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Interpretation of the Quran- Surat Al-Tariq (86)- Lesson (1)- Verses [1-8]: Facts about the sky and man creation
   
 
 
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful  
 

Only those endowed with knowledge know sky immensity:

 Today we are going to study surah at-Tariq... I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed shaytan; in the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful...

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);(1) And what will explain to you what the Night-Visitant is?(3)(It is) the star of piercing brightness;(4) There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

(At-Tariq, 86:1-4)

 Allah the Exalted and Glorious mentions the Sky at the beginning of this surah, some say that He swears by it. We mentioned in one of our previous lessons that Allah the Exalted and Glorious says in His Noble Qur'an: "I swear..." He says:

“By the sun and its brightness.”

(Ash-Shams, 1)

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);”

(At-Tariq, 1)

 He also says:

“So I swear by the setting of the Stars.
And verily that is indeed a great oath, if you but knew.”

(al-Waqi'ah, 56:75-76)

 We understand that the thing by which Allah Most High swears is necessarily something immense, and nobody knows more about it than the scientists. Thus, Allah Most High says:

"It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah.”

(Fatir, 35:28)

The Prophets saw the dominion of the heavens and earth:

 With the progress of sciences our understanding of this ayah improves. The Prophets, however, saw the dominion of the heavens and earth and that made them submit and glorify Allah Most High.
 The Skies… Nowadays, we have at our disposal supersonic planes which take us from Europe to America in about two hours. The ordinary plane flies at 900 kilometers per hour; some fly at 1200, up to 1650 in some cases. The spacecraft took three days to reach the moon. How long is the distance that it covered? Just one light second; and it took man three days to get there.   The Apollo Project, incidentally, cost twenty four billion dollars.
 What can we say about the sun? It is ninety million miles away. Thus, light takes eight minutes to cover this distance. If you take into consideration the farthest star in the solar system, thirteen hours would be needed for light to get there, and the nearest star in the solar system is four light years from us. The diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is one hundred and fifty thousand light years; its width is fifteen thousand light years. Some galaxies are twelve billion light years far away. Our Lord says:

“By the Sky…”

 These words will be understood according to one's knowledge about it.

The meaning of the word (the Sky):

 Therefore, some said: We understand according to what we know about it, not according to what it is really like. Man might have limited information about it but when he reads "By the Sky and the Night-Visitant" he will imagine that it denotes the space over his head. Some said: Whatever is above you is the sky, but our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said when asked by a Companion:

“O Allah's Messenger, if I dig under my feet, will I see the Sky? He said: Yes.*”

 This means that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, understood the earth to be a globe and what circumscribes it to be the sky. Theoretically, if you pierce through a ball from a certain point, you certainly reach the other side, and that's why the Companion asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
And man glorifies the Lord of the Skies according to his knowledge about it. There are some stars that are bigger than our sun by thirty million times. The strength of the explosion in some quasars equals one followed by forty six zeros -more than the most potent hydrogen bomb. So when our Lord says "By the Sky and the Night-Visitant", it means that this is a great miracle for us.
 The astronauts saw the earth as a beautiful ball. They saw some continents from the moon; they saw some green areas and some areas white in color because of the clouds, and sh3er blue. If man raises dust in a room and looks at it against light, he will be able to see a speck hanging in the sunshine. He will say then: It is like the earth suspended in the universe. Just a speck. Hence, when Allah says "By the Sky and the Night-Visitant", man should know what this word means.

Some facts about the Sky:

 I made once the following quite simple calculation: The nearest star to us is four thousand light years away. If there were a paved road leading to it, we would need twenty seven thousand billion years to reach it by vehicle; and we are talking here about the nearest star. So, only those who have knowledge can understand these Signs; those who think and reflect on the dominion of the heavens and the earth.

“Verily, in the creation of the heaven and the earth, and in the alternation of the night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding.
Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heaven and the earth, (saying):" Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose! Glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.”

