QN 030 Ar Rum The Romans 08012022 Blogged 17012022
|
الروم |
|
|
Classification |
|
|
Other
names |
The
Byzantines, The Greeks |
|
Position |
Juzʼ 21 |
|
No. of Rukus |
6 |
|
No. of verses |
60 |
The term Rûm originated in the word "Romans" and in the time of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad referred to the Byzantine Greeks (Eastern Roman
Empire), hence the title is
sometimes also translated as "The Greeks" or "The
Byzantines"
Summary[edit]
The surah begins by noting the recent
defeat of the Byzantines by the Persians in Jerusalem near the dead sea. This
defeat posed a significant theological and sociological problem for the early
Muslim community because the Byzantines were Christians and considered monotheists or People of the Book while the state
that defeated them were considered dualists because the
official religion was Zoroastrianism. This chapter is in part a response to
the non-Muslim Meccans, who took this victory
as a sign that the traditional
polytheistic practices would win out over monotheism.[2] In the third and fourth ayatayn, the Muslim
community is promised that the Byzantines will reverse their defeat into a
victory "in a few years' time".[3]
"The Romans were
vanquished in the closer region, and they, after being vanquished, will prevail
within a certain number of years. To God belongs the command before and after.
And that Day ones who believe will be glad with the help of God. He helps whom
He wills. And He is The Almighty, The Compassionate."[Quran 30:2–5 (Translated by Laleh Bakhtiar)]
Muslims believe this prophecy was fulfilled
with Heraclius'
campaign of 622,
the Roman victory over the Persians, and cite it as an example of the
miraculous nature of the Quran
Verse [Section]
Complete
[6]
1-10
[1]
11-19
[2]
20-27
[3]
28-40
[4]
41-53
[5]
54-60
[6]
Verse Theme
Surah 30. Ar-Rum
28-32 Wrongdoers are led by their own appetites
without real knowledge and
54-60 It is Allah Who has created you and shall bring
you to justice on the Day of Judgement
(30:8) Do they not reflect on themselves?5 Allah created the
heavens and the earth and whatever lies between them in Truth and for an appointed term.6 Yet
many people deny that they will meet their Lord.7
5. This in itself is a
strong argument for the Hereafter. It means this: “If these people had
reflected over their own selves, apart from the external phenomena, they would
have found in themselves the arguments which prove the necessity of a second
life after the present life. There
are three special characteristics of man which distinguish him from the other
creations on the earth:”
(1)
The earth and the countless things around it have
been subjected for him, and he has been granted
vast powers to exploit them.
(2) He
has been life free to choose a way of life for himself. He can follow the way of belief or disbelief, obedience
or sin, virtue or vice, as he likes. Any way of life, right or wrong, that he
chooses, he is helped to follow it and allowed to use and exploit all the means
and resources provided by God, whether the way chosen is of God’s obedience or
of His disobedience.
(3) An
innate moral sense has been placed in him, by which he discriminates between the voluntary and the
involuntary actions; he judges the voluntary acts as good and bad, and decides
spontaneously that a good act ought to he rewarded and an evil act ought to be
punished.
These
three characteristics which are found in man’s own self serve as
a pointer to the fact that there must be a time when man should he called
to account for his deeds, when he should be asked how he used the powers
delegated to him
over what he had been given in the world, when it should be seen whether he had
adopted the right way or the wrong way by use of the freedom of choice given to
him, when his voluntary acts should be judged, and good acts be rewarded and
evil acts punished. This time inevitably can come only after man’s
life-activity has ceased and the account book of his actions closed, and not
before it. And this time should necessarily come only when the account book of
not one man or of one nation but of all mankind has closed. For on the passing
away of one man or of one nation, the influence that he or it has generated by
his or its acts does not cease to operate. The good or bad influence left by
him should also be credited to his account. How can accountability be carried
out and full rewards and punishments given with justice unless the influences
are allowed to run their full course. Thus, man’s own self testifies that the
position he occupies in the world by itself demands that after his present life
there should be another life when a court should be established, his
life-record examined justly and every person rewarded or punished according to
his deeds.
