Surah Al-Hadid 57:1-10 - Quran Translation Commentary

(57:4) He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six phases and then assumed istawaa on the `Arsh. He knows what penetrates into the earth⁸ and what emerges out of it; what descends down from the heaven⁹ and what ascends up into it;¹⁰ and He is with you wherever you be;¹¹ and Allah is Seeing of what you do.

(57:5) His is the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and to Allah are returned the affairs.

(57:6) He makes the night enter the day and the day enter the night;¹² and He is Aware of what is there in the breasts.

(57:7) Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and expend out of that in which He has made you successors.¹³ Those then, who believed from among you, and expended, for them there is a great reward.

(57:8) And what is (the matter) with you that you believe not in Allah while the Messenger is inviting you to believe in your Lord,¹⁴ and He has taken your compact¹⁵ – if you will be believers?¹⁶

(57:9) He it is who sends down upon His servant self-evident verses, that He may bring you out of darknesses into Light. And surely, Allah is All-clement, All-merciful.

(57:10) And what is (the matter) with you that you should not expend in Allah’s path while to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth? Not equal is he among you who expended before the Victory,¹⁷ and fought. They are of greater ranks than those who expended thereafter and fought;¹⁸ although to each Allah has promised (a reward) most fair.¹⁹ And Allah is well acquainted with what you do.

Commentary

1. The glorification is both in verbal as well as virtual sense (Shabbir). Primarily, “tasbih” is declaration of freedom from any weakness which can be associated with Allah (Razi).

2. For instance, He gives life to a lifeless package of protein which comes alive as soon as it enters into a cell, thereafter called a virus (Au.).

3. That is, He is the First before whom there was no first (Ibn Jarir). To be sure, He precedes Time which is one of His creations (Alusi).

4. That is, He is the Last, who will last, after whom there can be none. As He said,

“Everything will perish except His Face.” (Ibn Jarir).

5. “Al-Zahir” – He who is apparent by means of the evidences. It has also been understood as meaning, ‘He who is above all, one who overcomes all’ (Zamakhshari); as in another verse of the Qur’an,

“Then they became the overcomers” (Razi).

6. “Al-Batin” – because He is beyond the perception of all human senses (Zamakhshari). Thus, Allah is “Zahir” when sought through physical, perceptual evidences, and “Batin” when sought through conceptual senses (Alusi).

The following hadith, found in Muslim, Tirmidhi, Musnad Ahmad and others offers some explanation to the Attributes as mentioned here:

Suhayl said that Abu Saleh used to instruct them that when one of us goes to bed he should lie on his right side and say, “O Allah, Lord of the heavens and the earth, Lord of the `Arsh, and Lord of every thing. O You the splitter of the dawn and the seed, Revealer of Torah, Injil and Furqan: I seek Your shelter from every evil thing that you hold by its forelock. O Allah, You are the First so that there is nothing before You; and You are the Last so that there is nothing after You. You are the Manifest so that there is nothing above You and You are the Hidden so that there is nothing beyond You. O Allah, remove our debts from us and save us from poverty.”

(Suhayl added), “He (Abu Saleh) used to narrate to us through Abu Hurayrah, who reported from the Prophet” (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Alusi points out that, according to reports in Muslim and others, the Prophet suggested the same supplicatory words to Fatimah when she had gone to him seeking a housemaid. And, it is possible that when he said,

The Prophet meant, “there is nothing closer than You.”

Thus, and although we have offered a literal translation of the Attributes al-Zahir and al-Batin, they have been understood differently by different people. We also have Azhari explaining in the same vein. He said,

(The words al-Zahir is understood in the sense of overcoming someone). So the meaning is: He is the One who overcomes all, Himself overcome by none. He conducts Himself by overpowering His subjects and subjugating them. Or, it may be said that there is none above Him to prevent Him (from doing anything). And al-Batin is someone besides whom there is no shelter or refuge. The source is Tuhfa who took it from (Mulla `Ali Qari’s Mirqat) – Au.

7. Ibn Kathir and Shawkani pick up a hadith from Abu Da’ud (as also cited by Alusi) relevant to this ayah but whose authenticity could not be traced. It says that,

Abu Zumayl mentioned to Ibn `Abbas, “What is this that I find in my heart?” He asked, “What is it?” I said, “I shall not speak it out.” He asked, “Is it of the nature of a doubt?” Then he smiled and said, “Nobody ever escaped it,” and added, “to the extent that Allah revealed the verse (10: 94): ‘Now, if you are in any doubt about what We have sent down to you, then ask those of them before you who recite the Book.’ He ended by saying, “When you feel something of this sort in your heart, say, “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden; and He is of all things knowing.”