(Al-Imran, 3:190-191)

 The movement of the planets… each one following its own orbit… the centrifugal force… the gravitational force… their masses… these are some facts about the Sky. Our Lord says:

“By the Sky and the Night-Visitant;”

  What exists in the Sky? It is space containing stars, and this ayah mentions both, and Allah Most High also defines here at-Tariq:

“And what will explain to you what the Night-Visitant is?
(It is) the Star of piercing brightness;”

Glorification to Allah is in proportion to your reflection on His Creation:

 "The" does not denote here a specific star, but stars as a whole, as when you say: "The apple has high nutritional value", the meaning is generic and refers to the whole group or class. Allah says:

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);
And what will explain to you what At-Tariq is?
(It is) the star of piercing brightness;”

 Any star; the Sky comprises space and stars, but where are the limits of this space? This is what nobody knows; it is almost something unbelievable. That star or galaxy about which the scientists say as being twelve thousand million light years away from us, and which we see today, emitted the light we see twelve thousand million years ago. Where is it now? No one knows, because it is in movement.
 Now, a spaceship functions exactly as a hunter aiming his gun at a bird. He calculates the distance, in order that the bullet should make the bird reach the proper place after it gets shot. All the planets move, it's hard to believe that the velocity of some galaxies approaches the speed of the light –two hundred and forty thousand kilometers a second. It's hard to believe that the sun needs two hundred million years to complete its revolution around a given star in the galaxy. These astronomical figures are almost unimaginable. However, the scientists who have been observing these stars and making these calculations did obtain these facts and received them as such, without being interested in how they support faith, saying that it just happened like this. Hence, Sayyidina Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "There are ayaat in the Qur'an which have not been interpreted as yet." So, your understanding of this ayah is in proportion to the amount of your knowledge, and you glorify the Lord of the Skies in proportion to the intensity of your meditation about the heaven and the earth. Therefore the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“No (act of) worship equals cogitation.*”

“An hour (spent) in cogitation is better than sixty years (spent) in worshipping. *”

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant)”

We know just what Allah allows us to know:

 What does At-Tariq mean? It means "whatever comes to you at night". Its meaning can be expanded to include everything that comes to you at any time. In some supplications we say: "O Allah! We seek refuge with You from tawariq (pl. of tariq) of afflictions." At-Tariq, then, comes to be everything that befalls you, and if we expand its meaning still more, it means everything that happens to the self, whether material or immaterial. Our Lord the Exalted and Glorious says:

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);
And what will explain to you what At-Tariq is?”

 When He says: "What do you know?" –this means that He will make you know; but when He says: "And what will explain to you?" –this means that no-body is in a position to know it. We live here, on a certain planet among all these other planets, how can we get to know the stars, their number and orbits? We know just what Allah wills, the rest is entrusted to the Knowledge of Allah the Great and Almighty.

“And what will explain to you what At-Tariq is?
(It is) the star of piercing brightness;”

 Consider the following: If the darkness is deep, the star might pierce it and reveal its reality, and we do say: "The light has pierced the darkness" and "the voice has shattered or broken the silence".

“And what will explain to you what At-Tariq is?
(It is) the star of piercing brightness;”

 This is an oath; and where is that by which it is sworn? It is:

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);
And what will explain to you what At-Tariq is?
(It is) the star of piercing brightness;”

There must be a correlation between an oath and its subject:

 What is the subject of this adjuration?

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 Some said: There must exist a correlation between an oath and its subject, and between that by which an oath is sworn and that on which it is sworn.

“By the Sky and the Night-Visitant;
And what will explain to you what the Night-Visitant is?
(It is) the Star of piercing brightness;
There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 What kind of guardianship is it? It may have many sides to it: the care, the observation; let us say, all that is nearest to the context of this ayah:

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

The three meanings of lamma in the Noble Qur'an:

 What kind of structure is it? And what does lamma mean? Lamma has three meanings in the Noble Qur'an:

1- Lamma is a negative particle which negates the past tense, extending this negation until the present:

 The first meaning: Our Lord Most High says:

“The desert Arabs say: We believe. Say: You have no Faith,
but say, we have submitted our wills to Allah, for Faith
has lamma (not yet) entered your hearts.”

