Surah Al-A'raf 7:26-31 - Quran Translation Commentary

(7:26) Children of Adam! We have bestowed on you a raiment³⁶ that covers your shame³⁷ and is a (source of) adornment.³⁸ Nonetheless, the garment of piety that is better.³⁹ This is one of the signs of Allah, haply they will take it to heart.

(7:27) Children of Adam! Let not Shaytan seduce you in the manner he got your parents leave Paradise, stripping them of their garments so as to reveal to them their shame.⁴⁰ Surely he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you see them not.⁴¹ Verily We have made the Satans patrons of those who do not believe.⁴²

(7:28) Whenever they commit an indecency they claim, ‘Verily, we found our forefathers upon this. And (in fact), Allah has ordered us to do it.'⁴³ Say, ‘Allah does not order any indecency.' Do you fasten such things upon Allah as which you have no knowledge of?'

(7:29) ) Say, ‘My Lord has ordered me justice.'⁴⁴ And set your faces (toward Him)⁴⁵ at every (time of) prostration; and call upon Him making the religion sincerely His;⁴⁶ even as He began you, you shall return:⁴⁷

(7:30) A group He guided, but a group deserved for themselves error. (Because) They took Satans as their patrons apart from Allah, and assume that they are rightly guided.

(7:31) Children of Adam! Take your adornment at every Prayer;⁴⁸ and eat and drink but do not commit excesses.⁴⁹ Surely, He does not approve of those who commit excesses.

Commentary

36. The allusion is to the sending down of rains, bringing forth of plants, and to man's ability to weave material for his clothing (Au.).

37. The word in the text is "saw`ah" which is for shameful parts. What does it exactly cover? Qurtubi explains that here it has been used in the sense of `awrah, which, according to Imam Abu Hanifah is from the navel to the knees, both included. Some others have not included the navel and the knees. As for a woman, her `awrah is the whole of her body except her face and hands. But Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal has said that whole of the woman is `awrah, including her nails.

Although a detailed discussion will in sha Allah follow in surah Nur and al Ahzab, it might be pointed out at this point that Imam Abu Hanifah's opinion is not always the opinion of the Hanafiyyah. When the later day mujtahids (muta'akhkhirin) differ with Imam Abu Hanifah, it is their opinion that prevails as the Hanafiyy position. In this particular case, the Hanafiyy opinion is no different from that of the Hanabilah and the rest of the great majority (Au.).

38. The textual word rish is, literally, "plumage" a metaphorical expression derived from the beauty of birds' plumage (Asad). To the Arabs it has several connotations such as wealth, property, as well as those things that are spread, such as beds, carpets etc. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Suddi and others have said that at this point it implies wealth. But Ibn Zayd has said that it alludes to things of adornment (Ibn Jarir).

39. Ibn `Abbas has interpreted the "libas of taqwa" as righteous deeds. And Hasan al Busri has reported that he saw `Uthman on the pulpit saying, "People! Fear Allah in your secret. I have heard the Prophet say,

والذي نفس محمد بيده، ما عمل أحدٌ قط سرًّا إلا ألبسه الله رداءَ علانيةٍ، إن خيرًا فخيرًا، وإن شرًّا فشرًا

‘By Him in whose hands is my life, no one ever did a thing secretly but Allah dressed him up in that dress visible to everyone: good (dress), if good, and evil if evil.'" Then he quoted this verse (Ibn Jarir, Rashid Rida).

40. Although, Rashid Rida writes, `A'isha has said that she and the Prophet "never saw of each other," legally speaking, it is permissible for a husband and wife to see other's private parts, even if not the best thing to do.

41. Basing their opinion on this verse, some people have denied that the Shayatin and Jinn can be seen by the humans. (In fact, Imam Shafe`i has ruled that he would not allow the testimony in the courts of the man who claimed that he could see the Jinn. But, it seems what he meant is that he would reject the testimony of someone who claimed that he saw the Jinn in the form in which they have been created: Alusi, Rashid Rida). But, if they appear in another form and state, they could be seen. For instance, Abu Hurayrah saw Shaytan on the occasion he was asked to guard over the zakah goods. (Ibn Mas`ud saw him twice: Alusi). We also have the Sahih report which says that when Satan tried to distract the Prophet in his Prayer, he said he could have caught Satan and tied him to the mosque column for the children of Madinah to play with, but did not do it remembering Sulayman's supplication (Qurtubi, Rashid Rida, Alusi). That is, it confirms that humans can see the Jinn – Shaytan being one of them (Au.).