6. In
this sentence, two more arguments have been given for the Hereafter. It says
that if man makes a deep observation of the system of the universe, he will see
two things very outstanding about it: First, that the universe has been created
with the truth. It is not a plaything of a child, which he might have made to
amuse himself, and whose making and un-making might be meaningless. But it is a
serious system whose every particle testifies that it has been created with
great wisdom, its each component has a law underlying it, and everything in it
has a purpose behind it. Man’s whole social and economic life and all his
sciences and arts are a witness that whatever man has done in the world became
possible only because he was able to discover the laws working behind
everything and the purpose for which it was made. Had he been placed as a
puppet in a lawless and purposeless toy-house, no science and no civilization
and social life could be conceived. Now, how does it stand to reason that the
Wise Being Who has created this world with such wisdom and design and Who has
placed in it a creation like man, who is endowed with great mental and physical
capabilities, powers and authority, freedom of action and choice, moral sense
and entrusted with unlimited means and resources of the world, would have
created him without a purpose and design? That man would live a full life
involving both goodness and evil, justice and injustice, virtue and vice, and end
up in the dust, and his good and evil acts will not bear any fruit? That each
act of man will influence his own life as well as the lives of thousands of
other men like himself and countless other things in the world, for good or for
evil, and the whole record of his life-activity will be just set aside after
his death, without accountability?
The
other thing that becomes apparent after a deep observation of the system of the
universe is that nothing here is immortal. Everything has an age appointed for
it after attaining which, it dies and expires, and the same is the case with
the universe as a whole. All the forces that are working here are limited. They
can work only till an appointed term and they have inevitably to run out in
time, and this system has to end. In the ancient days the philosophers and
scientists who said that the world was eternal and everlasting could have their
way, due mainly to lack of knowledge. But modern science almost definitely has
cast its vote in favor of the God worshipers in the debate that had been going
on since centuries between them and the atheists regarding the eternal and the
temporal nature of the world. Now the atheists are left with no leg to stand
on. They cannot claim on the basis of reason and knowledge that the world has
existed since eternity and will exist forever and there is going to be no
resurrection. The ancient materialistic creed rested on the belief that matter
was indestructible, only its form could be changed, but after every change
matter remained matter and no increase or decrease occurred in its quantity.
Therefore, it was inferred that this material world had neither a beginning nor
an end. But now the discovery of the atomic energy has demolished the entire
materialistic edifice. Now it has come to light that energy changes into
matter, and matter changes back into energy with the result that nothing
persists, neither form nor appearance. The second law of Thermodynamics has
proved that this material world has neither existed since eternity nor will
last till eternity. It certainly began in time and has to end in time.
Therefore, it is no longer possible to deny the Hereafter even according to
science. And obviously, when science has surrendered, how will philosophy stand
to deny the Hereafter?
7. “Disbelievers
in the meeting with their Lord”: disbelieve that they have to appear before
their Lord after death
09012022
(30:13) None whom they had associated with
Allah in His Divinity will intercede on their behalf;16 rather, they will disown those whom they had set up as Allah's associates in His Divinity.17
16. “Associates” (shuraka)
includes three kinds of beings:
(1) The angels, prophets, saints, martyrs and the righteous men, to whom the
polytheists assigned divine attributes and powers in different ages and whom
they worshiped as gods. On Resurrection Day, they
will say to their worshipers, “You did whatever you did without our consent,
rather against our teachings and guidance. Therefore, we have nothing to do
with you. Do not place any hope in us that we will intercede for you before
Allah Almighty.”
(2) Inanimate things like the moon, the sun, the planets, trees, stones,
animals, etc. The polytheists worshiped them as gods,
prayed to them, but the poor things themselves were unaware that the vicegerent
of Allah was worshiping them so humbly and devotedly. Evidently, none of these
also will come forward to intercede for him.
(3) The arch-criminals, who by deception and fraud, or by use of force,
compelled the servants of God to worship others, e.g. Satan, false religious
guides, and tyrants and despots. They
themselves will be in trouble there. Not to speak of interceding for others,
they will rather try to prove before God that their worshipers and followers
were themselves responsible for their crimes, and therefore, they should not be
made to bear the burden of their deviation. Thus, the polytheists there will
not get any intercession from anywhere.
