THE FIFTY-FIFTH SŪRAH Ar-Raḥmān (The Most Gracious) Period Uncertain
ALTHOUGH most of the commentators regard this sūrah as a Meccan revelation, Zamakhsharī and (among the later scholars) Suyūṭī ascribe it to the Medina period. Bayḍāwī leaves the question open, and adds that parts of it may have been revealed before and parts after the Prophet’s hijrah to Medina. Some authorities are of the opinion that it followed immediately upon sūrah 13 (“Thunder”): an opinion which is not very helpful since that sūrah, too, cannot be assigned to either of the two periods with any degree of certainty.
He has imparted unto him articulate thought and speech.1
1. The term al-bayan - denoting "the means whereby a thing is [intellectually] circumscribed and made clear" (Raghib) - applies to both thought and speech inasmuch as it comprises the faculty of making a thing or an idea apparent to the mind and conceptually distinct from other things or ideas, as well as the power to express this cognition clearly in spoken or written language (Taj al-'Arus): hence, in the above context, "articulate thought and speech", recalling the "knowledge of all the names" (i.e., the faculty of conceptual thinking) with which man is endowed (see 2:31 and the corresponding note 23).
And the skies has He raised high, and has devised [for all things] a measure,3
3. The noun mizan, usually denoting a "balance", has here the more general connotation of "measure" or "measuring" by any means whatsoever (Zamakhshari ), in both the concrete and abstract senses of the word. (Cf. also the parabolic use of the term mizan in 42:17 and 57:25.)
Which, then, of your Sustainer's powers can you disavow?4
4. The majority of the classical commentators interpret the dual form of address appearing in this phrase -. rabbikuma ("the Sustainer of you two") and tukadhdhiban ("do you [or "can you"] two disavow") - as relating to the worlds of men and of the 'invisible beings" (jinn see Appendix III); but the most obvious explanation (mentioned, among others, by Razi) is that it refers to the two categories of human beings, men and women, to both of whom the Qur'an is addressed. The plural noun ala, rendered by me as "powers", signifies literally "blessings" or "bounties"; but as the above refrain, which is repeated many times in this surah, bears not only on the bounties which God bestows on His creation but, more generally, on all manifestations of His creativeness and might, some of the earliest commentators - e.g., Ibn Zayd, as quoted by Tabari - regard the term ala, in this context, as synonymous with qudrah ("power" or "powers").
whereas the invisible beings He has created out of a confusing flame of fire.6
6. Cf. 15:27 - "the fire of scorching winds (nar as-samum )" - thus stressing their non-corporeal origin and composition. The significance of the term jinn ("invisible beings") has been touched upon briefly in note 86 on 6:100 and note 67 on 37:158; for a more detailed explanation, see Appendix III.
[He is] the Sustainer of the two farthest points of sunrise, and the Sustainer of the two farthest points of sunset.7
7. I.e., of the extreme points of sunrise and sunset in summer and in winter (see 37:5 and 70:40), including "all that is between them": a metonym for God's being the Ultimate Cause of the orbital movement within the universe.
And His are the lofty ships that sail like [floating] mountains through the seas.9
9. Lit., "in the sea like mountains". The reference to ships as "belonging to God" is meant to stress the God-given nature of man's intelligence and inventiveness - a reflection of God's creative powers - which expresses itself in all that man is able to produce. (See also 42:32 and the corresponding notes.)
All that lives on earth or in the heavens is bound to pass away:10
10. Lit., "Everyone who is upon it i.e., on earth and/or, according to Ibn Kathir, in the heavens - since the pronoun in alayha apparently relates to the whole universe.
but forever will abide thy Sustainer's Self,11 full of majesty and glory.
11. Lit., "face", or "countenance", a term used metonymically in classical Arabic to denote the "self" or "whole being" of a person - in this case, the essential Being, or Reality, of God. Cf. also 28:88, "Everything is bound to perish, save His [eternal] Self".
14. I.e., "you sin-laden men and women" (see note 4 above). According to an interpretation quoted by Razi, the designation thaqalan (the dual form of thaqal, "a thing of weight") signifies that both these categories of human beings are liable to, and therefore burdened with, sinning.
يا مَعشَرَ الجِنِّ وَالإِنسِ إِنِ استَطَعتُم أَن تَنفُذوا مِن أَقطارِ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ فَانفُذوا ۚ لا تَنفُذونَ إِلّا بِسُلطانٍ
O you who live in close communion with [evil] invisible beings and humans!15 If you [think that you] can pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, pass beyond them!16 [But] you cannot pass beyond them, save by a sanction [from God]!17
15. For an explanation of this rendering of mashar al-jinn wa- 'l-ins, see note 112 on the first paragraph of 6:128.
16. I.e., in order to escape God's judgment and chastisement.
17. I.e., "unless He wills to reprieve you": cf. the last paragraph of 6:128 and the corresponding note 114.
And when the sky is rent asunder and becomes red like [burning] oil18
18. This is one of several legitimate interpretations of the term dihan (see Tabari); another is "freshly tanned [or "red"] leather", synonymous with adim (Zamakhshari ); and yet another, "dregs of olive-oil" (Raghib). All these interpretations have one idea in common - namely, the sudden and surprising change (or changes) of colour to which the sky will be subject at the Last Hour.
