Surah Sad 38:41-64 - Quran Translation Commentary

(38:44) And (We said), ‘Take in your hand a bundle (of twigs) and strike therewith.⁶⁴ Do not break your oath.’⁶⁵ Indeed We found him a steadfast man - an excellent servant and an unfailing penitent.

(38:45) And recall Our slaves Ibrahim, Is-haq, and Ya`qub: men of strength and vision.⁶⁶

(38:46) Verily, We chose them for a quality most pure: remembrance of the final Abode.⁶⁷

(38:47) And surely, in Our sight they are of the elect and the best.

(38:48) And recall Isma’il, Al-Yasa`⁶⁸ and Dhu al-Kifl:⁶⁹ each among the best.

(38:49) This is a reminder; and surely, for the godfearing there is a beautiful resort:

(38:50) Gardens of ‘Adn,⁷⁰ (their) gates thrown open to them.⁷¹

(38:51) Reclining therein, calling therein for abundant fruit, and drink.

(38:52) And by their sides (maidens) of downcast eyes,⁷² of equal age.⁷³

(38:53) This is what you were promised for the Day of Reckoning.

(38:54) Verily, this is Our provision: that which is inexhaustive.⁷⁴

(38:55) This! And for the transgressor, there surely awaits an evil resort:

(38:56) Jahannum, where they are roasted,⁷⁵ and an evil cradling.

(38:57) This, so let them taste it: boiling water and puss.⁷⁶

(38:58) And others of its kind,⁷⁷ coupled together.

(38:59) ‘This (they will say) is a troop rushing in headlong with you. No Welcome for them.⁷⁸ assuredly, they shall roast in the Fire.’⁷⁹

(38:60) They will reply, ‘But rather, it is you for whom there is no welcome. You have brought this upon us; so, an evil place of rest.’⁸⁰

(38:61) They will say, ‘O our Lord, whoso brought this upon us,- add to him a double chastisement in the Fire.’

(38:62) And they will say, ‘How is it with us that we do not see men here whom we counted among the evil ones?⁸¹

(38:63) We took them for a laughing-stock! Or, do the eyes swerve away from them (now)?’⁸²

(38:64) Surely, that is true: the wrangling of the companions of the Fire.⁸³

Commentary

61. Details of the nature of trial, (although from Allah, but attributed to Shaytan by a noble soul: Au.), is not given anywhere in the Qur’an or hadith. Most stories have to be treated with caution. We have offered some notes while discussing ayah 84 of Surah al-Anbiya’ (21), which might be consulted once again. One of the trustworthy reports presented there, finds entry at this point in Ibn Jarir. Qurtubi recounts several stories spun around the ayah, and rejects them all as tales that should not be treated seriously.

Zamakhshari voices the opinion of most commentators when he writes about Ayyub’s attribution of his physical and mental distresses to Shaytan, that it was out of respect: you attribute good to Allah and evil to other than Him although good and bad, both are from Him. The following are quoted as other examples (26 80),“When I fall sick, He cures me.”

Or (18: 63),“And did not lead me to forgetfulness but Shaytan.”

Or, as the Prophet (saws) said,“Good is in Your Hand, and evil is not (attributed) to you.”

If the above is understood, writes Qurtubi (in sum and substance), then it will not be difficult to appreciate the statement, “Shaytan has touched me with hardships and torment.” That is, Shaytan had no role in his tribulations, and, therefore, there is no need to look into weird stories for explanation. And, the stories narrated in this regard are not only weird when attributed to a Prophet, but also, notably, not a word of them comes from our own Prophet. Regrettably, they are narrated despite the fact that we have been warned by our scholars not to treat Jewish or Christian stories seriously. Bukhari has recorded `Abdullah ibn `Abbas as having said,“O Muslims! How can you inquire with the People of the Scripture about anything while your Book which has been revealed to Allah’s Apostle is the latest of news concerning Allah? You read it undistorted, while Allah has informed you that the people of the Scripture altered what Allah wrote and altered the Scripture with their hands and said, ‘It is from Allah,’ to purchase thereby a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen one of them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!”

It should also be obvious, adds Razi, that if we are to suppose for a moment that Shaytan has any power on human beings, then, trust in Allah will be lost. Given any situation (evil or good), we would not know who its author is: Allah or Shaytan. Has not Shaytan himself admitted (14: 22):“I had no power over you except that I invited you and you responded to me.”

At best what the Qur’an leads us to believe, writes Sayyid, is that Ayyub was tried as a result of which he lost his health, wealth, and family-folks.

