QURAN ALFAJR: “Verse 145 And even if you bring every sign to those who have been given the Book, they would not follow your Qiblah. And you are not to follow their Qiblah, nor are they to follow each others Qiblah. And if you were to follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you will then certainly be among the unjust.”(Verse 145) THE QURAN ILLUSTRATED 17TH FEBRUARY 2014: “In continuing the discussion on the subject of the Qiblah, or the divinely-ordained orientation, the present verse provides yet another instance of the maliciousness of the People of the Book. It is not that they demand solid and convincing arguments in order to be able to accept the new injunction with regard to the Qiblah: it is sheer stubbornness which does not allow them to give their assent, and no proof in the world, declares the Holy Quran, is ever going to satisfy them. In fact, their two groups display an equal malice even towards each other - the Jews have adopted the Baytul-Maqdis as their Qiblah, while the Christians have chosen the East, and each group rejects the Qiblah of the other. On the other hand, the Holy Prophet, cannot accept either of these two orientations, for the new Qiblah of the Muslims - the Baytullah - has been instituted by a divine commandment, and is never going to be abrogated. So, there is no likelihood of an agreement between the People of the Book and the Muslims in this matter. The Baytul-Maqdis, no doubt, had once been instituted by a divine commandment, but that commandment has now been abrogated. Anyone who follows an abrogated injunction, and ignores the new injunction which has replaced the earlier one, is actually disobeying Allah, and acting upon his individual opinion and personal desire. Naturally, it is impossible for the Holy Prophet to follow the desires of the People of the Book. But, supposing for the sake of supposition, were he to do so even after having received a definite injunction through the Wahy (Revelation), he would be counted among the unjust - that is, among those who disobey divine commandments. Such a situation, however, can never arise. Being a prophet, he is essentially sinless, and as such cannot possibly be among the unjust. From this principle it logically follows that it is impossible for him to favour the desires of the People of the Book, and to accept their Qiblah as his own. Let us make it quite clear that this warning is outwardly addressed to the Holy Prophet (SAW), but is, in fact, intended for his Ummah, which is being asked to realize fully the gravity of the sin of ignoring or disobeying the injunction which has finally established the Baytullah as the Qiblah of the Muslims. As for the phrase: You are not to follow their Qiblah, it is meant to declare that the Baytullah shall now stay as the Qiblah upto the end of the world. Thus, the declaration refutes the scoffing allegation of the People of the Book that there was no stability in the Islamic injunctions, and that the Muslims might again adopt the Baytul-Maqdis as their Qiblah. (A-Bahr al-Muhit) (Verses 146 – 147 Those whom We have given the Book recognize him (The Holy Prophet) as they recognize their own sons. And, in fact, a group of them does conceal the truth while they know. The truth is from your Lord. So, never be among those who doubt. (Verses 146 - 147) Verses 144 and 145 have told us how the People of the Book knew in their hearts that a divine commandment itself had instituted the Baytullah as the Qiblah of the Muslims, and yet denied this fact in public. Now, the two present verses show that their conduct towards the Holy Prophet (SAW) was equally dishonest and malicious. The Torah and the Evangile had already foretold the coming of the Holy Prophet (SAW), and set down the signs and indications which should help the people to recognize him. On the basis of the irrefutable evidence provided by their own Sacred Books, the Jews and the Christians knew him to be the promised Last Prophet (SAW), but many of them refused to acknowledge him as such out of sheer obstinacy. Let us add a word or two in order to explain the simile employed here by the Holy Qur’an - that of man recognizing his own son without any doubt or ambiguity. As everyone knows, in bringing two terms into comparison with each other, a simile does not involve in this analogy all the aspects of these two terms, but only those which should be relevant to the occasion. So, in considering the present simile one should not allow ones imagination to roam far afield, and bring under discussion even those cases which happen to be illegitimate. For, the present simile intends to make a very simple and obvious point – since the son grows from infancy to manhood normally under the eyes of his parents, his face or general appearance is quite sufficient for his father to recognize him without any doubt or hesitation. The Jews and the Christians enjoyed the same kind of facility - or even certainty - in being able to recognize the Last Prophet (SAW). So, to persist in denying him was as dishonest as refusing to recognize ones own son should normally be. And it was just this kind of gross dishonesty that the People of the Book were indulging in. Some of them, while denying the truth themselves, even tried to keep it concealed from others, although they knew fully well that this particular truth (that is to say, the new injunction with regard to the Qiblah) had been established by Revelation from Allah Himself. The phrase, The Truth is from your Lord, can also be interpreted in a general sense as providing a definition of the nature of truth -namely, that alone is truth which comes from Allah. One who has understood this fact can never allow himself to be in doubt with regard to this particular truth or to any other which has been revealed to a prophet by Allah. “Verses 148-150 And for everyone there is a direction to which he turns his face. Strive, then, to excel each other in good deeds. Wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together. Allah is certainly powerful over everything. And from wheresoever you set out, turn your face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque (Al-Masjid al-Haram). That, indeed, is the truth from your Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what you do. And from wheresoever you set out, turn your face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque (Al-Masjid al-Haram). And wherever you are, turn your faces in its direction, so that people should have no argument against you, except for those among them who are unjust - do not fear them, but fear Me! -, and so that I should perfect My blessing upon you, and that you may get the right path”. (Verses 148 - 150) The change of Qiblah The question of religious orientation being of the highest significance for an Ummah (or a traditional community), these verses continue and enlarge upon the theme of the Qiblah, and lay down further raisons detre for the change. It is, the commentators point out, an observable fact that every traditional community has had a religious orientation of its own, whether appointed by Allah or chosen by itself. This being so, why should anyone object, or wonder that Allah has appointed for the Islamic Ummah a Qiblah peculiar to it? After all, it is a regular and distinct Tradition in its own right - in fact, the last of all Traditions, which makes it all the more necessary that it must have a distinct Qiblah. Anyhow, once the divine commandment has been promulgated, the Muslims need not worry about the objections or the ridicule of others, but should, above all, concern themselves with the performance of good deeds (as defined by Allah and His Prophet(SAW ). They should, indeed, give up fruitless controversies and strive to excel in good deeds, for they have to appear before Allah on the Day of Judgment when they will be rewarded or punished according to their deeds. The raison detre laid down in this verse requires that the Muslims should, whether staying at home or travelling, turn their faces in the direction of Al-Masjid al-Haram, for that undoubtedly is the Qiblah appointed for them by divine commandment. It is obligatory for them to obey this as well as any other commandment, bearing in mind that Allah is not unaware of what men do. In repeating this commandment, Verse 150 adds a third raison detre. The Torah and the Evangile had indicated that the promised Last Prophet would have the Kabah as his Qiblah. If the Muslims continued to pray with the Baytul-Maqdis as their Qiblah, the opponents of Islam would have found an argument to justify their denial of the Holy Prophet (SAW). But the new commandment with regard to the Qiblah takes away the ground from under their feet, and at least the just ones among them can no longer raise this kind of objection. Of course, the stubborn and malignant ones would still carp - they would start saying that it was the Baytul-Maqdis, and not the Kabah, which had been the Qiblah of the earlier prophets, and that the adoption of the Kabah constituted an infringement of the established prophetic tradition. But the Muslims need not worry about defending Islam against such baseless objections, for the only thing which can be harmful to them is not the hostility of men but the disobedience to or disregard of divine commandments. So, in Verse 150, Allah asks the Muslims to fear, not the enemies of Islam, but Him alone. This is the only way to remain true to the divine guidance they have received - namely, Islam. This steadfastness, too, is a blessing from Allah, and the blessing will appear in its perfect glory in the other world when the Muslims shall, as a reward for their faithfulness, be admitted to Paradise. Let us note that in announcing the commandment with regard to the change in orientation, Verses 144-150 address the listeners three times in the singular number and twice in the plural. In a general way, one can say that this repetition is meant for emphasis. The commandment fixing a new Qiblah not only provided an occasion for the glee of the opponents of Islam, but was also a very conspicuous and sudden change in the religious observances of the Muslims themselves, whose hearts would have remained perturbed without such an emphatic repetition. The reiteration also suggests that this is the final and definite decision with regard to the Qiblah, and that no further change can be expected in this matter. Al-Qurtubi has, however, explained this mode of expression in such a way that the repetition becomes something more than mere emphasis, and each phrase, in being repeated, acquires a new implication. It goes without saying that the commandments in the singular number are addressed to the Holy Prophet (SAW) himself and those in the plural to the blessed Companions and to the Muslims in general. Thus, the commandment in Verse 144 pertains to the situation of those who find themselves in Madinah ah or in their own home-town, whatever that might be, and is intended to make it clear that the injunction is not particular to the mosque of the Holy Prophet (SAW) but applies to every town or village and to every quarter of a town. Verse 149 repeats the commandment with the addition of the phrase from wheresoever you set out, which shows that the injunction now refers to the state of a journey. Since a journey involves different situations - for example, unbroken travel for several days at a time, or a short or long stay somewhere in the course of the journey -, Verse 150 repeats the injunction in order to cover all these situations. Let us add that Verse 148 introduces the theme of orientation with the word Wasatun, which lexically signifies the thing one turns ones face to, and which has been interpreted by the blessed Companion Ibn Abbās as Qiblah or religious orientation. In fact, the word Qiblatun itself appears in the reading of the blessed Companion Ubayy ibn Kab, which leaves no ambiguity in interpreting the phrases. (Important Note: Before we leave the subject, let us remark that nowadays quite a good number of people, especially those with a Western formation, approach the Holy Qur’an as they do a book composed by a human author who pays due regard to what commonly passes as logic and sequential argument, and often do feel embarrassed or confused when they come across the close repetition of words and phrases in the Book of Allah, finding it impossible to explain or justify what is seemingly redundant. And it is not unlikely that this embarrassment may open the way to shame-faced misgivings and doubts even in the minds of those who wish to serve the cause of Islam in the modern world. What these men of good will tend to ignore is the elementary fact that the Word of Allah cannot be subservient to the rules of philosophical or literary composition, and that the reiteration of words and phrases, even of a sequence of sentences, is a regular mode of expression common to all the Sacred Books of the world. Moreover, the great orthodox (in the sense of unfailing adherence to the Qur’an and Sunnah) commentators of the Holy Qur’an have tried, each in his own way, to suggest the raison detre of this device, and also to explain the possible implications of each particular instance of repetition. Some of the explanations pertaining to the verses we are concerned with here have been summarized by Maulana Muhammad Idris in ‘his own commentary, from which we borrow the following resume:- (1) The first declaration is addressed to those who reside in Makkah, the second to those who live in the Arabian Peninsula, and the third to all men living anywhere in the world. (2) The first is intended to cover all the situations and states, the second to cover all the places, and the third to cover all the periods of time. (3) This passage of the Holy Qur’an lays down three raison detre for the change in the religious orientation; hence, the commandment has been affirmed afresh along with each argument. (4) This was the first occasion in the Islamic Shariah when a new commandment to abrogate an earlier one came. So, repetition was necessary to impress upon the minds of the people the multiple significance of the occasion and of the commandment. (5) The abrogation of any commandment whatsoever is likely to give rise to all sorts of doubts, and to produce internal or external disorder. The naive cannot, anyhow, understand the why and how of an abrogation occurring in the case of a divine commandment. So, an emphatic reiteration becomes all the more essential.”(Source Maarif al Quran vol.1, pp-389 -393)
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 03:41:51 +0000
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