B i s m i l l a a h i r R a h m a a n i r R a h e e m Teachings of the Qur`aan Al-Muddaththir
Teachings and Commentary Soorah 74:8-31 Ayub A. Hamid The chiefs of Quraish were especially upset and wanted to stop his mission in its tracks. Their reaction was based purely on their selfish worldly expediencies, as they did not believe in the Hereafter. However, when they were warned about it, they would claim that if there would be any Hereafter, they would have the same kind of good life and status as they currently enjoyed in this world. The next three verses warn them of the consequences of their reactive behaviour and fallacy of their expectations. 8 Mind you, when the trumpet is sounded, 9 that period shall be a difficult period, 10 for the disbelievers, anything but easy. It warns them of the extremely painful circumstances that they will encounter, but implies that it will be an easy time for the true believers. After this brief general warning to all disbelievers, the next section specifically speaks to the role of Waleed ibn Mugheerah in devising the propaganda campaign against the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam. Although the meeting was attended by many and although some of the participants were more aggressive against the Prophet than Waleed, his role has been selected for many reasons: · He steered the meeting to build a consensus, when without his role, they could not have come up with an effective strategy; · Knowing that the accusations and epithets that were being fabricated for the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam were all invalid, he continued to lead the group in inventing a falsehood, even though it was a good opportunity for him to do the right thing and dissuade others from indulging in false propaganda against the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam; and lastly, · His attitude and mentality was typical of other Makkan chiefs who were involved in opposing the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam. Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala's commentary on Waleed's role and behaviour starts with words of consolation to the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam. It assures him that he did not have to worry about Waleed or his cohorts, because Allaah himself would be taking care of them. The Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam should leave such matters with Allaah and focus exclusively on his mission. 11 Leave Me to deal with him whom I created alone, 12 and granted vast riches 13 and attendant sons, 14 and made things smooth and easy for him; 15 yet he desires that I should add more! 16 By no means! He is hostile to Our revelations. 17 Soon I will make him suffer an arduous, insurmountable climb. Waleed's birth has been mentioned to indicate his humble beginning like any human child, coming into the world alone and empty handed. If he was able to accumulate wealth and to have many sons adding to his power and status by their attending to him, and if he found himself in favourable circumstances to enable him attain a leadership position in the society, he should have been grateful to Allaah for His bounties. He should have expressed his gratitude by doing the right thing and following the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam. Instead, he showed his greed by going along with other chiefs and submitting to their pressure merely in order to serve his worldly expediencies. In addition, he countered the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam's warning about the Hereafter by claiming that if there would be a Garden in the Hereafter, it would be for his enjoyment. Verse 16 categorically negates his expectation because those who become the enemies of Allaah's revelations do not get comfort and enjoyment in the Hereafter. Rather, they suffer an arduous punishment that will be insurmountable as mentioned by the verse. The next few verses describe his mental state and its physical manifestations that he went through when coming up with a propaganda theme while knowing it to be untrue and while recognizing the truthfulness of the prophetic message. 18 Verily, he reflected and contrived, 19 and destroyed be he for how he contrived. 20 Again, destroyed be he for how he contrived. 21 Then he looked up, 22 then he frowned and scowled, 23 then he stepped back and showed his arrogance, 24 and said, "This is just some magic which has been handed down; 25 this is merely the word of a human being." The Qur-aan was called magic for two reasons: Firstly, because of its stunningly beautiful literary style that used to penetrate the hearts of people. Anyone who would listen to the Qur-aan with open heart would be impressed by its literary beauty and attracted to its message. Secondly, people thought of magic as something that was used to create problems in their enemies' families. From their perspective, the Qur-aan was responsible for causing divisions and strife in families because those who would accept the call of the Qur-aan were rejected and persecuted by their families and clans, and thus families were divided and family life disturbed. Although the problem was self created, the Qur-aan was blamed for it. The next few verses describe the intensity of the punishment of the fire of Hell that the rejecters of the Qur-aan would be thrown into. 26 Soon will I cast him into Hell-Fire! 27And what will make you perceive what Hell-Fire is? 28 It will pity naught and spare naught, 29 instantly shrivelling human skin. 30 Over it will be nineteen wardens -- 31 We have appointed only angels to be wardens of the Fire, and We have not mentioned their number except as a test for those who disbelieve and so that; a.. Those who have been given the book are convinced, b.. Those who believe increase in faith; c.. Those who have been given the book and the believers will have no doubt; and d.. Those in whose hearts there is disease and the disbelievers say, "What does Allaah mean by this sort of mention?" Thus Allaah misguides whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. No one knows the forces of your Lord except He Himself, and this is merely an admonition for humanity. The expression "What will make you perceive what Hell-Fire is?" is to draw listeners' attention to and invoke their imagination for its grave dreadfulness. In addition to being dreadful, it will not spare anyone who should be punished and will not have pity for anyone who is entrusted to it. Its intense heat will shrivel skin and disfigure bodies of people approaching it. Then it will burn them throughout without letting them die. There will be nineteen wardens who will be taking care of all matters related to the Hell and its inhabitants. Obviously, the capabilities and powers of the wardens are totally beyond human perception. They are mentioned only to tell us about what is waiting for those who reject the messages and messengers of Allaah, not to describe precisely their exact nature. Like their capabilities and powers, we can neither fathom why their number will be 19, why not more or less, nor should we try to speculate. Believers know that these matters are beyond human capacity to understand. When they are informed of such matters, knowing that they are from Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala Who has absolute knowledge of all facts, they accept them as they are mentioned without trying to determine their exact nature in human terms. This trust in Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala strengthens their faith. The disbelievers, on the other hand, try to evaluate these matters of Hereafter from the perspective of their finite worldly experiences which is a totally absurd thing to do. Naturally, they fail to make sense of it and make fun of it, thus going even farther astray. That is exactly what happened when these verses were revealed. The disbelievers started making fun of the fact that there will be only 19 wardens to take care of zillions of people that will be thrown in Hell. Aboo Jahl suggested that they groups of ten persons each should easily be able to overcome each of the nineteen. One of them even boasted that he would be able to handle 17 on his own, and the rest of the disbelievers could handle the remaining two. Little did they know about the powers of the creations of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala! Verse 31 was revealed in response to the jeers of the disbelievers and was inserted as a parenthetical remark immediately after the mention of 19, interrupting the flow of the discourse[1]. The verse makes the following points: · People should understand that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala employs angels on duties like serving as wardens of Hell, and their power and capability should not be estimated on human scales; · Their number has been disclosed as a test for the people so that: o Anyone who does not have the right kind of faith in Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala and His revelations can come out in the open with his doubts about such statements; o The true believers can see the commitment of the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam to deliver the exact message, hear the nonsensical comments from the opponents, pass the test of believing in the words of Allaah even when beyond their understanding, and thus increase and strengthen in faith through this process. Faith grows and strengthens as it passes through tough tests. o The sincere ones from the People with the earlier books know that a true messenger presents the revelation without worrying about the reaction of the people to the message revealed. From the way the Prophet sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam presents everything that is revealed to him exactly, purely and fearlessly, without being afraid about how the listeners are going to react, could serve as evidence for them that he is a true messenger. o Those People with the book who suffer from the disease of jealousy against Muslims, those people who suffer from the diseases of doubtfulness and scepticism and those who disbelieve could be clearly identified through their jeers and their wondering "how this kind of statements can be made by God?" · This is Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala's way of guiding right-minded people to guidance and crooked-minded people to misguidance. · It is impossible for human beings to know all the creations of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala in the universe, their powers, their capabilities and their roles in Allaah's scheme of things. The crooked-minded and misguided people do not realize the limitations of their knowledge and understanding and that is why they jeer at such things or doubt their validity and veracity. · The most important of all purposes for revealing matters about Hell Fire is that the right minded people can learn lessons, gain admonition from such revelation, and thus save themselves from the Fire. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The verse mentions "People with the Book" and "People with sick attitude." Because "People with the Book" were directly addressed in the Qur-aan during Madeenan period and because the "People with sick attitude" was often used for hypocrites during Madeenan period, hence some people think that this verse was revealed in Madeenah. However, their opinion is not valid. Although People with the Book were not directly addressed during Makkan period, they were mentioned and referred to in many verses even during early Makkan period. Similarly, "People with sick attitude" has been used in the Qur-aan for those who harbour jealousy, undue scepticism and/or doubts, in addition to that kind of hypocrisy that was found in Madeenah. The fact is that the verse was revealed right away in Makkah when objections were raised, not years later in Madeenah when there was no reason for such clarification. In addition, according to the Qur-aanic style, starting the verse with a conjunction "and" indicates that it was linked with the other text right away, as opposed to the example of previous Soorah, Al-Muzzammil, where a verse revealed in Madeenah was appended without a conjunction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2009 Ayub A. Hamid All rights reserved This document may be used, only with this copyright notice included. Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on internet forums, and include in not-for-profit publications subject to the following conditions: (1) Material used must be produced faithfully in full, without alteration or omission; (2) The author's subject title must remain unchanged, in whole or in part; (3) Material must be attributed to the author Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid. Contact the author for all other rights, which are reserved. Note: This series is providing the teachings of the Qur`aan, not a literal translation. Instead of literal translation, it gives interpretive meanings of the verses, along with their contextual details. Please remember that any translation of the Holy Qur`aan is in fact only an expression of the translator's understanding of the Word of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta`aala, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur`aan itself. Only the original Arabic text can be called the Holy Qur`aan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid is a visionary and strategic Islamic thinker residing in Canada for the last 34 years. His recently published books are: 1. Islam - Does It Make Sense? 2. Unveiling the Commands - The Truth about Hijaab, Khimaar and Jilbaab. 3. Finding A Soulmate - A Guide for Parents and Youth. 4. A Book Unlike Any Other. 5. Islam - Adopting Its Paradigms. 6. Exploring the Islamic Beliefs. http://soundvisioncanada.com/shop/pbrowse.asp?Pg=3&Cat=10004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following soowar 'Teachings of the Qur`aan' series by Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid, are available on request:- Al Faatihah Al Baqarah Aali`Imraan A Nisaa' Al Maaidah Al An`aam Al A`raaf Al Anfaal At Teen Al`Alaq Al Qadr Al Bayyinah Al Zilzaal Al Aadiyatt Al Qaari`ah At Takaathur Al`Asr Al Humazah Al Feel Al Quraish Al Maa`oon Al-Kowthar Al Kaafiroon Al Nasr Al Lahab Al Ikhlaas Al Falaq An Naas Al Mulk Al Qalam Al Haaqqah Al Ma`aarij Nooh Al Jinn Al Muzammil Al Muddaththir - Name, Background and Placement / Teachings and Commentary K a r i m a -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
