Sura 2: Surat ur-Rahman (The Beneficent)
Introduction
This sura is attributed to the early Meccan period. There is a tradition related to the Prophet, salla-llahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, in which he says: "For everything there is a bride, and the bride of the Qur'an is surat ur-Rahman." It is the only sura which begins with a divine name. It contains aspects and contrasting parts of creation in pairs: visible man and invisible jinn; heaven and earth; land and sea; happiness and wretchedness. All are signs and effects emanating from the one Cause.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1 The Beneficent God,
2 Taught the Qur'an.
3 He created man,
4 Taught him the clear evidence.
Ar-Rahman (the Merciful) is one of the key attributes of Allah. Every attribute is an aya a sign indicating the oneness of Allah. Everything in creation is permeated with and connected to Him.
In order for the rahma (mercy) of the Rahman to be understood, appreciated and experienced, knowledge has been given to man. One cannot understand something unless it is experienced. The most valuable knowledge in life's journey is the knowledge of the Qur'an. Man's link to God is through the Qur'an, through the Book, through the knowledge that will enable him to see the all-encompassing mercy. The meaning of the hadith (tradition) that Muhammad, salla-llahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), was created before the creation of Adam, is that the light of the path existed before Adam. After the Qur'an, man, bani Adam was created. So knowledge - the light of Islam, the light of the Qur'an - existed before khalaqa-i- insan (He created man).
The Creator contains the knowledge of what He will create. The highest creation is the Muhammadi being, the perfect being. The knowledge of this final product, the ultimate being, the khalifa (deputy) of Allah, was with the one and only Knower, with the Alim. The light of Muhammad was there when Adam was still between water and clay. The purpose of creation was to create the perfect man, the last of the prophets, the one after whom nothing new could be added.
Every aspect of the Creation has the label of the Creator on it. Creation is in His name. By His decree His rahma is manifested as the knowledge of the Qur'an. His rahma then becomes the creational act - khalaqa-l- insan - making wider ripples through the `evidence'. Bayan is the clear evidence which emanates from what is most subtle, penetrating the gross physical manifestations towards which rnan orients his perception. This is the knowledge of witnessing. Everything that is seen bears witness to the cause of its creation and to its being subject to the decree of the Beneficent.
The knowledge of the Qur'an is the knowledge of tawhid (divine unity), In this instance, rahma may also mean the tawhid of the Wahid, the One. Access to Him is through the knowledge of His decree, which is the Book. Creation took place according to the decree. The bayan is an outcome of the nature of that creation.
Man seeks evidence for everything. He is always seeking knowledge. He seeks to know the cause, effect and proof of things. Nothing is haphazard, everything- leaves its trace. Man is the trace of the Creator; he is His evidence. Everything in His existence is an ayatu-llah (sign of Allah). If man knows himself, then he has known the meaning of guardianship or lordship, rububiyya. Man arafa nafsahu fa-qad arafa rabbahu. "He who knows himself has known his Lord" (hadith)
5 The sun and the moon follow a reckoning.
6 And the herbs and the trees adore (Him).
The physical vehicle of man depends upon the mixture of minerals, proteins and all other elements subtly interconnected with the entire cosmic balance. Life cannot exist without the sun. When the sun begins to disappear, life will begin to cease in its different forms, and after a short period of time will end totally. The sun is self-effulgent while the moon is a faithful reflector, though it too has its influence over life.
As Reality is self-evident, so is Allah self-evident. Reality's reflector is the Prophet, salla-llahu `alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, Both the sun and the moon have a beginning and an end, like the two sides of a coin. The cosmic journey had its start and will have its end. But beginning and ending have one nature - the coin is one coin. The subject is one subject but there are two aspects to it, facing each other. This is the condition of the journey in this universe; it is also the condition of the self-generating light and its reflection.
"And the herbs and the trees adore (Him)." Najm means herbs or grasses, and also means a star. Najama is to appear, to become clear, evident. `Ilmu-n-nujim is the science of astrology, of predicting the future. Najjam is an astrologer, Shajar is a plant that has a saq, a trunk or stem. The plants themselves do sajda ( prostration). All of creation does sajda - those that have a visible body supporting them and those that are creeper-like; those that have the characteristic of uprightness and those that do not; those who do iqama, who stand up acknowledging their Creator, and those who crawl from one misery to another. Whether an entity looks dependent and is striving upwards like the shajar (tree), or is afloat like the najm (star), appearing independent, it is in prostration.
Sajada also means to adore. Entities adore, prostrate, and are under the control of the one Reality. It makes no difference whether they are celestial entities or terrestrial entities, they are all under the haymana of Allah (guardianship or control). They are under the control of the one and only Controller - they have no option but to be in sujud (prostration).
7 And the heaven, He raised it high, and He set up the balance,
As part of creation the heavens are uplifted. The cosmos is expanded and the balance of its destiny has been set by al-mizan (the balance). The entire cosmic creation is based on the balancing forces that hold it together, keeping it, as well as one's inner loftiness and spirit, in dynamic flux.
Imam Husayn, alayhi-s-salam, was asked about ar-Rahman in the first aya of this sura , He said, "The Giver of the ruh ( soul, spirit) will also give the raha (rest and comfort)." One will be given according to the extent to which he lifts him self up through the balance of shari`a and haqiqa, the outward path and the inner truth. Everything is in balance. Balance does not only mean justice, it also means that every aspect of this creation, heavenly or otherwise, affects its opposite.
Transgression is against both oneself and everyone else, because there is no otherness. If someone unjustly destroys another human being, he symbolically destroys the entire creation, which includes himself. Every human being contains the meaning of everything. To reestablish the balance, the killer himself has to be destroyed. From the point of view of haqiqa, killing one thing is killing everything. As upholders of shari'a, men must act accordingly: the killer's punishment is the same as his crime.
Because he has destroyed himself in the meaning sense, so too must he be destroyed in the physical sense.
If love is destroyed in the meaning sense, then one had better destroy it in the physical sense and part company. If there is no love or respect between two people, it will be reflected: the inner will emerge in the outer.
