Surah Taha 20:105-115 - Quran Translation Commentary

(20:108) On that Day everyone will follow the Summoner, with no deviation in him.¹⁰² Voices will be hushed to the Most Merciful, so that you will hear not but the shuffle of footsteps.¹⁰³

(20:109) The Day, when intercession will not profit, except for whom the Most Merciful allows, and whose word He approves.

(20:110) He knows what is before them and what is behind them while they comprehend it not by knowledge.¹⁰⁴

(20:111) Faces will be humbled¹⁰⁵ before the Living, the One by Whom all sustain. And surely, undone will be he who carried the burden of a transgression.

(20:112) (In contrast) He who did righteous deeds and is a believer, he shall not fear an injustice nor deprivation.¹⁰⁶

(20:113) Thus We have sent it down - an Arabic recital¹⁰⁷ - and have diversified therein all manner of warnings that haply they may fear, or that it give rise to a new awareness in them.¹⁰⁸

(20:114) So, exalted is Allah, the (true) Sovereign, the (Ultimate) Truth. And do not hasten with the Qur’an before its revelation is completed to you.¹⁰⁹ And say, ‘My Lord, increase me in knowledge.’¹¹⁰

(20:115) Indeed, We had already taken a promise from Adam earlier, but he forgot.¹¹¹ We did not find in him a firm resolve.¹¹²

Commentary

100. Probably, wrote Razi, when the Makkan pagans heard of the Day of Judgment, they asked the Prophet how it could be brought about seeing that there were no signs of destruction in the world. What they meant is that some kind of process has to start to bring about decay and ultimately end with total destruction. For example, mountains. How can such solid and massive objects be moved out of place? This in fact, Razi adds, was a doubt that Galenos (the Greek physician) had also expressed who said that the heavens and the earth will never meet with their destruction, for no signs of that are presently visible. Therefore Allah (swt) informed them that He will, by His Power, render the mountains to dust and scatter them about.

The above is a good example of how people’s mind has been working throughout the ages: from the time of the Greek civilization, to the Arabs of the Prophet’s time, to the modern man. The question of the origin and hence destruction of the world is one over which not only the best minds have spoken, but schools of thoughts have been developed. Fred Hoyle and a few others have held that the universe has always been as it is and will remain in existence as it is. This school refers to this cosmos as the “Steady-State Universe.” Others have held that since the expansion of the universe is well proved, it means once it was smaller, and before that smaller and so on, until you arrive at a point no more than 10-23 cm across, at terribly high temperature and higher pressure. At that point it burst and the phenomenon is known in common parlance as the Big Bang. Obviously, since the burst and scattering of the material, the universe has been cooling, losing the original pressure and, therefore, slowing down in its rate of expansion. But, what happens when the initial force of expansion is lost and the cosmos stops expanding at some point of time in future? It is envisaged that the universe will then begin to contract and collapse upon itself – what is known as the Big Crunch - to ultimately end up being what it was at the time of the Big Bang. At that point the cycle of Big Bang, expansion, cooling, contraction and Big Crunch will again begin. The cycle will go on for ever!

But the scientist were left completely out of their wits when they discovered through data collected by the Hubble telescope operating in the space that the Universe is accelerating in expansion. That is, the speed of expansion is increasing. This has come as a bomb shell suggesting a mysterious force operating upon matter pushing it afar. The Big Bang-Big Cruch-cycle therefore, will not work. So, what’s the scenario now? Well, it looks like the universe will keep on expanding, and, obviously, matter will disperse far and wide and lose complete contact with each other for ever.

The Qur’an of course does not reject or confirm any of the above except to agree on two points: that once all matter was together (21: 30) and that the universe is expanding (51: 47) and to disagree on two points, viz., at the start the universe was not a tiny dot, but was in the form similar to rolled scriptural material (21: 104), and that the cycle will not go on forever - Au.

101. The translation – as “depression” and “elevation” - reflects the understanding of Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ibn Zayd and others as in Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir, Baghawi and others.

102. A possible meaning is, the follower of the Summoner will follow him without any deviation (Qurtubi).

103. This is how Ibn `Abbas, `Ikrimah, Hasan and others have understood the word “hams.” But Mujahid thought it referred to a whispering voice (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

104. That is, He knows what they have before them of the Day of Judgment when they will be punished, and what they will leave behind them of this worldly life where they disobey His commands (Ibn Jarir).

Alternatively, they cannot comprehend Him (Allah) by knowledge (Baghawi).

Thanwi, `Uthmani and Mawdudi connect this verse with the previous one, but which seems to be possible only in a limited sense. In Mawdudi’s words: “This (verse) explains the reasons for placing restrictions on intercession. Regardless of whether someone is an angel, or a Messenger, or a saint, nobody knows – indeed nobody – the full record of another person’s deeds, of those activities which kept them preoccupied during their lives. No one fully knows what is truly creditable about a person or what makes him blameworthy. God, however, has full knowledge of the past records as well as the present state of all beings. He knows precisely the extent of goodness of those who are good. Likewise, He knows the wickedness of those who are wicked. Only He knows whether someone deserves to be pardoned, and if so, whether fully or in part. Neither angels nor Prophets nor any saints can be given a free hand to intercede on behalf of those they might like to.”

