1096 English MaarifulQuran MuftiShafiUsmaniRA Vol 8 Page 846 902

8/8/2019 1096 English MaarifulQuran MuftiShafiUsmaniRA Vol 8 Page 846 902

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Siirah Al-Qadr: 97 : 1 - 5 846The Value and Importance of the Night and aSpecial Du5 for the Night

The greatest virtue of the Night is mentioned in the SGrah itself, thatis, the acts of worship performed in th is single night is better th anworship in one thousand months which amounts to eighty-three yearsand four months. The figure here and elsewhere in the Qur'Zn does notsignify its precise number, but simply denotes a very large or highnumber. Allah alone knows how much more or better.

It is recorded in BukhZri and Muslim on the authority of SayyidnZAbG Hurairah & hat the Messenger of Allah $!$ said: "He who spendsth e Night of Qadr i n the worship of Allah, all his pas t sins will beforgiven." Sayyidnii Ibn 'AbbZs& narrates that the Messenger of Allah$$$said: "All th e angels resident a t th e 'Lote Tree of the UttermostBoundary' descend in the leadership of SayyidnZ Jibra'a and greetevery believer, man or woman, except one who takes wine or eats pork."Another narration reports that anyone who is deprived of the good of theNight of Qadr is in fact deprived of all good. On the Night of Qadr somepeople experience and witness special anwar [lights]. However, it may benoted that this is not experienced or witnessed by all and sundry nor is itpart of the blessings and reward of the Night. Therefore, people shouldnot concern themselves about it.

Sayyidah 'A'ishah Ic,ki &J once asked the Messenger of Allah '&$what supplication she should make if she finds the Night. The Messenger8 ' $ > , , r i ,of Allah advised her to make the following supplication:- A! I2 6910Allah! Verily, You are the Oft-Pardoning, You love topardon, so do pardon me." [Qurtubi].Revelation of the Holy Qur5n

Verse [I]Jal 2 a$


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Siirah Al-Qadr : 97 : 1 - 5 847consisting of the opening verses of SGrah [961, took place in the month ofRamadan on the Night of Qadr, when the Messenger of Allah $&$was athis devotion in the cave of HirZ. The rest of the Qur'zn was revealed littleby little according to the need of different occasions.All Heavenly Books were revealed in Ramadan

Sayyidna Abu Dhar GhiGri & narrates that the Messenger of Allahsaid: "Holy Prophet Ibrahim's && Scriptures were revealed on 3rd of

Ramadan; Torah was revealed on 6th of Ramadan; 1nj;l was revealed on13th of Ramadan; ZabGr was revealed on 18th of Ramadan; and the HolyQur'Zn was revealed on 24th of Ramadan." [ M a T h a d .Descent of the Angels and the Spirit with Divine Decrees

Verse [4 ] ijfiljwl h> (The angels and the Spirit descend in it , withthe leave of their Lord, along with every command.) 'Spirit' here refers toJibra'il @I.

Sayyidna Anas & na rrates t ha t the Messenger of Allah $$$ said:"When the Night of Qadr occurs, Jibra'il =I descends on the earth with ahuge throng of angels and all of them pray for every servant of Allah,man or woman, busy in salt& or dhikr, to be blessed by Allah." [Mazhar i ] .In the phrase>i?j along with every command), the preposition min is

I 'used in the sense of 'with' as in [13:11] &\>I2% The verse undercomment means the angels bring down, during the Night of Qadr, thedecree for everything destined to occur in the coming year. Some of the

,' *I * >commentators, like MujZhid and others, say that the phrase 313s' minI ,kulli amrin is syntactically related to salam, and the word 'Amr means'every thing'. Thus they interpret the statement to mean: 'The night is asecurity from every evil, harm and calamity.' [IbnKathir] .

Verse [51 '& (Peace i t is till the rising of dawn.) The word Salam[peace] stands for a complete sentence meaning 'it is all peace, equanimityand complete goodness, having no evil in it. ' [Qurtubi] . Some scholars trea t

* ' .the word Salamun as a sentence qualifying >I ;i min kulli amrin,I 'meaning 'the angels come with every such matter which is good and

peace'. [Mazhar i l .41 & i;j The concluding expression of th e verse means the

blessings of the Night of Qadr are not restricted to any particular part of


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SErah Al-Qadr : 97 : 1 - 5 848the night. They start descending at the fall of night and continue till thebreak of dawn.Special Note

According to the re verse 'The Night of Power is bett er th an athousand months' which equals eighty-three years and four months.Obviously, each year will contain a laylatul Qadr which will be betterthan a thousand months. As a result, the Night of Qadr will recur adinfiniturn, that is, repeat or continue without an end. For this reason,some of the commentators say the expression 'more th an a thousandmonths' does not include nights of Qadr. Thus this should not pose anyproblem. [Ibn KathI r on the au thor i ty of Mujghidl.

On account of geographical positions, the time will vary from place toplace. As a result, the Night of Qadr will not occur in all the regions of theworld simultaneously. This is not a problem because people of eachlocation should calculate and consecrate t he nigh t an d receive i tsblessings according to their geographical position. Allah, the Pure andExalted, knows best.Ruling

If anyone performs the 'Isha' and Fajr saliihs in congregation, he willreceive the blessings and reward of the Night of Qadr. The more oneperforms acts of worship in this night, th e more he shall receive it sblessings. It is recorded in SahTh of Muslim that SayyidnE 'UthmZn &narrates that the Messenger of Allah said: "If a person performs his'Isha' sal?ih in congregation, he will attain the blessings of spending halfthe night in devotion; and if he performs Fajr salEh in congregation, hewill attain the blessings of spending the entire night in devotion."

AlhamdulillahThe Commentary on

SErah Al-QadrEnds here


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Siirah Al-Bayyinah : 98 : 1 - 8 849

Siirah Al-Bayyinah(The Clear Proof)

This Shrah is Madani, and it has 8 verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-MercifulVerses 1 - 8

Those who disbelieved from among the People of theBook, and the polytheists, were not (expected) to desist(from their wrong beliefs) unless there came to them aclear proof, [ l l a messenger from Allah who recites the


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SGrah Al-Bayyinah : 98 : 1 - 8 850purified scrolls [21 containing (r ig ht and) straig htwritings. [31And those who were given the Book did notdisagree but after th e clear proof came to them, [41while they were not ordered but to worship Allah,making their submission exclusive for him withintegrity, and to establish saliih and pay zakah. Andthat is the way of the straight religion. [5] Surely thosewho disbelieved from among the People of the Book andth e polytheists will be in th e fire of Jah an na m , inwhich they will be living forever. Those are the worst ofall human beings. [61As for those who believed and didrighteous deeds, they are the best of all human beings.[71Their reward, with their Lord, is gardens of eternitybeneath which rivers flow in which they will be abidingforever. Allah is pleased with them, and they arepleased with Him. That is for him who has awe of hisLord. [81

Situation of the People of the Book and of the Pagan Arabsbefore the advent of the Final Messenger of Allah

Verse [l] raws attention to the situa tion of the world before th eadvent of the Messenger of Allahg:he entire world was sunk deeply inth e da rkness of ignorance, superstition, corruption, disbelief andpaganism. When the whole world was so benighted, the infinite grace,mercy and wisdom of the Lord of the worlds bubbled up to dispel thedarkness, to cure the obnoxious diseases and to dissipate the universallyprevailing calamities. The moral and spir itual maladies were acute,excruciating, serious and severe. As a result , there was a need for aneffective, expert and a competent healer who would be able to cure them.Such a healer was raised in the person of the Final Messenger of Allahwho is described as a l -Bayy inah 'The Clear Proof. The healer came with aBook. Now follows some of the important characterist ics of the HolyQur'Zn.

Verses [2-31 '- 3 .:$ 13a messenger from Allah whorecites the purified scrolls containing [right and] straight writings. - 98:2,3)The verb yatl i i is derived from the infinitive t i l awah , meaning 'to readout or to recite'. However, not every reading or reciting is t i l awah , butonly the one tha t is very closely followed according to the teache r'sinstruction. Probably, thi s is th e reason why t he word t i l Ew a h isspecifically used, in common idiom, for 'the recitation of the noble Qur'Zn'


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SiirahAl-Bayyinah : 98 : 1 - 8 851. The word suhof is the plural of sahifah and it refers to 'a leaf or a pageof a book or some leaves of paper on which something is written'. ~h~word kutiib is the plural of kitZb and i t may mean: [ l l a leaf or page of abook or some leaves of paper on which something is written. From thispoint of view, the words kutiib and suhuf are synonyms; or [21 now andthen the word kitlib [pl. kutiib] is used in the sense of a 'writ ' as in [8:681415 Y> "Had the re not been a wr it from Allah which cameearlier..." the word kitZb is used in the sense of a 'writ'. In this context,the second sense seems to fit in more appropriately because if it is taken inth e firs t sense, the words kutiib and suhu f , being synonyms, theprepositional phrase fihE is rendered meaningless. The pronoun -hZ inthe phrase refers to suhuf , and the two statements would mean: 'recitingpurified written pages in which are true written pages'. This is not inkeeping with the lofty rules and principles of Qur'Znic eloquence.