Man cannot take something from one side of a balance without the other side being imbalanced. It may be so subtle that he does not see it, but nothing goes unheeded by Allah. Smallness, as far as the balancing act in creation is concerned, is as significant as bigness. Look at the size of the atom bomb compared to the destruction that it does. What is the size of love? Man is not the judge or the balancer, Allah is. He measures everything in His judgement. What is the quality of a ruh? Is someone's ruh better than someone else's?
Man expects equity which means that, potentially, everyone has the same base. He does not accept someone being placed higher than himself. There is equity but there is no equality. One fellow spends his life polishing his heart, doing good deeds, while another does not. In using his aql (faculty of reason) man can understand that equality does not exist.
For example, every finger is different from every other finger. They are not equal, but there is equity among them in that they can perform similar functions. Each finger can potentially have the same effect, though each is unique. If someone builds a house while you spend your time listening to the birds, in the end you will not have a house and he will not be an expert in bird calls. Having a house is not equal to being able to distinguish bird calls, they are different. But you will accept this inequality because you have enjoyed listening to the birds. There is no equality here, but there is equity.
Spiritually, everyone has the same possibility of dying into Reality, of knowing Allah. How can anyone say that his heart is better than someone else's? There is no equality because not every potential will be realized. Not everyone will be in complete abandonment; not everyone will be pure of heart.
Man's potential is restricted within the bounds of certain circumstances. For example, a person may have only one leg as the result of an accident or birth defect. Within these bounds, however, there is no restriction in the degree to which one may abandon, the degree to which one may believe, the degree to which one may live in ihsan (state of doing good deeds). During life's journey one's intentions may be increasingly purified. If this were not the case where would the rahma of Allah be? If there is jabr (predestined, inescapable decree of fate), there is no rahma. The rahma of Allah is the freedom of man's spiritual progress by his abandonment.
In this life people are either on higher or lower spiritual and material planes. This is the outcome of the interaction of man's will with the creational laws and realities, some of which he may never overcome. Someone who has lost a leg cannot grow another one. It is a limitation, but which is more important, a physical limitation or a spiritual limitation?
Through knowledge of the Book of creation, through the Qur'an, the Rahman has given man the possibility of rising towards Allah to the ultimate degree. Reaching this goal is by means of avoiding other-than Allah. That is the freedom man has, otherwise he is limited. Everyone has a limitation, every prophet has a limitation, every seeker has a limitation. Where man is not limited is in the degree to which he can depend on Allah, abandon into Allah, and have no thought except of Allah and no expectation than of Allah. To unify one's destiny with Allah's will - that is freedom.
Man will sometimes accept situations that do not allow him the possibility of absolute taqwa (fearful awareness), of being a true khalifa (representative) of Allah, because that is the mark of his humanity. It is the Creator's mark upon man. He therefore has to strive. The path is clear. It is the path of Islam based on the knowledge of the Qur'an, which is the manifestation of Allah's rahma.
8 That you may not exceed in the measure.
9 And keep up the balance with equity and do not make the measure deficient.
Tagha is to overflow, to go beyond bounds. Taghiya is a despot or tyrant. Tyranny is gross. There are many subtler forms of transgression which are more difficult to discern and which one must get rid of so that one does not cut across the laws of Reality. Allah's way is the perfect mizan (balance), free of transgression.
Aqimu is from aqama, to establish, keep in order, make right. Wazn is weight or the importance given to things. Qist is allotment, a portion of what is due, justice, equity. Allah says that He has established the balance. As the representative of Reality, man has to be faithful to Allah, Who has established the perfect balance.
"And do not make the measure deficient." Khasara is to lose. If man loses the balance he has lost himself because he has allowed the lower self to act according to its orientation of imbalance and kufr (denial). It is denial of the Rahman. Suddenly he finds that creation has toppled him over, leaving him no access to the purpose of creation, which is the knowledge of Qur'an.
One of the Imams said: "When a man is in darkness, the Qur'an becomes to him like a dark tomb or derelict house: it gives him no nourishment or support." This is the case with the majority of mankind; they have lost the mizan. Al-Mizan is also the name of the Qur'an.
If man insures that he does not upset what is already in balance, then he is unlikely to do himself injustice. He is then closer to being a living Qur'an. Allah is telling man to give value to balance. Man should be concerned, conscientious, aware and in dhikr (remembrance). Does he know what he is doing and why? Does he know his own intention? Are his intention and action unified? Man should question and follow his heart and `aql as one path.
The Prophet, salla-llahu `alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, said: "Anger corrupts iman (trust, faith) as vinegar corrupts honey." Man builds things, but corrupts them because he does not give priority and importance to patience. What weight does man give to the meaning of "and do not make the measure deficient?" The balance is that which is absolutely right. Man is moving along the path from the womb to the tomb. Balance is about recognizing that one is the barzakh (interspace). One is in this world but not of this world. Man has come only to go. The balance is being both here and with Allah, alive and yet, with every closing of the eye, willing to be under six feet of dust.
10 And the earth, He has set it for living creatures;
11 Therein are fruit and palms having sheathed clusters,
Allah set up the earth in order that man, who is in continuous flux and disturbance, should come to recognize his origin, to recognize how he has fallen from before time into fitra (innate character), and to recognize how he has come into being from nonbeing. As part of His mercy, he has been dropped into janna (the garden) in the same way as his forefathers were. When Adam came out from the crack of non-time, Allah told him that this garden had been given to him so that he could have maqarr ( a place of stability, such as a house). Qarra the root of maqarr, means to settle. He who has settled admits to the mercy of the Creator. Everything points to the Rahman.
Life is characterized by motion and can only be experienced in time. When time stops, life stops. That is al-qiyamatu-s-saghira (the small Day of Reckoning). On that day there is no time left to change the balance of the accumulated good and bad actions. People who have come close to death through accidents and have returned, say that on the Day of Reckoning a film of one's life is played to them in a split second.