17.
That is, the polytheists will themselves admit that they had wrongly held them
associates of God. They will realize that none of them really had any share in
Godhood. Therefore, in the Hereafter they will disown the shirk on which they
insist in the world.
(30:18) His is all praise in the heavens and
in the earth; (and glorify Him) in the afternoon and when the sun begins to
decline.24
24. This verse clearly
points to the times of the Fajr (morning), Maghrib (evening),
Asr (late afternoon) and the Zuhr (early afternoon) Prayers. Besides this, the other allusions made to the times of the Prayer in the Quran are as follows:
“Establish
the Salat from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night, and be
particular about the recital of the Quran at dawn.” (Surah
Bani-Israil: Ayat 78).
“Establish
the Salat at the two ends of the day and in the early part of the night.” (Surah Hud: Ayat
114).
“And
glorify your Lord with His praise before the rising of the sun and before its
setting, and glorify Him again during the hours of the night and at the
extremes of the day.” (Surah Ta Ha:
Ayat 130).
The
first of these verses tells that the times of the Prayer are from the declining
of the sun to the darkness of the night (Isha) after which is the time of the
morning Prayer (Fajr). In the second verse, the “two ends of the day” imply the
times of the morning (Fajr) and the evening (Maghrib) Prayers, and “in the
early part of the night” implies the time of Isha. In the third verse, “before
the rising of the sun” implies the Fajr time and “before its setting” the Asr
tune, and “during the hours of the night” implies the times of both the Maghrib
and the Isha Prayers; and the “extremes of the day” are three: the morning, the
declining of the sun and the evening. Thus, the Quran at different places has
pointed to the five Prayer times at which the Muslims the world over offer
their Prayers. But, obviously, no one by merely reading these verses could have
determined the Prayer times unless the divinely appointed teacher of the Quran,
the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself had given guidance to these by his word
and deed.
Let us
pause a while here and consider the boldness of the deniers of Hadith. They
make fun of “offering the Prayer”, and say that the Prayer that the Muslims
offer today is not at all the thing prescribed by the Quran. They assert that
the Quranic injunction to establish the Salat does not mean the offering of the
Prayer but establishing the Nizami- Rububiyat (Order of Providence). Ask them:
“What is that order of providence which can either be established before the
rising of the sun or after the declining of the sun till the early hours of the
night”? And what is that order of providence which is required to be
established especially on Fridays? “O believers when you hear the call to the
Friday Prayer, hasten to the remembrance of Allah” (Surah Al- Juma:
Ayat 9). And what is that special kind of the order
of providence for establishing which one has first to wash his face and the
hands up to the elbows and the feet up to the ankles and rub his head with wet
hands, otherwise he will not establish it? (“O believers, when you stand up to
offer the Salat, you must wash your faces and your hands and arms up to the
elbows, and rub your heads with wet hands (Surah Al-Maidah:
Ayat 6). And what is this peculiarity of this order
of providence that one cannot establish it unless he has completely washed
himself after sexual intercourse? “O believers, do not offer the Prayer, if you
are unclean until you take your bath, except when passing on the way” (Surah An-Nisa:
Ayat 43). And what is this odd thing that if he has
touched the women, he will have to strike his hands on pure dust and rub
thereby his face and hands in case he does not find water, for the purpose of
establishing this strange order of providence? (“or if you have touched women
and you can find no water, then cleanse yourselves with pure dust: strike your
palms on it and rub your hands and faces with it” (Surah An-Nisa:
Ayat 43). And what is this amazing order of
providence that while on a journey one should establish only half of it? “When
you go on a journey, there is no harm if you shorten the Salat” (Surah An-Nisa:
Ayat 101). Then, what an odd thing that during a war
half of the soldiers should fall down, carrying their weapons, in order to
establish the order of providence behind the Imam, and the other half should
stick to their positions and continue fighting the enemy; when the first group
has performed one sajdah behind the Imam in its effort to establish the “order
of providence” it should go to relieve the other group, which should fall down
and start establishing the “order of providence” behind the Imam? “And when
you, O Prophet, are among the Muslims and are going to lead them in Salat (in a
state of war), let a party of them stand behind you, carrying their weapons with
them. When they have made their prostrations, they should fall back, and let
another party of them, who have not yet offered their Salat say it with you” (Surah An-Nisa
Ayat 102).
