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Friday 31 March 2023 | AL HAKAM
Surah Nuh, al-Jinn, al-Muzzammil, al-Muddaththir, al-Qiyamah, ad-Dahr, al-Mursalat, an-Naba’, an-Nazi‘at, ‘Abasa The English translation of the introduction to chapters of the Holy Quran as given by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IVrh is being presented for the benefit of our readers. Insha-Allah, in the coming issues, we will endeavour to publish the introduction to all chapters of the Holy Quran.
Chapter 71: Surah Nuh This Surah was revealed in the early period of Mecca and, including the basmalah, it consists of 29 verses. At the end of the preceding Surah, it was said [by Allah] that We have the power to create better people than you. In this Surah, Allah says, such was the situation on a smaller scale in the punishment of the people of Noahas that except for a few who took refuge in the ark of Noahas, the entire people were drowned. Then a new and better generation was started with those who accompanied Hazrat Noahas. Allah’s appointed time is discussed once again in verse number five, where it says that you will not be able to put it off once it comes. This is a repetition of the subject matter of the preceding Surah. Then follows Hazrat Noah’sas wailing and communication that only conveying of the message is not enough, but a Prophet, as if, has to lay his life in order to communicate that message to the people. He does not spare any means by which elders and sundry may be explained; sometimes by crying, and sometimes in secret lest the arrogant may be embarrassed by accepting the truth before the masses; sometimes by public announcements so that the public receives the message directly from the Prophet. Otherwise, their leaders would pervert the message for them. Further, he allures them by saying that if they believe, they will receive showers of blessings from the heavens. And sometimes he warns them that if they fail to believe, then instead of showers of blessings from the heavens, showers of destruction will descend unto them. And the earth too will not be able to help them aught, rather the springs of destruction will sprout from the earth as well. Finally after bringing proof home [itmam al-hujjah], and this is called bringing proof home, they were annihilated and the foundation of a new people was laid. The prayer of Hazrat Noahas that may Allah the Almighty leave not any of the disbelievers and destroy them was because Allah Almighty had informed him that if
they were left alive, they would beget none but sinners and wicked people. The hope that they will beget believers is lost. Thus, when the Divine communities bring truth home by conclusively communicating it in this way, they deserve to pray for the annihilation of their enemies. Besides that, this Surah also describes how Hazrat Noahas reminded his people of why they do not accept Allah Almighty as a Great Being. It is He Who developed you to completion stage by stage, and this is what is proven about various levels of altitudes in the heavens. This subject was beyond their ken to some extent. Neither did they have any knowledge about their past as to how stage by stage they were created, nor about their future, nor did they have any knowledge about level-by-level altitudes in the heavens. Probably this is a prophecy that when, some time in the future, a new ‘Noah’s Ark’ will be made, the people of that age will have attained all this knowledge. If they still did not desist from propagating polytheism, and truth had been brought home for them َ ْ ً then most surely the prayers َو َس ِّحق ُہم ت ْس ِحیقا ََ (pound them a goodly pounding) and لَا تذ ۡر ٰ َ َ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ َ ض ِم َن الک ِف ِری َن شریرا ِ ( علی الارleave not on the land a single wicked of the disbelievers) will be fulfilled against them.
Chapter 72: Surah al-Jinn This Surah was revealed at Mecca and, including the basmalah, it consists of 29
verses. One connection of the current Surah with Surah Nuh seems to be that this Surah also contains a glad tidings for the people that they will be showered with abundant water of mercy from the heavens if they accept this message. And if they fail to accept, then they will be afflicted with an ever-increasing chastisement. The Deluge mentioned in Surah Nuh was also a gradually increasing flood. Now we look at the subject matters of the current Surah wherein some very important issues have been raised with regards to the jinn. Ordinary scholars believe that here the jinn is a reference to some invisible creatures made of fire, whereas authentic ahadith prove that the Holy Prophetsa met with a delegation, who were jinn in the sense that they were influential members of their community, and they did light some fires to cook their food. So, it is not at all a reference to any hypothetical jinn. In addition to that, one of the important matters they [the jinn] discussed is that some stupid people among them attributed some ignorant things to Allah the Almighty. Further, another belief gained currency among them that now Allah the Almighty would never raise any Prophet. They declared this belief wrong because they themselves had witnessed a great Prophet[sa]. Further, with regard to mosques, Allah says that they are made solely for the sake of
Allah. None else deserves to be worshipped therein. Then follows the description of the worship of the Holy Prophetsa that in prayer various kinds of grief and worries would crowd upon him and continue distracting his attention. Despite this, his attention was devoted solely to Allah, in contrast to the man who witnesses every day that his festivities and his sorrows succeed in most cases in distracting his attention from worship. Once again, it has been repeated here that the punishment that you see to be far off no one can say whether it is near or far. Once punishment is afflicted, even if it is considered to be far, it seems to be close. The Holy Prophetsa received the news of the unseen exceedingly. He himself was not the knower of the unseen, but Allah the Almighty always grants the news of the unseen only to His Messengers, who do not possess the knowledge of the unseen in their personal capacity, but the knowledge of the unseen shared with them is destined to be fulfilled. Similarly, the angels that bring the revelation of ministry [risalah] parade in front and at the back to protect it lest Satans be able to corrupt it. Thus, after the great Prophets of Allah, there are many who follow them as their subordinates, who are commissioned for the semantic preservation of the revelation.
Chapter 73: Surah al-Muzzammil This Surah was revealed in the early period of Mecca and, including the basmalah, it consists of 21 verses. The detail of the state of worship of the Holy Prophetsa described in the preceding Surah is found in the very beginning of the current Surah, which, in short, is that he would wake up at night and spend most of its part crying before Allah. There is no other better way to trample one’s worldly desires than to wake up at night for worship and crush those desires. Once again in this Surah the Holy Prophet’ssa resemblance has been shown with Hazrat Mosesas that the Prophetsa also is a law-bearing Prophet and a Prophet of majesty. Thus, the recipients of the message of the Holy Prophetsa are being warned that a prophet greater in majesty than Mosesas has appeared. There will be no other result except for their destruction if they oppose him, as against Mosesas a mighty tyrant dared to reject his message and was destroyed.