Surah Al-Furqan 25:45-60 - Quran Translation Commentary

45.Do you not see how your Lord has spread (lengthened) the shadow? Had he willed, He would have made it still. Then we made the sun its guiding path;⁶⁰

46. Then we withdraw it to Us, a gradual withdrawal.⁶¹

47. And it is He who has made the night a clothing⁶² for you, and sleep repose,⁶³ and has made day a resurrection.⁶⁴

48. And it is He who sends the winds as harbingers of His mercy.⁶⁵ And We send down purifying water from the sky.⁶⁶

49.So that We may give life to the dead land, and provide drink for many cattle and people, that We have created.

50. And verily We set it forth clearly⁶⁷ among them that they may remember, but most men did nought but express ingratitude.

51.Had it been Our will, We could have raised a warner in every town.68

52. So do not obey the disbelievers, and strive against them⁶⁹ strenuously with it (Qur’an).⁷⁰

53. It is He who had caused the two seas (river and sea) to meet; one palatable, sweet, and the other saltish, bitter; and has set a barrier between them, an insurmountable obstruction.⁷¹

54. And it is He who has created man from water,⁷² and gave him kindred of blood and of marriage;⁷³ your Lord is ever Powerful.⁷⁴

55. And the disbelievers worship beside Allah that which can neither benefit them nor harm⁷⁵ them. And the disbeliever has become an enemy of His Lord.⁷⁶

56. And (O Prophet!) We have sent you only as a bearer of good tidings and warner.⁷⁷

57.Say: “I ask of you no recompense for this, except that he who will may take the right path to his Lord.”⁷⁸

58.And put your trust in the Living One who never dies,⁷⁹ and hymn His praise.⁸⁰ He suffices as the Knower of His slaves’ sins.⁸¹

59. Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six Days,⁸² then He elevated Himself on the Arsh⁸³ (Throne). Ar-Rahman (Most Gracious): Ask (That) Informed One concerning Him.⁸⁴

60. And when it is said to them: “Prostrate yourselves before Ar-Rahman,” they ask: “Who is Ar-Rahman?⁸⁵ Would you have us prostrate ourselves before anybody you order?” And this adds to their aversion.⁸⁶

Commentary

60. Here man’s attention is drawn to that sign of God which is called ‘shadow,’ Houses and trees cast their shadows, so also man, whose shadow moves with him, and provides an invitation for him to ponder. The shadow lengthens and also shortens. Its lengthening and shortening depends on the rising and setting of the sun, as if the sun is a guide for showing the path.

If the lengthening or the shortening of the shadow were to be made still and constant by Allah, then the shadow of the trees would have fallen on one side only, and the other side would have remained in the heat of the sun, but on account of the movement of the shadow and its lengthening and shortening, a balance has been struck between the heat and coldness. Is this not the doing of a Being who has a will and intention and who plans His every action ?

61. The shadow is lengthened in the morning, and as the sun rises the shadow gets shortened, and after the decline of the sun’s rising (zawal) in the afternoon, it again lengthens, till it totally disappears after the sunset.

62. The night places a veil of darkness on every thing, that is why it has been termed as clothing, a covering.

63. Sleep removes fatigue and gives comfort. It is a great blessing from Allah, which is given to everybody, but people do not reflect as to whose favour it is. And who is that benefactor whose favours know no limit?

64. If the night is for sleeping, then the day is for rising up, resurrection. And this resurrection is a proof of resurrection or the rising of the dead on the Day of Resurrection and also a reminder. It is said to be proof because it testifies that the being Who causes the sleep to make men unconscious like men unconscious like dead and then causes them to rise again on the Day of Resurrection. And reminder, because rising in the morning reminds one of rising on the Day of Resurrection. For this reason, direction is given in a hadith to say these words on rising in the morning:

“Praise and thanks for Allah who has given us life after death, and towards Him we have to rise and go.” -(Mishkat-with ref. to Bukhari Kitabud dawat)

65. Means the rain of mercy.

66. The rainwater which comes down is extremely clean and it has also the quality of cleaning dirty and filthy things.

67. Means Qur’an whose topics have been narrated in varied styles. Here the pronoun ‘hu’ refers to Qur’an as it also does in ayah No.52.

For further explanation, please see Surah An’am, Note No. 109.

68. That is: it was very easy for Allah to raise a prophet in every town, but His wisdom demanded that one prophet of such stature and magnificence be raised that he should suffice to warm the whole of mankind for all time. Accordingly prophet Muhammad, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, was sent down with a history -making personality, with a living miracle like Qur’an, and in such a central place that his ‘messengership’ prophethood, was sufficient for the entire world .

69. That is: By means of Qur’an or with the help of Qur’an, as is clear from the reference to context.

70. In this ayah the command is given to engage in jihad against the disbelievers, with Qur’an, with all your abilities at your command, Jihad means:

“Jihad ( striving ) and mujahidah is to employ total power in opposing the enemy.” - (Mufarradat-i-Raghib, P. 100).

