Appearance
Verses 1–10
Sūrah Yūnus, as the contents of its verses suggest, was revealed in Mecca at the beginning of the Prophet’s Mission. Furthermore, based on the connection that is evident between all of its verses, this chapter was revealed in a single go. Some scholars make an exception for the section of three verses beginning with, So if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who read the Book before you (). Others make an exception for the verse, Some of them believe in it, and some of them do not believe in it, and your Lord best knows the agents of corruption (). They say it was revealed about the Jewish tribes of Medina, but there is no evidence in the wording of any of these verses to support such a claim.
The main purpose for which this chapter was revealed is to emphasize the doctrine of monotheism by conveying warnings and glad tidings. It appears as though it was revealed after the idolaters of Mecca had rejected the Prophet’s claim to have received divine revelation and denounced the Qurʾan as nothing more than magic. Hence God responds to them by expounding that the Qurʾan is a heavenly book that has been sent down with His knowledge; that it contains teachings about divine unity, such as God’s oneness, knowledge, and power, the fact that all creation devolves to Him, the wonders of His conventions in creation, and the fact that they will all one day return to Him with their deeds—whether good or evil—in order that He might requite them; these are all demonstrated by the signs found in His creation of the heavens and the earth; and a human being will be guided to these teachings so long as they have a sound intellect. Therefore, the Qurʾan contains lofty truths that would only be rightly found in divine speech, not in the words of false and fabricated sorcery.
This is something that can be taken from the fact that the chapter opens by mentioning the idolaters’ denial of the Qurʾan: Does it seem odd to these people that We have revealed… The faithless say, ‘This is indeed a plain magician’ (), and that it closes with the words, And follow that which is revealed to you… (). Throughout this chapter, God returns time and again to the issue of the revelation of the Qurʾan and their denial thereof, in verses such as: When Our manifest signs are recited to them … (); This Qurʾan could not have been fabricated by anyone besides Allah … (); O mankind! There has certainly come to you an advice from your Lord (); So if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you ().
The repetition of this topic throughout the verses of the chapter, together with its opening and closing sections, shows that it was revealed after the idolaters had denied that the Qurʾan was the word of God and denied that the Prophet had received any revelation whatsoever. That is why the bulk of this discussion of this chapter revolves around threats of punishment against those of the Prophet’s people who deny God’s signs, and a warning that He will judge between the Prophet and between them, and that this is God’s convention in dealing with His creatures, after which He concludes the chapter. Hence, this is one of the distinguishing features of the chapter, to the extent that it is known as the chapter that warns the Prophet’s people that God will judge between the Prophet and them: be patient until Allah issues judgment, and He is the best of judges ().
الر ۚ تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْحَكِيمِ ١
(10:1) Alif, Lam, Ra. Those are the signs (āyāt) of the Wise Book (al-kitāb al-ḥakīm)
God uses the demonstrative pronoun, ‘those’, which is normally used to refer to something at a distance, to signify the lofty and exalted status of the Qurʾan, for it is the word of God which has descended to the earth from Him, the Highest of the High, the Exalted One, the Lord of the Throne.
As for āyāt (and the meaning of āya is ‘sign’), it is possible to refer to ideas or external entities using this term. However, here it is definitely used to refer to the constituent parts of the divine speech. This is a meaning we can observe in the verse, Is it not a sign for them that the learned of the Children of Israel recognize it? (); the verse, And her who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her Our spirit, and made her and her son a sign for all the nations (), and also the verse, When We change a sign with another in its place (). This is because the divine speech is revelation that has been sent down to the Prophet, and it is also speech that is read and recited, however we interpret the meaning of revelation in this context. Therefore, in the verse under discussion, āyāt signifies the components of the divine speech. These are defined by the dividers that separate one verse from another on the basis of their meaning as understood by the reader. Therefore, there are sometimes disagreements amongst scholars of different schools of thought—such as the Kufan and Basran grammarians—about the precise number of verses in some chapters of the Qurʾan.
The phrase, the Wise Book signifies a scripture in which wisdom firmly resides. Some have suggested that ḥakīm is actually the passive participle of the verb ḥ-k-m and signifies the meaning ‘firm’ (muḥkam). In this case, al-kitāb al-ḥakīm denotes a book that cannot be corrupted or discredited, or ‘the Irrefutable Book.’ In either case, the book of this status, which God describes in the following verse as a revelation from Him, is the Qurʾan that was revealed to the Prophet.
