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Lit., "to be [according to] a definite reckoning".
The night, the day, the sun, the moon, -the great astronomical universe of God. How far, and yet how near to us! God's universe is boundless, and we can barely comprehend even its relations to us. But this last we must try to do if we want to be numbered with "the people who know". Taqdir: Cf. vi. 91 and n. 909, and iv. 149 and n. 655.
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See the last note. At sea, or in the deserts or forests, or "in fairy scenes forlorn," -whenever we sweep over wide spaces, it is the stars that act as our guides, just as the sun and moon have already been mentioned as our measures of time.
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See surah {4}, note [1].
The commentators differ widely as to the meaning of the terms mustaqarr and mustawda' in this context. However, taking into account the primary meaning of mustaqarr as "the limit of a course" - i.e., the point at which a thing reaches its fulfilment or end - and of mustawda' as "a place of consignment" or "repository", we arrive at the rendering adopted by me above. This rendering finds, moreover, strong support in 11:6 , where God is spoken of as providing sustenance for every living being and knowing "its time-limit [on earth] and its resting-place [after death]" (mustaqarraha wa-mustawda'aha), as well as in verse {67} of the present surah, where mustaqarr is used in the sense of "a term set for the fulfilment [of God's tiding]".
i.e., Adam (ﷺ).
Produced: ansha-a= made you grow, increase, develop, reach maturity: another of the processes of creation. This supplements n. 120 to ii. 916 and n. 916 to vi. 94. It is one of the wonders of God's Creation, that from one person we have grown to be so many, and each individual has so many faculties and capacities, and yet we are all one. In the next verse we have the allegory of grapes and other fruits: all grapes may be similar to look at, yet each variety has a distinctive flavour and other distinctive qualities, and each individual grape may have its own special qualities. So for man.
In the sojourn of this life we must respond to God's hand in fashioning us, by making full use of all our faculties, and we must get ready for our departure into the Life that will be eternal.
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In contrast with its sequence, which is governed by the present tense, the whole of the above sentence is expressed in the past tense - thus indicating, obliquely, the original, basic aspect of God's creating life "out of water". cf. 21:30 and the corresponding note [39].
I.e., all so alike in the basic principles of their life and growth, and yet so different in physiology, appearance and taste.
Our allegory now brings us to maturity, the fruit, the harvest, the vintage. Through the seed we came up from nothingness to life; we lived our daily life of rest and work and passed the mile-stones of time; we had the spiritual experience of traversing through vast spaces in the spiritual world, guiding our course through the star of Faith; we grew; and now for the harvest or the vintage! How satisfied the grower must be when the golden grain is harvested in heaps or in vintage gathered! So will man if he has produced the fruits of Faith!
Each fruit- whether it is grapes, or olives, or pomegranates, -looks alike in its species, and yet each variety may be different in flavour, consistency, shape, size, colour, juice or oil contents, proportion of seed to fruit, etc. In each variety, individuals may be different and yet equally valuable!
And so we finish this wonderful allegory. Search through the world's literature, and see if you can find another such song or hymn, -so fruity in its literary flavour, so profound in its spiritual meaning!
There is a refrain in this song, which is subtly varied. In verse 97 it is: " We detail our Signs for people who know." Se far we were speaking of the things we see around us every day Knowledge is the appropriate instrument for these things. In verse 98 we read: "We detail Our Signs for people who understand." Understanding is a highter faculty than knowledge, and is necessary for seeing the mystery and meaning of this life. At the end of verse 99 we have: "In these things there are Signs for people who believe." Here we are speaking of the real fruits of spiritual Life. For them Faith is necessary, as bringing us nearer to God.
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The plural noun jinn (popularly, but incorrectly, taken to denote "genii" or "demons") is derived from the verb janna, "he was [or "became"] concealed" or "veiled from sight", thus, the veiling darkness of night is called jinn (Jawhari). According to Arab philologists, the term jinn signifies, primarily, "beings that are concealed from [man's] senses" (Qamus, Lisan al-'Arab, Raghib), and is thus applicable to all kinds of invisible beings or forces. For a further discussion of this term and of its wider implications, see Appendix III.
Lit., "they have invented for Him [or "falsely attributed to Him"] sons and daughters without [having any] knowledge": a reference to the beliefs of the pre-Islamic Arabs who regarded the angels as "God's daughters" (a designation which they also applied to certain of their goddesses), as well as to the Christian view of Jesus as "the son of God". See also 19:92 and the corresponding note [77].
