النص المفهرس

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 23 - 24
admission, could not give up the ways of their forefathers, or
sufficiently overcome tribal rivalries, particularly their hostility to
Banu 'Abd Munaf, the tribe of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to
embrace Islam.
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti has, in his 'Al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', reported a
number of incidents which illustrate the point. When the Holy Prophet
and the Holy Qur'an began to attract the attention of صلى الله عليه وسلم
people even outside Makkah, the enemies of Islam became worried
about the huge crowds that would assemble there for the annual
pilgrimage and would be likely to fall under his spell. Their tribal
chiefs wanted to find an effective strategem to prevent such a situation
from arising, and they referred the problem to Walid ibn Mughirah,
the eldest and the wisest among them. To begin with, they suggested
that they could tell the pilgrims that the Holy Qur'an was (May Allah
forgive us for reporting a blasphemy) only the ravings of a lunatic. But
Walid could foresee that when the pilgrims heard the Holy Prophet
speaking with such lucidity and eloquence, they would immediately
know that the allegation was not true. Next they thought of dismissing
him as a mere poet. But Walid warned them that, an understanding of
the arts of poetry being innate in most Arabs, the pilgrims would
easily see that he was no poet. Then, they considered the possibility of
putting him down as one of the soothsayers. But Walid feared that
they would again discover how false the imputation was, and would
only turn against the accusers. In summing up his own impression of
the Holy Qur'an, he said: "By God, there is not a single man among
you who knows more about Arabic poetry than me. And, by God, I find
in this speech a kind of sweetness and grace which I have never found
in the speech of any poet or of any eloquent man." After a good deal of
thought, he finally advised them to accuse the Holy Prophet of
being a sorcerer who employed his black art in separating sons from
fathers, and wives from husbands.
Exactly the same was the impression made by the Holy Qur'an on
many other people, who expressed similar views - for example, Nadr
ibn Harith, a tribal chief; Unais, the brother of the blessed Companion,
Abu Dharr; As'ad ibn Zurarah, another tribal chief, and Qais ibn
Nasibah of the Banu Sulaim tribe. Even the vilest enemies of the Holy

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 23 - 24
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم like Akhnas ibn Shariq, Abu Sufyan and, of all
persons, Abu Jahl himself are reported to have stealthily crept in the
darkness of night to the house of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to hear
him reciting the Holy Qur'an, and to have been so entranced by the
Word of Allah that they could not tear themselves away from the place
till it was dawn. Yet they continued to be stubborn in their denial, for,
as Abu Jahl confessed in so many words, they had been successfully
vying with the tribe of Banu 'Abd Munaf in all possible virtues, but
now that their rivals had produced a prophet, they could not come up
with something to match the claim.
In short, the Arabs failed to take up the challenge of the Holy
Qur'an, and admitted their helplessness; nor has any one else
succeeded in the attempt since then - all of which goes to show that
the Holy Qur'an can only be the Word of Allah, not of man.
(3) The Holy Qur'an made many predictions about future events,
and things turned out to be exactly as it had declared. For example,
the infidels of Makkah were not prepared to believe the prophecy that
the people of Rum, or the Byzantians, would finally rout the Persians
after having suffered an initial defeat. The infidels made it a point of
honour, and put a wager on it, but were humiliated to see the
prophecy come true before the stipulated period of ten years was over.
(4) The Holy Qur'an gives a clear account of some of the earlier
prophets, of their Shari'ah and of their peoples, and of many historical
events since the beginning of the world. Even the best scholars among
the Jews and the Christians did not possess such exact information.
The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم , who had never attended a school nor
been in the company of a learned man, could not have provided all
these details for himself without having received the knowledge from
Allah.
(5) Several verses of the Holy Qur'an disclosed what certain people
had tried to keep concealed in their hearts, and they had to confess
that this was just what they had been thinking. We shall cite only two
instances.
إِذْهَمَّتُ طَائِفَتْنِ مِنْكُمُ اَنْ تَفْشَلاَ
"When two of your battalions thought of falling away. . . " (3:122)
and ,

