Surah Ya-Sin 36:68-83 - Quran Translation Commentary

(36:81) Is He not then, who created the heavens and the earth, able to create the likes of them? Yes indeed. He is the All-knowing, the Great Creator.

(36:82) His only command when He wishes a thing, is to say to it, ‘Be,’ and (lo) it is.⁷⁰

(36:83) So glory to Him in whose hands is the realm of every thing, and unto whom you will be returned.⁷¹

Commentary

55. So that, as the age advances, man begins to lose physical and mental powers in the same measures in which he gained them at first.

First memory wanes, then physical strength and vigor decline, and finally, all mental powers are lost, so that he becomes, if he lived long enough, the infant that he was when he came into this world – helplessly lying in the bed, surviving on liquids, not knowing when he relieves himself, and unable to recognize anyone - until death comes as a relief, to him and to those who are tested through him.

How many dutiful sons and daughters have not prayed for the death of their invalid parents?! (Au.).

No wonder, as Qurtubi notes, the Prophet himself prayed to be spared advanced old age.

His prayer-words – futile to look for in any other religious system - as recorded by Muslim and reported by Zayd b. al-Arqam are: Zayd said, “I will not say anything to you but what the Prophet used to say, ‘O Allah, I seek Your protection from incapacity, sloth, cowardice, senescence, and punishment in the grave. O Allah, award my soul its piety and cleanse it, for You are the best of those who cleanse. You are its protector and its trustee. O Allah, I seek your protection from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that does not fear, from a base self that cannot be satiated, and a supplication that is not answered” (Au.).

56. This verse is related to the previous two verses where Allah spoke of transformation. Now, if someone wonders how humans can be transformed, then, ‘let them consider how we transform them during their different phases of life, particularly the last phase of complete helplessness’ (Shabbir).

57. Has poetry ever brought such transformation in the lives of the people as brought about by the Qur’ān? The Qur’ān created such monumental social institutions that last to this day. What poet ever achieved a fraction of this? It was to disallow any doubts on this score that although even slave-girls of the Quraysh were poets, the Prophet could not quote correctly a single poetical line, far from making up his own, except that he had to be always corrected (Shabbir).

Asad points to a major difference between the Qur’ān and poetical creations:

“.. we have here an allusion to the allegation of Muhammad’s opponents, in his own as well as later times, that what he described as divine revelation was in reality an outcome of his own poetical invention.

This the Qur’ān refutes by alluding to the fundamental difference between poetry – especially Arabic poetry – and divine revelation as exemplified by the Qur’ān: whereas in the former the meaning is often subordinated to the rhythm and the melody of the language, in the Qur’ān the exact opposite is the case, inasmuch as here the choice of words, their sound and their position in the sentence – and, hence, its rhythm and melody – are always subordinated to the meaning intended.”

Qatadah said that `A’isha was asked whether the Prophet ever said poetry.

She replied, “The most despised thing to him! Yet, occasionally he would quote a line, but all wrong.

Abu Bakr would offer correction and he would say, ‘I think I am incapable of doing it right, and it does not befit me that I should say poetry” (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Although the Prophet admitted, as in Bukhari, reported by Ubayy b. Ka`b that, “Surely, some poetry contains wisdom” (Razi and others).

We also have Bayhaqi recording that when the Prophet met `Abbas b.

Mirdas he told him, “Are you not the one who said, `Abbas corrected him, “But rather it is, The Prophet remarked (perhaps to Mirdas’ discomfiture), “It’s all the same” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

What he meant by saying “It’s all the same” is that so far as the meaning was concerned, it made no difference whether you said, `Uyayna and Aqra`, or Aqra’ and `Uyayna.” But it is the rhyme which matters, without which a line is not poetry (Au.).

Ibn Kathir reports Sha`bi as having said, “There was not anyone in the family of `Abd al-Muttalib (the Prophet’s grandfather), neither male nor female, but who said poetry ex cept the Prophet.”

Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir give some more examples of how the Prophet invariably got mixed up while quoting poetry. For example, he tried to quote the second-half line of Tarafah and said, But the correct version runs as follows:

There are a few lines that have been attributed to the Prophet as the nearest he came to saying poetry. One of them he said at the time of the digging of the Trench. They are, But these are not the Prophet’s own lines. It is `Abdullah ibn Rawaha who had composed them. Further, the Prophet did not sing the lines.

He only joined the chorus at the end of the lines (Ibn Kathir).

Nonetheless, writes Kashshaf, and, following him, Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir, two instances of the Prophet saying what could be considered as poetry could be cited. One, when he injured his finger. The report is in the Sahihayn. He said: Are you but a finger that has bled? And received what you did in Allah’s way? And another when he said in Hunayn: I am a Prophet, that is no lie I am the son of `Abd al-Muttalib.

These are, however, extempore utterances that are not poetical pieces, but at best, smack of poetry. Many non-poets, writing prose, delivering sermons, or composing proverbs, have uttered rhythmical lines although ordinarily they never said poetry nor anyone thought they had become poets. Occasional stitching, as Qurtubi remarks, does not convert a man into a tailor.

[It might also be noted that no one said poetry under imminent threat to his life, as was the situation in Hunayn, when the need was to quickly move away from the dangerous situation rather than say poetry. Further, such composition is the share of every Arab with some mastery over the language, without being a poet; such is the characteristic of the language itself. Note for example the following lines that Imām Ghazali, a dry Sufi, wrote in the introduction to one of the chapters. We have split the prose lines to make the point, The lines go on filling quarter of a large page, flowing out effortlessly here, as at the beginning of every chapter of his book “The Revival of Islamic Sciences”:Au.].

In fact, Ibn Kathir continues, the Prophet did not approve of poetry for himself, although he accepted it from his Companions, especially those who inveighed against the pagans.

As for himself, we have a report in Abu Da’ud, `Abdullah ibn `Amr said that he heard the Prophet say, “I would not care for what I brought if I drank the potion, or hung an amulet or composed poetry on my own.” And, back to the hadīth text, what the Prophet meant by saying, “I would not care for what I brought...” is, ‘it would not matter whether I brought revelation or not if I believed in potions, amulets or poetry.’ Since they stand in contrast to the Qur’ān and its message.

[Scholars have explained that by “the potion” he meant that medication which contains, in any quantity, the unlawful, although he allowed it to his followers. As regards amulet, it is such of them he disapproved of that contain pagan lines, or words that smack of idolatry. Otherwise, if it is Qur’ānic verses, it is allowable, although Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi has said that wearing amulet is not the Sunnah, but rather recitation is. On the other hand Khattabi did not see anything wrong if it contains Qur’ānic verses. Finally, the report itself (of Abu Da’ud above) is not too strong: `Awn al-Ma`bud - Au.].

58. Majid brings out a fine point of distinction between what the apparent words suggest as the objection raised by the pagans, and what in actual fact they could have meant. He writes, “This is said in answer to the pagans who held the holy Prophet to be a poet. Now, a poet in their parlance, did not mean a versifier. Poetry according to them, as according to most primitive peoples, was not a fine art, but a sort of magical utterance, inspired by powers from the Unseen: and the poet in their estimation was more allied to soothsayer than to a literary composer. ‘The Arabian poet (Shaa`ir), as the name indicates, was originally one endowed with knowledge hidden from the common man, which he acknowledge he received from a demon, his special Shaytan (Satan). As a poet he was in league with the unseen powers and could by his curses bring evil upon the enemy. Satire was therefore a very early form of Arabian poetry‘ (Hitti, op.cit. p.94f ).”

59. Yusuf Ali almost paraphrases Tabari’s words, “‘Alive’, both in English and Arabic, means not only ‘having physical life’, but having all the active qualities which we associate with life. In religious language, those who are not responsive to the realities of the spiritual world are no better than those who are dead.