Some have said that the Wise Book actually refers to the Guarded Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ) its ‘signs’ (āyāt) are the verses of the Qurʾan that have been sent down from it and are preserved in it. This explanation is not without merit, considering other verses of the Qurʾan, such as, Rather it is a glorious Qurʾan, in a preserved tablet (), and This is indeed a noble Qurʾan, in a guarded Book (). However, the apparent meaning of the verse under discussion and the other verses that appear with it at the beginning of the chapter that open with the disconnected letters, Alif, Lam, Ra, along with similar verses that are concerned with describing the Qurʾan is that the meaning of Book and its signs are the Qurʾan and its verses that are read and recited by human beings, which is sent down from the Guarded Tablet that is protected from falsehood and corruption. Therefore, it is like a book that is taken from another book, as we can deduce from the verses, These are the signs of the Book and a manifest Qurʾan (), and a Book, whose signs have been made definitive and then elaborated, from One all-wise, all-aware ().
أَكَانَ لِلنَّاسِ عَجَبًا أَنْ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ رَجُلٍ مِنْهُمْ أَنْ أَنْذِرِ النَّاسَ وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنَّ لَهُمْ قَدَمَ صِدْقٍ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ۗ قَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَسَاحِرٌ مُبِينٌ ٢
(10:2) Does it seem odd to these people that We have revealed to a man from among themselves to ‘Warn mankind, and give good news to the faithful that they are in good standing with their Lord’? The faithless say, ‘This is indeed a plain magician.’
The question at the beginning of this verse is rhetorical in nature, with the force of rebuking them for being amazed that God that revealed the Qurʾanic message to a man from among themselves.
‘Warn mankind, and give good news to the faithful …’: This is an explanation of what God revealed to a man from among themselves. It shows that the revelation He sent down to him was intended as a warning to the generality of mankind and a good news specifically to the faithful among them. There is no doubt, therefore, that the Qurʾan is actually a source of harm to people under some circumstances, namely under those where they persist in disbelief and disobedience, but a source of benefit to them in others, such as faith and obedience.
The ‘good news’ (bushrā) which the Prophet is commanded to deliver to the faithful is that they are in good standing with their Lord, and the meaning of ‘good standing’ (qadam ṣidqin) here is the abode of truthfulness described in the verse, Indeed the Godwary will be amid gardens and streams, in the abode of truthfulness with an omnipotent King (). Therefore, faith which engenders nearness to God and a high spiritual rank with Him is truthfulness in faith, and one who is truthful in faith will occupy an abode of truthfulness with God.
The use of the term ‘standing’ (qadam, lit. ‘foot’) to refer to a station or rank is a figure of speech, as one typically occupies a space by standing in it with one’s feet. Therefore, the word qadam came to be used to refer to the space itself when discussing material things, and one’s rank or station when discussing immaterial things. The phrase ‘a good standing’ (qadam ṣidqin, lit. ‘an honest foot’) refers to the honesty and veracity of the one who is standing in that space, namely a standing that is attributed to the honesty of the one who holds it.
There are other explanations given for ṣidq, including that it refers to the personification of honesty, as if honesty had a foot of its own and dishonesty had a foot of its own, but it is the foot of honesty that is firm and does not slip.
The faithless say, ‘This is indeed a plain magician’: In other words, the Prophet is obviously a magician. It is also recited, ‘This is indeed a plain magic’ (inna hādhā la siḥrun mubīn), which is a reference to the Qurʾan. However, in both cases, the essential meaning is the same: The disbelievers accused the Prophet of practicing magic through the words of the Qurʾan.
It appears that this explains why it (seems) odd to these people, namely because when they hear what the Prophet recites to them of the Qurʾan they find its speech to be very different from their own, inasmuch as it is evidently miraculous and has a profound effect on peoples’ hearts and minds. Therefore, they react to this by saying, ‘it is plain magic, and the one who brought it is plainly a magician!’
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ ۖ يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ ۖ مَا مِنْ شَفِيعٍ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ إِذْنِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ ٣
(10:3) Indeed your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six stages, and then settled on the Throne, directing the command. There is no intercessor, except by His leave. That is Allah, your Lord! So worship Him. Will you not then take admonition?
