13. Surah Ar-Ra'd

Commentary This Surah is Makki and it has a total of forty three verses. Mentioned in this Surah too there are subjects such as the truth and veracity of the Holy Qur'an, Tauhid (Oneness of Allah), Risalah (Prophethood) and answers to doubts raised about them. The first group of letters: المر (Alif, Lam, Meem, Ra) are isolated Letters (Al-Huruf al-Muqattaat) the meaning of which are known to Allah Ta’ ala alone. The Ummah has not been informed of its meaning. It is not appropriate for the Muslim Ummah at large to indulge in investigations about them. The first verse says that the Holy Qur'an is Divine Word, and that it is true. The word, الْكِتَابِ (Al-Kitab: The Book) means the Qur’ an, and it is possible that the expression which follows it, that is, الَّذِي أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّ‌بِّكَ (And what has been sent down to you from your Lord) might as well mean the Qur’ an itself. But, the connective (the waw of ` atf translated as 'And' ) obviously requires that الْكِتَابِ (Al-kitab: The Book) and الَّذِي أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ (what has been sent down to you) should be two separate things. In that case, Al-Kitab or The Book would signify the Qur'an and (what has been sent down to you) would mean the revelation (Wahy), other than that of the Qur’ an, which has been sent down to the Holy Prophet ﷺ - because, it goes without saying, that the revelation sent to the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not restricted to the Qur'an alone. The Qur'an itself says وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ (53:3) It means: Whatever the Holy Prophet ﷺ says, he does not say on his own, out of some desire of his; instead, it is a message revealed to him from Allah Ta'ala. It proves that the orders given by the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، other than those appearing in the Qur’ an, are also no other but those sent from Allah. The only difference between the two is that the Qur’ an is recited (matluww) while the later is not (ghayr matluww). The rationale for this difference is that the meanings and the words of the Qur’ an are both from Allah Ta’ ala, while, in the case of the rules of conduct (Ahkam) given by the Holy Prophet ﷺ in Hadith - in addition to those in the Qur'an - their meanings too are, no doubt, revealed from Allah Ta’ ala, but their words are not revealed from Him. Therefore, they cannot be recited in Salah. Thus, the verse comes to mean that the Quran and its injunctions sent down to the Holy Prophet ﷺ are all true and in them there is no room for doubt. But, most people, due to their lack of concern and deliberation, do not come around to believe in them. That Allah Ta` ala exists and that He is One has been emphasized in the second verse. The proof stands obvious. Look at what has been created and ponder over the matchless mastery with which everything was created. One can come to only one conclusion that their maker has abso-lute power over everything and that He controls all creations and universes as the master.

It was said: اللَّـهُ الَّذِي رَ‌فَعَ السَّمَاوَاتِ بِغَيْرِ‌ عَمَدٍ تَرَ‌وْنَهَا Allah is the One who raised the heavens without pillars. You see them. On Seeing the Sky It is generally said that the blue colour we see up is the colour of the sky. But physicists say that we see it so because of the intermingling of light and dark. Below, there is the light from the stars, and above, it is dark. As a result, the onlooker outside sees it as blue, similar to the reflection of light on deep water which appears blue. There are verses of the Qur'an where seeing the sky has been mentioned, as has been done in this very verse which says: تَرَوْنَهَا (You see them), and the words appearing in another verse (88:18) are: وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُ‌فِعَتْ ' (And do you not see) towards the sky as to how it has been raised - 88:18.) ' First of all, the scientific determination of physicists does not stand counter to it because it is possible that the colour of the sky might as well be bluish, or may have some other colour, but it is sighted as blue due to the admixture of the dark behind and the light in between. Moreover, the possibility that the colour of the sky is a component of the atmosphere cannot be rejected as supported by valid proof. Then, it is also possible that places where 'seeing the sky' has been mentioned in the Qur’ an, the expression employed there may be legal and figurative aiming to establish that the existence of the sky stands proved under decisive arguments and is as good as seen. (Ruh al-Ma’ ani) After that, it was said: ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْ‌شِ Then He positioned Himself on the Throne ... This mode of taking over the Seat of Power is beyond human comprehension. Understanding it is impossible. Here, it is sufficient to believe that this state of Istiwa' or positioning on the Arsh' or Throne is something matching with the Divine Status as due, and that is what is meant here. In the next sentence: وَسَخَّرَ‌ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ‌ ۖ كُلٌّ يَجْرِ‌ي لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى (and subjugated the sun and the moon, each one running to an appointed time), the word: سَخَّرَ : translated as 'subjugated' means that they both are constantly doing what they have been assigned