37. Surah As-Saaffaat

69 "A great distress": the distress in which they were involved at the hands of Pharaoh and his people

70 The Prophet Elias was from among the Israelite Prophets. He has been mentioned only twice in the Qur'an, here and in Surah AI-An'am: 85. The present-day scholars have determined his period between 875 and 850 B.C. He was an inhabitant of Gilead, which in ancient days was the territory now under the northern districts of the modern state of Jordan, to the south of the River Yarmuk. In the Bible he has been mentioned as Elijah the Tishbite. Here is briefly his lifestory: After the death of the Prophet Solomon the Israelite kingdom was broken up into two parts due mainly to the unworthiness of his son, Rehoboam. One part which consisted of Jerusalem and southern Palestine remained with the descendants of the Prophet David, while in the second, which comprised northern Palestine, an independent state by the name of Israel was established with Samaria as its capital. Although conditions in both the states were very bad, the state of Israel, from the very beginning, followed the path of depravity due to which the evils of polytheism and idol-worship and tyranny and wickedness went on increasing and multiplying in it endlessly; so much so that when Ahab, the king of Israel, married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon (mod., Lebanon), the mischief reached its extremity. Under the influence of this polytheistic princess Ahab himself became a polytheist. He built a temple and altar to Baal in Samaria, tried his very best to introduce and popularise Baal-worship instead of the worship of One God. and consequently, offerings began to be made publicly in the name of Baal in the Israelite towns and cities. This was the time when the Prophet Elijah (peace be upon him) appeared on the scene. He came from Gilead and gave Ahab a notice that in consequence of his sins, the land of Israel would go without rain, even without the dew. This word of the Prophet of AIlah proved to be literally true and there fell no rain in Israel for thee and a half years. At last, Ahab came to his senses and he got the Prophet Elijah searched out But Elijah, before praying for the rain, thought it necessary to snake the distinction between Allah, Lord of the worlds, and Baal plain before the people of Israel. For this purpose, he commanded that the priests of Baal would make an offering in the name of their deity, and he also would make an offering in the name of AIlah, Lord of the worlds, in front of the assembled people. Then the one whose offering would be consumed by a fire from heaven, without the agency of the human hand, the truth of his deity would be established beyond doubt. Ahab accepted this proposal. Thus, 850 of the priests of Baal assembled on Mt. Carmel to answer the challenge given by the Prophet Elijah. In this encounter the Ba'al worshippers were defeated, and the Prophet Elijah proved that Baal was 'a false god, and the real God is the One God alone who had appointed him as His Prophet. After this, Elijah got the priests of Baal slaughtered in front of the same assembly of the people; then he prayed for the rain, and his prayer was immediately answered and the whole land of Israel was saturated with water But, despite these miracles, Ahab could not shake off the influence of his polytheistic wife. Jezebel turned hostile to the Prophet Elijah and she swop that he would be put to death just as the Baal worshippers had been put to death. Under the circumstances the Prophet Elijah was compelled to leave the country and he remained lodged in a cave at the foot of Mt. Sinai for several years. The lamentation that he made to Allah, on this occasion, has been related in the Bible, in these words: 'The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (I Kings, 19: 10). About thesame time Jehoram, the ruler of the Jewish state of Jerusalem, married the daughter of Ahab, the king of Israel, and under her polytheistic influence the same evilsthat had spread in Israel also began to spread in Judah. The Prophet Elijah carried out his prophetic duty againand wrote a letter to Jehoram, the following words of which have been reported in the Bible: "Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah. But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself: Behold,with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, andthy wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day." (2 Chronicles, 21: 12-15). Whatever the Prophet Elijah had prophesied in this letter proved true. First, the kingdom of Jehoram was destroyed by the external invaders, and the enemies even carried away his wives, then he himself died of the disease of the bowels. A few years later the Prophet Elijah again went to Israel and constantly tried hard to bring Ahab, and after him his son, Ahaziah, to the right path, but the evil that had taken root in the house of the royal family of Samaria could not be eradicated. At last, due to the curse of the Prophet the family of Ahab met its doom, and then AIlah recalled his Prophet from the world. For details, see the following books of the Bible: I Kings, chs., 17, 18, 19, 21; 2 Kings, chs.; 1, 2; 2 Chronicles, ch. 21.