The previous verse described the surprise of the idolaters that revelation—meaning the Qurʾan—was being sent down to the Prophet, their denial of him, and their accusing him of being a magician. In response, God begins to expound what it is they denied from two aspects: Their denial of the truth and knowledge contained in the Qurʾan, and the fact that the Qurʾan they reject as magic is truly a divine scripture and contains no falsehood or magic of any kind.
The phrase, Indeed your Lord is Allah, introduces the first of these aspects, which is the message brought to them by the Prophet of God, and that the teachings of the Qurʾan are truthful and contain no doubt, and that it is incumbent upon them to follow these teachings. In short, ‘O people, your Lord is God who created all of this world that you can see, its heavens, and its earth, in six stages, then settled on the Throne of divine power, took up the reins of divine governance, to which all the affairs of His creation devolve, and began to govern the created cosmos. When He governs everything without seeking the assistance of any helper or supporter, there is nothing that can intervene in the affairs of His creation—which is the meaning of intercessions (shafāʿa)—without His permission, for He is the First Cause above which is no other cause, and all the causes that exist beneath Him are caused by Him and are intercessors only by His leave.
And if this is the case, it is God alone who is your Lord and who governs your affairs and not those you have taken up as lords besides Him and as intercessors with Him. This is the meaning of the sentence, That is Allah, your Lord! So worship Him. Will you not then take admonition? In other words, have you not realized through your contemplation on the meaning of divinity, creation, and governance, that God is your Lord and that there is no Lord other than Him?
We have already discussed the meaning of the Throne (al-ʿarsh), intercession (shafāʿa), and divine permission (idhn) in our explanation of the verse, Indeed your Lord is Allah ().
إِلَيْهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا ۖ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقًّا ۚ إِنَّهُ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَهُمْ شَرَابٌ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ وَعَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ ٤
(10:4) To Him will be the return of you all—Allah’s true promise (waʿd Allāh ḥaqqan). Indeed He originates the creation, then He will bring it back that He may reward those who have faith and do righteous deeds with justice. As for the faithless, they shall have boiling water for drink, and a painful punishment because of what they used to defy.
After reminding listeners of the Origin of all things, God now reminds them of their Return to Him. Allah’s true promise means: ‘God has promised this truthfully.’
Ḥaqq (‘truth’) denotes a statement that corresponds to reality. Therefore, when God says that His promise of the Resurrection is true, this means that His creation is such that it will not be complete unless all things—including the human being—return to Him. This is like a stone that falls to earth from the sky: As it falls, its movement foretells that it will land on the earth, for its movement is something that will not end before it gradually approaches the earth and then comes to rest upon its surface. In the same way, things are gradually wending their way towards their Lord until they meet Him, per the verse, O man! You are labouring toward your Lord laboriously, and you will encounter Him (). So keep this in mind.
Indeed He originates the creation, then He will bring it back that He may reward those who have faith and do righteous deeds with justice: This emphasizes the statement, To Him will be the return of you all, and expands on the meaning and significance of the Return to God.
It could also be read as providing a rationale for the statement, To Him will be the return of you all, as it contains two of the arguments found in the Qurʾan to demonstrate the truthfulness of the Resurrection:
The first is, Indeed He originates the creation, then He will bring it back. This is because God’s custom is to pour out existence on whatever He creates and provide to it His mercy in order to complete its created existence: It comes into being, it lives, and it enjoys God’s mercy so long as it exists, until it reaches its appointed duration.
However, when it reaches the duration that has been appointed for it, this does not mean that it fades to nothingness and non-existence, such that God’s mercy, by which its being subsisted and by which it received its life, power, knowledge, and other such qualities, has come to naught. On the contrary, God continues to hold the mercy that He granted it in His hand of omnipotence, for whatever God has poured out into His creation remains His countenance, and His countenance shall never fade away.
Therefore, when we look at the existence of things and their coming to an end, this is not the same as fading away into nothingness, as we might imagine it is. On the contrary, the end of things is their return to God’s presence just as they had descended into this world from His presence. Whatever is with God is everlasting, so this process of coming into being and reaching an end is nothing other than God’s expansion and contraction of being, for it is God who originates things by unfurling His mercy and returns them to Him by seizing it, which is the promised Resurrection.