فَيَومَئِذٍ لا يُسأَلُ عَن ذَنبِهِ إِنسٌ وَلا جانٌّ
For on that Day neither man nor invisible being will be asked about his sins.19
19. I.e., the sinners "will find all that they ever wrought [now] facing them" ( 18:49 ), and "their own tongues and hands and feet will bear witness against them by [recalling] all that they did" (24:24).
All who were lost in sin shall by their marks be known, and shall by their forelocks and their feet be seized!20
20. This is an allusion to their utter humiliation and disgrace. When the ancient Arabs wanted to stress someone's subjection to another person, they would say, "His forelock is in the hand of so-and-so." (See also 96:15 and the corresponding note 8.)
between it and [their own] burning-hot despair will they wander to and fro!21
21. For my rendering of hamim as "burning despair", see note on the last sentence of 6:70. The allegorical nature of all Quranic descriptions of "rewards" and "punishments" in the hereafter is clearly hinted at in the phrasing of the above verse, which speaks of the sinners "wandering to and fro" between hell and burning despair (baynaha wa-bayna hamim) - i.e., tossed between factual suffering and the despair of vain regrets.
BUT FOR THOSE who of their Sustainer's Presence stand in fear, two gardens [of paradise are readied] -22
22. I.e., two kinds of paradise, to be experienced simultaneously. Various interpretations are advanced on this score by the classical commentators: e.g., "a paradise for their doing of good deeds, and another paradise for their avoidance of sins" (Zamakhshari ); or a paradise that "will comprise both spiritual and physical joys, [so that it will seem] as if it were two paradises" (Razi). Finally, one might conclude that the pointed reference to the "two gardens" of paradise contains - like the preceding reference to the sinners' "wandering between hell and burning despair" - a pointed allusion to the allegorical character of all descriptions of the life to come, as well as to the inexpressible intensity (or multiplication) of all imaginable and unimaginable sensations in that afterlife. The subsequent descriptions of the joys of paradise must be understood in the same symbolic light.
23. According to Tabari, the noun fann (lit., "mode" or "manner") is in this case synonymous with lawn ("colour" or "hue"). Afnan is a double plural, and hence denotes "many hues" and since - as pointed out in the Taj al-'Arus - one of the several accepted meanings of fann is "a wonderful thing", afnan can also be understood as "many wonderful things". The rendering adopted by me combines both these interpretations. As regards the indescribable nature of what is termed "paradise", see 32:17 and the corresponding note 15.
In [each of] these two [gardens] two springs will flow.24
24. The "two springs" of paradise call to mind the "two seas" spoken of in 18:60, which, according to Baydawi, symbolize the two sources or streams of knowledge accessible to man: the one obtained through the observation and intellectual analysis of external phenomena ilm az-zahir), and the other through inward, mystic insight (ilm al-batin).
Which, then, of your Sustainer s powers can you disavow?25
25. Zamakhshari : "a kind that is known and a kind that is strange (gharib)" - i.e., cognitions or sensations that are imaginable on the basis of our experiences in the present life, and such as are, as yet, unimaginable to us, and can, therefore, be only hinted at by means of symbols or allegories. Regarding the concept of "allegory" as such, see 3:7 and the corresponding note 8.
[In such a paradise the blest will dwell,] reclining upon carpets lined with rich brocade;26 and the fruit of both these gardens will be within easy reach.
26. Cf. 18:31 and the corresponding note 41. The "reclining upon carpets" (or "upon couches" in 18:31 ) is a symbol of utter restfulness and peace of mind. The mention of the "carpets" of paradise being lined with rich brocade is perhaps meant to convey the idea that - just as the lining of a carpet is, as a rule, invisible - the beauty of paradise has nothing to do with outward show, being of an inner, spiritual nature (Razi). This concept appears already in an earlier interpretation, quoted by Zamakhshari , according to which the "carpets" spoken of here consist of light.
In these [gardens] will be mates of modest gaze, whom neither man nor invisible being will have touched ere then.27
27. See 56:35 and the corresponding note 14. As regards the expression qasirat at-tarf (lit., "such as restrain their gaze"), see note 46 on 38:52, the earliest Quranic instance of this expression.
And besides those two will be yet two [other] gardens -28
28. Most of the commentators assume - not very convincingly - that the "two other gardens" are those to which believers of lesser merit will attain. As against this weak and somewhat arbitrary interpretation, it seems to me that the juxtaposition of "two other gardens" with the "two" previously mentioned is meant to convey the idea of infinity in connection with the concept of paradise as such: gardens beyond gardens beyond gardens in an endless vista, slightly varying in description, but all of them symbols of supreme bliss.
29. I.e., by reason of abundant watering (Taj al-'Arus). It is to be noted that the adjective "green" is often used in the Qur'an to indicate ever-fresh life: e.g., the "green garments" which the inmates of paradise will wear ( 18:31 and 76:21), or the "green meadows" upon which they will recline (cf. verse 76 of the present surah).
[There the blest will live with their] companions pure30 and modest, in pavilions [splendid] -
30. For this rendering of the plural noun hur (which is both masculine and feminine), see note 8 on 56:22, the earliest occurrence of this term in the Qur'an; also note 13 on 56:34.