(al-Hujurat, 49:14)

 So lamma is a negative particle which negates the past tense, extending this negation until the present. For example, when we say, "the teacher hasn't come yet", we mean that he did not come and now is not here, but he is expected to come. Here the meaning of lamma is precise, and the ayah is clear.

“For Faith lamma has (not yet) entered your hearts.”

(al-Hujurat, 49:14)

 That is to say, until now Faith has not entered your hearts.

2- Lamma is a particle which denotes one action leading to another action:

 The second meaning of lamma is according to the words of the Most High:

“But when (lamma) He did bestow of His bounty, they became misers,
and turned back, averse.”

(at-Tawbah, 9:76)

 So, we can define it here as a particle which denotes one action leading to another action, which means that it explains to us how something happened by means of another thing having happened. When did it happen? When (lamma) He bestowed of His bounty.

3- Lamma also means illa (except):

 The third meaning which we find in the ayah below is that of a particle of exception, and it works as a negative particle, meaning: There is not one soul except that it has over it a guardian, and thus it is not alone, which means that Allah Most High watches over everyone; and there is nobody but is watched by Him; and there is nobody but is observed in all his movements and his repose.

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

(At-Tariq, 86:4)

Faith attains high rank when one feels watched by Allah:

 This means that there is a guardian for every human being.
 Is there any difference between "guardian of it" and "guardian over it"? Yes, the difference is clear. When we say: "a guardian of it", we mean taking care, but when we say "a guardian over it", we mean observation or monitoring. So, man is under the supervision of Allah the Great and Almighty. And this is what some sufis say; and that the feeling one has of being observed by Allah is an indication of the high grade of one's faith. Thus, one is not alone. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah will not care for any of the deeds of him who has no taqwah that turns him away from disobedience to Him when alone. *”

 As for the practical understanding of this ayah, let us ask whether each of us, in private and in public, at home or at work, feels that we are observed by Allah? I mean that there is a Watcher over us. And given that the Watch of Allah the Great and Almighty is derived from the Greatness of the Creation, as I have already said, the proportion or harmony is a must.

“By the Sky and the Night-Visitant;
And what will explain to you what the Night-Visitant is?
(It is) the Star of piercing brightness;”

 That on which an oath is sworn on:

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 This ayah should be of great interest to us. If man feels that Allah is Watcher and Witness over him, being Ever-Watchful, all the problems come to an end. Why? Because his affairs will straighten out, and he will turn to Allah, devote himself to Allah; and when he devotes himself to Allah, he will be happy on account of being closer to Him. This is the law, or the rule. If you feel that Allah is Watcher, you fear Him and follow His Orders, and then He engages your attention more and more, and you become happy with His nearness. This is what the deen is about, indeed. You are wrong if you think that He is not near, does not see your deeds nor the fraud your eyes are guilty of. No! He knows every single thing.

Allah knows eyes betrayal and what your breast conceals:

 If one went to visit one's friend and were left alone by one's host, and then felt like going to the door and peeping out... The believer, of course, does not spy –one might see one's friend's wife or daughter, or mother… Suppose, though, one did look… Who would know about this instance of looking? No-one but Allah. If a doctor treating a female patient looks at a place the patient hasn't complained about… Who knows about this look? Allah the Exalted and Glorious knows the fraud one's eyes are guilty of and all that the breasts conceal. And no creature on the surface of the earth knows what Allah knows nor can it settle your account. Only Allah can.

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 Therefore, if man truly believes in this ayah, its meaning and its purport, he necessarily believes that all his acts, movements, intentions, what he conceals and what he reveals, what he does and says, are written down in his Record, and that he is entirely under the Watch of Allah the Great and Almighty.