… back that He may reward those who have faith and do righteous deeds with justice: This is the second proof for the resurrection, that of divine justice—which is one of the divine attributes of action. It is because of God’s justice that He will not treat those who submitted to Him faithfully and did righteous deeds as equal to those who were arrogant and denied Him and His signs, even though the two groups were both equally subject to the natural order of cause and effect, which brought benefit and harm to them in this world by God’s leave. Therefore, all that remains is for God to separate the two groups by His justice after they have returned to Him: He will reward the faithful who did good deeds with things that they will enjoy and punish the faithless who did evil deeds with things that cause them pain.
Therefore, this proof depends on the two groups being distinguished from one another on the basis of their faith and righteous deeds or their disbelief, and on the phrases, with justice and the phrase, that He may reward, which qualifies the statement to Him will be the return of you all.
It is also possible that the phrase, that He may reward qualifies the statement then He will bring it back, in which case it occurs in the context of providing a rationale for why He will bring it back. However, the proof is the same in both cases. In terms of the literal construction of the verse, the second meaning is a more likely reading.
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ ٥
(10:5) It is He who made the sun a radiance (ḍiyāʾ) and the moon a light, and ordained its phases that you might know the number of years and the calculation. Allah did not create all that except with reason. He elaborates the signs for a people who have knowledge.
According to some scholars, the word ḍiyāʾ (‘radiance’) is the infinitive form of the verb dāʾ, yaḍūʾ, ḍawʾ, ḍiyāʾ in the same pattern as the verb ʿādh, yaʿūdh, ʿawdh, ʿiwādh (‘to seek protection’). According to others, it could also be the plural of ḍawʾ (in which case, it would mean ‘radiances’), just as siyāṭ is the plural of sawṭ (‘whip’). In other words, the meaning of this phrase is, ‘And God made the sun a source of radiance and the Moon a source of light.’
The same is true of and ordained its phases, which means that God appointed phases for the moon to move through on its course through the heavens, occupying each night a phase different to the one it had occupied the previous night. The moon moves further from the sun each night until it reaches the far side of the earth relative to it and then begins to return. This represents the measure of complete lunar month, by which it is possible to calculate the length of each month and all the months in a year. That is why God says, that you might know the number of years and the calculation.
This verse calls attention to one of the proofs to demonstrate to people God’s oneness in His Lordship and His being free from having any partners. Its meaning is as follows: ‘He is the one who made the sun a source of radiance which you use in all areas of your lives, just as whatever creations exist on the earth make use of it. Likewise, it is He who made the moon a light that you could use, and appointed phases for it, the changing of which gives rise to the calculation of the months and the years—knowledge of which you also benefit from. And He did not create all of this with all of the myriad purposes it serves except with truth, for these are real purposes that are part of the natural order that God created. Therefore, nothing God has created is either vain, or false, or the result of chance coincidence.’
Therefore, God only created things according to this order in order to look after the affairs of your life in this world and the next, for He is your Lord to whom you belong and in whose hands are your affairs. You have no lord except Him.
He elaborates the signs for a people who have knowledge: The term ‘signs’ here might refer to His elaboration of the signs of creation in the external world, or it might refer to the signs in His revealed scripture, though the former appears to be a better fit to the context of the verse.
إِنَّ فِي اخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَمَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَّقُونَ ٦
(10:6) Indeed in the alternation (ikhtilāf) of night and day, and whatever Allah has created in the heavens and the earth, there are surely signs for a people who are Godwary.
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī writes:
‘Ikhtilāf means for two things to go in different directions to one another; so the ikhtilāf of night and day means that one of them goes towards light and the other towards darkness.’
It appears that this word is derived from the root meaning of khalf (or ‘back’), and its original sense would be for one thing to turn its back towards another, then its semantic range expanded to include every sort of difference between two things. When one says he did ikhtilāf of something, this means ‘he put it behind him.’ One can say that people did ikhtilāf on a matter, meaning ‘they disagreed on it.’ One can also say that people did ikhtilāf to (ilā) something, meaning they frequented it, following one another’s backs.
Therefore, the ikhtilāf of day and night might refer to them covering the earth one after another, which is the succession of day and night that makes up weeks, months, and years.