146
Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 23 - 24
يُقُوْلُوْنَ فَِ أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَوْلَا يُعَذِّبْنَا اللَّهُ بِمَا نَقُوْلُ
"They say in their hearts, 'Why does Allah not punish us for
what we say?'
(6) The Holy Qur'an predicted that such and such men would not
be able to do such and such things, and then it turned out that, in
spite of having the power, they could not do these things. The Jews
claimed to be the 'Chosen of God' and His friends. Since one is always
eager to meet one's friends, the Holy Qur'an asked them to
substantiate their claim by wishing for death and for going back to
Allah, but at the same time declared: (30; : "And they shall never
wish for it" (62:7). Now, expressing a wish for death should not be
difficult for anyone, if he wishes to establish his bonafides; for the
Jews in particular, it would have been an easy way of refuting the
Holy Qur'an. But, in spite of all their hatred for the Holy Prophet ,
they knew in their hearts that the Holy Qur'an was the Book of Allah,
and feared that if they told a lie in this matter, they would actually
die. And they kept quiet.
(7) When the Holy Qur'an is recited (in Arabic, of course), it affects
in a strange and indefinable way the heart of even a casual listener,
Muslim or non-Muslim. History reports many instances of people
accepting Islam merely because they happened to be passing by when
the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was reciting the Holy Qur'an - such was
the case, for example, of the blessed Companion Jubair ibn Mut'im.
(8) The best book in the world, if read four or five times, begins to
lose its charm even for the most fervent admirer. But the peculiar
quality of the Holy Qur'an, and of it alone, is that the more one reads
or recites it, the more eager one becomes to do so again and again.
Even among the sacred books of the world, the Holy Qur'an is unique
in this respect.
(9) The sacred books of many religions have been lost or no longer
exist in an integral and authentic form. But Allah has promised in the
Holy Qur'an that He Himself will protect this Book, and preserve it
against the slightest change upto the end of time. During the fourteen

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 23 - 24
centuries of the history of Islam, millions of copies, written by hand or
printed, have been spread all over the globe as no other sacred book
has been. But in this respect the greatest miracle of the Holy Qur'an is
that in all the ages and in all the places where Muslims have lived,
there have been millions of people who have known the Book by heart
without the alteration of a single consonant or vowel. So, Allah has
preserved His Last Book not merely in the shape of written words, but,
above all in the hearts of men. Allah is Ever-Living, so will His Word
live for ever beyond the interference of created beings.
1
(10) There is no other book which should comprehend all the forms
of knowledge and wisdom in so short a space as does the Holy Qur'an,
fulfilling all possible spiritual needs of man, and providing him with
guidance for all the spheres of his internal or external, individual or
social activity.
(11) It is not merely a theoretical guidance that the Holy Qur'an
has offered. Which other book, sacred or otherwise, has had such a
vast and deep impact on the history of mankind in such a short time?
Which other book has brought about such a radical change in the
individual and collective life of millions of men within the space of a
few years ? For when the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم departed from this
world, Islam had, in spite of all opposition and without the modern
media of communication, already established a new order of life all
over the Arabian peninsula, and within the next few decades the
message of the Holy Qur'an had reached India on one side, and Spain
on the other. Can such pervasiveness be anything but a miracle?
Answers to some doubts
-
Before we leave the subject, we may also deal with certain doubts
which have been expressed with regard to the miraculous nature of
the Holy Qur'an. It has, for example, been suggested that some people,
at one time or another, must have taken up the challenge of the Holy
Qur'an, and produced something comparable to it, but their
compositions have not been preserved and have not come down to us.
But the objection is fanciful. The number of people hostile to Islam

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 23 - 24
has, in any age, been much larger than that of Muslims, and they have
possessed far greater and much more efficacious means of publicity
than Muslims ever have. If any seemingly successful attempt had been
made to produce an imitation of the Holy Qur'an, it would not only
have been preserved but also been widely publicised. After all, the
infidels of Makkah used to bring all kinds of wild and fanatic charges
against the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . For instance, they accused him
of having learnt all that he taught from the monk, Buhira whom he
had met only once in Syria; or, they imputed the Holy Qur'an to the
authorship of a Roman slave who, being an alien, could not have been
a master of the Arabic language and of the characteristically Arab
form of eloquence - the Holy Qur'an itself has reported this calumny.
But even they, for all their venom, never pretended to have produced
something resembling the Holy Qur'an. Anyhow, whatever funny or
flimsy attempts have been made to match the Holy Qur'an are on
record in the books of history. For example, Musaylama of Yemen,
known as the Great Liar, came out with a string of obscenities as a
reply to the Word of Allah, but his own people dismissed them for
what they were worth. At a later date, the famous man of letters,
'Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa' thought of trying his wits against the Holy
Qur'an, but soon gave up in despair.11
The point, however, is that if someone had really produced even
three or four verses comparable to those of the Holy Qur'an, the
matter could not have gone without being passed down to us at least
by the enemies of Islam. Of late a different kind of objection has
sometimes been raised. They say that the impossibility of successfully
imitating a book does not by itself argue that it is the Word of Allah or
a miracle, for poets like Shakespeare or Hafiz too have never been
imitated successfully. But a miracle is, by definition, something which
occurs without the like means having been employed. Every poet or
writer in the world, even the greatest, is known to have undergone a
11. A latter-day adventurist has been the Irish novelist James Joyce who
congratulated himself on having faced up to the Challenge of the Holy Qur'an
in his "Finnegans Wake". Soon recognized to be at least very funny, this book
can already be seen to be going up in a smoke of jokes.

