Meaning

Ayah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

THE EXPLANATION

1.  {لا أُقْسِمُ بِهَذَا الْبَلَدِ}

            The most authentic meaning is:  [I [Allah] adjure by this city.]  Al-Qurtubiyy said:  'The city is Makkah, by the consensus of the scholars.  The meaning is:  I [Allah] adjure by this sacred city of Makkah in which you (Muhammad) inhabit due to your high status with Me and My acceptance of you.'

2.  {وَأَنْتَ حِلٌّ بِهَذَا الْبَلَدِ}

            Al-Bukhariyy narrated from Mujahid in Fath al-Bari, Volume 8, page 703:  You (Muhammad) are not sinful in the city of Makkah as other people are.  This ayah praises the Prophet, who lived in Makkah and aggrandized it, by not committing prohibited matters therein.  The Prophet showed the due respect for the sacred house in Makkah while the blasphemers were committing blasphemy there.  This ayah dispraises the blasphemers.

3.  {وَوَالِدٍ وَمَا وَلَدَ}

            In this ayah Allah adjures by Adam and the righteous among his offspring, including the prophets and the ones who called to Islam. It was said the sons of Ibrahim and his offsprings are meant by this ayah.

4.  {لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ}

            This means Adam and his offspring will face the hardships of this life and the hereafter. The adjuration ends here and the answer statement that reveals its subject matter begins here.  Allah adjures by whatever He willed among His creations to draw our attention to their grand status.  Al-insan (الإنْسَانَ) here is used for the humankind, that is, refers to Adam and his offspring.  Al-Bukhariyy said:  Fi kabad (فِي كَبَدٍ) means ‘into hardships.’  Ibn ^Abbas said it means ‘toil.’ Al-Hasan said:  ‘He faces the hardships of this life and the Hereafter.’  Al-Qurtubiyy said:

            "Our scholars said that the first hardship man encounters is the cutting off of his umbilical cord followed by the hardship of being strapped into cloths, then the hardship of nursing, without which he would die, then the hardship of teething and movement of his tongue, then he is weaned, which is harder on him than hitting.  He encounters circumcision, pain, and grief.  He encounters the strictures of his teacher, the policy of his moralizer, and the strong presence of his tutor.  Then he encounters marriage and its obligations.  He is occupied with children, servants, and soldiers.  He builds houses and palaces.  Then he faces old age, with accompanying knee and foot pains.  One faces many calamities too lengthy to enumerate:  eye, ear, tooth, and headaches.  He has financial responsibilities and faces the burden of debt.  He might be beaten, or imprisoned.  Every day that passes one faces calamities and hardships.  After all of that he faces death.  Then the questioning by the two angels, the closing in of the grave and its darkness, the Resurrection and facing his deeds--and until he ends up in Paradise or in Hellfire.  Had the matter been ones own choice one would not have chosen all of these hardships. This signifies that the human being has a Creator who manages him and decreed for him these situations. So let one submit to the orders of the Creator."

5.  {أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَنْ يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ}

            Ar-Raziyy said ayahsabu (أَيَحْسَبُ) is an interrogative with the purpose to denounce.  The meaning of the ayah is ‘does the extremely strong human being among the blasphemers of Quraysh think that because of his strength no one has the power to resurrect him and thereby punish him?’

6.  {يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالا لُبَدًا}

            The blasphemer would say, “I have spent an abundance of money in animosity to Muhammad.”  Abu Bakr, ^Aishah, Abu ^Abd Ar-Rahman, Qatadah, Abu Al-^Aliyah, Abu Ja^far recited (lubbadan), ^Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, Abu Al-Mutawakkil, Abu ^Imran recited (labdan), ^Uthman, Al-Hasan recited (lubudan), Aliyy Ibn Abu Talib, Ibn  Abu Al-Jawza' recited (libadan).

7.  {أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ}

            Does he think that no one sees him?  Rather, recording angels take down all what he says or does during his lifetime.  And they would count it all for the Day of Judgment, when no wealth or children shall benefit one, only one’s coming to Allah with a soundly believing heart.

8.  {أَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُ عَيْنَيْنِ}

            After Allah told us about the strong people of Quraysh and their sayings and refuting them, He established for us the perfectness of the Power of Allah by listing some of His endowments on mankind.  So in this verse is an interrogative to confirm the meaning therein.  The meaning is:  [We have made a pair of eyes for him to see.]

9.  {وَلِسَانًا وَشَفَتَيْنِ}

            And We have made a tongue for him with which to give utterance and a pair of lips to close his mouth.  One uses the tongue and the lips to eat, drink, blow and for other needs.  The meaning here is:  Is not the case that Allah created for the person things which signify that Allah has the power to resurrect him after his death?