* / 9 ' >The word i,& mutahharatan [purified] is an adjective qualifying thenoun suhuf [pages/scrolls].According to Ibn 'AbbZs&, he Scriptures arecompletely free from all possible flaws, forgeries, doubt, hypocrisy anddeviations. The word qayyimah is used in the sense of 'straight', and isthe adjective of the noun kutiib, and it means its laws, ordinances andinjunctions are upright, straight, just and balanced. I t could also mean'lasting and permanent'. In this instance, the phrase would signify thatthe Divine injunctions of the Holy Qur'an will last permanently till theDay of Judgement. The verse thus purports to say that the sending of theHoly Prophet Muhammad [as the Clear Proofl was essential to thetransformation of the people of earlier revelations and the pagans whohad ended up in disbelief and could not have departed from their erringways without the help of his Prophetic mission. His mission was torecite the pure scrolls to them which contained clear Divine injunctions.Initially he #!$did not recite from the Scriptures but from his memory, butthe sense here is that he recited to them a discourse that was later writtenand preserved in scrolls. The Qur'Zn [as the Clear Proofl is th ecompendium of all that is good, lasting and immutable teachings.

"*,9 > > ,-Verse [4] +&f>6 I ;d L;j (And those who weregiven the ~ o o kid not disagree but after the Clear Proof came to them.)The verb tafarraqa here means 'to deny, reject or differ and disagree'. The


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Siirah Al-Bayyinah : 98 : 1 - 8 852verse means to say that the People of the Book had eagerly awaited theadvent of a great Holy Prophet about whom clear prophecies werefound in their Scriptures, clear description of the Holy Prophet % wasgiven, in th a t the Qur'Zn would descend upon him and it would becompulsory for them to obey and follow him, but when he appeared infact, then instead of accepting him, they rejected him. The Qur'Zn pointsout th a t there was a complete agreement among the Jews and theChristians that the Final Messenger % will make his appearance, as in

, . / , > ' , > ' ', ,[2:891 ljp( & a 3-);r: jK 3 ...while earlier, they used to seekhelp against those who disbelieved .."That is, the Torah had in severalplaces foretold the coming of the Holy Prophet %. In fact, the Jewsthemselves used to tell the pagan Arabs that a new Prophet was soon tocome who will vanquish them, and the Jews claimed that they would bewith him, so they would be victorious. Further in [2:89] the Qur'Zn states

, J " ,',, @ ,' -/%Ij/ 19,sL y 6 a ...yet when there came to the m th a t they dididentify, they denied it.. ". The phrase 'that they did identify' could referto the 'Final Messenger' $$or the 'new Divine Book [the Qur7Zn1' or the'religion of Tru th' . The same theme r un s through the verse undercomment: Many people accepted the new Prophet %, the new Book andth e new religion in terms of the prophecies made in the ir revealedScriptures, but a large number, especially the Christians, rejected them. Itis a strange phenomenon that before his advent they believed in himwithout a single dissenting voice, but when he appeared as the ClearProof, dissention arose and a large number rejected him while a smallnumber believed in him.

Since this phenomenon was restricted to the People of the Book, it didnot include the pagans, unlike verse I11 which includes the pagans also.Allah knows best!

Verse [51els;:?,:; (And that is the way of the straight religion.)The word payy~mahthe straight] is apparently the qualifier of the nounkutiib [Books] which occurred earlier. Some treat the adjective asqualifying the noun millah [religion]. The verse purports to say th atAllah commanded the People of the former Scriptures that they shouldrender full and sincere obedience to Divine commandments, that is, toworship Allah alone. They should also establish the regular prayers and


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Siirah Al-Bayyinah : 98 : 1 - 8 853pay th e obligatory alms. Then the Qur'Zn reminds them that th is is notthe ir distinctive feature exclusively. All former religions t ha t ar e upr ightan d received Books from Allah have the same features. This is the t ruereligion of all th e Pro phe ts $$$ t h a t they preached t o th e i r respect ivepeople. I t would appear t ha t the phrase k u t u b u n qayyimah [(right and)str aig ht writings], contextually, refers to th e Qur'Znic ordinances an dinjunctions. Fro m th is point of view, t h e verse would signify t h a t th eord inances and in junc t ions of th e Sh ar 7a h of t h e Holy Pro phe tMuhammad $$$ are exactly the same a s those tha t were given to them i nthe ir revealed Scriptures. They were not divergent so tha t they could finda pretext to oppose.

b,., > 'Verse [81 '4;5 ,4;=19 $ 51& Allah is pleased withthem, a nd they a re pleased wi th Him; th a t is for him who fears his Lord.)This verse points to th e high est st ag e of spirit ual development of th einmates of Paradise, t ha t is, the Divine pleasure with no danger of Divinedispleasure. This is the greatest reward with which the people of faith willbe blessed. The God-fearing people ar e well-pleased with Him because oft h e comprehensive favours H e h a s given th em. SayyidnZ AbG Sa'idKhudrT& nar rates t hat t he Messenger of Allah $$$ said:

"Undoubtedly, Allah shall address the inmates of Paradise:31G'0 Inmates of Paradise!' "

They will reply:3-j;'2 1;- i L jg;a ur Lord, weare present and ready to carry out Your orders. All good is inYour control.'Allah shall ask them:&;&Are you happy?'They will submit: 'How can we not be happy when You havegiven us what You have not bestowed on any of Your creation? 'Allah will tell them: 'Shall I not grant you something superiorto all of this?'They will exclaim: 'What can be superior to this?'Allah will reply: 'I shall grant you My pleasure, and I will neverbe angry with you in the future."'. [Transmitted by al-Bukhanvide Mazhari].

I t should be noted here t ha t there a re two types of rida' [pleasure]:


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SErah Al-Bayyinah: 98 : 1 - 8 854one in general sense; and second in specific or higher sense. In thegeneral sense, rids' bil-qadr (i.e. to be pleased with every decree ofAllah) is part of the obligations of a servant of Allah. A consummatedslave is only ever satisfied and content with Allah Himself, and thussincerely accepts the Divine decree. However, here the word is used in thehigher sense, that is, Allah bestows upon a slave all his specific wishesand ambitions without leaving out any of them as in [93:51 && 27 ' ;.-, , ,&;;;IAJ And of course, your Lord will give you so much that you will bepleased.) Here also the word ' r id i ikeans the fulfillment of every wish ofthe Holy Prophet g.When this verse was revealed, the Messenger ofAllah expressed his wish and ambition that he would not be pleaseduntil every single believer is taken out of Hell. [Mazhar;]

Verse [8 - the concluding phrase] '4; &2, ; ...That is for himwho has awe of his Lord.) The word 'fear' or 'awe' here is not used in thesense of an 'agitated, disturbed or perturbed feeling' which we naturallyhave for an enemy, a beast, a ferocious animal or an obnoxious thing thatmight harm us. 'Khashyatullah' (Allah's awe) is, on th e contrary, afeeling of deep, reverential awe that leads man to Allah's obedience. It isth e awe of Allah's Majesty and His Incomparability th a t makes th eperfect slave do every work under every circumstance to attain the Divinepleasure and evade every occasion of His displeasure. This is the axis onwhich rotates the religious perfection and all bounties of the Hereafter.

AlbamdulillahThe Commentary onS'Eirah Al-Bayyinah

Ends here


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Siirah Az-ZilzZl: 99 : 1 - 8 855

SGrahAz-Zilzal(TheQuake)

This Stirah is Madani, and it has 8 verses

With t he n ame of Allah, t h e All-Merciful, the Very-MercifulVerses 1 8

When the earth will be trembled with its quake, [I]andthe earth will bring forth its burdens, [2] and man willsay, "What ha s hap pened to it?" [3] That day it willdescribe all its happenings, [4] because its Lord willhave so commanded it. [5]That day the people will comeback (from the place of reckoning) in different groups,so that they may be shown (the fruits of) their deeds. [61So, whoever does good (even) to the weight of a particleshall see it. [ 7 ]And whoever does evil (eve n) to th eweight of a particle shall see it. [81

Th e Meri ts of Surah Az-ZilzalSayyidnZ Anas and Ibn 'AbbZs @ report th at the Messenger of

Allah said that SGrah Al-ZilzZl equals half the Qur'an, SZrah Al-IkhlZsequals a third of the Qur'Zn and Siirah Al-Efi run equals a quarter ofthe Qur'Zn. [Transmitted by al-Tirrnidhi, al-BaghawI and al-Mazharil.


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The Scene of the Day of Resurrection, , ,Verse [I] @I& & J ~ I J)j li! (When the earth will be trembled with itsquake.) It is not clear whether this earthquake refers to the convulsionthat will take place in the world before the 'first blowing of the trumpet' ,as is mentioned in connection with the portents of the Doomsday, or itrefers to the quake that will occur after the 'second blowing' when thedead bodies will be resurrected and thrown out of their graves. Narrativesand views of the commentators differ on this issue. It is not inconceivablethat many quakes and convulsions would occur: first, before the 'firstblowing'; and second, after the 'second blowing' a t the time of raising thedead. Here i t probably refers to th e second quake, and t he contextsupports it, because the SErah later on describes the scenes of the Day ofResurrection, such as reckoning, weighing and evaluating of deeds, andrecompense .Allah knows best. [MazharTl

Verse [2] @ ~ $ J $ I (and the earth will bring forth its burdens.)Muslim has recorded in his Sahih from AbE Hur ai ra h & tha t theMessenger of Allah said:

"The earth will throw out the pieces of its liver [contents]. Gold andsilver will come out like columns. A murderer will come and say: 'I killedfor this ?' The one who broke the ties of kinship will say: 'For th is Isevered the ties of kinship?' The thief will say: 'For this I got my handamputated?' Then they will leave it there, and no one will take anythingfromit." ' " ' , 5 9 ,:Verse [7] '0; 12 5; J+ 3-QU. p (SO,whoever does good [even] to theweight of a particle shall see it.) The word 'good' here refers to what isgood in terms of Shari'ah, that is, only a good deed done in the wake offaith is recognized by Allah. Any good deed done in the state of disbelief isnot recognized, and consequently it will not be rewarded in the Hereafter,though it might have been rewarded in this world. It is argued on thebasis of this verse that anyone who has an atom's weight of faith willeventually be taken out of Hell. The reason being that, according to thepromise made in this verse, man must reap the fruit of his righteousnessin the Hereafter. If he has not done any righteous deeds, faith itself is agreat righteousness. Thus no matter how sinful a believer may be, he will


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Siirah Az-ZilzZl : 99 : 1 - 8 857not be condemned to Hell for good. On the other hand, if a non-believerhas done tons of good deeds, they will be rendered vain in the Hereafteron account of lack of faith. He will, however, receive reward for them herein this world.