If man is to qualify for knowledge of Allah, it will be by his knowledge of the Rahman, which is attained by upholding the mizan -the Qur'an. Man's qualification for admittance to the rahma of the knowledge of the Qur'an is dependent upon his leaving himself behind when he enters the Qur'an, because the Qur'an is like the room of Allah: it is where Allah's laws and knowledge are kept. Man can only come to Allah with taqwa. He can only approach Him with abandonment and the right attitude, waiting to see the mercy, trusting that there is nothing other than the mercy of Allah, praying that he will see it manifest to him in the form of knowledge which can be transferred into behavior. That is the qualification; otherwise the study of the Qur'an remains "Islamic Studies." Everything goes back to Allah. Every knowledge takes man back to where it emanated from, its root and source.
Al- ard (the earth) is necessary for man and is part of the garden. Ardiyya, which means foundation or ground floor, provides man - who is in continuous turmoil biologically, physiologically, mentally and spiritually - the possibility of remembering the beyond-time. In the Qur'an Allah says: Alastu birabbikum; "Am I not your Lord?" By forgetting everything else, the innate, fitra, remembrance that there is only Allah will come to man. On the and man is able to recognize that all the creatures fulfill their natures and have come from One Creator.
Fakiha is fruit. Fukaha is something that is pleasant or gives amusement. Pleasures are diversions from the undesirable, bringing man tranquility and balance. The normal state of a person of abandonment is joy. But if a person has not totally abandoned into Allah, experiencing joy, then he seeks pleasures. They are things that make man less mentally agitated and fulfill his physical desires so that he begins to pay attention to his inner fulfillment.
The physical description of the garden is a mithal (metaphor): metaphor): the Qur'an indicates to man the meaning of the end by describing its pleasures. Man seeks fruit not because there is something spiritual about the fruit itself, but because he is made more spiritual after he has satisfied his appetite by it. His origin is spiritual, but he has exaggerated his physical and mental needs. When they are removed, he finds himself to be well. It is the state that the garden brings about that is important, not the detailed description of it; but there are details for every person's needs. ". . and palms having sheathed clusters." The creation manifests in clusters. From the one branch come the many. Allah's mercy is abundant in every form.
Life is transient and in perpetual change and therefore unstable. How can one take man's changing moods and desires seriously? What man desires now has nothing to do with what he desired fifteen years ago. Yet he has the audacity to claim he is the same person that he was fifteen years ago. After many years his knowledge, his experiences, habits and attitudes, are all different. On the other hand, how can anyone say that he has changed if he does not recognize and admit that there is something within him that never changes? How can man get up in the morning and say that he has slept well or badly unless there is something within him that never sleeps? "Slumber does not overtake Him nor sleep." (suratu-l-Baqara: 255) How can man say he has been very angry unless there is something within him that is most compassionate? What man wants most earnestly is that which is forever, a!-Baqi (the Everlasting). Everyone is on that path whether he likes it or not, whether he sees it now or later.
Man has been brought to this earth to be tested as part of his tarbiya (upbringing). He is being brought up to recognize what is transient and what is not, what is permanent and what is not, what is meaningful and what is not. Whatever is of change is from his nafs (lower self). The reason man does not see the hand of Allah behind everything is that he interferes and interjects the projections of his self. If he were to put himself aside, there would only be the one and only Reality.
The fall from the state of the garden came about because of the rise of consciousness - because Adam questioned. If man desires to be in the garden he should not question, but he should make use of his `aql. As a result, he will receive answers to his questions. When man enters the garden in this life he does not care for the garden of the next because he has tasted it already. The desire for the garden falls from his heart. Then there is no desire except the desire to see the face of Allah in every direction towards which he turns.
12 And the grain with (its) husk and fragrance.
13 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Big things come from little things. Habb is a seed. The literal meaning of habb is the seed that comes from grasses. There are many different types of vegetation and their meanings are linked to the nourishment which they provide. The living, sentient creatures and the vegetable kingdom are interdependent. The highest creature, man, depends on those that are lower because he originates from dust. Yet, he loves the higher because of its subtlety. There is something in him that always makes him love subtler meaning. The Prophet, salla-llahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, loved prayer, perfume and women. He loved what is most subtle, the prayer, as well as what is more gross and physical, the companionship of women. Once man's physical needs are fulfilled, he seeks higher satisfaction in meanings. If man is fortunate, he reaches physical fulfillment, which then leads him to question meanings. Most people at the point of death have only achieved small, short-term, physical goals which are empty of meanings.
Wherever man looks there is the sign of the Rahman, even in what man considers to be an affliction. All events occur according to the laws that govern existence which are from the Law-Giver. Man may not like an event, but that is because of himself. What man wants will not necessarily happen, but what Allah wants will happen. If what man wants is what Allah wants, then there is perfect harmony; then he is saved. If there is disharmony, then all that man can do is to be in istighfar ( asking for forgiveness), because he has acted incongruously with Allah's laws.
Everything man considers to be a sign is actually a double sign. The fact that it was there and yet remained undiscerned by him is a sign that he was asleep. Whatever a man experiences that leads him to a new understanding that was already within him but not perceived, is because he did not have the requisite knowledge and wisdom to perceive it. Suppose someone did not know the meaning of fear until he was twenty-three, when he fell down a crevice. The meaning of fear was in his being, but he had not yet experienced it. You may not have experienced injustice, but the injustice of man has existed since the creation of Adam. With man came his injustice, which the mala'ika (angels) were afraid would corrupt the earth. Whatever you experience, feel or think, that is your biography; it is of no interest to anybody else because it is common to all of mankind. The seeker is only interested in Allah, the Real.
Whatever a man now understands, other people have understood before him. Whatever he now perceives has been perceived by others before him, though every man will contend that he is the first to have perceived it. He follows what Iblis ( satan) said: "I am better than them." It is the rise of the ego and the fall of man.
14 He created man from dry clay like earthen vessels,
15 And He created the jinn of a flame of smokeless fire.
16 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Man is created from hard clay, salsal. His existential situation is based on a firm structure. Man's firmness is an echo of his subtlety. His real nourishment is of a most subtle nature. The subtlest of nourishments turns the heart when it is open, and not in desire or depression. The more open man's heart is, the more it can express that openness - as long as it is in a firm and solid container. The greater the value of a thing, the harder and the more secure its shell.
