Surah Al-Jinn 72:1-19 - Quran Translation Commentary

(72:9) And surely, earlier we used to sit in some of its stations for eavesdropping. But whosoever listens now, finds for himself a flaming missile in ambush.⁹

(72:10) And so we know not whether evil is intended for those on the earth, or their Lord intends for them rectitude.

(72:11) And that, among us some are righteous while others among us are otherwise: we have been of divergent ways.¹⁰

(72:12) But we think we can never frustrate Allah in the earth, nor can we escape Him by flight.¹¹

(72:13) Therefore, when we heard the guidance, we believed in it. Indeed, whosoever believes in his Lord, may fear neither deprivation nor a burden.¹²

(72:14) And that, among us some have submitted, while others are deviated. Then, those who submitted, they have sought rectitude.

(72:15) As for the deviated ones, they have become fuel for Jahannum.”’

(72:16) Yet, had they been steadfast on the path,¹³ We would have given them water to drink in abundance.¹⁴

(72:17) So that We might test them thereby. Nevertheless, whoever turned away from the remembrance of his Lord, He shall thrust him into a rigorous chastisement.¹⁵

(72:18) And that places of worship are for Allah alone, therefore, invoke not any besides Him.¹⁶

(72:19) And that when the slave of Allah stood invoking Him, they were well-nigh upon him in swarms.¹⁷

Commentary

1. Basing his opinion on this verse, Ibn `Abbas said that the Prophet never met nor saw the Jinn. But Ibn Mas`ud’s reports say he did. Now, Ibn Mas`ud’s report is that of a witness, whereas, Ibn `Abbas’ opinion is that of a deductive type. Therefore, Ibn Mas`ud’s version prevails (Qurtubi).

Mufti Shafi` clarifies that since the verse here does not specifically say that the Prophet did not see the Jinn, the allusion in the verse could be to the occasion when he was returning from his Ta’if mission, where he was rejected. He spent the night at Nakhlah, where, while he was performing Fajr prayer reciting aloud, a group of Jinn passed by, listened to his recitation, and submitted to the Call. (On that occasion the Prophet did not see the Jinn). On the other hand, Ibn Mas`ud’s report is speaking of another incident. Working through trustworthy reports, `Allamah Khifaji has deducted that there were altogether six occasions when the Jinn met the Prophet.

Ibn Mas`ud’s report is indirectly confirmed by a report in Bukhari. It says,

(In part of a longer report, Abu Hurayrah) said, “What is it (that you reject) bones and dung?” The Prophet answered, “They are food for the Jinn. A delegation of the Nasibin Jinn had been to me - and what a nice group of Jinn they were - and asked me for provision. I prayed to Allah that they may not pass by a bone or dung but should find food upon them” (Au.).

Nasibin were the name of two towns: one in Iraq, another in Yemen (Qurtubi).

A detailed explanation of the Prophet’s encounter with the Jinn has been presented at ayah 27 of Surah al-Ahqaf (Au.).

2. In other words, we shall never return to paganism again. (Zamakhshari).

3. “Jaddu rabbina” has been explained by Ibn `Abbas as meaning: His acts, His commands and His Powers (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). Other explanations match with our translation (Au.).

Imam Razi points out that the word has been used in a hadith (of the Sahihayn: Au.),

That is, “No rich man’s wealth is of any avail against You.”

4. That is, we did not imagine that the Jinn and humans would fasten a lie upon Allah when they ascribed partners unto Him (Zamakhshari, Razi and others).

Thus, it was their attitude of refusal to be with those who fasten lies upon Allah that led them to belief in Him when they heard the fresh call (Sayyid).

5. The allusion is to a pagan practice. When one of them had to spend a night in a valley, he would say, “I seek the refuge of the chief of the Jinn of this valley” (Ibn Jarir from Ibn `Abbas and others, Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir).

6. Thus encouraged, the Jinn felt themselves superior to men and added fear and folly to men through phantasm and trickery to maintain their status among them (Zamakhshari, Ibn Kathir).

And, Ibn Abi Hatim documented Ibn Abi Sa’ib al-Ansari as saying, “Once we started off from Madinah those days when the Prophet had just begun his mission. We spent a night in a valley with one of the shepherds. At midnight a wolf snatched one of his sheep. The shepherd jumped and said, “O leader of the Jinn, your neighbor” (Meaning, “after all, I am your neighbor”). They heard a voice saying, “O Sirhan, release her.” The sheep returned unscratched.

Shawkani traces the report to Ibn al-Mundhir, Abu Sheikh, Ibn Marduwayh and Ibn `Asakir, but its authenticity could not be traced (Au.).

After quoting the above, Ibn Kathir remarks that most probably the wolf was actually a Jinn.

Ibn Zayd added that after Islam came, they began to seek the refuge of Allah (Ibn Jarir).

7. That is, some men of the Jinn also believed, as some men among the pagans believed, that Allah will never raise a Messenger (Ibn Jarir).

8. Clouds seem to be the upper limit of the Jinn-reach into space. A hadith of Bukhari seems to be fixing this limit. It says,

`A’isha reports that she heard the Prophet say, “Angels descend down into the clouds and mention the affairs decreed in the heaven. The Shayatin steal the news and deliver them to the soothsayers. They add a hundred lies to it from their side.”

