Verse:39 Commentary Commentary

First command to fight the infidels

The infidels of Makkah intensified their aggression against the Muslims and every day people arrived in Madinah bearing marks of ill-treatment which they had suffered at the hands of unbelievers. In the days before Hijrah the number of the faithful had increased considerably and they sought permission to defend themselves against the oppression to which they were being constantly subjected, but the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم advised them patience because he had not received Allah's permission so far to resist the infidels with force of arms. This situation persisted for about ten years. (Qurtubi)

At last, things became so bad that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was left with no choice but to leave Makkah. As he started on his journey accompanied by Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ he said اخرجوا نبیّھم لیھلکنّ (They have expelled their Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the time has come when they will perish). When he arrived at Madinah this verse was revealed which permitted the Muslims to take up arms against the infidels. (رواہ النسایٔی والترمذی عن ابن عباس ؓ Qurtubi)

Tirmidhi, Nasa' i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Hakim and others have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that this is the first verse which permitted the Muslims to offer armed resistance to the infidels, whereas in more than seventy earlier verses armed resistance was forbidden. Verse:40 Commentary The philosophy behind Jihad and war against the infidels

وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّـهِ النَّاسَ (And had Allah not repelled some people by means of some others... - 22:40) Had Allah not repelled some people by means of some others, the monasteries, the churches, the synagogues and the mosques where the name of Allah is recited abundantly would have been demolished. The command to take up arms against the unbelievers is nothing new, because the earlier prophets and their followers had received similar orders from Allah Ta' ala and the philosophy behind this command was that without armed resistance no religion would have felt safe and their places of worship would have been destroyed by the infidels.

There have been many religions which were founded on the worship of one God and built up by means of Wahy (Divine revelations). In course of time their basics were changed and so many alterations were introduced in them that they turned into unbelief and polytheism. But before these things happened, they were true religions and it was the duty of their followers to respect and defend their places of worship. This verse refers to such places of worship only and does not include the sacred places of those religions which were not founded on prophethood and revelation (such as the fire-worshiping Magians, or the idol-worshiping Hindus) because they were at no time considered places deserving of respect.

In this verse صَوَامِعُ is the plural of صَوَمِعُہ ، which means a monastery which is a place of worship meant for Christian monks and hermits بِيَعٌ is the plural of بِیعَۃ ، which means a Christian church, and صَلَوَاتٌ is the plural of صلُوت ، which means a Jewish synagogue. And of course مَسَاجِدُ is the place of worship of the Muslims.

The meaning of this verse is that if at different times the believers had not been permitted to fight the infidels, no true religion would have felt secure and at different times during the periods of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) ، Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) and the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم the places of worship of their respective religions would have been destroyed. (Qurtubi) Verse:41 Commentary Qur' anic prophecy about the Rightly Guided Caliphs ( خُلفأے راشدین ) and its fulfillment

الَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ (Those who, when We give them power in the land - 22:41) In this verse the word (those) refers to those people who have been mentioned in the preceding verse: الَّذِينَ أُخْرِ‌جُوا مِن دِيَارِ‌هِم بِغَيْرِ‌ حَقٍّ (Those are the ones who were expelled from their homes without any just reason - 22:40). Referring to such people the verse says that if they are placed in authority in this world, they will use it to promote good deeds, will set up prayers, pay the obligatory charity, enjoin people to do good and abstain from evil deeds. It has already been mentioned that these verses were revealed soon after Hijrah, at a time when the Muslims did not exercise dominion anywhere on earth, which means that Allah Ta' ala had already made it known that when, at a future date, they would come to power and establish their government, they would serve the Faith in the manner described in this verse. Sayyidna ` Uthmane ؓ said referring to this verse, ثنَا قَبلَ بَلَاء that this verse praises those people before they actually perform the praise-worthy deeds. In due course Allah Ta' ala's prophecy was fulfilled in that the four Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Muhajirin (emigrants) from Makkah were indeed those whom the Qur'an described by the words الَّذِينَ أُخْرِ‌جُوا (those who were expelled - 22:40) and when they established their government and held sway over vast territories, they used their power and authority in setting up prayers, strengthening the system of Zakah, enjoining good and forbidding evil deeds. Many scholars are of the view that this verse is a clear evidence of the fact that accession to power of the four Caliphs (خُلفَاے راشدین) is a direct fulfillment of Allah's Prophesy, and the system of caliphate which was set up by them was in accordance with His will. (Ruh ul-Ma' ani)