The double meaning of the signs denotes duality. Everything in existence has its mirror image. For ins (, man) there is jinn ( unseen beings). Man is the visible creature of the two, Uns means intimacy, solace, companionship. Nasiya is also related to ins, and means to forget. Nisa' (women) from the same root, are those who make men forget Allah. The meaning of nisa' is related to uns, because women do give solace.
Jinn are entities which do not manifest in a physically solid state. They are created from smokeless fire because smoke is a condensation of matter and as such has density. Jinn have their bounds in the same way as ins have theirs. Thus, there is an interface between jinn and man.
The jinn are hidden, invisible. The word jinn is related to janna, that which is hidden, the garden whose foliage is so dense that one cannot see the ground. jinn are created of smokeless fire, The subtle source of both jinn and ins is light, nur "Allah is the light of the heavens and earth," (suratu-n-Nur: 35). As light descends, as it becomes physicalized or as it becomes possible for it to be manifest or reflected, it takes the form of jinn and ins.
Whatever one looks at is a sign, whether jinn or ins, How can man deny these bounties? Every sign is a bounty, every sign is a provision. What man now seeks is the confidence of knowing that at all times the Rahm6n is behind each reflection in creation. It is said that if a Muslim reads suratu-r-Rahman every day at fajr (daybreak), he will never be afflicted or, if he is afflicted in the eyes of others, he himself will only see the rahma of the Rahman, The reader becomes what is read: if he truly reads then he will have recognized what he has read.
Wherever one turns, there is the generosity and ni'ma (blessing) of Allah. But man takes it for granted and does not recognize that all is from Allah. He forgets and becomes distracted because he connects to what is in front of him.
Because man is the highest of all creations, he has in himself the ability to tune in to different wavebands, He can tune in to jinn but that is a transgression and is not allowed, It is like spying on someone. If a person wants to be known, he presents himself openly. Why tune to his transmitter when his house is shut to you? A man of submission and reality, being given this gift, should use it entirely to serve Allah. Nabiyyu-llah (Prophet of Allah) Sulayman, `alayhi-s salam, had the power to connect with animals. When travelling with his army he could hear the ants talking of his approach.
Man cannot tolerate what goes on in his mind or in the minds of others. If he were to hear of what was going to happen to him in the future, he might wish to shoot himself. Every system has its limitations, which are at the same time its constriction and its bounty. The fact that there is the visible and the invisible is a bounty. Everything within its container is a reflection of perfection. If man accepts the limitations he can begin to reflect perfection.
17 Lord of the two risings and Lord of the two settings.
18 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
"Lord of the two risings and Lord of the two settings." Gharaba, the root of maghribayn, means to go away. One of the meanings that Amiru-l-Mu'minin 'Ali gave for this aya was concerning duality, such as that of the seasons. He said: "The shuruq (sunrise) of winter is different from the shuruq of summer, and the ghurub (sunset) of summer is different from the ghurub of winter."
There is a summer and there is a winter; they both have meaning. In winter everything is dormant, while in summer life is in full bloom. The sun of winter is different from the sun of summer. 'Ali, alayhi-ssalam, also said: "Every day has its burj (its sign of the zodiac), and there are three hundred and sixty buruj (plural of burj)." For every day there is a new shuruq and a new ghurub. The sun has its circuit. The rising of the sun on this life brings light, and light is only meaningful if it gives man knowledge. If there is light outside and the eyes are closed, the light is of no use.
There is a rise of consciousness both for this life and for the next. For each there is one shuruq, there is a coming out. This is, of course, also true of ghurub. The people of irfan ( gnosis) and tasawwuf (sufism) often refer to the two risings as the risings of knowledge in the heart and aql, and the two settings as the settings of the nafs As there comes the rising of the `aql, reason, there is disappearance of association.
There are also risings for different creatures, the ins and the jinn, each seeing a different sun rising and setting. There can be no rising without a setting. Whatever manifests, whatever one can discern, is one side of a two-sided coin. Once there is a creational situation there are two aspects to it. At the beginning there is one, at the end there is one, and in between there are two.
19 He has made the two seas to flow freely - they meet:
20 Between them is a barrier which they cannot pass.
21 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
The two seas have met before creation and they will meet again after creation. They are two seas, one of pure water, the other of impure, salty water. The sweet water that comes from the mountains and rivers does not mix with the salt water.
The seas here are like two states that meet, the two states of wakefulness and sleep, the two seas of shari`a and haqiqa, the two seas of meaning and sensory. Both the physical and non-physical parts of man's life have their laws. The law of haqiqa hinges on the loyalty of abandonment, iman, which takes man to `the station of haqqu-l-yaqin ( truth of certainty). The law of shari'a holds man to the five pillars of Islam, so necessary because he is in the tempestuous sea of the sensory.
How can man deny the bounties of the two seas of the inner and the outer? They will meet as they have met before. At the point of creation they were one and at the point of death they will merge once again. In this reality, what is holding them apart is the double mercy of Allah.
For the duration of this life there is an invisible barrier, an interspace between an apparent duality that does not allow the seas to connect. In the same way, the sun and the moon follow a reckoning - bihusban. They came from one source and then were catapulted into space as two. Moving according to a certain complex pattern, they will eventually come together again. There is an interspace between them that holds them apart as a man's body seems to be separate from his ruh.
There is the qalb (heart, from the root qalaba, to turn), and there is the ruh. The ruh, being disconnected from the world, is connected to the precreational state and can therefore give man comfort. Unlike the ruh, the galb may be seized by dunya ( world in a negative material sense). The heart may be damaged by the world's salty sea, and if it is, then therin in turn can no longer provide comfort. If the nafs is purified then the heart can freely turn. It is no longer caught in the see-saw of the dunya which continues; taking breath in and letting breath out, the inhaled breath being pure air, the exhaled impure. Neither of them mix with the other. These are the bahrayn the two seas.