The Message of Allah penetrates the hearts of those who are alive in the spiritual sense. ”

60. That is, the word of punishment, that whoever denied out of contumacy shall be punished (Au.).

61. Usage of the words “Our Hands” is only figurative (Zamakhshari), meaning “handiwork”; and the intent is, “Our Hands fashioned” without involvement of any other, implying, in other words, ‘created them, all by Himself ’ (Thanwi).

62. So that, a herd of a hundred camels can be lined up and driven from place to place by a little boy (Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir in effect). In fact, they can be lined up for slaughter taking place right before their eyes, but, do not bolt away en-masse, except for the individual’s struggle when the knife is actually applied (Au.).

The Qur’ān characterizes unbelievers as “qawmun la ya`qilun.” Domestication of animals is an example and draws some curious explanations from the scientists since domestication works against the Darwinian theory of evoLūtion. How does one explain the presence of tcattle among the humankind? The answer given by the respected community of scientists is that they came into homes by accident and then decided to stay on. It was easier to get fed here rather than in the forests where they had to compete for food, kill or get killed. But why only the cattle, and, in addition, cats and dogs? Why not the beautiful antelopes? Or the cutelooking rabbits? Or the much loved parrots? Why do the birds fly off after ten years in the cage, where they do not have to compete for food nor get snatched by an eagle, but rather, as in zoos, live with the whole family, parents and children, twittering morning and evening? And the cat, that turns up home after a decade, dropped a thousand miles away by a tired master? And how about goats? Did they escape from the tiger, who only feasted on one of the flock, and chose to live with man who feasts on not one, but the entire flock, generation after generation, slaughtered mercilessly? Someone could perhaps suggest to the scientists to cage up one of wild animals – tigers, jackals, sparrows - and then see whether it will return when released in a forest after twenty years of captivity. They could also try and domesticate jackals, and after a decade line up a hundred of them to lead them out to the parallel street, not for slaughter, but as proof of their stupid explanations. They will say, “Ah, the process requires millions of years.” Yes, yes. Millions of years! How true. He forgets that he claims in his other books that the oldest Man has not been around here for more than 100,000 years. Or, is he honest? Alright, 100,000 years.

But the parrot has been in the cage for 100,000 years. Open the cage and see whether it flies faster or the evoLūtionist’s intellect flies off faster.

How true the Qur’ān: “innahum qawmun la ya`qilun” (Au.).

63. Hence we have been instructed to say when we mount one of them (43: 13),

“Blessed is the One who subdued this to us, although we could not have subdued it (ourselves)” - Zamakhshari.

64. “... alluding .. to objects of worship consciously conceived as such – i.e., idols, imaginary deities, deified persons, saints, etc., - as well as to abstract concepts like power, wealth or ‘luck’, which may not be consciously ‘worshipped’ but are nevertheless often revered in an almost idolatrous fashion” (Asad).

65. There have been two opinions.

Mujahid said that the deities (forces) as well as their worshippers will be presented for judgment. But Qatadah believed that the allusion is to the devotees who believe in false gods (forces), in whose defense they are ready to fight in this world, but which themselves will be brought forth before them for judgment (Ibn Jarir).

Qatadah’s opinion has been strengthened by that of Hasan al-Busri (Ibn Kathir).

In Shabbir’s words: Far from these false deities helping them out on the Judgment day, they will in fact, get their devotees arrested.

Mujahid’s opinion is supported by the ahadīth. One in Tirmidhi is on the authority of Abu Hurayrah. The Prophet said, “Allah will gather together the people in one plain. Then the Lord of the world will appear before them and say, ‘Will not every man follow what he was worshipping?’ Then, for him who had worshipped the Cross, He will present his Cross (as a living god). He who worshipped an image, He will present him his image.

He who worshipped the fire, He will present him his fire. Then those who worshipped them will follow them (into Hellfire). Only Muslims will remain.”

Similar reports are in other works such as Muslim (Qurtubi).

