RENAISSANCE MARCH 2020

6 Monthly Renaissance March 2020 Qur’ ā nic Exegesis S ū rah Sab ā Javed A ḥ mad Gh ā mid ī ﺑﺴۡﻢ ٰ ﷲ ﻟﺮَﺣۡﻤٰﻦ ۡ ﻟﺮَﺣﻴ ﻢ ﻵۡﻹَرۡضوَ ﻟَﻪ ﻟۡﺤَﻤۡﺪ! ﻵۡﻹ َٰة وَ ﻫﻮَ ﻟۡﺤَﻜﻴۡﻢ ٰ ﻟَﺬيۡ ﻟَﻪ ) ﻣَﺎ! ﻟﺴَﻤٰﻮٰتوَ ﻣَﺎ! َﻟۡﺤَﻤۡﺪﷲ ﻟۡﺨَﺒ.ۡ-﴿ ١﴾ In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful. Worthy of gratitude is the God to Whom belongs everything in the heavens and the earth. 1 And gratitude will be expressed to Him in the Hereafter also 2 and He alone is all-wise, all-knowing. 3 1. The s ū rah begins with the expression of an obvious reality: the God Who is the creator and master of everything found in the heavens and the earth, alone is truly worthy of being thanked by all His creatures for benefitting from them. 2. Ie., this same relationship of God’s creatures with Him will become apparent in the Hereafter also. The facts which become evident from this verse have been explained by Im ā m Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī . He writes: Firstly, the essential consequence of the elaborate providence found in this world is that the Hereafter manifest itself. In the absence of it, this providence is totally meaningless and purposeless. This has been explained at a number of instances in this exegesis; hence I will content myself to these brief words here. Secondly, this is a reference to the declaration of gratitude sung by the believers in the Hereafter when they see all the realities with their eyes and also witness the fulfillment of all promises of God. The words in S ū rah Y ū nus are: َ 3ۡ. ٰ رَب ﻟۡﻌٰﻠَﻤ ﻬﻢۡ َن ﻟۡﺤَﻤۡﺪ ﷲ 9ٰ ٰ دَﻋۡﻮ وَ . ) ١٠:١٠ ( (And their last cry will be: “Only God, Lord of the worlds, is in fact worthy of gratitude,” (10:10)). Thirdly, these words are a total negation of intercession and deities.