Rashid Rida adds that while it is true that the common people are often fooled by those who claim they control the Jinn or have contacts with them, or can cure those who have been overpowered by them, and although most are liars and are out to monetarily exploit the ignorant masses, yet, it is not right to adopt the other extreme attitude to say that the Jinn cannot be seen at all, in any form, or contacted. True, they stay away from the humans, being, as Ibn `Abbas has said, "more fearful of the humans than the humans are of them" but there is some truth in the claim of countless people who have reported encounters. Not everyone has been lying. Indeed, we have no less a figure than Ibn Taymiyyah himself reporting his contacts.

"Why should I not at this point," writes Rashid Rida, (who was better known in his times as a modernist and rationalist), "narrate my personal experience? Once it so happened that in our town Qalmun (formerly) a part of Syria, a fisherman threw his net into the sea. Following that, he instantly fainted. He reported that a whole group of Jinns had attacked him on the accusation that he had kidnapped one of their women. The man also said that he saw me at his subconscious level in the posture I used to adopt in my solitary retreats of devotion in an inner chamber specially marked for that. I had a little black cane over which I used to lean, although no other man had ever seen it in my place ... he saw that I was trying to drive away the Jinn with it. His friends reported the matter to me and requested me to visit him and pray for him. Accordingly, I repaired to him. He was kind of unconscious, unaware of anything around him. But he began to say, ‘Sheikh Rashid has arrived.' When I saw him in that state, I turned my attention to Allah in all sincerity and humbleness. Then I placed my hand on his head and uttered:

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ. فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

‘In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful: Allah will suffice you against them. Verily, He is the Hearer, the Knower.' The man immediately opened his eyes and stood up as if he had been through nothing. Then, after quite some time, the same ailment came back to him and he was treated in the same manner. However, personally I never saw any Jinn that he said I was chasing away from him. Although, I would not say with certainty that it were the Jinn alone that he saw. After all, the incident can be explained in a variety of ways. Nevertheless, the scholars of my town recounted several stories to relate of my grandfather."

Human encounters with the Jinn are so numerous, and their descending upon those of weak faith is so common that any denial would be unreasonable. People of integrity have heard young girls speaking out in the voice of a male, or vice versa, when under the spell of a Jinn and regaining their selves when they left them (Au.).

42. When these people acted dishonestly, to take the Satans as their friends, as a verse of the following passage says: "They took the Satans as their patrons apart from Allah," (verse 30) then, Allah too did not intervene in their choice. He let them have patrons as they chose (Shabbir).

43. Ibn Jarir writes: Certain Arab tribes (but not the Quraysh) circumambulated the Ka`bah naked. When asked why they did that, they replied that thus they had found their forefathers doing, and that they had been ordered by Allah. Some women too circumambulated naked placing a patch of cloth on their shameful parts and singing out:

Today some or all of it is exposed

But I do not make lawful what goes exposed.

Ibn Kathir writes: The rule prevalent among the pre Islamic Arabs was that they would not circumambulate the Ka`bah in the clothes they were wearing except the Quraysh, who called themselves "Hummas" and could circumambulate in their ordinary clothes. Others had to either put on a new pair of clothes, or borrow a used one from one of the Quraysh. But, if someone could not do either, then he or she circumambulated naked. However, in that event women circumambulated at night. Then, after the rituals they threw away the clothes and no one touched them (Ibn Kathir). Sayyid points out that there is a hadith to this effect in Muslim.

44. Mujahid and Suddi have said that the textual word "qist" alludes to "justice" (Ibn Jarir). But the opinion of Ibn `Abbas is that it alludes to the formula of faith, i.e., "There is no deity save Allah." He recited the verse (3: 18):

شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ [آل عمران : 18]

"Allah is witness that there is no god save He, and (so are) the angels and the men of learning upholding justice" (Razi).

