RENAISSANCE NOVEMBER 2020

28 Monthly Renaissance November 2020 Qur’ ā nic Exegesis S ū rah al-A ḥ q ā f Javed A ḥ mad Gh ā mid ī ٰ ﻟﺮﺣۡﻤٰﻦ ﻟﺮﺣﻴۡﻢ ﺑﺴۡﻢ ﷲ ﺣٰﻢٓ ۚ﴿ ١﴾ ٰ ﻟۡﻌ ﻳۡﻞ ﻟۡﻜﺘٰﺐﻣﻦ ﷲ †ۡ² ﺗ ﺰﻳۡﺰ ﻟۡﺤﻜﻴۡﻢ﴿ ٢﴾ وۡ ﻋﻤﺎۤ 9: و ﻟﺬﻳۡﻦﻛ DÏًÐ ﻣﺎﺧﻠﻘۡﻨﺎ ﻟﺴﻤٰﻮٰتو ﻵۡﻹرۡضوﻣﺎﺑﻴۡﻨﻬﻤﺎۤ ﻵﻹﺑﺎﻟۡﺤﻖو ﺟﻞٍ ﻣﺴ In the name of God, the Most-Gracious, the Ever-Merciful. This is S ū rah Ḥā M ī m. 1 The revelation of this Book is from the God Who is Powerful, very Wise. (1-2) We have created the heavens and the earth and whatever lies between them with a purpose and for a prescribed time 2 and these 1. Like the previous ones, the name of this s ū rah is also ٓ ﺣٰﻢ . Commonality in name indicates commonality in topics which every student of the Qur’ ā n can observe in these s ū rahs which begin with this name. What is the meaning of this name? I have explained in detail my view about it while discussing verse 2 of S ū rah al-Baqarah. After this occurs the introductory verse that has been explained in the exegesis of the previous s ū rah . 2. Thus the obvious consequence of this is that it must reach its culmination and God’s perfect justice manifests itself the need of which a person finds in himself even more than the need for air and water on which his life depends. Im ā m Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī writes: Here it is possible that the question arise that reward and punishment are something very logical, but why is it necessary that the whole world end after a certain time period; is it not possible that this world continue to exist and those who die are continued to be rewarded or punished? This question generally arises in the presence of numerous misconceptions in the mind discussing which may not be appropriate here; however, I will allude to one thing here: every deed of a person whether it is a pious one or an evil one has the ability in it to be contagious. A person can sow the seeds of