RENAISSANCE APRIL 2021

7 Monthly Renaissance April 2021 Qur’ ā nic Exegesis S ū rah al-F āṭ ir Javed A ḥ mad Gh ā mid ī ِِْ ِْٰ ا اِ ا ْٰ ٍََِْ #ِ"َِ رُ ًُ اُوِْ٘ ا $ %َ&ْ َْرْضِ َ)(ِ'ِ ا + َ)/ِِ ا.&ٰ-ٰتِ وَا 0 ِِ ُ1ْ&َْ2َ ا َ3ٰ4ُ َ وَر 5ٰ%ُ6َ و ﵧ ِ َ);َ:َ)ٓءُ <ْ%َْ= ِ ا > ُ1ْ?ِ@َA ﵧ ٌْAِ1َC ٍ َْء D ُِّF َٰG َ اِنا I In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Ever-Merciful. Worthy of gratitude is the God, creator of the heavens and the earth, Who makes angels messengers 1 that have two, three and four wings. 2 He increases a physical form in whatever way He 1. This is a mention of the specific after the general. The implication is that the God Who has created the heavens and the earth has also brought the angels into existence and the purpose of this is to communicate with His creatures. Hence like the heavens and the earth and all creatures between them, these angels too are His creation. How can they be His partners in this process of creation? And how can they be considered to have a share in His divinity? Those who are granting the angels this status, in reality have neither recognized God’s worth nor of these messengers nor of their own. 2. Ie., are different with respect to their power of flying. Some fly with the power of two wings, some four and some even more. This difference in itself shows that someone has created them and made them in various categories. They have not come into being of their own accord nor could have made themselves equal in status. Im ā m Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī writes: … The purpose of mentioning these details here is that the naïve who have accorded divinity to the angels are not aware of the exalted court of God. The angels have even different powers and abilities in accessing distances, let alone being His associates. (Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī , Tadabbur-i Qur’ ā n , vol. 6, 354)