Appearance
Verses 1–5
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
الم ١ ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ٢ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ ٣ وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَاأُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ ٤ أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ٥
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
- Alif Lām Mīm.
- This Book, there is no doubt in it, [is] a guidance to those who guard [against evil].
- Those who believe in the unseen and keep up the prayer and spend [benevolently] out of what We have given them,
- And who believe in that which has been sent down to thee and that which was sent down before thee and they are sure of the hereafter.
- These are on a guidance from their Lord and these it is that shall be the successful ones.
Introduction
This chapter was revealed piecemeal; therefore, it does not have a single theme. However a major part of it shows a general objective: It emphasizes that a man cannot be a true servant of God unless he believes in all that was revealed to the messengers of God without making any difference between revelations, or between messengers; accordingly, it admonishes and condemns the disbelievers, the hypocrites and the people of the book because they differed about the religion of God and differentiated between His messengers; thereafter it ordains various important laws, like change of the direction to which the Muslims were to turn for their prayers, regulations of hajj, inheritance and fasting and so on.
Commentary
الم ١
(2:1) Alif Lām Mīm.
God willing, we shall describe in the 42nd chapter some things related to the “letter-symbols” that come at the beginning of some chapters. Also, the meaning of the guidance of the Qur’an and of its being a book will be explained later on.
ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ٢ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ ٣
(2:1-4) This Book, there is no doubt in it, [is] a guidance to those who guard [against evil], those who believe (yuʾminūn) in the unseen (al-ghayb) and keep up the prayer and spend [benevolently] out of what we have given them.
Those who guard against evil, or in other words, the pious ones, are the very people who believe. Piety, or guarding oneself against evil, is not a special virtue of any particular group of the believers. It is not like doing good, being humble before God or purity of intention, which are counted as various grades of the faith. Piety, on the other hand, is a comprehensive virtue that runs through all the ranks of the true faith. It is for this reason that God has not reserved this adjective for any particular group of the believers.
The characteristics of piety, enumerated in these four verses, are five: Believing in the unseen, keeping up prayers, spending benevolently out of what God has given, believing in what God has revealed to His messengers, and being sure of the hereafter. The pious ones acquire these spiritual qualities by guidance from God, as God tells us in the next verse: “These are on guidance from their Lord.” They became pious and guarded themselves against evil because God had guided them to it. When they got that quality, the Qur’an became guidance for them: “This Book … (is) a guidance to those who guard against evil.”
It clearly shows that there are two guidance, one before they became pious, the other after it. The first guidance made them pious; and thereupon God raised their status by the guidance of His Book.
The contrast is thus made clear between the pious ones on one hand and the disbelievers and the hypocrites (who are admonished in the next fifteen verses) on the other. The latter two groups are surrounded by two straying and two blindness. Their first straying causes their unbelief and hypocrisy, and the second one (which comes after their unbelief and hypocrisy) confirms their first error and strengthens it. Look at what God says about the disbelievers: Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing; and there is a covering over their eyes (). Sealing their hearts has been ascribed to God, but the covering over their eyes was put by the disbelievers themselves. Likewise, God says about the hypocrites: There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease (). The first disease is attributed to the hypocrites themselves, and the second one to God. The same reality has been explained in many verses. For example: He causes many to err by it and many He leads aright by it! But He does not cause to err by it [any] except the transgressors (); … but when they turned aside, Allah made their hearts turn aside ().
In short, the pious ones are surrounded by two guidance, as the disbelievers and hypocrites fall between two errors.
The second guidance is by the Qur’an; therefore, the first one must have been before the Qur’an. They must have been guided by a healthy and unimpaired psychology. If a man’s nature is faultless and flawless, it cannot fail to see that it is dependent on something above it. Also, it realizes that every other thing, which it may perceive, imagine or understand, depends likewise on a thing outside the chain of dependent and needy things. Thus, it comes to believe that there must be a Being, unseen and imperceptible through the senses, who is the beginning and end of every other thing. It also sees that the said Essential Being does not neglect even the smallest detail when it comes to creative perfection of His creatures. This makes him realize that the said Creator cannot leave the man to wander aimlessly hither and thither in his life; that He must have provided for him guidance to lead him aright in his actions and morals. By this healthy reasoning, the man acquires the belief in One God, in the institution of prophethood and in the Day of Resurrection. In this way, his faith in the fundamentals of religion becomes complete. That faith leads him to show his servitude before his Lord, and to use all that is in his power—wealth, prestige, knowledge, power, and any other excellence—to keep this faith alive and to convey it to others. Thus we come to the prayer and benevolent spending. The five virtues enumerated in these verses are such that a healthy nature unfailingly leads the man to them. Once a man reaches this stage, God bestows on him His other grace, that is, the guidance by the Qur’an.
