RENAISSANCE MARCH 2021

7 Monthly Renaissance March 2021 Qur’ ā nic Exegesis S ū rah al- Ḥ ujur ā t Javed A ḥ mad Gh ā mid ī ٰ ﻟﺮﺣۡﻤٰﻦ ﻟﺮﺣﻴۡﻢ ﺑﺴۡﻢ ﷲ ﻳﺎﻳﻬﺎ ﻟﺬﻳۡﻦ ٰ ﺳﻤﻴۡﻊٌ ٰ ن ﷲ ٰ ورﺳﻮۡﻟﻪٖ و !ﻘﻮ ﷲ ٰﻣﻨﻮۡ ﻵﻹ!ﻘﺪﻣﻮۡ ﺑ)ۡ(ﻳﺪي ﷲ In the name of God, the Most-Gracious, the Ever-Merciful. Believers! 1 Do not give preference to your opinion 2 over the 1. Though this address is general, as the s ū rah moves forward it will become evident that it is directed at the Bedouins who had embraced Islam after being over-awed by the power of Muslims. They had yet to understand the requisites of this faith. Because they were away from the Companions, they had not been able to instruct and educate themselves. Not only this, their leaders in their arrogance wrongly thought that since they had accepted the Prophet’s obedience without any war being waged against them, it was a great favour they had done to him. Thus this haughty behaviour was evident from their style of conversation and attitude. 2. Ie., they should not regard God’s messenger to be like any of their leaders and consider themselves wiser than him and give preference to their own opinion because this would be like giving preference to their own opinion over God’s opinion. Im ā m Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī writes: The words ٖ ٰ و رﺳﻮۡﻟﻪ ﺑ)ۡ( ﻳﺪي ﷲ show that the matters of God and His Messenger are not distinct from one another. A messenger of God is His representative and envoy. Giving him unasked for advice is like giving advice to God; giving preference to one’s own opinion over his is like giving preference to one’s own opinion over God’s opinion and to regard oneself to be more wise is to regard one self to be wiser than the all-knowing God. These are the necessary consequences of this attitude of a person. It is possible that because of foolishness a person does not realize these consequences, but it cannot be refuted that these are the necessary consequences. (Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī , Tadabbur-i Qur’ ā n , vol. 7, 487)