Surah Ar-Ra'd (13): Read Online and Download - English Translation

يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ قَبْلَ الْحَسَنَةِ وَقَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِمُ الْمَثُلَاتُ ۗ وَإِنَّ رَ‌بَّكَ لَذُو مَغْفِرَ‌ةٍ لِّلنَّاسِ عَلَىٰ ظُلْمِهِمْ ۖ وَإِنَّ رَ‌بَّكَ لَشَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

'And they ask for evil to come sooner than good (by saying: If you are a prophet, let us have your promised punishment now - which shows that they take the coming of the Divine punishment as something very far-removed or virtually impossible) al-though punishments have really come to pass against people earlier to them, (which have been witnessed by others.)

Now, if the punishment is to come to them, why should it be taken as something far out, or impossible? Here, the word: الْمَثُلَاتُ (al-mathulat) is the plural form of مَثُلَۃ (mathula) and it means a punishment which puts a person in disgrace before everyone and proves to be a lesson for all others.

After that it was said that there is no doubt that your Lord is, de-spite the sinning and disobeying of people, the Lord of forgiveness and mercy as well. And for people who do not take advantage of this forgiveness and mercy and elect to stick to their disobedience and contumacy, then, for them He is 'severe in punishing' as well. Therefore, they should not misunderstand the attributes of Allah's forgiveness and mercy and reach the conclusion that punishment simply cannot come to them.

3. The third doubt of the disbelievers was: As for the miracles of the Holy Prophet ', they had seen many of them. But, why would he not show the specific miracles demanded by them? This has been answered in the third verse (7) by saying: وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَةٌ مِّن رَّ‌بِّهِ ۗ إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُنذِرٌ‌ ۖ وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هَادٍ

(that is, in order to raise an objection against the prophethood of Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ ، they say) 'Why has the specific miracle they demand has not been shown by him?' The answer is clear. The showing of a miracle is not within the control of a prophet or messenger. Instead, that is directly an act of God. It is He who elects to show a miracle, of whatever kind, at any time, and in His wisdom - all as deter-mined by Him alone. He is not restricted by or burdened with anyone's demand or desire. Therefore, it was said: إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُنذِرٌ (You are but a warner), that is, the Holy Prophet ﷺ is there only to warn disbelievers against Divine punishment - showing miracles is not his mission.

Said in the last sentence of the verse was: وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هَادٍ ۔ It means that there have been guides for every people among past communities. You are not the lone prophet. The standard mission of all prophets was to guide their people, warn them of the punishment of Allah, but none of them were given the power and control to show miracles. It is Allah who shows miracles of His choice whenever He chooses to do so.

Is it Necessary that a Prophet appears among every People and in every Country?

The statement: 'And for every people there is a guide' proves that no people and no region can remain unvisited by those who call towards Allah Ta ala and guide people to the straight path. It may be some prophet himself, or could be someone propagating the call of his deputy - as it appears in Surah Y’ Sin where the initial sending of two persons as de-puties to the prophet of the time to a certain people has been mentioned. Sent to carry the call and give guidance, these two persons were prophets in their own right. Then, also mentioned there is the sending of a third person to help and support them in their mission.

Therefore, this verse does not make it necessary that some prophet or messenger of Allah has also appeared in India. However, it stands proved that learned people who carried the call of the prophet and told people about his teachings came to this part of the world as well. Then, it is already common knowledge that many such 'guides' have also appeared here.

Upto this point, in the first three verses cited above, there was the answer of the doubts expressed by the deniers of prophethood. In the fourth verse (8), we see a return to the principal theme of Tauhid (The Oneness of Allah) which started appearing since the beginning of the Surah.

Here, it was said: اللَّـهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْمِلُ كُلُّ أُنثَىٰ وَمَا تَغِيضُ الْأَرْ‌حَامُ وَمَا تَزْدَادُ ۖ وَكُلُّ شَيْءٍ عِندَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ‌ ٍ. It means that Allah Ta ala knows everything about what every woman carries in her womb - a boy or girl, beautiful or otherwise, good or evil - and about why wombs of women decrease or increase, that is, about the time of delivery, whether early, in due time, or late.

Stated in this verse is a particular attribute of Allah Ta’ ala: That He is the Knower of the Unseen (` Alim al-Ghayb). He is aware of the minutest of this entire universe and that of everything created in it, and He is most comprehensively informed of all changing conditions of each such particle. Mentioned along with it is the fact of all-inclusive and most perfect knowledge of every stage, every change, and every trait in the complex process of human procreation. For instance, it is He alone who has the ultimate knowledge - the most sound, the most certain - of female pregnancy - a boy or girl? Or, both? Or, nothing but the accumulation of clusters of water or gas? Whatever opinion a physician gives in this matter as based on clinical indicators and educated guess cannot be taken to be any more than strong likelihood or estimate. There are times when things turn out to be otherwise. Even X-rays and more modern Imaging techniques fail to unravel the reality of this phenomena as due. We can only say that its real and certain knowledge can be credited only to Allah Ta` ala. This is what has been stated in another verse of the Qur’ an which says: (And He knows whatever there is in wombs - Luqman, 31:34).