The above discussion was largely with Prophets in view. Thanwi points out that there is every possibility of Shaytan causing harm to the most perfect of men. But what he cannot do to anyone is to actually make him commit a sin (i.e., make him physically perform it, against his own will: Au.). The choice to do or not to do remains with man.

62. He was asked to strike the ground with his foot. With one strike a spring sprouted with water wherewith he bathed and became whole again. Another strike yielded water that he could drink (Ibn Jarir).

63. The allusion perhaps is to the restoration of his family members and friends from whom he was cut off during his long illness (Au.).

64. It could as well have been a bunch of grass; the word “dhighth” supports it (Zamakhshari).

65. Qatadah and Mujahid have explained that at one time during his illness Ayyub had become extremely upset with his wife (for repeating before him what Shaytan had suggested as a cure for his distresses: `Abul Rahman Ibn Jubayr), and had sworn that he would lash her a hundred times for uttering such blasphemy. (But that was a woman devoted to her husband, a Prophet, serving him through two difficult decades, so) when Ayyub had recovered, Allah commanded him to fulfill his oath, but do it by taking hundred twigs and strike her once (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

Differences in opinion have prevailed among the jurisconsults over avoidance of a religious duty by resorting to what is termed as “hilah” whether it is allowed in Islam or not. Alusi and Thanwi state that it is not allowable where Allah’s rights or those of the humans are involved, or where a Shari`ah rule is either compromised or nullified, such as, e.g., payment of Zakah.

The hadith however, which is often quoted about an extremely sick person committing fornication with (another’s) slave-girl during the Prophet’s time, (who ordered that he be struck just once with a broom), has been questioned for its trustworthiness (Qurtubi). Alusi has two more incidents of the above nature (i.e., striking with a bunch of sticks, or a broom) but without any note on their authenticity (Au.).

To the Hanafiyyah, who cite other evidences, Hila is allowed on certain condition. Details might be seen in Fiqh works (Au.).

66. That is, they were men of strong character, had a clear vision, and a proper understanding of religious truths (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir from the Salaf).

67. If it is asked, what is it they were chosen for, the answer is: for never losing sight of the Hereafter and reminding others of the need to prepare themselves for the great reality they are soon to encounter (Au.: based on the understanding of the Salaf as reported by Ibn Jarir).

68. Most commentators have identified him as the Prophet who succeeded Ilyas. The clue comes from Biblical sources, where he is named as Elisha, the successor of Elijah. (See 1Kings, ch. 19). But there are no hadith statements to this effect.

69. See 21: 85 for explanation.

70. Asad explains “`adn”: “In all the eleven instances in which the noun ‘adn occurs in the Qur’an – and of which the present is the oldest – it is used as a qualifying term for the ‘gardens’ (jannat) of paradise. This noun is derived from the verb ‘`adana,’ which primarily denotes ‘he remained [somewhere]’ or ‘he kept [to something]’, i.e., permanently: cf. the phrase ‘`adantu ‘l balad’ (‘I remained for good [or ‘settled’] in the country’). In Biblical Hebrew – which, after all, is but a very ancient Arabian dialect – the closely related noun ‘`eden’ has also the additional connotation of ‘delight’, ‘pleasure’ or ‘bliss.’ Hence the combination of the two concepts in my rendering of ‘`adn’ as ‘perpetual bliss.’“

71. That is, doors that will open and close on verbal command (Hasan: Ibn Jarir).

Although remote controlled doors have been made, sound-operated doors are still to be made in our times.

Yusuf Ali’s mind travels further than the ordinary mind. He writes, “The Final Bliss will not be a hole-and-corner thing, a pale reflection of some Palace or Retreat, where mystery reigns behind closed doors. Its doors will be open, and its inmates will be free to go in and out as they will, because their wills will be purified and brought into accord with the Universal Law.”

72. Yusuf Ali removes the doubts spread by Christians with regard to physical pleasures in Paradise: “As we conceive happiness in this life, it is not complete if it is only solitary. How we hanker after some one who can share in our highest joy! That feeling is also figured here.”

73. Yusuf Ali again, “To make the social happiness complete, we want companionship of equal age. Age and youth cannot be happy together. It is not suggested that in the Timeless state figured here, there will be old age; but if it is possible to conceive of temperamental differences then, the company will be so arranged that it will be congenial. Or we can accept the type of youth and freshness as common to all in that happy state.”

Inclination towards women then, adds Thanwi, is not against piety, nor a weakness as those have thought who lack understanding.