“And Allah is Witness to all things.”

(Al-Mujadilah, 58:6)

 If you reach this grade, you are a believer and all your affairs get straightened out. Would you be able do anything in other people's presence that would make you feel embarrassed? Would you be able to pick your nose sitting together with other people? You blush at the thought of doing so. Thus, if you would be ashamed of doing it in front of sh3er, how much more should you be ashamed knowing that you are under the Watch of Allah the Great and Almighty!

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

  Our Lord the Great and Almighty says:

“… And Allah does watch over all things.”

(Al-Ahzab, 33:52)

The Universe embodies the most beautiful Names of Allah:

 What is the nature of the connection between that on which an oath is taken and that by which it is taken? In the same way as the star which pierces the darkness of the night reveals its secrets, Allah the Great and Almighty reveals what is hidden in the souls and in man's innermost thoughts; and the full reality of his tendencies, propensities and inclinations.

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 As if the ayah "By the heaven, and At-Tariq " has embodied all the Universe, space, the Night-Visitant (At-Tariq), the stars and their shapes and sizes, dimensions and substance. A star might be gaseous; another one is ablaze, yet another one is cold. This one here is solid, that one is huge, and the one over there is small and is shrinking. Its speed is thirty kilometers per second, the same as the speed of the earth's revolution around the sun. The sun's speed is two hundred and forty thousand kilometers per second around the center of the galaxy. All of these facts are implied in the ayah:

“By the Sky, and At-Tariq (the Night-Visitant);”

 This Universe is the embodiment of the Good Names of Allah (the 99 Attributes). If you want to attain a part of His Knowledge, reflect on the Universe, this great science indeed.
 The axis of this earth is inclined. Why this inclination?! The day and the night take place on account of its rotating around its axis. If it did not rotate, the day would be permanent, and so would be the night. If the day were permanent, the temperature would reach more than two hundred and fifty degrees Celsius. Life, then, would be impossible. If the same were true for the night, the temperature would fall to three hundred and fifty degrees below zero, and thus life, undoubtedly, would be impossible under such conditions. Thus, it is due to this rotation that we experience the night and the day.
 The air is a conditioning agent; it, furthermore, adjusts the temperature, transmits the sound, the heat, the coldness and the light, as well as causes its diffusion –it brings about many great benefits indeed. Thus, the air is also one of Allah's Signs.

Nobody takes lightly the Watch of Allah except the ignorant:

 Now, if the earth's axis were not inclined, every region on the earth would have a fixed, ever-lasting season. This one would be the summer region and that one the winter one, and so on. Due to the alternation of the seasons, plants can grow and fruits can be eaten. On the other hand, if the angle of axis' inclination were ninety degrees, that is parallel to the line of rotation, rotation would be, in fact, eliminated. In such case one side of the earth would enjoy constant sunlight, while the other would be entirely deprived of it. Aren't those very Precise Signs?

“By the Sky and the Night-Visitant;
And what will explain to you what the Night-Visitant is?
(It is) the Star of piercing brightness;”

 The Watch of Allah over us is in proportion to the greatness of these Signs. Nobody disparages the Watch of Allah except the stupid and the ignorant. Truly, we are watched by the Lord the Great and Almighty:

“ There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 There are other ayaat that support this meaning. Allah Most High says:

“But verily, over you (are appointed angels) to guard you.
Kind and Honourable, writing down (your deeds),
They know all that you do.”

(Al-Infitar, 82:10-12)

“…And Allah does watch over all things.”

(Al-Ahzab-52)

The Head of the State should fear Allah:

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.”