105. The textual word “`anat” also reflects the meaning of “surrender” (Razi, Qurtubi).

106. Literally, “hadm” is reduction or diminution in the wages that someone deserves to receive (Ibn Jarir from Mujahid). It is also used for wrongdoing and oppression (Qurtubi).

107. “Arabic recital” is a literal translation, otherwise, as Majid notes, the meaning is, a clearly worded recital, “The main idea underlying the word `arabiyyan is clearness of the precepts of the Qur’an and their intelligibility. A`raba, like afsaha, means, ‘he spoke clearly, plainly, distinctly or intelligibly (LL)” - Majid.

108. Literally, “dhikr” is remembrance, but Asad’s rendering as “awareness” seems to be more appropriate here (Au.).

109. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah and Ibn Jurayj understood the verse as meaning, “Do not recite the revelation to your followers, O Muhammad, until We have made clear its meaning to you” (Ibn Jarir).

Razi, Ibn Kathir and others have pointed out that initially the Prophet (saws) used to repeat the words of revelation, even as the revelation was in process, in fear of forgetting it. Verse 16-17 of Surah al-Qiyamah promised him that he will not forget what was revealed to him. This present verse instructed him not to be in a hurry to recite them to others either.

Another interpretation is that the Prophet was told not to pass on the revelations to others until they had been explained to him. Hasan has said that once a woman came to him seeking retaliation for a slap from her husband. The Prophet told her that she had the right of retaliation. But Allah (swt) revealed (4: 34), “Men are the protectors and managers (of the affairs) of women..” and the Prophet took back his decision (Kashshaf, Qurtubi). The above report is in Al-Faryabi, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Marduwayh (Shawkani).

Asad relates the verse to other than the Prophet. He writes: “Although .. this exhortation was in the first instance addressed to the Prophet Muhammad, there is no doubt that it applies to every person, at all times, who reads the Qur’an. The idea underlying the above verse may be summed up thus: Since the Qur’an is the Word of God, all its component parts – phrases, sentences, verses and surahs – form one integral, co-ordinated whole.. Hence, if one is really intent on understanding the Qur’anic message, one must beware of a ‘hasty approach’ – that is to say, of drawing hasty conclusions from isolated verses or sentences taken out of their context – but should, rather, allow the whole of the Qur’an to be revealed to one’s mind before attempting to interpret a single aspect of its message.”

Thus, in the light of interpretation of the Salaf, the verses here are not a repeat reminder of what had already been revealed in Surah al-Qiyamah which said (75: 16), “Do not move your tongue to hasten therewith.”

In contrast, a contemporary commentator wrote: “The previous subject ended with the statement: ‘Exalted is Allah, the True King’. Thereafter, the angel, before departing, apprises the Prophet (peace be on him) of something he had noted in the course of communicating the revealed message to the Prophet (peace on him). Presumably the angel did not wish to disturb him while he was in the process of receiving this revelation. Once the task had been completed, the angel drew the Prophet’s attention to what he had noticed.”

The above implies that this verse is from the angel: a notion as bizarre as wrong. Indeed, we do not have any report in the hadith literature which says that the angel ever apprised the Prophet of what he had noticed of him, except during Isra’ wa Me`raj journey. At the time they bring a revelation, the angels speak not to Messengers except what they are commanded by Allah, and then when they speak, they speak out only words chosen from on High. Surely, if they were allowed to speak out their own words, confusion would arise over their words, and those of Allah (Au.).

110. It is noteworthy, writes Zamakhshari, that the Prophet was never asked to seek increase in anything except in knowledge.

111. Mawdudi comments on the repetition of Adam’s story here. He writes: “Although the story of Adam (peace be upon him) was narrated earlier in al-Baqarah, al-A`raf, al-Hijr, Bani Isra’il and al-Kahf, it is resumed once again in this surah. This, in fact, is the seventh occasion that Adam’s story is narrated in the Qur’an. On each occasion the story has a different context; accordingly, the details of each story have been set out in a different fashion. We find in certain instances that details incidental to the story but which are directly related to the theme of the Surah are described in one place but omitted at another. Likewise, the style varies from place to place. For a full understanding of the story and its meaning, one should recall the entire narrative as documented in different places throughout the Qur’an.”

112. The verse draws the following comment from Muhammad Asad: “.. the faculty of conceptual thinking is man’s outstanding endowment, his ‘forgetting’ God’s commandments – resulting from a lack of ‘firmness of purpose’ in the domain of ethics – is an evidence of the moral weakness characteristic of the human race (cf. 4: 28 – ‘man has been created weak’): and this, in turn, explains man’s dependence on unceasing divine guidance, as pointed out in verse 113 above.”

The verse implies that some weaknesses are no sign of imperfection. They are but natural. A further implication is that the perfect man too can sometimes commit errors (Thanwi).