to do. Thousands of years have gone by but there never has been the least increase or decrease in their movement, nor do they get tired, nor do they ever start doing something else contrary to what they have been programmed to do. As for their 'running to an appointed time,' it could also mean that both of them are moving on to the same appointed time which stands determined as the final term called Qiyamah or Doomsday for this entire world of our experi-ence. Once they reach that stage in time, this whole system of theirs will reach its end. And it could also mean that Allah Ta’ ala has determined a particular speed and orbit for every planet. It always keeps moving on its orbit at the speed set for it. The Moon completes its orbit in one month and the Sun does it in a year. Certainly mind-boggling is the very presence of these great planets. Then, no less astonishing is the phenomena of their flawless functioning. Here they are moving on a particular orbit maintaining a particular speed precisely and perfectly for thousands of years in a state that their machinery faces no wear and tear or breakage, nor does it require any kind of greasing or servicing. Think of the revolutionary advancements of science in human technology in our day. Can any human invention around match this model? The truth is that it is impossible to locate even a thousandth part of it anywhere in the world despite human ingenuity being at its highest pinnacle. This great system of nature is delivering a message, very loud and very clear. It is telling us that there certainly is some Being who has made, moved and maintained this system, a Being far beyond the reach of human perception and intelligence. In Reality, It is Allah who Makes Things Work for Human Beings while Their Role in It is Nominal After that comes the powerful statement: يُدَبِّرُ‌ الْأَمْرَ‌ (He manages all matters). If man so pleased with the ways and means which help make things work for him were to open his eyes, he would realize that his plans and measures could neither create nor make things in the real sense. The outcome of all his efforts and workings is no more than getting to learn how to make the best use of what has been created by Allah Ta’ ala. Besides, even the system of harnessing what is universally available for use is outside the ambit of power exercised by human beings. The reason is that human beings depend on hundreds and thousands of others like him, and on animals, and on many other live and inert members of Divine creation. These they cannot put on their jobs just by dint of their plans and efforts. This is the function of the Divine power. It has linked up everything, as if in a chain, and in a way that everything gets to be drawn into the desired action. You need to build a house. You find a whole range of servers from the architect to the builder and the finisher, hundreds of human beings offering their career and craft all set to answer your call. You need building materials. They lie stacked in stores and shops ready to be delivered where you want them. Was it within your power and control to assemble all these things on your own just by the brute force of your money or measures and, on top of it, commission all those human beings into your service? Let us part with your individual example at this point. The fact is that this system cannot be established and activated through the force of law, even by the mightiest of the mighty government anywhere in the world. There is no doubt about the fact that the logistic support of this viably running universal system is the work of Allah Ta` ala alone, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining Sustainer of all (Al-Haiyy, Al-Qaiyyum). If human beings still hasten to claim that all this comes from their plans and workings, there is not much that can be said about their claim, for ignorance shall remain what it is. The next sentence in the verse is: يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ (making the signs plain). It may mean the verses of the Qur’ an which have been revealed by Allah Ta’ ala in details and then, it was through the Holy Prophet ﷺ that He elaborated and explained them. And the word, الْآيَاتِ (al-ayat) could also mean the 'signs' of the most perfect power of Allah Ta` ala which are spread out in the heavens and the earth, even in the very existence of human beings themselves. These are before human sight all the time and everywhere, so many and so plain. Said in the last sentence of the verse was: لَعَلَّكُم بِلِقَاءِ رَ‌بِّكُمْ تُوقِنُونَ (so that you may be sure of meeting your Lord). This means that Allah Ta` ala has initiated and activated this whole universe and its astonishing system of operation so that by pondering over it you may come to believe in and become certain of the Hereafter ('Akhirah) and the Doomsday (Qiyamah). The reason is that once you have pondered over the creation of this universe and its wonderous system, any likelihood of doubting that it may be beyond the power of Allah Ta’ ala to resurrect human beings in the Hereafter simply cannot be entertained. And once we realize that it is within His power, and possible, and that it has been reported by no less a person than the one about whom it is universally settled that he never said anything in his whole life which was not the truth - then, there remains no room for doubt that this phenomena is real, actual and proven.

