The nice comment on the book of cards identifying the surahs of the Holy Qur’an | D. Muhammad Nassif

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:03 A brief commentary

0:05 on the book *Bitaqat al-Ta'rif*

0:08 *bi-Suwar al-Mushaf al-Sharif*

0:11 by Dr. Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz Ibn 'Umar Nasif,

0:15 may Allah preserve him.

0:17 Surah at-Tin.

0:19 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:22 All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all worlds,

0:24 and may peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers,

0:27 and upon his family and all his Companions.

0:29 We are still with the brief commentary on *Bitaqat al-Ta'rif*,

0:31 and with Surah at-Tin.

0:33 I have three reflections upon it.

0:35 The first reflection concerns the placement of the surah:

0:37 it comes immediately after Surah

0:39 ash-Sharh,

0:41 and the connection between the two

0:45 is apparent. For after Surah ash-Sharh

0:47 spoke

0:50 of the most perfect of mankind

0:52 in the expansion of the chest

0:54 and the qualities

0:59 that followed it,

1:01 and as we mentioned, following him

1:04 grants a person

1:07 a share of that in proportion

1:09 to his adherence to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,

1:11 here came

1:13 this surah pointing

1:15 to

1:17 the very opposite of that,

1:22 namely the descent into the lowest

1:24 of the low. And although this pertains to the Hereafter,

1:26 it also applies

1:28 to whoever turns away from revelation.

1:30 This is because the surah points to revelation

1:33 in "By the fig and the olive,

1:35 and Mount Sinai, and this secure city,"

1:37 as will be explained in the second reflection.

1:39 Thus, in proportion to one's adherence to revelation,

1:41 a person is saved

1:43 from being reduced to the lowest of the low

1:45 after having been created in the finest stature.

1:48 And this, even though

1:50 being reduced to the lowest of the low

1:52 refers, according to a group of scholars,

1:54 to the Day of Resurrection,

1:57 nevertheless has a manifest share in this world

1:59 that you can see right before you.

2:01 You see that the one who follows revelation

2:03 experiences an expansion of the chest

2:05 and an elevation wherein his conduct aligns

2:07 and harmonizes with

2:09 his creation in the finest stature.

2:13 The other, conversely—

2:15 the one who turns away from revelation—

2:17 you may find physically well-formed,

2:19 indeed created in the finest stature,

2:21 yet his deeds

2:23 reduce him to a vile,

2:25 wretched state.

2:29 He becomes closer to a beast, if not

2:31 lower: "They are like cattle;

2:33 nay, they are even more astray."

2:36 The second reflection

2:38 concerns the theme of the surah, where Allah mentions

2:40 an oath and its response.

2:42 Notice the oath:

2:44 in it, there is mention of

2:48 the fig and the olive,

2:50 Mount Sinai,

2:52 and the mention of

2:54 the secure city.

2:57 Mount Sinai and the secure city

2:59 are unanimously recognized as locations.

3:01 As for the fig and the olive,

3:03 are they the two fruits,

3:05 or an allusion to the places

3:07 where they grow?

3:09 In Arabic rhetoric, we have the principle of

3:11 harmonious correspondence (*mura'at al-nazir*),

3:13 which means that when several things are mentioned

3:16 in a single context,

3:18 it is most appropriate that an affinity exists among them.

3:20 If you reflect upon Mount

3:22 Sinai and the secure city,

3:24 the most fitting interpretation

3:26 is that the fig

3:29 and the olive refer to the places

3:31 where figs and olives grow in the lands of

3:33 the Levant (Sham). The common denominator among all these

3:35 locations is that they are sites

3:37 where divine revelation descended—

3:39 the very revelation

3:42 that protects man from what is stated in:

3:44 "Then We reduced him

3:46 to the lowest of the low."

3:50 As for the third and final reflection,

3:52 it concerns the second section

3:54 of the surah, short though it may be.

3:56 Yet this second section deserves

3:58 careful pause because it contains an instance of grammatical shift (*iltifat*).

4:00 And *iltifat*,

4:02 according to rhetoricians,

4:05 occurs when speech proceeds

4:07 using one type of pronoun

4:10 and then shifts to another.

4:12 "We have certainly created man

4:14 in the finest stature;

4:16 then We reduced him"—

4:18 notice "reduced him,"

4:20 a third-person pronoun—

4:22 "to the lowest of the low, except for those who believe and do righteous deeds,

4:24 for they"—and here is another third-person pronoun—

4:26 "will have an uninterrupted reward."

4:28 Then He said: "So what causes you to deny..."

4:30 He did not say:

4:32 "So what causes them to deny..."

4:37 This rhetorical device,

4:40 this method of *iltifat*, arrests the listener's attention

4:42 through the sudden change in the mode of address,

4:44 just as a person might raise his voice

4:46 to alert the listener

4:48 that he has moved to a new topic

4:50 or to a crucial statement.

4:53 And here, it serves that very purpose.

4:55 The topic is not entirely new; it is intimately tied to what preceded,

4:57 but it is a momentous statement

4:59 conveying a sharp rebuke.

5:01 It is framed outwardly as a rhetorical question,

5:03 though our Lord is All-Knowing of everything.

5:05 Thus, it is a rebuke

5:07 directed at whoever denies the Day of Judgment

5:09 after these clear

5:11 proofs,

5:13 despite knowing that Allah

5:15 is the Most Just of judges.

5:17 Among the signs subtly indicated here

5:19 is that those who adhere to revelation

5:21 remain in an elevated,

5:24 virtuous state wherein their actions

5:26 are in harmony

5:28 with their original creation

5:30 and their being fashioned in the finest stature,

5:32 unlike those who distance themselves from revelation.

5:34 You can observe this across different

5:36 religions: the more a religion

5:38 is corrupted and far-removed

5:40 from the truth,

5:42 the more its adherents fall

5:44 to the lowest of the low in this worldly life,

5:46 alongside what Allah has prepared for them in the Hereafter.

5:48 I ask Allah to grant us repentance

5:50 and to cause us to die in a state pleasing to Him.

5:52 And Allah knows best. May Allah send blessings and mercy

5:54 upon his family and Companions.

The nice comment on the book of cards identifying the surahs of the Holy Qur’an | D. Muhammad Nassif | Surat Al-Tin

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