Alusi and Shawkani point out that Abu al-Sheikh’s collection has the Prophet saying,

“People will keep asking about everything until they will say, ‘Alright. This is Allah. He was there before everything else. But what was there before Allah?’ If that is said to you, say,

‘He is the First before everything and nothing is there after Him. He is the Manifest above everything and He is the Hidden behind everything; and He is the Knower of all things.‘”

Ibn Kathir quotes another hadith relevant to this ayah. It is in Tirmidhi and a few other books but declared weak by Tirmidhi himself because Hasan did not hear directly from Abu Hurayrah. It says,

Once, as the Prophet sat in an assembly with his Companions, a cloud passed by. He asked, “Do you know what this is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is a cloud, a land irrigator. Allah will drive it to a people who do not thank Him and do not supplicate Him.” Then he asked, “Do you know what is above you?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “It is a well preserved vault and the suspended waves. Then he asked, “Do you know how much it is between you and it?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Between you and it is (a distance of) five hundred years.” Then he asked, “Do you know what is above it?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Above it are two firmaments and between them is (the distance of) five hundred years.” Then he went on counting and explaining (the distance) between every two firmaments as between the heaven and earth. Then he asked, “Do you know what is above that?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Above that is `Arsh, and between it and the firmament is the distance between two firmaments.” Then he asked, “Do you have any idea of what is below you?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Below it is another earth and (the distance between them) is five hundred years.” He went on until he had counted seven earths with five hundred years (of distance) between one earth and another. Then he added, “By Him in whose hand is my life, if you were to let down a man by a rope to the bottom-most earth, he will fall upon Allah.” Then he recited, ‘He is the First...’ until the end.

And, Tirmidhi added, by saying, “He will fall upon Allah,” he meant, “He will fall upon Allah’s Knowledge, His Powers, and His Rule.”

A similar hadith is in Ahmad, but there the words are “seven hundred years,” instead of “five hundred.” (Ibn Kathir).

Alusi points out that the verse, “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden,” has been used by some Sufis, as evidential of “Wahdat al-Wujud” (Transcendental Unity of Being). They also call to evidence another hadith of Tirmidhi which speaks of the rope falling on Allah. But the weakness in their arguments is the fact that, firstly, the hadith is of the “mutashabihat” (uncertain of meaning) and, secondly, “falling upon Allah” has been explained as “falling upon Allah’s knowledge.”

If the hadith sounds strange to some, they might remember that modern cosmology tells us that we will never know our world, which, by latest computation 150 billion light years wide (Au.).

8. He has complete knowledge of all things that enter into the earth, whether they are water drops, seeds, or anything else (Au.).

9. He knows of all things that come down such as, revelations, angels, destinies, commandments, snow, rain drops, etc. Earlier we have mentioned in our work that every rain drop that comes down is accompanied by an angel who sees to it that it reaches the place destined for it by Allah (Ibn Kathir).

10. Plants immediately come to our mind when we think of things emerging from the ground (based on Qurtubi).

To sum up the previous verses: Allah has the knowledge of the whole as well as its parts, the largest and the littlest, the visible and the invisible, the real of the physical world, and the virtual which reside in human hearts (Au.).

Ibn Kathir adds: That is, He knows what angels or deeds rise up to the heavens as says a Sahih hadith:

“The night’s deeds are raised up to Him before the deeds of the day and deeds of the day before deeds of the night.”

11. In other words, wherever you might be, He sees you, hears you and knows what you do. That is, “His being everywhere” refers to His knowledge; as Allah said elsewhere:

“Lo! They fold their breasts that they may hide from Him. Lo! When they fold their clothes (upon themselves) He knows what they conceal and what they reveal. Verily, He is Aware of the inner (secrets) of the hearts” (Ibn Kathir).

Ibn Kathir presents a report which is a combination of two reports, one in Abu Da’ud and another in Bayhaqi and Tabarani, which are Sahih as declared by Albani in his Silsi1lah. The Prophet said,

“Whoever did these three things tasted the sweetness of faith: He worshipped Allah, the One – and indeed there is no deity save Allah – and purified his wealth, with a good heart, helping over it, every year, not giving out the old (cattle), nor the substandard of it, nor the sick one, nor the worst one in yielding milk, but rather from the average type… and (as in other reports), purified himself.” The man inquired, “And what is purification of the self?” The Prophet answered, “He should know that Allah is wherever he is.”

Razi adds: At all events, there is no difference in opinion among the scholars that Allah is not everywhere, and not in all places. He is not in any specific direction, or in any specific place. This ayah, therefore, has to be taken in the allegorical sense, and, once this rule (of allegory) is accepted, it can be applied wherever necessary.

We are forced into an allegorical meaning, because two apparently contradictory statements have been mentioned together: “He assumed istawa of the `Arsh," and, “He is with you wherever you may be.” (We will do well not to try and reconcile) yet may remember Abu al-Ma`ali’s words who said, “Muhammad (peace be upon him) was nearer to Allah on the night of his nocturnal journey (laylatu al-isra’) than Yunus b. Matta was in the belly of the fish” (Qurtubi).

But Alusi warns that the age in which the allegory could be resorted to has gone. It was the time of the Salaf. Now, in our times, we will not resort to allegorical meanings but rather, we shall accept as allegorical, only that which the Salaf explained as allegorical. As for what they explained as the real meaning, we shall accept as the real meaning.