10.  {وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ}

            Allah showed the human being the route of virtue and the route of vice as was mentioned by ^Aliyy, al-Bukhariyy and others.  The Hafidh Ibn Hajar said:  At-Tabaraniyy produced with a good chain of narration from the route of Ibn Mas^ud that he said an-najdayn (النَّجْدَيْنِ) is ‘the route of virtue and the route of vice,’ and al-Hakim said it is sahih.  In his book, Al-Mufradat, ar-Raghib said:  An-najd (النجد) is ‘the thick and slim place.’  And wa hadaynahun-najdayn (وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ) is an example of the routes of truth and falsehood in the creed, truthfulness and lies in the sayings, and good and ugly in the doings.  Allah elucidated that He made these two routes known in His saying in Surah al-Insan, 3:

{إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ}

This ayah means:  [We have made the path known to him.]

11.  {فَلا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ}

            This means ‘will he not cross the hardships that one encounters as he travels the path of the correct belief about Allah and His messenger, thereby spending precious wealth in the ways of Allah, among other things.  Al-Bukhariyy said this ayah means:  [He did not cross those hardships in this life.]

12.  {وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ}

            This is what makes you know what crossing those hardships is.  The ayah reflects the importance of the matter and of aggrandizing ones adherence to the ٌReligion.

13.  {فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ}

            It means:  It is setting a slave free. This is a practice highly rewardable.

14.  {أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ}

            Offering food is full of merit, and more so when the fed one is hungry.  The ayah means ‘or feeding on a day of famine.’As-Saghab (السغب) means, 'hunger'.

Ibn Kathir, Abu ^Amr, Al-Kisa'iyy recited fakka (فكَّ) with a fathah on the kaf (ك) and raqabata (رقبة) with a fathah and Aw 'At^ama  (أطعم) with a fathah on the hamzah and the mim ,and with a silent ta' (ط) without an alif (ا).

15.  {يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ}

            That is, feeding an orphan who is a kin.  This way one earns the reward for the charity of feeding and the reward for being kind to ones kin.

16.  {أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ}

            Or feeding an indigent person who is laid on the ground because of his extreme poverty.

17.  {ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ}

            The saying of Allahو thumma kana minal-ladhina ' amanu (ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا) means ‘he was a believer when setting the slave free and when feeding the orphan or indigent'--because the condition for the acceptance of the deeds is for one to be a believer in Allah and His Messenger.  Ibn as-Salah said in his explanation of Sahih Muslim:  “This term thumma (ثُمَّ) in the ayah does not mean the state of being a believer comes after offering food.  They (the people of truth) recited the following verse of poetry to substantiate the intended meaning:

ثم قد ساد قبل ذلك جدٌّه                  قل لمن ساد ثم ساد ابوه

This verse uses thumma (ثُمَّ) to list the rulership of the son, the father, and the grandfather.  Ibn as-Salah said:  The rulership of the father and the grandfather was mentioned in sequence after the son’s rulership.  However, it is known that the father and grandfather ruled before the son. 

            The saying of Allah watawasaw bissabri (وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ) means ‘they advised one another to be patient in being obedient to Allah and in refraining from sinning.’

          The saying of Allah watawasaw bilmarhamah (وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ) means, ‘they advised one another with sympathy and mercy.’  The Messenger of Allah said in what was related by al-Hakim with whom adh-Dhahabiyy concurred and established it as sahih:

<<ارحموا اهل الارض يرحمكم اهل السماء>>.

The great Hafidh al-^Iraqiyy mentioned in his book, Al-Amaliyy, " Ahlus-sama’ (اهل السماء) means ‘the angels.’ Hence this narration means: <<Be merciful to the occupants of earth and the occupants of the Heavens--the angels--will be merciful to you.>>

            And by the meaning of this narration one needs to explain the following famous narration:

<<ارحموا من فى الارض يرحمكم من فى السماء>>

Hence this famous narration of the hadith means:  <<Be merciful to the people on Earth and the angels, who occupy the skies, will bring down onto you the mercy of Allah.>>

18.  {أُولَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ}

            Those who are characterized by such good characteristics shall receive their books with their right hands.

19.  بِآيَاتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ} وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا {

            Those who blasphemed and belied the Qur’an shall receive their books with their left hands.

20.  {عَلَيْهِمْ نَارٌ مُؤْصَدَةٌ}

            The gates of Hellfire will be shut on them and not a door will open for them. Ibn Kathir, Nafi^,  Ibn ^Amir, Al-Kisa'iyy, Abu Bakr from ^Asim recited (musadah) without a hamzah.