| Chapter 38 : Surah Sad |
(Revealed before Hijrah) Date of Revelation and Context Subject-Matter After making an emphatic prediction that the forces of evil will suffer defeat and disgrace and the votaries of the One God will be given power, wealth and distinction, the Surah, by way of introduction, gives a somewhat detailed description of the great glory and prosperity which the Israelite nation had attained in the reigns of two of their Prophet-kings-David and Solomon. It also refers to the plots that were hatched in David's glorious reign to undermine his power and influence and to the seeds of decay and disintegration that had been sown during Solomon's reign when the Israelites rolled in wealth and were at the peak of material prosperity. The Holy Prophet, by implication, is told that, consumed with jealousy at his growing power, his enemies will also hatch plots to take his life and will seek to nip the tender plant of Islam in the bud but they will fail in their wicked designs and Islam will continue to gain power and strength. But if Muslims did not take proper care they would find, to their cost, that in the very heyday of their glory, forces of darkness would seek to undermine the solidarity and stability of Islam. After this a brief mention is made of Prophet Job who had to suffer great hardships, but the temporary phase of his tribulation quickly passed away and he came to his own and his loss was doubly made up. The reference to Job is followed by a fleeting allusion to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Prophets Ishmael, Elisha and Dhu'lkifli, and it is added that those good people who copy their example and follow in their footsteps receive God's favors which know no decrease or diminution. The Surah closes on the note that whenever men stray away from the path of rectitude, and begin to worship false gods, a Divine Messenger is raised among them to bring them back to the worship of the One True God. The sons of darkness seek to put all sorts of obstacles and impediments in his way and deceive and beguile men away from God. But truth overcomes all hindrances, and triumphs and prevails in the long run.
إِذْ دَخَلُوا عَلَى دَاوُودَ فَفَزِعَ مِنْهُمْ قَالُوا لاَ تَخَفْ خَصْمَانِ بَغَى بَعْضُنَا عَلَى بَعْضٍ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَلاَ تُشْطِطْ وَاهْدِنَا إِلَى سَوَاءِ الصِّرَاطِ
قَالَ لَقَدْ ظَلَمَكَ بِسُؤَالِ نَعْجَتِكَ إِلَى نِعَاجِهِ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْ الْخُلَطَاءِ لَيَبْغِي بَعْضُهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ إِلاَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَقَلِيلٌ مَا هُمْ وَظَنَّ دَاوُودُ أَنَّمَا فَتَنَّاهُ فَاسْتَغْفَرَ رَبَّهُ وَخَرَّ رَاكِعًا وَأَنَابَ
يَادَاوُودُ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاكَ خَلِيفَةً فِي الأَرْضِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ الْهَوَى فَيُضِلَّكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَضِلُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ بِمَا نَسُوا يَوْمَ الْحِسَابِ وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا بَاطِلاً ذَلِكَ ظَنُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ النَّارِ
2513. The letter Sad may signify 'the Truthful God,' or 'I am Allah, the Truthful,' or 'God has spoken the truth.' 2514. The Truthful God swears by the Qur'an that the followers of the Holy Prophet, by acting upon the teachings of the Qur'an and making it a rule of their lives, shall achieve eminence and shall come to occupy a most honored place among the comity of great nations, Dhikr also meaning eminence (Lane). 2515. The root-cause of all sin and disbelief are false pride, conceit and arrogance. The first recorded sin committed by Satan was that he refused to submit to Adam on the plea of his fancied superiority over him (Adam). 'I am better than he' (7:13) has always been the boast of disbelievers which has prevented them from accepting the truth in the time of every Prophet. 2516. According to some scholars Lata is originally Laisa; some others think that the feminine ta is added to the negative 13 to render the negation more intensive. According to a third school it is an independent word, neither originally Laisa nor la. The fourth school, however, is of the view that it is a word and also a part of a word, namely the negative la, and ta, prefixed to Hina. It is generally accompanied by Hina or some other word synonymous with it. 2517. The 'previous creed' may refer to Christianity or the idolatrous faith of the pagans of Mecca, or it may refer to all religions preceding Islam; because in no religion before Islam had belief in the Unity of God remained pure and unadulterated. 