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The word "Lord" by itself is an inadequate rendering here for Rabb. For it implies cherishing, guarding from harm, sustaining, granting all the means and opportunities of development. See n. 20 to i. 2. For shortness, perhaps "Guardian-Lord" will be sufficient in the Text.
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I.e., He endows it with inner coherence and with qualities consistent with the functions which it is meant to perform, and thus adapts it a priori to the exigencies of its existence.
The story of Creation is wonderful and continuous. There are several processes which we contemplate in glorifying Allah's name. First, He brings us into being. Secondly, He endows us with forms and faculties exactly suited to what is expected of us, and to the environments in which our life will be cast, giving to everything due order and proportion.
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Cf. the last sentence of 25:2 and the corresponding note [3]; also 20:50 and note [31].
Thirdly, He has ordained laws and decrees, by which we can develop ourselves and fit ourselves into His whole scheme of evolution for all His Creation. He has measured exactly the needs of all, and given us instincts and physical predispositions which fit into His decrees. Fourthly, He gives us guidance, so that we are not the sport of mechanical laws. Our reason and our will are exercised, that we may reach the higher destiny of man.
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Fifthly, after maturity comes decay. But even in that decay, as when green pasture tums to stubble, we subserve other ends. In so far as we are animals, we share these processes with other forms of material Creation, animal, vegetable, and even mineral, which all have their appointed laws of growth and decay. But man's higher destiny is referred to in subsequent verses.
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I.e., metonymically, "who brings forth life and deals death".
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The soul, as it reaches the Light of Allah, makes gradual progress, like a man going from darkness into light. So the Qur-an was revealed by stages. So all revelation from Allah comes by stages. As usual, there are two parallel meanings: (1) that connected with the occasion of direct inspiration to the holy Prophet; and (2) the more general Message to mankind for all time. Everyone who understands the Message must declare it, in words, and still more, in his conduct.
The particular occasion was an assurance to the Prophet, that though he was unleftered, the Message given to him would be preserved in his heart and in the hearts of men. The more general sense is that mankind, having once seized great spiritual truths, will hold fast to them, except as qualified in the following verse.
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The classical commentators assume that the above words are addressed specifically to the Prophet, and that, therefore, they relate to his being taught the Qur'an and being promised that he would not forget anything thereof, "save what God may will [thee to forget]". This last clause has ever since given much trouble to the commentators, inasmuch as it is not very plausible that He who has revealed the Qur'an to the Prophet should cause him to forget anything of it. Hence, many unconvincing explanations have been advanced from very early times down to our own days, the least convincing being that last refuge of every perplexed Quran-commentator, the "doctrine of abrogation" (refuted in my note [87] on 2:106 ). However, the supposed difficulty of interpretation disappears as soon as we allow ourselves to realize that the above passage, though ostensibly addressed to the Prophet, is directed at man in general, and that it is closely related to an earlier Quranic revelation - namely, the first five verses of surah {96} ("The Germ-Cell") and, in particular, verses {3-5}, which speak of God's having "taught man what he did not know". In note [3] on those verses I have expressed the opinion that they allude to mankind's cumulative acquisition of empirical and rational knowledge, handed down from generation to generation and from one civilization to another: and it is to this very phenomenon that the present passage, too, refers. We are told here that God, who has formed man in accordance with what he is meant to be and has promised to guide him, will enable him to acquire (and thus, as it were, "impart" to him) elements of knowledge which mankind will accumulate, record and collectively "remember" - except what God may cause man to "forget" (in another word, to abandon) as having become redundant by virtue of his new experiences and his acquisition of wider, more differentiated elements of knowledge, empirical as well as deductive or speculative, including more advanced, empirically acquired skills. However, the very next sentence makes it clear that all knowledge arrived at through our observation of the external world and through speculation, though necessary and most valuable, is definitely limited in scope and does not, therefore, in itself suffice to give us an insight into ultimate truths.
I.e., all that is intrinsically beyond the reach of human perception (al-ghayb): the implication being that, since human knowledge must forever remain imperfect, man cannot really find his way through life without the aid of divine revelation.
Meaning, We will have you memorize the revelations and apply the rulings contained in them, unless one ruling is replaced by another.
There can be no question of this having any reference to the abrogation of any verses of the Qur-an. For this Sura is one of the earliest revealed, being placed about eighth according to the most accepted chronological order. While the basic principles of Allah's Law remain the same, its form, expression, and application have varied from time to time, e.g., from Moses to Jesus, and from Jesus to Muhammad. It is one of the beneficent mercies of Allah that we should forget some things of the past, lest our minds become confused and our development is retarded. Besides, Allah knows what is manifest and what is hidden, and His Will and Plan work with supreme wisdom and goodness.
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I.e., towards an ease of the mind and peace of the spirit.
The Islamic way of life which brings about ease in this life and salvation in the next.
The Path of Islam is simple and easy. It depends on no abstruse mysteries or self-mortifications, but on straight and manly conduct in accordance with the laws of man's nature as implanted in him by Allah (xxx. 30). On the other hand, spiritual perfection may be most difficult, for it involves complete surrender on our part to Allah in all our affairs, thoughts, and desires: but after that surrender Allah's Grace will make our path easy.
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Thus Baghawi, as well as Razi in one of his alternative interpretations of this phrase.
This is not so strong as the Biblical phrase, "Cast not pearls before swine" (Man. vii. 6). The cases where admonition does produce spiritual profit and where it does not, are mentioned below in verses 10 and 11-13 respectively. Allah's Message should be proclaimed to all: but particular and personal admonitions are also due to those who attend and in whose hearts is the fear of Allah; in the case of those who run away from it and dishonour it, such particular and personal admonition is useless. They are the unfortunate ones who prepare their own ruin.
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The Great Fire is the final Penalty or Disaster in the Hereafter, as contrasted with the minor Penalties or Disasters from which all evil suffers from within in this very life.
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I.e., in consequence of having remained aloof from the divine reminder. (Cf. {74:2-29}.)
A terrible picture of those who ruin their whole future by evil lives here below. They introduce a discord into Creation, while life should be one great universal concord. And their past clings to them as part of their own will. They are not even like the dry swarthy stubble mentioned in verse 5 above, which grew naturally out of the luscious pasture, for they have grown harmful, in defiance of their own nature. "Neither die nor five": Cf. xx. 74.
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Prosper. in the highest sense; attain to Bliss or Salvation; as opposed to "enter the Fire".
The first process in godliness is to cleanse ourselves in body, mind, and soul. Then we shall be in a fit state to see and proclaim the Glory of Allah. That leads us to our actual absorption in Praise and Prayer.
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