37. As-Saffat Page 446 37. As-Saffat بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ وَ الصّٰٓفّٰتِ By those lined صَفًّاۙ (in) rows فَالزّٰجِرٰتِ And those who drive زَجْرًاۙ strongly فَالتّٰلِیٰتِ And those who recite ذِكْرًاۙ (the) Message اِنَّ Indeed اِلٰهَكُمْ your Lord لَوَاحِدٌؕ (is) surely One رَبُّ Lord السَّمٰوٰتِ (of) the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth وَ مَا and what بَیْنَهُمَا (is) between both of them وَ رَبُّ and Lord الْمَشَارِقِؕ (of) each point of sunrise اِنَّا Indeed We زَیَّنَّا [We] adorned السَّمَآءَ the heaven الدُّنْیَا nearest بِزِیْنَةِ with an adornment ِ۟الْكَوَاكِبِۙ (of) the stars وَ حِفْظًا And (to) guard مِّنْ against كُلِّ every شَیْطٰنٍ devil مَّارِدٍۚ rebellious لَا Not یَسَّمَّعُوْنَ they may listen اِلَی to الْمَلَاِ the assembly الْاَعْلٰی [the] exalted وَ یُقْذَفُوْنَ are pelted مِنْ from كُلِّ every جَانِبٍۗۖ side دُحُوْرًا Repelled وَّ لَهُمْ and for them عَذَابٌ (is) a punishment وَّاصِبٌۙ perpetual اِلَّا Except مَنْ (him) who خَطِفَ snatches الْخَطْفَةَ (by) theft فَاَتْبَعَهٗ but follows him شِهَابٌ a burning flame ثَاقِبٌ piercing فَاسْتَفْتِهِمْ Then ask them اَهُمْ Are they اَشَدُّ a stronger خَلْقًا creation اَمْ or مَّنْ (those) whom خَلَقْنَا ؕ We have created اِنَّا Indeed We خَلَقْنٰهُمْ created them مِّنْ from طِیْنٍ a clay لَّازِبٍ sticky بَلْ Nay عَجِبْتَ you wonder وَ یَسْخَرُوْنَ۪ while they mock وَ اِذَا And when ذُكِّرُوْا they are reminded لَا not یَذْكُرُوْنَ۪ they receive admonition وَ اِذَا And when رَاَوْا they see اٰیَةً a Sign یَّسْتَسْخِرُوْنَ۪ they mock وَ قَالُوْۤا And they say اِنْ Not هٰذَاۤ (is) this اِلَّا except سِحْرٌ a magic مُّبِیْنٌۚۖ clear ءَاِذَا Is it when مِتْنَا we are dead وَ كُنَّا and have become تُرَابًا dust وَّ عِظَامًا and bones ءَاِنَّا shall we then لَمَبْعُوْثُوْنَۙ be certainly resurrected اَوَ اٰبَآؤُنَا Or our fathers الْاَوَّلُوْنَؕ former قُلْ Say نَعَمْ Yes وَ اَنْتُمْ and you دَاخِرُوْنَۚ (will be) humiliated فَاِنَّمَا Then only هِیَ it زَجْرَةٌ (will be) a cry وَّاحِدَةٌ single فَاِذَا then behold! هُمْ They یَنْظُرُوْنَ will see وَ قَالُوْا And they will say یٰوَیْلَنَا O woe to us! هٰذَا This یَوْمُ (is the) Day الدِّیْنِ (of) the Recompense هٰذَا This یَوْمُ (is the) Day الْفَصْلِ (of) Judgment الَّذِیْ which كُنْتُمْ you used to بِهٖ [of it] تُكَذِّبُوْنَ۠ deny
(37:1) By those who range themselves in rows;
(37:2) by those who reprove severely,
(37:3) and those who recite the Exhortation;1
(37:4) surely your God is One,2
(37:5) the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of whatever lies between the two, the Lord3 of the Easts.4
(37:6) We have adorned the lower heaven with the adornment of the stars5
(37:7) and have protected it from every rebellious satan.6
(37:8) These satans cannot listen to what transpires in the High Council for they are pelted away from every side
(37:9) and are repelled. Theirs is an unceasing chastisement.
(37:10) And if any is able to snatch a fragment, he is pursued by a piercing flame.7
(37:11) So ask them (that is, human beings): “Were they harder to create than the objects We created?”8 We created them from sticky clay.9
(37:12) You marvel (at the wondrous creations of Allah) and they scoff at it,
(37:13) and when they are admonished, they pay no heed;
(37:14) and if they see any Sign, they laugh it away
(37:15) and say: “This is nothing but plain sorcery.10
(37:16) Is it ever possible that after we die and are reduced to dust and (a skeleton of) bones, we will be raised to life?