Yusuf Ali comments: “There is some difference of opinion among Commentators as to the exact meaning to be attached to this clause. As I understand it, the meaning seems to be this. Man is apt to forget or turn away from the true God, the source of all the good which he enjoys, and to go after imaginary powers in the shape of gods, heroes, men, or abstract things like Science or Nature or Philosophy, or superstitious things like Magic, or Good-Fortune or Ill- Fortune, or embodiments of his own selfish desires. He thinks that they might help him in this Life or in the Hereafter (if he believes in a Hereafter).

But they cannot help him: on the contrary all things that are false will be brought up and condemned before Allah’s Judgment-seat, and the worshippers of the Falsehoods will also be treated as a troop favouring the Falsehoods and therefore worthy of condemnation. The Falsehoods, therefore, instead of helping them, will contribute to their condemnation.”

66. “Disputant” is another possible connotation of the textual word “khasim” (Zamakhshari). “... Razi equates here the term ‘khasim’ (lit. ‘contender in argument’) with the highest manifestation of what is described as ‘natiq’ (articulate [or ‘rational’] being)” – Asad.

(The Prophet drove home the main point expressed in this verse quite effectively). It has been recorded by Ahmad and Ibn Majah on the authority of Busr b. Jahhaash the Qurashi that, The Prophet spat in the palm of his hand and then placing his index finger in it said, “Allah Most High says, ‘How can you, O son of Adam, frustrate Me when I created you from something like this? But when your spirit reaches here’ – pointing to the throat (i.e., when death approaches – ‘you say, “(Now) I expend in charity.” But where is the time for charity?’“ The above report is from Ibn Majah which Haythami treated as Sahih.

Ahmad has a longer version (Au.).

Ibn Kathir presents another hadīth on this topic which comes from the Sahihayn. It says, “When death approached a man, and he lost all hopes of life he instructed his folks, ‘When I am dead, collect together for me a lot of wood, set it ablaze until when it has eaten my flesh and has reached my bones burning it all, then wait for a windy day and scatter it all in a river.’ They did (as told). Allah gathered him together and asked, ‘Why did you do it?” He answered, ‘Out of Your fear.’ So Allah forgave him.”

`Uqbah b. `Aamir added, ”I heard him say, ‘He was a coffin-shroud thief.’

67. That is, one who disputes against the quickening of the dead forgets his own creation, how he was a mere drop of sperm to which Allah gave the powers of speech and intellect (Ibn Jarir).

Asad more or less expands on the same theme in modernistic terms: “Lit., ‘he coins for us a simile (mathal)’ – an elliptic allusion to the unwillingness of ‘those who deny the truth’ to conceive of a transcendental Being, fundamentally different from all that is graspable to by man’s sense of imagination, and having powers beyond all comparison with those which are available to any of the created beings.. Since they are enmeshed in a materialistic outlook on life, such people deny – as the sequence shows – all possibility of resurrection, which amounts to denial of God’s creative powers and, in the final analysis, of His existence.”

68. The following incident became the cause of revelation of this verse.

Ubayy b. Khalaf went up to the Prophet with a piece of decayed bone. He crushed it to powder with his fingers and scattering them in the air asked, “Muhammad, who will gather these together and quicken it?” The Prophet answered, “Allah.

He will give it new life. Moreover, He will deal you death, quicken you, and then cast you into the Fire.” Allah revealed this verse, and, ironically, it was the Prophet who killed Ubayy at Badr.

But there is difference in the identity of the person. Some said it was `As b.

Wa’il al-Sahmi. A third opinion, attributed to Ibn `Abbas is that it was `Abdullah b. Ubayy (Ibn Jarir).

Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir attribute the identity of Ubayy b. Khalaf ’s to Ibn `Abbas.

Ibn Kathir discounts the report which names `Abdullah b. Ubayy since the chapter is Makkan while `Abdullah was a Madinan. (The confusion, because of similarity in names - `Abdullah b. Ubayy and Ubayy b. Khalaf - is understandable: Au.). Reports in Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Marduwayh, Bayhaqi and Hakim, who declared it Sahih, agree on Ibn `Abbas identifying `As b. Al-Wa’il as the one involved (Shawkani).