Mujahid, Suddi and most of the commentators have however said that the allusion is to justice and firm adherence to Islam (Alusi).

45. The words in parenthesis are based on Ibn Jarir's understanding who quotes Rabi` of the same opinion (Au.).

The meaning however is, be attentive within your Prayers, and do not let yourselves be distracted (Alusi). In the words of Asad: "The term wajh (lit. "face") occurring here is often used, in the abstract sense, to denote a person's entire being or entire attention as, for instance, in the phrase (3: 20) aslamtu wajhiya li'llahi, (meaning: "I have surrendered my whole being unto God").

The above explains Asad's rendering of the phrase above as: "put your whole being into every act of worship."

46. Thanwi writes: In just three little phrases the whole of the Shari`ah has been outlined: The rights of others in "justice," the acts of devotion and worship in "set your faces," and, purity of faith and beliefs in "make the religion sincerely His."

47. The opinion of Ibn `Abbas is: As you were created as believers and unbelievers, so will you be raised: believers and unbelievers (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). The statement is in Ibn Abi Hatim (Shawkani).

Ibn `Abbas also reports the Prophet (saws) as having said:

يحشر الناس يوم القيامة عراة غرلا وأول الخلائق يكسى إبراهيم

"Mankind will be resurrected naked, uncircumcised. The first of the creations to be dressed would be Ibrahim." Then he recited this verse (Ibn Jarir). The hadith is in the Sahihayn (Ibn Kathir).

Ibn Kathir quotes: Muhammad b. Ka`b al Qurazi is reported to have said in explanation of this verse that whosoever Allah created on wretchedness (shaqawah) will end up what he was created to be even if he did the deeds of the blessed ones (ahl al sa`adah). And whomsoever Allah created as the blessed one will end up as that, even if he committed the deeds of the wretched ones. A good example is that of Fir`awn’s court magicians who acted wretchedly all their lives but ended up as the blessed ones. A report attributes this opinion to Ibn `Abbas also; and can be substantiated with a hadith in Bukhari which says:

فَوَاللَّهِ إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ أَوْ الرَّجُلَ يَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ حَتَّى مَا يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَا غَيْرُ بَاعٍ أَوْ ذِرَاعٍ فَيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ فَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ فَيَدْخُلُهَا وَإِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ حَتَّى مَا يَكُونُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَا غَيْرُ ذِرَاعٍ أَوْ ذِرَاعَيْنِ فَيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ فَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ فَيَدْخُلُهَا

"By Him besides whom there is no God, one of you might do the deeds of the people of the Fire until there does not remain between him and the Fire but the distance of a span of hand. But then the decree overtakes him and he begins to do the deeds of the people of Paradise and he enters therein. And, one of you might do the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains no more than a distance of a span of hand between him and the Paradise when the decree overtakes him and he begins to do the deeds of the people of the Fire and he enters into in."

(For a proper understanding of the above hadith the words "in what appears to be" must be added in reference to the deeds committed , as in the following report: Au.).

Baghawi has a hadith narrated by Sahl b. Sa`d. It says:

إِنَّ الْعَبْدَ لَيَعْمَلُ فِيمَا يَرَى النَّاسُ عَمَلَ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنْ أَهْلِ النَّارِ وَيَعْمَلُ فِيمَا يَرَى النَّاسُ عَمَلَ أَهْلِ النَّارِ وَهُوَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ وَإِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِخَوَاتِيمِهَا

"A man might do in what appears to the people the deeds of the people of Paradise, although he could be of the people of the Fire. And, another man might do in what appears to the people the deeds of the people of Fire, although he could be of the people of Paradise. Verily, deeds go by how things end."

The above hadith is in Bukhari also (Au.).

However, Ibn Kathir adds, if this interpretation is true then it needs to reconcile with Allah's words (30: 30):

فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا [الروم : 30]

"Then set your face to the religion, upright, the nature of Allah upon which He created the people."