All
these verses of the Quran clearly indicate that to establish the Salat implies
the Prayer that the Muslims offer everywhere in the world today. But the
deniers of Hadith seem to be bent upon changing the Quran instead of changing
themselves. The fact is that unless a person becomes wholly fearless of Allah,
he cannot dare play with His Word as these people do. Or, only such a person
can engage in a pastime like this with respect to the Quran who believes it is
not Allah’s Word, but intends to mislead the Muslims in the name of the Quran.
See (E.N. 50) below.
10012022Verse Theme
Surah 30. Ar-Rum
See lengthy ENs
11012922
(30:28) He sets forth39 for you a parable
from your own lives. Do you have among your slaves some who
share with you the sustenance that We have bestowed on you so that you become
equals in it, all being alike, and then you would hold
them in fear as you fear each other?40 Thus do We make plain the Signs for those who use
reason.
39. In the forgoing
section, arguments have been given both for Tauhid and for the Hereafter; now
the discourse turns to only Tauhid.
40.
The mushriks, even after admitting that Allah is the Creator and Master of the
earth and heavens and all that they contain, held
some of His creatures as associates in His attributes and powers, and prayed to
them, presented offerings and performed rites of
worship before them. Their belief regarding their self-made associates is found
in the words of the Talbih that they used to pronounce while going round the
Kabah. They said: “Here I am, O Allah, here I am in Thy presence! Thou hast no partner except the partner who is Thy own. Thou art his owner as well as owner of what he owns.”
(Tabarani on the authority of Ibn Abbas). Allah has refuted this kind of shirk
in this verse. The argument is to this effect: “When you do not make your own slaves partners in your wealth, how do you
think and believe that Allah will make His creatures partners in His Godhead?”
(See (E.N. 62 of Surah An-Nahl).
(30:30)
(O Prophet and his followers),42 turn your face singlemindedly43 to the true Faith44 and adhere to the true nature on which Allah has
created human beings.45 The mould fashioned by Allah cannot be altered.46 That is
the True, Straight Faith,47 although most people do not know.
So set thy purpose (O
Muhammad) for religion as a man by nature upright - the nature (framed) of
Allah, in which He hath created man. There is no altering (the laws of) Allah's
creation. That is the right religion, but most men know not -
— Pickthall
ஆகவே, (நபியே! நீர்
இஸ்லாமிய கொள்கையில்) உறுதியுடையவராக உமது முகத்தை(யும் உமது உம்மத்தின்
முகங்களையும் அந்த) மார்க்கத்தின் பக்கம் நிறுத்துவீராக! அல்லாஹ்வுடைய இயற்கை
மார்க்கம் அது. அதன் மீது தான் அல்லாஹ் மக்களை இயற்கையாக அமைத்தான். அல்லாஹ்வின்
படைப்பை (தீனை) மாற்றக்கூடாது. இதுதான் நிலையான (நீதமான, நேரான) மார்க்கம் ஆகும். என்றாலும் மக்களில் அதிகமானவர்கள்
அறியமாட்டார்கள்.
42.
This “so” implies that when the reality has become clear to you, and you have
come to know that none but Allah is the Creator and Master and Sovereign of
this universe and of man himself, then inevitably your conduct should be such
as indicated in this verse.
45.
This subject has been explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him)
in a number of Ahadith. According to Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet (peace be
upon him) said: “Every child who is born, is born on the human nature; it is his
parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian, etc. afterwards. Its
example is that of an animal which gives birth to complete and sound young
ones, none is born with torn and cut off ears, but the mushriks tear their ears
afterwards on account of their superstitions of ignorance.”