,@ m ' -@ : ' " ' ,a ,,Verse [81 'od 19.y 3 4 -U- 3 (And Whoever does evil [even] to theweight of a particle shall see it.) By 'evil' here is meant the evil for whichthe evil-doer has not repented. The Qur'Zn and the Sunnah bear ampletestimony to the fact that any sinner who sincerely repents for his sinsAllah will most certainly accept his repentance. However, the sins forwhich the sinners have not repented in this world shall certainly bringtheir results, no matter how trivial or petty they might have been in theirappearance. That is why the Messenger of Allah warned Sayyidah-'A'ishah lphidJo beware of the sins that are belittled, for indeed theywill be taken account of by Allah." [Trans mitte d by Nasa'i and Ibn MZjahl.

Sayyidnii 'AbdullZh Ibn Mas'iid& says that this verse is most robustand comprehensive verse of the Holy Qur 'an. SayyidnZ Anas 4% in alengthy narration reports that the Messenger of Allah referred to thisverse as -MI iiUI "the unique, most comprehensive verse".

A1hamdulillahThe Commentary on

Siirah Az-ZilzZlEnds here


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(The RunningHorses)This SErah is Makk;, and it has 11verses

With the nam e of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-MercifulVerses 1 11

I swear by those (horses) that ru n snorting, [ I ] thenthose that create sparks by striking (their hoofs) on thestones, [21 then those tha t invade a t morning, 131 andraise a trail of dust therein, [41 then enter, at the sametime, into the centre of the (opposing) host, [51 man is,indeed, very ungrateful to his Lord, [6] and he himself isa witness to that fact. [71And in his love for wealth, heis very intense. [81 Does he not then know (what willhappen) when all that is contained in the graves will beoverturned, [91 and all that is contained in the heartswill be exposed. [I01Surely your Lord, that day, will befully aware of them. [ I l l

Place of RevelationAccording to SayyidnZ Ibn Mas'ud, Jabir, Hasan Baq6, 'Ikramah and


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SErah ~ - ' A d i ~ a t100 : 1 - 11 859'AtZ' 2~ hi Y J , Siirah ~ l - ' A d i ~ Z tas revealed in Makkah and,according to SayyidnZ Ibn 'AbbZs, Anas, Imam Mdik and QatZdah, theSGrah was revealed in Madktah. [QufiubTI.

In this Siirah Allah describes the special features of war-horses orchargers, and swears by them. The subject of the oath states that man isvery ungrateful to his Lord. It has been explained time and againpreviously that it is the prerogative of Allah to swear oath by any of hiscreatures to recount an event or set down ordinances. I t is not permittedfor any of the human beings to take oath by any of the creatures. Thepurpose of swearing an oath is to confirm or give weight to asubsequently stated truth. I t is also mentioned earlier that when the HolyQur'an swears an oath by an object, it has some nexus with the subject ofthe oath. Here the ha rd tas ks of the war-horses are called to beartestimony to the fact that man is very ungrateful for Allah's favours. Inother words, man needs to look at the horses, especially the war-horses,who risk their lives to travel under very dangerous and difficultconditions, especially in the battlefields where they follow the commandsof their masters, whereas man has not created them, he has not evencreated the fodder he gives to them. His task is merely to give them thefodder that Allah has created. The horses recognize and acknowledge thislittle favor man does to them, and are prepared to risk their lives and bearthe greatest of hardships. As against this, Allah has created man with aninsignificant drop of sperm and endowed him with high faculties, abilities,intellect and senses to perform various types of tasks, thus making himthe crown of His creation. He [Allah] provided him with all types of food.Facilities are created for all his needs and necessities in an amazingmanner. But man does not recognize and acknowledge any of thesesublime favors, nor does he express his gratitude to his Creator.Lexicographical Analysis

The word +G?G ' d i y a t is derived from the root 'adw' which means 'torun'. The& dabh means 'the sound coming out of the chest of a horsewhen it runs fast and breathes laboriously; panting.' The word +G2$mEriyEt is the active participle of the infinitive of SG!'ira'.The infinitivemeans 'to strike or produce fire with a particular piece of wood.' The wordCs a d h means 'to strike or produce fire with a flint; striking sparks of


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fire when the horse runs fast on a rocky ground with horse-shoes on'. Theword01sugh i ra t is active participle of the infinitive ;$! igharah. Theinfinitive means 'to attack, or make a sudden hostile excursion upon, anenemy'. The word s u b h means 'morning or dawn'. This time has beenspecifically mentioned because i t was the practice of Arabs to attack theirenemy a t dawn, and not a t night in order to show off their bravery. Theythought making a hostile excursion on the enemy in the darkness of nightwas an act of cowardice. The word L3a tharna is derived from ' i t harah ,which means 'to raise dust'. The word @ naq' means 'dust'. This impliesthat the dust became stirred up and spread upon the horizon, especiallyin the morning when the horses run fast. Normally, this is not the timefor clouds of dust to fly in this way, unless it was caused by very fastrunning.

Verse [100:5]G $$ (then enter, a t the same time, into the centreof the [opposing] host) In other words, they penetrate into the centre ofthe enemy forces without the least degree of fear.

The word kan i i d , (100:6) according to Hasan Basr; >l;l -,, refersto the one who counts the calamities that befall him, and forgets Allah'sfavours. Abii Bakr WZsiti said th at kan i i d is the one who spends th ebounties of Allah for sinful purposes. Tirmidhi said that kani id is the onewho looks at the bounty, and not at the Bounteous Lord. In short, allthese interpretations lead to the sense of 'ungratefulness to favours andbounties' and hence the expressionkani id means 'ungrateful'.

Verse [100:81 '$$A1 3,z!j (and in his love for wealth, he is veryintense.) Literally, the word kha i r means 'any good thing'. Idiomatically,the word khair , in Arabic, means 'wealth' implying that 'wealth' is anembodiment of goodness and benefit. However, some type of wealth caninvolve man in untold misery. In the Hereafter, this will be the position ofall wealth acquired through unlawful means. Sometimes, wealth in thisworld too can prove to be nuisance and disaster. Nonetheless, according toArabic idiom, worldly goods in this verse have been described as kha i r as

,> ' ' ,'th e same word in an other verse [2:1801 I+ d y ! "... he leaves somewealth.. .".In this verse as well the word kha i r means 'wealth'.

To recap, having taken oath by war-horses, the subject states two


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points: [I]man is ungrateful or he is a blamer of his Lord who remembersmisfortunes and forgets His favours; and [21 he is passionate in his lovefor wealth. Both these points a re evil, rationally as well as from th eSharTah point of view. These statements warn man against these evils.The evil of ingratitude is quite obvious and needs no elaboration, but theevil of man's violent love for wealth is not that obvious, and needs someelaboration. Wealth is the axis of man's needs and necessities. Shari'ahhas not only permitted its acquisition, but it has also made its acquisitionobligatory to the degree of his needs. Therefore, what is condemned in theverse is either the 'intense' or excessive love for wealth that makes oneneglectful to one's obligations, and oblivious of the divine injunctions, orthe sense is that earning wealth, even saving it according to one's needs isthough permissible, having its love in the heart is bad. Let us consider thefollowing illustration: When man feels th e need to answer the call ofnature, he does it out of necessity. In fact, he makes arrangements for it,but he does not develop love or passion for it in his heart. Likewise, whenhe falls sick and takes medication, or even undergoes surgery, but he doesnot develop attachment for it in his heart. He does it only out of necessity.The believer should trea t the wealth in thi s way: A believer shouldacquire wealth, as Allah has commanded him, to the extent of his need,save it , look after it and utilize it whenever and wherever necessary, buthis heart should not be attached to it. How elegantly Maulana REd -J;li;hihas put i t in one of his verses!

"Aslong as the water remains under the boat, it helps the boat[to sail]; but if the water seeps into the boat, it sinks it."Likewise, as long as the wealth floats around the boat of hear t, it

would be useful; but when i t seeps into the hear t, i t will destroy i t.Towards the conclusion of the SErah a warning has been sounded againstthese two evil qualities of man for which he will be punished in theHereafter.

* > " , *, ' , , ' >'>, "'Verses [ l 0 0 : 9 - 1 1 1 4&% +~J5),j;fjl &L j$-;J$i y j ~ j! p ~ .lil(Does he not then know [what will happen] when all that is contained inthe graves will be overturned, and all that is contained in the hearts will


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be exposed. Surely your Lord, that day, is fully aware of them.) Divineretribu tion will be meted out, in the Here after, to each personcommensurate with his deeds, good or bad, as Allah is well-aware of them.Therefore, it would be wise for man to abstain from ingratitude, and heshould not have such a violently passionate love for wealth andindulgence in worldly riches as to be unable to separate the good from thebad.'SpecialNote

The current se t of verses describes these evil quali ties of man ingeneral terms, while Prophets eU-j\ , friends of Allah and many of Hisrighteous servants are free from these evil qualities or from any earthlyattachments. They acquire wealth through lawful means and abstainfrom acquiring it through unlawful means. They are ever so grateful toAllah for the wealth He has given them and spend it in the way of Allah.So how these evils are attributed to man in general terms? The answer isthat most people have these evil qualities, but this does not imply that all,without any exception, are characterized by these qualities. The uprightpeople are excluded from the general s tatement. Some of the scholarsrestrict the word 'man' to 'unbelievers'. These two evil qualities are theessential characteristics of unbelievers, and if they are found in a Muslim[God forbid!], he needs to reflect and be careful. Allah knows best!

