Surah An-Nur 24:41-50 - Quran Translation Commentary

41. Do you not see ⁷² that it is Allah whom all who are in the heavens and the earth praise, and also the birds with wings outspread ? Each one knows his prayer and his praise⁷³ And Allah is Aware of what they do.

42. And to Allah belongs the sovereignty⁷⁴ of the heavens and the earth, and to Him all things will return.

43. Do you not see that Allah drives the clouds, then gathers them, then piles them in layers? Then you seen rain coming out from between them;⁷⁵ He sends down hail from the heavens, from the mountains which are therein,⁷⁶ and smites ⁷⁷ with it whom He will and turn it away from whom He pleases. The flash of the lightning almost snatches away the sight⁷⁸.

44. Allah causes the night and the day succeed one another;⁷⁹ surely in this there is a lesson for the clear-sighted.

45. And Allah created every animal from water. ⁸⁰ Of them, one (kind) creeps on its belly,⁸¹ and one (kind) walks on two legs,⁸² and one (kind) walks upon four.⁸³ Allah creates what He will ⁸⁴. Verily Allah has power over all things.

46.Verily We have sent down revelations that clarify (truth). And Allah guides whom He will to the straight path.⁸⁵

47. And they say: “We believe in Allah and the messenger, and we obey;” then after that a faction of them turn away. They are no believers⁸⁶.

48. And when they are called to Allah and His messenger that he may judge between them, a faction of them is averse.⁸⁷

49.But had right been on their side, they would have come to him in all obedience.⁸⁸

50. Is there a sickness in their hearts, or are they in doubt? Or do they fear that Allah and His messenger may deny them justice? Nay, but really they are the wrong doers.⁸⁹

Commentary

72. Now those signs are being narrated by contemplating which Allah’s recognition (ma’rifat) is attained.

73. Do you not see’ here means’ Do you not reflect or contemplate.’ Mankind is being invited to ponder over this reality that whether the creature may be of the heaven or of the earth, every one of them sings praises of Allah and of His Immaculateness. Either the angels or any other animal in the world, every living being worships Him or offers salat in his own way and sings His praises. The birds which spread their wings in the space as if they are prostrating themselves before Allah in worship. The coo of the koyal, the song or the bulbul, the cock-a-doodle-doo of the cock and the twitter of the sparrows resound with the praises of the Almighty, provided man has the ears to hear the realistic notes. Early in the morning when the sparrows gather on trees and their chirping and twittering sounds as if they are singing praises of their Lord, and they are busy in offering prayers to Allah. For further explanation please see Surah Bani Israil. Note No.58, and Surah Hajj, Note No.32.

74. The fact that Allah is the king of the whole universe without any partner is an obvious reality, but polytheists associate others with Him in His power. And the amazing thing is that if those Muslims who have been brought up in the innovative environs, call Allah as king, they call the Prophet as His prime minister (Mukhtasar Tafseer-e-Naeemee, page 527). In the tafseer it is written that : “ As if the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) is the prime minister or the Divine Kingdom (Saltanat-i-Ilahiyah).”God save us from such commentaries

75. The arrangement of the rain laden clouds is a thing which is commonly observed. If a man is travelling in an aeroplane, he can observe this phenomenon clearly. He sees as if a sea of clouds is spread over the whole world. He also sees that the clouds come from here and there and join together then their process of gathering in layers upon layers continues till they cover several miles. And the amazing thing is that all this while the clouds are shedding rains over the earth and the plane passes over them. This observation invites one to ponder over all this, and if a man ponders he can easily realise that all this process goes on under a well set plan, and it is the doing of the same Being in whose control is this whole universe.

76. Here heaven means height. On the heights, on account of the extreme coldness the clouds are filled with snow, and their big masses look like mountains, from these mountain-like masses snowfall takes place.

77.Sometimes the snow fall takes the form of a storm, which causes a lot of damage. Some years ago this writer had the experience of seeing a hailstorm in Dubai. The hailstorm gave the impression as if bullets of snow were being fired from a machine gun and the hails looked as if they were turned out of machine. This writer took shelter in a shop and from there he could watch the distraction it wrought and prayed for safety. It was later learnt that it caused a lot of damage and a large number of people were hit by it.

78. That is: The flash of the lightning almost blinds the onlooker.

79. According to astronomy the revolution of night and day takes place on account of the rotation of the earth about its axis. But the question is: Who is He who causes the earth to revolve round its own axis in such a way that even after such a long interval of time there is no change in it’s speed nor has any irregularity occurred in the timings of the day and night.

80. for explanation, see Surah Anbiya, Note No. 35.

81. The animals that creep on their belly are snakes, and even fishes in water can be said to be creeping along their belly.

82. Among the animals with two feet, are men and birds.

83. Among the animals with four feet are animals that graze and also wild animals.

84. That is: In this variety of creativity it is only Allah’s will that operates.

85. These ayat explain monotheism clearly, but only those persons will get guidance from it who will deserve it by accepting guidance from Allah, according to His will. And Allah’s will takes wise decisions.

86. This is the description of those people who claimed to believe in Allah and His messenger but were averse to obeying their commands. Such an attitude was totally contrary to the demands of faith. Therefore, about them it was said: They are no believers. In other words these people are hypocrites.

It is thus elicited that faith and refusal to obey are two contradictory things. A man in whose heart there is faith cannot but express it in his actions. Commitment of a sin by a faithful is a momentary lapse, but to refuse to obey the commands of Allah and His messenger from the very outset is quite a different thing, and does not conform to a state of having faith. The first thing is sinning, while the second thing is kufr, unbelief.

Today there is a very large number of Muslims who express their devotion to Islam, but are free of following the directions of Qur’an and sunnah. Due to ignorance they are a prey to their wishful thinking. If they read these ayat carefully in which the conditions of the hypocrites have been narrated and ponder over them, they will understand the reality of faith and they will be fortunate enough to receive the guidance of Allah and His messenger.

87. To refuse to take their disputes to the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) or to refuse to present their mutual disputes before the laws of Qur’an and Sunnah are acts of hypocrisy, which has been explained in Surah An-Nisa. Note No.129 and No.134.

88.That is: When they estimate beforehand that in a particular case the judgment will go in their favour, they come before the Prophet very obediently for judgment. Same is the condition of the present day hypocrites. They select for following only those commands of the Shariah which serve their purpose. This is selfishness and not following of the Shariah.