Alternatively, it might refer to the fact that day and night differ from one another in most parts of the inhabited earth; they are approximately equal at the time of the Spring Equinox, then the days grow longer in the northern regions with each passing day until the Summer Solstice, when the day is at its longest, after which their length shortens again until the time of the Autumn Equinox, when night and day are roughly equal again. Then the night begins to grow longer with each passing day until the Winter Solstice, when the night is at its longest, then the nights begin to shorten again until the Spring Equinox, when day and night are once again equal. This is in the northern regions. The opposite is true in the southern one; so when the days grow longer in the north, they grow shorter in the south to the same degree, and vice versa.
The first kind of ikhtilāf of the night and day helps organise life on earth by virtue of the fact that the day sees the sun spread its warm rays, followed by the night, in whose darkness coolness returns. It is through this alternation that winds are unfurled and people go out to seek a living and then gather in their homes to dwell and rest. God says, … and make your sleep for rest? And make the night a covering? And make the day for livelihood? ().
The second kind of ikhtilāf gives rise to the four seasons of the year, through which provisions and sustenance are produced, and ordained therein its means of sustenance in four days, alike for all the seekers ().
The Arabic terms nahār and yawm both signify ‘day.’ However, according to some scholars, nahār suggests a time of daylight, which is why nahār is typically used in contrast to layl (‘night’), unlike yawm, which is used generally to signify ‘day’ in the general sense. That is why people say ‘ten days’ (ʿashra ayyām) or ‘twenty days’ (ʿishrīn yawman), but one does not say ten nahārāt or ʿishrīn nahāran, or the like thereof.
Therefore, the first verse contains a complete proof for His oneness in Lordship, as the alternation of night and day and all of God’s creation in the heavens and the earth are governed by a single unified cosmic order that prevails over all existent beings in the earth and the heavens, and most especially the human world, in the best possible way. This reveals that there is a single divine lordship that rules over all things, including human beings. Therefore, there is no Lord except God, and He has no partner in His lordship.
It is possible that the verse, indeed in the alternation of night and day …, is intended to provide a rationale for the state, he elaborates the signs for a people who have knowledge, because of the use of the preposition ‘indeed.’ If this is the case, the most appropriate explanation of the alternation of night and day is the first sense, which is their succession one after another, rather than the second sense, as this is the first meaning that comes to mind in light of the phrase, it is He who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and ordained its phases.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا وَرَضُوا بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَاطْمَأَنُّوا بِهَا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ آيَاتِنَا غَافِلُونَ ٧ أُولَٰئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ٨
(10:7–8) Indeed those who do not expect to encounter Us and who are pleased with the life of this world and satisfied with it, and those who are oblivious of Our signs; it is they whose refuge shall be the Fire because of what they used to earn.
In these verses, God now turns to expound the significance of the above call to worship God, in the phrase, That is Allah, your Lord! So worship Him, insofar as they reflect the outcomes of those who responded to the call and obeyed God and those who rejected the call and disobeyed Him.
God begins with the disbelievers by saying, Indeed those who do not expect to encounter Us and who are pleased with the life of this world and satisfied with it, and those who are oblivious of Our signs. Note that He describes them as possessing several qualities. First of all, He says that they do not expect to encounter Him, meaning they do not expect to return to God through the Resurrection that will take place on the Day of Judgement. We have already discussed, elsewhere, why the Resurrection is described as ‘encountering God’ (liqā Allāh). For example, see our discussion of the verse of Sūrah al-Aʿrāf about ‘seeing’ God on the Day of Judgement. These disbelievers deny the Day of Recompense and, by extension, they deny their moral accountability and the notion of divine recompense as a whole and, therefore, the divine promise of reward and threat of punishment, and divine commands and prohibitions. The logical effect of this is to invalidate revelation, prophethood, and the idea of divine religion that flows from these.
By denying the reality of the Resurrection and the Return to God, the disbelievers restrict the existence of the human being to this worldly life, for the human being—and, indeed, all living beings—has an essential and innate desire to survive and pursue happiness in life. Therefore, if someone believes in an eternal life that encompasses both the life of this world and the next, then this is what they will strive for happiness in. By contrast, if they only believe in this limited worldly existence, then all of their innate drive for happiness will be focused on this world and they will be satisfied with it instead of seeking also the Hereafter. This is the meaning of the phrase, and who are pleased with the life of this world and satisfied with it.
From this, it becomes evident that the second quality with which God describes the disbelievers follows logically from the first one, namely that they are pleased with the life of this world and satisfied with it (wa itmaʾannū bi-hā), and explains what this means. The preposition ‘bi’ in wa itmaʾannū bi-hā signifies causality here, meaning they are satisfied because of it and, therefore, do not hope to encounter God.
