as equal in authority to Allah (including even their idols), would save them from all wrath of Allah; so the first AAYAT of the Ruku answers the former among them that those whom they assert besides Allah, they do not control the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth, nor have they any partnership in either, nor has He among them any one to assist Him; He certainly would bring the Day of Judgment whenever He wills for it and nobody is able to stop Him from carrying out His decision; the second AAYAT answers the latter, “and intercession will not avail aught with Him save of him whom He permits”; note that Allah would permit many of virtuous men and angels too to ask Allah for His mercy towards those who would be believers yet have done wrong deeds in high quantity; here Allah has denoted the condition of angels when He gives some significant command for the mankind that they are filled with awe, and this remains- “yet, when fear is banished from their hearts, they say (among themselves)- what was it that your Lord said?- (so among themselves) they say- the Truth (as His each command is certainly that though the command may be about destruction of some wrong nation as that also is blessing of Allah to righteous persons)- And He is the Most High, the Great”; when the angels have so much fear of Allah then such disbelievers who erroneously call them as daughters to Allah, are extremely mistaken in their thoughts that they would dare to recommend their safety at the Day of Judgment; these disbelievers would see clearly then that Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Satan misguides the disbelievers in such manner that they lose their sanity and take wrong notions by their own; certainly, Allah has guided all persons to the right path and certainly, He would bring the Day of HASHR where He would judge all persons according to their belief and according to all their doings at life at the world as He has told them clearly; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the four AAYAAT ahead ask the Prophet PBUH to tell the disbelievers that Allah only provides sustenance to all persons and He has set all creation in such manner that He examines all persons at life at the world and when there is total difference in belief of persons, so it is certain that only one part of them is at the right path; these AAYAAT ask him to tell this clearly that everyone would face his/her doings alone when Allah would ask all persons about that so they will not be questioned as to what the true believers are guilty of, nor shall the true believers will be questioned as to whatever the disbelievers do; they also ask him to tell them that the outcome of the doings of all persons would manifest clearly at the Day of HASHR when Allah would gather all persons who lived at any time and at any place, and then He would judge all of them with total justice so all persons need to wait for that final verdict; Al-Hamdu Lillah; they also ask the Prophet PBUH to challenge them to show those whom they have joined with Him as associates; they must dare not as certainly there is none who has any authority against Allah and their disbelief would only put them into extreme destruction as Allah is Mighty to punish them with natural calamities by His command and He is Most Wise to bring results even at the world to their doings as He wills; certainly Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku tell that Allah has sent the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, the last of His Messengers to all of mankind and even to all of jinn, to give the good news to the sincere believers in the Truth (the fundamental teachings of Islam) who care to live according to that, that they would receive JANNAAT, the gardens of paradise, at AKHIRAT and warn the disbelievers who deny the fundamental teachings of Islam even when that manifests most clearly in front of them, that they would be put into the hell-fire, the place of extreme punishment, at AKHIRAT where they would reside forever; the AAYAT explicitly mentions that many of persons do not realize the significance of life at the world; rather there are such disbelieving persons in them who ask when this would happen so the last AAYAT of the Ruku tells him, “say (to them O Prophet PBUH)- you have the appointment of the day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on”; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Fourth Ruku
31. And those who disbelieve say: By no means will we believe in this Quran, nor in that which is before it; and could you see when the unjust shall be made to stand before their Lord, bandying words one with another! Those who were reckoned weak shall say to those who were proud: Had it not been for you we would certainly have been believers.
32. Those who were proud shall say to those who were deemed weak: Did we turn you away from the guidance after it had come to you? Nay, you were guilty
33. And those who were deemed weak shall say to those who were proud. Nay, (it was) planning by night and day when you told us to disbelieve in Allah and to set up likes with Him. And they shall conceal regret when they shall see the punishment; and We will put shackles on the necks of those who disbelieved; they shall not be requited but what they did.
34. And whenever We sent a warner to a town, those who led lives in ease in it said: We are surely disbelievers in what you are sent with.
35. And they said: We have more wealth and children, and we shall not be punished.
36. Say: Surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases and straitens (for whom He pleases), but most men do not know.
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This Ruku of Surah SABA tells about the grounds of HASHR that there every person would face the consequence for all his/her doings totally alone where repentance on the wrong-doings would be useless and blaming anyone for the ruin that those wrong-doings would bring, would be futile; the world is the place of examination where a person needs to seek the pleasure of Allah, so he/she must not be misled by anyone and the worldly assets that he/she gets here must not let him/her forget that at AKHIRAT, only his/her righteous belief and virtuous deeds would count for his/her safety from the hell-fire; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the first three AAYAAT of the Ruku mention the dialogue that would take place among such disbelievers at the grounds of HASHR who had openly denied the fundamental teachings of Islam that the Quran had presented to them and which Torah also had told before; there, those who were reckoned weak shall say to those who were proud that they were responsible to their utmost ruin because if they had not misguided them, they would certainly have been believers; to this, those who were the proud ones among them would respond that they who blame them, had decided to deny the Truth by themselves that brought them their ruin at this Day of Judgment and they, the proud ones, are not responsible for it; those blaming persons would not accept this response and would emphatically put the blame on them for their extreme plight but in spite of all regrets that both groups of them, would have because of their wrong-doings at life at the world, they all would receive no safety from the hell-fire and they all would be led to that in shackles; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku mention that whenever Allah sent a Prophet in some nation who asked them to fear Allah, the true Lord, Who would certainly bring the Judgment upon them on all their doings, the general trend of those people who were prosperous in worldly assets in them, was that they denied their virtuous teachings; they boasted that they have much wealth and many of children and this prosperity in itself proves that they would never be punished whatever they do; Allah asks the Prophet PBUH in the last AAYAT of the Ruku to tell all persons, especially the disbelievers at Makkah, in most clear terms that it is by will of Allah that even the disbelievers receive so much from assets of the world; this is not any guarantee for their safety from the hell-fire at AKHIRAT unless they put it to use for the pleasure of Allah as at AKHIRAT, the righteous belief and virtuous deeds count; their mistake is that they are confusing the will of Allah with the pleasure of Allah and that is not good for them; it reads, “say- surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases and straitens (for whom He pleases), but most men do not know (that both of these are for examination of them only and not to prove them successful at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Fifth Ruku
37. And not your wealth nor your children, are the things which bring you near Us in station, but whoever believes and does good, these it is for whom is a double reward for what they do, and they shall be secure in the highest places.
38. And (as for) those who strive in opposing Our AAYAAT, they shall be caused to be brought to the chastisement.
39. Say: Surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants and straitens (them) for whom (He pleases), and whatever thing you spend, He exceeds it in reward, and He is the best of Sustainers.
40. And on the day when He will gather them all together, then will He say to the angels: Did these worship you?
41. They shall say: Glory be to Thee! Thou art our Guardian, not they; nay! they worshipped the jinn; most of them were believers in them.
42. So on that day one of you shall not control profit or harm for another, and We will say to those who were unjust: Taste the chastisement of the fire which you called a lie.
43. And when Our clear AAYAAT are recited to them, they say: This is naught but a man who desires to turn you away from that which your fathers worshipped. And they say: This is naught but a lie that is forged. And those who disbelieve say of the truth when it comes to them: This is only clear enchantment.
44. And We have not given them any books which they read, nor did We send to them before you a warner.
45. And those before them rejected (the Truth), and these have not yet attained a tenth of what We gave them, but they gave the lie to My apostles, then how was the manifestation of My disapproval?
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The fifth Ruku of SABA starts by the clarification of the erroneous notion of disbelievers emphatically that their sons and their wealth at the world is not any guarantee for their safety from the hell-fire at AKHIRAT unless they put it to use for the pleasure of Allah as there, at AKHIRAT, only the righteous belief and virtuous deeds count; their mistake is that they are confusing the will of Allah with the pleasure of Allah so they must realize that these things would not bring them near to Allah unless they use their worldly assets to get the pleasure of Allah and raise their children to the best of their ability to fulfill the Islamic commands that Allah has provided to the mankind; Al-Hamdu Lillah; due to their firmness on the right path and putting the righteous Islamic teachings in their practice, they would receive their good returns in double as they would reside in high beautiful rooms with total peace at Jannah at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah; however those who choose to disbelieve the teachings of Islam and try to profess wrong notions among all their near ones against Islam, they certainly shall be brought to the extreme chastisement at AKHIRAT; certainly, it is the will of Allah which decides for the increase in the means of sustenance for any person and for the reduction of that for any person and He knows in which way He would examine any person; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; whatever a person spends from the resources that He has provided to that person for the pleasure of Allah, He would give BARAKAH in his wealth by that expenditure on the needy, even at the world; certainly, He has all true authority to provide even for all physical needs of the righteous person so that he may live with all convenience without any tensions whatsoever; note that when some good thing brings the most good results by its acceptance from Allah then it is mentioned as having “BARAKAH” in it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT 40 & 41 read, “and on the day when He will gather them all together, then will He say to the angels- did these (disbelievers) worship you? - (and in response), they shall say - glory be to Thee! Thou art our Guardian, not they; nay! they worshipped the jinn; most of them were believers in them”; note that Allah knows all things yet He would enquire the angels about this matter so that they clear themselves from this blame that they had any part in the wrong-doings of the disbelievers, as the disbelievers used to take them as daughters of Allah; may Allah provide safety from satanic notions to all good Muslims; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this query to them is like the question that Allah would ask Jesus Christ-AS at the Day of Judgment if he had said to men to take him and his mother for two gods besides Allah whereas he would say that he had no right to say it and if he had said it, Allah would indeed have known it because He knows all things for certain (see Surah MA’EDAH-116); the angels would clarify that they are totally attentive to Allah and it is jinn who used to put doubts at inside of them and they believed in those doubts by their choice and as such, they used to worship the jinn; so they would keep themselves most far away from the disbelievers at AKHIRAT and would certainly be of no help to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah would then tell the disbelievers to remain forever in the punishment of the hell-fire because of their denial to the Truth; whenever the clear AAYAAT of Allah are recited to them, they respond about it that this only is something by which Muhammad (PBUH) desires to turn all of them away from that which their ancestors used to worship and they mention the Quran as forgery and enchantment; Allah had never given them any Scriptures before the Quran and He had never sent any of Messengers in them before the Prophet PBUH so they incline by their own towards wrong notions; and those before them, also rejected the Truth and these disbelievers at Makkah had not attained even a tenth of what Allah had given those previous disbelievers but when those disbelievers rejected the virtuous teachings that the Messengers had provided to them by the command of Allah, then He destroyed all of them completely; their abundance of wealth and high number of sons did not help them in any way; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Last Ruku
46. Say: I exhort you only to one thing, that rise up for Allah's sake in twos and singly, then ponder: there is no madness in your fellow-citizen; he is only a warner to you before a severe chastisement.
47. Say: Whatever reward I have asked of you, that is only for yourselves; my reward is only with Allah, and He is Witness of all things.
48. Say: Surely my Lord utters the Truth, the great Knower of the unseen.
49. Say: The Truth has come, and the falsehood shall vanish and shall not come back.
50. Say: If I err, I err only against my own soul, and if I follow the right path, it is because of what my Lord reveals to me; surely He is Hearing, Nigh.
51. And could you see when they shall become terrified, but (then) there shall be no escape and they shall be seized upon from a near place
52. And they shall say: We believe in it. And how shall the attaining (of faith) be possible to them from a distant place?
53. And they disbelieved in it before, and they utter conjectures with regard to the unseen from a distant place.
54. And a barrier shall be placed between them and that which they desire, as was done with the likes of them before: surely they are in a disquieting doubt.
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The last Ruku of SABA addresses the issues that the Surah has mentioned in it; at the beginning, the Ruku tells the Prophet PBUH to ask the disbelievers that if they doubt that he is the Messenger of Allah to them then they need to take some of time out for sorting out their speech about the Prophet PBUH; they shall stand for Allah's sake in twos and singly, then ponder about it and if that is without any insincerity, they would see for certain that there is no madness in the Prophet PBUH but he is warning all of them that if they do not believe in his teachings, they would certainly receive a severe chastisement; this tells that for the person who does intend to decide on his/her adverse attitude about the fundamental teachings of Islam, he/she shall give some sincere thought to that attitude taking some of time out for this thought and he/she shall ask Allah for His guidance towards him/her mercifully; Allah would surely provide him/her TOFIQ to revise his/her attitude about them and He would surely bring him/her to the Truth; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the four AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku ask the Prophet PBUH that he would tell the disbelievers that he does not need any returns for the true guidance that he is providing to them but he only wants that they accept it sincerely; and he would tell them explicitly that this is the Guidance to the right path that has come to him from Allah, the true Lord, and the presentation even, of this true guidance in front of all, is enough to eliminate all the falsehood that comes against it; once the falsehood is gone, it would never return though the Satan may try other ideas to misguide persons among the mankind; and also, the Prophet PBUH would tell them that if he errs to express the teachings of Islam then it would fall against him only or if he fulfills his liability to express them good then Allah has kept him to the right path that he has explicitly revealed to him at the Quran and that is the basis of his teachings; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that he mentioned any error in his liability by directing that to himself and said that if he follows the right path, it is because of what Allah reveals to him; surely He is Hearing, Nigh; this is the manner to give respect to Allah in speech because He only provides convenience to all of mankind from Him and if He puts any trouble to any of them, it is because of their own doings; note about the speech of jinn who had heard the Quran from the Prophet PBUH that they had said, “and that we know not whether evil is meant for those who are on earth or whether their Lord means to bring them good” (Surah JINN-10); so they do not relate evil to Allah but they relate goodness most explicitly to Allah, Who certainly is the true Lord; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last four AAYAAT of the Surah tell that if the Prophet sees these disbelievers there at the grounds of HASHR, there he would find them most terrified and there would be no place for them to escape from the utmost chastisement which awaits them; though here they ask to bring it upon them yet there they shall say in clearest of terms that they believe in the unseen that the Prophet PBUH had told them but now, as the term for the examination is over, how shall they attain the true belief; they used to ridicule the Truth at the world, which was the place of examination for all persons, and they used to say adverse things about it without getting any awareness about it sincerely; so if they keep onto this attitude of utmost disbelief then even at the world, by the will of Allah, a barrier shall be placed between them and their desires to get much of worldly assets so they shall never get those to their satisfaction; this is how Allah did with the likes of those disbelievers too, who used to live before them; most certainly Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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Surah FAATIR
(Consists of 5 Ruku; MK-5)
FAATIR-The First Ruku
1. All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker of the angels, apostles flying on wings, two, and three, and four; He increases in creation what He pleases; surely Allah has power over all things.
2. Whatever Allah grants to men of (His) mercy, there is none to withhold it, and what He withholds there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.
3. O men! call to mind the favor of Allah on you; is there any creator besides Allah who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? There is no god but He; whence are you then turned away?
4. And if they call you a liar, truly apostles before you were called liars, and to Allah are all affairs returned.
5. O men! surely the promise of Allah is true, so let not the life of this world deceive you, and let not the arch-deceiver deceive you respecting Allah.
6. Surely the Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy; he only invites his party that they may be inmates of the burning;
7. (As for) those who disbelieve, they shall have a severe punishment, and (as for) those who believe and do good, they shall have forgiveness and a great reward.
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Surah FAATIR (also named as Surah MALA’EKA i.e. angels) presents the fundamental teachings of Islam most explicitly and it guides to observe that Allah has created all His creation with beautiful integrity so that they all remain firm to their given task; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so, it typically correlates to all Surah which relate to Makkah and which have notable volume, as they all put much emphasis on the fundamental teachings of Islam and answer all doubts against these significant teachings, for which they explicitly present the narrations of the previous notable nations too that Allah destroyed except for those in them who believed in the Messengers of Allah; therein, Allah guides to take utmost care to Salah to relate themselves to AKHIRAT and to spend amounts on the needy, to keep away from the attachment to the world; therein, Allah provides the assurance to the true Muslims, that though they are facing much troubles, the situation would become most better with time when they remain totally firm on Islam in belief, with utmost care to Salah and to needs of the needy, and with avoidance to all major sins that relate to injustice or to shameful deeds; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; therein, He asks Muhammad PBUH, His last Messenger, emphatically to provide the fundamental teachings of Islam to all of mankind and even to jinn by the Quran without any care to adverse attitude of the disbelievers towards them, whereas in those Surah which relate to Madinah, though Allah guides emphatically to the fundamental teachings of Islam therein too yet in addition, He also presents other of His commands therein, so that men and jinn put that into their practice individually and collectively, and live totally within the good framework of the Islamic environment; the fundamental teachings of Islam guide to believe sincerely in TAUHID (Allah only is the Creator of all the creation and He always has all His attributes and He only is the true Lord) and AKHIRAT (Allah would judge all peoples of the world at the Day of Judgment) and RISALAT (Allah had sent His Messengers to the world to provide the Guidance to the right path); this is the Truth towards which Islam guides all persons; besides these three, Islam asks all persons to believe in the angels and the books that Allah has sent to the mankind and it also asks to believe in TAQDIR that everything happens by the will of Allah though His pleasure is not in everything; the believers have to care for His pleasure by the Islamic teachings that the Quran and the SUNNAH have given well; as for His will, that He only knows; see also Surah BAQARAH-285 that comes at the last Ruku of it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; now, this Surah begins by the praise of Allah as it states, “All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker of the angels, apostles flying on wings, two, and three, and four; He increases in creation what He pleases (so angels may have more wings even); surely Allah has power over all things; whatever Allah grants to men of (His) mercy, there is none to withhold it, and what He withholds, there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the Mighty (Who keeps everything according to His plan for them by His authority), the Wise (Who keeps the impression of goodness in works of men and eliminates all evil by His true wisdom)”; this tells that angels are such creation of Allah who provide the message of Allah to Messengers of Allah by His command and bring destruction to nations by His command and do all tasks that He commands them and they never disobey Allah in any of His commands; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah may provide some needy person much of resources by His will and make him go to heights in prosperity of the worldly assets, and He may take away much of resources of some rich person so he becomes needy even for his sustenance; no one is able to stop Him from anything He wills; Al-Hamdu Lillah; He may give benefits to a place by blessed rains upon it by His will so all people there get benefits from that and He may stop such rains at some place by His will and certainly, no one is able to stop Him from anything that He wills; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku command all persons to mind the favor of Allah upon them, so they must count their blessings because Allah only, provides them all their needs from the nearby heaven by good rains and from the earth by fruits & crops; and He has provided them the true guidance too that He only is Whom they all shall worship; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-4 addresses the Prophet PBUH that if disbelievers among the people he presents the message of Islam, call him a liar then Prophets of Allah before him too were called liars; it also expresses the message to all persons that those who disbelieve, they are following those wrong persons who had denied the message of Islam before them and it is no worry to the Prophet PBUH, who only has to provide the message of Islam to all persons, but it certainly is trouble to them as Allah would evaluate all deeds of all persons at the Day of Judgment; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku state for all persons that they need to understand that the word of Allah is true that the Day of Judgment would take place so they must not make an obsession to get the worldly assets as this delusion would make them lose the true success at AKHIRAT; they need to understand that the Satan, who had taken an oath to misguide them, is the most dangerous deceiver to them as he is trying his best to prevent them to get success at AKHIRAT so that they fall into the hell-fire; they must take him as their enemy which he truly is, as he pursues rigorously to wrongs all those who have inclination to worldly assets much beyond their necessities; all persons need to understand that those who are disbelievers to the Truth, they shall have the most severe punishment at AKHIRAT, whereas those who do believe in it and do good deeds and ask Allah for forgiveness on their wrongs, they shall have forgiveness at the world and the highest of rewards at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Second Ruku
8. What! is he whose evil deed is made fair-seeming to him so much so that he considers it good? Now surely Allah makes him err whom He pleases and guides him aright whom He pleases, so let not your soul waste away in grief for them; surely Allah is Cognizant of what they do
9. And Allah is He Who sends the winds so they raise a cloud, then We drive it on to a dead country, and therewith We give life to the earth after its death; even so is the Resurrection.
10. Whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs the honor wholly. To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deed lifts that up, and (as for) those who plan evil deeds, they shall have a severe chastisement; and (as for) their plan, it shall perish.
11. And Allah created you of dust, then of the life-germ, then He made you pairs; and no female bears, nor does she bring forth, except with His knowledge; and no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah.
12. And the two seas are not alike: the one sweet, that subdues thirst by its excessive sweetness, pleasant to drink; and the other salt, that burns by its saltiness; yet from each of them you eat fresh flesh and bring forth ornaments which you wear; and you see the ships cleave through it that you may seek of His bounty and that you may be grateful.
13. He causes the night to enter in upon the day, and He causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He has made subservient (to you) the sun and the moon; each one follows its course to an appointed time; this is Allah, your Lord, His is the kingdom; and those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw.