The word: تَغِیض (taghudu: decrease) is used in the sense of becoming less or dried up. In the present verse, set against the word: تَزدَاد (tazdad increase), it becomes clear that, at this place, it means decrease. Thus, it means that the most correct and sound knowledge of 'what the wombs decrease or increase' rests with none but Allah Ta` ala. This 'increase' and 'decrease' could be referring to the increase or decrease in the number of children to be born, that is, whether the womb contains only one child, or has more than one. It is also possible that it may be denoting the increase or decrease in the period of actual delivery of the child, that is, in how many months, days, and hours, this pregnancy will translate into the outward physical existence of a human being. This too is something the absolutely certain knowledge of which cannot be claimed by any-one other than Allah Ta` ala.

Tafsir authority Mujahid has said that the blood excreted by a woman in pregnancy becomes the cause of decrease in the size and health of the fetus. The Qur’ anic expression: تَغِيضُ الْأَرْ‌حَامُ ('the wombs decrease' ) means this decrease - and the truth of the matter is that the words of the verse cover decreases of all kinds, therefore, no contradiction exists here.

Said in the last sentence of verse وَكُلُّ شَيْءٍ عِندَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ (And everything has measure with Him). It means that there can be no decrease or in-crease from the norm set with Allah Ta’ ala. All states through which a child-to-be-born passes are also included under this statement, that is, everything pertaining to such a child lies determined with Allah who knows for how many days the child will stay in the womb, then, for how long it will continue to live in the world, and how much of sustenance it will receive. This matchless knowledge of Allah Ta` ala is an open proof of His Oneness (Tauhd).

Commentary

The theme of the exclusive attributes of the perfection of Allah Ta` ala continues. Starting earlier than the verses cited above, this theme is actually an array of proofs concerning the Oneness of Allah. Onwards from the previous verse (9), it was said in the first verse (1o) here: عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ الْكَبِيرُ‌ الْمُتَعَالِ (- the Knower of the hidden and the manifest, the Great, the High). The word: اَلغَیب (al-ghayb : the hidden, the unseen) means that which is absent from the reach of human senses, that is, which cannot be seen with eyes, nor heard with ears, nor smelt with the nose, nor tasted with the tongue, nor sensed by touching with hands.

As for: اَلشَہَادَۃ (ash-shahadah : manifest, present), it stands in contrast to 'al-ghayb' or the hidden and denotes what can be found out by using human senses mentioned above. The verse means that it is the very exclusive attribute of Allah Ta` ala that He knows everything hidden (al-ghayb) precisely as He knows the manifest, present and existing.

The word: الْكَبِيرُ (al-kabir) means the great and الْمُتَعَالِ (al-muta’ al) means the high, above. The sense conveyed by these two words is that He is great and far above the attributes of what He has created. Though the disbelievers and polytheists did confess to the great and exalted state of the Being of Allah Ta ala, in a general way, but were obviously misguided by a lack of proper perception when they took Allah Ta` ala on the analogy of common human beings and went on to associate such attributes to him as were far too removed from His great majesty. For instance, the Jews and the Christians attributed a son for Allah, while others suggested for Allah a body and its parts just like those of human beings, and still others tried to prove direction and orientation for Him. But, the fact is that Allah is far above, absolutely pure and free of all such conditions and attributions. It should be kept in mind that, in order to emphasize His absolvement from all such human attributions, He has repeatedly reminded us in the Qur'an: سُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ that is, 'Allah is pure and free from what these people attribute to Him.' (23:91; 37:159; )

The perfection of the knowledge of Allah Ta ala was described in عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ (the Knower of the hidden and the manifest) appearing in the first sentence (9) as well as in اللَّـهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْمِلُ كُلُّ أُنثَىٰ (Allah knows what every woman carries) in the verse previous to it (8). Mentioned in the second sentence here: الْكَبِيرُالْمُتَعَالِ (the great, the high) is the power and greatness of Allah for His power and reach is far beyond any human calculation. Also in the verse which follows, the same perfection in knowledge and power has been pointed to in a particular manner. There it has been said:

سَوَاءٌ مِّنكُم مَّنْ أَسَرَّ‌ الْقَوْلَ وَمَن جَهَرَ‌ بِهِ وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِاللَّيْلِ وَسَارِ‌بٌ بِالنَّهَارِ‌

Alike [ for Him ] is he, from among you, who speaks quietly and he who speaks aloud, and he who hides in the night and he who walks out in the day - 10.