 It has been transmitted to us that sheikh Ibrahim bin Adham was once asked by a certain man for advice as regards one's disobedience to Allah. The sheikh said:
- If you do five things, you will never be hurt by wrongdoing.
- That's something wonderful! What are these things?
- If you wish to disobey Allah, you should never live in His lands.
- So where am I to live?
- How could you live in His lands and disobey Him? Is it reasonable? If somebody has welcomed you in his home as a guest, is it reasonable that you should hit his son while you're there? Is it reasonable that you should poison his food while you're there?
- Tell me the second thing.
- If you wish to disobey Allah, you should never eat of His sustenance.
- So what am I to eat?
- Is it reasonable that you should live in His lands, and eat of His sustenance, then disobey Him?
- Tell me the third thing.
- If you wish to disobey Allah, you should do this in a place where He cannot see you.
- But he can always see me!
- Is it reasonable that you should live in Allah's lands, eat of His sustenance, and disobey Him, knowing that He sees you?
-Tell me the fourth thing.
- If you wish to disobey Allah, and the Angel of Death comes to take your soul, do not go with him!
- I can't do that.
- So, you live in His lands, eat of His sustenance, disobey Him while He sees you, and you cannot avoid the Angel of Death?
- Tell me the fifth thing.
- If you wish to disobey Allah, and the Angels of Torment come to take you to Hell, don't go with them.
- I can't do that!
- So, you live in Allah's lands, eat of His sustenance, disobey Him while He sees you, and you can avoid neither the Angel of Death nor the Angels of Torment! Haven't you heard enough?
Who disobeys Allah? The ignorant, of course. Let me give you another example. A bridge might crack at a certain spot. Suppose the engineer sees it, and says immediately: "There's danger here; the bridge should be vacated at once." The maintenance man perceives it as well and offers to fill in the crack. The period between "should be vacated immediately" and "needs filling in" can't be long. Why should it be vacated immediately? Because there is a probability that this structure might collapse. Who appraised the situation? Science or knowledge. You fear Allah the Great and Almighty in proportion to the knowledge you have. Therefore, the height of wisdom is to fear intensely Allah Most High. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I am the most Allah-fearing (among you) and the one who is most afraid of Him.*”

The Messenger of Allah fears Him most:

 The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the man who fears Allah most. On the battlefield of Badr, where the hard-hearted disbelievers lost their lives, he said when their bodies were thrown in the well:

“O so-and-so, so-and-so, (calling them by their names, one by one) have you found what your Lord has promised you to be true? Verily, I have found that what my Lord has promised me is true. You belied me, but the people believed me; you hurt me but the people supported me; you expelled me but the people received (and quartered) me (and he repeated it again and again). So, have you found what your Lord has promised you to be true? Verily, I have found that what my Lord has promised me is true. Some Companions said: O Allah's Messenger! You are speaking to dead bodies. They are all corpses. What's the use of speaking to them? He said: You are not able to hear me better than they are, but they cannot answer me.*”

 I have read some supplements to this transmission. Someone said:
 O Allah's Messenger! Mutilate them! They expelled us (from our homes), killed our brother and tortured us. He said:

“I won't mutilate them lest Allah Most High should mutilate me, although I am a prophet.*”

“The Prophet had a servant whom he sent on an errand and he took a very long time to get back. When he did, the Prophet asked where he had been and he said that he had been at such and such place. The Prophet got angry and said: By Allah, except for the fear of al-qisas (the Law of Equity in punishment), I could have hurt you with this siwak (a short slender tree branch used for cleaning teeth).*”

 On one occasion he heard that A'isha described another wife of his, Safiya, may Allah be pleased with her, as being short. He said:

“O A'isha! If the word you have uttered were to be mixed with the seawater, it would spoil it. “

 The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, respected people so much that he would never confront anybody with what they disliked.

“I am the most Allah-fearing (among you).* “

 He also said:

“I sleep and I stand forth (to offer salah at night), and fast and eat (after breaking the fast), and I eat meat and marry women. This is my sunnah, so whoever dislikes it, he is (really) not from my ummah. *”

 This means that in Islam there is no monasticism.