71 Lexically, ba al means master, chief and possessor. This word was also used for husband, and has been used in this sense at several places in the Qur'an itself, e.g. in Surah AI-Baqarah: 228, An-Nisa': 127, Hud: 72 and An-Nur: 31. However; in the ancient times the Semetic nations used it in the meaning of deity or lord; they had even given the name of Baal to a special god. The chief male god of the Phoenicians, in particular, was Baal and their chief goddess was Ashtoreth, his wife. The scholars differ as to whether Baal meant the sun or Jupiter, and Ashtoreth the moon or Venus. In any case, historically it is certain that Baal worship was prevalent from Babylon to Egypt throughout the Middle East, and the polytheistic communities of the Lebanon and Syria and Palestine, in particular, had become its devotees. When the Israelites settled in Palestine and Jordan after they came out from Egypt, they started contracting marriage and other social relations with the polytheistic nations round about them, in violation of the strict prohibitive injunctions of the Torah, the disease of idol-worship began to spread among them, too. According to the Bible, this moral and religious decline had started appearing among the Israelites soon after the death of Joshua, son of Nun, who was the first caliph of the Prophet Moses: 'And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim ...... And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtoreth." (Judges, 2: 11-13). And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites and Hivites, and Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.' (Judges, 3: 5-6). At that time worship of Baal had so deeply affected the Israelites that, according to the Bible, in one of their habitations a public altar had been built at which offerings were made to Baal. A God-worshipping Israelite could not bear the sight; so he pulled down the altar one night. Next morning a great multitude of the people gathered together and demanded that the man who had cast down the altar he put to death. (Judges, 6:25-32). This evil, at last, was put to an end by . Samuel, Saul and the Prophets David and Solomon (peace be upon them); they not only reformed the Israelites generally but also eradicated polytheism and idolworship from their kingdom. But after the death of the Prophet Solomon the mischief was again revived and the Israelite state of northern Palestine was swept away in the Hood of Baal-worship.

72 That is "Only those people will be made an exception from the punishment, who did not belie the Prophet Elijah, and whom Allah chose from among the nation for His worship. "

73 The treatment that the Israelites meted out to the Prophet Elijah in his life has been referred to above, but after his death they became so enamoured of him that they held him in the highest esteem and reverence after the Prophet Moses. They formed the belief that Elijah (peace be upon him) had been taken up alive into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings, ch. 2), and that he will come back to the world again. Thus, in Malachi (O.T.) it is written: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (4: 5). At the tune the Prophets John and Jesus (peace be upon them) appeared, the Jews were awaiting the advent of these three men: the Prophet Elias, the Christ and "that Prophet" (i.e. the Holy Prophet Muhammad). When the ministry of the Prophet John began and he slatted baptizing the people, the Jews sent priests to him to ask, "Are you the Christ ?" And he said that he was not the Christ. Then they asked, "Are you Elijah ?" And he answered that he was not Elias; then they asked, "Are you 'that Prophet'?" And he answered that he was not "that Prophet" either. Thereupon they said, "If you arc neither the Christ, nor Elias, nor that Prophet, why do you then baptize ?" (John, 1: 19-2G; j. Afterwards when the name of the Prophet Jesus spread among the people, the Jews thought that perhaps the Prophet Elias had come. (Mark, 6: 14-15). Even among the disciples of Jesus themselves the idea was common that Elias the Prophet would come, but Jesus removed their misunderstanding, saying, 'Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatever they listed." Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist and not of Elias who had appeared tight hundred years earlier. (Matthew. 11: 14; and 17: 10-131.)

74 The words in the original are: Salam-un 'ala El-ya-sin. Some commentators say that EI ya-sin is the other name of the Prophet Elias, just as Abraham is the other name of the Prophet Ibrahim; some others say that different versions of the Hebrew names were prevalent among the Arabs, e.g. one and the same angel was called Michal and Micha'il and Micha'in. The same has been the case with the name of the Prophet Elias also. In the Qur'an itself the same mountain has been called Tur Sina' and Tur Sinin.