The above mentioned five qualities—correct belief and correct deeds—fall between two guidance, a preceding one and a following one.
This second guidance is based on the first one. This fact has been described in the following verses: Allah confirms those who believe with the sure word in this world’s life and in the hereafter (); O you who believe! fear Allah and believe in His Messenger. He will give you two portions of His mercy, and make for you a light with which you will walk … (); O you who believe! if you help Allah, He will help you and make firm your feet (); And Allah does not guide the unjust people (); … and Allah does not guide the transgressing people ().
The same is the case with error and straying of the disbelievers and hypocrites, as will be seen later on.
The above verses give an indication that man has another life, hidden behind this one. It is by that life that he lives in this world as well as after death and at resurrection. God says: Is he who was dead then We raised him to life and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like him whose likeness is that of one in utter darkness whence he cannot come forth …(). We shall explain it, God willing, later on.
Those who believe in the unseen: al-Imān (faith, to believe) is consolidation of belief in heart. It is derived from al-amn (safety, to feel safe). The believer, by his belief and faith, gains safety from doubts. (Needless to say that doubt is like a poison to the faith.)
It has already been explained that faith has many grades. Sometimes one is certain of the object of faith; and this certainty has its effects; at other times the certainty increases and includes some concomitants of the said object; and at times it increases to include all the related matters of the object of faith. Naturally, the belief, thus, is of various grades, and so are the believers. al-Ghayb (the unseen) is opposite of “the perceived.” It is used for God, and His great signs, including the revelation, which is referred to in the clause, “And who believe in that which has been sent down to thee and that which was sent down before thee.” Also, it includes the hereafter. But in these verses, the beliefs in the revelation and in the hereafter have been separately mentioned. Therefore, “the unseen” must have been used for God only. In this way the belief in the three fundamentals of religion becomes complete.
The Qur’an emphasizes that man should not confine his knowledge and belief to only the perception; it exhorts him to follow healthy reasoning and rational understanding.
وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ ٤
(2:4) And who believe in that which was sent down to thee and that which was sent down before thee and they are sure of the hereafter.
Instead of only believing in the hereafter, they are sure of it. There is an indication here that one cannot be pious, cannot guard himself against evil, until he is really certain of the hereafter—a certainty that does not let him forget it even for a short time. A man believes in a matter, yet sometimes forgets some of its demands and then commits some things contrary. But if he believes in, and is sure of, the day when he shall have to give account of all that he has done—big or small—he will not do anything against the divine law, will not commit any sin. God says: …and do not follow desire, lest it should lead you astray from the path of Allah; [as for] those who go astray from the path of Allah, for them surely is a severe punishment because they forgot the day of reckoning (). Clearly it is because of forgetting the Day of Reckoning that man goes astray. It follows that if one remembers it and is sure of it, he will surely guard himself against evil, will become pious.
أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ٥
(2:5) These are on guidance from their Lord and these it is that shall be the successful ones.
Guidance is always from God, it is not ascribed to anyone else except in a metaphorical way. God describes His guidance in these words: Therefore [for] whomsoever Allah intends that He would guide him aright, He expands his breast for Islam … (). If one’s breast is expanded, he will be free from every tightness and niggardliness. And God says that: … whoever is preserved from the niggardliness of his soul, these it is that are the successful ones (). Therefore, He says in this verse about those who are on His guidance that “they shall be the successful ones.”
Examining Narrations
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said about the words of God: Those who believe in the unseen: “Those who believe in the rising of al-Qāʿim (one who stands, that is, al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam) that it is truth.” (Maʿani al-akhbār)
Author’s comment: This explanation is given in other traditions also; and it is based on the “flow” of the Qur’an.
- According to al-Tafsīr of al-ʿAyyāshi, Imam al-Ṣādiq said about the words of God: and spend (benevolently) out of what We have given them, that it means: the knowledge We have given them.
- In Maʿani al-akhbār, the same Imam has explained it in these words: “And they spread the knowledge We have given them and they recite what We have taught them of the Qur’an.
Author’s comment: Both traditions explain the “spending” in a wider sense that includes spending the wealth as well as using other bounties of God in His cause; the explanation given by us earlier is based on this exegesis.
Discourse
The discussions “A Philosophical Discussion”; “Another Philosophical Discussion” appear here in the printed volume. Read them in the Al-Mizan App.
A brief discussion on the “letter-symbols” or “abbreviated letters” can also be found at the beginning of chapter 19, Eng. vol. 27, first edition. (Ed.) ↩︎