… and those who are oblivious of Our signs: This provides an explanation of the previous two qualities God has assigned to the disbelievers, as forgetting the hereafter and focusing on this world is a natural corollary of being heedless of God’s signs.
The verse under discussion is similar in meaning to the verse, so avoid those who turn away from Our remembrance and desire nothing but the life of the world. That is the ultimate reach of their knowledge. Indeed your Lord knows best those who stray from His way (). Note that this verse identifies turning away from the remembrance of God— which means to be heedless of His signs—as a cause of a person’s knowledge being restricted to the life of this world. Such a person wants nothing but the life of this world, which means to stray from the path of God, and straying from the path of God means forgetting the Day of Judgement, as per the verse, Indeed those who stray from the way of Allah—there is a severe punishment for them because of their forgetting the Day of Reckoning ().
Therefore, it is evident that denying the encounter with God and forgetting the Day of Reckoning means that a person will be pleased by the life of this world and satisfied with it rather than with the Hereafter. Therefore, his knowledge of reality will be limited to this world, and he will not seek anything beyond it. Because the criterion is the remembrance of God and seeking the Hereafter, there is no difference between a person who actively denies the Resurrection and the encounter with God and is pleased with the life of this world in belief and practice, and someone who effectively denies them and is pleased with this world in practice only.
It is also evident that belief in the Resurrection is one of the fundamental doctrines of the faith as, without it, there are no divine commands or prohibitions, no promise of reward or threat of punishment, and no prophethood or revelation. Therefore, without belief in the Resurrection, the entire edifice of the religion will crumble.
… it is they whose refuge shall be the Fire because of what they used to earn: This explains that they will be punished eternally in Hellfire because of the deeds they earned while they were in this world.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ يَهْدِيهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ بِإِيمَانِهِمْ ۖ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهِمُ الْأَنْهَارُ فِي جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ ٩
(10:9) Indeed those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their Lord guides them by the means of their faith. Streams will run beneath them in gardens of bliss.
Now God turns to the fate of the faithful and how He will reward them for responding to His call and obeying His commands.
First of all, He says that He will guide them through their faith. By this, He means that He will guide them to their Lord, as the context in which this verse occurs is a discussion of those who expect to encounter God. God has said elsewhere, Allah leads astray whomever He wishes, and guides to Himself those who turn penitently (). Faith only guides the faithful by God’s leave to God Himself, and whenever the faithful are guided to the truth or to the straight path or to something else mentioned in the Qurʾan, these are only routes and steps on the path that ultimately leads to Him, for … the terminus is toward your Lord ().
Here, God describes the faithful with the qualities of having faith (īmān) and doing righteous deeds (aʿmāl sāliḥa), then attributes their being guided to Him to faith alone, for faith is what elevates God’s servant to the station of divine proximity. Righteous deeds play no role besides supporting faith and putting it into practice. See the verse in which God says, Allah will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in rank (). This verse shows that faith and knowledge play a role in elevating the human being, but it does not say anything about righteous deeds. This idea comes across even more clearly in the verse, To Him ascends the good word, and He elevates righteous conduct ().
This concerns the guidance, which is the function of faith alone. As for the blessings of paradise, righteous conduct does play a role in earning these, just as sinful conduct plays a role in deserving punishment. God says concerning the fate of the faithful, streams will run beneath them in gardens of bliss (). This is in contrast to what He says concerning the fate of the faithless, it is they whose refuge shall be the Fire because of what they used to earn ().
A contemplative reader will note that God mentions that those who are guided by their faith shall dwell in the abode of nearness to God in the gardens of paradise, and one of these blessings are the streams that flow beneath them and in them. We have already explained in our commentary on the verses, the path of those whom You have blessed () and they are with those whom Allah has blessed (), that the blessings mentioned in the Qurʾan are symbolic of God’s guardianship (wilāya), and God has singled out His allies (awliyāʾ) who enjoy proximity to Him to receive the wine of paradise, and that this wine shows His special concern for them: Indeed the pious will drink from a cup seasoned with Kafur, a spring where the servants of Allah drink, which they make to gush forth as they please (), and also, Indeed the pious shall be amid bliss … as they are served with a sealed wine … a spring where those brought near drink (). Let such a reader ponder on these verses and apply their meanings to one another, so that some of the subtle secrets of God’s speech will become apparent to them.