75 This implies the wife of the Prophet Lot, who did not migrate with her illustrious husband, but remained behind with her people and was punished.

76 The reference is to the mined habitations of the people of Lot by which the Quraishite merchants passed day and night during their trade journeys to Syria and Palestine.

77 This is the third place where the Prophet Jonah (peace be upon him) has been mentioned in the Qur'an. Before this he has already been mentioned in Surah Yunus and Surah Al-Anbiya`. (For reference, please see yunus: 98 and AI-Anbiya`: 87-88 and the E.N.'s thereof).

78 The word ebaqe in Arabic is used for the flight and escape of a slave from his master's house.

79 This is what one understands from a study of these sentences: (1) The vessel which the Prophet Jonah boarded was already overloaded. (2) Lots were drawn in the vessel probably at a time when during the voyage it was felt that the lives of the passengers had been endangered due to the overloading; therefore, lots were cast to pick oat a person to be thrown overboard. (3) The lot fell on the Prophet Jonah, and so he was thrown into the sea. and a fish swallowed him. (4) The Prophet Jonah was so afflicted because he had fled and abandoned the place of his mission without the permission of his Master (Allah Almighty). This meaning is confirmed by the word abaqa as has been explained in E.N. 78 above, and also by the word mulim. Mulim IS a blameworthy person, who becomes worthy of blame by himself because of his sin and error, whether somebody else blames himfor it or not. (Ibn Jarir).

80 It has two meanings and both are implied: (1) That the Prophet Jonah was not of the people who are heedless of God, but was of those who glorify and adore Allah constantly and perpetually; and (2) that when he went inside the fish, he turned to AIlah alone and glorified Him. In Surah AI-Anbiya' it has been said: He invoked Us from the depths of the darkness, saying: `There is no god but You: Glory be to You: I am indeed blameworthy.’“ (v. 87).

81 This does not mean that the fish would have lived till Resurrection and the Prophet Jonah would have remained alive in its belly till then, but that the fish's belly would have become his grave till Resurrection. The famous commentator Qatadah has given this same meaning of this verse. (Ibn Jarir).

82 That is, "When the Prophet Jonah confessed his fault, and began to glorify AIlah like a true and sincere believer, the fish spat him up on the beach by Allah's Command. The beach was a bare plain, without any vegetation on it, or anything to provide him shade, or any means of food." . Here, the rationalists have been heard expressing the misgiving that it is impossible for a tnan to come out alive from the belly of a fish. But, towards the end of the last century, an event took place near the sea-shores of England (the centre of this so-called rationalism), which belies this claim. In August, 1891, some fishermen went to the high sea to hunt whales in a ship called Star of the East. There they injured a great fish which was 20 feet long, 5 feet wide and weighed a hundred tons, but during the struggle the fish swallowed a fisherman, .lames Bartley, in front of the very eyes of his companions. Next day the same fish was found dead on the sea. The fishermen hauled it up on board and when they cut open its belly, James Bartley came out alive. He had remained in the fish's belly for full 60 hours. (Urdu Digest, February, 1964). Obviously, when such a thing is possible in normal circumstances naturally, wiry should it be impossible under abnormal conditions as a miracle of God?

83 The Arabic word yaqtin applies to a tree which does not stand on a stem but grows and spreads like a creeper, e.g. a pumpkin, cucumber, water-melon, etc. In any case, a creeper was produced miraculously, so that its leaves should provide shade to the Prophet Jonah and its fruit should serve him both as food and as shade.

84 The mention of "a hundred thousand people or more" does not mean that Allah had any doubt about their number, but it means that a casual observer would have estimated the population to be more than a hundred thousand people in any case. Probably it was the same place which the Prophet Jonah had left and fled. After his departure when the people of the place saw the scourge approaching they believed, but this was only a kind of repentance which was accepted and the scourge averted. Now, the Prophet Jonah was again sent .to them so drat the people should believe in him as a Prophet and become Muslims formally. To understand this, one should keep in view verse 98 of Surah Yunus.