149
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:25
process of education and training in his art, and to have made use of
certain means and methods which are humanly possible. But the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as we have said before, did not even know
reading or writing, and was never interested in learning the arts of
eloquence. Moreover, it is not merely a question of literary style. In
considering the Holy Qur'an as a miracle, we must, above all, take
into account the spiritual efficacy and the transforming power it has,
and which it has been showing these last fourteen hundred years.12
Verse 25
وَبَشِرِ الَّذِيْنَ أُمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصُّلِحْتِ أَثَّ لَهُمْ جَنْتٍ تَجْرِىٌ مِنُ
تَحْتِهَا الْآَنْهُرُِّ، كُلَّمَا رُزِقُوا مِنْهَا مِنْ ثَمَرَةٍ رِزْقًا قَالُوا هَذَا
الَّذِىُ وُزِقْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَأُتُوا بِهِ مُتَشَابِهًا ( وَلَّهُمْ فِيْهَاَ أَزْوَاجٌ
قُطَهَّرَةٌ وَّهُمُ فِيْهَا خُلِدُونَ 0
And give good tidings to those, who believe and do
what is virtuous, that for them there are gardens
beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are given a
fruit from there to eat, they will say, 'this is what we
have been given before'; and they are given one
resembling the other. And for them there shall be wives
purified; and there they are eternal. (Verse 25)
Verse 24 spoke of the fire of hell which has been prepared to
12. We may conclude this discussion by quoting a passage from the well-known
scholar of comparative religion and traditional civilizations, Frithjof Schuon:
The superhuman value of a revealed Book cannot be apparent in an absolute
fashion from its earthly form, nor from its conceptual content alone; in
reality, the Divine and therefore miraculous quality of such a Book is of an
order quite other than that of the most perfect dialectic or the most brilliant
poetry. This quality shows itself first of all in a richness of meanings - a
feature that is incapable of being imitated - and also in what might be called
the underlying divine 'magic' which shines through the formal expression and
proves itself by its results in souls, and in the world, in space and in time.
Only this Divine substance can explain the spiritual and theurgic efficacy of
the Qura'nic verses, with its consequences in miraculously rapaid expansion
of primitive Islam in the conditions in which it took place, as well as in the
stability of Moslem institutions and the extraordinary fruitfulness of Islamic
doctrine." ("Dimensions of Islam", London, 1970 page 55).
4

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 25
punish those who do not believe in the Holy Qur'an; the present verse
announces the reward for those who believe.
As for the fruits with which believers will be regaled in Paradise,
some commentators say that this concerns only the fruits of Paradise
which would be alike in shape, but each time different in taste. Others
say that these fruits would resemble the fruits of the earth in shape
alone, but their taste would be totally different. Anyhow, the point is
that the believers would have a kind of joy in Paradise they had never
known before, and that this joy would keep renewing itself at every
moment.
Thus, the fruits of Paradise13 may share a common name with the
fruits of the earth, but they will be of a different nature.
The wives which the believers will have in Paradise, will be clean
externally and pure internally - that is to say, free from everything
that is physically disgusting like excrement and menstruation, and
from everything that is morally disgusting like bad temper or unfaith-
fulness.
13. We must sound a note of caution here. Our modernists have for some time
been quite fond of asserting that in speaking of the fruits of Paradise and
its other joys, the Holy Qur'an has employed only a metaphysical mode of
expression in order to suggest spiritual bliss which, by its very nature, is
intangible. We do not mean to rule out the possibility or the desirability of
analogical or symbolical interpretations of the verses of the Holy Qur'an. In
fact, many authentic Muslim scholars, particularly the Sufis, have made
such attempts which have proved to be very illuminating in many ways.
But no genuine Sufi has ever claimed that symbolical interpretation (I'tibar)
is the same thing as exegesis (tafsir), or that his own interpretation was
exclusively the only valid one. The purpose of analogical interpretation has
always been to serve as an aid in spiritual realization or in the elaboration
of metaphysical doctrines, and not to negate or oppose the regular mode of
exegesis. What our modern exegetes overlook in their zeal and in their
simplicity is the obvious fact that if a thing is being used as a metaphor or a
symbol, it does not necessarily argue that it does not exist objectively. In
allowing for symbolical interpretations, we must carefully remember that
since the Holy Qur'an has spoken of the fruits of Paradise and of similar
things, they must have an objective existence, though not a physical one (in
the current sense of the word), and even though we have no knowledge as to
their nature and state - all of which we can safely leave to Allah Himself.
That way lies security, for that is the Straight Path.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 26 - 27
The joys of Paradise will also be unlike the joys of the earth in
that they will not be short-lived, nor will one have to be trembling
with the fear of losing them, for the believers shall live in perpetual
bliss for ever.
In giving these good tidings to those who believe, the Holy Qur'an
adds another condition - that of good deeds -, for without good deeds,
one cannot deserve such good tidings on the merit of 'Iman (faith)
alone. 'Iman itself can, no doubt, save a man from being consigned to
the fires of hell for ever, and every Muslim, even if he is a great sinner,
will finally be taken out of hell, once he has undergone a period of
punishment. But no one can altogether escape the fires of hell unless
he has been doing good deeds defined by the Shari'ah. (Ruh al Bayan:
Qurțubi)
Verses 26-27
إِنَّ اللّهِ لَا يَسْتَحْيَ انُّ ◌َتَضْرِبَ مَثَلَا مَا بَعُوُضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَاط
فَاَمَا الَّذِيْنَ أُمَنُوْاُ فَيَعْلَمْوَّنَ آَنَّهُ الُْقُّ مِنْ تَتِهِمْوَمَا الَّذِيْنَ
كَفَرُوْا فَيَقُوُلُوْنَ مَاذَا آَرَادَاللهُ بِهِذَا مَثَلَاِبْضَلُّ بِه ◌ِشِبْرًا
تَتَهُدِىُّ بِهِ كَثِيَّرَاءِ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهَ إِلَّ الْفُسِقِيْنَ الَّذِيْنَ
يَنْفُضُوْنَ عَهْدَاللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيْثَاقِهِ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَآَ آَمَرَ اللّهُ بِهَ
أَنْ يُصَلَ وَيُفْسِدُوْنَ فِى الْأَرْضِءِ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ المُسِرُونَ ﴾
Indeed, it does not embarrass Allah to use as a parable,
a gnat or what exceeds it. Now, as for those who
believe, they know it is the truth from their Lord; while
those who disbelieve say, "What could have Allah
meant by this parable?" By this He lets many go astray,
and by this He makes many find guidance. But He does
not let anyone go astray thereby except those who are
sinful - those who break the Covenant of Allah after it
has been made binding, and cut off what Allah has
commanded to be joined, and spread disorder on the
earth - it is these who are the losers. (Verses 26-27)