In the next verse (3), it was said: وَهُوَ الَّذِي مَدَّ الْأَرْ‌ضَ وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَ‌وَاسِيَ وَأَنْهَارً‌ا And He is the One who spread out the earth and made mountains and rivers therein. The expression: 'spread out the earth' is not contradictory of its being round - because each part of something very big and round appears to be, when looked at separately, nothing but a surface spread out - and the Qur’ an addresses common people in terms of their view of things. Since a common onlooker sees it as a spread-out surface, therefore, it was identified as such. Then, to keep it balanced and make it full of other benefits, high and heavy mountains were placed on it. Besides providing weight and balance, these mountains store and supply water for the whole creation. To accomplish this, an unimaginably big storage of water is placed on their peaks in the form of a frozen sea. This snow has no re-servoir and certainly needs no monolithic structures, overhead or under-ground, to hold this supply of water. And the water thus stored cannot go bad or made impure. Then, nature has its own pipelines under the ground through which water is distributed all over the world. Some-where they show up in the form of rivers flowing freely along with their tributaries; and at other places, wells are dug to tap water from these hidden pipelines. In the next sentence of verse 3, it was said: وَمِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَ‌اتِ جَعَلَ فِيهَا زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْن (and of all the fruits, He created therein the pairs of two). It means that Allah has created fruits of many kinds from this earth and made each one of two kinds: small and big, red, white, sweet and sour. It is also possible that the meaning of 'zawjayn' (pairs) is not restricted to only two. Instead, it may be referring to several kinds the least number of which is two, therefore, it was termed as 'the pairs of two.' And it is not so unlikely that 'pairs' refers to the male and female, as we know about many trees which have males and females, for example, the date-palm and the papayah. Possibility of this being the case with other trees as well does exist, though not yet proved by relevant research about all of them. The next sentence of the verse declares: يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ (He makes the night cover the day). It means that He brings the night after the light of the day, as if something bright has been totally screened off from sight. The last sentence of the verse: إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُ‌ونَ translated as 'surely, in that there are signs for a people who think,' means that there is no doubt about the fact that many signs of the most perfect power of Allah Ta’ ala are present all over for those who care to think about and deliberate in the arrangement and system of this whole universe.

In the fourth verse it was said: وَفِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ قِطَعٌ مُّتَجَاوِرَ‌اتٌ وَجَنَّاتٌ مِّنْ أَعْنَابٍ وَزَرْ‌عٌ وَنَخِيلٌ صِنْوَانٌ وَغَيْرُ‌ صِنْوَانٍ يُسْقَىٰ بِمَاءٍ وَاحِدٍ وَنُفَضِّلُ بَعْضَهَا عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِي الْأُكُلِ And in the earth there are tracts of land neighboring each other and gardens of grapes and farms and date-palms, having twin or single trunks, watered with one water. And We make some better than others in taste. Surely, in that there are signs for a people who understand. Being pointed out here is that many tracts of land, despite being joined together, are different in their inherent properties. Some are good and soft, others are saline or hard. Some are good for farming while others grow gardens, of grapes and dates. Of the date-palms, some grow to have two trunks like other trees while others have only one. Then, all these fruits, though they come out of the same land and are watered by the same water and are touched by the rays of the sun and the glow of the moon and the draft of different winds in a uniform manner, yet there remains among them the difference of colour and taste and size. Despite their being in such proximity with each other, the varied difference among them is a strong and clear proof of the fact that this whole system of creation is operating under the command of someone who is wise and knows how to plan, manage and run His creation. This has nothing to do with the postulates of the theory of evolution, as some ignorant people would like to believe. If these were the outcome of the stages of material development, how could we explain the element of difference among them despite all matter being common? One fruit grows on a tract of land in one season while another grows in the other. On one single branch of one tree, the fruits could be different in kinds, sizes and tastes! Said in the last sentence of the verse (4) was: إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ (Surely, in that there are signs for a people who understand). It means that there are in it, absolutely without doubt, many signs of the power and greatness of Allah Ta’ ala which go on to prove that He is One and that He alone is worthy of worship. By saying that these signs are 'for a people who understand,' the hint released is that those who do not think about these things are not the people of understanding, no matter how highly they are rated and advertized for their intellect and intelligence.