دَعْوَاهُمْ فِيهَا سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَتَحِيَّتُهُمْ فِيهَا سَلَامٌ ۚ وَآخِرُ دَعْوَاهُمْ أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ١٠
(10:10) Their call therein will be, ‘O Allah! Immaculate are You!’ and their greeting therein will be, ‘Peace!’ and their concluding call, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.’
The first thing that God will do to ennoble His friends (awliyāʾ)—and they are those who have nothing in their hearts except God and none to whom they entrust their affairs save Him—is that He will purify their hearts from the love of anyone other than Him. They will not love anyone except God, so they will not become attached to anything except God or for the sake of God. They will divest Him of any partner that could pull their hearts away from His Remembrance or any distraction that could divert their attention from their Lord.
When they say, ‘Immaculate are You!’ (subḥānaka), this is to declare their Lord above anything that does not befit His holiness, such as a partner, whether in name or in thought, or any deficiency or non-existence. They glorify God not only in word, but in both word and deed, in speech and in body, and anything less than this is contaminated by a kind of polytheism. God says, And most of them do not believe in Allah without ascribing partners to Him ().
These are the ones whose hearts God has purified from the impurity of love for anyone besides Him which would distract them from His remembrance. He has filled them instead with His love, so that they do not want anything other than Him, for He is the good that is utterly without evil, Allah is better (Allahu khayrun, ). Therefore, their hearts, which are filled with goodness and peace, will not turn towards anyone else except with goodness and peace. That is, unless those to whom they turn their hearts are those who turn goodness and peace into evil and malediction, just as the Qurʾan is a healing for those who seek to be healed by it but does not increase the wrongdoers except in their state of loss.
These pure hearts will not turn towards anything without finding God’s blessings in it and witnessing it as a manifestation of His attributes of beauty and aspects of perfection, and bespeaking His grandeur and tremendousness. Therefore, whenever they describe a thing, they see it as a blessing from God and they witness in it God’s beauty in His names and attributes. They do not forget or neglect their Lord in any part of their description thereof. Therefore, when they describe a thing, they are also attributing beauty to God in His actions and attributes and praising and magnifying Him for it. For praise is nothing other than lauding someone for the actions they have chosen to do.
This is the condition of God’s friends—those who dwell in the abode of good deeds and strive today for their tomorrow. When they meet their Lord, He will fulfil His promise to them, admit them to His mercy, lodge them in the abode of His generosity, and complete for them their light, a blessing with which they had been singled out with in this world. God says, Their light will move swiftly before them and on their right. They will say, ‘Our Lord! Perfect our light for us…!’ ().
He will quench their thirst with a rarefied drink that will purify their hearts from every kind of idolatry, whether manifest or hidden. He will envelop them in the light of knowledge and certitude, and, from their hearts, He will set flowing springs of divine unity that will flow out upon their tongues. First, they will glorify God and declare His transcendence; they will send peace upon their comrades from among the prophets, the truthful, the witnesses, and the righteous; then they will praise God and laud Him with the most eloquent praise and most brilliant acclaim.
It is perhaps to this reality that the verses refer: Streams will run beneath them in gardens of bliss—which is a description of the paradise of God’s guardianship (jannat al-wilāya) and His purification of their hearts; their call therein will be, ‘O Allah! Immaculate are You!’—which is a description of their glorifying Him and declaring Him transcendent above every deficiency, need, or partner, and this glorification is one done in His presence, for they are not veiled from their Lord; And their greeting therein will be, ‘Peace!’—This describes Paradise as enjoying absolute security, such that security cannot be said to be found elsewhere except in a limited, relative sense; and their concluding call, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds’—This recounts their praise of God through His beautiful names and attributes after glorifying Him and declaring Him transcendent. This is the utmost level of the inhabitants of paradise, which they reach through the perfection of their knowledge of God.
We have already discussed, in our commentary on the verse, All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds (), that praise is a form of description, and that none of His creatures can adequately describe God Almighty except those of His servants who have devoted themselves to His worship, who had devoted their hearts to Him, and whom He has singled out for the honor of being brought near to Him without any intermediary between them and their Lord. This is the meaning of the verse, Clear is Allah of whatever they say, except Allah’s exclusive servants ().