This Surah is of the Meccan period, and during this period the command to offer jihad with the sword was not given. Therefore, in this ayah jihad means to be exceedingly active in presenting the message of Truth, and to struggle with falsehood in the face of every kind of obstruction and opposition. And then the command is given to engage in this jihad in a big way, which means that in this jihad of dawah Qur’an should be your weapon, in refuting the disbelief and polytheism Quranic verses should be presented, the answers given by the Qur’an to the doubts and objections of the disbelievers should be read out to them, the warnings of the Qur’an be made known to them to warn them, and their statements of disbelief may be repudiated with the help of Qur’an.

Even today there is great need for engaging in jihad by means of Qur’an, that is: for presenting the Qur’an with it translation to the non-Arabic knowing people, to try to remove doubts by presenting its topics; and to make Qur’an a shield against the arrows of the opponents is a great jihad, which is an important demand of the time. And only those persons can undertake this noble work who have a sincere love for this, the noblest Book of Allah. Such people should come out in the field for this great jihad, and become its standard- bearer.

71.In the text the word used is ‘Bahrain’, which means two seas. In Arabic ‘Bahr’ means a sea and also a river. Accordingly the river Nile is called ‘ Al- Bahrul Arzaq’ the Blue Nile and also ‘ Al-Bahrul Abyadh’ the white Nile.In the ayah the two seas means the meeting of the river with the sea. The water of the river is sweet, while the water of the sea is saltish. But at the place where the river falls into the sea, their waters remain unchanged in their characteristic qualities within their own limits. The great waves of the sea slap the water of the river, but they do not turn it saltish, as if there is a veil between the two which is not visible and there is a distinct barrier between the two, which keeps them in their places. And the Encyclopedia Britannica mentions this discovery that in the North Siberia (Russia), on its bank where big rivers fall into the Arctic ocean, the fresh water of the rivers, being less dense remains on the surface, while in the depths of the sea the saltish water is found as usual:

“Because this fresh water is less dense, it remains on the surface, the salinity at greater depth in the Arctic Ocean is normal for sea water.”

-(Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.13. p. 487).

Is this not a proof of the fact that there is a Being who controls this thing, whose laws are being enforced in such a way that everything is in its limits and nothing transcends its limits even to the slightest degree. People term these things as physical laws or natural laws, but no law functions without there being an enforcement agency. Then how these physical laws came to be enforced without the Enforcing Power ?

72. That is: From a drop of water, sperm.

73. That is: On the one hand blood relations (uterine) were sponsored, and on the other hand relations pertaining to the wife’s relatives were sponsored. In this way the generations of family took roots in man’s life.

74. For the Being who can bring into existence the great society from a mere drop of water (sperm), what is unachievable for such a Being?

75. For explanation, please see Surah An’am. Note No.118.

76. That is: The normal and natural thing was that these people should have established a relationship of worship with their true Lord, but due to their disbelief they became His opponent. Therefore, they are not interested in singing His praises and remembering Him and narrating His Immaculateness. However, they are interested in mouthing such stories that are not appropriate to His greatness and magnificence, and from which the concept of a defective and imperfect god comes to mind.

Instead of being loyal to Him, they are bent on transgression and rebellion. And what could be more foolish than this madness that man should become an enemy of his own Lord.

77. The task of the prophet is to give good tidings to the people of faith and to warn the deniers of the adverse consequences of their denial. It is not the responsibility of the prophet that he should compel people to accept faith.

78.That is: I am conveying Allah’s message to you for your own good. I have not asked for any reward or recompense for this work that you may doubt about my bonafides or may think that I am doing all this for my own selfish ends. The one and only purpose of my dawah is that Allah’s path may be clearly seen by the people then it is the choice of the people to choose whatever path they desire to follow.

79. Allah is not like the dead gods of the polytheists. He has been ever living and will ever live. Death will never come to Him.

80. That is, praise and Glorify Him, it may inculcate in you the qualities of relying upon, Allah .

81. That is: leave the case of those who oppose Allah.He is aware of the crimes of His slaves, and therefore, He will give them full punishment.

82. For explanation, please see Surah A’raf Note No.82.

83. For explanation, please see Surah A’raf, Note No. 83.

84. That is : Who and how is God and what are His attributes —to say anything about this by guessing and mere conjecture, or for this purpose to rely on the philosophical discourses of the various religions is not right, but information on these points should be inquired of God only, for He alone is fully and well aware of His own attributes Accordingly, He has narrated His attributes in His Book (Qur’an). Therefore, to know about His attributes you have to refer to Qur’an.

85. For explanation please see Surah Bani Israil, Note No. 145. This is the ayat-i-sajdah. On reading or hearing it, It is necessary to perform sajdah.

86. That is : A man should consider himself fortunate that he prostrates himself before his Most Gracious Lord (Rahman),but the polytheists are not pleased with this command, as a result of which they go farther away from God.