According to another Hadith reported in Musnad Ahmad and Nasai,
the Muslims in a war killed the children of the enemy. When the Prophet (peace
be upon him) came to know of it, he became very angry, and said: “What has
happened to the people that they have transgressed the limits and killed even
the children?” A man said, “Were they not the children of the Mushriks?” The
Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “Even the best of your people are the
children of the mushriks!” Then he said: “Every living being is
born on the nature: then when he becomes able to speak, his parents turn him
into a Jew or a Christian.”
Another translation of this verse can be: “Do not
affect any alteration in the nature made by Allah.” That
is, it is not right to corrupt and spoil the nature on which Allah has created
man.
47. “Right religion”: To remain steadfast on one's true Natur
(30:32) those who have split up their religion and have become divided into sects, each party
exulting in what they have.51
51. This is an allusion to
the fact that the real way of life for mankind is the same way of nature as
elucidated above. This way of life has not evolved from a polytheistic creed to
Tauhid as thought by those who invent a philosophy of religion on the basis of
speculation. But, contrary to this, all the religions found in the world today
have appeared because of the corruption of the original way of life. This corruption occurred because different people added their different
self made creeds to the natural realities and created separate sects and
everyone became a devotee of the additional thing, which was the basis of the
separate sect, and gave up the original way of life. Now the only way of attaining true guidance is that one
should return to the original reality which was the basis of the true faith,
and rid oneself of all the later additions and excrescences and their devotees.
If he still keeps any kind of contact with them, he will only be harming the
true faith.
12012022
(30:38) So give
his due to the
near of kin, and to the needy, and to the wayfarer.57 That is better for
those who desire to please Allah. It is they who will prosper.58
57 It has not been
said: “Give charity to the relative, the needy and the wayfarer, but their due because this is their right (due to them from you), which you must give them in any
case. You should remember it well that if the real owner of the wealth has
given you more than others, your extra wealth is, in
fact, the right of others, which has been given to you for your trial so that
your Lord may see whether you recognize the rights of others and render their
rights to them or not.
Anyone
who reflects over this divine command and its real spirit will feel that
the way proposed by the Quran for man’s moral and spiritual development
inevitably envisages the existence of a free society and economy.
This development is not possible in a social environment in which the
people’s rights of ownership are set aside and stifled.
The
system in which the state assumes ownership of all resources and the government
machinery and the entire responsibility of distributing provisions among the
people, so much so that neither can an individual recognize the right of the
other and render it, nor a person develop a feeling of goodwill for the other
after he has received help, is a purely
communist system. Such an economic and social system, which
is being advocated in our country today under the deceptive name of the “Quranic Order of
Providence” (Nizami Rububiyat), is
entirely opposed to the Quranic scheme itself, for it suppresses the development of
individual morality and formation of character altogether.
The
Quranic scheme can operate and function only in a society where the individuals own some resources of
wealth, possess rights to expend it freely, and then render willingly and
sincerely the rights of God and His servants. In such a society alone there can
arise the possibility that, on the one hand, the people may develop individually
the virtues of sympathy, kindliness and affection, sacrifice, recognition of
the rights of others and rendering those rights in the right spirit, and on the
other hand, the beneficiaries may develop in their hearts pure feelings of
well-wishing, gratitude and thankfulness for the donors. This system only can
produce the ideal conditions in which the elimination of evil and the promotion
of goodness does not depend on the intervention of a law-enforcing authority
but the people’s own purity of the self and their own good intentions take up
this responsibility.
58. that those who do not recognize these rights of others nor render them,
will not attain true success.
(30:39) Whatever you pay as interest so that
it may increase the wealth of people does not increase in the sight of Allah.59 As for the Zakah that
you give, seeking with it Allah's good pleasure, that is multiplied manifold.60
59. This is the first verse revealed in the Quran that condemned interest
14012022
(30:43) So turn your face exclusively towards the True Faith before there comes the Day whose coming from Allah cannot
be averted,66 the
Day when people will split into groups.
66. That is, “The Day which
neither Allah Himself will avert nor has He given power to anyone else to avert
it
15012022
(30{54)Allah
is He Who shaped you out of weakness, then appointed after weakness strength,
then, after strength, appointed weakness and grey
hair. He createth what He will. He is
the Knower, the Mighty.
— Pickthall
17012022
OOOXXXOOOXXX
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