The expression: أَسَرَّ‌ الْقَوْلَ (speaks quietly) is a derivation from: اَسرَار (asrar) which means secret talk and: جَهَرَ (jahr) means open talk. When one talks to be heard by others, it is called jahr and what one says for his own hearing is called sirr. The word: مُسْتَخْفٍ (mustakhfin) refers to one who hides, and: سَارِ‌بٌ بِالنَّهَارِ‌ (sarib) means one who walks his way freely.

The verse means that, because of the all-encompassing knowledge of Allah Ta` ala, the one who talks quietly or secretly and the one who talks loudly and openly are both equal in His sight. He hears and knows what they say, identically and uniformly. Similarly, there is the person hiding in the darkness of the night and there is another walking freely in open daylight. Both of them are alike in terms of His knowledge and power, since He knows all inward and outward conditions of both alike and His power surrounds them both alike and just no one is outside His power and control. An elaboration of this point appears in the next verse in the following words:

لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِّن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ‌ اللَّـهِ

For him there are angels replacing each other, before him and behind him, who guard him under the command of Allah - 11.

The word: مُعَقِّبَاتٌ (mu’ aqqibat) is the plural form of mu’ aqqibah. A group which comes concurrently behind another group is called mu'aqqibah or muta'aqqibah (hence, the translation: 'replacing each other' ). The expression: مِّن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ (min bayni yadayhi) literally means in between the two hands. It denotes the direction in front of a person. And: وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ (wa min khalfihi) means 'behind him.' The particle: مِنْ (min) in the statement: مِنْ أَمْرِ‌ اللَّـهِ (min amrillah) has been placed here to serve as the ba' (بَاء) of causation. It has been used here in the sense of: بِاَمرِ اللہ (bi amrillah: under the command of Allah). In some readings (Qira'aat) of the Qur'an, this word has also been reported as: بِاَمرِ اللہ (bi amrillah). (Ruh al-Mani)

The verse means that for all human beings - whether one conceals what one says, or discloses it; or, similarly, one wishes to hide one's movement under the dark cover of the night, or goes about walking freely and openly in broad daylight - there are groups of angels appointed from Allah who provide a security cordon for them from in front of them and from behind them. Their hours of service and duty keep changing, so they keep replacing each other one after the other. The assignment given to them under the command of Allah is that they should protect human beings.

According to a Hadith of the Sahih of Al-Bukhari, there are two groups of angels who have been appointed to guard human beings, one for the day, and another for the night. These groups meet together during the prayers of Fajr and ` Asr. The night guards depart after the Salah of Fajr and the daytime guards take over. Then, they leave after the Salah of'Asr and the night guards resume their duty.

As reported by Sayyidna al-Murtada ؓ ' in a Hadith of Abu Dawud, for every human being there are guardian angels appointed to protect him or her. It is their duty to keep guarding them lest a wall or something else falls over them, or they stumble into a ditch or cave, or some animal or man causes hurt or harm to them. However, when the will of Allah itself stands enforced against a person condemned to suffer from some hardship or calamity, the guarding angels move away from the site. (Ruh al-Ma` ani)

From a narration of Sayyidna ` Uthman al-Ghani ؓ as in a Hadith of Ibn Jarir, we know that the duty of these guarding angels is not limited to protecting human beings from worldly discomforts and hardships only, instead, they also try to dissuade them from sins and do their best to keep them safe. They would go on infusing in their hearts the urge to do good and fear Allah, so that, through these, they would stay away from sinning. Now, if they still fall into sin by becoming neglectful of the angelic inspiration, they nevertheless pray for him and try that the sinner would somehow hasten to repent and become cleansed of the sin. After that, if the sinner fails to take any warning and refuses to correct himself, then, they write down a sin in his Book of Deeds.

In short, these guarding angels keep protecting human beings against the unwelcome happenings of both the present world and the world to come, all the time, awake or asleep. The well-known Tabi` i, Ka'b Al-Ahbar (رح) says: Should this protective Divine cordon be removed from around human beings, the Jinns would make their lives difficult. But, all these protective arrangements work only until such time as the Divine decree permits them to remain operative. Now, if Allah Ta` ala Himself wills to let a servant of His suffer, this arrangement of protection stands dismissed.

This has been elaborated in the next verse in the following manner:

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ‌ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُ‌وا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۗ وَإِذَا أَرَ‌ادَ اللَّـهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلَا مَرَ‌دَّ لَهُ ۚ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَالٍ

Surely, Allah does not change what is in a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends evil for a people, there is no way to turn it back, and for them there is no patron other than Him-11

It means that Allah Ta` ala does not change the state of peace and security enjoyed by a people into a state of distress and instability until such time that those people themselves change their deeds and ways into evil and disorder. And when a whole people change to commit themselves and their surrounding conditions into rank contumacy and disobedience, then, Allah Ta` ala too changes His way with them. And it is obvious that, should Allah Ta` ala Himself intend evil and punishment for any-one, then, there is no way that could be averted and there is no one who can rise to help them out against the Divine decree.