2518. Let disbelievers collect all their means and resources against the Holy Prophet and multiply them as much as they can and use them against him. 2519. The verse at once contains a prophecy and a challenge. The challenge is to the forces of evil to muster all their resources and form themselves into a strong confederacy to stop the onward march of Islam. And the prophecy is to the effect that the combined forces of disbelief shall be put to an ignominious rout if they dared oppose Islam. This mighty prophecy was literally fulfilled in the Battle of the Trench. 2520. Autad al-Ard means, mountains; and Autad al-Bilad signifies, the chief men of the towns; and Dhu'l Autad signifies, lord of large armies or stakes (Aqrab). 2521. Fawaq means, the time between two milkings; the time between two suckings; the returning of the milk into the udder of the she-camel after the milking; the time between the opening of one's hand and the grasping with it the udder of the she-camel; or when the milker grasps the udder and then lets it go in milking (Lane). 2522. Prophets David, Solomon and Job possessed great power, influence and wealth and that is why perhaps they have always been mentioned together in the Qur'an (4:164, 6:85 & 21:80-84). 2523. It appears from history that though Israelite power was at its zenith in the reigns of David and Solomon, yet mischief-mongers were busy stirring up discord and disaffection; and false charges were constantly raked up and spread against them and some evil-minded persons even sought to kill David. It is to one such attempt at David's life that reference has been made in the verse under comment. Two of his enemies scaled the wall of his private chamber with the intention of taking him unawares, but finding him on his guard and realizing that their plan had miscarried, they tried to put him at ease and pretended as if they were merely two litigants who had come to seek his decision in a dispute. David, however, rightly understood their evil intention; and so naturally he was afraid of them. 2524. This verse refers to the story which the two intending murderers of David, finding him quite vigilant, seemed to have invented, at the spur of the moment, in an endeavor to disabuse his mind of any misgiving he might have entertained about them, and to set his fear at rest. 2525. David was not taken in by the mask of ordinary litigants that the two intruders had put on; he saw through the game. Though he did not lose his presence of mind and gave his decision like a sane and sedate judge, yet he realized that his control over his people had weakened and that, despite the precautions he had taken, he was not quite safe from the schemes and plots of his enemies. He felt that the incident was a reminder from God. So he adopted the only course which the righteous and the God-fearing adopt in such circumstances. He prayed to God and sought His protection against the schemes and conspiracies of his enemies. The insinuation behind the tale of the litigants was that David was a tyrant who was extending his domination over small and weak neighboring tribes. 2526. The expression Ghafarna la-hu may mean, 'We gave him Our protection,' or, 'We set his affairs right' (Lane). The words, 'he had a position of nearness with Us and an excellent resort;' show that David did not suffer from any moral defect or spiritual weakness, and most effectively negative and demolish the wicked charge of David having committed adultery as imputed to him by the Bible (2 Sam. 11:4 & 5). 2527. The Qur'an contains the basic and universal principles of all religions and their permanent and imperishable teachings along with much more that is indispensable for the growing needs and requirements of man. This is the meaning of the word Mubarak. 2528. Safinat (steeds) is the plural of Safinah which is feminine of Safin which means, a horse standing upon three legs and the extremity of the hoof of the fourth leg. Standing in this posture is considered to be the peculiarity of Arabian breed which are regarded as the best bred horses. 2528A. Jiyad (swift-footed horses) is the plural of Jawad, and the expression, Farasun Jawadun means, a quick-footed horse (Lane). 2529. 'An denotes transition; compensation (2:49); superiority (47:39). It also denotes a cause as in the present verse, and it has the same sense as li (53:4). 