Everywhere one looks there are the two seas, separated by a subtle barrier. The seas of knowledge and ignorance do not mix. Life and death do not mix. Whatever man looks at, creation appears in one form or another. It is agreeable or disagreeable. A creational entity is considered to be usable or unusable. Nothing transgresses the bounds because of the mizan, the balance. Creation is not chaos, it is cosmos.
22 There come forth from them pearls and coral.
23 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
From the seas come the pearl and the coral. If one dives into the seas, these amazing jewels may be seen. Jawhar is jewel; it also means intrinsic nature or essence. If one wants the essence of these seas, then one must get their jawahir, their jewels, but diving for these jewels is dangerous, for one risks sustaining bruises and cuts from the reef.
The formation of the pearl is an act of rejection. The material of the pearl is the secretion of the oyster used to isolate and discharge the grain of sand that has entered its body. It is the material used to disconnect, dislodge and discharge it.
Marjan, coral, is formed by the reverse process and is the substance within which the animal dwells. It is the structure in which the animal houses and shelters itself, and later it is left behind. So one structure is formed by repulsion, the other by attraction.
The thought process operates either by repulsion or attraction. Whatever comes to man's thoughts is either something he wants to dissociate from and forget, or something he wants to hear again and again and to which he wants to connect. Man oscillates between the two sides of the mizan, the pearl and the coral.
Every man is continuously turning between something he wants and something he does not want. The seeker loves the men of tawhid, he loves the people who want to see Allah, and he runs from the people of kufr (denial). He wants the good news that Islam is prevailing in the world. He wants to hear the good news that his children are growing up decently - and not the bad news that they have been mischievous. The human being is constantly oscillating between wanting to surround himself with what he likes, and repulsing and dissociating himself, like the oyster, from what he dislikes. The opposites grow from the same root; they are two distinct entities that have the same origin to which they will ultimately revert.
24 And His are the ships reared aloft in the sea like mountains.
25 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Both alama, meaning sign, and `alam, meaning flag, are from the same root as 'ilm (knowledge); they imply something being known. The munsha'at , the root of which is nasha'a (to create, to loom up) announce themselves; they are highly evident. Whatever is afloat belongs to Allah. The phenomenon of floating, as well as the entire interactional balancing scene that brings about desirable situations, such as ships on the sea, belongs to Allah.
Reflect upon how certain situations are the opposite of what someone might expect; for instance, how steel ships float upon water. The ships float because of verifiable laws easily demonstrated by scientists, but still, it is very odd. All that one sees, all of these projections of Reality, all that flickers of knowledge or experience, will ultimately disappear because they are in time.
26 Everyone on it must pass away.
27 And there endures forever the face of your Lord, the Lord of glory and honor.
28 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Whatever is on this ard, whatever is physicalized, solidified, or appears to have an identity, has no identity other than Allah - La ilaha illa-llah, there is no God but Allah. Everything announces its perishability. If it is solid -a plant or a creature - it proves its destiny. What remains is the fount of creation, wajhu rabbika ( the face of your Lord). Wajh is a direction or face, the outer visible front. In his formal worship the Muslim must have tawajjuh (attention), and point his wajh towards the formal, ancient abode of safety that came about through the inspiration of Sayyidna Ibrahim, alayhi-s-salam, in Mecca. Whoever does salat (prayer) positions himself towards that.
All of creation honors its covenant; every creational entity honors the Most Honorable - "the Lord of glory and honor" is an attribute of Allah, the Glorious, the Most Honorable, the One Who bestows honor. Man is an honorable creature, if only he would realize it; if only he could unify his physical reality with his innate reality. Man honors his contract by physiologically perishing. Everyone honors his destiny, knowingly or not.
Man sees, contained in the facade of creation, the af'al, the manifestation of actions. In the case of humans, they are a result of the interactions of his heart and his lower nafs. The less involved is his nafs, the more involved is his heart. Looking further inward, there is the ruh. If one's nafs has been burnt away, then his heart is active and pulsating; it is then fed by the spring of comfort - the ruh, the spirit.
Those who are not in submission rebel against the fact that they are perishing. If you tell someone that he is aging and that his teeth are falling out, he will say that he is not yet old or ready to die. Everyone considers his age as the average. When you were twelve years old, you thought fifty was ancient. You could not communicate with fifty year-olds, they were funny people. But when you became fifty, you thought fifty was quite young. This is because there is in man an echo of the Everlasting.
But there is also in man an echo of the nafs of rebellion. He assumes that the nafs lasts forever, and does not remember death. The seeker is repeatedly given the advice by his masters that the most potent medicine for ailments of the spirit is the remembrance of death. It is not used to paralyze man or to make him inactive and negative but, on the contrary, it is used to make him successful in his actions by making him more efficient. If he constantly remembers death, his actions will be pure, untarnished by his personal greed, arrogance, vanity, revenge and whatever other attributes are characteristic of the lower self.
The face of the Lord is, at first, an existential connection between man and Reality. Man wants to be healthy, he wants to be in the company of fine men, he wants to be in an environment that will help him get deeper into the knowledge of Reality, of which there is no end. The more one knows Allah, the greater is the desire to know more of Allah. One should not assume that once somebody knows Allah that is the end of it. There is no beginning or end to Reality. An arif bi-llah is one who has had a window open onto Reality. The more he is able to look out from that window, the more he will see of Reality.
Just as each human has a physical birth, so too does each one have a spiritual awakening, which takes place parallel in time. Just as man was physically once a child, so too was he a child in knowledge of Allah.. There is no end to Reality, because It encompasses before and after creation.
"And there endures forever the face of your Lord." The Qur'an says that the Lord's day is like a thousand years of man's time; and this reckoning is only made in relationship to the time-frame of this world. As far as its relationship to beyond this world, it is fifty thousand years. So each day is the equivalent of fifty thousand years. Time is obviously relative. A day is a period of time, and not necessarily the twenty-four hour span that is measured by the odd machine called a clock.