A1hamdulillahThe Commentary on

Sirah M-'AdiyZtEnds here


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SiirahAl-QZri6ah(TheStrikingEvent)

This SGrah is Makk:, and it has 11verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-MercifulVerses 1 11

The Striking Event! [I] What is the Striking Event? [2 lAnd what may let you know what th e Striking Event is?[31 (It will happen) on a day when people will be likescat tered moths, [ 4 l an d the mountains will be l ikeca rded wool. [ 5 l Then , the one whose scales (of gooddeeds) are heavy [ 6 l will be in a happy life. [71 But hewhose scales are light, [81 his abode will be Abyss. [91And what may let you know what th at (Abyss) is? [I01Ablazing fire! [IllHuman Deeds, Good or Bad, will be Weighed

This Siirah mentions the weighing of human deeds. He whose scalesare heavy will be led to Paradise, and he whose scales are light will be ledto Hell. Please see Ma'ariful Qur'an, Val. 31 pp 539-547 , for a full andcomplete analysis of the Weighing of human deeds. The analysis also


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Siirah At-TakZthur : 102 : 1 - 8 865

Siirah At-TakZthur(Competition n Amassing)

This Siirah is Makk;, and it has 8verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, he Very-MercifulVerses 1 8

You are distracted by mutual competition in amassing(worldly benefits), 111until you reach the graves. [21 No!(This is not a correct attitude.) You will soon know (thereality). 131Again, you will soon know. 141No! if youhave had sure knowledge (of the Hereafter, you wouldnot have been so distracted) 151 You will certainly seethe Hell, I61 then you will see it with an eye of certainty.[71Then you will be asked about all the pleasures (youenjoyed in the world). 181

Special Merit of Siirah At-TakEthurThe Messenger of Allah $$$ is reported to have once asked the noble

Companions: "Is there anyone from amongst you who has the strength torecite one thousand verses a day?" The blessed Companions replied: "Whocan recite a thousand verses a day? " The Holy Prophet said: "Can younot recite SGrah At-TakZthur?" This implies th at SGrah At-TakZthurequals in weight and worth to a thousand verses, thus stressing its great


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importance. [Mazhari with reference to HZkim and Baihaqi on the authority of Ibn'Umar &I.Warning Against Materialistic Attitude

Verse [I] $&I (You are distracted by mutua l competition inamassing [worldly benefits].) The word takii thur is derived from the rootka thrah , and means 'to amass much wealth'. Sayyidnii Ibn 'Abbiis &and Hasan B a ~ r iSi; i -J have assigned thi s interpretation to it.Qatadah & says that this word is also used in the sense of 'taking pridein the abundance of material goods'. Sayyidnii Ibn 'Abbiis& eports thatthe Messenger of Allah $$recited this verse and explained its meaning,thus: "Acquiring wealth bu t not paying out of it the obligatory dues."[Qurtubil.

, > 'Verse [2]>WIFJj& (until you reach the graves.) Here the words'reaching the graves' mean 'to die and be buried in the graves', as thefollowing Prophetic Had ith bears testimony to th is interp retation .Referring to verse [21 of this Surah, the Messenger of Allah $& said:$041-b "until death overtakes you" [IbnKathir, from by Ibn Abi HZtiml. Theverse thus implies that many people are engrossed in acquiring worldlygoods and racing each other in wealth and children etc. and remainneglectful of the Hereafter till death comes upon them, and then they areseized by the divine punishment. SayyidnZ 'AbdullZh Ibn Shikhkhs &reports that one day he visited the Holy Prophet while the latter wasreciting STirah At-TakZthur and was saying:

(-k's++ 4 j - d &> j(ZL;( yo"The Son of 'Adam says: 'My wealth, my wealth.' But you do notreap any benefit from your wealth except for that which you ateand you finished it, o r that which you clothed yourself with andyou wore it out, or that which you gave as charity and you havespent it."

And in a narration by Muslim: "Everything else other than that willgo away, and he will leave it for other people.(i.e. inheritors)" [Ibn Kathirand Qurtubi as transmitted by Muslim, Tirmidh; and Ahmad].

Imam Bukhiir? records from Sayyidnii Anas & hat the Messenger of


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Siirah At-TakZthur: 102 : 1 - 8 867Allah said:

+I$ $1 e L G djb21j d a \>V -i 2 G>I3 +I 2'j,.'+L.;,L;IS.LSI'+.~,"If the Son of 'Adam has a valley of gold, he would love to havetwo valleys, and nothing but the dust of grave will fill hismouth. And Allah accepts the repentance of him who turns toHim in penitence."

SayyidnZ 'Ubayy Ibn Ka'b &, eferring to th e Tradition quotedabove, says, "We used to think that this was a part of the Qur'Zn until thefirst verse of Siirah At-TakZthur was revealed." It seems that the HolyProphet recited the verse and interpreted it in his own words. As aresult , some of the Companions were under the impression th a t th eProphetic words were part of the Qur'Zn. Later on, when the Siirah wasrecited in its entirety, it did not contain the Prophetic words. This madethem realize th a t the Prophetic words were actually of explanatorynature, and not part of the Qur'Zn.

Verse [102:5]21& pg 3 No! if you have had sure knowledge..)The word 'if requires a principal clause that seems missing here, but thecontext' suggests tha t the sense is t he following: "If you had th e sureknowledge of accountability on the Day of Judgement, you would nothave engrossed yourselves in mutual competition in acquiring worldlygoods and taking pride in their abundance."

/wr, , , 3:Verse [102:7] 31 Lpj$ (...then you will see it with an eye ofcertainty.) The phrase " a i n - ~ l - ~ a ~ i n 'tr an sl at ed above as'eye ofcertainty') refers to the certainty attained by physical observation, andthis is the highest degree of certainty. SayyidnZ Ibn 'AbbZs @ reportsthat when Holy Prophet MiisZ 8!$@\was on the mount of TGr, his peoplestarted worshipping a calf. Allah informed him about this while he wasstill on the mountain. This piece of information did not affect MisZso much. However, when he returned and saw the Children of Israel,with his own eyes, worshipping the calf, he became so indignant that thetablets of Torah involuntarily fell from his hands. [Transmitted by Ahmadand Tabarani with an authentic chain of narrators, as quoted by Maqhar;].

,,, - I , Jl>Verse [102:8] $1 j &% ;ltL;i (Then you will be asked about all thepleasures [you enjoyed in the world].) This means that, on the Day of


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Judgment, all of you will be questioned whether you had shown gratitudetowards Allah's favors, or did you misuse them and were ungrateful toAllah? Some of these favors and bounties a re explicitly mentionedelsewhere in the Qur'an:

(...Surely, the ear, the eye and the heart - each one of themshall be interrogated about.) [17:361These organs and their faculties comprehend millions of blessings of

Allah, and man will be questioned as to how he used them every momentof his life.

The Messenger of Allah $$is reported to have said that first questionthat will be put by Allah to every person is: "Did I not give you goodhealth, and did I not give you cold water to quench your thirst?" (Tirmidhi,and Ibn HibbZn, with rating as sahib, from AbGHurairah&, s quoted by Ibn KatGr)

The Messenger of Allah @& is also reported to have said that no manwill be able to move from his place unless he answers five questions: [I]How did he spend his life?; [21 In what pursu its did he expend hisyouthful energy?; [3] How did he earn his wealth - (by lawful means orunlawful means?); [4 ] Where did he spend his wealth - (in lawful ways orunlawful ways?;) and [ 5 ]Did he act upon the knowledge Allah gave him?(BukhZn).

Mujahid, the leading authority on TafsTr, says that this question onthe Day of Judgem ent relate s to every delight of the world t ha t heenjoyed - whether i t i s in connection with food, clothes, house, wife,children, kingdom, government or honor. QurtubT, having cited this,concludes t hat thi s is absolutely true , because the question does notspecify any particular blessing.

AlhamdulillahThe Commentary onSiirah At-TakZthur

Ends here


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Siirah Al-'Asr : 103 : 1 - 3 869

Siirah Al-'Aer(TheTime)

This Siirah is Makki, and it has 3 verses


I swear by the Time, [ l]man is in a state of loss indeed,[21 except those who believed and did righteous deeds,and advised each other for truth, and advised eachother for patience. [31

Virtue of [Studying] Siirah al-'AsrSayyidnZ 'Ubaidullah Ibn Hisn & reports th a t whenever two

Companions of the Holy Prophet met, they would not part companyuntil one of them had recited SGrah Al-'Asr in its entirety to the other.[Transmitted by At-Tabaran;]. Imam ShZfi'i says that if people thought aboutSErah Al-'Asr carefully, it would be enough for their guidance. It is aconcise but comprehensive Surah , which in three verses, outlines acomplete way of human life based on the Islamic worldview.