Commentary Contained in the first three verses cited above (5-7) there is a refutation of the doubts expressed by the disbelievers about prophethood. Along with it, added there is a warning of punishment for deniers. 1. The first of the three doubts they had was about people returning to life after having been dead and according to them, the whole idea of accounting and retribution on the Day of Resurrection was improbable and irrational. On this basis, they used to belie the prophets and rejected their claim to prophethood. This doubt of theirs has been mentioned in the following verse of the Holy Qur’ an: هَلْ نَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَ‌جُلٍ يُنَبِّئُكُمْ إِذَا مُزِّقْتُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّكُمْ لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ (34:7). Here, to ridicule the prophets, it has been said by the disbelievers: 'Come, we shall introduce you to a man who tells you that you, once dead, shall be shredded into pieces and the molecules of the earth you are made of shall also spread out all over the earth, then, at that time, you shall be created anew - Saba, 34:7.' The Proof of Rising Again After Death The answer to this doubt of theirs has been given in the first of the present verses cited above (5) by saying: وَإِن تَعْجَبْ فَعَجَبٌ قَوْلُهُمْ أَإِذَا كُنَّا تُرَ‌ابًا أَإِنَّا لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ Here, the address is to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He is being told that he may be wondering about the attitude of the disbelievers who refuse to believe in him as a prophet of Allah despite having seen clear signs of his being a prophet, and strangely enough, at the same time, they go about believing in lifeless rocks which have neither sense nor consciousness, and who do not have the power to bring benefit to or loss on their own selves, therefore, they could hardly be expected to grant any benefit to anyone. Certainly, far more surprising is their statement: 'Is it that, once we are dead, we shall be created anew?' The Holy Qur’ an has not spelled out the reason for this 'wonder' explicitly because, in the previous verses, by describing the wondrous manifestations of the most perfect power of Allah Ta` ala, it has been proved that He is the master of absolute power. It is He who brought the entire creation from the state of non-being into the state of being. Then, He endowed into the being of everything so many varied elements of wisdom which human beings cannot even comprehend fully. From this it is obvious that the Being who can make something come into existence for the first time from total nothingness shall hardly have any difficulty in making it come into existence once again. When human beings try to make something new, they do have to remove some difficulties the first time they do it. But, when they wish to make the same thing again, things become easy. Thus, what is really surprising is that these disbelievers do seem to believe that the Creator has created the whole universe with limitless wisdom. How then, can they consider its recreation as improbable and irrational? Perhaps, the big problem before the deniers is what happens after death. After death, when dust returns to dust, whatever human beings are composed of gets spread out all over the earth. Winds carry them far and wide besides other causes, agents and means helping human remains get dispersed universally. Then, there will come that promised Day of Doom, the Qiyamah. Then, they wonder, how could all that scattered dust be put together, and how, even if gathered together, can they be made to rise again (as they were)? But, what they fail to see is that the form in which they exist at that time holds the key to their problem with comprehension. Is it not that particles from all over the world lie gathered together in them while they exist? Particles brought by water and wind from the far and near corners of the world get mingled with human intake and become part of a person's body. Most of the time the poor soul is not even aware of the fact that the morsel of food going down his or her throat comes from God knows how many areas of the world, Africa, America, or the countries of the Asian continent. Is it not that there is only One such Being who, through His wondrous wisdom and mastery of management, has made every single human being, and animal, stand to exist by assembling together scattered particles from all over the world? Now, if He can do that today, how can this become difficult for him tomorrow? Why would he not be capable of reassembling all those scattered particles back into the form they were? Specially so, when all powers of the world, the wind and water and the rest, are subservient to Him and obey His command. If He elects to beckon the wind, the water and the atmosphere to come forth and deposit all particles they contain, would they not but obey? Why would this be any problem and why would its impossibility bother anyone? The truth of the matter is that the disbelievers have simply failed to recognize the power of Allah Ta’ ala. They think of His Power on the analogy of their own power - though everything in the heavens and the earth and in what lies in between them does possess a comprehension and consciousness of their relative status in the scheme of the Divine arrangement of things, and they pointedly move under Divine command. In short, what is a matter of surprise is the refusal of the disbelievers to believe in the truth of prophethood. And what is still more surprising is their refusal to believe in rising again on the day of Judgment and in having to stand to account for their deeds on that day! After that, mention has been made of the punishment of hostile deniers of the truth. It has been said that these people not simply that they refuse to accept a prophet of Allah as such; rather what they do in reality is that they deny the very existence of their Lord. Their punishment will be that shackles will be placed round their necks and they shall live in Hell for ever. 2. The second doubt expressed by the deniers of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was: 'If you are, in reality, the prophet and messenger of Allah, then, the warnings of punishments you announce against the opponents of prophets should materialize - why is it that this punishment would not come? The answer given appears in the next verse in the following words:

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.