29 All those who are in the heavens and the earth ask of Him; every moment He is upon some affair.
30 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Allah is man's Lord. Lordship is the source of the emanation of action. It is sustainership. The lord of a house has to attend to every aspect of the house, every sha'n, every business and affair. The lord of a house looks after its hardware - its maintenance and so on - as well as all the aspects of its software: the people, children and food, in the same way as the Lord of lords looks after creation. In every instant, every affair comes to Him. Lordship is attending to every affair; otherwise, there would be no tawhid. Tawhid is the one core from which all networks emanate, superimpose on each other and connect.
31 Soon will We apply Ourselves to you, O you two armies.
32 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Thaqula means to be weighty. Thaqalan means two entities or realities, seen or unseen. It can also mean two armies. Faragha means to be empty, to finish off, and here means to apply or occupy. Every jinn and ins, whether mu'min (believer) or kafir (denier), having either attained knowledge or remained in ignorance, will come to know the day of reckoning. Every one knows that whatever affair he is handling will come to an end. If it does not come to an end in this world while he is still alive, it will come to an end at his personal qiyama, at the hour of his death. Man is completely and totally cornered. He has no way to escape from the prison of time. If man dies into his situation, he is enlivened by the non-time Reality which encompasses the yard of this prison. If you die into the clock, you will not hear it anymore - it will be as if gone. As far as you are concerned, there will no longer be a clock; you will have transcended it.
33 O assembly of jinn and men! If you are able to pass through the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass through; you cannot pass through but with authority.
34 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Qutr (plural is aqtar) is a diameter, region, zone, or something which is encompassed - a dominion. If one uses a compass one creates a circle that encompasses a space. "If you are able to pas through the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass through." Allah encourages man to explore, but he cannot unless he attains the power, unless he obtains the sultan (authority). It is a positive challenge to man.
Every sphere or zone has an energy. If man wants to go beyond a zone he must be able to pierce its limit. To escape the gravitational pull of earth a missile needs to obtain the speed of 17,000 miles per hour. Man needs sultan to overcome gravity. All of the powers are part of the one and only all-encompassing Power, which is an interzonal power.
35 The flames of fire and smoke will be sent on you two, then you will not be able to defend yourselves.
36 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Within the boundaries of the heavens and earth a point comes when the penetrations cease. There is a limit to every system and every creational situation. Jinn and ins can penetrate into the heavens, as man has done in the last few decades. But there will be zones in the heavens through which man will not be able to pass because of the great activity of meteorites or because of the presence of radiation or some other factors. As there are limits established in man's outward travel, so are there limits to which he may travel inwardly. The Prophet, salla-llahu `alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, said: "I was not given of inner knowledge but little." These are the laws of Reality. How can man deny the mercies of Allah? Even the limitations and their meanings -the fact that man is imprisoned in time and space - are great bounties.
37 So when the heaven is rent asunder, and then becomes red like hide,
38 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
The time will come when the heavens-which are impenetrable, limited, and built as though firm - will break apart. Shaqqa means to split. As creation is fragmented, another state will take hold of it, one in which heat dominates. At present, the heat of the planets and stars is in equilibrium. In our planetary system, an example of dis-equilibrium is found in the form of sunspots. Whenever they occur on the sun there are disturbances in the planetary system, though none are great enough to throw it out of balance. The system of counterbalanced forces will break when this journey in the cosmos reaches its point of maturity.
The same shattering occurs to man. While he lives, his spiritual and physical bodies hold together. Man contains an echo or an image of the entire cosmos. All of the functions in man's body are in equilibrium - his faculties, all of the electrical charges that run through his brain, the miles of nerves. This amazing entity will fall apart when the soul leaves. It then immediately will start to decay. That is what will happen to the heavens: the laws that hold them together will break and they will just disintegrate.
39 So on that day neither man nor jinn shall be asked about his sin.
40 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
While the previous group of ayat spoke of the outer heavens, this group speaks of the inner space of the individual. Every ruh will spontaneously transmit what it has gathered in the tuning period of life in this world. There will be nothing to ask, because the question will already have been answered.
Man in this life may be in nifaq (hypocrisy). He may hide his fears, anxieties and suspicions. Nafaq related to nifaq, means a tunnel. Man enters one hole .to come out from another. He is forever tunneling, trying to escape. The end to his efforts to escape comes when questioning ceases and he becomes an `answer'. Then he will beam and transmit the state in which he had left this world. If he has been transmitting the Qur'an, then he will be close to the main transmitter, Allah; he will be one of the ashabu-l-yami'n (the companions of the right). If he has been transmitting his own song which has his desires, expectations and self-righteousness mixed into it, then his transmission will be as good as that mixture.
41 The guilty will be recognized by their marks, so they will be seized by the forelocks and the feet.
42 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Everyone is caught by what he has put forth in his movements and his actions. Those who have not let their hearts be gulub (plural of qalb), have committed crimes against themselves. They will not have seen the husn ( perfection) in this world nor will they have known tawhid. Those who have been deprived of tawhid and the knowledge of the One are known bisimahum, by their face, their marks, their scars. Those who have allowed their hearts to be turned have set their hearts free. Only then can man see the truth of every situation. In the next life, however, there is an immediate recognition. Here one recognizes the outer folds of the face, the wrinkles, or the coloration, but there one sees Oneness because there is no longer any duality: there is only One.
Nawasi are foreheads. The forehead of the upright human projects out. It is as though man wants to connect to something in front of him. Allah says that man is caught by his highest point, which is his forehead, and his lowest, which is his feet. There is no escape for him now, so how can he still deny the Truth? He is the outcome of what he has put forth, of where his feet have taken him and to what his forehead has made sajda.
43 This is the hell which the guilty call a lie.
44 Round about they will go, between it and hot, boiling water. 45 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Jahannam is the final abode of those who are in the fire. It is jahnim the bottomless pit. Those who are in the fire have tasted a bit of it in this life but denied its reality. Everyone in this life has tasted it. If man had not tasted it, it would be meaningless to him. Sayyidna Adam, alayhi-s-salam, had not experienced a lie, so when shaytan told him to taste the fruit, to wish for something else, to be discontent, he did not know better and believed him. But this is not the case with us. We have tasted the fire and the garden. If we did not know these things there would be incongruity in the balance. Everyone knows the meaning of uncertainty, disturbance, agitation, fear, anxiety, hatred and anger - all of these are fire. If man leaves them in himself long enough, they can create a stomach ulcer, which is an internal fire. It has been found that having a burning stomach is far more disturbing than having burnt skin, because it is internal, and therefore more potent. The fire is the lot of the criminal who has committed crimes against himself and yet denies them.