14. If you call on them they shall not hear your call, and even if they could hear they shall not answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny your associating them (with Allah); and none can inform you like the One Who is Aware.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku tells that the Prophet PBUH has to provide the Islamic teachings to all persons and it is by the will of Allah where it affects favorably; Al-Hamdu Lillah; it reads, “what! is he whose evil deed is made fair-seeming to him so much so that he considers it good, (does he think he is righteous)? - now surely Allah makes him err whom He pleases and guides him aright whom He pleases, so (O Prophet PBUH) let not your soul waste away in grief for them; surely Allah is Cognizant of what they do (so He certainly would evaluate all deeds of all persons at the Day of Judgment)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-9 provides the info that as Allah sends the winds that raise a cloud which Allah drives to the place where He intends that it pours rain and by that He gives life to the earth which is lying dead as it is not producing any of harvests; so in this manner would occur the Resurrection; Allah has told this in the Quran at other places too explicitly that all persons would rise from the dead as the rain brings the harvest from the dead earth; besides other places, ROUM-50 states, “look then at the signs of Allah's mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death; most surely He will raise the dead to life; and He has power over all things”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-10 states, “whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs the honor wholly; to Him do ascend the good words (that are in praise of Allah); and (every) good deed (which is in its confirmation) lifts that up (that is how they ascend to Allah where they are recorded as virtues at their respective documents of deeds), and (as for) those who plan evil deeds (even though they claim to believe in Allah), they shall have severe chastisement (as evil deeds do not have the quality to affect their respective documents of deeds positively); and (as for) their plan (to make life difficult to believers), it shall perish”; this means that the honor to persons, even at the world, comes by living at virtues only as the good person cares that all his deeds are complementary to his speech in which he praises Allah; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead tell about the blessings of Allah upon the man that He created the first man by TURAB (the pure sand and from whom He created the first women), and then the mankind came to the world by the sperm (that fertilizes the female gamete to become zygote); and He made them pairs, complementary to each other so that the life of mankind goes on at the world to the time He wills; AAYAT-11 says, “and no female bears, nor does she bring forth, except with His knowledge; and no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah”; note that one of the authentic Ahadith tells that the Prophet PBUH said, “if Allah wishes to complete the child's creation, the angel says, 'O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! wretched or blessed? - what will his livelihood be? - what will his age be?' - the angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother” – (reported by Bukhari); Al- Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-12 says, “and the two seas are not alike - the one sweet, that subdues thirst by its excessive sweetness, pleasant to drink; and the other salt, that burns by its saltiness; yet from each of them you eat fresh flesh (i.e. fish) and bring forth ornaments (especially pearls) which you wear; and you see the ships cleave through it (because Allah has made these waters by such regulations, buoyancy included, that even extremely huge ships sail through it) that you may seek of His bounty (from different places) and that you may be grateful”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the mention of two seas implies extreme collection of waters here and not only seas but all huge collection of waters, and rivers even, are included in comparison; AAYAAT-13 mentions the set-up that Allah has provided the mankind for the safety of life as it says , “He causes the night to enter in upon the day, and He causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He has made subservient (to you) the sun and the moon; each one follows its course to an appointed time; this is Allah, your Lord, His is the kingdom; and those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw”; note that the word is QITMIR that the translation refers to as straw and this is the membrane inside a date as endocarp over its seed; so the AAYAT uses this term to express that whom the disbelievers call upon besides Allah for their help in troubles, have not a bit of authority to assist them; the last AAYAT of the Ruku clarifies how helpless they are as it says, “if you (O disbelievers) call on them they shall not hear your call, and even if they could hear they shall not answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny your associating them (with Allah); and none can inform you like the One Who is Aware (so the disbelievers need to take the advice to believe truly in Allah or else they all would certainly get most severe punishment)”; note that at the Day of Judgment, all those whom the disbelievers took as equal in authority to Allah, would distance themselves from them as they would worry to save their own selves from the severe punishment of Allah, the true Lord; that would include angels whom they most erroneously took as daughters of Allah, and that would also include those good persons who had departed from the world and whom the disbelievers used to call with such thought that they are not only able to hear them but they also are able to save them from any trouble if they call them for their assistance; the plain fact is this that there is no one who can assist any person except Allah, the true Lord; He only provides for him by various persons that are alive around him and in different manners that do become means to assist him; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Third Ruku
15. O men! you are they who stand in need of Allah, and Allah is He Who is the Self-sufficient, the Praised One.
16. If He please, He will take you off and bring a new generation.
17. And this is not hard to Allah.
18. And a burdened soul cannot bear the burden of another and if one weighed down by burden should cry for (another to carry) its burden, not aught of it shall be carried, even though he be near of kin. You warn only those who fear their Lord in secret and keep up prayer; and whoever purifies himself, he purifies himself only for (the good of) his own soul; and to Allah is the eventual coming.
19. And the blind and the seeing are not alike
20. Nor the darkness and the light,
21. Nor the shade and the heat,
22. Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those hear who are in the graves.
23. You are naught but a warner.
24. Surely We have sent you with the Truth as bearer of good news and warner; and there is not any people but a warner has gone among them.
25. And if they call you a liar, so did those before them indeed call (their apostles) liars; their apostles had come to them with clear arguments, and with scriptures, and with the illuminating book.
26. Then I punished those who disbelieved, so how was the manifestation of My disapproval?
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This Ruku starts by the statement that only Allah is free of all necessities whereas all His creation including the mankind, does need different things as necessities; Allah does not need even, that men show their humility to Him but that only is for their own benefit; Allah tells at AAYAAT-56, 57 & 58 of Surah ZAARIYAAT, “and I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me; I do not desire from them any sustenance and I do not desire that they should feed Me; surely Allah is He Who bestows sustenance, the Lord of Power, the Strong”; Allah truly does hold all of wealth and He truly does have all praise and though He has provided items for all necessities of humankind yet He has the authority to end all of them and bring other of men at the world and He even has the authority to bring any other of His creation to inhabit earth if He wills (i.e. other than the mankind); and this certainly is not hard to Allah; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; from AAYAAT-18 to ahead, the Ruku tells about the position of the man with reference to AKHIRAT and that the Prophet PBUH is liable to provide the message of Islam only but he is not liable to see that the sinful persons leave their wrongs; they would pay heavily at AKHIRAT for their wrongs and there, the sinful person would not get assistance from any person to bear any of his sins, even though he calls him with sentiments, in his utmost worry and even though that call is to such person who had remained very close to him at the world; TABLIGH for Islam by the Prophet PBUH would benefit only such person who is most attentive towards Allah, Whom he secretly understands to be the true Lord and Whom he secretly understands to bring such time upon him where he has to account for all his deeds, and he does ask Him by Salah humbly to show him the right path; note that here Salah means his prayer to Allah for Guidance to the right path as at the descent of this Surah, Salah was not yet established as obligatory on every Muslim though even then, Muslims did say their Salah in this very manner as we know it, as the Prophet PBUH had guided them; note that this Surah came at Makkah when some five years had passed since the period when Allah had given the Prophet PBUH the liability to guide all peoples of the world by the Quran; Al-Hamdu Lillah; when a person lives by the commands of Allah, he purifies himself at inside which would benefit his own soul as to Allah, is the eventual return; certainly, the person who has lost the ability to understand the Truth and the person who has got its awareness are not alike as the former is in all darkness of wrongs at the world that does not let him see his true benefits and the latter is in such beautiful light of the true guidance due to his attention to live by commands of Allah, that his matters remain clear upon him to decide for them in the most virtuous manner; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the person who lives by commands of Allah would receive the shade of JANNAAT, the gardens of paradise, at AKHIRAT and the sinful person who lives with commitment of wrongs would get his due punishment by the heat of the hell-fire, at AKHIRAT; by comparison, they both are such that one of them is truly living as he fulfills his liability to live by commands of Allah with all care to AKHIRAT and the other, who has chosen to live by wrongs remaining obsessed with life at the world without any care to AKHIRAT, is actually dead; surely Allah guides to the right path whom He wills and the Prophet PBUH, with all his good efforts, is unable to bring any such person, who has chosen to live by wrongs, towards acceptance to live at the right path as such person is alike to those persons who have left the world on disbelief and have lost the space to show their worth for JANNAAT; the important point to note is that AAYAT-22 of Surah FAATIR tells very clearly that if the person who has departed from the world does hear anything from here, it is because Allah wants him to hear that and no living person makes anyone that has passed away hear anything from his side by his own efforts; the Prophet (PBUH) did address the dead persons once as if he is talking to them, yet it is possible that being the Messenger of Allah, he knew that they would hear him by the permission of Allah; as for us, we all must refrain from addressing the dead as if they are hearing us as we do not know the will of Allah though we must pray Allah to provide mercy to those who were righteous among them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Prophet PBUH would serve as warner to them as Allah has given him the liability to spread the teachings of Islam and He has always sent the warning persons in all peoples at all times and at all places so that the fundamental Islamic teachings remain clear to them; he shall not worry about their taunts to him, especially where they call him a liar, because this has been the trend of such persons too who had lived by wrongs previously, against the Prophets of Allah whom He had sent to them to warn them of utmost punishment if they live at wrongs without any care to AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Prophets of Allah had come to them with clearest of arguments to prove the teachings that they were presenting, by scriptures that Allah had sent previously and by an illuminating book (i.e. Torah that comprises of the five initial booklets of the old testament, though by elapse of time, it was altered by the wrong-doers at places in text and meanings) that provided His commands; Allah tells at the last AAYAT of the Ruku, “then I punished those (even at the world) who disbelieved, so how was the manifestation of My disapproval (that eliminated them all and ended all of their doings)”; it implies that certainly Allah would eliminate all evil from the world even at future too; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Fourth Ruku
27. Do you not see that Allah sends down water from the cloud, then We bring forth therewith fruits of various colors; and in the mountains are streaks, white and red, of various hues and (others) intensely black?
28. And of men and beasts and cattle are various species of it likewise; those of His servants only who are possessed of knowledge fear Allah; surely Allah is Mighty, Forgiving.
29. Surely they who recite the Book of Allah and keep up Salah and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly, hope for such gain which will not perish.
30. That He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace: surely He is Forgiving, Multiplier of rewards.
31. And that which We have revealed to you of the Book, that is the truth verifying that which is before it; most surely with respect to His servants Allah is Aware, Seeing.
32. Then We gave the Book for inheritance to those whom We had chosen from among Our servants; but of them is he who makes his soul to suffer a loss, and of them is he who takes a middle course, and of them is he who is foremost in deeds of goodness by Allah's permission; this is the great excellence.
33. Gardens of perpetuity, they shall enter therein; they shall be made to wear therein bracelets of gold and pearls, and their dress therein shall be silk.
34. And they shall say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has made grief to depart from us; most surely our Lord is Forgiving, Multiplier of rewards,
35. Who has made us alight in a house abiding forever out of His grace; toil shall not touch us therein, nor shall fatigue therein afflict us.
36. And (as for) those who disbelieve, for them is the fire of hell; it shall not be finished with them entirely so that they should die, nor shall the chastisement thereof be lightened to them: thus do We punish every ungrateful one.
37. And they shall cry therein for succor: O our Lord! take us out, we will do good deeds other than those which we used to do. Did We not preserve you alive long enough, so that he who would be mindful in it should mind? And there came to you the warner; therefore, taste-- because for the unjust, there is no helper.
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At the start of the Ruku, Allah asks for observation that He sends rains from the sky nearby and then He brings forth from the earth different kinds of fruits that are different in color, taste and good odor; even mountains are different as they have different streaks of colors that are white and even red, and some are intensely black; note that Allah expresses the diversity in His creation at this AAYAT by His name first and then takes-up the royal manner of speech for Him that “We bring forth therewith fruits of various colors”; this manner of expression in the Quran is termed as ILTIFAAT and note also that even when the Quran applies ILTIFAAT, the meanings to the AAYAAT still remain most obvious at such places and the reciter of the Quran does get acquainted with this manner with pleasure without any problem; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the second AAYAT tells about the diversity that relates to mankind and animals, especially the cattle, as they also have different colors, height, weight, physique and as for mankind, there are those who are most attentive to Allah at inside sincerely because Allah has provided them the extensive knowledge of the Truth which does guide them to fear Allah, Who is Mighty to bring any calamity by wrongs of men yet Who is Forgiving of many of those so that men do get space to make themselves better to get results in their favor at AKHIIRAT, that is the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-29 & 30 read, “surely they who recite the Book of Allah (i.e. the Quran) and keep-up Salah and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly (as these both make them attentive to Allah and unconcerned to worldly assets respectively), hope for such gain (at AKHIRAT) which will not perish; that He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace (so each of virtues would get its reward 10 times of it at least)- surely He is Forgiving (of wrongs at the world), Multiplier of rewards (at AKHIRAT)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT mentions about the Quran that whatever Allah has revealed to the Prophet PBUH, it certainly guides to the right path as it is the whole Truth and it certainly verifies those teachings of Torah that actually relate to the fundamental teachings of Islam; Allah knows that the mankind needs the Guidance to the right path as He is Most Aware of their doings and Most Caring to provide them the virtuous manner to live-on so that they accept it totally and save themselves from the most severe punishment at the life at AKHIRAT that would never end; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-32 & 33 mention that Allah has chosen the Muslims to get this Holy Book Quran through Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, and to care for it in the best manner that is possible for them; in Muslims, there are such persons who do not care for commands of Allah that the Quran presents to them so they are certain to suffer an extreme loss at AKHIRAT; and in them, are such persons too who take a middle course by putting into practice the prominent commands of Allah and by avoiding all major sins (so they live at position of ADL and for them, Allah is Merciful) and in them, are such persons too who are foremost in deeds of goodness by Allah's permission (so they live at position of EHSAAN and for their virtuous deeds, Allah is Multiplier of rewards); note that the Quran asks all Muslims for five things that are to believe in it firmly, to read it on, to understand it, to apply it to life and to ask all to apply it to life; the Holy Book Quran is essentially the message of Allah to guide all among the mankind (and all among the jinn) towards the right path, practically asking them all to follow the SUNNAH, and then by asking Allah for safety, to avoid putting satanic temptations into practice; so they all come near to Allah and they all save themselves from the hell-fire and they all gain the beautiful security at the beautiful gardens of paradise; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all these persons who are foremost in deeds of goodness by TOFIQ from Allah, would receive such placement at JANNAAT, the gardens of perpetuity, where they would have wonderful bracelets of gold and pearls, and their dress shall be of silk; they would praise Allah that He has provided them with such beautiful gardens where they would never face any such thing that grieves them and He certainly is Forgiving and He certainly is Multiplier of rewards; they shall also acknowledge that Allah has provided them such beautiful residence by His grace wherein toil shall not touch them and wherein fatigue shall not afflict them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; as for disbelievers in the fundamental teachings of Islam, that also include the hypocrites, they would be put into the hell-fire and even with their wish to die, they shall not die nor shall its chastisement be lightened to them as Allah punishes most severely all such persons who are extremely ungrateful to Him when He has guided them most explicitly towards the right path; Al-Hamdu Lillah; their extreme plight at the outcome of their wrongs, would be that they shall ask Allah when they would be inside the hell-fire, for succor that they would do good deeds other than those wrongs which they used to do at life at the world; but Allah would reject their plea and His answer to that would be that He had given them ample time-period to accept the Truth while there arose in them the warner of this outcome by the will of Allah if they live by disbelieving in the fundamental teachings of Islam; they have no option at this time but to taste the chastisement that they have received by their own doings; they were most unjust to themselves and to all persons near to them at life at the world and they would not find any helper now; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Last Ruku
38. Surely Allah is the Knower of what is unseen in the heavens and the earth; surely He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts.
39. He it is Who made you rulers in the land; therefore, whoever disbelieves, his disbelief is against himself; and their disbelief does not increase the disbelievers with their Lord in anything except hatred; and their disbelief does not increase the disbelievers in anything except loss.
40. Say: Have you considered your associates which you call upon besides Allah? Show me what part of the earth they have created, or have they any share in the heavens; or, have We given them a book so that they follow a clear argument thereof? Nay, the unjust do not hold out promises one to another but only to deceive.
41. Surely Allah upholds the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught; and if they should come to naught, there is none who can uphold them after Him; surely He is the Forbearing, the Forgiving.
42. And they swore by Allah with the strongest of their oaths that if there came to them a warner they would be better guided than any of the nations; but when there came to them a warner it increased them in naught but aversion.
43. (In) behaving proudly in the land and in planning evil; and the evil plans shall not beset any save the authors of it. Then should they wait for aught except the way of the former people? For you shall not find any alteration in the course of Allah; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah.
44. Have they not travelled in the land and seen how was the end of those before them while they were stronger than these in power? And Allah is not such that anything in the heavens or in the earth should escape Him; surely He is Knowing, Powerful.
45. And were Allah to punish men for what they earn, He would not leave on the back of it any creature, but He respites them till an appointed term; so when their doom shall come, then surely Allah is Seeing with respect to His servants.
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The last Ruku of Surah FAATIR tells that Allah only is truly powerful Who has all authority to destroy the disbelievers totally by any of such happenings that are termed as natural calamities; He has made the set-up that everything cares for life of the mankind and its sustenance by His will but He destroyed all those disbelievers who had challenged Him and certainly, nothing of His creation has any power against Him; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all persons need to understand that this time-period that Allah has given them at the world, is most valuable and they must put it to use by complying to commands of Allah, the true Lord; it is the only aim of life and they would lose all if they do not comply to it; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; the Ruku starts by the statement, “surely Allah is the Knower of what is unseen in the heavens and the earth; (so) He surely is Cognizant of what is inside the hearts”; all persons shall live upon the right path as Allah asks for that only, from all of them and He would decide for all of them on the specific Day of Judgment; the Ruku tells that He has made the mankind to inhabit the earth which is the most secure place for their life, but with the task of remaining totally attentive to Allah; if they disbelieve in the fundamental teachings of Islam, that is most detrimental to their own selves as it takes them faraway from Allah, the true Lord; Allah asks the Prophet PBUH to ask them what part of the earth those have created whom they call as associates besides Allah or do the disbelievers take them as having a share in the making of heavens; or they consider that Allah has given them some book that they take an argument for their disbelief thereof; but certainly their disbelief is due to their deceit to each other and they certainly are most unjust persons; the simple fact is this that Allah has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them; He only, upholds the heavens and the earth lest they leave their position; it is by His will that they do not lose their respective positions and certainly, there is none who can uphold them besides Him; surely He is the Forbearing that even with all disobedience of His commands, He still provides the space to disbelievers to make themselves better for success at AKHIRAT and surely He is Forgiving to many of wrongs of men at the world; note that AAYAT-45 at this Ruku that is its last AAYAT and also the last AAYAT of this Surah, reads, “and were Allah to punish men for what they earn (i.e. for their wrong-doings), He would not leave on the back of it any creature, but He respites them till an appointed term; so when their doom shall come, then surely Allah is Seeing with respect to His servants”; note that when the disbelievers reject the Truth totally and oppose it in such manner that there remains no chance that they would accept that, then Allah ends the time given to them all at the world and destroys them all in huge number; Al-Hamdu Lillah; it does not do good to the man to consider that he has developed to such extent where he has achieved such status that he may deal with any averse situation that challenges him, without any need to ask Allah for his safety; it happens then that he plans to end that situation by his efforts without being attentive to Allah and then finds that he has complicated the situation so then he plans to end that complication by his efforts and then finds that he has enhanced that complication; Allah only has the true authority to end all adversities to the man and he needs to remain totally attentive to Him, the true Lord; AYAAT-42 & 43 tell the attitudes of the disbelievers at Arabia then, while AAYAT-44 guides them to the virtuous manner to get the virtuous teachings that the Prophet PBUH had presented to them; they state that there were such persons in disbelievers then, who had sworn most emphatically that if some Messenger of Allah comes to them as warner to them, they would be better guided than any of nations to whom Allah sent His Messengers before; but when he did come, it increased their aversion to the Truth whereas their attitude was to behave arrogantly in the land and take-up evil planning; but the evil plans shall beset their planners only so they need to wait for extreme destruction that had come upon disbelievers among the former people; this is the manner of Allah to deal with all those who challenge His true authority and there certainly is no alteration in this manner of Allah; these disbelievers too would get extreme punishment even at the world and even at AKHIRAT though they might think that they have achieved such power that has made them invincible; and there certainly is no change in this manner of Allah; if they travel in the land, they would see how was the end of those disbelievers in Islam that were before them while they were even stronger than these disbelievers and there is no place where these disbelievers might escape Him in heavens or in the earth; certainly, He is Most Knowing and Most Powerful; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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Surah AHZAAB
(Consists of 9 Ruku; H-5)
AHZAAB-The First Ruku
1. O Prophet! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and do not comply with (the wishes of) the disbelievers and the hypocrites; surely Allah is Knowing, Wise;
2. And follow what is revealed to you from your Lord; surely Allah is Aware of what you do;
3. And rely on Allah; and Allah is sufficient Protector.
4. Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him; nor has He made your wives whose backs you liken to the backs of your mothers as your mothers, nor has He made those whom you assert to be your sons your real sons; these are the words of your mouths; and Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the path.
5. Assert their relationship to their fathers; this is more equitable with Allah; but if you do not know their fathers, then they are your brethren in faith and your friends; and there is no blame on you concerning that in which you made a mistake, but (concerning) that which your hearts do purposely (blame may rest on you), and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
6. The Prophet has a greater claim on the faithful than they have on themselves, and his wives are (as) their mothers; and the possessors of relationship have the better claim in the ordinance of Allah to inheritance, one with respect to another, than (other) believers, and (than) those who have fled (their homes), except that you do some good to your friends; this is written in the Book.
7. And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Noah and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, son of Mariam, and We made with them a strong covenant