We have an interesting anecdote in connection with this verse. It is as follows,

Nuh ibn Maryam was heard saying, “We were with Abu Hanifah when he first appeared (in Kufah) when a woman came down to him from Tirmidh. She used to attend the assemblies of Jahm (b. Safwan, founder of the Jahmiyy sect: Au.). When she entered Kufah, I believe ten thousand people adopted her opinions. She was told, ‘There is a man here, a rationalist, called Abu Hanifah.’ So she visited him and said, ‘Are you the one who teaches Law to the people, and have abandoned your religion? Tell me: where is your Deity that you worship?’ He remained silent and remained so for seven days not answering her. Then one day he came to us, dropped down a book and said, ‘Allah is in the heavens and not on the earth.’ Someone said, ‘Have you considered Allah’s words, ‘He is with you?’’ Abu Hanifah answered, ‘Those words are in the same sense as when you write to a friend of yours (in trouble), ‘I am with you’ although he is away from you.’”

12. The allusion is to the lengthening and shortening of the day and night (Ibn Jarir).

13. By the use of the word “successors” it has been impressed that “you have only succeeded others in owning the wealth now in your hands. You do not own the wealth. You are only keepers and custodians. Therefore, expending out of it should be as easy as expending any wealth placed in your custody (say, by one of your friends) with the authority from him to expend as you like” (Zamakhshari: from whom perhaps Razi, Qurtubi and Alusi take).

Ibn Kathir and Alusi write: There are many ahadith pertaining to this verse. One of them says, as in Muslim,

The Prophet said, “Son of Adam says, ‘My wealth, my wealth.’ But, son of Adam, is there anything of your wealth for you save what you consumed and destroyed, or wore and made it old, or gave in charity and finished (it off)?”

14. We have a hadith relevent to this ayah. The Prophet once asked his Companions,

“Which of the believers is amazing to you in terms of faith?” They replied, “Angels.” He said, “Why should they not believe when they are right with their Lord?” So they said, “Prophets.” He said, “Why should they not believe when Revelations come to them?” They said, “Then we.” He said, “Why should you not believe when I am right among you?” But rather the most amazing in terms of belief are a people who will come after you. They will find a Scripture and believe in what it states.”

A similar hadith has been recorded by Bukhari (Au.).

15. The allusion is to the prenatal contract taken from the children of Adam to the effect that Allah is their Lord (Ibn Jarir). The opinion has Mujahid’s backing. However, we believe, writes Ibn Kathir, that the allusion is to the allegiance given to the Prophet.

16. That is, if you have any willingness to believe, then this is the time you should declare your faith (Ibn Jarir).

17. Although some have believed that the allusion is to the Hudaybiyyah Treaty, most scholars have believed that the allusion is to the fall of Makkah. Until then Islam was weak and Muslims under life-threatening situation.

18. That is, there were two kinds of fighting and expending in the way of Allah: one, before the fall of Makkah, and another, after it. Of the two occasions: the fighting and expending before the fall of Makkah were of greater value (Ibn Jarir).

The status that the earliest Companions occupy is the highest ever and no generation will be able to outbeat them. And this status should be accorded them on the basis of Qur’an and hadith, and not on the basis of historical reports. Accordingly Imam Ahmad and Ibn Taymiyyah have written in their several works that, (in the words of Ibn Taymiyyah), “By consensus of this Ummah, it is an obligation on the members of this Ummah that they should speak well of them, mention them with love and respect, and seek forgiveness for them; and that, if anybody insults them, he should be punished. As for the errors committed by them, they were miscarriages of judgment out of complete sincerity. In fact, because of their high position in Islam, the errors they committed are more likely to be forgiven than of those who followed them.” (Mufti Shafi`).

The Prophet emphasized this on several occasions. A hadith in Muslim reports Abu Sa`id as saying,

There was some friction between `Abd al-Rahman ibn `Awf and Khalid b. Waleed. Khalid abused him. The Prophet said, “Do not abuse anyone of my Companions. If one of you spent gold equal to Mount Uhud he will not attain to any of them in status, not even by half.” (Ibn Kathir, Alusi and others).

Ibn Jarir reports another hadith of this class. (But the report’s authenticity could not be established: Au.). It is as follows:

The Prophet said (according to some versions at the time of Hudaybiyyah), “It is possible that a people will rise (of such a class that) in comparison to their deeds you will belittle yours.” We asked, “Who are they Messenger of Allah? The Quraysh?” He said, “No. They have the softest of hearts and are the gentlest of them.” He pointed towards Yemen and said, “They are the people of Yemen. Lo! Faith is the faith of the Yemenis; and wisdom is Yemeni.” We asked, “Will they be better than us, Messenger of Allah?” He answered, “By Him in whose hands is my life, if one of them had gold equal to a mountain, and went about spending it, he will not become equal to you, not even by half.” Then he folded his fingers and opened out his little finger and said, “Lo! This is the dividing line between us and others.” Then he recited, “Not equal is he among you who expended before the Victory, and fought. They are of greater ranks than those who expended thereafter and fought; although to each Allah has promised (a reward) most fair. And Allah is well acquainted with what you do.”

Ibn Kathir also reproduces the above report along with another version.

19. For those who know Arabic, Razi has a very nice discussion at this point about how the “harakat” of a seemingly inconsequential word can alter the meaning of a sentence.