Tafsir of Surah Ar-Ra'd - Verse 1

Ar-Rad was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

The Qur'an is Allah's Kalam (Speech)

We talked before, in the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah (chapter 2) about the meaning of the letters that appear in the beginnings of some chapters in the Qur'an. We stated that every Surah that starts with separate letters, affirms that the Qur'an is miraculous and is an evidence that it is a revelation from Allah, and that there is no doubt or denying in this fact. This is why Allah said next,

تِلْكَ آيَـتُ الْكِتَـبِ

(These are the verses of the Book), the Qur'an, which Allah described afterwards,

وَالَّذِى أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ

(and that which has been revealed unto you), O Muhammad,

مِن رَبِّكَ الْحَقُّ

(from your Lord is the truth,) Allah said next,

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ

(but most men believe not.) just as He said in another Ayah,

وَمَآ أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And most of mankind will not believe even if you desire it eagerly.) 12:103 Allah declares that even after this clear, plain and unequivocal explanation (the Qur'an), most men will still not believe, due to their rebellion, stubbornness and hypocrisy.

اللَّهُ الَّذِى رَفَعَ السَّمَـوَتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ تَرَوْنَهَا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ كُلٌّ يَجْرِى لأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّـى يُدَبَّرُ الاٌّمْرَ يُفَصِّلُ الآيَـتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ بِلِقَآءِ رَبِّكُمْ تُوقِنُونَ

Commentary

This Surah is Makki and it has a total of forty three verses. Mentioned in this Surah too there are subjects such as the truth and veracity of the Holy Qur'an, Tauhid (Oneness of Allah), Risalah (Prophethood) and answers to doubts raised about them.

The first group of letters: المر (Alif, Lam, Meem, Ra) are isolated Letters (Al-Huruf al-Muqattaat) the meaning of which are known to Allah Ta’ ala alone. The Ummah has not been informed of its meaning. It is not appropriate for the Muslim Ummah at large to indulge in investigations about them.

The first verse says that the Holy Qur'an is Divine Word, and that it is true. The word, الْكِتَابِ (Al-Kitab: The Book) means the Qur’ an, and it is possible that the expression which follows it, that is, الَّذِي أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّ‌بِّكَ (And what has been sent down to you from your Lord) might as well mean the Qur’ an itself. But, the connective (the waw of ` atf translated as 'And' ) obviously requires that الْكِتَابِ (Al-kitab: The Book) and الَّذِي أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ (what has been sent down to you) should be two separate things. In that case, Al-Kitab or The Book would signify the Qur'an and (what has been sent down to you) would mean the revelation (Wahy), other than that of the Qur’ an, which has been sent down to the Holy Prophet ﷺ - because, it goes without saying, that the revelation sent to the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not restricted to the Qur'an alone. The Qur'an itself says وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ (53:3) It means: Whatever the Holy Prophet ﷺ says, he does not say on his own, out of some desire of his; instead, it is a message revealed to him from Allah Ta'ala. It proves that the orders given by the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، other than those appearing in the Qur’ an, are also no other but those sent from Allah. The only difference between the two is that the Qur’ an is recited (matluww) while the later is not (ghayr matluww). The rationale for this difference is that the meanings and the words of the Qur’ an are both from Allah Ta’ ala, while, in the case of the rules of conduct (Ahkam) given by the Holy Prophet ﷺ in Hadith - in addition to those in the Qur'an - their meanings too are, no doubt, revealed from Allah Ta’ ala, but their words are not revealed from Him. Therefore, they cannot be recited in Salah.

Thus, the verse comes to mean that the Quran and its injunctions sent down to the Holy Prophet ﷺ are all true and in them there is no room for doubt. But, most people, due to their lack of concern and deliberation, do not come around to believe in them.

That Allah Ta` ala exists and that He is One has been emphasized in the second verse. The proof stands obvious. Look at what has been created and ponder over the matchless mastery with which everything was created. One can come to only one conclusion that their maker has abso-lute power over everything and that He controls all creations and universes as the master.

The Quran enjoins the acceptance of the one and only God. Those who do not believe in God advance the argument that if God is in existence, He should be visible to everyone. But our known universe shows that a thing’s invisibility does not prove that it has no existence at all. An example of this is the force of gravity. There are innumerable stars and many planets in space. Human knowledge claims that in between these astronomical bodies there is an ethereal and intangible force of gravity (or force of attraction) which is balancing them in the vastness of space. So man believes in the force of gravity in spite of its being intangible and unseen. Then how can he be justified in denying the existence of God, simply because of His being unseen? This is the case with Revelation and prophethood. When an observer of the universe studies its phenomena, he finds that everything here functions according to a system. It appears as if all things are bound by a special order. This ‘order’ does not exist in the things themselves. Certainly, it comes from outside. In other words, the whole universe seeks instruction from ‘outside’ for its working. This external instruction in the case of our world (leaving out of account its human population) is generally referred to as the Law of Nature. In the case of human beings, this external instruction, or guidance, comes in the form of revelation and inspiration. The Universe is, so to say, a machine and the Quran is its ‘Guide Book’. The former is the example of God’s regulation of affairs and the latter is the example of God’s detailing of signs. There is perfect consistency between these two. Whatever exists in the universe in physical form, exists in the Quran in verbal form. This consistency simultaneously proves two things—first, that there is a Creator of this universe and second, that the Quran is the Book of that Creator and not the creation of the limited mind of a human being.