This is why, when we study the Qurʾan, we find that it does not relate any praise of God save from His most noble prophets, such as Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, and Muḥammad. For example, in one verse we read that God spoke to Noah, So We revealed to him: … say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has delivered us from the wrongdoing lot’ (). Another verse quotes Abraham as saying, All praise belongs to Allah, who, despite my old age, gave me Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed my Lord hears all supplications (). Another bids the Prophet, say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah …’ (), while still another quotes David and Solomon, they said, ‘All praise belongs to Allah …’ ().
God also relates the praise of the inhabitants of Paradise in a number of places in the Qurʾan. For example: They will say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who guided us to this …’ (); They will say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has removed all grief from us …’ (); They will say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has fulfilled His promise to us …’ ();
And at the end of the verse under discussion, He says, and their concluding call, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.’
This verse shows that God will join those believers in the Hereafter amongst the inhabitants of paradise with His devoted servants. Therefore, it contains a promise of beautiful divine reward, and wondrous glad tidings for the faithful.
Examining Narrations
- In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Yūnus b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from the narrators he mentioned, from Imām al-Ṣādiq, about the verse, and give good news to the faithful that they are in good standing with their Lord (): ‘It is divine allyship (wilāya).’
- In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates from Ibrāhīm b. ʿUmar al-Yamānī, from narrators he mentioned, from Imām al-Ṣādiq, about the verse, and give good news to the faithful that they are in good standing with their Lord: ‘It is the Messenger of God.’
Author’s comment: ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī narrates this in his Tafsīr, with a complete chain of narrators, and al-ʿAyyāshī narrates it with an incomplete one, from Ibrāhīm ʿUmar, from narrators he mentioned, from the Imām. It appears that this is a reference to the Prophet’s intercession (shafāʿa).
This is also the import of what al-Ṭabrisī narrates in Majmaʿ al-bayān, when he says: ‘Some have said that the good standing mentioned in this verse is the intercession of Muḥammad… it is narrated from Abū ʿAbd Allāh (al-Ṣādiq).’
And also of what is narrated in al-Durr al-manthūr, from Ibn Mardawayh, from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, about the verse, they are in good standing with their Lord: ‘Muḥammad will be their intercessor on the Day of Resurrection.’
- In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Zayd al-Shaḥḥām from Imām al-Ṣādiq: ‘I asked him about the glorification of God (tasbīḥ): “It is one of the names of God and the call of the Inhabitants of Paradise.”’
Author’s comment: The meaning of tasbīḥ here is their saying, ‘O Allah! Immaculate are You!’ when the tradition says that it is one of His names, it means that it signifies His utter transcendence.
- In al-Ikhtiṣāṣ, it is narrated via a chain of narrators from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his grandfather, al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, from the Prophet, who said, in a lengthy discussion with a Jew who had asked him some questions:
‘When God’s servant says, “O Allah! Immaculate are you!” (subḥān Allāh), everything beneath the Throne glorifies God with Him, and the one who spoke these words will be given the reward of ten of its like. When he says, “Praise belongs to God!” (al-ḥamdu lillāh), God will bless him with the bounties of this world until He bestows upon him the bounties of the Hereafter. This is the watchword of the inhabitants of paradise, which they will utter as they enter it. Every kind of speech uttered in this world is cut off save for the praise of God. That is the meaning of the verse, The day they encounter Him, their greeting will be, ‘Peace’ ().
Author’s comment: When he says, “Every kind of speech uttered in this world is cut off save for the praise of God,” this means that whatever words are spoken in this world for purposes that serve their speaker—such as the words used in daily living, like all human discussions, or words that are spoken in acts of worship for the sake of divine reward, and the like thereof—will all terminate with the end of the world, for none of these worldly aims persist after this. Instead, all that will remain is the beautiful praise and magnification of God, which is the speech of the inhabitants of Paradise.
And when he says, ‘That is the meaning of the verse, The day they encounter Him, their greeting will be, “Peace”’, this means that their greeting on that day will be absolute peace, which shows that everything that exists there will, without exception, be in full agreement and harmony with what the human being desires. Everything that he wants, he shall have. Therefore, there is no need to use speech there in order to achieve any purpose for the speaker, as is the case with the speech of this world, so all that will remain is praise for the beauty and magnificence of God Almighty that people will witness, so ponder on this!
See al-Mīzān, Eng. v. 16, p. 71 (Ed.) ↩︎