Part of The Gentle Commentary (series completed)
· Lesson 66 of 117
The nice comment on the book of cards identifying the surahs of the Holy Qur’an | D. Muhammad Nassif | Surah Al-Hujurat
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The Graceful Commentary
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on the book "Identification Cards
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for the Surahs of the Noble Mus-haf"
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by Dr. Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Aziz Ibn Umar Nasif,
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may Allah preserve him.
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Surah al-Hujurat.
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all worlds,
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and may peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers,
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and upon his family and all his Companions.
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We are still continuing with the graceful commentary on the identification cards,
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and we have arrived at Surah al-Hujurat.
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I would like to make three brief points regarding it.
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The first point pertains to the surah's placement in the Mus-haf:
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the author noted that it is the forty-ninth surah,
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and its correlation with Surah al-Fath is that both are Medinan;
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furthermore, al-Fath addresses fighting the disbelievers,
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whereas al-Hujurat addresses fighting rebels.
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From this, I wish to branch off into an important matter:
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there was never among the Muslims,
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during the lifetime of the Master of the Messengers
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while the Qur'an was descending,
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any fighting between Muslims.
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However, the Qur'an
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was not revealed merely to govern
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people
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exclusively at the time of its revelation;
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rather, it was revealed to serve as an enduring authority
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for Muslims in every time and place.
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Indeed, the entire world cannot properly function
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unless the Qur'an is upheld,
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implemented by man
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upon this earth,
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beginning with Tawhid and extending to the last
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conceivable rulings and legislations.
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Who, then, informed the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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that fighting might one day break out among the believers?
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Who made him aware of that?
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It was none other than divine revelation!
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"And if two factions among the believers fight..."
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was an occurrence that never crossed anyone's mind
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at the time the Qur'an was revealed,
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yet it did come to pass later on,
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and not after a very long time either.
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Today, when
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events unfolded during
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the coronavirus pandemic
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and the muezzins called out,
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"Pray in your dwellings,"
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do you not see the sheer greatness of this religion?
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What occurred
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during the days
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of the Prophet's life, peace be upon him,
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served as the foundational fountainhead
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from which
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the jurists drew
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for every single ruling they articulated thereafter.
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Is there anyone
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who can rival the Muslims
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in anything like this?
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Do other nations possess anything that guides them
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on how to respond to unprecedented, novel events?
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This is truly the final religion,
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conveyed by the Seal of the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon him.
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The second point
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concerns the theme of the surah.
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Up to this point, one can say
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from examining the contents
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of its sections, and connecting it to the surah
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before it,
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that its theme is clarifying the morals
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of the believers. Here we should refine the phrasing—
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there is an alteration in the wording here,
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and I do not know its exact source—
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its theme is clarifying the morals
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through which they become deserving
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of victory
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from the Lord of the worlds.
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This is the correct formulation
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for this sentence,
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and it accords with what has been noted
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by some scholars of Tafsir:
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namely, that
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Surah al-Fath spoke—
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rather, the Surah of Fighting,
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the Surah of Fighting,
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Surah Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him—
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spoke about fighting,
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then al-Fath followed it,
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and then Surah al-Hujurat came to clarify the moral conduct through which victory is attained after
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fighting. We cannot review all those morals here, but ponder
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His statement in this brief, profound clause: "The believers are but brothers."
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Can Muslims ever attain victory while failing to conduct themselves according to
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this divine decree: "The believers are but brothers"? Otherwise, the morals in this surah
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are plentiful; it begins with proper conduct toward Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him, then
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mentions how Muslims should treat one another. Ponder: "Let not a people ridicule another people," among other
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verses that clarify why victory is delayed for Muslims. As for the third
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and final point, it concerns what was mentioned regarding the occasions of revelation for this surah. The author noted
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that it has six occasions, and that some may help establish a precise chronology of its revelation.
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I gave an example and previously stated that in establishing precise chronology,
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I always use phrases such as "may help," because in reality it requires
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an exhaustive survey of narrations. Among these narrations mentioned here,
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an occasion of revelation is cited concerning the delegation of Banu Tamim—the arrival of the Banu Tamim delegation.
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It is well known that delegations arrived mostly in the ninth year of the Hijrah,
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but if all narrations were compiled, a more precise timeframe might emerge within that ninth year.
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That year contains twelve months, so in which month did Banu Tamim arrive? This can be determined
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through meticulous research, scrutinizing the narrations, and compiling them beforehand.
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I conclude by stressing that such precise chronological determination brings to light much of
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the Qur'an's eloquence, the exactitude of its expressions, and their complete suitability to the circumstance
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and context in which those verses were spoken or revealed. This is an extensive endeavor—
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I mean establishing the precise chronology of the Qur'anic verses is a vast undertaking requiring a team of
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researchers dedicated to serving this cause, illuminating the eloquence of the Qur'an and displaying
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its inimitability. With this I conclude; may Allah send blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon
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his family and all his Companions, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all worlds.