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 26 - 27
In the foregoing verses, it was affirmed that the Holy Qur'an does
not admit of any kind of doubt, and that if someone should have a
suspicion as to its being the Word of God, he should try to produce
even a small Surah comparable to it. These two verses refer to an
objection raised by the disbelievers with regard to the Holy Qur'an,
and provide an answer to them. They had been saying that had the
Qur'an been the Word of Allah, it would not have employed
contemptible creatures like an ant or a gnat in its parables, for such a
thing goes against the sublimity and majesty of Allah, when it would
embarrass even a man with some sense of dignity. The Holy Qur'an
points out that when one intends to speak of a detestable thing or
person or situation, in a parable, the use of a gnat or something even
more contemptible neither transgresses the principles of eloquence or
logic, nor does it go against the sense of dignity or modesty, and hence
Allah does not feel shy in using such imagery. The Holy Qur'an also
shows that doubts of this kind arise only in the minds of those whom
their disbelief has drained of all power to see things in a proper
perspective, while such empty misgivings never touch the minds and
hearts of true believers.
Qur'anic Parables: Test and guidance
The Holy Qur'an proceeds to suggest even a raison d'etre for the
use of such parables: they serve as a test for men. In the case of those
who are ready to think and to understand, they become a source of
guidance; but for those who refuse to understand, out of indifference or
out of a stubborn hostility and denial, they are a cause of greater
confusion and misguidance. In elaborating this point, the Holy Qur'an
specifies that these parables throw into confusion only those
disobedient and rebellious people who disavow the covenant they have
made with Allah, break all those relationships which Allah has
commanded them to keep intact, and consequently produce an
ever-widening disorder and anarchy in the world.
Who is fasiq ?
The Arabic word used by the Holy Qur'an in speaking of the
disobedient is Al-fasiqin, its root being fasaqa which means 'to go
outside or to stray beyond a limit'. In the terminology of the Shari'ah,
fisq signifies 'going beyond the circle of obedience to Allah, or