2530. God had bestowed upon Solomon power and wealth. He ruled over a vast kingdom and, therefore, he had to keep a strong army. Naturally; he had a great liking for horses of good breed because cavalry formed a strong wing of his army. Solomon's love for horses was not that of a race-goer or a professional breeder of horses. It only sprang from his love for his Creator as the horses were used for fighting in the cause of God. 2531. It seems that Solomon was seeing a horse parade and in order to show his admiration for his horses he stroked their necks and legs. 2532. In 34:15 the expression used is 'a worm of the earth.' The reference may either be to Solomon's son and heir, Rehoboam, a worthless fellow or to Jeroboam who raised the standard of revolt against the House of David (I Kings, 12:28). Solomon had realized that after his death his kingdom would not maintain its integrity under his incompetent and inefficient successors. So he turned to God and prayed to Him. The prayer is given in the next verse. 2533. As it appears from the preceding verse Solomon had foreseen that his temporal kingdom would become disrupted after his death through the imbecility of his foolish and worthless son, so he prayed that the spiritual kingdom which God had bestowed upon his House might continue. If the words, 'a kingdom that may not be inherited by anyone after me,' are taken in their literal sense, then Solomon's prayer would be understood to have been accepted in the sense that after his death no king possessing the power and prestige that he possessed ever appeared among the Israelites. 2534. Solomon, as stated in 21:83 and 34:13,14; had subdued and subjected to his rule savage and rebellious mountain tribes. He had forced them into his service and had compelled them to do sundry works for him. Shayatin of the preceding verse and jinn of 34:13 are the same people, and the work on which they were employed by Solomon was also of the same nature (11 Chron. 2:1,2). 2535. Nusb means, fatigue, toil; affliction, distress, disease; misfortune (Lane). In the present and the next three verses the language used is as fittingly metaphorical as that used in the preceding several verses. It seems that Prophet Job lived in a country of which the ruler was, as the word Shaitan (leader of mischief) shows, a cruel and tyrannical idol-worshipper, who opposed the monotheistic teaching of Job and severely persecuted him. Job had to leave his native land and take refuge in another country and as a result of this emigration he was separated from his family and followers. If the word Shaitan, as some authorities hold, should signify Shaitan al-Falat (satan of the desert), i.e., thirst, the verse would mean that Job in his long and tiresome journey had suffered from extreme thirst and fatigue. According to some other authorities the reference in the words, 'Satan has afflicted me with toil and torment,' is 2536. Job was enjoined to strike and urge on his riding beast in order to reach a place of safety soon. And as in his long and tiresome journey he greatly suffered from thirst and fatigue; he was comforted with the information that there lay ahead of him a fountain of sweet, cool water where he could slake his thirst and wash himself. Or, the meaning may be that having been left alone at a place where there was no water, he was told by God to urge on his riding beast as there lay ahead a fountain of cool, sweet water where he could take rest, satisfy his thirst and take a bath. Or, the verse may signify that as Job suffered from a skin disease, he was directed by God to take bath in a particular fountain whose water contained such minerals as would cure his skin disease. It seems that the country through which Job had to travel abounded in springs and fountains. 2537. When, in obedience to Divine command, Job continued his journey, he not only found cool and refreshing water with which he washed himself and assuaged his thirst, he found also his family and the people from whom he had become separated. It is possible that on account of some skin disease from which he suffered, Job's people might have left him. 2538. While in v.43 Job was enjoined to urge his riding beast with his foot, in the present verse he is told to strike the beast with a bundle of twigs to make it run fast that he may be out of danger and reach a place of safety soon. 2539. The words, la Tahnath mean, do not incline to falsehood, i.e., make no compromise with idol-worship or polytheistic beliefs and remain steadfast in your belief in the Unity of God. If the expression means, break not thy oath, the verse would signify that as Job had become separated from his people due to negligence on their part, he had vowed that he would punish the guilty for their negligence after he joined them. When, however, he was united with them he was told by God (as the verse shows) not to treat them severely in the hour of joy and thanksgiving and to fulfill his oath in a way which should cause them least distress. 2540. Yad means, (1) benefit; (2) influence; (3) might; (4) army; (5) wealth; (6) promise; (7) submission (Aqrab). 