The value of work in Islam

 Sometimes people escape the trials of life and sometimes they set out to face them. Escapism, that is living the life of a hermit on a mountain top, worshipping Allah, is not the right thing to do. The right thing to do is to worship Allah when you are in the market place, in the bustle of life. The believer likes and is liked; there is no good in him who does not like nor in him who is not liked. The way is to marry and guide your wife to Allah Most High, and to beget children and raise them in obedience to Allah. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“He is not the best of you who has left his worldly life for the sake of his (life in the) Hereafter, nor he who has left his (life in the) Hereafter for the sake of his worldly life; but the best of you is the one who gets supplied from both of them, because the former is the mount to the latter.*”

 Attaining the Hereafter requires expenditure (infaq) but your money must be earned in a licit way. And it also requires good deeds. Thus, starting a family could be considered a good deed. The Noble Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, repeatedly glorified work. When man guards himself from evil by doing honorable work, this is considered an act of worship. Sayyidina Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
 "The man whom I see idling his time away loses my respect."
 And it was narrated that he saw a man reciting the Noble Qur'an during the day, and he said: "This Qur'an has been sent down to be followed. Do you consider reciting it as work? Reauthor it at night. The noble Companions were warriors during the day and monks at night, one's value lies in what one can do well. You should have a job or a profession that can be of service to the Muslims, and in doing it, you should be pious and a caller to Allah." Sayydina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq worked as a cloth-merchant and Sayyidina Abu Ubaida as a butcher. Thus:

“There is no soul but has a guardian over it.
Now let the man but think from what he is created!”

 This seeing is not by sight but by meditation.

“Now let the man but think from what he is created!
He is created from a drop emitted,”

The cause and the Causer:

 Allah the Great and Almighty did not say "from water which is emitted" (madfuq), as this would mean that one can emit it or not at one's own discretion. Here, however, the form used is that of ismi fail (dafiq), which means that this water is emitted without the intervention of one's will. This "water" contains more than three hundred thousand billion sperms, yet the female egg needs just one of them. Indeed Allah's Wisdom is unlimited. Man produces this water as long as he lives, but, according to the Perfect Wisdom of Allah, the number of ova in the woman's ovary is determined. The ovary produces an ovum a month and they cannot be produced after the menopause has been reached –sometime in her forties, perhaps. The number is limited, and if the ovary worked as long as she lives, as is the case with male sperm, pregnancy would be possible until she was well advanced in years. Imagine a seventy or eighty-year-old pregnant woman! She would be unable to raise her child. Consider then the Wisdom of Allah the Great and Almighty.

“Now let the man but think from what he is created!
He is created from a drop emitted,”

 The subtlety of this ayah is in that this emitted water does not create man. It is the Creator Who is the Causer, water is just the cause. This is the way in which Allah Most High has made the necessary arrangements: male and female, marriage, sperm, ovary, womb and creation. Adam, peace be upon him, was created without the agency of father or mother; sperms or ovary, so the religious scholars concluded that the emitted water is only the cause, but the Creator is Allah the Great and Almighty, the proof of this being that Adam was created without father and mother.
 How many ways (of creating man) exist? There are four: as most mankind –from father and mother; without father nor mother, the case of Adam; or from mother only, as was the case of Isa (Jesus), peace be upon him; or from mother and father, the mother being sterile. Allah the Exalted and Glorious says:

“To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He bestows (children) male or female according to His Will.
Or He bestows both males and females, and He leaves barren whom He will, for He is full of knowledge and power.”

(Ash-Shura, 26:49-50)

The creation of man is a Sign of Allah's pointing to His Greatness:

 So, even the existence of father and mother does not guarantee reproduction. An infertile king might travel round the world to find a method or a cure that could help him to have a son. It has happened:

“… and He leaves barren whom He wills.”