8. That He may question the truthful of their truth, and He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment.
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Surah AHZAAB has many of commands that relate to women and to social decency and so it is very near to Surah NOOR, the twenty-fourth Surah; the notable thing is that from the fourth year of HIJRAH (migration of the Prophet PBUH from Makkah to Madinah) to the seventh year of it, many of Surah descended to the Prophet PBUH that directly relate to commands about women in some manner or/and they provide commands for the righteous living socially; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this period saw the descent of Surah NISAA (women), this Surah AHZAAB (allied-forces), HASHR (banishment), HADID (iron), MUMTAHINA (the woman examined in belief), BAYYINAH (evidence), MUNAFIQUN (hypocrites), MUJADILAH (the pleading woman), HUJURAAT (apartments), NOOR (light), FATH (victory), TALAAQ (divorce), TAHREEM (prohibition); this also is notable that the Prophet PBUH married nine of his twelve wives from age 55 to age 59 (by the HIJRAH calendar), and that somewhat corresponds to the descent of these Surah; the other three include Bibi Khadijah-RA and Bibi SAUDAH-RA, whom he married at Makkah when he was at the age of 25 & of 50 respectively; and they include Bibi Ayesha-RA (whom he married at Makkah yet she came to him as his wife at Shawwal of the first year of HIJRAH); note that he spent all his youth and some of his ripe age too with respectable Khadijah-RA who was the only wife he had up-to his age of 50 and then he married SAUDAH-RA who was near to his age, and that only after the death of Bibi Khadijah; I, MSD, have provided the note on marriages of the Prophet PBUH, at end of the “book on good manners” at my writing “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith”; note also that the Holy Prophet PBUH married widow or divorced women except for Bibi Ayesha-RA and he never divorced any of the woman he married; and note also that all of women that he married were most happy with him and in fact, when Allah gave them the option to leave him if they want, at Surah AHZAAB-28 & 29, they all chose to stay with him without exception; he never did any wrong to any woman at any time anywhere and in fact, he was never even charged with any such thing even by his worst enemies all his life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Surah AHZAAB starts by addressing the Prophet PBUH to always remain attentive to Allah for strength of his belief and never comply to the wishes of disbelievers and hypocrites; it asks him to always follow the instructions of the Holy Book Quran that Allah has provided to him for the uprightness of his deeds and to always trust Allah at all situations Who knows that his deeds are most decent and Who would save him from all adverse planning of the disbelievers or/and the hypocrites; note that Surah NOON (AL-QALAM) states at the fourth AAYAT in praise of the Prophet PBUH, “and most surely you conform to sublime morality”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; though the direction that AHZAAB gives at its start, applies to all of true Muslims yet the address particularly to the Prophet PBUH is due to the reason that Allah willed that he marries ZAYNAB-RA, the divorced wife of his adopted son Zaid-RA, whereas at those times, marrying the wife of the adopted son was taken as equivalent to marrying the real daughter-in-law that was taken against morality; Allah willed to make things better in this matter that the Muslims do not take adopted relations as actual relations to them and for this, He asked the Prophet PBUH to marry her after Zaid divorces her and she completes her IDDAT (the period in waiting for the divorced or widowed woman before marrying any of men again) as insha-Allah we all would study at this Surah ahead; note that IDDAT completes when the divorced woman completes her third period after divorce or if she does not get periods, when she completes three lunar months whereas if she is pregnant at divorce, it ends at the time she gives birth to the child; as this direction to marry her was much trying for him so Allah told him not to worry about the adverse comments of disbelievers and hypocrites on this and go on with it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT gives the info that “Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him”; note that this does not actually relate to the physique, though true in that sense too, as AAYAT clarifies that it means that whatever the man says to denote someone as alike to some person in his near ones, does not mean that he has the same ruling for him as that near one, as his emotional leaning is most different to both; so it says ahead that “nor has He made your wives whose backs you liken to the backs of your mothers as your mothers (which is named as ZIHAR and Surah MUJADILAH provides the ruling for it), nor has He made those whom you assert to be your sons your real sons; these are the words of your mouths; and Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the (right) path”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT ahead guides that the Muslims shall relate whom they take as their sons, to their fathers but if they do not know their fathers, then they shall take them as their brethren in faith and as their friends and if they make a genuine mistake in relating someone of them to his true father then there is no blame on them as they had done it in good gesture but they shall not commit such thing purposely; as for their genuine mistake, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful; note that when the Prophet PBUH had freed Zaid from slavery and had adopted him as his son, the people used to call him as Zaid ibn Muhammad PBUH but after the descent of this AAYAT, they called him only as Zaid ibn HARITHA; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-6 tells that the Prophet PBUH is nearer to the Muslims than their own-selves and all their near ones; this is due to the fact that he is as spiritual father to all Muslims and AAYAT also mentions that his wives are as mothers to all Muslims; so they did not marry anyone after his departure from the world though even with that status of theirs, Allah commanded the Muslims to care for their HEJAB even from themselves; AAYAT-53 of AHZAAB addresses the Muslims, “O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for meal, not waiting for its preparation being finished- but when you are invited, then enter, and when you have taken the food, then disperse- not seeking to listen to talk; surely this gives the Prophet (PBUH) trouble, but he forbears from you (caring for manner to respect you as his guests), and Allah does not forbear from the truth; and when you ask of them (i.e. the wives of the Prophet PBUH) any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and for their hearts; and it does not befit you that you should give trouble to the Apostle of Allah, nor that you should marry his wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-6 also clarifies, “the possessors of (actual) relationship have the better claim in the ordinance of Allah to inheritance, one with respect to another, than (other) believers, and (than) those who have fled (their homes), except that you do some good to your friends; this is written in the Book (that comprises of the commands of Allah)”; for this, the notable point is that many of those Muslims who had migrated from Makkah to Madinah, have taken many of Muslims at Madinah as their brothers so the AAYAT mentions that the latter may care for the former to provide some amounts to them (and vice-versa) yet the ruling of inheritance is fixed so they would not be included in heirs; see Surah NISAA-11 & 12; now, AAYAT-7 mentions the oath that Allah took from His Prophets at the world of spirits; this also is notable that Allah took an oath from all spirits at the world of spirits which AARAAF-172 mentions, “and when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls- am I not your Lord?- they said- yes- we bear witness; lest you should say on the day of resurrection- surely we were heedless of this”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; and AALE-IMRAN-81 mentions the specific oath which Allah took from all of His Prophets as it mentions, “and when Allah made a covenant through the Prophets- certainly what I have given you of book and wisdom-- then a Messenger comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him-- He said- do you affirm and accept My pact in this?- they said- we do affirm; He said- then bear witness, and I am of the bearers of witness with you”; so the oath that this AAYAT-7 mentions is this specific oath that AALE-IMRAN-81 mentions; Al-Hamdu Lillah; there certainly is no Messenger and no Prophet after Muhammad PBUH and this also is notable that every Messenger of Allah is also the Prophet of Allah; the difference between the Prophet and the Messenger is that Allah sends the Messenger towards some specific people to whom he provides the message of Allah while the Prophet conforms it at his own time; this is because when any other of His Messengers come after these Prophets, who conforms to what they had taught to their people according to the teachings of the previous Messenger of Allah in them, they (their people) do believe in him and do help him in all manner possible; all Messengers gave the same message from Allah in essence (and that actually is the fundamental teachings of Islam) and brought that message by some written scripture that Allah gave to them or by some speech of wisdom that Allah provided to them but the Prophets clarified the teachings of the previous Messenger with an attachment to him, to the nation towards which Allah had sent him; now, Muhammad PBUH is His last Messenger (and His last Prophet too) and Allah sent him towards all of the peoples ever to come at the world at any place and at any time, with His final message (i.e. the Quran) and took it into His care that its text and its meaning both remain safe from all contamination (see Surah HIJR-9 and also AAYAT-40 of this Surah AHZAAB); so Allah took the oath from the Prophets (NABIYYEN) at the world of Spirits (AALAME-AMR) that when Allah provides them with the knowledge of His commands and the wisdom that relates to it, that His previous Messenger (RASUL) had provided by His command among their people, they have to strengthen that message of Allah among their people; here the AAYAT mentions those five who are the most eminent of them all and they all are RASUL and so they are among the NABIYYEN too (especially Ibrahim-AS and Isa-AS, though among the most eminent of Messengers of Allah, have much high significance for being among the Prophets); the observation of history does provide the info that these five most eminent Messengers were born at regular intervals to each other and it seems that there is space of time of about two thousand years between the birth of Noah-AS and of Moses-AS and about the same space is between the birth of Moses and of Muhammad PBUH (these three Messengers had to put much high efforts to present the message of Allah to their peoples); the times of Abraham-AS were just about fifteen hundred years after the birth of Noah and the space between the death of Abraham and the birth of Moses is about 540 years; note that Jesus-AS was born just about two thousand years after Abraham-AS and as such there is the space of about fifteen hundred years between the death of Moses-AS and the miraculous birth of Jesus-AS; Salam on all Messengers of Allah; there is the same space of about 540 years between the ascent of Jesus-AS to the heavens and the birth of Muhammad PBUH and these five Messengers of Allah are the most prominent of Messengers of Allah as the Quran has mentioned these five by their names distinctively here at Surah AHZAAB-7; this interesting phenomenon asks us to reflect that there is the same space of two thousand years now at this period of time since the ascent of Jesus Christ-AS, the great man and the Messenger of Allah, to heavens; so as Jesus Christ emphasized for the Bani-Israel to guide total attention towards Allah and to practice His commands genuinely as provided by Torah after about fifteen hundred years of Moses-AS, it is most probable that the prominent good Muslims (who are most sincere to Islam) rise to guide all Muslims in the present era to practice Islam genuinely as there is gap of about 1450 years (by the lunar calendar) as of now since Muhammad PBUH, made HIJRAH to Madinah; as Allah has set laws for Astronomy, Chemistry, Elementary Physics and other of subjects that govern their issues by the will of Allah, so He has also set the laws for the General History and they do govern its issues by the will of Allah; note this well that after Muhammad PBUH, who was the last of Messengers of Allah and the last of His Prophets, there is no Messenger and no Prophet of Allah (see Surah AHZAAB-40); so now all persons among the Muslims must ask Allah to raise such good righteous persons from among them who guide all of them in their virtuous concepts and in their upright practice and lead them all to the total adherence to Islam without claiming any material or spiritual status for their own selves; everything is going on in the most perfect order by the will of Allah and even in these troubled times for us Muslims, if He accepts our plea to forgive us and to provide His mercy to us, there is nothing to stop us Muslims to rise to heights; but that surely needs sacrifice of base desires from our side for which we Muslims must prepare ourselves totally without any undue reservation; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last AAYAT of the Ruku tells the reason to this specific oath that Allah took from the Prophets, which is that these truthful persons witness against the wrong persons at the Day of Judgment, that they had provided the message of Allah categorically to all persons including these wrong persons, yet these did not accept the fundamental teachings of Islam (and so their practice did not reflect that); then it would become totally clear that if these wrong persons are put into the hell-fire, it is not any injustice to them but they actually led themselves to it by their own wrong-doings; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Second Ruku
9. O you who believe! call to mind the favor of Allah to you when there came down upon you hosts, so We sent against them a strong wind and hosts, that you saw not, and Allah is Seeing what you do.
10. When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when the eyes turned dull, and the hearts rose up to the throats, and you began to think diverse thoughts of Allah.
11. There the true believers were tried and they were shaken with severe shaking.
12. And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was disease began to say: Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive.
13. And when a party of them said: O people of YATHRIB! there is no place to stand for you, therefore go back; and a party of them asked permission of the Prophet (PBUH), saying: Surely our houses are exposed; and they were not exposed; they only desired to fly away.
14. And if an entry were made upon them from the outlying parts of it, then they were asked to wage war, they would certainly have done it, and they would not have stayed in it but a little while.
15. And certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before, that they would not turn (their) backs; and Allah's covenant shall be inquired of.
16. Say: Flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter, and in that case you will not be allowed to enjoy yourselves but a little.
17. Say: Who is it that can withhold you from Allah if He intends to do you evil, or if He intends to show you mercy? And they will not find for themselves besides Allah any guardian or a helper.
18. Allah knows indeed those among you who hinder others and those who say to their brethren: Come to us; and they come not to the fight but a little,
19. Being niggardly with respect to you; but when fear comes, you will see them looking to you, their eyes rolling like one swooning because of death; but when the fear is gone they smite you with sharp tongues, being niggardly of the good things. These have not believed, therefore Allah has made their doing naught; and this is easy to Allah.
20. They think the allies are not gone, and if the allies should come (again) they would fain be in the deserts with the desert Arabs asking for news about you, and if they were among you they would not fight save a little.
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From this Ruku, the Surah narrates the events that relate to the battle of AHZAAB which is also named as the battle of Trench which took place from the beginning of SHAWWAL to its last, of the fifth year of HIJRAH (corresponding to the last of December 626 to last of January 627); it happened that some of chiefs of BANU-NADHIR, the Jewish tribe which the Muslims had expelled from Madinah in the fourth year of HIJRAH towards KHYBER and Syria due to their breach of the peace-treaty with them, contacted the Quraysh at Makkah and instigated them to attack the Muslims in alliance with number of tribes at different areas of Arabia and finish them off; they succeeded in their evil efforts and the Quraysh with their aid, managed to gather a force of more than ten thousand men from different tribes that marched on towards Madinah; Muslims were about three thousand in number there and in them, there were hypocrites too; this was the most severe challenge that the disbelievers gave to Muslims and it asked them that they remain even more attentive to Allah, the true Lord; there still was BANU-QURAIZAH, another Jewish tribe, residing at suburb of Madinah and at the height of war, there was high probability that they would also violate the peace-treaty with the Muslims; the Prophet PBUH got the info about the advent of Quraysh and its allies towards Madinah and at this most crucial situation, he asked his companions for the strategy to curtail the forces of the enemy; at this occasion, Salman the Persian said that back at home, when they need to respond to such enemy that seemingly is more powerful in force than theirs, they defend themselves by digging some ditch around their place to remain safe from it; so he gave the beautiful opinion to dig some long trench to defend Madinah from the attack of the advancing enemy towards them; the Prophet PBUH appreciated this good opinion and with his companions, set on to dig such trench in defense of Madinah at its north (including some area at its west) as at the south of it, there were forts of BANU-QURAIZAH with whom they had the peace-treaty, whereas other sides were covered by such huge rocks that had lava inside; the trench had to be about little more than 3 miles in length with such width that a horse remains unable to jump across it and with such depth that once a man falls in it, he remains unable to climb out except by much of assistance of other men; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that Ahadith have told explicitly that the Prophet (PBUH) told his companions while digging the trench with them, that you would soon conquer the lands of Rome and Persia, the two notable political powers of the time; they all were digging the trench to safeguard Madinah and their own selves as the Quraysh of Makkah and thousands of people of many tribes were advancing towards Madinah to finish the Muslims for once and for all; also, the Prophet PBUH has tied two of stones at his belly so that it stands its emptiness due to hunger; never has been a man born before this great man Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, who had even thought of giving such tidings and that also in such situation; Muslims did defend Madinah well at that time by the blessing of Allah as the forces of disbelievers had to return due to number of reasons which included their bad planning when they were taken by surprise at presence of the trench whereas the time-factor at that occasion became most significant; note that the weather was extremely chilly and then ultimately the stormy wind uprooted their camps; and angels were helping Muslims by the command of Allah that also caused them to withdraw their forces; and their stocks ran out due to the length of period (which was about 25 days) in which they had to camp there that they never expected; and in addition, Muslims also used the strategy of creating mistrust among all those allied forces and their allies among Jews of BANU-QURAIZAH that insha-Allah we would read ahead; note about the prophecy of the Prophet PBUH that it happened that the Muslims conquered vast areas of the Roman Empire and all of Persia within a few years of passing away of the Prophet PBUH; that is history now which totally proves Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this trying occasion brought forth the hypocrites and those persons too who had belief yet extremely weak, among the Muslims who tried to avoid facing the enemy by different fake excuses; their excuses included that all residents of Madinah, even if they join together, are unable to stand against the allied forces which had challenged them, and that their houses are unsafe as there is no person to take care of them so they have to see to them; Allah showed all persons then that with true belief on Allah, everything favors the Muslims and most certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; just as the Quraysh and its allied forces backed away, the Prophet PBUH commanded his companions to reach the forts of BANU-QURAIZAH immediately as this issue needed adequate tackling without any delay; note that when the Quraysh and its allies had seen that they were completely stranded, they tried to get the assistance of the Jewish tribe of BANU-QURAIZAH and met success in that; the Prophet PBUH got the info about this betrayal of the Jewish tribe and was worried about it; now, it happened that NU’AIM Ibn MASUD ASHJA’I, who had become Muslim recently and had kept his belief hidden, was permitted on his request by the Prophet PBUH to create friction between the allied forces and the Jewish tribe by telling such words that created doubt at each side against the other; probably, it was this occasion at AHZAAB that the Prophet PBUH gave the guidance that “war is deception”; NU’AIM-RA went to BANU-QURAIZAH and told the chiefs there that though they have given their word to Quraysh and its allies for their assistance yet they have to see that if the Muslims manage to stand this challenge, the Quraysh and its allies would return to their respective places but their tribe would be at mercy of the Muslims; so to make sure that they continue their challenge till they achieve success against the Muslims, they have to ask them to give some of their significant persons in their custody as guarantee to their sincerity; the chiefs there agreed with his presentation of situation and approved his advice; then he visited the other side and told them that the Jewish tribe is not sincere to them and it rather wants some of their significant men to bound the Quraysh and its allies so that issues are settled on their terms; as the matter proceeded in the very manner which NU’AIM had presented, they fell for his deceit so his tactful handling of the situation worked and the Muslims did not have to take-up both enemy together; note that BANU-QURAIZAH was at the back of Muslims with Madinah open at front of it and this situation was most troublesome that it had given its consent to attackers at Madinah about its assistance against the Muslims without any care to the peace-treaty that they had with them; so the Muslims punished them most severely for their betrayal at such crucial occasion as most of their men were punished by death and others with women and children were enslaved according to the custom of the day and their power was totally uprooted; this was according to the verdict that SA’AD ibn MU’ADH, the reputable Muslim person of al-Aws tribe who was nominated by the Jews for settlement of the dispute, gave against them; he had witnessed the Jews there cursing the Prophet PBUH and all Muslims and he knew totally well about their bad intentions so he gave this verdict for the necessary safety of all Muslims; keeping this detail of events in view at AHZAAB, we all would now proceed on to study this Ruku of the Surah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the first three AAYAAT at the Ruku guide attention of all Muslims to the utmost favor of Allah at AHZAAB upon them as they read, “O you who believe! call to mind the favor of Allah to you when there came down upon you hosts (of men from different tribes), so We sent against them a strong wind and hosts (of angels), that you saw not, and Allah is Seeing what you do (and He provided His assistance in that very manner of defense that the Muslims undertook); when they (i.e. the allied forces of disbelievers) came upon you from above you and from below you (i.e. tribes residing at different sides of Madinah came upon it in alliance with each other), and when the eyes turned dull, and the hearts rose up to the throats (of such Muslims who had weakness in their belief due to fear that it is the end of them), and you began to think diverse thoughts of Allah (this tells about the hypocrites who had this thought that Allah has left them at mercy of the allied forces and it seemed to them too that it is the end of them); there the true believers were tried and they were shaken with severe shaking”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku tell about such Muslims who had weakness in their belief and about the hypocrites in Muslims; six of AAYAAT ahead at this Ruku state, “and when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was disease, began to say- Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive (and they even complained that in this situation, it has become difficult for them to ease themselves at the call of nature); and when a party of them said- O people of YATHRIB (this is the other name for Madinah)! there is no place to stand for you (as the allied forces are much too strong and persons residing at Arabia have to make peace with such number of people that have challenged them, for their relations to them at future), therefore go back (and do not offer any defense against them); and a party of them asked permission of the Prophet (PBUH), saying- surely our houses are exposed; and they were not exposed; they only desired to fly away (from battleground); and if an entry (of disbelievers) were made upon them from the outlying parts of it, then they were asked to wage war (against the Muslims in whom they claim themselves to belong), they would certainly have done it, and they would not have stayed in it (i.e. in waiting) but a little while; and certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before, that they would not turn (their) backs (if they face the disbelievers); and Allah's covenant shall be inquired of; say (O Prophet PBUH to these persons)- flight shall not do you any good if you fly from death or slaughter, and in that case you will not be allowed to enjoy yourselves but a little (as all have to die at some time and at some place); say (to them)- who is it that can withhold you from Allah if He intends to do you evil, or if He intends to show you mercy (i.e. if He intends to save their lives so that they get space still to make themselves better)?- and they will not find for themselves besides Allah any guardian or a helper”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the statement that “certainly they had made a covenant with Allah before” means that many of these persons weak in belief, had taken an oath by the name of Allah after the battle of UHUD at the third year of HIJRAH that now whenever the time comes to respond to attack from disbelievers, they would face them with utmost fervor; they had avoided facing the force of Quraysh at UHUD and this occasion of AHZAAB showed clearly that they were most insincere to their word; so Allah brought their evil at fore clearly by the trial at AHZAAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; from AAYAT-18 to the last AAYAT of the Ruku, Allah tells about the attitudes that these persons show at wars with the enemy and which they also showed at AHZAAB; they not only avoid facing the challenge from the enemy but they try to incite other residents of Madinah (among ANSAAR) too, to come to them and keep away from the battleground; they may come to the battleground only to find ways to avoid any challenge to them from the enemy, and that only because they may become liable to have some claim to the booty from the enemy that all Muslims collect being victorious at the battleground; they are unable to bear that all of goods collected from the enemy goes to those Muslims who are at the battleground and they get nothing; but when they see that the enemy is finding way to inflict some trouble, even death, to many of Muslims at war, their eyes show their fear as if death has got them then & there; however, as the matter gets in favor of Muslims, they talk with such sharpness of tongues that it was their assistance that had made the difference and so victory did come to them; they are most greedy towards those goods on which they may lay their hands on, so Allah would render their doings futile even if they did show some stand by chance without the true belief, against the enemy due to their timely presence at the battleground; this certainly Allah would do and it is most easy for Him to do so as it certainly is not any injustice to them who are greedy to get worldly assets only; Al-Hamdu Lillah; these people, that are hypocrites or/and most weak in their belief, fear the forces of Quraysh and their allies so much that even when they had deserted the war with Muslims due to their incapability to fight them, they think that this is just some technique of war on the part of Quraysh and their allies, and they would return to attack Muslims; so these people find it better to stay away from the battleground and if possible, rather live away at deserts where they may get the info time and again about AHZAAB whether they had truly left or the war continues; however, their presence among the true Muslims too was useless as even then they would not have fought the enemy save a little; so this is their attitude which is most averse to the cause of Muslims and for this, they even ask appreciation; the next Ruku tells about the worthy attitude of the true Muslims when they face the enemy that has challenged them with all might it has; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Third Ruku
21. Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.
22. And when the believers saw the allies, they said: This is what Allah and His apostle promised us, and Allah and His apostle spoke the truth; and it only increased them in faith and submission.
23. Of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah: so of them is he who accomplished his vow, and of them is he who yet waits, and they have not changed in the least
24. That Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He please or turn to them (mercifully); surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
25. And Allah turned back the disbelievers in their rage; they did not obtain any advantage, and Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; and Allah is Strong, Mighty.
26. And He drove down those of the followers of the Book who backed them from their fortresses and He cast awe into their hearts; some you killed and you took captive another part.
27. And He made you heirs to their land and their dwellings and their property, and (to) a land which you have not yet trodden, and Allah has power over all things.
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The Ruku starts by praising the Prophet PBUH, with the message that Allah has provided him such caliber that all Muslims need to follow him in their doings as he is an excellent exemplar for him who has hopes in Allah that He would grant him JANNAAT (the beautiful gardens at paradise) at AKHIRAT which is certain to take place; and he always remembers Allah in all of his practice; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the context of this AAYAT tells that it asks all Muslims to see that Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, faced the enemy with all valor when he dug the trench with his companions and stayed at the ground when the nights were extremely cold; there was scarcity of foods and in addition, it happened that the tribe with which the Muslims had the peace-treaty, was prepared to violate it in compliance to their enemy; so it clearly asks to face adverse situations where the fatal enemy has challenged all such good Muslims who do intend to fulfill the Islamic commands with all good efforts; he had told his companions at this most trying situation that soon they would conquer the Roman territories and the Persian land; and it was most obvious there that whatever comes, he would not back-out; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah has set the world in such manner that He sees the true position of all persons so He examines all in whatever manner He wills; we all have read at beginning of Surah ANKABUT, “ALIF LAAM MIM; do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘we believe’, and not be tried? - and certainly We tried those before them, so Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will certainly know the liars”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-22, 23 & 24 ahead tell about those true Muslims who stood firm at AHZAAB and fulfilled their word; these AAYAAT read, “and when the believers saw the allies, they said- this is what Allah and His apostle promised us (that there would come trying times on them to bring the true Muslims, and also the hypocrites, at fore), and Allah and His apostle spoke the truth; and it only increased them in faith (i.e. gave much strength to their true belief) and submission (to Allah in all their practice); of the believers are men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah (to face the enemy with all valor when the occasion asks for it)- so of them is he who accomplished his vow (by giving his life in the way of Allah), and of them is he who yet waits (because, though he stood firm in the way of Allah, he has returned alive but with all good intention that when he gets another chance to respond to the fatal enemy, he would be among the martyrs in the way of Allah) and they have not changed in the least; that Allah may reward the truthful for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He please, or turn to them (mercifully and provide them further period of time to revise their attitude and make themselves better); surely Allah is Forgiving (if they do repent on their wrongs), Merciful (to provide them TOFIQ to show that they truly have come to Islam)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note the statement of the true believers at encounter with the enemy that ‘this is what Allah and His apostle promised us (that we would certainly be examined)’, in comparison to the statement that hypocrites and those who had utmost weakness in their belief, had stated that ‘Allah and His apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive’ (AAYAT-12); so there is clear difference in perception for the same event as the true Muslims were totally attentive to Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-25 states that with all preparation to end Muslims, the disbelievers were complete losers in all manners; Allah turned them back in their rage whereas they did not obtain any financial advantage, and never did any fight take place; so Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; He certainly is Strong to defeat the disbelievers totally by such means which eyes see clearly and He is Mighty to defeat them totally by His true authority whenever He wills for it, even by His hidden forces; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last couple of AAYAAT at the Ruku tell about the incident of BANU-QURAIZAH where the Muslims advanced immediately after the disbelievers had backed-out from Madinah; it took another 25 days or so to overpower them as they had taken shelter at their fortresses, and to clear all threat that they had become to Muslims; these AAYAAT narrate that Allah drove down those of people of the book (Torah) who backed the allied force of disbelievers, from their strong fortresses and He cast awe into their hearts that they totally surrendered to Muslims and came out in open with acceptance of SA’AD Ibn MUADH as arbitrator; so Muslims killed their men capable to fight and took captive other of men and women & children according to his verdict; and Allah provided them all of their land and their living places and their assets; the result of AHZAAB was only the beginning of conquests of Muslims as the last AAYAT of the Ruku told most explicitly that they would surely get much of such land even, which they never have visited and Allah has power over all things Who would give them all this place so that they establish His law totally; it happened so, as they conquered KHYBER, the stronghold of the Jewish tribes, within couple of years of AHZAAB; the Prophet PBUH had told clearly at AHZAAB, when the disbelievers had backed out of Madinah, that from now-on, they would never be able to challenge the Muslims but the Muslims only would attack them and achieve the final victory against them insha-Allah; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Fourth Ruku
28. O Prophet (PBUH)! say to your wives: If you desire this world's life and its adornment, then come, I will give you a provision and allow you to depart a goodly departing
29. And if you desire Allah and His apostle and the latter abode, then surely Allah has prepared for the doers of good among you a mighty reward.