The interpretation also runs in contradiction with the hadith in the Sahihhayn which says:

كُلُّ مَوْلُودٍ يُولَدُ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ فَأَبَوَاهُ يُهَوِّدَانِهِ أَوْ يُنَصِّرَانِهِ أَوْ يُمَجِّسَانِهِ

"Every new born is given birth on nature. Then, it is his parents who Judaize him or Christianize him, or Zoroastrize him." Another hadith in Muslim says:

وَإِنِّي خَلَقْتُ عِبَادِي حُنَفَاءَ كُلَّهُمْ فَأَتَتْهُمُ الشَّيَاطِينُ فَاجْتَالَتْهُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِمْ

"I created My slaves on monotheism (hunafa'). But Satan came to them and deviated them from their religion." After quoting these texts, Ibn Kathir attempts a reconciliation by saying that the original creation is indeed on Tawhid, as the Qur'anic verse and the ahadith quoted say, but perhaps the one about Divine Decree is talking about the second nature, or second phase of creation.

None the less, the weakness in Ibn Kathir's reconciliation effort is apparent. Hence his qualification: "If this interpretation is true."

Sayyid Qutb has another point, viz., as the affair began, so it will end. They began as two groups: Adam and his wife and Satan and his tribe. Those who will follow the Prophets will return to Paradise while those who follow the Satans will return to Hellfire: "Even as He began you, you shall return."

48. Qurtubi writes that in pre Islamic days the Arabs circumambulated the Ka`bah naked, would not eat anything fatty, and consumed as little as possible. Allah revealed this verse to remove the taboos.

Sayyid quotes from Kalbi that when the Muslims circumambulated the Ka`bah with their clothes on, the pagans objected to the act and so Allah (swt) revealed this verse. Then he remarks: "This is what every pagandom, including the modern Western one, does to its people: bring them down to the level of animals and strip them of their clothes all in the name of culture and civilization."

Muslim scholars on their part have, writes Ibn Kathir, pointed out, with this verse as the clue and in the light of the traditions of the Prophet on this subject, that one ought to put on nice clothes, use miswak and some perfume before every Prayer, but especially for the Friday and `Eid Prayers. Accordingly, it is reported of Tamim al Dari that he had purchased a mantle costing a 1000 coins that he would put on for every Prayer. And the best of colors in clothes is white as said in Sahih ahadith such as:

عليكم بثياب البياض فالبسوها فإنها أطهر وأطيب وكفنوا فيها موتاكم

"Use white clothes, for they are cleanest and neatest, and wrap your dead too therewith."

49. "Israf" of the text could mean "wastage," "over indulgence," or "excesses." The Salaf have said that Allah has summarized the advice for good health in three (textual) words: "Eat and drink but do not commit excesses." The Prophet has said in a Hasan or Hasan Sahih report of Tirmidhi:

مَا مَلأَ آدَمِيٌّ وِعَاءً شَرًّا مِنْ بَطْنٍ، حَسَبُ ابْنِ آدَمَ أُكُلاتٍ يُقِمْنَ صُلْبَهُ، فَإِنْ كَانَ لا مَحَالَةَ، فَثُلُثًا طَعَامًا، وَثُلُثًا شَرَابًا، وَثُلُثًا لِنَفْسِهِ

"A man did not fill any vessel more evil than his stomach. It is enough for the son of man to eat a few mouthfuls that keep his back straight. But, if he has to perforce eat more, then, one third for food, one third for water and one third for breathing" (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

The Prophet has also said:

الْكَافِرُ يَأْكُلُ فِي سَبْعَةِ أَمْعَاءٍ ، وَالْمُؤْمِنُ يَأْكُلُ فِي مِعًى وَاحِدٍ

"An unbeliever fills his seven intestines when he eats, while the Muslim fills only one."

Qurtubi explains that although this is the general rule, there could be exceptions: a believer eating a lot and an unbeliever eating little.

Other scholars have explained that the unbeliever is never satiated even if he ate a lot, while a believer is satiated with little (Au.).

Shafi` remarks: There is nothing wrong then in eating, drinking and dressing well, so long as excesses are not committed. As for the Sufiya's personal renunciation, or enjoining their followers the same, that has been by way of training, not because they thought that such abstention was a necessary demand of the Shari`ah.