The outcome is that human beings remain actively protected by an-gels under the command of Allah Ta` ala, but should a people become ungrateful for His blessings and forsake being obedient to him only to take to evil doings and become contumacious in the end, then, the posse of protection posted by Allah Ta ala is called off duty. At that time, the wrath and punishment of Allah Ta` ala descends upon them and there remains no way they could escape from these.

This explanation tells us that the 'change' referred to in the cited verse means: When a people abandon gratitude and obedience and settle for a change to worse around them, then, Allah Ta` ala too brings about a change in His way of mercy and protection.

According to a common explanation of this verse, no positive revolution appears among a people unless they themselves do not correct conditions around them to bring about that positive revolution. There is a very popular Urdu couplet by poet Half which carries this very sense:

اللہ نے آج تک اس قوم کی حالت نہیں بدلی

نہ ہو جس کو خیال آپ اپنی حالت کے بدلنے کا

To this day, God has never changed the condition of a people Who have no plan of changing their condition themselves.

What has been said here is, no doubt, correct to a certain extent. But, this is not the sense of the Verse cited here. And its being correct too has to be viewed in terms of a general principle, that is, for a person who has no intention of correcting himself, there is no promise of help and support from Allah Ta’ ala. Instead, this promise is valid under the condition that someone would himself think and do something about it - as we learn from the noble verse: وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا (that is, 'those who strive in Us, them We do lead to Our paths - (29:69) ' which tells us that the pathways of guidance from Allah Ta` a1a too open up only when the urge to have such guidance is present there. But, Divine blessings are not bound by this restriction. They would, at times, come even without it.

Take our own existence and its countless blessings. These are not the outcome of our effort, nor had we ever prayed that we be given such a presence with eyes, nose, ears and rest of the most perfect body. These are wonderful blessings - and we have them without having to ask for them. However, the right to deserve blessings and to become worthy recipients of the fruits of the Divine promise cannot be received without making one's own effort to earn it - and should a people keep waiting for Divine rewards without putting in the due effort and deed, it would amount to nothing but self-deception.

After that, it was said in verse 12: هُوَ الَّذِي يُرِ‌يكُمُ الْبَرْ‌قَ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَيُنشِئُ السَّحَابَ الثِّقَالَ. It means that it is Allah Ta` ala Who makes you see the lightening and the thunder which can become a matter of fear for human beings lest it may destroy what it strikes. Then, it has a dimension of hope too by raising expectations that rains may follow the thunder, rains which support animal and human lives. And then, He is the One who lifts heavy and huge clouds up from the surface of the sea as the monsoons and carries these water-laden clouds post-haste through the atmosphere to places near and far off and has them deliver their rains over lands He chooses in accordance with His decree and corresponding to the measure determined by Him.

In the next verse (13), it was said: وَيُسَبِّحُ الرَّ‌عْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ مِنْ خِيفَتِهِ (And the thunder proclaims His purity with His praise, and [ so do ] the angels, out of His awe). In Arabic usage, the word: الرَّ‌عْدُ (Ar-Ra` d)refers to the sound of the clouds generated by their collision. The sense of (Tasbih: the glorification of Allah) mentioned here is that of the same Tasbih about which it has been said in another verse of the Qur’ an: وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَـٰكِن لَّا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ 'And there is nothing in the heavens and the earth which does not glorify Allah, but they do not understand their glorification' - (17:44).

And it appears in some narrations of Hadith that Ar-Ra'd is the name of the angel appointed to bring rains. In terms of this sense, the reciting of Tasbih is obvious.

Said in the next sentence 12 is: وَيُرْ‌سِلُ الصَّوَاعِقَ فَيُصِيبُ بِهَا مَن يَشَاءُ (And He sends the thunderbolts and strikes with it whom He wills). The word: الصَّوَاعِقَ (as-sawa` iq) is the plural form of a-sa` iqah which is the name of the thunderbolt that strikes the earth. The sense of the verse is that it is Allah who sends these thunderbolts down upon the earth and, with these, He strikes whom He wills.

The last sentence of this verse is: وَهُمْ يُجَادِلُونَ فِي اللَّـهِ وَهُوَ شَدِيدُ الْمِحَالِ they are quarrelling about Allah, and He is stern in His plan). The word: الْمِحَالِ (al-mihal: with Kasrah on the initial letter Mim) has been used here in the triple sense of stratagem and plan, and retribution and punishment, and in the sense of power as well. The verse means that (it is in the background of what has been stated above) that these people are busy with debates and altercations about the truth of Allah's Oneness - despite the fact that Allah Ta` ala has the ultimate power whose plan overtakes all and nothing works against it.