(37:17) And so also shall our forefathers of yore be raised to life?”
(37:18) Tell them: “Yes; and you are utterly helpless (against Allah).”11
(37:19) There will be a single stern rebuff and lo, they will be observing with their own eyes (all that they had been warned against).12
(37:20) They will then say: “Woe for us. This is the Day of Judgement.”
(37:21) “Yes, this is the Day of Final Decision that you used to deny as a lie.”13
1. The majority of Qur’an-commentators are agreed that all the three groups mentioned here belong to the angels. This is the interpretation of the verses made by ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas Qatadah, Masruq, Sa’id ibn Jubayr, ‘Ikrimah, Mujahid, al-Suddi, Ibn Zayd and Rabi’ ibn Anas (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, comments on verses 1-3). Some commentators, however, do interpret the verses differently. However, the context in which the verses occur lends support to the view that those referred to here are angels.
The significance of the statement that they “range themselves in rows” is that the angels who manage the whole order of the universe are no more than God’s servants and bondsmen. As such, they are always in a state of readiness to obey God and carry out His commands. This truth is reiterated in verse 165 below, where the angels introduce themselves as follows: “We range ourselves in rows (as humble servants)”.
As for the words “those who reprove severely” (v. 2), according to some commentators, they mean that some angels direct the clouds and bring about rainfall. Even though this meaning of the verse is not incorrect, what seems more plausible in view of the contents of the verses that follow, is the meaning that there is a group of angels who severely reprove the disobedient and afflict the guilty. This reproof, however, is not simply verbal but may also afflict the disobedient and the guilty in the form of natural disasters and historic calamities.
The statement that they “recite the Exhortation” (v. 3) means that among these angels are also those that constantly remind people of the truth so that they take heed. This exhortation may also take the form of the devastations that occurred in the past teaching human beings a lesson.
It may also be in the form of the teachings that these angels convey to the Prophets, and also in the form of the inspirations that reach virtuous people through them.
2. The proclamation of this truth is accompanied by taking an oath in the name of the angels. In other words, it is affirmed that the workings of the whole universe reflect its servitude to God. Also, natural phenomena expose before man the evil consequences of deviating from God’s servitude. Moreover, it has been a part of the universe’s scheme of things that people are reminded of one and the same truth in varying ways. All these bear out that man’s lord is none but the One True God.
The word ilah that occurs here has two connotations. In one sense, it means the deity that is an object of actual service and worship. In the other, it means the deity that truly deserves to be worshipped. The word ilah is employed in this verse in its latter sense. For evidently it could not have been used to denote the false gods that human beings invented and which they worshipped.
3. The truth, brought home by these verses, is that only the Lord and Sovereign of the universe is mankind’s True God. It would be absolutely irrational that in the presence of the True Rabb (that is, Lord, Sovereign, Guardian and Sustainer) anyone else should be deemed deserving of worship. What underlies man’s worship of God is his recognition of the Being Who is the source of all benefits and losses and of the fulfilment of all of his needs and requirements. It is a recognition of He Who can mar his fate, and in fact upon Whom his very existence and survival depend.
Itis, therefore, an innate requirement of human nature to recognize God’s supremacy and to surrender to Him. Once man realizes this truth, he can readily grasp that it is pointless and absurd to worship false gods for they have absolutely no power. Worship is exclusively the right of the One Who has absolute power. Powerless entities, by contrast, are not entitled to any worship. Man can gain nothing by turning to them. False gods are incapable of doing anything. Turning to them, and praying to them rather than to the All-Powerful God is as foolish an act as approaching subjects of the Sovereign who themselves invoke God’s mercy.
4. The sun does not always rise at the same point. Furthermore, it appears in different parts of the earth at varying times. This explains the Qur’anic use of the word mashariq (Easts) in its plural form. It is significant that the Qur’an does not use the corresponding word magharib (Wests): here (the word maghrib singular of magharib signifies the direction in which the sun sets). The reason is that the word Easts also implies the word “Wests”. However, in Surah al-Ma‘arij 70:40, God is described as the Lord of “the easts and the wests”.
5. By “the lower heaven” is meant the heaven nearer to us, one which we see with our naked eyes, without the aid of any external equipment such as a telescope. The worlds that can be observed with the help of telescopes, and the worlds that we have not yet been able to observe even with the help of the equipment of observation available to us are the “farther heavens”. In this regard, it ought to be clarified that sama’ is not a fixed, static object. This word and its equivalents have been used from earliest times to denote the heavens, or simply, the sphere above us.