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 26 - 27
transgressing the commandments of Allah'. Now, transgression does
not stop at being merely disobedient in one's actions, but can
sometimes lead to outright denial and disbelief. So, the word fasiq is
applied to a disbeliever (kafir) as well - such a use of the word is
frequent in the Holy Qur'an. A Muslim who is a habitual sinner is
also called a fasiq - this is how the jurists (Fugaha') ordinarily use the
word, making the fasiq a counterpart of the kafir on the opposite
side. That is to say, a man who commits a major sin and does not
repent, or who insists on committing minor sins and makes it a habit,
would be called a fasiq in the terminology of the Fuqaha'; on the other
hand, a man who commits such sins publicly and openly without being
ashamed of it is called a fajir. (See Mazhari)
Living by the Covenant with Allah
The Covenant which the transgressors disavow refers to the one
that all men made with Allah before any of them came down to the
earth. The Holy Qur'an says that Allah brought together the spirits of
all men, and asked them: " &off :"Am I not your Lord?" And they
replied with one voice: ! : "Yes" (7:172). This acceptance and
affirmation of Allah as their only Lord and Master requires that men
should in no way be disobedient to Him. Allah's books and His
prophets come down to the world to remind them of this Covenant, to
renew it, and to teach them in detail how to act upon it. Now, those
who break this Covenant, how can they ever be expected to learn from
the prophets and the books of Allah?
Islamic concern about relationship to others
The cutting asunder of what Allah has commanded should be
joined includes all kinds of relationships -- the one between Allah and
His servant, the one between a man and his parents and relatives,
between him and his neighbours and friends, between one Muslim and
another, between one man and another. Actually, Islam means
fulfilling one's obligations with regard to all these relationships, and
this is also the way to follow the Shari'ah. Deficiency in fulfilling these
obligations produces all kinds of disorder among men, and thus the
transgressors end up by being destructive for others and for
themselves. It is these, the Holy Qur'an says, who are the losers -- in
this world as in the other.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 28 - 29
Injunctions and related considerations:
(1) Verse 26 shows if one intends to explain something useful or
essential for the spiritual guidance of one's readers or listeners, it is
neither sinful nor reprehensible to refer to something which is
generally supposed to be contemptible or dirty, nor does it go against
the dignity of the writer or the speaker. Examples of the use of such
images or parables occur in the Holy Qur'an, the Hadith, and in the
writings of the Sufis and other great Muslim scholars, all of whom
have disregarded the habitual idea of modesty or seriousness in the
interest of the real object to be attained.
(2) The reference to the disavowing of one's covenant with Allah
indicates that the infringement of a contract or agreement made with
one's fellow men is a grave sin, which may have the consequence of
depriving a man of the ability to do good deeds.
(3) Verse 27 shows that it is essential for us to maintain the
relationships which the Shari'ah has commanded us to keep intact,
and that it is forbidden to break them. Indeed, religion itself signifies
the divinely ordained laws which bind us to fulfil our obligations with
regard to Allah (Huququllah) and with regard to His servants (Huquq
al-'Ibad). According to this verse, the fundamental cause of disorder in
human society is the sundering of these relationships.
(4) The Holy Qur'an says that real losers are those who go against
divine commandments. There is a suggestion here that real loss
pertains to the other world, the loss of this world being too small a
thing to be worthy of serious consideration.
Verses 28-29
كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُوُنَ بِاللَّهِ وَ كُنْتُمْ آَمْوَاتًا فَآحُيَا كُمُ ثُمَّ يِمِيْنْكُمْ ثُمَّ
يُحْبِيْكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرُجَعُوْنَ ا هُوَ الَّذِىُ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ ◌َا فِى
الْأَرْضِ جَمِيْعَاةَ تْمَّ اسْتَوَىَ إِلَى الشَّمَآءِ فَسَتْهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمُوتٍ*
وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيْمِ 0
"How is it that you deny Allah despite that you were
lifeless and He gave you life, then He will make you die,
then make you live again, and then to Him you will be

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 28 - 29
returned? It is He who created for you all that the
earth contains; then He turned to the heavens and
made them seven skies -- and He is the knower of all
things." (Verses 28-29)
The earlier verses affirmed the existence and the Oneness of Allah,
and prophethood, giving self-evident proofs and refuting the whimsical
and false notions of the doubters and the disbelievers. These two
verses speak of the blessings which Allah has showered on man,
pointing out that all the same there are men who do not recognize the
bounty of Allah and persist in their denial -- the suggestion being that
if they do not want to take the trouble of considering the arguments
which have been advanced by the Holy Qur'an in the earlier verses,
they should, as every man with an undistorted nature must, at least
be grateful to their benefactor, for even this would be a way of
realizing why they should be obedient to Allah.
The first of these two verses refers to the blessings which are
particular to the very being of man -- that is to say, he had no life
before Allah gave him existence. The second verse refers to the general
blessings which are common to man and other creatures -- firstly, the
earth and all that it contains and on which man's life immediately
depends, and secondly, the skies with which life on earth is directly
related.
Verse 28 begins by expressing surprise at those who insist on being
ungrateful to Allah and on denying Him. On the face of it, the
disbelievers had never denied Allah but only the Holy Prophet , all
the same, the Holy Qur'an equates such a denial with the denial of
Allah Himself.
Then, the verse reminds man that once he was "dead" (amwat),
or that he had no life. He existed, if at all, in the shape of billions of
lifeless particles aimlessly floating; Allah brought them together,
made them into a man, and gave them life.
The verse proceeds to warn him that Allah will take away his life,
and then give it back to him a second time. This second life refers to
the Day of Judgment when Allah will collect the lifeless and scattered
particles of each and every man again, and give him a new life. Thus,