30. O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! whoever of you commits an open indecency, the punishment shall be increased to her doubly; and this is easy to Allah.
31. And whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Apostle and does good, We will give her the reward she deserves twice, and We have prepared for her an honorable sustenance.
32. O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! you are not like any other of the women; if you will be on your guard, then be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease yearn; and speak a good word.
33. And stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore; and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle. Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.
34. And keep to mind what is recited in your houses of the AAYAAT of Allah and the wisdom; surely Allah is Knower of subtleties, Aware.
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This Ruku relates to the beautiful guidance that Allah has provided to the respectable wives of the Prophet PBUH; He guided them that they have such esteemed status where they need to keep away from possessions that relate to world where they would live by necessities only, and care totally for AKHIRAT with utmost fervor; rather, they shall become standard for goodness to all Muslim women due to their particular status and for that they would get the reward for any of their virtuous doings twice, though whoever from among them commits an indecency, she would get its punishment in double; note that after the conquest of BANU-QURAIZAH, the Muslims did get some relief in their financial situation when the Prophet PBUH distributed the spoils received from there among them; seeing this, the wives of the Prophet PBUH, who were four in total at that time (SAUDA-RA, Ayesha-RA, HAFSA-RA and UMME-SALAMAH-RA) jointly asked the Prophet PBUH to increase their allowances; the Prophet PBUH did not appreciate this requisition as he preferred to live his life at the world by necessities only by choice; he minded it so much that he took an oath that he would avoid any intimacy to his wives for a month ahead; note that by the Islamic Jurisprudence, when a man takes an oath to avoid any intimacy to his wife or wives for four months ahead, it is termed as EELA but if it is for lesser period, then it is an ordinary oath; the Prophet (PBUH) had made an ordinary oath at this occasion to keep away from all his wives for a month but it is loosely termed as EELA sometimes and he gave the expiation for his oath after one month not prolonging it for any period ahead; the rumor spread in Madinah at this time that the Prophet PBUH has divorced his wives so Umar-RA rushed to him when he heard this to get confirmation about it; he was among the most closest of companions of the Prophet PBUH and he also was his father-in-law as HAFSA, her daughter, was one of his wives; the Prophet PBUH clarified that he has not divorced any of his wives and by his permission, Umar announced this clarification immediately among all Muslims; AAYAT-28 provided IKHTIYAR (choice) to the wives of the Prophet PBUH to remain with him with the same allowances that they are receiving presently or leave him if they intend the worldly finances & status; all of his wives chose to stay with him unconditionally then and dropped their requisition immediately; keeping this detail for its meaning, the text at the Ruku becomes much easy to get; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the couple of AAYAAT at the beginning of the Ruku ask the Prophet PBUH to direct his wives, “O Prophet (PBUH)! say to your wives- if you desire this world's life and its adornment, then come, I will give you provision and allow you to depart goodly departing; and if you desire Allah and His Apostle and the latter abode (AKHIRAT), then surely Allah has prepared for the doers of good among you, mighty reward”; AAYAAT ahead clarify this more that they would live as standard for goodness to all Muslim women and they would get the reward two times for any of their virtuous doings though whoever from among them commits an indecency, she would get its punishment too doubly; AAYAT-30 & 31 direct them, “O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! whoever of you commits an open indecency (i.e. any atrocious wrong of shameful nature), the punishment shall be increased to her doubly; and this is easy to Allah (as this will not be an injustice to them if they do commit any such wrong which is extremely shameful whereas they have such significant status among the Muslim women); and whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Apostle and does good, We will give her, the reward she deserves twice, and We have prepared for her an honorable sustenance”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that though AAYAT tells them clearly that they shall not commit any indecency yet it does not mean that any of them had any inclination to any shameful act but it is to clarify to all of them that even with their significant status, they are not free of the Islamic law; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that AAYAAT state the punishment to indecency for them as double whereas they tell that their virtuousness would get reward to them twice; it seems that their indecency would put double punishment to them at AKHIRAT and for the reward for their TAQWA (that comes to them due to their obedience to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and commitment of good deeds), they would get it two times as they get JANNAH at AKHIRAT and then in that, they accompany the Prophet PBUH as his wives there; so at AKHIRAT, the quality for the punishment is more severe to them whereas the quantity for the reward to their TAQWA is much more significant; AAYAT-31 also states that Allah has prepared for them an honorable sustenance so this implies that with firmness upon the virtuous manner of living, they would receive all necessities at their lives ahead at the world, with all convenience and with complete honor; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku ask them to adhere much more to the commands of Allah that all Muslim women have to fulfill, due to their most significant status among them; these AAYAAT ask them, “O wives of the Prophet (PBUH)! you are not like any other of the women, (but only) if you take on TAQWA; then be not soft in speech (to unrelated men), lest he in whose heart is a disease yearn; and speak good word; and stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore (which was the period of JAHILLIYAT when Allah appointed the Prophet PBUH to spread the teachings of Islam so that they end its impression); and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Prophet (PBUH); Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the house! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying; and keep to mind what is recited in your houses, of the AAYAAT of Allah and the wisdom; surely Allah is Knower of subtleties, Aware”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; there are few significant points to note in these AAYAAT and the foremost of them is that the wives of the Prophet PBUH, who are as mothers to all true Muslims, are not like any other of the women but their status is much higher, when they have TAQWA (i.e. they remain obedient to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and go-on doing good deeds) as their good status counts only if they adhere more fervently to Islam; the second of them is that even though they are as mothers to all true Muslims, they would still talk with some harshness in speech and in ordinary words to all unrelated persons when it is necessary, so that no such person whose belief is weak (where Islamic teachings affect his practice but little), has any undue desire towards any of them; and this also tells that every Muslim woman has to care to speak briefly to the point to all unrelated men for necessity in the no-nonsense manner as that is the asking of the Islamic morality; note that AAYAT-53 ahead asks the Muslim man too that when he has to ask of them any goods, he shall ask it from behind a curtain as this attitude is better for him as it stops any undue desire on his part towards them and it certainly is better for them too; the third of them is that they would stay at home as the actual place for the Muslim woman is her residence; note that this instruction is well for all Muslim women that their respective homes are the places to remain for them though that may be spacious for her liking if the finances of her father (or her husband) permit though she may leave her home to fulfill some genuine necessity (which certainly would not take place often) with total HEJAB returning home as soon as she fulfills it; as the home of the Prophet PBUH had following among the Muslim women as the AAYAT has indicated that “O wives of the Prophet! you are not like any other of the women”, so the command for HEJAB affected the home of the Prophet PBUH first; the fourth of them is that she would take HEJAB and not leave her home in the manner of JAHILLIYAT (the era of extreme ignorance to the decent morality that Islam teaches) where women used to go out displaying their beauty in the most offensive manner, though she may have left her home only for genuine necessity and only for a brief period of time; at the present era, it seems that JAHILLIYAT has returned though the ignorance is not so much as was at the first JAHILLIYAT where the Prophet PBUH made things better by the command of Allah by the Holy Book Quran and even today, things would turn better by this Holy Book Quran only if only all Muslim persons decide sincerely that they would practice Islam and not hear its teachings only to ignore them; it is possible still to set the Islamic teachings in practice collectively with total attention towards Allah, the true Lord; the work is done just by the good intention for it with total TAWAKKUL (complete trust) upon Allah as He would provide ways to go ahead on the right path; Allah has told us at the last AAYAT of Surah ANKABUT, “and (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note about HEJAB that Allah has asked the Prophet PBUH at Surah NOOR-31 and at this Surah AHZAAB ahead that is at its AAYAT-59, to command all Muslim women to observe it, besides other places where the command of HEJAB is indirectly implied by AAYAAT; this term HEJAB has three aspects to it; the first aspect is that a Muslim woman must not leave her home except for some necessity (the decision about necessity would be hers, when she does care in practice about the basic teachings of Islam); the second aspect is that when she goes out of her home at some necessity and the environment is such that in general, the men care not to trouble her in any way then she might go out with her face, hands up-to wrist and feet up-to ankles uncovered though even then she would cover the whole body plus hair necessarily but if the environment is otherwise, then she would take care to cover her face too except for eyes; the third aspect is connected to the first that as soon as the necessity ends, she would return to her home without any waste of time as the basic place for her activity is her home for sure as we have just studied; with these aspects, it is fair to keep in mind that HEJAB does not relate only to the physique of the woman but it also relates to her attitudes; note well that the Satan works to this ultimate outcome that the man takes himself as an animal only in all manners and he even swears deceivingly again and again that he wants to make his attitudes better; he wants that the man and the woman come to such living of animals that they become most free in attitudes to each other, even if unrelated, as that is the biggest of his achievements against the man; that undoubtedly would lead them to many of extreme wrongs ahead so please note that only the tie of marriage justifies the most specific intimate relation of the man and the woman, and no other; Islam prohibits the woman to work in such environment that violates her basic HEJAB even, that is she becomes unable to hide her whole physique (except for her face, hands, and feet) and even with choice at work to care about her basic HEJAB, she needs to ask Allah for mercy towards her as her actual place for living her life is at her home for sure; the Muslim woman may have taken that work at extreme necessity for survival yet even then she has no option but to care for HEJAB; and certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the fifth of the significant points to note in these AAYAAT is that some of ULAMA have deduced by the 33rd AAYAT of this Surah AHZAAB that commands the wives of the Prophet PBUH in particular and all Muslim women in general to observe HEJAB, “and stay in your houses and do not display your finery (beauty) like the displaying of the First JAHILLIYAT” that it implies that there would yet come another JAHILLIYAT in manifestation of high magnitude as the first one; the relative mention denotes the coming of second one in the future as the statement would have been fine even without the mention of “first”; note that the words also are important by which we understand the meaning of the Holy Book Quran; this second JAHILIYAT is wholly in presence now all over the world that is asking all of mankind to commit to injustice in matters of life and that particularly is asking women to commit to much shameful attitudes without care to good morality; if the will of Allah is to end this present JAHILLIYAT by EHSAAN then the women among the Muslims (and even among other of peoples) would step ahead who would adhere fast to Islamic values by His approval; this adherence would manifest the good morality as Islam takes it, in all walks of life; note that the first JAHILLIYAT ended by QITAL (i.e. the war against the ill-wishers of Islam) where the men among the Muslims were able by the will of Allah to spread the Islamic teachings that established justice all over the known world at those times and so it was by ADL that it ended; Al-Hamdu Lillah; those times of ignorance needed much care to end injustice from the surroundings with total attention towards Allah, whereas these times of ignorance need much care to end the extreme shameful attitude from the surroundings with total attention towards Allah; the world needs TABLIGH (the guidance to Islamic teachings) at present times as it might bring the observant persons who incline towards virtues, to Islam and it might bring the ill-wishers of Islam to make an honorable pact with Muslims to keep away from each other; this pact might provide them the time and space to understand Islam better; the life of mankind does ask for adjustments time and again for which we Muslims do need to present Islam by ADL or/and by EHSAAN; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the sixth of them is that the wives of the Prophet PBUH shall fulfill the Islamic commands with utmost fervor for the highest of obedience to Allah and His Apostle PBUH as the instruction for them here is, “and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle (PBUH)”; this care in speech, staying at residence, taking HEJAB, obedience to Allah and His Apostle PBUH would insha-Allah provide TAQWA to all of them, who are his household members, that would wash away the impression of any wrong that any of them may have committed and keep them to highest of purity inside; note that though here the AAYAT mentions the wives of the Prophet PBUH as his household members as the address here is to them, yet he has clarified that his son-in-law Ali-RA, Fatima-RA (his daughter and the wife of Ali-RA) and their sons Hasan-RA & Hussain-RA, are also included in the general meaning of this term; the seventh of them is that they need to remain attentive to the teachings that they receive at their good homes because AAYAAT of the Quran are recited there and the Prophet PBUH present them practically which denotes the wisdom to apply them; they must always remember that Allah is Knower of subtleties so He would care for their petty virtuous deeds too which they do habitually and He is most Aware of their such virtuous deeds too which they do by intention sincerely; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Fifth Ruku
35. Surely the men who submit and the women who submit, and the believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble women, and the charitable men and the charitable women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard, and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember-- Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward.
36. And it befits not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Apostle (PBUH) have decided the matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle (PBUH), he surely strays off a manifest straying.
37. And when you said to him to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor: Keep your wife to yourself and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; and you concealed in your soul what Allah would bring to light, and you feared men, and Allah had greater right that you should fear Him. But when Zaid had accomplished his want of her, We gave her to you as wife, so that there should be no difficulty for the believers in respect of the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished their want of them; and Allah's command shall be performed.
38. There is no harm in the Prophet doing that which Allah has ordained for him; such has been the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and the command of Allah is a decree that is totally done:
39. Those who deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and do not fear anyone but Allah; and Allah is sufficient to take account.
40. Muhammad (PBUH) is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Last of the Prophets; and Allah is Cognizant of all things.
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The first AAYAT of this Ruku explicitly states that the virtues of the Muslim woman have utmost significance at AKHIRAT for her in the same way as virtues of the Muslim man has importance there; note that the manner of expressions of the Holy Book Quran is that it addresses men but women are included in such commands which are relevant even to them; however, some women at that time raised this issue in front of the Prophet PBUH and in response to it, Allah sent this AAYAT at AHZAAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the placement of this AAYAT also elucidates this matter that though the wives of the Prophet PBUH have an exceptionally high status among the Muslim women, yet all have the total chance to gain the highest of status at AKHIRAT by their virtuous doings; at the present era, the women who are keen to present themselves as equals to men in worldly matters, need to understand that at the world, the woman has been given in care of the man (i.e. her father before marriage and her husband after it) for her own advantage but at AKHIRAT, where the virtuous deeds count, they certainly are equals; the manifest point is that even the physique of the woman does not agree that she is equal to the man at the world yet everyone has got the task according to his/her placement and she is certainly most respectable as the assistant to the man; Surah NISAA-34 declares that the men are overseers upon the women at the world as Allah has given authority to some over some and because the men spent their finances on the women (as the man pays the MEHR to the woman at their marriage that is his liability and he sees to all of her genuine financial needs too at the married life); so this AAYAT at NISAA implies that virtuous women would remain obedient to the husband and would remain loyal to him safeguarding in his absence (his honor by avoiding all disloyalty to him and his assets that are in her custody); however, if the husband fears that she is developing the attitude of extreme rebellion to him, he would admonish her as best as possible for him; if her attitude still shows that she does not accept his authority in issues of life, he would leave her alone at her sleeping place (and he would take his bed apart from her at the room or elsewhere at the residence); then also if she is reluctant to accept his authority and to live under his command then that is most shameful for the woman according to Islam and he is allowed even to beat her lightly (in such manner according to the Ahadith that he does not hit her at the face and the punishment does not leave any evident mark on her physique); note that Islam mostly asks for the corporal punishment where the offence is much shameful according to the Islamic teachings though here, he would take it as the last resort; if she ultimately gives-in and totally obeys her good Muslim husband, who leads her on the right path, then he must not search ways to impose his authority (as that would only denote his perversion in the matter); he must remember that though Allah has given him authority over her yet He certainly is Most Exalted and Greatest (so He would punish him on his unlawful doings against his wife who also is among His slaves); Al-Hamdu Lillah; note for each of these ten virtues that this AAYAT at AHZAAB in study, has mentioned categorically that “submission” means to care for the pleasure of Allah in whatever deeds a person undertakes with total submission to Him; “belief” means to believe in all significant Islamic teachings sincerely; “obedience” means to remain obedient to Allah and to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH; “truthfulness” means to remain firm on the commitment to Islam at all situations; “patience” means to bear the troubles that come in life with attention towards Allah keeping away from all wrongs and to live the life at the world by necessities; “humbleness” means to do all virtuous deeds, especially the reading of Salah, with attention towards Allah in the manner by which the Prophet PBUH has clearly guided; “to provide charity” means to give to the needy from whatever surplus the person has after the fulfillment of his/her needs; “to fast” means to keep all SIYAM at the month of Ramadhan; “guarding the private parts” means to avoid adultery (and fornication) with all care to chastity that Islam asks of all Muslim persons; “remembrance of Allah” means to see the pleasure of Allah in whatever the Muslim person does, so even his/her speech denotes his/her attention towards Allah as that would surely comprise of such terms that praise Allah all the time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that there is an authentic Hadith which Tirmidhi has narrated that the Prophet PBUH said, “if anyone guarantees me about what is between his jaws and what is between his legs then I guarantee him Paradise” and note also that this AAYAT asks Muslims persons, all of men and women, to commit totally to the five pillars of Islam (except for Hajj) which are to develop true belief inside upon Allah, to read Salah, to help the needy by Zakat and to keep fast during the holy month of Ramadhan; all Muslims shall see to these with utmost care though providing Zakat or/and keeping fast are subject to having surplus amounts and sound health respectively; the absence of mention of Hajj here is because the Muslim person is liable to it only when he/she has sufficient resources to perform it and the way to it is safe from any challenge to his/her belief, life, property & honor whereas the Muslim woman needs MAHRUM (such male relative who is disallowed to marry her like her father, brother etc.) too to perform Hajj or she accompanies her husband; note also that once a person starts his/her virtuous doings from submission to Allah, he/she comes to the remembrance of Allah with commitment to all virtuous deeds that are mentioned at this AAYAT though some good persons may have much quantity of them due to high chances received in life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at this Ruku relate to the marriage of ZAYNAB-RA the daughter of JAHASH, to Zaid-RA the son of HARITHA, and then after he had divorced her and she had passed her IDDAT, to the Prophet PBUH; note that the Prophet PBUH had taken another ZAYNAB-RA who was the daughter of KHUZAIMA, in his marriage too in the fourth year of HIJRAH who had died within a few months of their marriage, so she was the only wife of the Prophet PBUH, besides Khadijah-RA, who died in his life-time; Surah AHZAAB had begun by addressing the Prophet PBUH to always remain attentive to Allah for strength of his belief and never comply to the wishes of disbelievers and hypocrites and though this direction that AHZAAB gives at its start, applies to all true Muslims yet the address particularly to the Prophet PBUH is due to the reason that Allah willed that he marries ZAYNAB-RA, the divorced wife of Zaid-RA who was his slave whom he had released from slavery and had adopted as his son; so this Ruku takes-on that matter now whereas this is notable that at those times, marrying the wife of the adopted son was taken as equivalent to marrying the real daughter-in-law which was considered against morality; Allah willed to make things better in this matter that the Muslims do not take adopted relations as actual relations to them and for this, He asked the Prophet PBUH to marry her when Zaid had divorced her and her IDDAT is over (and when Allah issued this command to the Prophet PBUH, then he adjusted himself to it and bore it in his mind); Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the brother of ZAYNAB was reluctant to marry her to Zaid when he had extended his proposal for her and she also was not happy with this proposal yet the Prophet PBUH had told him to marry her to Zaid and had asked her to accept him as her husband; AAYAT-36 refers to this matter as it reads, “and it befits not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His apostle have decided the matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His apostle, he surely strays off a manifest straying”; so her brother married her to Zaid and she accepted this at that time; however, she could not bring herself to agree with the situation that she, one of the ladies of noble standing, is married to such man who has been released from slavery; the friction between them ultimately led to their divorce though the Prophet PBUH did try that the situation does not worsen to this stage; note that Allah had provided him awareness that their marriage would come to an end yet he did try according to the manifest commands of Islam, that some reconciliation between them does occur; note in comparison, the event that Surah KAHF has narrated about Moses-AS and KHIDHR where Moses had objected at some acts of KHIDHR as they were seemingly against the clear commands of Allah and though he had come to KHIDHR to gain some intellect from him by the command of Allah, yet surely he had to object at such of his doings, being the Messenger of Allah, to do justice to his liability for certain; see also the note at the tenth Ruku of KAHF; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so this tells that though he knew this outcome yet he did advise him to the better manner to deal with the matter; however, it did become most obvious that the marriage of Zaid & ZAYNAB is over and by the command of Allah, the Prophet PBUH would have to take her as his wife that would rectify her grief as she was not happy with her marriage with Zaid at the first place; but he knew well that the mean persons, who seek chance to humiliate him, would pounce on this issue and would ignore completely that his task is to provide such virtuous teachings that make attitudes better; so he kept his intention to marry her most concealed for the time being which he has developed due to the command of Allah though he knew well that he has to do it ultimately as Allah had commanded it; but Allah willed that this intention does come in open at that very time and that he discards the fear of all mean persons among the disbelievers and the hypocrites; so Allah told him that He has given her into his marriage and now, he only has to accept it manifestly; note that ZAYNAB-RA sometimes mentioned this honor with pleasure (and with gratitude to Allah) that Allah had mentioned in the Quran that He gave her into the marriage of the Prophet PBUH; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-37 presents the situation, “and when you said to him to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor (i.e. Zaid Ibn HARITHA)- keep your wife to yourself and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; and you concealed in your soul what Allah would bring to light (i.e. the Prophet PBUH shall marry her when this matter is over according to the command of Allah), and you feared men, and Allah had greater right that you should fear Him; but when Zaid had accomplished his want of her (and she completed her IDDAT), We gave her to you as wife, so that there should be no difficulty for the believers in respect of the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished their want of them; and Allah's command shall be performed”; the notable thing here, besides the mention that Allah has given ZAYNAB to the Prophet PBUH as his wife, is that though the true Muslims have to obey the Prophet PBUH in his commands yet when he gives some advice as request but not as command, they may not apply it to practice though its absence in practice would need his assent; another notable thing here is that Allah gave splendid honor to Zaid-RA by mentioning him as “to whom Allah had shown favor and to whom you had shown favor”, and with that He mentioned him by his name at this AAYAT; note that Zaid is the only one of SAHABA (companions of the Prophet PBUH) who is mentioned by name in the Quran; still another notable thing here is that it tells the Prophet PBUH that he shall not fear any person where he has to fulfill the task that Allah has demanded of him (and as for this specific task, he had developed his intention to do it in accordance to the command of Allah, yet at the same time, he did worry about the talks of mean persons around) and AAYAAT ahead are explicit on this; Al-Hamdu Lillah; they tell explicitly that when Allah asks him to do something, he would not decide on it whether it would seem fine or awkward at some given situation but he shall do it then & there; those who had been His Messengers had surely done what He had demanded of them and the word of Allah is the decreed affair; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-38 & 39 read about this, “there is no harm to the Prophet (PBUH) doing that which Allah has ordained for him (and he does not need to worry about the talks of mean persons as Allah would punish them severely); such has been the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before- and the command of Allah is a decree that is totally done- (so this course of Allah was for all His Messengers in particular before Muhammad PBUH too and it generally is for all) those who deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and do not fear anyone but Allah (in submission to His command); and Allah is sufficient to take account (of all those mean persons who blame the good persons upon submission to commands of Allah, the true Lord)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-40, the last AAYAT of the Ruku, explicitly declares that Muhammad PBUH is the last of all Prophets of Allah so after him, Allah would not send any Prophet, any Messenger, any Apostle to the world as He has provided the Quran, the final message of Allah, to all mankind through him to practice; note that all Messengers of Allah are His Prophets too for certain, so when Allah has categorically stated that Muhammad PBUH is the last of His Prophets (NABIYYEN), it explicitly tells that he also is the last of His Messengers (RUSUL); Al-Hamdu Lillah; so now, the Message of Allah exists written with us in the form of the Holy Book Quran and Allah has taken the responsibility for its protection upon Himself so that His Word (that He gave to Adam) is not violated that he would keep the Truth always clear for all to accept or to reject so no injustice takes place when He judges all persons at the time of HASHR; it certainly is the only miracle that Allah provided to Muhammad PBUH and He gave protection to everything that was related to its text and its meaning as He mentioned at Surah HIJR-9; there were such people who wrote it beautifully with utmost care at all times and places even before the printing manner for it was available, by the will of Allah and there stood people namely HUFFAZ from the very time of its descent that still stand for it, by the will of Allah so these HUFFAZ remembered it amazingly, word by word by heart; Ahadith, that report the Sunnah of the Last Prophet Muhammad PBUH and explain the Holy Book Quran most clearly for practice, remain totally secured at the good books that the compilers of Ahadith compiled for them (that the students of Islam learn thoroughly at different Islamic schools), by the will of Allah so that the clarification of it remains available at all times and at all places; its language Arabic still is very much active language of the world by the will of Allah and in fact, the Holy Book Quran receives, and has always received, the highest value in the Arabic literature; note also that Allah protected the Muslims from the enemy when they had put the Holy Book Quran into practice individually and collectively with all fervor and this tells in clearest of terms that whoever and whatever relates to it, Allah would certainly provide security for all such, as He has taken the provision of security to the Quran as His responsibility; today, there are such good printing foundations that by the will of Allah, publish it with utmost care to its text and provide it in totally the same manner as Allah descended it to the mankind for the Guidance to the right path; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this also is undeniable fact (which also expresses its security that Allah has provided to it) that the disbelievers have always remained unable to imitate the Quran as it has amazing integrity not only in its meanings but also in its words; so the AAYAT explicitly presents the established fact in totally plain terms that Muhammad PBUH was and is the last of Messengers of Allah to all peoples of the world, that come after him at any of times and at any of places in the world to live-on their lives; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the placement of this AAYAT tells explicitly that as last of Messengers of Allah, Muhammad PBUH had to set an example that Muslims would not take the adopted relations as the real ones in practice; he is the last Messenger of Allah and the significance of the issue demands that he clarifies it by his own practice to settle it for once and for all; and he is not the actual father of any man including Zaid though spiritually, he certainly is the father to all true Muslims; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the AAYAT mentions explicitly that “he is not the father of any of your men” as he did have four daughters though three of them died in his lifetime except for Fatima-RA who lived for 6 months ahead after the end of his life at the world whereas all his male children had died at infancy; this AAYAT implies in clearest of terms that whoever believes in someone as among the Prophets of Allah after Muhammad PBUH, he/she is out of the fold of Islam undoubtedly, for certain, indeed; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Sixth Ruku