 Allah has informed us about Sayyidina Isa (Jesus), and also about Sayyidina Yahiya (John the Baptist), whose mother was sterile, past the menopause, and yet she gave birth, as when one enters a hot room coming from a cool one.

“Now let the man but think from what he is created!
He is created from a drop emitted,
Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.”

 Sayydah Hawa'a (Eve) was created, of course, from Adam.
 This emitted water comes out from between the backbone of the man at the height of nervous exauthorment, into the pelvis and ribs of the woman, as some interpreters said. So this emitted water:

“Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.
Surely (Allah) is able to bring him back (to life).”

(At-Tariq, 86:7-8)

 The sperm has a rounded head, spiral neck and a tail, and moves inside the semen. The ovum, surrounded by two hundred and fifty million sperms which have reached it, chooses the strongest one. How can it do that?! It reduces the thickness of its wall that faces the chosen sperm, then the sperm enters and drops its neck and tail –the fertilization process begins then. The fertilization is, as you know, from the union of the male cell and the female cell which contains the nucleus, which contains the genes. These genes, arranged in twenty three pairs, bear five billion qualities, which define the features of the human being –the hair, the shape of the skull, the shape and color of the eyes, the fact that the son takes after his father…These masculine genes mate with the feminine ones.

The one who believes in Allah believes in everything in the Qur'an:

 Now, unless there is a close family relationship between the couple, the stronger feature will impose itself. That is, if the liver is strong, let us say, in the masculine gene, while it is weak in the feminine one, the baby will receive a strong liver; but if there is a relation of kinship within the couple, the weakness will increase. Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Marry outside the family lest you get weak… * “

 This means that if the man gets married to someone outside the family, their offspring will be strong, that is to say, the stronger features will predominate over the weak ones.

“Now let the man but think from what he is created!
He is created from a drop emitted,
Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs.
Surely (Allah) is able to bring him back (to life).”

 The belief in the Last Day has a connection with the belief in Allah Most High; more than that –it is one of its requirements, because he who believes in Allah rightly will believe in all that has been mentioned in the Qur'an. This miraculous Creation can be easily recreated anew by Allah.

“Surely (Allah) is able to bring him back (to life).”

  But when?

“The Day that (all) things secret will be tested.”

(At-Tariq, 86:9)

“The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail,
But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart.”

(Ash-Shu'ara, 26:88-89)

Importance of sincerity of one's intention:

 It was mentioned in the hadith:

“Some of the reauthorrs of the Qur'an will come forth on the Doomsday and will say: O Lord! We used to reauthor the Qur'an in Your Cause. It will be said then: You are lying. You reauthord it to hear such and such (words of praise). *”

 And the same will be said to (some) scholars and mujahidun.

“The Day that (all) things secret will be tested.”

(At-Tariq, 86:9)

 Our Lord says:

“And obey Allah and the Messenger that you may obtain mercy.”

(Al-Imran, 3:132)

 La'al'lla, "that you may", suggests expectation. That is, if there is sincerity in your acts, you will certainly be granted mercy; if there isn't, the worldly life will have been substituted for the deen.

“The Day that (all) things secret will be tested.”

(At-Tariq, 86:9)

 All the ignoble intentions will manifest themselves. Man should worship sincerely, following the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“O Muadh! Purify your deen, and the little you do will be sufficient for you.*”

“Your deen! Your deen, O ibn Umar! It is your flesh and blood! Take from those who stand firm and do not take from those who deviate.*”

“A dirham spent sincerely is better than one hundred thousand that were spent hypocritically (in order to show off).* “

 Man must be sincere.

“The Day that (all) things secret will be tested.”

(At-Tariq, 86:9)

 On that Day will be examined the reality of all the intentions displeasing to Allah. Therefore, man should try to purify his soul from shirk (associating sh3er with Allah) and from all the intentions which incur Allah's displeasure.

“Whoever reforms his inside, Allah will reform his outside; and whoever reforms what is between him and Allah, Allah will reform what is between him and the people.”

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