However, a report in Muslim indicates that this happens in the first firmament. To be sure, Muslim’s report could be reconciled with the one above by saying that decrees are first announced in the first firmament, before they are discussed in the clouds from where the devils pick up a piece or two (Mufti Shafi`).

Although Shafi` has a point, it seems the hadith is telling us about the place where the devils pick up news of the heavens, as angels come down to execute them; it is not telling us the limits of Jinn outreach. (Au.).

9. Ibn Kathir writes that the Shayatin used to be pelted with fiery missiles even earlier than during the phase of Qur’anic revelation, though less frequently. But, with the advent of the Prophet, they were chased harder. Bukhari, Muslim and others have preserved the report that when they were altogether prevented from picking news, they reported back to Iblis who told them surely something new must have happened that they are being prevented from previous places of watch. He sent them across to search out whether any new event had taken place. They passed by the Prophet in Nakhlah, heard him recite the Qur’an during the Fajr Prayer, and reported back to their kind warning them (Shawkani and others).

Majid reconfirms from history. He writes, “It is a fact too curious to be overlooked by history that a century or two before the birth of the holy Prophet, the ancient oracles found themselves gradually and automatically becoming dumb – a fitting prelude to the advent of Islam. Even the voice of the great Delphi Oracle, so well-known and so important to antiquity, became still. ‘As a force in history it had long lost all power; in the first century after Christ, Delphi and Ammon had given place to Chaldean astrologers, as Strabo and Juvenal agree in saying, and Plutarch wrote a treatise inquiring into the reason; and in the fourth century, when Julian sent to consult the Delphic Oracle, the last response was uttered for him: “Tell the king, to earth has fallen the beautiful mansion; no longer has Phoebus a home, nor a prophetic laurel, nor a fort that speaks; gone dry is the talking water.’” (DB. V. p. 155).”

Sayyid offers a rejoinder: “As to where exactly the guardians take their places in space, who are they, how exactly are the ‘shihab’ shot at them, are details that the Qur’an did not elaborate upon, and hence are such details as knowing them will not add to our store of useful knowledge…

“Nor is there room for asking the functions of the ‘shihab.’ The meteorites have been there from the beginning, and will be there in future. Are they the missiles pelted at the devils? We do not know and need not inquire.

“Yet, those who see nothing in such Qur’anic statements, including the measures appointed by Allah to prevent corruption of His message, are not right in their such suppositions. The problem with these people is that they approach the Qur’an with prejudiced minds filled with ideas borrowed from sources other than the Qur’an. They attempt to understand the Qur’an in the light of the ideas they bring from sources other than it. Therefore, they see angels as representing goodness and obedience, the devils as representing evil and disobedience, the shooting of missiles as metaphorically speaking of measures of safety and preservation. This is because, the ideas and system of thought that they bring with them when they approach the Qur’an, do not allow for the existence in reality of angels, devils and Jinn.

The right approach to understanding the Qur’an and its explanation is to come free of concepts, intellectual presumptions, or ideas embedded at the sub-conscious level. They must rather build their entire thought-system based on nothing but what the Qur’an and Hadith have to state as realities. Further, (if there is a conflict between human thought and revelations), then, none other than the Qur’an and Hadith should be the arbitrators; no outside point of reference can be allowed to judge; and nothing can be denied or subjected to interpretation which the Qur’an affirms in clear terms, nor should anything be confirmed as true which the Qur’an denies or declares as falsehood. It is only in matters which are not clearly affirmed by the Qur’an or rejected in clear terms that one can hypothesize and seek the truth in the light of logic and sound reasoning.”

10. That is, some of us are believers while others are not (Ibn Kathir and others).

Suddi (and others) said that among the Jinn the same kind of sects and divisions are found as among men, such as, Jews, Christians, the Qadariyyah, Rawafidh, Khawarij, etc. (Imam Razi).

11. That is, we can neither frustrate Him on the earth nor fly away from it into space (Zamakhshari).

12. Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said the meaning is: whoever believed may not fear any diminution of his good deeds nor any addition upon his evil deeds (Ibn Jarir).

13. That is, the path of Islam: Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Sa`eed b. Jubayr, Sa`eed b. al-Musayyib and others (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

14. That is, after having declared faith, had they remained steady with Islam, Allah would have bestowed on them – the Jinn – abundant potable water (Ibn Jarir from Mujahid and others); while some others interpreted the “water” of the verse with “provision” `Umar (ra) remarked, “Wherever there is water, there is wealth, and wherever there is wealth, there is corruption.” This is in keeping with other verses of this nature. Allah said,

“Had they established the Tawrah and Injil, and what was sent down to them from their Lord, surely, they would have eaten from their above and from below their feet.”

The ayah could have been aimed at the Makkans from whom Islam had received similar response: some believing, others not, and the unbelievers were undergoing a seven year drought (Ibn Kathir and others).

15. Or, an ever-increasing, rising chastisement. (Ibn Jarir from Ibn `Abbas).

16. It is reported that when Jews and Christians entered their places of worship, they worshipped other than Allah and hence this ayah (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

The above is the meaning of the majority. But two other meanings are possible for the word “masajid”: (i) Prostration, meaning, all prostrations should be reserved for Allah alone, and (ii) those parts of the body on which a man rests when in prostration: the two feet, knees, hands, and nose - in all seven bones. (Razi).

17. That is, when the Prophet (and his followers) stood in Prayers in the Haram, pagan men and Jinn surrounded him in swarms in amazement (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).