85 Some people have taken exception to what we have written concerning this story of the Prophet Jonah in our commentary of Surahs Yunus and AI-Anbiya'. It would therefore be proper that we should reproduce here the explanations given by the other commentators in this regard. The famous commentator Qatadah in his commentary of verse 98 of Surah Yunus says: There has been no habitation which disbelieved and might have believed after the arrival of the scourge, and then might have been left unpunished. The only exception were the people of the Prophet Jonah. When they searched for their Prophet and did not find him, and felt that the scourge had approached near at hand, Allah put repentance in their hearts. " (Ibn Kathir, vol. II, p. 433). Commenting on the same verse 'Allama Alusi; says: "The Prophet Jonah (peace be upon him) had been sent to the people of Nineveh in the land of Mosul. They were polytheistic people. The Prophet Jonah invited them to believe in Allah, the One, and to give up idol-worship. They refused to believe and belied him. Jonah gave them the news that they would be visited by a scourge after three days and he left the place at midnight before the expiry of the three days. Then, in the day time when the scourge approached...... and the people realized that they would alI perish, they began to search for the Prophet but did not find him. At last, they took their families and their cattle and came out in the desert and expressed belief and repentance.......So, AIlah showed them mercy and accepted their prayer. " (Ruh al-Ma ani, vol. XI, p. 170). Commenting on v. 87 of Surah Al-Anbiya', `Allama Alusi writes: "The Prophet Jonah's forsaking his people in anger was an act of migration, but he had not been commanded to do so." (Ruh al-Ma'ani, vol. XVII, p. 77). Then he explains the meaning of the sentence, "Inna kun-tu min-az-zalimin ", of Jonah's prayer, thus:`That is, I was blameworthy in that I hastened to migrate, against The way of the Prophets, before receiving the command for it. " This was, in fact, a confession of his sin and expression of repentance so that Allah might remove his affliction. (Ruh al-Ma'ani, vol. :XVII, p. 78). Maulana Ashraf `Ali Thanwi's note on this verse is: "He became angry with his people when they did not believe, and forsook them, and did not return to them of his own accord when the scourge had been averted, and did not await Our Command for the migration." (Bayan al-Qur’an). Maulana Shabbir Ahmad 'Uthmani writes in his note on this verse: "Vexed at the misconduct of his people he left the city in anger, did not await the Divine Command and threatened the people that they would be visited by a torment after three days......lnni kun-tu min az-Zalimin: He confessed his error that he had made haste and left the habitation without awaiting Allah's Command., "Explaining these verses of Surah Saaffat, Imam Razi writes: "The Prophet Jonah's fault was that when Allah threatened to destroy the people who had belied him, he thought that the scourge would inevitably befall them. Therefore, he did not show patience and abandoned his mission and left the place, whereas he ought to have continued the work of his mission, for there was a possibility that Allah might not destroy those people." (Tafsir Kabir, vol. VII, p. 158). Explaining the verse Idh abaqa......, Allama .Alusi writes: `Literally, abaqa means the escape of a slave from his master's house. Since Jonah had run away from his people without Allah's leave, the word has been rightly used about him." Then he writes: "When the third day came, the Prophet Jonah left the place without Allah's permission. Thus, when his people did not find him, they came out along with their young and old people and their cattle, and they implored Allah and begged for His forgiveness and Allah forgave them.' (Ruh al-Ma 'ani, vol. XXII, p. 13). Maulana Shabbir Ahmad 'Uthmani has explained the words wa huwa mulim thus: `The accusation against him was that he had left the city because of an error of judgement, without awaiting the Divine Command, and even specified the day for the coming of the scourge." Then Maulana Shabbir Ahmad's note on v. 48 of Surah AI-Qalam is: "Do not be perplexed and agitated with regard to the deniers like the Man of the Fish (i.e. the Prophet Jonah)." And about the sentence: wa huwa makzum of the same verse, he writes: "That is, he was full of anger against his people, so he prayed for the tomunt, rather foretold it, in fretful haste." These explanations by the commentators clearly show that there were three offences on account of which the Prophet Jonah was made to suffer Allah's displeasure: (1) That he himself fixed the day of the torment, whereas Allah had not made any declaration in this regard; (2) that he emigrated from the city even before the day came; whereas a Prophet should not leave the place of his mission until Allah commands him to do so; and (3) that he did not return to his people after the tomunt had been averted from them.