Yatufuna is from tafa, to walk about, to wander around. Tawwaf is derived from it and means going around in circles, circumambulating. The inhabitants of the fire move from burning hot to boiling water.
Tawf is a wall encompassing a garden. A word which echoes tafa, that is, which has a different root while sounding very similar, is tayf, which means shadow, dream or fantasy. In the Arabic language, certain words sound very similar to others, a phenomenon which evokes a subliminal association in meaning. If one hears tawwaf one might, quite naturally, recall tawf and tayf, though they are known to have specifically different meanings. It is like going into a multi-screen circular theater which screens many films simultaneously: you are forced to glance at the screens closest to the film you are viewing.
The root system of the Arabic language is a vast receptacle of meanings. All the words of a similar sound have the potential to lead one to a single root, as the example of tawf and tayf illustrates. In life, man goes around and around without stopping, as if hallucinating, but when he comes to the tawf (wall) he stops. Most of the Arabic words that sound similar but have different roots have a semantic relationship.
Those who are at a loss in this world have denied the Rahman in the next world. They are in the same situation in both worlds. They move from the frying pan into the fire. Man moves from one job to another that is even worse. He leaves one wife and enters into an even worse relationship. He does not realize it is Allah's love hitting him, urging him to stop. This life is but a short prelude to the next life.
46 And for he who fears standing before his Lord are two gardens.
47 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
48 Having in them various kinds.
49 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
"And for he who fears standing before his Lord," who recognized the Lordship, who recognized that there is One entity in charge, who feared transgressing His laws and was completely in His hands, for him there are two gardens. One of them is the garden of arwah, the garden of the spirits - it is the garden of eternal bliss. The other is the garden of hearts, the garden of mushahada, eternal witnessing. These are two inner gardens. There are many other examples of pairs of gardens: the garden of experiencing and the garden of recognition; the garden of wakefulness and the garden of sleep; the garden of the mashriq (east) and the garden of the maghrib (west); the gardens of the beginning and of the end.
50 In both of them are two fountains flowing.
51 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
In the garden, there are two fountains and there are two springs that flow. They are nourished in an invisible way, just as man's heart is also nourished. Man does not know how love is fed. When people gather together to bury someone who was loved by them, how is it that the', dead may revive the love in living hearts? It is a hidden spring, a hidden river. It reminds people of Allah, the Taker and the Giver of life. Death reminds man of his end so that he becomes less fossilized, arrogant and hard-hearted.
52 In both of them are pairs of every fruit.
53 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
54 Reclining on beds, the inner coverings of which are of silk brocade; and the fruits of the two gardens are within reach.
55 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
How can man deny the bounties of Allah? In the gardens there are fruits of every kind, fruits which make you fakih ( gay, cheerful). In the gardens there are two different flowing rivers of bounty: man and woman.
Muttaki'ina (, reclining, plural of muttaki) implies that there is available all that could be imagined in the way of comfort, luxury and relaxation. It implies being in a state of great tranquility, your heart at rest. This is, of course, never possible in this life, because as soon as one becomes comfortable, an annoyance occurs that must be dealt with. Dealing with it causes another sort of reaction, and so on. The agitation in this life is never ending.
56 In them are those who restrain themselves; man nor jinn have not touched them before.
57 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
58 As though they were rubies and coral.
59 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Qasiratu-t- tarf are those who restrain themselves, who lower their gaze. Qasirat is in the feminine gender and implies that they are man's opposite. Man and his opposite are like the positive and the negative which, when put together, make one by neutralization. These women are not desirous but are available to bring about contentment. They have never been touched and are ever pure. Their virginal state stops man from imagining the physical vulgarity to which he is accustomed in this world. This implies purity of a higher state. This state is based on a timeless equilibrium. The instant there is a desire, it is made quiet.
There is never any real satisfaction in any relationship in this life except for the relationship between the slave and his Master. In every other relationship in this world there is blame. A man blames his wife and she blames him, while nobody blames himself - and so it never ends. People end up having had five wives and five divorces. Man expects the highest from others while not having expected the highest of himself. A person who can live with one partner can live with any wife. If he can live with himself, he can live with anyone else. Man blames others, claiming that they are wrong: they do not lower their eyes nor do they have the right courtesy.
"As though they were rubies and coral." Rubies and coral scintillate in their purity. The ultimate beauty of nature is pure and simple, without interference or compromise. In the garden women have not had to beautify themselves. They too are real and pure.
60 Is the reward of goodness but goodness?
61 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Is not the reward of good action, good action itself? Every action has its equal and opposite reaction. If you have done good it will come back to you. But is that goodness done for Allah, or is it for your own whims? Many people think they are acting correctly, while in reality they are at a loss. There is ahadith, a tradition, which says: "The sleep of the `alim (one who knows), is better than the wakefulness of the worshipper." Wakefulness is measured by the degree of knowledge and recognition of the worshipped.
Many people are striving for right action, establishing orphanages and so on. If they expect those whom they help to fall at their feet in gratitude, it means these so-called generous people are not serving for Allah's sake. "Is the reward of goodness but goodness?" is often used incorrectly. If one's action is honorable, it will only have a like reaction. Is the ihsan ( the best action) not for He Who created man, Who gave man the possibility of unending realities? The service that man renders for the Rahman should be the best. How else can man repay the Rahman? How can he repay the mercy of Allah other than by reflecting His attributes? Could the Prophet of Allah, salla-llahu `alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, be other than the greatest of creation and the mercy of Allah upon the worlds? The faithfulness of the slave to his Lord is exemplified by all the prophets if their actions, and the best we can do is to follow in the dust of their footsteps.