69. The allusion is to the practice of campers rubbing two twigs together to obtain a spark. It is said that there was a plant, whose twigs, despite dripping with water, yielded spark (Au.) Asad adds: “...evidently an allusion to the metamorphosis of green – i.e., water containing – plants into fuel, be it through desiccation or manmade carbonization (charcoal), or by millennial, subterranean process of decomposition into oil or coal.”

Yusuf Ali expands: “Even older and more primitive than the method of striking fire against steel and flint is the method of using twigs of trees for the purpose.. The Arab method was to use a wooden instrument called the Zinad. It consisted of two pieces to be rubbed together. The upper one was called the `Afar or Zand, and the lower the Markh. The markh is a twig from a kind of spreading tree, the Cynanchuin viminale, of which the branches are bare, without leaves or thorns. When they are tangled together, and wind blows, they get ignited and strike fire (Lane’s Arabic Lexicon). In modern Arabic Zand is by analogy applied to the flint pierce used for striking fire with steel.”

But not always did the Arabs depend on Zand. They simply rubbed together two twigs – usually either from Markh or `Afar – to obtain fire.

This is reported as the statement of Ibn `Abbas (Ibn Kathir).

70. Ibn Kathir quotes in brief a report in Ahmad that we reproduce in full here. It speaks of the extent of Allah’s Power: The Prophet reports Allah as having said, “O My slaves, all of you are in error except he whom I guided.

Therefore, ask guidance of Me, I shall guide you. All of you are poor except he on whom I bestowed.

Therefore, ask me I shall bestow on you. All of you are sinners except he whom I saved.

Therefore, whoever of you knew that I have the power to forgive, and sought My forgiveness, I forgive him and do not care. If the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, became altogether like the most pious of My slaves, it will not increase in My dominion by the weight of a gnat. And if the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, became altogether like the most wicked of My slaves, it will not decrease in My dominion by the weight of a gnat. And, if the first of you and the last of you, the living of you and the dead of you, those in sea and those in water, were to gather together in a field and each of them asked Me for the most that he can imagine, and I gave to every petitioner of you, it will not decrease in My kingdom by aught except that if one of you were to pass by an ocean and dip a needle and then pull it out. That is because I am the Great Bestower, Creator, Exalted, do what I want. My giving is merely My word, as My chastisement is merely My word. Indeed My affair, when I decree a thing to be is to say, ‘Be’, and it is.”

The above report is from Tirmidhi who declared it of Hasan status although it has its corroborators coming through other chains (Ibn Kathir).

Some people have difficulty in understanding this verse. How could Allah address a thing which is not yet in existence? There are two answers.

One, Allah chose this manner of expression to impress on us His creative power: it does not take much for Him to create. He can do it in a moment. Second, the thing to be created is already in His knowledge to which He says “Be”, and it comes into existence. The conversion of an idea into a thing needs no more than a word of command (Au.).

71. What is the meaning of the word “malakut?” Zamakhshari answers that the meaning is the same as that of “mulk” meaning “dominion.”

Ibn Kathir adds: It is constructed on the same pattern as “jabarut” from “jabr”. He disagrees with the notion that “mulk” is for the physical world while “malakut” for the world of spirits.

[In contrast, “malakuti” is used in the sense of “divine,” or “heavenly”, as against the physical world (“malakut”),

especially in Sufi terminology:Au.].

In any case, the word “malakut” has been used by the Prophet also. It is from Ahmad. Hudhayfah (ra) says, “One night I joined the Prophet as he stood in Prayer. He recited the seven long chapters of the Qur’ān (Surah 2-8) in seven cycles (raka`at).

When he raised his head from the deep bow (ruku`) he would say, ‘Allah hears him who praises him,’ and then add, ‘Praise to the owner of dominion, power, Pride and Greatness.‘ His ruku` was similar (in length) to that of his standing posture (qiyam), and his prostration was like his deep bow. (He left after the Prayer) but my legs were as if broken” (Ibn Kathir).