Having discussed the factual aspect of the circumstances leading up to the revelation of this verse it must, at the same time, be emphasized that where the Qur'an uses general words and phrases, their purpose is not restricted to a particular situation, but is universally applicable to all similar situations. Following this reasoning, Dahhak says that this verse contains an injunction for all those whom Allah Ta' ala grants power and authority to do all those things which the Four Caliphs did when they controlled the rule. (Qurtubi) Verse:42 Commentary - - - Verse:43 Commentary - - - Verse:44 Commentary - - - Verse:45 Commentary - - - Verse:46 Commentary Commentary

Travels undertaken to acquire insight into things and to learn lessons from the past is one of the religious objectives

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُ‌وا فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (Have they not, then, travelled on earth so that they should have hearts - 22:46) This verse encourages travel, provided the person travelling keeps his eyes wide open and imbibes in his mind the lessons of history. The phrase فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (so that they should have hearts - 22:46) suggests that a person can gain wisdom and intelligence by a careful study of the history of bygone times and an account of people who inhabited this world in different ages. Every event of history holds a lesson for a person who has insight and who does not regard history as a mere record of episodes and occurrences. Ibn Abi Hatim has written in his book اَلتَفَکّر quoting Malik Ibn Dinar (رح) that Allah Ta' ala commanded Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to wear shoes made of iron and to hold in his hand a staff made of iron and travel around the earth until his shoes would be worn out and his staff broken down. (Ruh-Ma ani). If this narration is true, then naturally it means to acquire knowledge and lessons from the past. Verse:47 Commentary How the Day of Resurrection will be equal to one thousand years by our reckoning

In this verseإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَ‌بِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ (22:47) means that one day with your Lord is like one thousand years of what you count. This verse can be interpreted in two ways. The first meaning is that the verse refers to the Day of Resurrection and the events which will take place on that day will be so horrifying and of such extreme severity that the day will appear never to end, as if it was equal to one thousand years according to our reckoning. Many commentators have interpreted this verse accordingly.

The other meaning of the verse is that the Day of Resurrection will in actual fact be so long that it will stretch up to one thousand years of this world. This view is supported by a saying of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as reported in Musnad of Ahmad and Tirmidhi on the authority of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم once addressed the poor people of the muhajirin (i.e. those who migrated from Makkah) and said, ` I give you good news about the full refulgence on the Day of Resurrection and that you will be admitted to heaven half a day before the rich and the wealthy, and a day in the Hereafter will be of one thousand years, hence the poor will enter the heaven five hundred years before the wealthy'. Tirmidhi has classified this hadith as 'hasan'. (Mazhari)

A doubt and its explanation

There is a verse in Surah Al-Ma'arij which says that the day with your Lord will be equal to fifty thousand years كَانَ مِقْدَارُ‌هُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ. (Whereof the measure is fifty thousand yours - 70:4) This can also be explained by applying either of the two explanations of the present verse and in the first case since every person will suffer different levels of severity, to some it will appear as if he has suffered pain for one thousand years, while to others the period will appear equal to fifty thousand years. If, however, the second explanation is applied to this verse, then there would appear to be a contradiction between the verses where one verse equates the Day of Resurrection to one thousand years and the other to fifty thousand years. But this so-called contradiction has been reconciled by Sayyidna Ashraf ` Ali Thanavi (رح))in his commentary Bayan ul-Qur'an, by saying that this difference may be due to different horizons. Just as we see in our world that the length of day and night is different on different horizons, (on zero latitude it is of 24 hours while at the latitude of 900 it is one year. Likewise it is possible that the length of the Day of Resurrection would be different on different horizons, and if its length right below the day line is one thousand years because of miraculously slow rotation of sun or earth), the areas falling 50 times far from it may have a day 50 times more in length. And Allah knows best. Verse:48 Commentary - - -