6. The upper sphere is not an empty space that may be trespassed by anyone. On the contrary, it is strictly guarded and barriers have been erected in its various regions so that it is impossible for any rebellious devils to trespass it. Every planet has its own orbit and sphere and it is impossible for another to enter it, or for the planet itself, to move out of it. While looking around one feels that there is nothing else but space. In truth, however, this space contains numerous check posts, each of which forms a formidable barrier. One can have some idea of this by acquainting oneself with the myriad difficulties being experienced by man in his effort to reach the moon, the earth’s closest neighbor. In like manner, the jinn face insurmountable difficulties in ascending to the heavens.
7. To better appreciate this, one should recall that soothsaying was quite rampant in Arabia at that time. Such soothsayers claimed to have control over the jinn and devils, which brought to them all kinds of information. It was against this backdrop that when Muhammad (peace be on him) was designated a Prophet, he was dubbed a soothsayer for — he began to recite the verses of the Qur’an which contained information about man’s past and his future. The Prophet (peace be on him) also informed people that he received this revelation from an angel. Upon hearing this, the unbelievers immediately began to accuse him of being a practitioner of this craft and said that like other soothsayers, he too had links with the devils who informed him of tidings from on high.
The present verse refutes this charge, asserting that devils have no access to the heavens. Moreover, the devils are incapable of deriving any information from the angels. If, however, anything the angels say accidentally reaches their ears, then even before they descend to earth, they are hotly pursued by meteors. In other words, devils cannot interfere in the workings of the universe; they do not even have any access to the basic information regarding it. (For further details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Surah al-Hijr 15: nn. 8 and 10-12, Vol. IV, pp. 284-286.)
8. This is in response to the Makkan unbelievers’ doubts about the Hereafter. Indeed, they ruled out the Hereafter as something impossible.
It was inconceivable for them that the dead would be brought back to life.
The Qur’an advances a series of arguments in order to corroborate the doctrine of the Hereafter. First, it raises the question: if the unbelievers think that God does not have the power to resurrect mankind, then what is their position regarding the fact that God created the heavens and the earth? This, not to mention the innumerable other objects that exist in the heavens and the earth! There is, therefore, no reason for them to think that God lacks the power to bring the dead back to life.
9. There is nothing all that unusual about-man. After all, what he was made from was sticky clay and he can be created from the same material again.
The present verse means that the first man was created from sticky clay and, thereafter, the human race multiplied from the semen of that first man. It also means that every human being is made from sticky clay: in so far as the whole substance of man’s existence is derived from earth.
The semen of which man is created is a product of food. From the time of man’s conception till the moment of his death, man’s whole body is made of constituents drawn from food. Whether food is derived from animal or vegetable origins, its ultimate source is clay. When clay is combined with water it becomes possible to grow grain and vegetables and fruit, and also to nourish animals which supply milk and meat for man’s consumption. The basis of the argument is as follows: had the clay not been invested with the ability to receive the essence of life, how could people be alive today? On the other hand, if clay already has the ability to receive the essence of life — something that is clearly proved by the existence of human beings — then why is it not plausible that through the _ same clay it will be possible to recreate them at some future date?
10. The unbelievers reject every notion about the Hereafter as belonging to the realm of magic and sorcery. For them, the Next Life the Prophet (peace be on him) talks about, one which involves the revival of the dead, the holding of God’s Court of Reckoning, the award of Paradise and Hell, was just fantasy. Alternatively, this can be taken to mean that they regarded the Prophet (peace be on him) as enchanted, as someone who, under the spell of enchantment, talked of such bizarre things.
11. The unbelievers are told that God has the absolute power to make them as He wants. When God so willed He brought human beings into * existence by simply hinting at what He wills. Likewise, whenever God so wills all human beings will instantly perish. By the same token, they will be resurrected whenever He so wills.
12. When the time for it comes, recreating the world will not be a difficult task for God to accomplish. A mere “rebuff” from God will suffice “to awaken the dead. The Qur’anic expression employed in this context seems to suggest that all human beings, from the very the beginning of time up till the Last Day, have been in a state of sleep. Then there will be a sudden, reproachful command: “Wake up!” All will then be instantly up and awake.
13. This might be the remark made by the believers to the unbelievers, or by the angels. It is also possible that the prevailing state of affairs in the Hereafter will convey this message to them. Alternatively, this might be the reaction of concerned people as a part of their soliloquy. In other words, addressing themselves, they will say: “You thought all along that there would be no Day of Judgement. Now, that Day is come and woe has betaken you”.