62 And besides these two are two (other) gardens.
63 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
64 Both inclining to blackness.
65 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
66 In both of them are two springs gushing forth.
67 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
68 In both are fruits and palms and pomegranates.
69 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Besides the two gardens are two others, the gardens of those who fear to stand before Allah in the next life: "Both inclining to blackness." Mudhammatan , related to the root idhamma, means that which is of a dark green color inclining to black, as gardens from being much watered. Still these gardens are not of the pure light which is the essence of everything.
In both of these gardens are two springs. Within every event one finds two situations, within each duality there is yet another duality -in the sensory and in the meaning. The unfoldment of duality within duality is unending. If one reflects upon this world and its affairs, one will find that there is no end to that reflection. Reflection is a sea whose shores end up with Reality, with knowledge. Within Reality there is an immense sea: the more one looks into it the more one finds two.
70 In them are goodly things, beautiful ones.
71 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
In the garden there are beautiful ones from whom comes only khayr (good). In man's state on earth there cannot be khayr without bad enveloping it. Every good action that man wants to initiate is surrounded by the possibilities of wrong action. He has to wade and cut through the jungle of wrong action to get to right action. The way of shqytan is easy, but the way of right action is difficult. Allah says that only khayr comes from these beauties.
In the beauty of this world lies its opposite, ugliness. Whatever anything may be, think of it when it is decaying and stinking. Think of a pond of beautiful water lilies, then think of them in winter and how they die and rot. Think of a beautiful young woman, then think of her when she is old and decrepit. Beauty in this realm contains within it ugliness, whereas in the next realm there is only beauty within the khayritun hisa`n (goodly things, beautiful ones).
72 Pure ones confined to the pavilions.
73 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Hur (virgins of paradise) are in the highest state of courtesy and purity, which is actually what man desires. The pure ones are confined to pavilions, ready and waiting to neutralize any duality that might be introduced by man's arrival. Khiyam are tents, enclosures which stabilize what has been unfulfilled.
74 Man has not touched them before nor jinn.
75 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
The hur have never been touched, existing as if `charged.' Once a charged object has been touched it no longer retains its charge. They are pure powers, not women with legs and hands. Coming into the next life men become neutralized by contact with them and become unified.
76 Reclining on green cushions and beautiful carpets.
77 Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?
Abqari is a colorful carpet and can also mean a genius. Abqar is a legendary place inhabited by jinn. It is the name of certain comforts and joys that men get in this world, that state of reclining which the people of the garden attain. No longer confined by their bodies, they are pure awareness.
78 Blessed be the name of your Lord, the Lord of Glory and Honor!
This sura begins with an aya which is a proof, a sign and a manifestation. The first is the Rahman, Who taught the knowledge of Himself through the Mizan, the Qur'an. Allah's first manifestation was his light, the light of knowledge. The kafirun (deniers) desire to put out the light of Allah and His order, but Allah does not allow it because "Allah is the light of the heavens and earth."
The sura ends with tabaraka (blessed be). Blessed is the name of Allah. If man calls Allah's name, Allah approaches his dwelling.
Man, in this life, is on a journey. He has in his hand a ticket, which instead of reading `Chicago', reads `Allah'. Allah is the ticket and the port is the nafs. If man goes through that port, if he passes his nafs, then he is on his way towards that Name. When he reaches the Name It is one with Reality. While travelling, the traveler might say that he is going to Chicago, but the ticket itself is not the experience of Chicago. The experience of the place does not begin until he is actually there.
Man is as good as his intention. Stop time - press time together rather than telescoping it as is done in the life-experience - and the name and its reality become one. If man's heart is completely in Chicago then the name will be unified with its reality. If man's ticket is in his hand, if he has recognized the baraka of the Rahman, then he has taken the Name as a key, then he has reached the goal. The door will come to the key. He will find the Rabb (Lord) already there. The Lord has nothing other than the highest love for this creation, which contains every meaning - which is man.
Lordship has in it all the honor and the glory. In this impossible situation of the world, man strives to be glorified and honored but finds it futile because the honor and glory belong to Allah. If man honors and glorifies Him, he comes to see only Him. Then the opinions of others, whether good or bad, mean nothing to him. People admire him, he does not mind. They curse him, he does not mind, because, having put himself in the lowest possible position, his mind is on Allah. Allah's reaction to his behavior is the opposite: He bestows upon him real honor, not human honor.
The door and key to the knowledge of the Rahman, the knowledge of the all-encompassing Beneficent, is the recognition of His baraka, the recognition of His blessedness. Whichever way man turns he sees blessedness. If his experience is sweet it is blessedness, if it is bitter it is blessedness. If there is peace it is blessedness, if there is war it is blessedness. How can there be peace without war? How can there be health without an illness? How can there be Islam without a boundary beyond which are its enemies? There is daru-l- islam (house of Islam) and daru-l-kufr (house of denial); there cannot be one without the other. How can life be treasured and valued maximally unless there is death? How can there be awareness unless there is numbness, as experienced in this life as wakefulness and sleep? Both states are glorious and a blessing from Allah.
How can there be nafs in man and yet no nafs in him? The knowledge of the nafs, once it is experienced, is one of the highest blessings, because it is the knowledge of the Rabb. If man is faithful, if he has trust, then he will continuously see the rahma of the Rahman in every aspect. That is the positive contentment of the Muslim. He has discrimination, the ability to discern a healthy atmosphere from an unhealthy one; but within both he recognizes the blessedness. His contented heart guides him to the right and correct action, to ihsan. What is the maqamu l-ihsan, the station of excellence, but acting as though Allah sees you, even though you do not see Allah? Man must attain purer action until he is as an individual doing his wus` , his utmost according to his ability. Then he is in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. That is the garden. The reward of ihsan is ihsan.
If a man can do something better than what he is doing now, he should do it. He should be completely fulfilled. Once that point has been reached, he will have burst out of his self-imposed constraints. He would not be where he does not belong, he would not be where he does not get the maximum benefit, because he recognizes every breath. Imam 'Ali, alayhi-s-salam, said, "What is halal (lawful) for you is counted and what is haram ( forbidden) for you is punished." Because breath, being a gift of the Rahman, is halal upon man, he must account for how he uses it.
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Author: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri
