Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary (in progress)
ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ عَمِلُواْ ٱلسُّوٓءَ بِجَهَٰلَةٖ ثُمَّ تَابُواْ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصۡلَحُوٓاْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِهَا لَغَفُورٞ رَّحِيمٌ
[3460] Since Islam was then new and most Muslims, before embracing the call to Faith, were of such ignorant declension, this aya calms their fears that they would be included with those who remained faithful to their devious laws (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). It also signals to people that the door of repentance will always be open.
إِنَّ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةٗ قَانِتٗا لِّلَّهِ حَنِيفٗا وَلَمۡ يَكُ مِنَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكِينَ
[3461] This is to falsify their claims that their heathen practices follow after the Abrahamic creed, the forefather of the Qurayshites, and to relate Islam to this most pristine creed (cf. al-Rāzī).
[3462] Ummah is a teacher who possesses all sterling characteristics, one who is taken as an example (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī); it derives from the root a-m-m which denotes origin and reference (cf. Ibn Qutaybah, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah, al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt).
Ummah also roughly means nation or a group of people sharing common characteristics. In this sense, Abraham (عليه السلام) was a ‘nation’ on his own because there was a time when he was the only Believer on the face of the Earth and everyone else was an idolater (cf. Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, 11: 436). Abū Hurayrah narrates that Prophet Abraham said to his wife Sarah that: “There are no Believers on the face of the Earth except you and I!” (al-Bukhārī: 3358): “˹Mention Muhammad˺ When Ibrāhīm was tested by his Lord by certain words which he fulfilled. He ˹The Lord˺ said: “I will make you a leader to humanity!”” (2: 124).
شَاكِرٗا لِّأَنۡعُمِهِۚ ٱجۡتَبَىٰهُ وَهَدَىٰهُ إِلَىٰ صِرَٰطٖ مُّسۡتَقِيمٖ
[3463] “And We granted him ˹Ibrāhīm˺ Isḥāq ˹Isaac˺ and Yaʿqūb ˹Jacob˺; all these We guided – and We guided Nūḥ ˹Noah˺ before – and from his posterity ˹We guided˺: Dāwūd ˹David˺, Sulaymān ˹Solomon˺, Ayyūb ˹Job˺, Yūsuf ˹Joseph˺, Mūsā ˹Moses˺ and Hārūn ˹Aaron˺ – like so We reward the good doers – *Zakariyyā ˹Zachariah˺, Yaḥyā ˹John˺, ʿĪsā ˹Jesus˺, Ilyās ˹Elijah˺ – everyone ˹of them˺ is among the righteous –* Ismāʿīl ˹Ishmael˺, al-Yasaʿ ˹Elisha˺, Yūnus ˹Jonah˺ and Lūṭ ˹Lot˺ – everyone of them We preferred to all other humans – *and ˹were guided some˺ from among their fathers, posterity and brothers; We picked them and guided them to a Straight Path. *That is the guidance of Allah; He guides with it whomever He wills from among His servants. Had they Associated, what they used to do would have been laid to waste” (6: 84-88).
وَءَاتَيۡنَٰهُ فِي ٱلدُّنۡيَا حَسَنَةٗۖ وَإِنَّهُۥ فِي ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
[3464] al-Ṣāliḥīn are God’s Prophets and Messengers, who hold the highest ranks in Paradise (al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
ثُمَّ أَوۡحَيۡنَآ إِلَيۡكَ أَنِ ٱتَّبِعۡ مِلَّةَ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ حَنِيفٗاۖ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكِينَ
[3465] Such laudation reflects on Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and the religion of Islam, being the rightful, God-ordained heir of this great legacy. This is in contrast to any of the Arabs who claimed such honour but who were way off the mark (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
The ‘creed of Ibrāhīm’, millata Ibrāhīm, known as Ḥanīfiyyah, is the most primordial, pristine, uncorrupted precursor to all heavenly-revealed religions. The Qur’an underlines Islam’s close relation to it in various places: 2: 135, 4: 125, 6: 161 and 16: 123.
إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ ٱلسَّبۡتُ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِۚ وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَيَحۡكُمُ بَيۡنَهُمۡ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُواْ فِيهِ يَخۡتَلِفُونَ
[3466] Many are the claimants of this great honour, being the rightful inheritors of Prophet Abraham (عليه السلام). Not only the Qurayshites claimed him theirs but also the Jews (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr): “Ibrāhīm was neither a Jew nor was he a Christian, but he was rightly oriented, devoutly surrendered and was not among the Associators. *Indeed those who can claim Ibrāhīm most are those who ˹truly˺ followed him, ˹as well as˺ this Prophet and the Believers—Allah is the Ally of the Believers” (3: 67-68).
[3467] The day of Sabbath (Saturday) and their veneration of it, is symbolic of how deviated they are from the pristine creed of Prophet Abraham (عليه السلام) (cf. Abū Ḥayyān).
[3468] The veneration of the Sabbath, was made obligatory on the Jews as punishment for their dispute over it and whether to consider it holy, as the best day of the week. They were made to miss Friday and its process and prefer Saturday instead when, in fact, it was not mentioned so in the creed of Abraham (عليه السلام) (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Wajīz, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah).
[3469] “Verily, We have settled the Children of Israel in a truthfully laudable settlement, and We have blessed them with good provisions, ˹but˺ they differed ˹among themselves˺ not until ˹true˺ knowledge came to them—indeed your Lord shall adjudge among them on the Day of Judgement concerning what they used to differ over” (10: 93).
ٱدۡعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ وَٱلۡمَوۡعِظَةِ ٱلۡحَسَنَةِۖ وَجَٰدِلۡهُم بِٱلَّتِي هِيَ أَحۡسَنُۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ وَهُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِٱلۡمُهۡتَدِينَ
[3470] Given the circumstances this last passage of the sura points out the best way of conduct to the Noble Messenger (ﷺ). It truly encapsulates great manners.
Here he is encouraged to bear patiently in the face of his detractors calumny (saying that he is a fabricator, Aya 101, and that he is being taught by a human being, Aya 103 among many other such aspersions found in the Qur’an) and to carry on with his call to the straight path of God (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[3471] al-Ḥikmah is the wise way that God Almighty revealed to him both in the Qur’an and the Sunnah (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar); taking into account the state of the addressees in terms of their understanding and willingness to obey or not (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Mukhtaṣar).
[3472] al-Mawʿiẓah al-ḥasanah is the advice that endears good to people and repels them against evil (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar).
[3473] al-Latī hiya aḥsan (lit. the one which is best), i.e. the best manner of argument being considerate and kind, well-spoken, tolerant and adhering to conduct which is sure to win hearts (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Bayḍāwī, Ibn Kathīr).
[3474] This is stated to ease the pressure off of the Noble Prophet’s mind; he is only tasked to deliver the Message and the rest is with God, Who Knows His creation best (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Muyassar, al-Tafsīr al-Mukhtaṣar).
وَإِنۡ عَاقَبۡتُمۡ فَعَاقِبُواْ بِمِثۡلِ مَا عُوقِبۡتُم بِهِۦۖ وَلَئِن صَبَرۡتُمۡ لَهُوَ خَيۡرٞ لِّلصَّٰبِرِينَ
[3475] Exegetes have debated the occasion of this aya’s revelation and whether it is a Makkan or a Madinan one. A good number (cf. al-Qurṭubī notes that most exegetes are of this opinion) see it as having been sent down on the day of the conquest of Makkah. In the aftermath of the Battle of Uḥud, when the Qurayshites got the better of the Muslims killing and maiming some of them, especially the great Companion Ḥamzah (رضي الله عنه), the dear uncle of the noble Prophet (ﷺ) at whose sight he suffered painful anguish (cf. al-Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr: 2869), the Muslims were so irate that they vowed to kill more Qurayshites than those Believers they had killed. So the occasion came when the Believers conquered Makkah, but God Almighty sent this aya down, and the Messenger instructed them to hold off their hands and only to exact justice on four people, saying: “We shall be patient and not punish!” (cf. al-Albānī, al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah, 5: 491; al-Tirmidhī: 3129). But given that the whole sura is Makkan, others (cf. al-Rāzī, al-Naḥḥās, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, al-Māwardī, Ibn ʿĀshūr) have taken it to be a Makkan aya. So, they interpret it to be closely related to the previous instructions regarding how to deliver the call. Whoever calls for the Truth in this manner will inevitably touch a nerve with people regarding what they hold as sacred and would provoke retaliation, by inflicting harm and bodily or verbal abuse, which would make the caller bitter and wanting revenge, and, thus, is the Divine instruction given to not be only just and fair in this respect, but rather to better forgive and overlook.
The great scholar and Qur’an interpreter, Ibn Sīrīn (following Mujāhid and al-Nakhaʿī) strongly debunks the earlier (Madinan) interpretation as it casts doubt over the order of the revelation of the Qur’an.
[3476] Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said that the Messenger (ﷺ) said: “Forgiveness adds nothing to a servant but honour!” (Muslim: 2588).
وَٱصۡبِرۡ وَمَا صَبۡرُكَ إِلَّا بِٱللَّهِۚ وَلَا تَحۡزَنۡ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا تَكُ فِي ضَيۡقٖ مِّمَّا يَمۡكُرُونَ
[3477] The compassionate Noble Messenger (ﷺ) felt sad that these folks would not come to Believe and save themselves from Hellfire (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Rāzī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Shinqīṭī, Aḍwā’ al-Bayān): “Should you ˹in your compassion, Muhammad˺ grieve yourself to death if they are not willing to Believe in this Discourse!” (18: 6); “So let not your soul ˹Muhammad˺ go to waste in regrets over them” (35: 8).
[3478] Given the immensity of their unsettling plotting, the command is given not to be bothered or distracted from the cause by it. In this way, the earlier instruction given in Aya 70 of this sura is restated here for affirmation.
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَواْ وَّٱلَّذِينَ هُم مُّحۡسِنُونَ
[3479] Knowing that God Almighty is on their side, the Mindful well-doers will be all the more enduring of harm (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). This sura opens up with the command not to be hasty and concludes with the command to be patient (cf. al-Suyūṭī, Marāṣid al-Maṭāliʿ, p. 53).