41. O you who believe! remember Allah, remembering frequently,
42. And glorify Him morning and evening.
43. He it is Who sends His blessings on you, and (so do) His angels, that He may bring you forth out of utter darkness into the light; and He is Merciful to the believers.
44. Their salutation on the day that they meet Him shall be, Peace, and He has prepared for them an honorable reward.
45. O Prophet! surely We have sent you as witness, and as bearer of good news and as warner,
46. And as one inviting to Allah by His permission, and as light-giving torch.
47. And give to the believers the good news that they shall have a great grace from Allah.
48. And be not compliant to the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and leave ignored their annoying talk, and rely on Allah; and Allah is sufficient as Protector.
49. O you who believe! when you marry the believing women, then divorce them before you touch them, you have in their case no term which you should reckon; so make some provision for them and send them forth a goodly sending forth.
50. O Prophet (PBUH)! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet (PBUH), if the Prophet (PBUH) desired to marry her-- specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
51. You may put off whom you please of them, and you may take to you whom you please, and whom you desire of those whom you had separated provisionally; no blame attaches to you; this is most proper, so that their eyes may be cool and they may not grieve, and that they should be pleased, all of them with what you give them, and Allah knows what is in your hearts; and Allah is Knowing, Forbearing.
52. It is not allowed to you to take women afterwards, nor that you should change them for other wives, though their beauty be pleasing to you, except what your right hand possesses and Allah is Watchful over all things.
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The Ruku starts by the guidance to all Muslims to persist on remembrance of Allah at all times; note that “remembrance of Allah” means to see the pleasure of Allah in whatever the Muslim person does, so even his/her speech denotes his/her attention towards Allah as that would surely comprise of such terms that praise Allah all the time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; certainly, all attitudes of Muslims would show this remembrance and their deeds also would manifest it; note that SALAH (that is the most virtuous deed that the Muslim person commits) and SABR (the patience that relates to his inside which asks him to live by necessities at the world) are the highest features that relate to His remembrance; Al-Hamdu Lillah; at Surah AN’AAM, Allah asks the Prophet PBUH, “say- surely, (as for) me, my Lord has guided me to the right path, that is the religion which is totally right, the faith of Ibrahim the upright one, and he was not of the polytheists; say- surely my SALAH and my sacrifice (of desires that may ask for assets and status at the world) and (so) my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; no associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit; say- what! - shall I seek a Lord other than Allah? And He is the Lord of all things; and no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed” (AN’AAM-161 to 164); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the notable thing about SALAH is that it brings the Muslim person near to Allah as he persists on His remembrance by it so whereas SABR stops him from any attachment to the world by remembrance of Allah, SALAH brings him to the attachment of AKHIRAT by remembrance of Allah, the true Lord; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah asks the attitude of SABR from all Muslims (especially those who have the knowledge of the Quran) who would not only live by Islam but being the force of Allah, they would also ask all to live by Islam (by TABLIGH only in these current times unless they are challenged at the war-field); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the true remembrance of Allah is the only thing that provides the peace to hearts; Surah RA’AD states about such righteous persons who are truly attentive to Allah that He guides them to Himself as they are “those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah; surely by Allah's remembrance only, are the hearts set at rest” (RA’AD-28); at Surah BAQARAH, before asking the true Muslims for SABR and SALAH, AAYAT-152 reads “Remember Me, I would remember you” which actually tells, “Remember Me (in the world), I would remember you (at AKHIRAT)”; “Remember Me (in your near-ones), I would remember you (in angels)”; “Remember Me (today), I would remember you (tomorrow)”; “Remember Me (in your happiness), I would remember you (in your troubles)”; “Remember Me (wherever you are), I would remember you (wherever you are)”; “Remember Me (at all times), I would remember you (at all times)”; it is the honorable word that Allah gives to all persons that have goodness in them to believe in Him and to do their deeds according to that belief; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-43 & 44 tell that Allah sends His blessings on the true Muslims which has brought them out of darkness (i.e. wrong ways that is mentioned in plural as wrong ways are many) towards the right path (which is the light mentioned in singular as this only is the virtuous manner of living) and this has given them the strength to bear wrongs of the disbelievers and the hypocrites against them; and angels always pray Allah for the true Muslims that Allah forgives them on any of wrongs that they may commit and that they always receive-on blessings from Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the true Muslims would get the greetings at the Day when they meet Allah by SALAM (peace) and there, they would have the most honorable reward; so DUA to remain on the right path and to get mercy from Allah is necessary for safety at AKHIRAT with necessary acceptance of the message that the Prophet PBUH has brought to all peoples of the world; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that authentic Ahadith have told the Muslims that they shall never show pride on high quantity of their good deeds as each of them is fruitful only when Allah accepts it into their document of deeds by His mercy; so each of good deeds does need the mercy of Allah for certain; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-45 & 46 ahead read, “O Prophet (PBUH)! surely We have sent you as witness (so he would testify at the Day of Judgment that he did provide the message of Allah to peoples at his time and after him, his UMMAH took-up the task), and as bearer of good news (for the righteous persons) and as warner (for all those who are disbelievers); and as one inviting (all peoples of the world) to Allah by His permission (this means that though all Muslims have to invite all peoples to Islam yet he particularly has this beautiful task as the Messenger of Allah), and as light-giving torch (to the right path)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; he shall particularly provide the good news to the true Muslims that they shall receive highest of bonuses even at life at the world when they are totally attentive to Allah, the true Lord; so this happened as the Muslims rose to height when they spread Islam by the blessing of Allah and got much convenience in living at the world, due to gain of much resources that they got by enemy; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-48 emphasizes that the Prophet PBUH shall not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites and here it means specifically that he shall not stop his task i.e. TABLIGH of Islam to all peoples due to adverse attitudes of such persons even, who are inclined to disbelief or who show hypocrisy; he shall ignore the adverse talks that they commit to, and he shall trust Allah totally (as he has always done) because He would provide safety from all adverse planning that the disbelievers and the hypocrites make against Islam; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT ahead directs the Muslims that if any of them marries any of the Muslim woman and then divorces her when he has not yet availed valid privacy with her, she will not make any IDDAT (specific period in waiting before remarrying) due to this marriage with him though he would have to provide some necessary provision to her; this necessary provision would be the half of her MEHR (the amount that the man has to give to the woman to take her as his wife which is among her rights on him) that had been mentioned for her for this marriage; however if it is unmentioned for some reason, he would have to give her MUTATUN-NIKAH (as necessary provision that shall be a worthy complete eastern dress to her); Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku ahead provide the ruling specifically for the marriage of the Prophet PBUH which tells among other things, that he would not divorce any of his wives; AAYAT-50 tells that Allah has permitted number of wives for him but this is an exceptional permission for him as Muslims in general, are allowed to keep four wives only at one time for them; note that when he married ZAYNAB-RA on the command of Allah, he already had four wives with him; it tells that he may take wives from his first cousins but they must have migrated to Madinah and not stayed behind at Makkah; this AAYAT makes lawful to him by the term “whom your right hand possesses”, those slave-women too whom he takes from the prisoners of war according to the custom of the day; it is not totally clear how many slave-women he did have though the maximum number has been mentioned as three (among them, only REHANA-RA of BANU-QURAIZAH is confirmed to be her slave-woman as MARIAH-QABTIYAH-RA had achieved the status of his wife); so he had twelve wives including MARIYAH-QABTIAH whereas he probably had two of slave-women which included one other besides REHANA; see the note at end of my writing “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith” for detail to his respectable wives; note that even if taken that he did have two of slave-women, the total figure comes to fourteen and it is most certain that his sexual relations never went beyond these women while the reason for his legitimate relation to them was never any lust as he certainly had the beautiful angelic character; note that he spent all his youth and some of his ripe age too with respectable Khadijah-RA, who was fifteen years older than him and the only wife he had up-to his age of 50, and then he married SAUDAH-RA who was very near to his age, and that only after the death of Bibi Khadijah-RA; “Notes on Tirmidhi-Ahadith” also provides the general issues that relate to number of marriages of the Prophet PBUH at end of its “book on good manners”; and it is most notable that the Holy Prophet PBUH had married widowed or divorced women only except for Bibi Ayesha-RA and he never divorced any of his wives; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this AAYAT at end, tells that Allah has provided rulings for those women too whom the Muslims take in marriage and He is Forgiving on their faults about their wives and Merciful to provide space to them to make the situation better which relates to their wives; the significant thing to mention here is that there are some issues in which the Prophet PBUH has exceptional rulings which mostly relate to his family besides the permission to take more than four wives at one time as for instance, he was not allowed to divorce any of his wives and none of Muslims was allowed to marry any of them after him; he was not allowed to marry any of women from among people of the book; he and his family members were not allowed to take SADAQAH and his descendants too are not allowed to take it; his heritance of tangible assets, was not distributed according to his directive; and he was permitted to treat his wives differently as he pleases which is not for other of Muslims (as they have to care for all their wives by total justice in issues where they may exercise control) and AAYAT-51 ahead is explicit on this; however, it is notable that as this was permission from Allah to him and not His command so he did care for all of them by total justice though he did ask Allah for forgiveness on more inclination of heart towards any of them; note that more inclination of heart to any of wives is not questionable even for an ordinary Muslim who may have four wives together at one time; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-51 clarifies that even if the Prophet PBUH does treat his wives in different manners, they would still be happy with him (due to their prominence among the Muslim women) and would not grieve (on the difference he keeps among them) and would be pleased with whatever provisions the Prophet PBUH gives to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah knows that the Prophet PBUH is most sincere to his task of spreading the teachings of Islam which asks that he has utmost relief at his good household; the last AAYAT of the Ruku gives this info explicitly that the Prophet PBUH would not take any other woman except from among the women that AAYAT-50 has categorically mentioned; it reads, ”it is not allowed to you (O Prophet PBUH) to take women afterwards (that means besides those women who are categorically mentioned), nor that you should change them for other wives (that means the Prophet PBUH shall not divorce any of his wives, that are presently his wives or would come into his marriage), though their beauty be pleasing to you (but they do not conform to the women mentioned and note here that the Prophet PBUH also is among mankind who does have natural attraction towards woman, but not any lust towards them), except what your right hand possesses (that is if he wants to take some woman as his slave-woman from among the prisoners of war then there is no count for that) and Allah is Watchful over all things (so He knows well that the Prophet PBUH is most sincere to his task and has nothing negative in his person)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that with this open permission to marry many of women and to take many of slave-women, the Prophet PBUH took five women only, after the descent of this AAYAT, as his wives; these five of his most respectable wives were JAVERIA, UMME-HABIBAH, SAFIYAH, MAYMUNAH and MARIAH (may Allah be pleased with all his wives who are the mothers of the true Muslims) and he probably took only two of slave-women and so with all said, the notable point is that he must be given credit that he reserved himself to these fourteen women when he was allowed to take high number of them and that even was to establish good relations then with tribes at Arabia as the tribes gave respect to such person, who lived virtuously and who married any woman from their tribe providing her utmost respect; so the outcome of these marriages was that these tribes checked averse attitudes against Muslims and tended to peace; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Seventh Ruku
53. O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for meal, not waiting for its preparation being finished- but when you are invited, then enter, and when you have taken the food, then disperse- not seeking to listen to talk; surely this gives the Prophet trouble, but he forbears from you, and Allah does not forbear from the truth; and when you ask of them any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and for their hearts; and it does not befit you that you should give trouble to the Apostle of Allah, nor that you should marry his wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah.
54. If you do a thing openly or do it in secret, then surely Allah is Cognizant of all things.
55. There is no blame on them in respect of their fathers, nor their brothers, nor their brothers' sons, nor their sisters' sons nor their own women, nor of what their right hands possess; and be careful of Allah; surely Allah is Witness of all things.
56. Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe! call for blessings of Allah on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.
57. Surely (as for) those who speak evil things of Allah and His apostle, Allah has cursed them in this world and the hereafter, and He has prepared for them a chastisement bringing disgrace.
58. And those who speak evil things of the believing men and the believing women without their having earned (it), they are guilty indeed of a false accusation and a manifest sin.
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Surah AHZAAB goes on to relate decent social manners to live at the Islamic environment and the first AAYAT of this Ruku directs explicitly to such manners that relate to visiting each other; though it mentions these manners for visiting the houses of the Prophet PBUH yet these are valid in general except for the direction that no person should marry the wives of the Prophet PBUH after him ever; AAYAT guides explicitly that the Muslims shall not enter the houses of the Prophet PBUH unless they are invited there for a meal where they shall care to reach on such time that it is about ready to serve and they shall leave as soon as they finish the meal without any delay; their futile sitting before or/and after the meal that makes it gathering for mutual talks, disturbs the Prophet PBUH but due to his decent manners, he forbears from mentioning it and does not disclose his disturbance; Allah tells here that He does not forbear from speaking that which guides attitudes of all persons to virtuousness; if the Muslims have to ask something needed from any of wives of the Prophet PBUH, they shall ask from behind the curtain (the Quran uses the term HEJAB here to express the required attitude) as that keeps check on tendencies at both sides so that they remain to decency; according to this direction, Muslims would see that they do not enter any of private houses without invitation (or due permission); and reach there when the food is about ready to serve and leave the place just as they finish eating of it and not seek talks to make it some place of meeting (except when the invitation mentions such sitting after the meal); at all places, the Muslims shall speak to unrelated women at extreme necessity only and only with care to HEJAB; Al-Hamdu Lillah; one of Ahadith relates about the descent of this AAYAT which Bukhari has recorded at the Book of Asking Permission; briefly, it relates from ANAS Ibn Malik, who used to serve the Prophet PBUH when he came to Madinah, that it descended during the marriage of the Prophet PBUH with ZAYNAB, the daughter of JAHASH, when at the morning he had invited some people who took their meal and went away but a group of them stayed and prolonged their stay; so the Prophet PBUH got up and went out, and ANAS-RA accompanied him, till he came to the lintel of Ayesha’s dwelling place and when he thought that those people had left by then, he returned but found that they were still sitting there and had not yet gone; so he went out again and again reached the lintel of Ayesha’s dwelling place where ANAS accompanied him again; then waiting for some period of time again, he returned when he thought that those people must have left by then, and did find that those people had left the place; ANAS narrates that at that time the verse for HEJAB was revealed, and the Prophet PBUH set a screen between me and him (& his family); note that ANAS had reached the age of 15 years then, which is taken by normalcy as the age of adolescence; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-54 ahead states, “if you keep something open or keep it in secret, then surely Allah is Cognizant of all things”; so all Muslims shall live in such manner that their intentions even, remain virtuous as Allah knows their intentions too and they must certainly keep check on all of their attitudes; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-55 tells the exception to HEJAB and mentions such persons who may visit the wives of the Prophet PBUH without it; it reads, “there is no blame on them in respect of their fathers, nor their brothers, nor their brothers' sons, nor their sisters' sons nor their own women (so they would observe HEJAB to women that are not Muslims so that those women do not affect their psyche by their own manner of living, in any adverse manner), nor of what their right hands possess (i.e. their female slaves); and be careful of Allah (i.e. they have to care for His pleasure in all deeds that they do); surely Allah is Witness of all things”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT tells that Allah sends His blessings to the Prophet PBUH and the angels ask Allah for such blessings to him (and they pray Allah for the true Muslims too that Allah forgives them on any of wrongs that they may commit and that they always receive-on blessings from Allah as we have seen at AAYAT-43); Allah commands the Muslims at this AAYAT that they also must ask Allah for such blessings to him even if he already is among those whom Allah has provided the highest of status at the world and at AKHIRAT, because that would satisfy their love for the Prophet PBUH when they do give him something highly worthy from their side sincerely; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that it is feasible to send DURUD to the Prophet PBUH (which is DUA to Allah to ask His blessings for him) and present SALAM to him from anywhere as mentioning his virtues in all good manner with love for him that occurs with acceptance of his Sunnah in practice, is in itself, one of the most virtuous acts though it must not raise his status to other than a man; ULAMA often guide to this that angels take that SALAM to him (by the will of Allah) but it is not feasible to speak to him even, in the direct manner; he had told at the very beginning of his mission of spreading Islam that he is not able to save anyone at AKHIRAT who does not take-up the belief & the practice in Islam and that message remains noteworthy ever; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last couple of AAYAAT at the Ruku note that whoever would speak adversely of Allah and His Messenger, Allah would certainly curse all such persons at this world and at AKHIRAT so whatever they do, it would backfire on them and He has prepared extreme chastisement that would totally disgrace them at the world and at AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; as for those wrong persons who accuse the Muslim women for wrongs that they had not even thought of, which not only grieves them but also men related to them (especially their fathers and their husbands), they are not only guilty of false accusation but also of one of major sins; they have no shame as they blame the good Muslim women by false accusation in open to misguide other persons too, who have shame but little, to say such evil; they would certainly see the consequence of their wrong-doing not only at AKHIRAT but even at the world very soon, as this slander will never go unpunished; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Eighth Ruku
59. O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
60. If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then they shall not be your neighbors in it but for a little while;
61. Cursed: wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering.
62. (Such has been) the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah.
63. Men ask you about the hour; say: The knowledge of it is only with Allah, and what will make you comprehend that the hour may be nigh.
64. Surely Allah has cursed the disbelievers and has prepared for them a burning fire,
65. To abide therein for a long time; they shall not find a protector or a helper.
66. On the day when their faces shall be turned back into the fire, they shall say: O would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the apostle!