In thi s Siirah, Allah swears an oath by th e 'Time' and says tha tmankind is in a sta te of loss; exception, however, is made of people whoar e characterized by four qualities: [I] faith; [2] righteous deeds; [31advising each other for Truth; and [41 advising each other for patience.This is the only path to salvation in this world, as well as in the nextworld. The Qur'anic prescription comprises, as we have just seen, of four


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elements. The first two of them relate to man's own personal betterment,and the other two relate to other people's guidance and reform. [IbnKath:r].Relationship between 'Time'and 'Human Loss'

The first point we need to analyze here is the relationship between the'oath of time' and 'its subject' because there needs to be a relationshipbetween an 'oath' and its 'subject' The commentators, generally, statethat all conditions of man, his growth and development, his movements,his actions and morality - all take place within the space of 'Time'. Manwill lose the capital of his existence. Hours, days, months, and years of lifepass quickly, spiritual and material potentialities decline, and abilitiesfade. Man is like a person who possesses great capital and, without hispermission and will, every day, a portion of that capital is taken away.This is the nature of life in this world; the nature of continual loss. Howwell this has been put poetically:

"Your life comprises a few breaths that can be counted; whenone of them is sent out, a part of your life has diminished."Allah has granted man the invaluable capital of his life, so that he

may invest i t in profitable business venture. If he invests his capital of lifesensibly in good works, there will be no limit to the profitable returns; butif he invests i t unwisely in evil works, then, let alone attracting profitablereturns, he will even lose his capital, and. In addition, he will incur thedreadful scourge of committing numerous sins. If however a person didnot invest his life-capital in good deeds or in evil deeds, then he, a t least,loses both the profit. as well as the capital. This is not merely a poeticimagery, but is supported by a Prophetic Hadith, according to which theMessenger of Allah is reported to have said:

"When a person wakes up in the morning, he invests his soul orlife in a business enterprise: some of the investors free or savethe capital from loss and others destroy it."The Qur7Zn tself has used the word t+ah in relation to 'faith' and

'righteous deed', thus:


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Siirah Al-'Agr :103 : 1 - 3 872that haqq ( 't ruth') efers to the package of 'correct faith' and 'good deeds',and sabr ('patience')refers to abstinence from all sins and evil deeds.Thus the first concept refers to 'enjoining good actions' and the secondconcept refers to 'forbidding evil actions'. The cumulative sense of theSErah is that believers have been enjoined not only to adopt right faithand good deeds themselves, but to advise others strongly and effectivelyto adopt them, and thus help in the creation of a healthy atmospherearound them.

It is also possible to interpret 'Truth' as referring to articles of faith,and to interpret 'patience' as referring to all good actions and abstinencefrom evil deeds. The word sabr, originally meaning 'to withhold oneselfand to bind oneself ', encompasses binding oneself down to theperformance of righteous deeds and abstaining from sins.

HZfiz Ibn Taimiyyah has stated in one of his monographs that thereare normally two factors that restrain a person from faith and righteousdeeds: The first cause is some doubts about the true faith. When suchdoubts arise in the mind of people, it destroys their faith and leaves themconfused and confounded. As a result, it adversely affects their righteousdeeds. The second cause is the selfish desires that stop man from doinggood, and involve him in evil deeds. In this situation, he theoreticallybelieves that he should do good and absta in from sins, but his selfishdesires lead him to stray from the right path. The current verse indicatesto remove both causes of one's distraction. By stressing upon 'advice oftruth' it has catered to the first cause, and that it should be removed byreforming others on theoretical and academic level, and by emphasizingon 'advice of patience' it has taken care of the second cause by enjoiningupon the Muslims to advise others to give up the base desires and remainfirm against thei r evil demands. Put differently, 'enjoining the trut h'means 'improving th e knowledge of Muslims or thei r in tell ectu aldevelopment' and 'enjoining patience' means 'improving the practical lifeof Muslims'.Need to Salvage the Entire Muslim Society

This SErah lays down th e important principle of guidance for theMuslims that inviting other Muslims to keep to the true faith and gooddeeds is as much necessary as their own submission to the Holy Qur'Zn


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i/ Siirah Al-'A+r:103 : 1 - 3 873II others to the right path, one's own good deeds are not enough to one'ssalvation. Especially, if a person does not take care of the spiritual andmoral welfare of his wife, children and family and turns a blind eye totheir unrighteous deeds, he is blocking his way to salvation - no matterhow pious he himself might be. Therefore, the Qur7Zn and the Sunnahmake it obligatory upon every Muslim to do his best to invite others to thegood deeds, and warn them against the evil acts. Unfortunately, let alonethe general public, many learned people a re lax in this matter . Theythink i t is sufficient for them to be concerned about their own moral andspiritual well-being. They are not concerned about the well-being of their

! family and children. May Allah grant us the ability to act upon this verse.Alhamdulillah

The Commentary onSiirah Al-'A9r

Ends here


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Siirah Al-Humazah : 104 : 1 - 9 874

Siirah Al-Humazah(TheBackbiter)

This Siirah is Makk;, and it has 9 verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-MercifulVerses 1 9

Woe to every backbite r, de rider [I]who accumulateswealth and counts it. 121He thinks that his wealth hasmade him eternal. I 3 1 Never! He will certainly bethrown into the Crusher. [41 And what may let youknow what the Crusher is? [51 It is Allah's kindled fire,[61that will peep into the hearts. I71 It will be closed onthem, [8 ] in outstretched columns. [91

Warning against dreadful end of those committing threeobnoxious sins

This Siirah warns of the severe punishment on three grave sins, andthen highlights the nature of that severe punishment. The three sins arebackbiting, deriding and selfish hoardirlg of wealth. The words hamz andlamz are used in several senses. Most commentators agree that the wordhamz, from which is derived the word humazah, means to 'backbite', thatis, to speak ill of a person behind his back. The word lamz, from which is


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SfirahAl-Humazah : 104 : 1 - 9 875derived the word l umazah , means to 'slander' or 'to deride', that is, tospeak ill of a person to his face. Both these sins are morally and sociallyobnoxious and deadly. The Qur'an and the Sunnah have sounded a sternwarning against thes e sins . However, 'backbit ing1 s , f rom oneperspective, worse than 'slander'. 'Backbiting' is worse because the ill of aperson is spoken behind his back; the victim is not presen t to defendhimself and put an end to it ; thus the sin continues to be committed to agreater and increasing degree. 'Slander', on the other hand, though anobnoxious sin in itself, is relatively less in degree than backbiting, becausethe victim is present to defend himself and put an end to face-to-faceinsulting or fault-finding with him. From another perspective 'slander' isworse than 'backbiting', because to speak ill of a person to his face istantamount to insulting him and denigrating him. This is morally andsocially more harmful and hurting, and therefore its punishment is moredreadful. According to a HadTth, the Holy Prophet $&has said,

"The worst servants of Allah are those who speak ill ofsomeone, creating enmity between friends and finding faultwith innocent people."

The third evil quality denounced severely in this STirah is greed, th atis, the selfish hoarding of wealth, against which is the stern warning ofthe dreadful end of those who have passion for worldly riches. This verse,however, refers to the love of, and passion for, wealth which isaccumulated and counted over and over again. Other verses and AhZdi thbear testimony to the fact tha t amassing of wealth in principle is notprohibited or sinful. Therefore, verse [2] must be interpreted in the lightof those verses and traditions. This verse purports to say that anyone whoaccumulates wealth and does not pay his obligatory dues or has greed forwealth that leads him to pride and arrogance, or has love of wealth thatengrosses him in the hoarding of wealth so profoundly that he forgets hisreligious obligations, his practice is condemned in the strongest terms, anda person attaching such profound love, greed and passion for materialriches will suffer eternal perdition as described in the verses that follow.

Verse [104:71 j$\jl& & th at will peep into the hearts). I n otherwords, the fire of Hell will reach their hearts. The basic property of fire isto burn every particle of the things that fall into it. When people are put


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Sirah Al-Humazah: 104 : 1 - 9 876into the Hell-fire, it will devour every limb and organ of the body until itreaches their heart, but the person will not die. This characteristic of theHell-fire is especially highlighted in th e verse because the fire of thisworld kills the person even before reaching the heart. The fire of the Hell,on the other hand, will reach the heart in the state of life, and man willexperience the torture of the burning of the heart while alive.

Al1;lamdulillahThe Commentary onSiirah Al-Humazah

Ends here


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(TheElephant)This Siirah is Makki, and it has 5 verses


Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Peopleof the Elephant? [I]Has He not turned their plan intonullity? [21 And He sent upon them flying birds inflocks, [31 throwing upon them stones of baked clay, [41and thus He turned them into an eaten-up chaff. [51CommentaryThe subject-matterof the Siirah

This SZrah refers to the story of the People of the Elephants whocame with an army of elephants for the purpose of destroying the Houseof Allah in (The Holy Ka'bah) in Makkah. But their plan backfired andthe Divine scourge overtook them. Allah destroyed the army with a flockof ordinary birds. Thus their plans were foiled and thwarted.When did the event take place?

This event took place in the very year in which the Holy Prophet $&was born a t Makkah, according to some traditions and the popular viewamong the historians. [Ibn Kath


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-event as a special type of mu'jizah (miracle) of the Holy Prophetg,utthe term mu'jizah, in its real sense, refers to a n abnormal event shown byAllah to prove the claim of a prophet to having been sent by Him.Therefore, a mu'jizah is shown afte r a prophet' s Divine commission.However, sometimes it happen s t h a t a miraculous event take s placebefore a prophet's claim to prophet-hood. This, in th e parlance of thescholars of hadith, is called irhZi2 which means 'prologue or introduction'.The word rahs means a 'foundation stone' [Qamiis]. As the miraculousevents taking place before the advent of prophets or before their claim toprophet-hood are meant to introduce and affirm that soon a particularprophet will be Divinely commissioned, they ar e referred to a s irhEs.Many miraculous incidents of this nature [irhEsZit] occurred before thebirth and the advent of the Holy Prophet g,nd one of them was theincident of the 'People of the Elephants' who were miraculously preventedby the Heavenly scourge from destroying the House of Allah.Story of the People of the Elephants

Ibn Kathir, the leading authority on Prophetic Tradition and history,recounts the story as follows: Yemen was under the control of the rulers ofHimyar. They were idolaters. Their last king was DhG Nuwas, a n idolaterhimself, was t he enemy of t he righteous Chri sti ans of his time, whobelieved in and worshipped One Allah. He persecuted the believers, whowere opposed to idol-worship, by burning them alive. Most scholars agreet h a t he killed, in cold blood, by throwing a bou t 20 000 sincere andrighteous Christians in his city into a large fire pit, burning them alive inan effort to get them to give up their sincere religion. This is the story ofthe 'People of Fire-Pit' referred to in [85:4-71. Two men somehow managedto escape from him. They fled to Syria and took refuge with Caesar, whowas himself a Christian and the emperor of Syria. They requested theemperor to avenge this cruel act of Dhii NuwZs. Caesar wrote to Najashi(Negus), the king of Abyssinia [now Ethiopia], who was closer to the homeof the man. NajZshi sent two governors with him: Arbat and Abrahah,along with a huge army.