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the first 'death' or 'state of lifelessness' was at the beginning before
man received life from Allah; the second death comes when a man
completes the life-span allotted to him; and the second life will be
given on the Day of Judgment.
The verse ends by telling man that he will ultimately go back to
Allah. This, of course, refers to the Resurrection when all men will
rise from their graves, will be assembled for giving an account of their
deeds, and be finally punished or rewarded according to what they had
been doing in the world.
According to this verse, the chief blessing of Allah for man is life,
for without life he cannot profit from any other blessing. This is
obvious enough. But the verse counts death too as a blessing. It is so,
because physical death is the door to the perpetual life of the other
world after which there is no death.
In recounting the blessings which man has received from Allah,
verse 29 refers to Allah having created for man "all that the earth
contains." This small phrase comprehends all kinds of benefits which
accrue to him from the earth and its produce. Then, the verse speaks
of the creation of the sky and its division into seven skies or heavens,
as they are usually called in English. In this context, the Holy Qur'an
uses the Arabic word, Istawa which initially means 'to stand upright,
to climb', and thence signifies 'to turn or pay attention to something',
and, in a wider sense, 'to take a straight and firm decision which
nothing can hinder'. The implication here is that Allah being
Omniscient and Omnipotent, it was not at all difficult for Him to
create the universe, once He had decided to do so.
The life in 'Barzakh'
(The period between death and resurrection)
(1) Verse 28 shows that a man who does not apparently deny
Allah, but refuses to accept the Holy Prophet & as the Messenger of
Allah, and the Holy Qur'an as the Book of Allah, would still be counted
among those who do not believe in Allah.
(2) Verse 28 mentions only one kind of life which is to follow one's
physical death - that is, the life which will begin on the Day of
Resurrection - but says nothing about the life in the grave, although

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 28 - 29
the Holy Qur'an and Hadith explicitly speak of how people will be
questioned about their faith in their graves, and will also receive some
reward or punishment. Now, this life in the grave is something
intermediary (Barzakh) between the life which man has in this world
and one he will have in the other. In other words, it is a state in
between the two, resembling the life one has while dreaming; it can be
called a supplement to the life of this world as also a prelude to the life
hereafter. In short, this intermediary life is not in itself a distinct
entity, and hence need not be mentioned separately.
(3) According to verse 29, everything in the universe has been
created for man. It means that there is nothing in the universe from
which man does not derive some benefit in one way or the other,
directly or indirectly. There are things which man uses physically as
food or medicine; other things are useful for him without his knowing
it; even poisonous or dangerous things do him some good; even things
which are forbidden for him in one of their aspects, may in some other
aspect be quite beneficial; finally, almost everything can serve to teach
him a lesson or illuminate him in the interest of his life in the
Hereafter. The great Sufi Ibn 'Ata' remarks in connection with this
verse: 'Allah has created the universe for you so that it should serve
you and you should serve Allah. A wise man should thus know that he
will certainly get what has been created for him, and should not, in
worrying about it, forget the Being for whom he himself has been
created' (Al-Bahr al-Muhit).
(4) On the basis of verse 29, some scholars have come to the
conclusion that since everything in the world has been created for
man, it is essentially legitimate (Halal) and permissible (Mubah) for
man to make use of everything, except the things which have been
forbidden by the Shari'ah. So, the use of a thing is to be regarded as
lawful so long as the Holy Qur'an or the Hadith does not forbid it.
On the contrary, some other scholars say that the mere fact of a
thing having been created for the benefit of man does not argue that it
automatically becomes lawful to make use of it. So, the use of
everything is essentially unlawful unless an explicit statement in the
Holy Qur'an or the Hadith, or an argument based on them establishes
the use of a thing as legitimate.

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 30 - 33
There are still other authentic scholars who have not taken sides
in this controversy. Ibn Hayyan, in his commentary 'Al-Bahr
al-Muhit', points out that this verse does not provide a valid basis for
either of the two views, for the letter lam in the phrase 'JAK : khalaqa
lakum indicates causation, signifying that the universe has been
"created for your sake." So, one cannot draw any conclusion from the
phrase as to the use of everything being essentially legitimate or
illegitimate. The injunction with regard to the legitimacy or the
illegitimacy of the use of particular things have been provided
elsewhere in the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, and it is obligatory to
follow these injunctions.
(5) Verse 29 shows that the earth was created before the skies, as
indicated by the word, 3 : Thumma ('then'). Another verse of the Holy
Qur an seems to be saying the opposite:وَالأَرضَ بَعُدَ ذلِكَ دَحها :"He spread out
the earth after this." (79:30) But it does not necessarily mean that the
earth was created after the skies. What it actually implies is that
although the earth had already been created when the skies came into
being, yet a final shape was given to it after the creation of the skies.
(Al-Bahr al-Muhit, etc.)
(6) According to verse 29, the skies are seven in number. This
shows that the opinion of the ancient Greek astronomers and some
Muslim philosophers, who used to speak of nine heavens, was no more
than a conjecture.
Verses 30-33
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَئِكَةِ إِنِّيُ جَاعِلٌ فِى الْأَرْضِ خَلِيْفَةً ، قَالُؤاً
اَتَجُعَلُ فِيْهَا مَنْ تُفْسِدُ فِيْهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَآءَفَوَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّعُ
بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَ ﴿ قَالَ إِنّيْ أَعْلَمُ مَالَا تَعْلَمُوْنَ ا وَعَلَّمَ أَدَمَ
الْآَسْهَآءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمُ عَلَى المَتَكَةِ فَقَالَ اَنْبِئُوْنِىُ بِاَسُمَآءِ
هَوْلَاْءٍ إِنْ كُنتُمُ صدِقِيْنَ ا قَالُوا سُبُخْنَكَ لَ عِلُمَ لَنَا إِلَّ مَا
عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيْمُ الْحَكِيمُ ﴾ قَالَ يَأَدَمُ أَنْتُهُمْ بِاسْمَآ ئِهِمْ ..

