Surah Sad 38:41-64 - Quran Translation Commentary

44. (And We said to him): “Take a bunch or twigs and strike with it, do not break your oath”⁶⁷. We round him full of patience. What an excellent slave! Always turning to God.

45. And remember Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaqoob, Our slaves, who were men of (righteous) ⁶⁸ activity and vision.⁶⁹

46. We had made them pure for the remembrance of that Home. ⁷⁰

47. And verily they are with Us of the elect and excellent.

48. And remember Ismail, Al-yasa⁷¹ and DhulKifl: ⁷² all are of the excellent ones.

49. This is a reminder.⁷³ And verily for the God fearing the best abode,

50. The Everlasting Gardens whose gates are open for them,⁷⁴

51. Reclining therein, calling for abundant fruits and drinks.

52. And with them will be female companions of modest gaze ⁷⁵ and aqual age.⁷⁶

53. This is what you were being promised for the Day of Reckoning.

54. Verily this is Our provision which will never finish. ⁷⁷

55. This (is for the God-fearing). And for the transgressors there will be the worst abode,⁷⁸

56. Hell, where they will enter. An evil resting place!

57. This is for them, let them taste it: boiling water and cold pus,

58. And of other similar kind of things in pairs ⁷⁹ (of extremes).

59. Here is the army which will fall with you (in Hell). There is no welcome for them. Verily, they are to roast in fire.⁸⁰

60. They will answer: “Nay, but there is no welcome for you (leaders) .It is you who brought this upon Us ⁸¹ (by your leadership). And it is an evil abode!”

61. They will say: “Our Lord! Whoever has brought this upon us, give a twofold punishment to them in Hell.”⁸²

62. And they will say: “What is the matter that we do not see (here) men whom we regarded wicked?⁸³

63. “Whom we had taken as laughing stock, or have our eyes missed them?”⁸⁴

64. Verily, this is the very truth, the wrangling of the people of the Fire.⁸⁵

Commentary

61.For the events of the life of Prophet Ayyub (Job), please see Surah Anbia, Notes Nos. 111 to 113.

62. I am feeling painful for two reasons: one is on account of my illness and the other because of the separation from my family. These sufferings descended on me with the command of Allah only, for Allah alone is the giver of weal and woe. That is why Prophet Ayyub appealed to Allah to remove his sufferings, but these sufferings have been ascribed to have been received from Satan, because through his tricks Prophets Ayyub had to suffer them. What were these tricks, we do not know. It is likely that some tribes might have indulged in plundering etc., and in the disturbance the people of his household might have been separated from him. Then he might have fallen sick owing to this separation, and then the sickness might have taken a serious turn. And for this reason he might have declared Satan as the cause of all his troubles. However the exact knowledge of the true state of affairs is known to Allah.

Although Prophet Ayyub was seriously ill, and this sickness was a trial of his patience, yet it is not correct to think that he was suffering from a disease causing repulsion in others, like leprosy, etc. A prophet falls ill, but not in such a way that others cannot come near him, for that would affect his position as a prophet. It also affects his work of dawah, reform, training and his ability to give sermons, the work for which a prophet is sent in this world. In the Bible there is a scripture named Job which is a collection of prose and poetry, which relates a story with great exaggeration. From its topics it becomes quite clear that the events of Prophet Ayyub’s life were in the manner of a fiction, and imaginary, the commentator of the Bible writes that it is not known who is the author of this scripture:

“Despite our richer acquaintance with the background of Job the name of the author remains quite unknown to us.”

-(The Interpreters One-Vol. Commentary on the Bible, P. 239).

But the Muslim writers have taken these stories from the People of the Book and have quoted strange stories in the commentaries of Quran. Shaikh Muhammad bin Abu Shahbah has taken a very good survey of these unreliable stories in his book, ‘Al Israiliyat wal Mauzuat Fi Kitabut Tafseer”:

“The fact is that the warp and woof of this story are very weak, and it cannot stand before criticism. It is supported neither by common sense nor by correct quotation. The disease from which Prophet Ayyub was suffering was not such as would create repulsion and hatred, but it was such a disease that its symptoms do not appear on the skin like rheumatism, arthritis, and diseases of bones, etc.” -(p.281).

It is amazing that the author of “Tadabbure- Quran” has also relied on the Bible’s book and quoted some improper things in connection with his disease.

63. Allah answered his prayer and told him the method of regaining health, which was: he had to strike his foot on the ground from where a spring of cold water would gush forth, he was to bathe in that water and also to drink it. Prophet Ayyub acted on this directive and regained his health, the gushing forth of a spring in this way was an extra ordinary manifestation from Allah for His prophet.

It gives us an idea that in some diseases bathing with cold water can cure certain diseases.

