Surah Luqman 31:20-30 - Quran Translation Commentary

(31:20) Have you not seen that Allah has subjected to you whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth; and has completed His blessings on you: (both) outwardly and inwardly?³¹ Yet among the people there is such a one who disputes about Allah without knowledge, or guidance, or an illuminating Book.

(31:21) When they are told, ‘Follow that which Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘But rather we shall follow that upon which we found our forefathers.’ What! Even though Shaytan was inviting them to the torment of the (flaming) Fire?

(31:22) And, whoever submits his face to Allah, and he excels, grasped the most trustworthy handhold.³² And with Allah (rests) the outcome of all affairs.

(31:23) Therefore, whoever disbelieves, then, let not his disbelief grieve you; unto Us is their return, then We shall inform them about what they did. Verily, Allah knows well that which is within the breasts.

(31:24) We grant them a little pleasure, then We shall force them on to a massive chastisement.

(31:25) If you are to ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely reply, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘Praise be to Allah;’ but most of them know not.³³

(31:26) To Allah belongs what is in the heavens and the earth. Verily Allah - He is free of all wants, the Praiseworthy.³⁴

(31:27) And, even if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, extended after it with seven (other)³⁵ seas (as ink), Allah’s words would not be exhausted.³⁶ Surely, Allah is All-mighty, All-wise.

(31:28) Neither your creation, nor your resurrection are, but like (that of) a single soul.³⁷ Surely, Allah is All-hearing, All-seeing.

(31:29) Do you not see that Allah causes the night to enter the day and the day into the night,³⁸ and He has subjected the sun and the moon? Each is running to a specified term; and that Allah is well aware of what you do?

(31:30) That, because Allah – He is the Truth, and that, what they invoke apart from Him is the untruth, and that Allah – He is the All-high, the All-great.

Commentary

31. Commentators quote several statements in explanation of what the outward and inward blessings constitute. Many of them are of common nature, and echo around the opinions of Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid who thought that the allusion by the inward blessing is to belief in one God (planted in every soul) – Ibn Jarir. Yusuf Ali comments: “Allah’s grace and bounties work for us at all times. Sometimes we see them, and sometimes we do not. In things which we can apprehend with our senses, we can see Allah’s grace, but even in them, sometimes it works beyond the sphere of our knowledge. In the inner or spiritual world, sometimes, when our vision is clear, we can see it working, and often we are not conscious of it. But it works all the same.‏”

32. For explanation see Surah al-Baqarah, note 554 (under ayah 256) of this work.

33. That is, most of them do not know what it implies to admit that Allah (swt) created the heavens and the earth. Asad writes: “I.e., they give the above answer unthinkingly, following a vague habit of thought, without realizing that a cognition of God as the Ultimate Cause of all existence logically postulates one’s full surrender to Him, and to Him alone.”

34. That is, for Allah is the praise, whether someone praised Him or not. He is above all wants and desires to be seeking to be praised (Au.).

35. This is how Zamakhshari, Alusi, Shawkani, Thanwi and others understand the word “yamudduhu,” i.e., the sea replenished with seven other seas.

36. When Hasan was asked how he understood this ayah, he replied that if the trees of the world were used to make pens and the eight seas turned into ink, the seas would dry up and the pens break down but Allah’s Words, Might, and Wisdom will not exhaust (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). We have passed over a similar verse in Surah Al-Kahf, no. 109. It says,

قُل لَّوْ كَانَ الْبَحْرُ مِدَادًا لِّكَلِمَاتِ رَبِّي لَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَاتُ رَبِّي وَلَوْ جِئْنَا بِمِثْلِهِ مَدَدًا (الكهف - 109)

“Say, ‘If the sea were ink for the Words of my Lord, surely, the sea would be exhausted before the Words of my Lord are exhausted, even if We brought the like of it, in supplement.’” The number seven however is not in the literal sense referring to the seven Oceans: an idea taken by some from the Jewish sources, but rather, to indicate a large amount of water (Ibn Kathir). And the cause of revelation is explained as follows. A group of Jewish scholars went up to the Prophet and asked him, “Muhammad! To whose knowledge did you allude when you said, ‘And you have not been given of knowledge but little?’ Ours or your people’s?” He answered, “Both.” They said, “Have you not been reciting out of what has been revealed to you that the Torah has the explanation of all things?” He replied, “Although the knowledge it has is enough for you, but, compared with Allah’s knowledge, it is but little.” And Allah revealed this verse (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir). Yusuf Ali suggests that the textual word “al-bahr” could be understood in the sense of “all the waters on the earth.” He writes, “Words of Allah: His wonderful Signs and Commandments are infinite and cannot be expressed if all the trees were made into pens, and all the wide Oceans, multiplied seven times, were made into ink. Any Book of His Revelation would deal with matters which man can understand and use in his life: there are things that man can never fathom. Nor would any praise that we could write with infinite resources be adequate to describe His power, glory, and wisdom.‏” Significantly, among the scientists a common adage is that the more you know, the more you realize how much more there is to know. Of spiders there are thought to be 80,000 species. Doctorate degrees have been obtained on ants, while thousands of its species are still to be studied. The basic unit of any living organism is the cell. It has thousands of organelles working within its boundaries. One of its structures at its exterior, that, in a scientist’s words, “looks like a hair and beats like a whip,” helps in cell movement. This apparatus has been the subject of study because of its important function. How much is there to state about this part of the cell? Let us have it from a molecular biologist who wrote in 1998: “A quick electronic search of the professional literature shows more than a thousand papers in the past several years that have cilia or a similar word in the title. Papers have appeared on related topics in almost all the major biochemistry journals, including Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Bio-chemistry, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Molecular Biology, Cell, and numerous others. In the past decades, probably ten thousand papers have been published concerning cilia.” (Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe, Touchstone Books, 1998, p.67)." So, that is about one-millionth part of a cell. And the study is not complete despite 10,000 scientific papers, since many questions remain unanswered. What about the rest of the cell? What about the whole human body? What about this universe? Indeed, far from details, the trees and the seven seas will not be enough to make an inventory of stars found in the universe (Au.). “Here the object is,” writes Mawdudi, “to make man realize that no creature can become a deity and associate in the works of Allah, who has brought into being such a vast universe, who is administering its affairs, and whose powers and resources are limitless. Not to speak of becoming an associate in the administration of this vast kingdom, it is not within the power of any creation to obtain a mere nodding acquaintance with the minutest portion of it. How can then anyone imagine that one or

37. That is, both are equally easy for Him.

38. That is, in one season a part of the night enters into the day, shortening it, while in another a part of the day enters into the night, shortening it (Ibn Jarir in effect, from the Salaf).