Thanwi might have had ignorant Sufis in mind, but Christians are foremost in denying physical pleasure to man in this and the next world - a claim entirely irrational that has no basis in Scriptures or in reason. They misguide others by assuring them that in this regard they are talking from a higher moral podium. But, is not a Paradise in which there are several kinds of pleasures e.g., physical, mental, spiritual, better than one which affords only one kind, the spiritual? (Au.)

74. In other words, provisions that will suffer no depletion (Au.).

75. Or, “(into) which they will enter (to be roasted)" - Alusi.

76. Although “puss” is the preferred meaning, another interpretation of the word “ghassaq” that came down from authorities such as Ibn Jurayj and Dahhak is that the allusion is to extremely cold liquid in contrast with the extremely hot liquid “hamim” (Ibn Jarir). There have been other explanations from the Salaf, which, if put together would lead us to believe that there is a valley in Hell in which will be collected puss, blood, tears, urine and other wastes of the dwellers of Hell mixed with the poison discharged by scorpions, snakes and other poisonous animals - out of which the dwellers will drink. It could get as cold to be as torturous as boiling water (Qurtubi, Alusi and others).

A hadith on the authority of Abu Sa`id al-Khudri and preserved by Tirmidhi (who declared it weak: Au.), Ahmad, (Sahih of) Ibn Hibban and Hakim who declared it worthy of Sahih works says,“If a bucket of ghassaq were to be poured into this world, it will putrefy its people” (Alusi).

77. That is, other punishments (Ibn Jarir).

78. “In Arabic usage, the phrase ‘no welcome to them’ or ‘to you’ (la marhaban bihim, resp., bikum) is equivalent to a curse. In this context – carried on into the next verse – it expresses a mutual disavowal of the seducers and the seduced” (Asad).

79. This will be said by those who will already be there in the Fire, addressing newcomers. It is in the same sense as (7: 38),“Every time a nation enters (into the Fire), it will curse its sister (nation)” (Ibn Jarir).

It has also been said that the first part of the verse viz., ‘This is a troop rushing in headlong with you,’ will be said by the keepers of Fire, while the second part, ‘No Welcome for them. Assuredly, they shall roast in the Fire,’ by the unbelievers already in Hell (Razi). This opinion has been attributed to Ibn `Abbas (Qurtubi).

80. This will be said by the new entrants (Ibn Jarir). To summarize Shabbir, “The above two verses refer to the conversation between the companions of the Fire when one of them will be posted at the gates of Hell. First group will be of the leaders in unfaith. Then will appear their followers. When the leaders sight the second group, they will say, ‘Look! Another group is being forced forward about to jump into Hell. How unwelcome!’ Those who follow them will respond, ‘You say unwelcome?! May you not be welcome wherever you go? Is it not you who brought us here? Do we have any other place to go? Do we have a choice but to suffer here together?’

81. This is what the likes of Abu Jahl, Walid b. al-Mughira and others will say about the likes of Bilal, Suhayb, Salman and others (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi).

They considered them as evil ones either because they were poor and not of the same social class as they, or because they were not of the same religion as which they followed (Razi).

To paraphrase verses 65 to 68, “I am a warner, warning you of the events that you will encounter with death. It is a great news that you are turning away from. Remember! There is no deity save one Allah. He forces everyone to submission - not the living beings alone, but rather, all that there is, living or non-living. The demand of the fact of there being just One God is that He should subdue all and enforce His will on all. However, it must not be imagined that He merely controls the created, but rather, He is the Mighty Lord who is also the Sustainer who nurtures His creation. Yet, if He does not punish those who have a tiny bit of choice to do or not do His will, it is because He is very Forgiving” (Razi: abridged and slightly modified).

And, to take the paraphrasing further to include the following couple of verses, it could be added, “Man’s refusal to go along on the path of spiritual development was not an unexpected event for the Lord of the worlds; even angels – going by his qualities – had predicted this and had in fact disputed with their Lord over the new creation. But, they did not know that there was right there among them – although of a different genus – he who was worse than Adam: Iblis. He will cause to take great many of them to perdition” (Au.).

82. That is, are they somewhere around in Hell without us being able to spot them? (Ibn Jarir)

Mujahid said that Abu Jahl will say, “What’ with me, I do not see Bilal, Suhayb, `Ammar, and so and so?” (Ibn Kathir).

83. That is, one might wonder: what with all the sufferings and burnings, what with the extremely hot and cold drinking, will the inhabitants of the Fire have any energy to be wrangling among themselves? The answer is, “this is the truth: the wrangling of the inhabitants of the Fire” (Shabbir).