The a rmy invaded Yemen a nd freed t he whole country from thepossession of Himyar. DhE NuwZs tried to escape, but was drowned inthe sea and died. Yemen thus became part of the Abyssinian dominionand Abrahah was appointed its viceroy. However, he and Arb$ fought


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each other until ArbEt was eventually killed and Abrahah emergedvictorious. The la tter was appointed the commander of the Abyssinianarmy in Yemen, and th e governor of th a t region. Having capturedYemen, he built a superbly luxurious cathedral in his area. The purposewas to attract the people of Yemen to make pilgrimage to this cathedralinstead of Ka'bah in Makkah. I t was huge and tall so th a t a personstanding a t the bottom was not able to see the top. He decorated thestructure with gold, silver and other precious gems. In short, he meant itto be a n architectural masterpiece, second to none or unsurpassed in theworld, to be revered by all and sundry and divert pilgrims from th eSacred Mosque in Makkah to his cathedral in Yemen. He did this after hehad witnessed the love and enthusiasm of the Yemeni Arabs - whichwere the same as those felt all over the Arabia - for the Ka'bah, with theaim of making them forsake their attachment to the Mosque of Makkahand t urn instead to his new luxurious cathedral. Thus he proclaimedthroughout his kingdom th at no one should ever visit the Ka'bah inMakkah, and that the pilgrimage should from now on take place to hisso-called Ka'bah' in Yemen.

Although the Arabs were idol-worshippers, the love and reverence forthe religion of Prophet 1brEh;m w\ nd the Ka'bah had permeated theirhearts. As a result, the 'Andan, QahtZn and Quraish tribes were enragedand infuriated by this proclamation. One night, someone entered thechurch and defecated in it. According to other narratives, a nomadic tribehalted near the church and started a fire for their own needs. The windon that day was blowing violently and the cathedral caught on fire and

, sustained much loss. When Abrahah came to know about it, and learnt1 that a Quraishi had done this, he swore to march to the House of Makkah

and destroy it stone by stone. Thus he prepared himself and set out with ahuge and powerful army, so that none might prevent him from carryingout his mission. He asked for NajEshi's permission. He permitted him andsent for him, particularly for this expedition, a special elephant whosename was MahmZd. I t was unusually huge in size and powerful i nstrength th e like of which had never been seen before. The king ofAbyssinia sent in eight more elephants as reinforcements for the army.Their intention was to use this extraordinary elephant to demolish theKa'bah. They planned to do this by fastening chains to the pillars of the


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-Ka'bah and placing the other ends around the neck of the elephant. Thenthey would make the elephant pull on them in order to tear down thewalls of the Ka'bah [God forbid!] all at once. When the Arabs heard ofAbrahah's expedition, they considered it their moral obligation to defendthe Sacred House and thwart the evil plans of the conspirators. Thus, theArabs raised a large army under the command of DhG Nafr, a YameniteArab. He called the Arabs to go to war aga inst Abrahah and fight indefense of the Sacred House, so that the enemy is unable to tear it down.The people responded to him readily and entered into battle with theenemy, bu t he defeated them . This was due to Allah's will th a t nohumans should protect His House and His intent to expose the enemy toembarrassment and venerate the Sacred Sanctuary to the highest degree.DhE Nafr was captured and taken prisoner.

The army continued on its way until it came to the settlement of theBanE Khath'am tribe. Their leader, Nufail Ibn Hab:b, led his entire tribeagainst the army, but they too were defeated and Nufail was takenprisoner. Abrahah at first decided to kill him, but at second thought heforgave him and took him as his guide to show him the way to HijZz.

When the army approached TZif, the people of ThaqTf went out toAbrahah. They wanted to pacify him, because they had heard about thefate of those who had resisted him previously. Also, they were afraid thathe would demolish their temple consecrated in the name of their idolAl-LZt. Therefore, they did not resist him on the understanding that hewould not touch the idol of LZt. He was compassionate to them, and theysent a guide with him by the name of AbE Righal. When they arrived in aplace called Al-Maghmas, near Makkah, they settled there. This was thepasture where the camels of the Quraish grazed. Abrahah sent his troopson a foray to captu re th e camels and other g razing animals of theMakkans. They accomplished their mission. They also drove away abouttwo hundred camels of 'Abdul-Muttalib, grandfather of the Holy ProphetMuhammad and the leader of the Quraish. Abrahah then sen t anemissary named HanZtah Al-Himyari to enter Makkah and bring to himthe leader of the Quraish. He mandated him to convey to the leader of theQuraish his message th a t th e king did not come to fight with theMakkans un less they stood in his way of destroying their SacredSanctuary. Arriving in the city, HanZtah was directed to 'Abdul-Muttalib


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Ibn Hashim, to whom he communicated Abrahah's message. According toIbn Ishaq's narration, 'Abdul-Muttalib replied: "By Allah! We too have nodesire to fight him, nor do we have the might to do so. This is the SacredSanctuary of Allah built by His friend Prophet IbrZhim $@\. If He willsto prevent Abrahah from pulling it down, He will protect it. And if Heallows him to approach it, by Allah, we have no means to defend it." SoHanZtah told him: "Come with me to Abrahah." So 'Abdul-Muttalib wentwith him.

When Abrahah saw him, he was highly impressed, because'Abdul-Muttalib had th e most handsome, charming an d at trac tivepersonality. He descended from his throne and sat with the latter on acarpet on the ground. He then said to his interpreter to ask him: "What doyou need?" 'Abdul-Muttalib replied to the interpreter: "I want the king togive back my two hundred camels which his soldiers have taken from me."Then Abrahah told his interpreter to relay to him: "When I first set myeyes on you, I admired you greatly and had great respect for you. But allthat is now lost. You speak only of your two hundred camels while youfully well know that I have come to tear down your Ka'bah which is theembodiment of your religion and the religion of your forefathers. You didnot even say a single word to persuade me to spare it." 'Abdul-Muttalibcalmly responded: "I am the owner of my camels and am concerned aboutthem. I am not the owner of Allah's House. The Master of th e Houseknows how best to protect His House." Abrahah rudely rebuffed: "YourGod cannot protect i t from me." 'Abdul-Muttalib made a rejoindw: "Thendo as you like or [take your chance!]" According to other narratives, therewere other chiefs of Quraish with 'Abdul-Muttalib a t th e time of thisnegotiation. They proposed to Abrahah that if he withdrew from theSanctuary, the entire region of Tihamah would pay him a third of theiragricultural produce annually as tribute. But he turned down the offer.He then gave back 'Abdul-Muttalib's camels to him. 'Abdul-Muttalib tookhis camels and went back home, ordering his people to leave Makkah andseek shelter a t the top of the mountains. He feared that atrocities mightbe committed by the army against them. Then he went with a few figuresof the Quraish to the Sacred Sanctuary. He held the metal ring of thedoor of Ka'bah and prayed Allah to give them victory over Abrahah andhis army. While hanging on to the ring of the Ka'bah's door, he earnestly


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SurahA-FTl: 105 : 1 - 5 882implored: "We have no strength to face the army of Abrahah. So, 0 myLord! Defend Your Ka'bah." Having so prayed in all earnestness,'Abdul-Muttalib led all the Makkans to the neighbouring mountains,because they were convinced t h a t Allah' s scourge would overtakeAbrahah and his troops. This is the reason why they spoke to Abrahahabout their camels, and not about the House of Allah.

When the next morning dawned, Abrahah prepared to enter thesacred city of Makkah. He prepared the elephant named MahmGd andmobilized his army, and they turned the elephant towards the Ka'bah. Atthat moment Nufail Ibn Hablb, whom Abrahah had captured earlier,approached i t and stood next to it, and tak ing i t by i ts ea r, he said:"Return safely where you came from, because you are , verily, in theSacred City of Allah." Then he released the elephant's ear and it kneltand sa t down forthwith. The elephant drivers exerted all efforts topersuade the elephant to enter the City, but their efforts were in vain.Then they tried striking it with large iron spears and putting ironarrowheads in it s trunk. They beat i t on its head with axes and usedhooked staffs to pull i t out of its resistance and make i t s tand , but i trefused. So they turned it towards Yemen, and it rose and walked quickly.Then they turned it towards Syria, it walked fast. Then they turned ittowards the eas t and i t walked briskly. Then they turned it towardsMakkah, it knelt and sat down again .