I.e., utterly remote is He from all imperfection and from the incompleteness which is implied in the concept of having progeny. The very concept of "definition" implies the possibility of a comparison or correlation of an object with other objects; God, however, is unique, there being "nothing like unto Him" ( 42:11 ) and, therefore, "nothing that could be compared with Him" ( 112:4 ) - with the result that any attempt at defining Him or His "attributes" is a logical impossibility and, from the ethical point of view, a sin. The fact that He is undefinable makes it clear that the "attributes" (sifat) of God mentioned in the Qur'an do not circumscribe His reality but, rather, the perceptible effect of His activity on and within the universe created by Him.
Jinn are another creation of Allah, made of “smokeless fire,” and inhabit a realm parallel to our own. Like us, they have free will and can choose guidance or disobedience.
i.e., “Jesus” in Christian belief.
i.e., “the angels” in pre-Islamic Arab tradition.
Jinns: who are they? In xviii. 50 we are told that Iblis was one of the Jinns, and it is suggested that that was why he disobeyed the Command of God. But in that passage and other similar passages, we are told that God commanded the angels to bow down to Adam, and they obeyed except Iblis. That implies that Iblis had been of the company of angels. In many passages Jinns and men are spoken of together. In lv. 14-15, man is stated to have been created from clay, while Jinns from a flame of fire. The root meaning of junna, yujannu, is "to be covered or hidden," and janna yajunnu, in the active voice, "to cover or hide," as in vi. 76. Some people say that jinn therefore means the hidden qualities or capacities in man; others that it means wild or jungle folk hidden in the hills or forests. I do not wish to be dogmatic, but I think, from a collation and study of the Quranic passages, that the meaning is simply "a spirit," or an invisible or hidden force. In folklore stories and romances like the Arabian Nights they become personified into fantastic forms, but with them we are not concerned here.
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Cf. ii. 117, and n. 120.
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The term latif denotes something that is extremely subtle in quality, and therefore intangible and unfathomable. Whenever this term occurs in the Qur'an with reference to God in conjunction with the adjective khabir ("all-aware"), it is invariably used to express the idea of His inaccessibility to human perception, imagination or comprehension, as contrasted with His Own all-awareness (see, apart from the above verse, also 22:63 , 31:16 , 33:34 and 67:14 . In the two instances where the combination of latif and khabir carries the definite article al ( 6:103 and 67:14 ), the expression huwa 'l-latif has the meaning of "He alone is unfathomable" - implying that this quality of His is unique and absolute.
No one is able to see Allah in this world, but there is extensive evidence in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ) that the believers will be able to see their Lord on the Day of Judgment.
Latif: fine, subtle, so fine and subtle as to be invisible to the physical eye; so fine as to be imperceptiable to the senses; figuratively, so pure as to be above the mental or spiritual vision of ordinary men. The active meaning should also be understood: 'One who understands the finest mysteries': Cf. xxii. 63, and n. 2844.
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I understand "Say" to be understood in the beginning of this verse. The words would then be the words of the Apostle, as in fact is suggested in verse 107 below. That is why I have enclosed them in inverted commas.
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Lit., "thou hast learned [it well]" - i.e., God's message.
Allegations have always been made that the Prophet (ﷺ) copied the Quran from the Bible, mostly because of similar narratives in both Scriptures (such as the stories of Adam, Joseph, Moses, and others). Historically, the Bible was not translated into Arabic until centuries after the Prophet (ﷺ). Even if an Arabic translation of the Bible existed at his time, he (ﷺ) could not have copied it because he could not read or write. From an Islamic point of view, similarities stem from the fact that both scriptures came originally from the same source—divine revelation. For more details, see the Introduction.
Cf. vi. 63, and n. 889.
The teaching in the Qur-an explains things by various symbols, parables, narratives, and appeals to nature. Each time, a new phase of the question is presented to our minds. This is what a diligent and earnest teacher would do, such as was Muhammad Mustafa. Those who were in searh of knowledge and had thus acquired some knowledge of spiritual things were greatly helped to understand more clearly the things of which, before the varied explanations, they had only one-sided knowledge.
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I.e., no mortal has it in his power to cause another person to believe unless God graces that person with His guidance.