67. And they shall say: O our Lord! surely we obeyed our leaders and our great men, so they led us astray from the path;
68. O our Lord! give them a double punishment and curse them with a great curse.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku gives the command of HEJAB for the Muslim women most explicitly; it reads, “O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments (so HEJAB asks for additional clothing to women); this will be more proper, that they may be known and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving (if a Muslim woman falls short of fulfilling the demand of HEJAB in total even with her good efforts), Merciful (so He would provide space to her to apply HEJAB in even better way)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that there were ill-wishers of Islam at Madinah that were most mischievous persons among the Jews and among the hypocrites who troubled some of the Muslim women by immoral comments when they came out of their homes for some necessary tasks; so this AAYAT asked the Muslim women to take HEJAB on them so that these mischievous persons do not have any excuse that they did not recognize them that they are Muslim women, or else they would have not thrown immoral comments to them; at those times, the surroundings were somewhat permissive to pass adverse comments upon the slave-women so the mischievous persons took advantage of this and made it an excuse for their immoral comments; note also that this term HEJAB has three aspects to it; the first aspect is that a Muslim woman must not leave her home except for some necessity (the decision about necessity would be hers, when she does care in practice about the basic teachings of Islam); the second aspect is that when she goes out of her home at some necessity and the environment is such that in general, the men care not to trouble her in any way then she might go out with her face, hands up-to wrist and feet up-to ankles uncovered though even then she would cover the whole body plus hair necessarily but if the environment is otherwise, then she would take care to cover her face too except for eyes; the third aspect is connected to the first that as soon as the necessity ends, she would return to her home without any waste of time as the basic place for her activity is her home for sure; with these aspects, it is fair to keep in mind that HEJAB does not relate only to the physique of the woman but it also relates most highly to her attitudes; see also the supplementary note that relates to AAYAT-59 of AHZAAB and AAYAT-31 of NOOR, after the note at the fourth Ruku of Surah NOOR; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next three AAYAAT warn the hypocrites and all such persons who are not true to their belief but intend to fulfill only those commands of Allah that they find convenient to them and fruitful in their view for worldly achievements; it also warns all such persons too who seek to spread rumors especially those that may disgrace the Muslim women; AAYAT-60 mentions explicitly that if they do not desist from spreading rumors, Allah would put them into disgrace and they would be at the mercy of the Prophet PBUH so they would live at Madinah for some period only; and to wherever they depart, even there they would live as cursed by Allah and their position would remain of such disgrace that wherever they are found, they shall be seized and murdered violently; AAYAT-62 mentions that this has always been the manner of Allah with respect to those that were alike to them who have gone before them; the AAYAT especially, emphatically and explicitly mentions to every person that “you shall not find any change in the course of Allah”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-63 tells that no person knows when the hour, the last day of the world, would take place as its knowledge is only with Allah and that might be very near to them; and the last five AAYAAT of the Ruku after that, tell about the Day of Judgment; note that the Quran mentions the hour and the Day of Judgment at places together in such manner as one comes right after another; this manner of presenting them together is most pronounced at Surah NAZI’AAT where AAYAAT-6 to 9 read, “the day on which the quaking one shall quake (i.e. the last day of the world); what must happen afterwards shall follow it (i.e. the Day of Judgment); hearts on that day (of Judgment) shall palpitate; their eyes cast down”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; in addition to other places, note that AAYAAT-8, 9 & 10 at Surah TOOR tell about the last day of the world and the AAYAAT ahead of them tell about the first day of AKHIRAT; this also is the manner of expression at Surah TAKWIR where its first six AAYAAT relate the six events at the last day of the world (i.e. QIYAMAT) and its next eight AAYAAT relate the six events at the Day of Judgment (the day of HASHR); the Quran has its own beautiful manner of expression that explicitly tells all issues related to the man to guide him to the virtuous way of living, though it does ask the man highest of alertness to study it good by its context; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-64 to 68 at this Ruku tell that surely Allah has cursed the disbelievers and has prepared for them a burning fire at AKHIRAT where they would abide for very long time and they shall not find a protector or a helper for them at that true life of AKHIRAT when their faces shall be turned over into the hell-fire; they shall have extreme repentance at their disobedience of Allah and His Messenger and they would ask Allah to put double punishment to their leaders and put highest of curse on them as they misled them at life at the world; this depiction of all these persons, implies that those who do not show obedience to Allah, the true Lord, and do not follow the Sunnah of the Prophet PBUH, they are asking for most severe punishment at the Day of Judgment where Allah would judge all persons for their belief and their deeds; they must repent here at the world and make things better for themselves now; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
AHZAAB-The Last Ruku
69. O you who believe! be not like those who spoke evil things of Musa, but Allah cleared him of what they said, and he was worthy of regard with Allah.
70. O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and speak the right word,
71. He will put your deeds into a right state for you, and forgive you your faults; and whoever obeys Allah and His apostle, he indeed achieves mighty success.
72. Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it; and man assumed it; surely he is unjust, ignorant;
73. So Allah will chastise the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women, and Allah will turn (mercifully) to the believing men and believing women, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku asks the true Muslims never to speak anything that grieves the Prophet PBUH whereas AAYAT-56 & 57 have told explicitly, “surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet (PBUH); O you who believe! call for blessings of Allah on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation; surely (as for) those who speak evil things of Allah and His apostle, Allah has cursed them in this world and AKHIRAT, and He has prepared for them a chastisement bringing disgrace”; these AAYAAT state that the true Muslims shall never be like those who spoke evil things about Moses, though Allah cleared him of what they said; according to context, this probably means that Bani-Israel used to complain to Moses-AS time & again for things he was not liable to and did not show any credit to him that he led them to freedom by the command of Allah; AAYAT-70 asks the true Muslims to speak in most virtuous manner that they do not speak ill of any righteous person ever as this would lead to the displeasure of Allah; the speech of a Muslim person must not grieve any person as it is capable to hurt especially those who are most sensitive; when true Muslims do care for their speech that it does not grieve any good person then Allah would make their deeds better and He would forgive their wrongs; this would lead them to much obedience to Allah and His Prophet PBUH and due to that, they would indeed achieve mighty success; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-72 reads, “surely We offered the trust (AMANAT) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it; and man assumed it; surely he is unjust, ignorant (if he does not fulfill the demand of this AMANAT)”; note for awareness of this AAYAT that Allah presented this AMANAT to all of His creation (especially mountains as it needed much strength to bear it) yet all of them shrank away from bearing it as they feared justly and wisely that they are not capable to fulfill its demand according to their creation (as they worship Allah without any free-will) but the man took it; note that Allah asks for total sincere obedience from all of His creation and the Man and the Jinn, the only two of His creation whom Allah has given the free-will, must certainly obey Him by their free-will; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all persons among the mankind took this AMANAT upon them at the world of spirits where Allah has presented it to them and this AMANAT comprises of commands of Allah which all persons have to fulfill as their obligations so that the life of the man in general, manifests most clearly that he is the KHALIFAH of Allah who has to bring all of mankind to live according to His guidance; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the man has to believe truly in TAUHID (Allah only is the Creator of all the creation and He always has all His attributes and He only is the true Lord); in AKHIRAT (Allah would judge all peoples of the world at the Day of Judgment); in RISALAT (Allah had sent His Messengers to the world to provide the Guidance to the right path); these are the fundamental teachings of Islam from all times though in practice, Islam manifested completely at the golden times of the last Messenger Muhammad PBUH only and that is what Allah stated in one of the last AAYAAT of the Holy Book Quran which reads that “this day (O Muslims) have I perfected your DEEN for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen for you as DEEN al-Islam” (Surah MA’EDAH-3); here the term DEEN is used as the complete code of life that comprises of all commands of Allah that He has provided to the man while YAUMUD-DEEN (the day of DEEN) means the Day of Judgment as we have studied at Surah FATIHA; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the man fully understood even at that time at the world of spirits where he took this liability upon him, that all those who do not fulfill necessary demands of Islam (the complete code of life set by Allah that comprises of His commands), all such persons would be punished by the hell-fire and that would show clearly that those are totally unjust and ignorant as they also had taken this liability upon them when all of the mankind took it; certainly, Allah would care for all those believing men and believing women who do fulfill their word and remain sincerely committed to the commands of Allah; the last AAYAT tells about the two sections of the mankind there at AKHIRAT; one of them would be of hypocrites and the polytheists, both men and women, so it would include all disbelievers in Allah, the true Lord; the other would be of the true believers among the mankind, both men and women, to whom Allah would show utmost forgiveness and total mercy at AKHIRAT; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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Surah SABA
(Consists of 6 Ruku; MK-7)
SABA-The First Ruku
1. (All) praise is due to Allah to Whom belongs what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and to Him is due (all) praise in the hereafter; and He is the Wise, the Aware.
2. He knows that which goes down into the earth and that which comes out of it, and that which comes down from the heaven and that which goes up to it; and He is the Merciful, the Forgiving.
3. And those who disbelieve say: The hour shall not come upon us. Say: Yea! by my Lord, the Knower of the unseen, it shall certainly come upon you; not the weight of an atom becomes absent from Him, in the heavens or in the earth, and neither less than that nor greater, but (all) is in a clear book
4. That He may reward those who believe and do good; these it is for whom is forgiveness and an honorable sustenance.
5. And (as for) those who strive hard in opposing Our AAYAAT, these it is for whom is a painful chastisement of an evil kind.
6. And those to whom the knowledge has been given see that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, that is the truth, and it guides into the path of the Mighty, the Praised.
7. And those who disbelieve say: Shall we point out to you a man who informs you that when you are scattered the utmost scattering you shall then be most surely (raised) in (to) a new creation?
8. He has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness in him. Nay! those who do not believe in AKHIRAT are in torment and in great error.
9. Do they not then consider what is before them and what is behind them of the heaven and the earth? If We please, We will make them disappear inside the earth or bring down upon them a portion from the heaven; most surely there is a sign in this for every servant turning (to Allah).
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Surah SABA guides most explicitly to the awareness that Allah only is truly Powerful and He would certainly give to each person what he/she truly deserves at AKHIRAT; it guides that whatever someone gets from the worldly assets, that must not make him/her forget that he/she has to answer for his/her belief at AKHIRAT and so he/she shall only use it for the pleasure of Allah and he/she shall not let anyone misguide him/her as at AKHIRAT, every person has to face the consequence for all his/her doings totally alone where repentance on the wrong-doings would be useless; it guides that He only has provided the physical needs and the spiritual need of all persons so every person shall remain most attentive to Allah at the world so that he/she gets the true success at AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Surah starts by the praise of Allah that everything among His creation in the heavens and in the earth praises Him; the Man and the Jinn too have to praise Him truly showing their gratitude to Him, by the free-will that He has provided to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; at AKHIRAT, it would become totally obvious that all praise truly is for Him only, as the Man and the Jinn would see the outcome of their doings there clearly; He has all true wisdom so He directs all doings of men to bring the outcome that He intends from them and He is totally aware of all doings of men; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the second AAYAT states, “He knows that which goes down into the earth (i.e. seeds and corpses) and that which comes out of it (i.e. the fruits, vegetables, harvests, crops and at AKHIRAT, the dead would come out of it) and that which comes down from the heaven (i.e. rains and angels that descend with commands of Allah) and that which goes up to it (i.e. the water particles and the doings of men and also the spirits of good persons which go to ELIYYEN); and He is the Merciful, the Forgiving”; so He eliminates much of impression of wrong doings of men so that they get ample space at life to prove that they deserve Jannah, by getting the pleasure of Allah; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-3 & 4 tell about the last day of the world that even if the disbelievers speak against it, it is sure to come as then Allah would raise all persons from dead after it at the Day of HASHR that is the Day of Judgment, where He would provide the good results of the righteous doings of those persons who kept to the true belief and did all their deeds according to that true belief; nothing escapes away from the knowledge of Allah, the true Lord, whether small or large and He has kept record of all things in writing in clear book; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-5 tells, “and those (of extreme disbelievers) who strive hard in opposing Our AAYAAT (at life at the world), these it is for whom is a painful chastisement of an evil kind (at AKHIRAT, the true life)”; so every person would receive what he/she deserves there due to the life that he/she spent at the world; there, all those who did understand the Quran would see manifestly that it certainly presented the truth about the Day of Judgment; certainly, it guides to the true path of Allah, Who has all authority to keep the world to the manner He intends so here also, there always remains His praise; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the couple of AAYAAT ahead that are AAYAAT-7 & 8 mention the objection that the disbelievers raised against the Day of HASHR, which read, “and those who disbelieve say- shall we point out to you a man who informs you that when you are scattered the utmost scattering you shall then be most surely (raised) in (to) a new creation?- he has forged a lie against Allah or there is madness in him; (Allah replies to their doubt that) nay! those who do not believe in AKHIRAT are in torment (at AKHIRAT which is sure to come) and in great error (at life at the world)”; this tells that though they did believe in Allah yet with addition of much wrongs to their belief as they believed in Him with this notion that He would not bring any judgment upon them ever and there were such persons in them too who had this notion that if it does come, those whom they believed in as equal in authority to Allah (including even their idols), would save them from all wrath of Allah; the Satan misguides the disbelievers in such manner that they lose their sanity and take wrong notions by their own; certainly, Allah has guided all persons to the right path and certainly, He would bring the Day of HASHR where He would judge all persons according to their belief and according to all their doings at life at the world as He has told the Man clearly; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last AAYAT of the Ruku mentions the authority of Allah, “do they not then consider what is before them and what is behind them of the (nearby) heaven and the earth?- if We please, We will make them disappear inside the earth or bring down upon them a portion from the (nearby) heaven; most surely there is a sign in this for every servant turning (to Allah)”; Allah has created the nearby heaven above all of mankind in such manner that it does not fall upon the earth and He has created the earth in such manner that keeps all of mankind to it; if Allah wills, He would make the earth swallow up the disbelievers (as He does show by earthquakes) and He would make some part of the nearby heaven fall upon them (as He does show when He makes a meteoroid survive a trip through the atmosphere and hit the ground as meteorite); seeing this sign, every person among the mankind needs to believe in Allah, and all such persons who really do believe in Allah, must remain steadfast upon their belief with clear acceptance that AKHIRAT would certainly take place so their good belief and their good deeds according to it, would lead them to the true success at that true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Second Ruku
10. And certainly We gave to DAWUD excellence from Us: O mountains! sing praises with him, and the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him,
11. Saying: Make ample armor (coats of mail), and assign time for the making of coats of mail and do good; surely I am Seeing what you do.
12. And (We made) the wind (subservient) to Solomon, which made a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey in the evening, and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the will of his Lord; and whoever turned aside from Our command from among them, We made him taste of the punishment of burning.
13. They made for him what he pleased of fortresses and images, and bowls (large) as watering-troughs and cooking-pots that will not move from their place; give thanks, O family of DAWUD! and very few of My servants are grateful.
14. But when We decreed death for him, naught showed them his death but a creature of the earth that ate away his staff; and when it fell down, the jinn came to know plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in abasing torment.
15. Certainly there was a sign for Saba in their abode; two gardens on the right and the left; eat of the sustenance of your Lord and give thanks to Him: a good land and a Forgiving Lord!
16. But they turned aside, so We sent upon them a torrent of which the rush could not be withstood, and in place of their two gardens We gave to them two gardens yielding bitter fruit and (growing) tamarisk and a few lote-trees.
17. This We requited them with because they disbelieved; and We do not punish any but the ungrateful.
18. And We made between them and the towns which We had blessed (other) towns to be easily seen, and We apportioned the journey therein: Travel through them nights and days, secure.
19. And they said: O our Lord! make spaces to be longer between our journeys; and they were unjust to themselves so We made them stories and scattered them with an utter scattering; most surely there are signs in this for every patient, grateful one
20. And certainly the Satan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a party of the believers.
21. And he has no authority over them, but that We may distinguish him who believes in AKHIRAT from him who is in doubt concerning it; and your Lord is the Preserver of all things
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This Ruku tells about DAWUD-AS and about his son Solomon-AS; they both were kings of the Israelites after TALUT, with all necessary things to benefit from, at their disposal keeping to the commands of Allah; their period is from about 1100 BC that comes to about three hundred years after Moses-AS; Suleiman was the heir to David, and they both were among the wisest persons of the Bani-Israel for which they praised Allah all the time much; in addition to being king of Israelites, Allah had also provided Suleiman the rule over jinn and over birds, the language of whom he understood well; Allah had also made the wind subservient to him that it took him to places far-away just in a morning or just in an evening which normally took a month of travel to reach at those times; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah tells at this Ruku for DAWUD-AS, “and certainly We gave to DAWUD excellence from Us- O mountains! sing praises (of Allah) with him, and (commanded this also to) the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him, saying- make ample armor (coats of mail), and assign a time to the making of coats of mail and do good; surely I am Seeing what you do”; and He tells at this Ruku for Solomon-AS, “and (We made) the wind (subservient) to Suleiman, which made a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey in the evening, and We made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the command of his Lord; and whoever turned aside from Our command from among them, We made him taste of the punishment of burning; they made for him what he pleased of fortresses and images, and bowls (large) as watering-troughs and cooking-pots that will not move from their place; give thanks, O family of DAWUD! and very few of My servants are grateful”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; these AAYAAT indicate a few things and the foremost of them is that they both never showed any pride on their wealth & status at the world but prayed for the highest of ranks at AKHIRAT; the second thing is that DAWUD praised Allah, the true Lord, in such manner that even the mountains and birds sang the praise of Allah with him so it is notable that they understood his praise to Allah and joined him in it; the third thing that even though DAWUD was the king of Israelites, he worked to make armor that were iron-mails for defense at wars because Allah provided him such ability that iron became pliant for him at his hands; the fourth thing is that when Solomon intended to travel, the wind took him to places that were at a month’s journey from his place at those times, only within a morning or only within an evening by the will of Allah; the fifth thing is that Allah made a fountain of molten copper to flow out for him, and there were jinn who worked before him by His command with the awareness that He had given to them that whoever turned aside from His command from among them, He would make him taste the punishment of extreme burning; the sixth thing is that these jinn made strong fortresses and images for him that he intended for, as all those who were at his service needed worthy shelters and maintenance to them, to live in convenience and that needed immense work; as for their making of images, this needs some elaboration upon them so I, MSD, would provide some detail to this insha-Allah; note that Islam detests making or taking of still-pictures of living-beings at random, except with total decency for necessity for the genuine official needs; note also that Islam does allow the making or taking of pictures that are other than living-beings and even plants, flowers and trees are included in the allowed pictures and even those blurred pictures that do not present the living beings vividly; there are authentic Ahadith that sternly warn those who make (or take) still-pictures of living-beings, at all the notable books of Ahadith; SABA-13 here, that mentions that the jinn used to make images (which included the making of faces at stones that protruded at the ground), actually tells that at those times, there was no prohibition to present images, pictures and faces at stones yet Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, prohibited them categorically; there are authentic Ahadith to this effect in all notable books of Ahadith and among them is that a man came to Ibn-Abbas-RA and said, that his sustenance is from the manual profession that he makes pictures; Ibn-Abbas told him that the Prophet PBUH had said that whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it; hearing this, that man heaved a sigh and his face turned pale so Ibn Abbas said to him that if he does want to make pictures, he should make pictures of trees and other non-living objects; another Hadith tells that the Prophet PBUH said, “angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or there are pictures (of living-beings)”; still another Hadith tells that “those who make these pictures (of living-beings) will be (severely) punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them- make alive what you have created“; the rule to adhere to at these times of FITNAH is that the care to HEJAB is necessary in all usage of all such modern technical gadgets that present the visual presentation of persons too with their voices like the Television; here the available channels would only be few and these few channels would operate to their respective specified tasks; all such channels that presents drama & fiction would care about the Islamic morals in the plot and the presentation and the portrayal of the few women relevant to the story in the most decent manner possible and they would be at or above the age of thirty years; as for mobile cell-phones, it is most necessary for all those who do care to live by Islam, to avoid video in them as the problem at these gadgets is that these save the video at individual choice of the common Muslim person who may incline by satanic pursuance, to the erroneous trend that is in vogue at these current times to take anything without censor; the good Muslims have to see this too firmly that they do not put these phones to use for taking the still pictures of living-beings; in official needs, it is possible with the technical gadgets that we have today to identify persons by the print of their thumb & fingers and by their eyes rather than taking all image of the face, so by the good management of such gadgets for official needs at current times, it is totally possible to care about the necessary command of HEJAB; may Allah provide awareness and realization to all Muslims to keep all modern technical gadgets to the Islamic manner of living in these current times, as Islam is the complete code of life, that asks all Muslims to see to its rulings in all fields of life; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the seventh thing that these AAYAAT indicate, is that by using the copper at hand, they also made such extremely large bowls that may keep pools of water that all persons at his service used for drinking and such huge vessels for cooking that were fixed to the ground for cooking of foods that they used for their intake there; the last of these things that these AAYAAT indicate is that due to such blessings of Allah on them, all members of the family of DAWUD need to show the gratitude that DAWUD has shown at all times; Al-Hamdu Lillah; for AAYAT-14 ahead, note that there were such wrong persons at Arabia and even at other places at times of the Prophet PBUH, who took jinn as such powerful that they could save them from troubles ahead as according to them, they were able to see what is ahead at the future; though jinn are physically stronger than the man yet because of his spiritual power and because Allah has appointed angels to see to his protection, jinn avoid attacks on the man; they are among the three of creation that possess the awareness of the self and these three are Angels, Jinn and the Man, and Allah has given the last two among them the free-will to apply in practice to gain the pleasure of Allah by that; Al-Hamdu Lillah; though Allah allowed Solomon, Salam on him, as an exception to enslave jinn and make them work for him yet this must not be cited for attacking them as an authentic Hadith has clarified that other of men are disallowed to control them through their spiritual supremacy; this also is notable that AAYAT-6 of Surah JINN tells that the group of jinn who had listened to the Quran had remarked, “and that persons from among men used to seek refuge with persons from among jinn, so they (i.e. those men) increased them (i.e. jinn) in wrongdoing (i.e. pride)”; this remark came from them because when the disbelievers rested at jungles and deserts, they used to take refuge of jinn for their safety, so this increased the unplaced pride of jinn; see also the note at the fourth Ruku at BAQARAH; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so AAYAT-14 clarifies that when Allah brought death to Solomon, nothing told about his death but termites that ate away his staff on which he had leant so when it fell down then the jinn became aware of his death and regretful that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in such abasing torment which they were in; so AAYAT elucidates that they did not even know about something that remained at their front for much time (i.e. presumably a period of more than a month) so when that is the case then it is most obvious that they certainly are most unable to see any unseen that the future holds; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Ruku ahead narrates about Saba that were the people who lived at the territory of Yemen who in their prosperity, forgot the remembrance of Allah and thus led themselves to destruction; they were most prosperous of nations and had all convenience in living at their area; they had made dams at different places to utilize available water to height and among them, SADDE-MA’ARIB (the dam at MA’ARIB) was most significant that had the highest of efficiency to serve them for storage of water; they had made this dam after some 250 to 300 years after the era of the Queen of Saba about whom we have read at Surah NAML; there were two rows of beautiful gardens at left and right that went-on to many of miles at their area with fruits that were most notable in quality and quantity and it also was the hub of such goods that came from the eastern areas; they used to travel with much of these goods to the ancient Syria (that included Palestine) that Allah had blessed, where the goods from Europe used to land; so the import & export of different goods to & fro at these places had also affected their economics most positively; Allah had provided security at way towards Syria to them as there were many of towns that were located at its main route and at close distances to each other so the caravans at travel had all safety at hand during their travel even at nights; however, after more than 1000 years of prosperity, there stood such persons in them who complained that they have got too much ease at life and they wanted some adventure therein; without any shame, they asked Allah to test them by troubles at way to Syria and not by convenience at their journeys; compare this attitude to the attitude of Bani-Israel, whom Allah had provided their food for sustenance at the desert, who had told Moses to bring forth for them what the earth grows; see BAQARAH-61 and see also its AAYAT-195 that asks clearly, “and spend in the way of Allah and cast not yourselves to perdition with your own hands, and do good (to others); surely Allah loves the doers of good”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; when such time came upon them that they did not show any gratitude to Allah for the beautiful gardens that Allah had given them, Allah put extreme punishment upon them; with other of punishments, He made the dam at MA’ARIB collapse and that brought total destruction to both of the beautiful gardens they had which after that, only bore bitter fruit and growing tamarisk and a few lote-trees; this happened around 120 years back from the birth of the Prophet PBUH so there is not much time-period that had passed upon their downfall, at the times of the Prophet PBUH; undoubtedly, this downfall came to them by their own ingratitude; and as for their disrespect to Allah by their plea to Him to test them by troubles at way to Syria, He made them stories at history and scattered them with an utter scattering in such manner that whoever survived from them, went to different places all over the land; most surely there are signs in this for every patient and grateful person; these are the two good traits that DAWUD and Solomon showed when Allah had provided them much of the worldly assets and highest of status at their peoples; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last two AAYAAT of the Ruku state, “and certainly the Satan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a party of the believers; and he has no authority over them, but that We may distinguish him who believes in AKHIRAT from him who is in doubt concerning it; and your Lord is the Preserver of all things”; these AAYAAT point-out that the thought which the Satan had about the mankind, did have substance as many persons of Saba did follow him except for those who were truly attentive to Allah; note that Surah HIJR-39 & 40 tell that “the Satan said (when Allah put curse upon him for all times ahead)- my Lord! because Thou hast made life evil to me, I will certainly make (their evil deeds) fair-seeming to them on earth, and I will certainly cause them all to deviate (away from the Truth); except Thy servants from among them, the devoted ones”; another thing that these AAYAAT indicate is that the Satan has no authority over the mankind but he does have power of putting thoughts at inside of men and he uses that power to misguide persons among the mankind to wrongs; these AAYAAT also tell that with all his pursuance, he is unable to misguide those persons who seek shelter of Allah against him at all times and at all places; Al-Hamdu Lillah; and these AAYAAT are explicit on this too that Allah gave him the permission to try all his efforts against the mankind because Allah intended that those who truly believe in AKHIRAT, come in open clearly and those too come in open clearly, who disbelieve in it; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Third Ruku
22. Say: Call upon those whom you assert besides Allah; they do not control the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth nor have they any partnership in either, nor has He among them any one to back (Him) up.