This was one aspect of the manifestation of the Divine powerunfolding itself miraculously. On the other hand, some flocks of birdswere seen coming from the sea. Each bird carried three pebbles of the sizeof gram seeds or lentils, one in each claw and two in its beak. According toWaqidi's narration, the birds looked unusual which were never seenbefore. They looked smaller than pigeons, and their claws were red incolour. They flew over Abrahah's army and pelted them with the pebbles.Each pebble was more devastating than the bullet of a revolver .When itfell on anything, it tore directly through the body and settled deep in theground. Seeing this scourge, the elephants fled in panic, except one whichwas harmed and destroyed by the pebble. Not all of Abrahah's men weredestroyed instant ly. People escaped in different directions. They diedexcruciatingly on thei r way back. As Allah had willed t ha t th e mostdistressful scourge should be inflicted upon Abrahah, He did not allow


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-- --him to die immediately. In fact, Allah afflicted him with a deadly disease.A kind of poison spread thoroughly through his entire body and causedevery single part to decay - his limbs began to rot and separate from therest of his body and he started losing one finger after another. His bodywas carried back in that state to Yemen. By the time they arrived back inSan'a', the capital of Yemen, his body was broken down limb by limb untilhe eventually died. Two of Mahmud's (name of elephant) driversremained in Makkah, but both of them became blind and paralyzed.Muhammad Ibn Ishiiq reports that Sayyidah 'A'ishah narrates thatshe saw them blind and paralyzed. Her sister, Sayyidah Asma' $?, saysthat she saw the two blind and paralyzed men begging. The 'People of theElephants' is a momentous event in Arab history, which was witnessed byhundreds of Arabs. It is to this well-known historical incident that thisSErah refers.Lexical Analysis

, , ,,Verse [105:11 J$l &!; *>?I (Have you not seen how yourLord dealt with the people of the Elephant?) In the phrase alum tara[have you not seen], th e second person pronoun refers to th e HolyProphetg.t is interesting to note that the event took place before theblessed birth of the Holy Prophetg e could not have seen or witnessedit with his own eyes. However, the incident was so widely known as if theProphet $$$had seen it with his own eyes, which is a sign of the certaintyof it s happening. Such a knowledge is described by the word ru 'yat[seeing]. As reported ear lier , Sayyidah 'A'ishah $5 and her sister,Sayyidah Asma' $5, both say that they had seen the two camel drivershad become blind and paralyzed and used to go around begging . In thisway, the traces of this event were seen even after the birth of the HolyProphetg.

/ 6,'Verse [105:3] &JLI I& (... birds in flocks.) The word abEbil is plural andis said to have no singular. It means birds in flocks, or swarms of birds. Itis not the name of a particular bird. In Urdu usually ababil refers to'swallows', they are not implied in the verse as indicated in the abovenarration. These birds were somewhat smaller in size than pigeon andthey were birds that were never seen before. [Sa'id Ibn Jubair, as quoted byQurt.ubi1.

Verse [105:4]& 2 5% (...stones of baked clay.) The word s ~ J ~ Zs a


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-compound Persian word, Arabiciszed, made up of two Persian words: sang[stone] and gil [clay]. They refer to ordinary or common clay rolled intolittle balls and then baked to harden. These pebbles are not heavy or hardlike rocks chipped off mountains. They in themselves did not have anydevastating power, but i t was Allah who created in these stones the highcapability of explosion and blowing-up even more than the bullets of arevolver.

Verse [105:5] JYG (And th us He turned them into a neaten-up chaff .) The word 'a+fmeans 'chaff, straw, husk or bran'.Usually the ' a ~ f s scattered and when i t is eaten or devoured by animals,it does not remain in the same state. This is what happened to Abrahahand his army .Conclusion

The miraculous event of the 'People of the Elephant' enhanced in thehearts of the entire Arabian society the love, respect and honor of theQuraish. When Arabia witnessed that Allah has, on their behalf,miraculously destroyed thei r enemy, they were convinced tha t theQuraish are men of God, and custodians of the Sacred House of Allah[Qurtubl]. That is why they were respected and protected wherever theywent; although other caravans in Arabia had to fear attacks fromhighway robbers, the Quraish travelled untouched and enjoyed highsocial sta tus. As a result, they could freely and safely carry out theircommercial activities i n th e neighboring stat es , and enjoy economicprosperity. The Siirah that follows refers to these journeys and invites theQuraish to be thankful to Allah and worship Him alone for providingthem with all of their needs.


Siirah A1-FjlEnds here


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Siirah Al-Quraish : 106 : 1 - 4 885

Siirah Al-Quraish(TheQuraish)

This Siirah is Xakk?, and it has 4 verses

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful,the Very-MercifulVerses 1 - 4

Because of the familiarity of the Quraish, [I]that is,their familiarity with the trips of winter and summer,[21 they must worship the Lord of this House, [31 whogave them food against hunger, and gave them securityagainst fear. [4]CommentaryThe Subject-matterof SYirah Al-Fi1 and Siirah Al-Quraish

All commentators concur that the subject-matter of the two Siirahs isso closely related that in some of the copies of the Qur'Zn they had beenwritten as a single SErah without th e insertion of b i sm i l l a h betweenthem. But when SayyidnZ 'UthmZn & compiled a standard copy of theHoly Qur'Zn with the consensus of all the companions of the Holy Prophet@, he separated these two Siirahs and inserted b ismi l lah between them,and the two Siirahs.Lexical Analysis

+IY (Because of the familiarity of the Quraish 106:l). The particlel i is preposition. According to the rules of Arabic grammar, it should belinked with another sentence. What is that sentence here? In answer toth is question, different possibilities ar e highlighted by the exegetes.


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Surah Al-Quraish :106 : 1 - 4 886Keeping in view the close relation of the present Siirah with the previousone, some of them have held that the following sentence should be takenas understood here: & C;*l"We [Allah] destroyed the 'people ofthe elephant' so that the Quraish, who were familiar with two commercialtrips during winter and summer, may not have any obstacle in their trips,and by this trading activity they might develop a certain prestige for themand respect them." A second school of interpreters has taken the followingsentence a s understood: 1 (One should wonder on the Quraishundertaking winter and summer journeys freely and safely.) A th irdschool of inte rpr ete rs says th a t th is is th e lam of ta'lil and i t i ssyntactically related to the sentence th at follows it41 $; IjW (theymust worship the Lord of this House.) The Siirah draws attention to thefact that the Quraish used to make two trade-journeys - one in winter toYemen and another in summer to Syria. These trade-journeys made themwealthy and affluent. This was possible because Allah annihilated theirenemies, the people of the elephant, in an exemplary way and created inthe hearts of the people an awe and reverence for them. People held themin high esteem, respect and honor in all the territories where they went.Superiority of Quraish

This Siirah indicates th a t Quraish, of all the tribes of Arabia, wasmost acceptable in the sight of Allah. The Prophet $& is reported to havesaid: "Verily,Allah selected Kinanah from the offspring of Prophet IsmZ'a- and selected Qura ish from the progeny of Kinan ah. From t heQuraish, Allah selected Banii Hashim and from Banii Hashim He selectedme." [Baghaw; on the au tho ri ty of R t h i l a h Ibn Asqa']. Another Tradition reportsth at the Messenger of Allah w\ aid: "People will follow Quraish inmatters of good as well as in matters of evil." [Muslim on th e a uthority of JZbir ,as quoted by Mazhari] . The reason for the selection of the tribes mentionedin the first Tradition is presumably on account of their special abilities,innate capacities and natural endowments. Even in the days of paganismand ignorance, when people practiced kufr and shirk, their morals andinborn abilities were of a very high s tandard. They had th e perfectcapacity to accept the truth. This is the reason why most of the blessedCompanions and Friends of Allah were Quraishites. [Mazhari]

Verse [106:21 &I; zJ . . .th eir familiarity with t he trips ofwinter and summer.) It is a knbwn fact that Makkah is situated in anutterly bleak and arid valley where no agricultural produce grows, norare there any orchards where the people of Makkah could reap any kind


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SiirahAl-Quraish : 106 : 1 - 4 887of fruits. Therefore, the founder of the House of Allah, SayyidnZ IbriihimKhalil-ullah $%&I,rayed to Allah a t the time of founding the city, thus:l2:1261 &'u &T 1.h&I $1 (My Lord, make this a city of peace,and provide its people with fruits) and this fact is mentioned in [28:571,

,, . " >thus: $25 A 41 (to which the fruits of everything are drawn)".The Quraish thus needed to make these commercial trips out of Makkahinto the neighboring territories to bring the necessities of life to their city.SayyidnZ Ibn 'AbbZs @ reports that the people of Makkah were in astate of abject poverty and Hashim, the great grandfather of the ProphetB, xhorted the Quraish to undertake the trading caravans to theneighboring territories. As Syria was a cold region, they went there insummer; and Yemen had a warm climate, so they went there in winter tocarry out thei r commercial activities. They, aft er their commercialventures that brought to them great profits and gains, would return totheir city safely due to the respect that the people had for them, becausethey were the keepers and custodians of Allah's sanc tuary. Therefore,whoever knew them would honor them. Even those who came to themand traveled with them, would be safe because of them. Hashim was theleader of the Quraish and maintained the economic principle to distributeamong the rich and the poor members of the Quraish the gains and theprofits made in their business. As a result, even the poor people lived likethe wealthy people. Furthermore, an additional Divine favor was grantedto them: Allah spared them the trouble of making these annual trips, inthat the areas adjacent to Makkah such as Yemen, TabZlah and Harshwere made fertile, fecund and productive where corns, food grains andother agricultural produce grew abundantly - even more than their need.As a result, they had to carry these agricultural produce to Jeddah wherethey sold them. Thus most of the necessities were available in Jeddah.The people of Makkah, instead of undertaking the two long journeys,went to Jeddah, merely two stations away, to bring their necessities oflife. In the current verse, Allah mentions His favor upon them.