64. Allah caused certain events to take place which resulted in Prophet Ayyub’s family coming back to him. Moreover there were some additions in the family and the number of his people doubled.

65. When Prophet Ayyub successfully went through the test, and presented a very high example of patience and steadfastness, then Allah blessed hire with His mercy and favours. He not only regained whatever he had lost, but also received much more than that.

66. For explanation, please see Surah Anbia, Note No.114.

67. Quran has not clarified who was to be hit. Apparently it seems that there was someone who was an obstruction in the matter of Prophet Ayyub’s patiently enduring his sufferings, and he was from amongst his own people. Possibly he might have been his slave, and he might have uttered some complaining words concerning Allah. Prophet Ayyub might have sworn that he, would whip him, but after his regaining health, the slave might have asked for his pardon, and during his illness he might have served him sincerely. Thus it had become a problem for Prophet Ayyub that in the changed circumstances it would have been improper to punish the slave. And if he does not do it, then he will have to break his oath. On this occasion Allah, with His mercy, provided the solution that he should beat him with a bunch of twigs. Thus the slave will not be hurt and the oath will also be fulfilled. In the special circumstances this was a concession, and convenient solution of the problem. From this it can be construed that if a shariah command cannot be acted upon, on account of some reasonable excuse, then at least its external appearance should be maintained, so that the sense of obeying the command should be there. But there is no proof for excuses in this, and in order to make lawful what is unlawful, the excuses which are proffered as ‘shariah exceptions or exemptions’ are very ugly forms of running away from shariah. In this connection a study of ‘Kitabul Heel’ of Bukhari will be quite useful. In this Imam Bukhari has very severely criticised the excuse seekers with the support of the hadith.

68. That is: They were righteously active. They utilised their strength in Allah’s worship, obedience, dawah of His religion, teaching, remembrance and raising high His word.

69. They had vision, special insight. They looked at the events and the world around them not only with their physical eyes but also with the insight God had given them.

70. That home means the Hereafter. Prophets Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaqoob (peace be upon them) were the bright stars of the firmament of the prophethood and they were specially appointed for reminding people about the Hereafter. They themselves were anxious about it and their mission was also to see that the people worried about their fate in the Hereafter, and made success in the Hereafter as their goal.

Reminding people about the Hereafter is very important and distinctive feature of the prophets’ dawah. But in the modern times those who have set out to work for the Islamic Dawah do not seem to pay much attention to reminding people about the Hereafter.

71. Please see Surah An’am, Note No.148.

72. Please see Surah Anbia, Note No.116.

73. That is : The events of the life of these virtuous people were related with a view to reminding people about righteousness. The purpose was not to relate stories.

74. For the God-fearing the gates of the Paradise are open.

75. That is : Modest women who will keep their gaze downwards and will not look at anyone else except their husbands.

76. That is : All will be of the equal or the same age, that is young, however old they might have been in the world. In the Paradise neither men will be old nor women. Both will be equally young.

77. These blissful good things of the Paradise will be available to them always, they will never exhaust or finish.

78. In the above lines condition of those who feared Allah and spent their lives in His worship has been told. Now the condition of those people is being related who had turned away their faces from Allah and had adopted rebellious attitude. Thus both the sides of the fates in the Hereafter have been shown, so that every reader of Quran may think about the fate he would like to choose for himself.

79. That is: They will have to taste punishment of Similar kind. If man contemplates, the very thought of these punishment would make him shudder.

80. In these ayat a scene of those who enter the Hell has been presented. When the rebel leaders and religious misguides will reach near the Hell, they will look back to find that a large army of their followers is coming after them. The leaders will talk among themselves that this army will also fall with them into the hell. For them there is no greetings of welcome. For them there is only disgrace.

81. The followers, that is the people will say that the disgrace is for the leaders, for they have caused this fate to befall them. The people will put the blame of their going astray on their leaders.

82. Then they will appeal to their Lord to give twofold punishment to their leaders: one for the leaders’ own transgression and the second punishment for misleading the people.

83. Refers to the people of Faith, whom the disbelievers regarded wicked, because according to them the call to accept religion of truth was the call to sectarianism, and they thought that the opposition to Idolatry and polytheistic beliefs was the cause of disruption in the society.

84. This is an expression of wonder by the disbelievers. Those whom we were ridiculing were virtuous or we were unable to see them. The people of the Hell will realise at that time that those whom they had considered wicked on account of their faith were not wicked, that is why they are not with them to undergo the same fate which was theirs.

85. That is: On the occasion of entering the Hell the dispute and altercation between the misguided leaders and their followers is absolutely true which will certainly take place, and Quran is informing the people in advance so that they may take heed and reform themselves.