God's Plan is to use the human will to co-operate in understanding Him and His relations to us. This is the answer to an objector who might say: "If He is All-powered, why does sin or evil exist in the world? Can He not destroy it?" He can, but His Plan is different, and in any case it is not for a Teacher to force any one to accept the truths which he is inspired to preach and proclaim.
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This prohibition of reviling anything that other people hold sacred - even in contravention of the principle of God's oneness - is expressed in the plural and is, therefore, addressed to all believers. Thus, while Muslims are expected to argue against the false beliefs of others, they are not allowed to abuse the objects of those beliefs and to hurt thereby the feelings of their erring fellow-men.
Lit., "thus goodly have We made ...", etc., implying that it is in the nature of man to regard the beliefs which have been implanted in him from childhood, and which he now shares with his social environment, as the only true and possible ones - with the result that a polemic against those beliefs often tends to provoke a hostile psychological reaction.
A man's actual personal religion depends upon many things, -his personal psychology, the background of his life, his hidden or repressed feelings, tendencies, or history (which psychoanalysis tries to unravel), his hereditary dispositions or antipathies, and all the subtle influences of his education and his environment. The task before the man of God is: (1) to use any of these which can subserve the higher ends, (2) to purify such as have been misused, (3) to introduce new ideas and modes of looking at things, and (4) to combat what is wrong and cannot be mended: all for the purpose of leading to the truth and gradually letting in spiritual light where there was darkness before. If that is not done with discretion and the skill of a spiritual Teacher, there may be not only a reaction of obstinacy, but an unseemly show of dishonour to the true God and His Truth, and doubts would spread among the weaker brethren whose faith is shallow and infirm. What happens to individuals is true collectively of nations or groups of people. They think in their self-obsession that their own ideas are right. God in His infinite compassion bears with them, and asks those who have purer ideas of faith not to vilify the weaknesses of their neighbours, lest the neighbours in their turn vilify the real truth and make matters even worse than before. In so far as there is active evil, He will deal with it in His own way. Of course the righteous man must not hide his light under a bushel, or compromise with evil, or refuse to establish right living where he has the power to do so.
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Lit.. "Miracles are only with God." It is to be noted that the Qur'anic term ayah denotes not only a "miracle" (in the sense of a happening that goes beyond the usual - that is, commonly observable - course of nature), but also a "sign" or "message": and the last-mentioned significance is the one which is by far the most frequently met with in the Qur'an. Thus, what is commonly described as a "miracle" constitutes, in fact, an unusual message from God, indicating - sometimes in a symbolic manner - a spiritual truth which would otherwise have remained hidden from man's intellect. But even such extraordinary, "miraculous" messages cannot be regarded as "supernatural": for the so-called "laws of nature" are only a perceptible manifestation of "God's way" (sunnat Allah) in respect of His creation - and, consequently, everything that exists and happens, or could conceivably exist or happen, is "natural" in the innermost sense of this word irrespective of whether it conforms to the ordinary course of events or goes beyond it. Now since the extraordinary messages referred to manifest themselves, as a rule, through the instrumentality of those specially gifted and divinely elected personalities known as "prophets", these are sometimes spoken of as "performing miracles" - a misconception which the Qur'an removes by the words, "Miracles are in the power of God alone". (See also 17:59 and the corresponding note [71].)
If the Unbelievers are merely obstinate, nothing will convince them. There is no story more full of miracles than the story of Jesus. Yet in that same story we are told that Jesus said: "A wicked adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas": Matt. xvi. 4. There are Signs given by God every day -understood by those who believe. A mere insistence upon some particular or special Sign meant mere contumacy and misunderstanding of the spiritual world.
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I.e., so long as they remain blind to the truth in consequence of their unwillingness to acknowledge it - and this in accordance with the law of cause and effect which God has imposed on His creation (see surah {2}, note [7]).
Where there is sheer obstinacy and ridicule of faith, the result will be that such a sinner's heart will be hardened and his eyes will be sealed, so that he cannot even see the things visible to ordinary mortals. The sinner gathers impetus in his descent towards wrong.
Cf. ii. 15. God's grace is always ready to help human weakness or ignorance and to accept repentance and give forgiveness. But where the sinner is in actual rebellion, he will be given none, and it will be his own fault if he wanders about distractedly, without any certain hope or refuge.
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