Verse [106:3]41.h4;jw (they must worship the Lord of thisHouse.) Having mentioned the Divine favors, the Quraish are especiallyenjoined to express their gratitude to 'the Lord of this House'. Here, out ofmany attributes of Allah, 'the Lord of this House' is singled out, because itwas this House that became the source and fountain of all blessings forthem.

9 ' > , ',, sVerse [106:41 $92 ?Ij c$ jq i 4 (Who gave them foodagainst hunger, and gave them security against fear.) The versecomprehensively captures all that was needed for th e Quraish to live


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Siirah Al-Quraish:106 : 1 - 4 888happily and peacefully in the world. The first phrase z41(Whor" j 4 """gave them food against hunger) implies that they were provided all yearround with every kind of fruit and food. The security referred to in the

9 ' , 4 , J ' ,second phrase ++ 3 :icg;'Y (and gave them security against fear) includessecurity from enemies and robbers (who, out of their respect to them asguardians of Ka'bah, spared them from their attacks), and it also includessecurity from the punishment in the Hereafter (for those who fulfilled thenecessary conditions of faith).Special Note

Ibn Kath?r says tha t whoever worships Allah according to th ecommand given in this verse, Allah will give him safety, not only in thisworld, but also security from punishment in the Hereafter. And whoeverdeviates from this command, He will deprive him of both types of safetyand security as exemplified in the following verse [16:1121 :

(And Allah has given an example that there was a town, secureand satisfied, with its sustenance coming in plenty from everyplace. Then, it turned ungrateful to the bounties of Allah; so,Allah made it taste hunger and terror [cast over it ] like agarment in return of what its people used to do. [16:1121

A Great BenefitAbul Hasan Qazwki has stated that anyone who fears his enemy oran affliction, should recite Siirah Al-Quraish. I t will give him security

from fear and calamity. This is cited by Imam Jazr? and he says that thisSErah has been tried and tes ted successfully for th is purpose. QadiThana'ullah PZni Patt? ;ii;dl -J cites this in his Tafsb- Mazhar? andsays that his Shaikh Mirza Mazhar fin-i-JZnZn instructed him to recitethis SErah a t the time of fear and danger, and said its recitation has beentested and tried to avert all kinds of calamities and afflictions. QadiThana'ullah says that he has experienced it several times.


Siirah Al-QuraishEnds here


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these evil deeds is one who cries lies to the Doom, and thus the warningof punishment mentioned in th is SCrah is for those who deny the religionand the Day of Judgement. The verse contains a subtle indication thatthe moral sins condemned in this SCrah are far too inconceivable from abeliever; only a non-believer or hypocrite would commit them. Themorally bad and sinful deeds mentioned here are : [I ] oppressing andinsulting the orphan, and being unkind to them; [21 despite the means,failing to feed the poor or failing to urge others to feed them; [31 praying[in public only, not in private] only to show the people; and [41 failing topay the Zaksh [obligatory alms]. These actions are intrinsically bad andgravely sinful, but their commission in the wake of kufr [disbelief] andtakdhib [rejection] are even more aggravating, because they a tt ractete rnal perdition, which in th is SGrah is described a s wail [heavyaffliction or calamity or disaster or destruction].

I , 1 11.1 , . . 3 9 , , 1 .,.@ " ,,:Verses [107:4-61 .d, $id&+I .;>L && y &+ I .w, SOWoeto those performers of who are neglectful of their salGh,who [dogood only to] show off.) These verses describe the characteristics of thehypocrites who used to perform the prayers only to make a display ofthem to the people and prove that their claim of being sincere Muslims istrue. As they do not believe in the obligatory nature of the prayers, theyare not regular a t them, and they do not observe the prescribed times, butoffer them carelessly a t the eleventh hour or completely out of time. Theyperform them only when they must to make a display of them, otherwisethey have no place in their lives, The preposition 'an (translated above as'of) in the prepositional phrase +$ 2 "[neglectful] of their salEh" issignificant. I t indicates that they [the hypocrites] are neglectful of thevery concept of salEh. This does not refer to the unintentional errors, slipsand mistakes that Muslims make in their prayers. The Holy Prophet &also made this type of unintentional mistakes in his prayers. The warningof Hell by the expression of wail does not apply to such mistakes. If thatwas the case, the prepositional phrase would have been fi salatihim [intheir prayers] instead of ['an @latihim [neglectful of their prayers].

Verse [107:7] ;&h S g j And refuse [to give even] small gifts.) Theword mZiin literally means 'any small or petty thing' and idiomatically i trefers to 'small household articles of common use such as axe, hoe, cookingpot which a t th e time of need neighbors borrow from one another '.


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Siirah Al-MZ'Gn : 107 : 1 - 7 891- - -Anyone who is unwilling to lend such small items is morally a verymiserly and mean person. However, in the current verse the word ma'iinis taken in th e sense of Z a k Z h [obligatory alms] because i t i s a littleamount out of much wealth - only 2%%out of the entire wealth. Majorityof the commentators - like SayyidnZ 'Ali, Ibn 'Umar, Hasan Bag:,Qatiidah, DahhZk & and others - hold the view th a t rnZ'iin impliesZ a k a h . [Mazharil. The threa t of wa i l (torment of Hell) can only be forfailure to fulfil one's legal obligation. Giving small items to help out one'sfellow human beings is a humanitarian and philanthropic gesture thatcarries much reward in the Hereafter, but it is not an obligation at all, theviolation of which could lead to eterna l perdition. Traditions reportingthat ma'iin refers to pots and pans, and other household items of daily useare to show that if a person is reluctant to part with such small items, howwill he have the heart to part with 2%% of his wealth? The Traditionspurport to say that these people are so narrow-minded that they are notwilling to make th e leas t bit of selfless sacrifice for th e welfare andwell-being of others. They are morally mean, low and miserly in theextreme. Therefore, they do not pay their legal alms. Thus the threat ofpunishment in Hell-fire is not on account of failure to do one's neighborlyacts of kindness, but for failure to pay the legal alms and perhaps fortheir extreme niggardliness.


SGrah AI-MZ%nEnds here


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Siirah Al-Kauthar : 108 : 1 - 3 892

SErah Al-Kauthar(The Kauthar)

This Siirah is MakkT, and it has 3 verses


(0Prophet,) surely We have given to you Al-Kauthar (ariver in Paradize). [ l l So, offer ealiih (prayer) to yourLord, and sacrifice. 121 Surely it is your enemy whosetraces are cut off. [31Cause of Revelation

It is reported by Ibn Abi HZtim, on the authority of Suddi, and byBaihaqi, in Dala'il-un- Nubuwwah, on the authority of Muhammad Ibn'AX Ibn Husain, that the Arabs used to taunt and revile people who havelost the ir male issues. They used to refer to such a person as 'ab tar ',meaning 'having no male offspring or no male issue'. In keeping with thissocial evil, when the young son of the Holy Prophet B,namely QZsirnpassed away, some leaders of Quraish, especially 'He Ibn W i l , startedtaunting the Holy Prophet telling the people that they no longer needto bother about him, because he had no sons to carry on his name andth a t he would be forgotten after his death ; he is 'ab tar ', th a t is, hislineage is cut off. On this occasion, the Siirah was revealed. [Baghawi, IbnKa thir , Mazhar i ].

According to some narratives, Ka'b Ibn Ashraf, a Jew of MadTnah,


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Siirah Al-Kauthar:108 : 1 - 3 893came to Makkah and the Quraish asked him: "You are the leader of thepeople. What do you think about this young man who claims that he isbetter than us (in religion), while we a re th e people who serve thepilgrims; we are the custodians of Ka'bah and supply water to thepilgrims." He replied: "You are Setter than him." This SGrah was revealedon that occasion. [Ibn Kathir cites th is incident from Bazzar with a n authenticchain of narrators; and Mazhari says that Muslim also transmitted the incident].

According to these narrations, this SGrah was sent down when theunbelievers of Makkah taunted the Holy Prophet $$& because he had lostall his male issues, and called him 'abtar ' or insulted him for some otherreason. The present SGrah gives a n answ er to th e t a un ts of theunbelievers, and maintains that there is no justification for calling theHoly Prophet an 'abtar ' only because he had no male child alive, notonly because his lineal offspring will remain till the Day of Judgment,though from his daughters, but he was destined to be the spiritual fatherof a multitude of sons in all ages to the end of time, sons who were to befar more faithful, obedient and loving than the sons of any father, andthey will outnumber the followers of all the Prophets that came beforehim. The SGrah has also dismissed the statement of Ka'b Ibn Ashraf, andhighlights the great honor and respect given to him by Allah.The River or Fountain of Kauthar

Verse [108:113 9 1 c! ([O Prophet,] surely, We have given youAl-Kauthar [a river in paradise].) The word 'Al-Kauthar' literally means'abundant goodness'. Imam BukhZr; has recorded on the authority ofSa'Id Ibn Jubair& hat Ibn 'AbbZs& said about 'al-Kauthar': 'It is theabundant goodness th at Allah gave to him [Holy Prophet $$&]I. specialpupil of Ibn 'Abbas & said: "I asked Sa'id Ibn Jubair & that peopleclaim that it is a river in Paradise." Sa'Td Ibn Jubair & replied that theriver in Paradise is part of the goodness that Allah gave him. Therefore,Mujahid interprets that it is the abundant goodness of this world, as wellas of the next world. This explanation includes the river in Paradise andother things as well.

The following Hadith is recorded in Bukhari, Muslim, AbG Dawiidand Nasa'i from Sayyidna Anas& hat he said:


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SiirahAl-Kauthar :108 : 1 - 3 894iJy $1 3 $I : U 7hl JyJ I+ L :L& .= LL 2J:L& 7>&1 L d,J&I : Li $I>$! &I i lF

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