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 30 - 33
فَلَتَّآ أَنْبَاَهُمْ بِاسْمَائِهِمْ قَالَ آَلَمَّ اقُلُ لَّكُمْ إِنّىَ أَعْلَمُ غَحُيْبَ
السَّمُوْتِ وَالْأَرْضِ، وَاعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُوْنَ وَمَا كُنْتُمُ تَكْتُمُوْنَ )
And when your Lord said to the angels, "I am going to
create a deputy on the earth!" They said, "Will You
create there one who will spread disorder on the earth
and cause bloodsheds while we, along with your praises,
proclaim Your purity and sanctify Your name?" He said,
"Certainly, I know what you do not know." And He
taught Adam the names, all of them; then presented
them before the angels, and said, "Tell me their names,
if you are right." They said, "To You belongs all purity!
We have no knowledge except what You have given us.
Surely, You alone are the all-knowing, all-wise." He said,
"O Adam, tell them the names of all these." When he told
them their names, Allah said, "Did I not tell you that I
know the secrets of the skies and of the earth, and that I
know what you disclose and what you have been
concealing. (Verses 30 - 33)
The preceding verses recounted the general and some of the
particular blessings of Allah, and asked man to recognize them and
not to be ungrateful and disobedient to his Benefactor. Now, ten
verses, beginning with the 30th, tell the story of the father of
mankind, Adam WJI ule , in continuation of this theme and also by way
of illustration. For, blessings are of two kinds - tangible and
intangible. Food, water, money, houses, or lands are some of the
tangible blessings; while honour, happiness or knowledge are
intangible ones. The earlier verses were concerned with blessings of
the first kind; these verses speak of those of the second kind - that is to
say, how Allah bestowed the gift of knowledge on Adam WJI ale , made
the angels prostrate themselves before him to show their respect, and
gave men the honour of being his sons.
عليه السلام The creation of Adam
The present three verses relate how Allah, having decided to create
Adam WJI Je and to make him His deputy on the earth, spoke of it to
the angels - seemingly by way of a trial, suggesting that they should

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express their opinions in this matter. The angels submitted that they
could not understand why men were being chosen to be the deputies,
for some of them would shed blood and spread disorder on this earth.
They thought that they themselves were more suited to perform this
function, as the nature of angels is wholly good, no evil deed can
possibly come out of them, they are totally obedient to Allah, and
should hence be more capable of managing the affairs of the world. In
replying to them, Allah first adopted the mode of authority, and told
the angels that they knew nothing about the nature and the needs of
deputation on the earth, and that Allah alone was the one to know it
fully. The second answer was in the mode of wisdom - Adam XuJIde
had been given preference over the angels on account of his superiority
in the station of knowledge, because in order to function properly as a
deputy on the earth one must know the names, the properties and the
characteristics of the things to be found there, and the angels had no
aptitude for this kind of knowledge.
(1) A question arises here as to why Allah chose to speak of His
decision to the angels. Was it merely to inform them? Was it to seek
their advice? Or, was it to make them express their opinion on the
subject?
Why Allah discussed Adam's creation with angels?
As for seeking advice, it is obvious enough that one turns for advice
to wise and trustworthy people only when one cannot see all the
aspects of a problem clearly, and does not want to depend on one's own
knowledge and understanding alone, or when the rights of others are
equal to one's own, and they too have to be consulted, as happens in
the counsels of the world. Evidently, neither of the two situations
obtain in the present case. Allah is the creator of the universe, and
knows everything about the smallest particle of dust; He sees and
hears everything, apparent or hidden. How can He stand in need of
anyone's advice? Similarly, He does not run the universe under the
parliamentary system, in which all have equal rights and everyone
has to be consulted directly or indirectly. He is the Lord and Master,
and all His creatures, be they men or angels, are His slaves - no one