23. And intercession will not avail aught with Him save of him whom He permits. Yet, when fear is banished from their hearts, they say: What was it that your Lord said? They say: The Truth. And He is the Most High, the Great.
24. Say: Who gives you the sustenance from the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah. And most surely we or you are on the right path or in manifest error
25. Say: You will not be questioned as to what we are guilty of, nor shall we be questioned as to what you do.
26. Say: Our Lord will gather us together, then will He judge between us with the true justice; and He is the greatest Judge, the All-knowing.
27. Say: Show me those whom you have joined with Him as associates; you dare not (as certainly there is none, and you remember that) He is Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.
28. And We have not sent you but to all men as bearer of good news and as warner, but most men do not know.
29. And they say: When will this promise be (fulfilled) if you are truthful?
30. Say: You have the appointment of the day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on.
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The Ruku answers to those persons who disbelieve in AKHIRAT, at its beginning and it tells ahead that Allah only provides for the sustenance of the mankind, and He only has given the Guidance to the right path by His Messengers; He has all authority to decide for all His creation with total awareness of everything; Al-Hamdu Lillah; He is taking all matters to the destination He intends with total might and with total wisdom; certainly, He only has the true authority and He only would decide when to bring the end of the world; note that these AAYAAT address such disbelievers who had this notion that He would not bring any judgment upon them ever and also such disbelievers who had this notion that if it does come, those whom they believed in as equal in authority to Allah (including even their idols), would save them from all wrath of Allah; so the first AAYAT of the Ruku answers the former among them that those whom they assert besides Allah, they do not control the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth, nor have they any partnership in either, nor has He among them any one to assist Him; He certainly would bring the Day of Judgment whenever He wills for it and nobody is able to stop Him from carrying out His decision; the second AAYAT answers the latter, “and intercession will not avail aught with Him save of him whom He permits”; note that Allah would permit many of virtuous men and angels too to ask Allah for His mercy towards those who would be believers yet have done wrong deeds in high quantity; here Allah has denoted the condition of angels when He gives some significant command for the mankind that they are filled with awe, and this remains- “yet, when fear is banished from their hearts, they say (among themselves)- what was it that your Lord said?- (so among themselves) they say- the Truth (as His each command is certainly that though the command may be about destruction of some wrong nation as that also is blessing of Allah to righteous persons)- And He is the Most High, the Great”; when the angels have so much fear of Allah then such disbelievers who erroneously call them as daughters to Allah, are extremely mistaken in their thoughts that they would dare to recommend their safety at the Day of Judgment; these disbelievers would see clearly then that Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Satan misguides the disbelievers in such manner that they lose their sanity and take wrong notions by their own; certainly, Allah has guided all persons to the right path and certainly, He would bring the Day of HASHR where He would judge all persons according to their belief and according to all their doings at life at the world as He has told them clearly; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the four AAYAAT ahead ask the Prophet PBUH to tell the disbelievers that Allah only provides sustenance to all persons and He has set all creation in such manner that He examines all persons at life at the world and when there is total difference in belief of persons, so it is certain that only one part of them is at the right path; these AAYAAT ask him to tell this clearly that everyone would face his/her doings alone when Allah would ask all persons about that so they will not be questioned as to what the true believers are guilty of, nor shall the true believers will be questioned as to whatever the disbelievers do; they also ask him to tell them that the outcome of the doings of all persons would manifest clearly at the Day of HASHR when Allah would gather all persons who lived at any time and at any place, and then He would judge all of them with total justice so all persons need to wait for that final verdict; Al-Hamdu Lillah; they also ask the Prophet PBUH to challenge them to show those whom they have joined with Him as associates; they must dare not as certainly there is none who has any authority against Allah and their disbelief would only put them into extreme destruction as Allah is Mighty to punish them with natural calamities by His command and He is Most Wise to bring results even at the world to their doings as He wills; certainly Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku tell that Allah has sent the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, the last of His Messengers to all of mankind and even to all of jinn, to give the good news to the sincere believers in the Truth (the fundamental teachings of Islam) who care to live according to that, that they would receive JANNAAT, the gardens of paradise, at AKHIRAT and warn the disbelievers who deny the fundamental teachings of Islam even when that manifests most clearly in front of them, that they would be put into the hell-fire, the place of extreme punishment, at AKHIRAT where they would reside forever; the AAYAT explicitly mentions that many of persons do not realize the significance of life at the world; rather there are such disbelieving persons in them who ask when this would happen so the last AAYAT of the Ruku tells him, “say (to them O Prophet PBUH)- you have the appointment of the day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on”; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Fourth Ruku
31. And those who disbelieve say: By no means will we believe in this Quran, nor in that which is before it; and could you see when the unjust shall be made to stand before their Lord, bandying words one with another! Those who were reckoned weak shall say to those who were proud: Had it not been for you we would certainly have been believers.
32. Those who were proud shall say to those who were deemed weak: Did we turn you away from the guidance after it had come to you? Nay, you were guilty
33. And those who were deemed weak shall say to those who were proud. Nay, (it was) planning by night and day when you told us to disbelieve in Allah and to set up likes with Him. And they shall conceal regret when they shall see the punishment; and We will put shackles on the necks of those who disbelieved; they shall not be requited but what they did.
34. And whenever We sent a warner to a town, those who led lives in ease in it said: We are surely disbelievers in what you are sent with.
35. And they said: We have more wealth and children, and we shall not be punished.
36. Say: Surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases and straitens (for whom He pleases), but most men do not know.
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This Ruku of Surah SABA tells about the grounds of HASHR that there every person would face the consequence for all his/her doings totally alone where repentance on the wrong-doings would be useless and blaming anyone for the ruin that those wrong-doings would bring, would be futile; the world is the place of examination where a person needs to seek the pleasure of Allah, so he/she must not be misled by anyone and the worldly assets that he/she gets here must not let him/her forget that at AKHIRAT, only his/her righteous belief and virtuous deeds would count for his/her safety from the hell-fire; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the first three AAYAAT of the Ruku mention the dialogue that would take place among such disbelievers at the grounds of HASHR who had openly denied the fundamental teachings of Islam that the Quran had presented to them and which Torah also had told before; there, those who were reckoned weak shall say to those who were proud that they were responsible to their utmost ruin because if they had not misguided them, they would certainly have been believers; to this, those who were the proud ones among them would respond that they who blame them, had decided to deny the Truth by themselves that brought them their ruin at this Day of Judgment and they, the proud ones, are not responsible for it; those blaming persons would not accept this response and would emphatically put the blame on them for their extreme plight but in spite of all regrets that both groups of them, would have because of their wrong-doings at life at the world, they all would receive no safety from the hell-fire and they all would be led to that in shackles; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku mention that whenever Allah sent a Prophet in some nation who asked them to fear Allah, the true Lord, Who would certainly bring the Judgment upon them on all their doings, the general trend of those people who were prosperous in worldly assets in them, was that they denied their virtuous teachings; they boasted that they have much wealth and many of children and this prosperity in itself proves that they would never be punished whatever they do; Allah asks the Prophet PBUH in the last AAYAT of the Ruku to tell all persons, especially the disbelievers at Makkah, in most clear terms that it is by will of Allah that even the disbelievers receive so much from assets of the world; this is not any guarantee for their safety from the hell-fire at AKHIRAT unless they put it to use for the pleasure of Allah as at AKHIRAT, the righteous belief and virtuous deeds count; their mistake is that they are confusing the will of Allah with the pleasure of Allah and that is not good for them; it reads, “say- surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases and straitens (for whom He pleases), but most men do not know (that both of these are for examination of them only and not to prove them successful at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Fifth Ruku
37. And not your wealth nor your children, are the things which bring you near Us in station, but whoever believes and does good, these it is for whom is a double reward for what they do, and they shall be secure in the highest places.
38. And (as for) those who strive in opposing Our AAYAAT, they shall be caused to be brought to the chastisement.
39. Say: Surely my Lord amplifies the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants and straitens (them) for whom (He pleases), and whatever thing you spend, He exceeds it in reward, and He is the best of Sustainers.
40. And on the day when He will gather them all together, then will He say to the angels: Did these worship you?
41. They shall say: Glory be to Thee! Thou art our Guardian, not they; nay! they worshipped the jinn; most of them were believers in them.
42. So on that day one of you shall not control profit or harm for another, and We will say to those who were unjust: Taste the chastisement of the fire which you called a lie.
43. And when Our clear AAYAAT are recited to them, they say: This is naught but a man who desires to turn you away from that which your fathers worshipped. And they say: This is naught but a lie that is forged. And those who disbelieve say of the truth when it comes to them: This is only clear enchantment.
44. And We have not given them any books which they read, nor did We send to them before you a warner.
45. And those before them rejected (the Truth), and these have not yet attained a tenth of what We gave them, but they gave the lie to My apostles, then how was the manifestation of My disapproval?
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The fifth Ruku of SABA starts by the clarification of the erroneous notion of disbelievers emphatically that their sons and their wealth at the world is not any guarantee for their safety from the hell-fire at AKHIRAT unless they put it to use for the pleasure of Allah as there, at AKHIRAT, only the righteous belief and virtuous deeds count; their mistake is that they are confusing the will of Allah with the pleasure of Allah so they must realize that these things would not bring them near to Allah unless they use their worldly assets to get the pleasure of Allah and raise their children to the best of their ability to fulfill the Islamic commands that Allah has provided to the mankind; Al-Hamdu Lillah; due to their firmness on the right path and putting the righteous Islamic teachings in their practice, they would receive their good returns in double as they would reside in high beautiful rooms with total peace at Jannah at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah; however those who choose to disbelieve the teachings of Islam and try to profess wrong notions among all their near ones against Islam, they certainly shall be brought to the extreme chastisement at AKHIRAT; certainly, it is the will of Allah which decides for the increase in the means of sustenance for any person and for the reduction of that for any person and He knows in which way He would examine any person; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; whatever a person spends from the resources that He has provided to that person for the pleasure of Allah, He would give BARAKAH in his wealth by that expenditure on the needy, even at the world; certainly, He has all true authority to provide even for all physical needs of the righteous person so that he may live with all convenience without any tensions whatsoever; note that when some good thing brings the most good results by its acceptance from Allah then it is mentioned as having “BARAKAH” in it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT 40 & 41 read, “and on the day when He will gather them all together, then will He say to the angels- did these (disbelievers) worship you? - (and in response), they shall say - glory be to Thee! Thou art our Guardian, not they; nay! they worshipped the jinn; most of them were believers in them”; note that Allah knows all things yet He would enquire the angels about this matter so that they clear themselves from this blame that they had any part in the wrong-doings of the disbelievers, as the disbelievers used to take them as daughters of Allah; may Allah provide safety from satanic notions to all good Muslims; Al-Hamdu Lillah; this query to them is like the question that Allah would ask Jesus Christ-AS at the Day of Judgment if he had said to men to take him and his mother for two gods besides Allah whereas he would say that he had no right to say it and if he had said it, Allah would indeed have known it because He knows all things for certain (see Surah MA’EDAH-116); the angels would clarify that they are totally attentive to Allah and it is jinn who used to put doubts at inside of them and they believed in those doubts by their choice and as such, they used to worship the jinn; so they would keep themselves most far away from the disbelievers at AKHIRAT and would certainly be of no help to them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah would then tell the disbelievers to remain forever in the punishment of the hell-fire because of their denial to the Truth; whenever the clear AAYAAT of Allah are recited to them, they respond about it that this only is something by which Muhammad (PBUH) desires to turn all of them away from that which their ancestors used to worship and they mention the Quran as forgery and enchantment; Allah had never given them any Scriptures before the Quran and He had never sent any of Messengers in them before the Prophet PBUH so they incline by their own towards wrong notions; and those before them, also rejected the Truth and these disbelievers at Makkah had not attained even a tenth of what Allah had given those previous disbelievers but when those disbelievers rejected the virtuous teachings that the Messengers had provided to them by the command of Allah, then He destroyed all of them completely; their abundance of wealth and high number of sons did not help them in any way; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
SABA-The Last Ruku
46. Say: I exhort you only to one thing, that rise up for Allah's sake in twos and singly, then ponder: there is no madness in your fellow-citizen; he is only a warner to you before a severe chastisement.
47. Say: Whatever reward I have asked of you, that is only for yourselves; my reward is only with Allah, and He is Witness of all things.
48. Say: Surely my Lord utters the Truth, the great Knower of the unseen.
49. Say: The Truth has come, and the falsehood shall vanish and shall not come back.
50. Say: If I err, I err only against my own soul, and if I follow the right path, it is because of what my Lord reveals to me; surely He is Hearing, Nigh.
51. And could you see when they shall become terrified, but (then) there shall be no escape and they shall be seized upon from a near place
52. And they shall say: We believe in it. And how shall the attaining (of faith) be possible to them from a distant place?
53. And they disbelieved in it before, and they utter conjectures with regard to the unseen from a distant place.
54. And a barrier shall be placed between them and that which they desire, as was done with the likes of them before: surely they are in a disquieting doubt.
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The last Ruku of SABA addresses the issues that the Surah has mentioned in it; at the beginning, the Ruku tells the Prophet PBUH to ask the disbelievers that if they doubt that he is the Messenger of Allah to them then they need to take some of time out for sorting out their speech about the Prophet PBUH; they shall stand for Allah's sake in twos and singly, then ponder about it and if that is without any insincerity, they would see for certain that there is no madness in the Prophet PBUH but he is warning all of them that if they do not believe in his teachings, they would certainly receive a severe chastisement; this tells that for the person who does intend to decide on his/her adverse attitude about the fundamental teachings of Islam, he/she shall give some sincere thought to that attitude taking some of time out for this thought and he/she shall ask Allah for His guidance towards him/her mercifully; Allah would surely provide him/her TOFIQ to revise his/her attitude about them and He would surely bring him/her to the Truth; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the four AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku ask the Prophet PBUH that he would tell the disbelievers that he does not need any returns for the true guidance that he is providing to them but he only wants that they accept it sincerely; and he would tell them explicitly that this is the Guidance to the right path that has come to him from Allah, the true Lord, and the presentation even, of this true guidance in front of all, is enough to eliminate all the falsehood that comes against it; once the falsehood is gone, it would never return though the Satan may try other ideas to misguide persons among the mankind; and also, the Prophet PBUH would tell them that if he errs to express the teachings of Islam then it would fall against him only or if he fulfills his liability to express them good then Allah has kept him to the right path that he has explicitly revealed to him at the Quran and that is the basis of his teachings; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that he mentioned any error in his liability by directing that to himself and said that if he follows the right path, it is because of what Allah reveals to him; surely He is Hearing, Nigh; this is the manner to give respect to Allah in speech because He only provides convenience to all of mankind from Him and if He puts any trouble to any of them, it is because of their own doings; note about the speech of jinn who had heard the Quran from the Prophet PBUH that they had said, “and that we know not whether evil is meant for those who are on earth or whether their Lord means to bring them good” (Surah JINN-10); so they do not relate evil to Allah but they relate goodness most explicitly to Allah, Who certainly is the true Lord; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last four AAYAAT of the Surah tell that if the Prophet sees these disbelievers there at the grounds of HASHR, there he would find them most terrified and there would be no place for them to escape from the utmost chastisement which awaits them; though here they ask to bring it upon them yet there they shall say in clearest of terms that they believe in the unseen that the Prophet PBUH had told them but now, as the term for the examination is over, how shall they attain the true belief; they used to ridicule the Truth at the world, which was the place of examination for all persons, and they used to say adverse things about it without getting any awareness about it sincerely; so if they keep onto this attitude of utmost disbelief then even at the world, by the will of Allah, a barrier shall be placed between them and their desires to get much of worldly assets so they shall never get those to their satisfaction; this is how Allah did with the likes of those disbelievers too, who used to live before them; most certainly Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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Surah FAATIR
(Consists of 5 Ruku; MK-5)
FAATIR-The First Ruku
1. All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker of the angels, apostles flying on wings, two, and three, and four; He increases in creation what He pleases; surely Allah has power over all things.
2. Whatever Allah grants to men of (His) mercy, there is none to withhold it, and what He withholds there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.
3. O men! call to mind the favor of Allah on you; is there any creator besides Allah who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? There is no god but He; whence are you then turned away?
4. And if they call you a liar, truly apostles before you were called liars, and to Allah are all affairs returned.
5. O men! surely the promise of Allah is true, so let not the life of this world deceive you, and let not the arch-deceiver deceive you respecting Allah.
6. Surely the Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy; he only invites his party that they may be inmates of the burning;
7. (As for) those who disbelieve, they shall have a severe punishment, and (as for) those who believe and do good, they shall have forgiveness and a great reward.
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Surah FAATIR (also named as Surah MALA’EKA i.e. angels) presents the fundamental teachings of Islam most explicitly and it guides to observe that Allah has created all His creation with beautiful integrity so that they all remain firm to their given task; Al-Hamdu Lillah; so, it typically correlates to all Surah which relate to Makkah and which have notable volume, as they all put much emphasis on the fundamental teachings of Islam and answer all doubts against these significant teachings, for which they explicitly present the narrations of the previous notable nations too that Allah destroyed except for those in them who believed in the Messengers of Allah; therein, Allah guides to take utmost care to Salah to relate themselves to AKHIRAT and to spend amounts on the needy, to keep away from the attachment to the world; therein, Allah provides the assurance to the true Muslims, that though they are facing much troubles, the situation would become most better with time when they remain totally firm on Islam in belief, with utmost care to Salah and to needs of the needy, and with avoidance to all major sins that relate to injustice or to shameful deeds; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; therein, He asks Muhammad PBUH, His last Messenger, emphatically to provide the fundamental teachings of Islam to all of mankind and even to jinn by the Quran without any care to adverse attitude of the disbelievers towards them, whereas in those Surah which relate to Madinah, though Allah guides emphatically to the fundamental teachings of Islam therein too yet in addition, He also presents other of His commands therein, so that men and jinn put that into their practice individually and collectively, and live totally within the good framework of the Islamic environment; the fundamental teachings of Islam guide to believe sincerely in TAUHID (Allah only is the Creator of all the creation and He always has all His attributes and He only is the true Lord) and AKHIRAT (Allah would judge all peoples of the world at the Day of Judgment) and RISALAT (Allah had sent His Messengers to the world to provide the Guidance to the right path); this is the Truth towards which Islam guides all persons; besides these three, Islam asks all persons to believe in the angels and the books that Allah has sent to the mankind and it also asks to believe in TAQDIR that everything happens by the will of Allah though His pleasure is not in everything; the believers have to care for His pleasure by the Islamic teachings that the Quran and the SUNNAH have given well; as for His will, that He only knows; see also Surah BAQARAH-285 that comes at the last Ruku of it; Al-Hamdu Lillah; now, this Surah begins by the praise of Allah as it states, “All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker of the angels, apostles flying on wings, two, and three, and four; He increases in creation what He pleases (so angels may have more wings even); surely Allah has power over all things; whatever Allah grants to men of (His) mercy, there is none to withhold it, and what He withholds, there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the Mighty (Who keeps everything according to His plan for them by His authority), the Wise (Who keeps the impression of goodness in works of men and eliminates all evil by His true wisdom)”; this tells that angels are such creation of Allah who provide the message of Allah to Messengers of Allah by His command and bring destruction to nations by His command and do all tasks that He commands them and they never disobey Allah in any of His commands; Al-Hamdu Lillah; Allah may provide some needy person much of resources by His will and make him go to heights in prosperity of the worldly assets, and He may take away much of resources of some rich person so he becomes needy even for his sustenance; no one is able to stop Him from anything He wills; Al-Hamdu Lillah; He may give benefits to a place by blessed rains upon it by His will so all people there get benefits from that and He may stop such rains at some place by His will and certainly, no one is able to stop Him from anything that He wills; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead at the Ruku command all persons to mind the favor of Allah upon them, so they must count their blessings because Allah only, provides them all their needs from the nearby heaven by good rains and from the earth by fruits & crops; and He has provided them the true guidance too that He only is Whom they all shall worship; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-4 addresses the Prophet PBUH that if disbelievers among the people he presents the message of Islam, call him a liar then Prophets of Allah before him too were called liars; it also expresses the message to all persons that those who disbelieve, they are following those wrong persons who had denied the message of Islam before them and it is no worry to the Prophet PBUH, who only has to provide the message of Islam to all persons, but it certainly is trouble to them as Allah would evaluate all deeds of all persons at the Day of Judgment; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the last three AAYAAT of the Ruku state for all persons that they need to understand that the word of Allah is true that the Day of Judgment would take place so they must not make an obsession to get the worldly assets as this delusion would make them lose the true success at AKHIRAT; they need to understand that the Satan, who had taken an oath to misguide them, is the most dangerous deceiver to them as he is trying his best to prevent them to get success at AKHIRAT so that they fall into the hell-fire; they must take him as their enemy which he truly is, as he pursues rigorously to wrongs all those who have inclination to worldly assets much beyond their necessities; all persons need to understand that those who are disbelievers to the Truth, they shall have the most severe punishment at AKHIRAT, whereas those who do believe in it and do good deeds and ask Allah for forgiveness on their wrongs, they shall have forgiveness at the world and the highest of rewards at AKHIRAT, the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Second Ruku
8. What! is he whose evil deed is made fair-seeming to him so much so that he considers it good? Now surely Allah makes him err whom He pleases and guides him aright whom He pleases, so let not your soul waste away in grief for them; surely Allah is Cognizant of what they do
9. And Allah is He Who sends the winds so they raise a cloud, then We drive it on to a dead country, and therewith We give life to the earth after its death; even so is the Resurrection.
10. Whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs the honor wholly. To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deed lifts that up, and (as for) those who plan evil deeds, they shall have a severe chastisement; and (as for) their plan, it shall perish.
11. And Allah created you of dust, then of the life-germ, then He made you pairs; and no female bears, nor does she bring forth, except with His knowledge; and no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah.
12. And the two seas are not alike: the one sweet, that subdues thirst by its excessive sweetness, pleasant to drink; and the other salt, that burns by its saltiness; yet from each of them you eat fresh flesh and bring forth ornaments which you wear; and you see the ships cleave through it that you may seek of His bounty and that you may be grateful.
13. He causes the night to enter in upon the day, and He causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He has made subservient (to you) the sun and the moon; each one follows its course to an appointed time; this is Allah, your Lord, His is the kingdom; and those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw.
14. If you call on them they shall not hear your call, and even if they could hear they shall not answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny your associating them (with Allah); and none can inform you like the One Who is Aware.
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The first AAYAT of the Ruku tells that the Prophet PBUH has to provide the Islamic teachings to all persons and it is by the will of Allah where it affects favorably; Al-Hamdu Lillah; it reads, “what! is he whose evil deed is made fair-seeming to him so much so that he considers it good, (does he think he is righteous)? - now surely Allah makes him err whom He pleases and guides him aright whom He pleases, so (O Prophet PBUH) let not your soul waste away in grief for them; surely Allah is Cognizant of what they do (so He certainly would evaluate all deeds of all persons at the Day of Judgment)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-9 provides the info that as Allah sends the winds that raise a cloud which Allah drives to the place where He intends that it pours rain and by that He gives life to the earth which is lying dead as it is not producing any of harvests; so in this manner would occur the Resurrection; Allah has told this in the Quran at other places too explicitly that all persons would rise from the dead as the rain brings the harvest from the dead earth; besides other places, ROUM-50 states, “look then at the signs of Allah's mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death; most surely He will raise the dead to life; and He has power over all things”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-10 states, “whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs the honor wholly; to Him do ascend the good words (that are in praise of Allah); and (every) good deed (which is in its confirmation) lifts that up (that is how they ascend to Allah where they are recorded as virtues at their respective documents of deeds), and (as for) those who plan evil deeds (even though they claim to believe in Allah), they shall have severe chastisement (as evil deeds do not have the quality to affect their respective documents of deeds positively); and (as for) their plan (to make life difficult to believers), it shall perish”; this means that the honor to persons, even at the world, comes by living at virtues only as the good person cares that all his deeds are complementary to his speech in which he praises Allah; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT ahead tell about the blessings of Allah upon the man that He created the first man by TURAB (the pure sand and from whom He created the first women), and then the mankind came to the world by the sperm (that fertilizes the female gamete to become zygote); and He made them pairs, complementary to each other so that the life of mankind goes on at the world to the time He wills; AAYAT-11 says, “and no female bears, nor does she bring forth, except with His knowledge; and no one whose life is lengthened has his life lengthened, nor is aught diminished of one's life, but it is all in a book; surely this is easy to Allah”; note that one of the authentic Ahadith tells that the Prophet PBUH said, “if Allah wishes to complete the child's creation, the angel says, 'O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! wretched or blessed? - what will his livelihood be? - what will his age be?' - the angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother” – (reported by Bukhari); Al- Hamdu Lillah; AAYAT-12 says, “and the two seas are not alike - the one sweet, that subdues thirst by its excessive sweetness, pleasant to drink; and the other salt, that burns by its saltiness; yet from each of them you eat fresh flesh (i.e. fish) and bring forth ornaments (especially pearls) which you wear; and you see the ships cleave through it (because Allah has made these waters by such regulations, buoyancy included, that even extremely huge ships sail through it) that you may seek of His bounty (from different places) and that you may be grateful”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; note that the mention of two seas implies extreme collection of waters here and not only seas but all huge collection of waters, and rivers even, are included in comparison; AAYAAT-13 mentions the set-up that Allah has provided the mankind for the safety of life as it says , “He causes the night to enter in upon the day, and He causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He has made subservient (to you) the sun and the moon; each one follows its course to an appointed time; this is Allah, your Lord, His is the kingdom; and those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw”; note that the word is QITMIR that the translation refers to as straw and this is the membrane inside a date as endocarp over its seed; so the AAYAT uses this term to express that whom the disbelievers call upon besides Allah for their help in troubles, have not a bit of authority to assist them; the last AAYAT of the Ruku clarifies how helpless they are as it says, “if you (O disbelievers) call on them they shall not hear your call, and even if they could hear they shall not answer you; and on the resurrection day they will deny your associating them (with Allah); and none can inform you like the One Who is Aware (so the disbelievers need to take the advice to believe truly in Allah or else they all would certainly get most severe punishment)”; note that at the Day of Judgment, all those whom the disbelievers took as equal in authority to Allah, would distance themselves from them as they would worry to save their own selves from the severe punishment of Allah, the true Lord; that would include angels whom they most erroneously took as daughters of Allah, and that would also include those good persons who had departed from the world and whom the disbelievers used to call with such thought that they are not only able to hear them but they also are able to save them from any trouble if they call them for their assistance; the plain fact is this that there is no one who can assist any person except Allah, the true Lord; He only provides for him by various persons that are alive around him and in different manners that do become means to assist him; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Third Ruku
15. O men! you are they who stand in need of Allah, and Allah is He Who is the Self-sufficient, the Praised One.
16. If He please, He will take you off and bring a new generation.
17. And this is not hard to Allah.
18. And a burdened soul cannot bear the burden of another and if one weighed down by burden should cry for (another to carry) its burden, not aught of it shall be carried, even though he be near of kin. You warn only those who fear their Lord in secret and keep up prayer; and whoever purifies himself, he purifies himself only for (the good of) his own soul; and to Allah is the eventual coming.
19. And the blind and the seeing are not alike
20. Nor the darkness and the light,
21. Nor the shade and the heat,
22. Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those hear who are in the graves.
23. You are naught but a warner.
24. Surely We have sent you with the Truth as bearer of good news and warner; and there is not any people but a warner has gone among them.
25. And if they call you a liar, so did those before them indeed call (their apostles) liars; their apostles had come to them with clear arguments, and with scriptures, and with the illuminating book.
26. Then I punished those who disbelieved, so how was the manifestation of My disapproval?
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This Ruku starts by the statement that only Allah is free of all necessities whereas all His creation including the mankind, does need different things as necessities; Allah does not need even, that men show their humility to Him but that only is for their own benefit; Allah tells at AAYAAT-56, 57 & 58 of Surah ZAARIYAAT, “and I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me; I do not desire from them any sustenance and I do not desire that they should feed Me; surely Allah is He Who bestows sustenance, the Lord of Power, the Strong”; Allah truly does hold all of wealth and He truly does have all praise and though He has provided items for all necessities of humankind yet He has the authority to end all of them and bring other of men at the world and He even has the authority to bring any other of His creation to inhabit earth if He wills (i.e. other than the mankind); and this certainly is not hard to Allah; certainly, He only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah; from AAYAAT-18 to ahead, the Ruku tells about the position of the man with reference to AKHIRAT and that the Prophet PBUH is liable to provide the message of Islam only but he is not liable to see that the sinful persons leave their wrongs; they would pay heavily at AKHIRAT for their wrongs and there, the sinful person would not get assistance from any person to bear any of his sins, even though he calls him with sentiments, in his utmost worry and even though that call is to such person who had remained very close to him at the world; TABLIGH for Islam by the Prophet PBUH would benefit only such person who is most attentive towards Allah, Whom he secretly understands to be the true Lord and Whom he secretly understands to bring such time upon him where he has to account for all his deeds, and he does ask Him by Salah humbly to show him the right path; note that here Salah means his prayer to Allah for Guidance to the right path as at the descent of this Surah, Salah was not yet established as obligatory on every Muslim though even then, Muslims did say their Salah in this very manner as we know it, as the Prophet PBUH had guided them; note that this Surah came at Makkah when some five years had passed since the period when Allah had given the Prophet PBUH the liability to guide all peoples of the world by the Quran; Al-Hamdu Lillah; when a person lives by the commands of Allah, he purifies himself at inside which would benefit his own soul as to Allah, is the eventual return; certainly, the person who has lost the ability to understand the Truth and the person who has got its awareness are not alike as the former is in all darkness of wrongs at the world that does not let him see his true benefits and the latter is in such beautiful light of the true guidance due to his attention to live by commands of Allah, that his matters remain clear upon him to decide for them in the most virtuous manner; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the person who lives by commands of Allah would receive the shade of JANNAAT, the gardens of paradise, at AKHIRAT and the sinful person who lives with commitment of wrongs would get his due punishment by the heat of the hell-fire, at AKHIRAT; by comparison, they both are such that one of them is truly living as he fulfills his liability to live by commands of Allah with all care to AKHIRAT and the other, who has chosen to live by wrongs remaining obsessed with life at the world without any care to AKHIRAT, is actually dead; surely Allah guides to the right path whom He wills and the Prophet PBUH, with all his good efforts, is unable to bring any such person, who has chosen to live by wrongs, towards acceptance to live at the right path as such person is alike to those persons who have left the world on disbelief and have lost the space to show their worth for JANNAAT; the important point to note is that AAYAT-22 of Surah FAATIR tells very clearly that if the person who has departed from the world does hear anything from here, it is because Allah wants him to hear that and no living person makes anyone that has passed away hear anything from his side by his own efforts; the Prophet (PBUH) did address the dead persons once as if he is talking to them, yet it is possible that being the Messenger of Allah, he knew that they would hear him by the permission of Allah; as for us, we all must refrain from addressing the dead as if they are hearing us as we do not know the will of Allah though we must pray Allah to provide mercy to those who were righteous among them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Prophet PBUH would serve as warner to them as Allah has given him the liability to spread the teachings of Islam and He has always sent the warning persons in all peoples at all times and at all places so that the fundamental Islamic teachings remain clear to them; he shall not worry about their taunts to him, especially where they call him a liar, because this has been the trend of such persons too who had lived by wrongs previously, against the Prophets of Allah whom He had sent to them to warn them of utmost punishment if they live at wrongs without any care to AKHIRAT; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the Prophets of Allah had come to them with clearest of arguments to prove the teachings that they were presenting, by scriptures that Allah had sent previously and by an illuminating book (i.e. Torah that comprises of the five initial booklets of the old testament, though by elapse of time, it was altered by the wrong-doers at places in text and meanings) that provided His commands; Allah tells at the last AAYAT of the Ruku, “then I punished those (even at the world) who disbelieved, so how was the manifestation of My disapproval (that eliminated them all and ended all of their doings)”; it implies that certainly Allah would eliminate all evil from the world even at future too; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Fourth Ruku
27. Do you not see that Allah sends down water from the cloud, then We bring forth therewith fruits of various colors; and in the mountains are streaks, white and red, of various hues and (others) intensely black?
28. And of men and beasts and cattle are various species of it likewise; those of His servants only who are possessed of knowledge fear Allah; surely Allah is Mighty, Forgiving.
29. Surely they who recite the Book of Allah and keep up Salah and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly, hope for such gain which will not perish.
30. That He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace: surely He is Forgiving, Multiplier of rewards.
31. And that which We have revealed to you of the Book, that is the truth verifying that which is before it; most surely with respect to His servants Allah is Aware, Seeing.
32. Then We gave the Book for inheritance to those whom We had chosen from among Our servants; but of them is he who makes his soul to suffer a loss, and of them is he who takes a middle course, and of them is he who is foremost in deeds of goodness by Allah's permission; this is the great excellence.
33. Gardens of perpetuity, they shall enter therein; they shall be made to wear therein bracelets of gold and pearls, and their dress therein shall be silk.
34. And they shall say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has made grief to depart from us; most surely our Lord is Forgiving, Multiplier of rewards,
35. Who has made us alight in a house abiding forever out of His grace; toil shall not touch us therein, nor shall fatigue therein afflict us.
36. And (as for) those who disbelieve, for them is the fire of hell; it shall not be finished with them entirely so that they should die, nor shall the chastisement thereof be lightened to them: thus do We punish every ungrateful one.
37. And they shall cry therein for succor: O our Lord! take us out, we will do good deeds other than those which we used to do. Did We not preserve you alive long enough, so that he who would be mindful in it should mind? And there came to you the warner; therefore, taste-- because for the unjust, there is no helper.
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At the start of the Ruku, Allah asks for observation that He sends rains from the sky nearby and then He brings forth from the earth different kinds of fruits that are different in color, taste and good odor; even mountains are different as they have different streaks of colors that are white and even red, and some are intensely black; note that Allah expresses the diversity in His creation at this AAYAT by His name first and then takes-up the royal manner of speech for Him that “We bring forth therewith fruits of various colors”; this manner of expression in the Quran is termed as ILTIFAAT and note also that even when the Quran applies ILTIFAAT, the meanings to the AAYAAT still remain most obvious at such places and the reciter of the Quran does get acquainted with this manner with pleasure without any problem; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the second AAYAT tells about the diversity that relates to mankind and animals, especially the cattle, as they also have different colors, height, weight, physique and as for mankind, there are those who are most attentive to Allah at inside sincerely because Allah has provided them the extensive knowledge of the Truth which does guide them to fear Allah, Who is Mighty to bring any calamity by wrongs of men yet Who is Forgiving of many of those so that men do get space to make themselves better to get results in their favor at AKHIIRAT, that is the true life ahead; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-29 & 30 read, “surely they who recite the Book of Allah (i.e. the Quran) and keep-up Salah and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly (as these both make them attentive to Allah and unconcerned to worldly assets respectively), hope for such gain (at AKHIRAT) which will not perish; that He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace (so each of virtues would get its reward 10 times of it at least)- surely He is Forgiving (of wrongs at the world), Multiplier of rewards (at AKHIRAT)”; Al-Hamdu Lillah; the next AAYAT mentions about the Quran that whatever Allah has revealed to the Prophet PBUH, it certainly guides to the right path as it is the whole Truth and it certainly verifies those teachings of Torah that actually relate to the fundamental teachings of Islam; Allah knows that the mankind needs the Guidance to the right path as He is Most Aware of their doings and Most Caring to provide them the virtuous manner to live-on so that they accept it totally and save themselves from the most severe punishment at the life at AKHIRAT that would never end; Al-Hamdu Lillah; AAYAAT-32 & 33 mention that Allah has chosen the Muslims to get this Holy Book Quran through Muhammad PBUH, the last Messenger of Allah, and to care for it in the best manner that is possible for them; in Muslims, there are such persons who do not care for commands of Allah that the Quran presents to them so they are certain to suffer an extreme loss at AKHIRAT; and in them, are such persons too who take a middle course by putting into practice the prominent commands of Allah and by avoiding all major sins (so they live at position of ADL and for them, Allah is Merciful) and in them, are such persons too who are foremost in deeds of goodness by Allah's permission (so they live at position of EHSAAN and for their virtuous deeds, Allah is Multiplier of rewards); note that the Quran asks all Muslims for five things that are to believe in it firmly, to read it on, to understand it, to apply it to life and to ask all to apply it to life; the Holy Book Quran is essentially the message of Allah to guide all among the mankind (and all among the jinn) towards the right path, practically asking them all to follow the SUNNAH, and then by asking Allah for safety, to avoid putting satanic temptations into practice; so they all come near to Allah and they all save themselves from the hell-fire and they all gain the beautiful security at the beautiful gardens of paradise; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all these persons who are foremost in deeds of goodness by TOFIQ from Allah, would receive such placement at JANNAAT, the gardens of perpetuity, where they would have wonderful bracelets of gold and pearls, and their dress shall be of silk; they would praise Allah that He has provided them with such beautiful gardens where they would never face any such thing that grieves them and He certainly is Forgiving and He certainly is Multiplier of rewards; they shall also acknowledge that Allah has provided them such beautiful residence by His grace wherein toil shall not touch them and wherein fatigue shall not afflict them; Al-Hamdu Lillah; as for disbelievers in the fundamental teachings of Islam, that also include the hypocrites, they would be put into the hell-fire and even with their wish to die, they shall not die nor shall its chastisement be lightened to them as Allah punishes most severely all such persons who are extremely ungrateful to Him when He has guided them most explicitly towards the right path; Al-Hamdu Lillah; their extreme plight at the outcome of their wrongs, would be that they shall ask Allah when they would be inside the hell-fire, for succor that they would do good deeds other than those wrongs which they used to do at life at the world; but Allah would reject their plea and His answer to that would be that He had given them ample time-period to accept the Truth while there arose in them the warner of this outcome by the will of Allah if they live by disbelieving in the fundamental teachings of Islam; they have no option at this time but to taste the chastisement that they have received by their own doings; they were most unjust to themselves and to all persons near to them at life at the world and they would not find any helper now; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
FAATIR-The Last Ruku
38. Surely Allah is the Knower of what is unseen in the heavens and the earth; surely He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts.
39. He it is Who made you rulers in the land; therefore, whoever disbelieves, his disbelief is against himself; and their disbelief does not increase the disbelievers with their Lord in anything except hatred; and their disbelief does not increase the disbelievers in anything except loss.
40. Say: Have you considered your associates which you call upon besides Allah? Show me what part of the earth they have created, or have they any share in the heavens; or, have We given them a book so that they follow a clear argument thereof? Nay, the unjust do not hold out promises one to another but only to deceive.
41. Surely Allah upholds the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught; and if they should come to naught, there is none who can uphold them after Him; surely He is the Forbearing, the Forgiving.
42. And they swore by Allah with the strongest of their oaths that if there came to them a warner they would be better guided than any of the nations; but when there came to them a warner it increased them in naught but aversion.
43. (In) behaving proudly in the land and in planning evil; and the evil plans shall not beset any save the authors of it. Then should they wait for aught except the way of the former people? For you shall not find any alteration in the course of Allah; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah.
44. Have they not travelled in the land and seen how was the end of those before them while they were stronger than these in power? And Allah is not such that anything in the heavens or in the earth should escape Him; surely He is Knowing, Powerful.
45. And were Allah to punish men for what they earn, He would not leave on the back of it any creature, but He respites them till an appointed term; so when their doom shall come, then surely Allah is Seeing with respect to His servants.
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The last Ruku of Surah FAATIR tells that Allah only is truly powerful Who has all authority to destroy the disbelievers totally by any of such happenings that are termed as natural calamities; He has made the set-up that everything cares for life of the mankind and its sustenance by His will but He destroyed all those disbelievers who had challenged Him and certainly, nothing of His creation has any power against Him; Al-Hamdu Lillah; all persons need to understand that this time-period that Allah has given them at the world, is most valuable and they must put it to use by complying to commands of Allah, the true Lord; it is the only aim of life and they would lose all if they do not comply to it; certainly, Allah only has the true authority; the Ruku starts by the statement, “surely Allah is the Knower of what is unseen in the heavens and the earth; (so) He surely is Cognizant of what is inside the hearts”; all persons shall live upon the right path as Allah asks for that only, from all of them and He would decide for all of them on the specific Day of Judgment; the Ruku tells that He has made the mankind to inhabit the earth which is the most secure place for their life, but with the task of remaining totally attentive to Allah; if they disbelieve in the fundamental teachings of Islam, that is most detrimental to their own selves as it takes them faraway from Allah, the true Lord; Allah asks the Prophet PBUH to ask them what part of the earth those have created whom they call as associates besides Allah or do the disbelievers take them as having a share in the making of heavens; or they consider that Allah has given them some book that they take an argument for their disbelief thereof; but certainly their disbelief is due to their deceit to each other and they certainly are most unjust persons; the simple fact is this that Allah has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them; He only, upholds the heavens and the earth lest they leave their position; it is by His will that they do not lose their respective positions and certainly, there is none who can uphold them besides Him; surely He is the Forbearing that even with all disobedience of His commands, He still provides the space to disbelievers to make themselves better for success at AKHIRAT and surely He is Forgiving to many of wrongs of men at the world; note that AAYAT-45 at this Ruku that is its last AAYAT and also the last AAYAT of this Surah, reads, “and were Allah to punish men for what they earn (i.e. for their wrong-doings), He would not leave on the back of it any creature, but He respites them till an appointed term; so when their doom shall come, then surely Allah is Seeing with respect to His servants”; note that when the disbelievers reject the Truth totally and oppose it in such manner that there remains no chance that they would accept that, then Allah ends the time given to them all at the world and destroys them all in huge number; Al-Hamdu Lillah; it does not do good to the man to consider that he has developed to such extent where he has achieved such status that he may deal with any averse situation that challenges him, without any need to ask Allah for his safety; it happens then that he plans to end that situation by his efforts without being attentive to Allah and then finds that he has complicated the situation so then he plans to end that complication by his efforts and then finds that he has enhanced that complication; Allah only has the true authority to end all adversities to the man and he needs to remain totally attentive to Him, the true Lord; AYAAT-42 & 43 tell the attitudes of the disbelievers at Arabia then, while AAYAT-44 guides them to the virtuous manner to get the virtuous teachings that the Prophet PBUH had presented to them; they state that there were such persons in disbelievers then, who had sworn most emphatically that if some Messenger of Allah comes to them as warner to them, they would be better guided than any of nations to whom Allah sent His Messengers before; but when he did come, it increased their aversion to the Truth whereas their attitude was to behave arrogantly in the land and take-up evil planning; but the evil plans shall beset their planners only so they need to wait for extreme destruction that had come upon disbelievers among the former people; this is the manner of Allah to deal with all those who challenge His true authority and there certainly is no alteration in this manner of Allah; these disbelievers too would get extreme punishment even at the world and even at AKHIRAT though they might think that they have achieved such power that has made them invincible; and there certainly is no change in this manner of Allah; if they travel in the land, they would see how was the end of those disbelievers in Islam that were before them while they were even stronger than these disbelievers and there is no place where these disbelievers might escape Him in heavens or in the earth; certainly, He is Most Knowing and Most Powerful; Al-Hamdu Lillah.
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