Featured

Surah Hajj, Ayahs 1-6 (Part 585)

389ae0f9ac6be16925ff1375e6d3a51c_L

In the Name of God, the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful,
Salaam and welcome to your favorite weekly edition of Path Towards Enlightenment. As you might recall, last week we completed explanation of Surah Anbiya, with a promise to take up the next Surah, that is, the 22nd of the holy Qur’an, titled Surah Hajj or Pilgrimage.
Let us listen to ayahs 1 and 2 of the said Surah:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَ‌بَّكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ
يَوْمَ تَرَ‌وْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْ‌ضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْ‌ضَعَتْ وَتَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا وَتَرَ‌ى النَّاسَ سُكَارَ‌ىٰ وَمَا هُم بِسُكَارَ‌ىٰ وَلَـٰكِنَّ عَذَابَ اللَّـهِ شَدِيدٌ
“O mankind! Be wary of your Lord! Indeed the quake of the Hour is a terrible thing.”
“The day that you will see it, every suckling female will neglect what she suckled, and every pregnant female will deliver her burden, and you will see the people drunk, yet they will not be drunk, but Allah’s punishment is severe.” (22:1&2)
Surah Hajj starts with a warning about the occurrence of the Day of Resurrection, in order to caution mankind against being blindly immersed in worldly affairs without a thought for heeding the words of God, the purpose of creation and where we are all headed. It means to say the Day of Resurrection will dawn with a terrible quake, so scary, that the people will become bewildered as the drunkards are when they lose their senses, with suckling mothers oblivious of their dear babies and pregnant women terrified to such an extent that they will deliver prematurely at the sight of divine wrath. Thus in order to awaken our conscience and to save us from destruction brought about by our own sinister acts, the All-Merciful God warns us of the consequences of sins and negligence of virtue and righteousness.
From these ayahs we learn that:
1- Salvation on the Day of Resurrection lies in leading a virtuous life of faith and piety in this world.
2- Mere belief in resurrection without visualizing its terrible calamities and taking practical steps to abstain from what God has forbidden does not save one from the lure and temptations of a worthlessly worldly life.
Now we listen to ayahs 3 and 4 of Surah Haj:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُجَادِلُ فِي اللَّـهِ بِغَيْرِ‌ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّبِعُ كُلَّ شَيْطَانٍ مَّرِ‌يدٍ
كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ مَن تَوَلَّاهُ فَأَنَّهُ يُضِلُّهُ وَيَهْدِيهِ إِلَىٰ عَذَابِ السَّعِيرِ‌
“Among the people are those who dispute about Allah without any knowledge, and follow every rebellious devil.”
“About whom it has been decreed that should anyone take him for a friend, he will lead him astray, and conduct him toward the punishment of the Blaze.” (22:3&4)
These ayahs refer to the root cause of atheism, that is, denial of God Almighty, the Source of all creation; and point out that such grossly ignorant attitude is the result of following every devilish tendency, rather than using the intellect and wisdom to achieve salvation. The next ayah says that whoever makes the error of following the Satan is led astray and towards the fires of hell.
From these ayahs we learn that:
1- Reason and logic are salvaging factors, while bias, prejudice, egotism, and blind perusal of desires, leads to self-destruction.
2- Those lured by the temptations of the devil, and led astray, and if they fail to wake up from their slumbers, end up in the depths of Inferno.
Now we listen to ayahs 5 and 6 of Surah Haj:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِي رَ‌يْبٍ مِّنَ الْبَعْثِ فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن تُرَ‌ابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ‌ مُخَلَّقَةٍ لِّنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ ۚ وَنُقِرُّ‌ فِي الْأَرْ‌حَامِ مَا نَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخْرِ‌جُكُمْ طِفْلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشُدَّكُمْ ۖ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَ‌دُّ إِلَىٰ أَرْ‌ذَلِ الْعُمُرِ‌ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِن بَعْدِ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا ۚ وَتَرَ‌ى الْأَرْ‌ضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا الْمَاءَ اهْتَزَّتْ وَرَ‌بَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّـهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّهُ يُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ وَأَنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ‌
“O people! If you are in doubt about the resurrection, [consider that] We indeed created you from dust, then from a drop of [seminal] fluid, then from a clinging mass, then from a fleshy tissue, partly formed and partly unformed, so that We may manifest [Our power] to you. We establish in the wombs whatever We wish for a specified term, then We bring you forth as infants, then [We rear you] so that you may come of age. [Then] there are some of you who are taken away, and there are some of you who are relegated to the nethermost age, so that he knows nothing after [having possessed] some knowledge. And you see the earth torpid, yet when We send down water upon it, it stirs and swells, and grows every delightful kind [of plant].”
“That is because Allah is the Reality and it is He who revives the dead, and He has power over all things.” (22:5&6)
These ayahs refer to two clear proofs and reasons for the inevitable occurrence of resurrection. God Almighty points to the stages of creation a person goes through from a mere speck of dust that by means of food is transformed into a drop of seminal fluid that passes through various stages in the womb of a mother, to take the shape of an embryo with bones until birth in the form of a full-fledged baby, having all faculties and senses that either becomes lifeless in any specified period of life or grows into youth, middle age and old age, before eventually meeting death.
The other sign of God’s infinite power to raise the dead to life – millenniums later – in their original forms even after becoming dust, is the earth, which looks torpid and lifeless, but when rain falls it comes to life with a variety of plants and vegetation in full bloom on its surface before dying, and this cycle is repeated every season. In our daily life, whether regarding human procreation or the seasonal cycle of the plants and trees, we witness these undeniable wonders, which are indeed proofs of the Day of Resurrection.
This precisely perfect description of the stages of pregnancy until birth, by the holy Qur’an almost a millennium and five centuries ago, when human knowledge had yet no clue about the beginning of life and the gradual transformation in the womb, is without doubt among its eternal miracles. Reflection upon old age and the loss of human capabilities including memory, even in scientific geniuses, provides us another proof of the Infinite Power of God, Who is fully capable of not just restoring to life but to their original shapes and sizes all human beings, long reduced to dust. Thus, along with the annual cyclic evolution of vegetation, beginning of each and every person’s life is a pointer towards the Day of Resurrection.
From these ayahs we learn that:
1- Those who deny the reality of Resurrection are living in self-deception and should open up their eyes to the factors of evolution of mankind and animals, as mentioned in these ayahs, in order to remove doubts from their minds, so as to become free of satanic temptations.
2- Ignorance and doubts are diseases of the human soul and mind, even in those who wrongly think of themselves as intellectuals, which means that they should observe their own selves and the world around them, in order to cure themselves of this dangerous disease, since God Almighty has not left the human race without guidance.

Back to top button