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has the right to question Him about His actions, and to ask Him why
He did this or why He did not do that : ◌َلَا يُسْئَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْتَلُون :"He cannot
be questioned as to what He does, while they are to be questioned."
(21:23)
In fact, Allah did not mean to seek the advice of the angels, nor
was there any need for it, but He, in His wisdom, gave a mere
statement the form of a consultation in order to teach men the
advisability of mutual consultation. After all, the Holy Prophet & was
a messenger of Allah, and all the information he needed in dealing
with the affairs of the world could have been conveyed to him by
means of revelation, and yet the Holy Qur'an asks him to seek the
advice of his Companions, so that the Islamic community should learn
this lesson from him and the way of mutual consultation should be
established through him. In short, this is the first raison d'etre of the
mode of expression adopted by Allah. (Ruh al-Bayan)
The other has been suggested by the Holy Qur'an itself. Before the
appearance of man, the angels had taken it for granted that Allah
would not create a being who should be superior to them and greater
in knowledge - as has been reported in a narration coming down from
the blessed Companion Ibn 'Abbas and cited by Ibn Jarir in his
commentary. But Allah knew that He would create a being who would
be superior to all other creatures and greater than them in knowledge,
and who would receive the gift of divine viceregency. So, Allah
mentioned this in the assembly of the angels so that they may disclose
what they had been thinking. Speaking according to their own lights,
they very humbly submitted that a creature like man who carried
within himself a tendency towards evil and disorder and who would
not balk even at blood-shed, could not be expected to maintain peace
and order on the earth, while they themselves, being free of all evil,
and perfect in their obedience and devotion, could perform the function
more satisfactorily. They did not mean to raise an objection to the
choice which Allah had made, for angels are innocent of such
sentiments; they were only being curious, and wanted to know the
raison d'etre of such a choice.
To begin with, Allah gave them a very brief reply - 30 vu plan :

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Surah Al-Baqarah 2 : 30 - 33
"I know what you do not know", implying that they are not aware of
the nature and the requirements of divine viceregency, which had led
them to suppose that only pure and innocent beings could fulfil the
conditions necessary for such a responsible position.
Then, Allah demonstrated the truth to them in a vivid form. He
gave to Adam WJI ule a kind of knowledge for which he alone had been
endowed with the proper aptitude, and not the angels. That is to say,
He taught him the names, the properties and qualities of all the
existents, animate or inanimate. Angelic nature is not capable of such
awareness - for example, an angel cannot really experience the pain of
hunger and thirst, the tumult of passions, the torment from the bite of
a scorpion or a snake, or the exhilaration from an intoxicant. Only
Adam WJI ule had the capacity to learn such things, and he was taught
to know them. Then, there is no indication in the Holy Qur'an to show
that he was taught in privacy, apart from the angels. It may well be
that the teaching in itself was open to the angels as well as to him; his
nature allowed him to receive it, and he learnt the lesson, while, they
were impeded by their own proper nature, and could not. Or, it may be
that the teaching did not take an external form at all, but that the
Adamic nature was made to carry this particular kind of knowledge
within itself without the need of a formal education, just as an infant
does not have to be taught how to suck the mother's milk, or a
duckling how to swim. As to the question why Allah, being
omnipotent, did not change the nature of the angels and make them
learn these things, we shall say that the question, in fact, boils down
to this: Why did not Allah change the angels into men? For, if their
nature had been altered, they would no longer have remained angels,
but become men.
In short, through this demonstration Allah made the angels realize
how wrong they were in supposing that He would not create any being
superior to them in any way, and that they themselves were more
suitable for being the viceregents of Allah than Adam LJILde . Since
they failed to name the things which Adam WI de could, they came to
see that purity and innocence is not the criterion in choosing a deputy

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or viceregent but the knowledge of the things which are to be found on
the earth, of the ways of using them, and of the consequences which
would follow from such a use.
We can also infer a general principle from the episode - it is
necessary for a ruler to know fully the nature, the temperament and
the peculiarities of the people over whom he is to rule, without which
he cannot enforce justice and order. If one does not know the pain of
being hungry, how can one deal justice to the man who has unjustly
been kept hungry?
We may also point out that in expressing their opinion, the angels
' were neither raising an objection, nor being vain and proud, nor
asserting their right; it was, on their part, only a humble submission,
and an offer of their services. When they found that there was
another being who was, with his special kind of knowledge, more
suitable for the function, they as humbly acknowledged the fact and
سُبْطِتَكَ لَاعِلُمَ لَنَا إِلَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ : withdrew their earlier opinion in saying
"'ll : "To You belongs all purity! We have no knowledge except what
You have given us. Surely, You alone are the all-knowing, the
all-wise." In the present context, the phrase, "To You belongs all
purity" also has the implication that Allah is free from the charge of
having withheld from the angels the knowledge which He gave to
Adam WJIJde , for, being the all-knowing and the all-wise, He gives to
each creature the kind and the degree of knowledge and
understanding which He, and He alone, knows to be in consonance
with the specific nature of that creature.
Another question which may arise out of this episode is: How did
the angels come to know that man would shed blood? Did they possess
the knowledge of hidden things and of divine secrets? Or, was it a
mere conjecture on their part? Most of the authoritative scholars
believe, on the basis of certain ,ui : 'Athar' or reports available about
the blessed Companions, that it was Allah Himself who had informed
the angels on this occasion as to how man would behave on the earth.
(See 'Ruh al-Ma'ani'). It is only then that they became curious about the
raison d'etre of man being chosen as the viceregent in spite of his
propensity to evil