2541. Elisha was the disciple and successor of Elijah. He lived from 938 B.C. to 828 B.C. See also 870. 2542. Dha'l-Kifl, The Prophet known by this name appears to be the Prophet Ezekiel who is called Dha'l-Kifl by the Arabs. See 1912. 2543. The day of national reckoning when a whole people become deserving of reward or punishment according to their deeds and actions. A day of reckoning comes to every individual, community and nation in this very life. 2544. The inmates of Hell will be made to drink intensely hot or intensely cold water. As they did not make proper use of their God-given faculties and went to extremes in using them and did not follow the golden mean, so they will be made to drink extremely hot or extremely cold water. 2545. Besides the meaning given in the text, the verse may also mean, 'And like them there will be other groups with similar records.' 2546. When the leaders of disbelief will see a party of their followers coming to Hell, they will be told that a host of their followers will also enter into fire along with them. As the latter rushed to follow their leaders blindly and unthinkingly rejected truth, so they will enter Hell rushing headlong. 2547. The followers of the leaders of disbelief will curse their leaders in these words. Both the leaders and the led will curse one another. It is human nature that when man is confronted with the evil consequences of his deeds, he tries to shift the blame to others. This is exactly what the guilty people generally do when they find themselves face to face with the dreadful results of their wicked deeds. 2548. The followers of the leaders of disbelief will invoke the curse of God upon the heads of their erstwhile leaders. 2549. The reference in the words, 'the men,' is to the believers. 2550. The inmates of Hell will say to one another, 'What is the matter with us that we do not see here those men whom we looked upon as of no consequence and ridiculed in the earthly life. Did they not deserve our ridicule and were really good and godly men; or are they in Hell but we do not see them?' 2551. Naba' means, a piece of information; an announcement of great importance; message; or news which fills the heart of a person with fear (Lane). The words, 'a big news' may refer to the great event of the revelation of the Qur'an, or to the advent of the Holy Prophet. 2552. It appears from 2:3 1 and from the Hadith that when God decrees to raise a Prophet in the world, He discloses His intention to those angels who are nearest to Him. They discuss this affair of the highest import among themselves. These angels are referred to as 'the Exalted Assembly.' The Holy Prophet is represented as saying that he had no knowledge of what was being discussed and debated in heavens about his being entrusted with the great Divine mission. 2553. When a Prophet is raised in the world, angels are commanded to assist him in the furtherance of his cause and to render null and void all the schemes and machinations of his enemies. 2554. Angels or men of angelic nature. 2555. The words, 'with My two hands,' signify, 'I have made him to manifest in himself all My attributes.' 2556. The opponents of a Prophet always regard themselves as superior to him in power, position and prestige. It hurts their sense of pride to give their allegiance to a man whom they consider to be like, or even inferior to, them. 2557. The pronoun ha in the expression, min-ha, does not refer to post-mortal Heaven because Heaven is a place where Satan could not possibly enter and from which no one who has once entered is turned out (1 5:49). It refers to that state of apparent bliss which men enjoy before the advent of a Prophet, and which is represented in the Qur'an as Jannah. 2558. Man's spiritual rebirth-when having attained to the stage of 'the soul at peace,' he becomes immune to spiritual fall. See also 1498. 2559. The time when truth finally triumphs over falsehood and the votaries of falsehood are completely crushed. 2560. The dialogue between God and Satan does not refer to any talk that actually took place but represents, in metaphorical language, the state of things as they exist at the time when a Prophet of God is raised. The "man" referred to in verse 72 stands particularly for the Prophet of the day, and Iblis represents those wicked and evil-minded persons who oppose him and seek to impede and retard the progress of his mission. 2561. The Holy Prophet is here represented as saying to disbelievers that they will not have to wait for long to realize the truth of his mission.
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قَالَ فَالْحَقُّ وَالْحَقَّ أَقُولُ
