Tafsir of Surah Luqman - Verse 3

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The Doomed are preoccupied with Idle Talk and They turn away from the Ayat of Allah

When Allah mentions the blessed -- who are those who are guided by the Book of Allah and benefit from hearing it, as He says:

اللَّهُ نَزَّلَ أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَـباً مُّتَشَـبِهاً مَّثَانِيَ تَقْشَعِرُّ مِنْهُ جُلُودُ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ ثُمَّ تَلِينُ جُلُودُهُمْ وَقُلُوبُهُمْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ

(Allah has sent down the Best Statement, a Book, its parts resembling each other (and) oft-repeated. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it. Then their skin and their heart soften to the remembrance of Allah) (39:23). He connect that with mention of the doomed, those who turn away from the Qur'an and do not benefit from hearing the Words of Allah. Instead, they turn to listening to flutes and singing accompanied by musical instruments. As Ibn Mas`ud commented about the Ayah:

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

(And of mankind is he who purchases Lahu Al-Hadith to mislead (men) from the path of Allah), he said, "This -- by Allah -- refers to singing."

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ

(And of mankind is he who purchases Lahw Al-Hadith to mislead (men) from the path of Allah without knowledge, ) Qatadah said: "By Allah, he may not spend money on it, but his purchasing it means he likes it, and the more misguided he is, the more he likes it and the more he prefers falsehood to the truth and harmful things over beneficial things." It was said that what is meant by the words

يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ

(purchases idle talks) is buying singing servant girls. Ibn Jarir said that it means all speech that hinders people from seeing the signs of Allah and following His path. His saying:

لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

(to mislead (men) from the path of Allah) means, he does this to oppose Islam and its followers.

وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُواً

(and takes it by way of mockery.) Mujahid said, "This means mocking the path of Allah and making fun of it."

أُوْلَـئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ

(For such there will be a humiliating torment.) Just as they showed no respect to the signs and path of Allah, so they will be shown no respect on the Day of Resurrection, and they will be subjected to a painful, ongoing torment. Then Allah says:

وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ ءَايَـتُنَا وَلَّى مُسْتَكْبِراً كَأَن لَّمْ يَسْمَعْهَا كَأَنَّ فِى أُذُنَيْهِ وَقْراً

(And when Our Ayat are recited to such a one, he turns away in pride, as if he heard them not -- as if there were deafness in his ear.) means, when these Qur'anic verses are recited to one who is fond of idleness and play, he turns away from them and does not want to hear them. He turns a deaf ear to them as if he can hear nothing, because it annoys him to hear them since he gains no benefit from them and has no interest in them.

فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

(So announce to him a painful torment.) i.e., on the Day of Resurrection, which will hurt him just as much as listening to the Book of Allah and its verses hurt him.

After this, the falsehood and ignorance of the deniers of the Dooms Day is mentioned وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُقْسِمُ الْمُجْرِ‌مُونَ مَا لَبِثُوا غَيْرَ‌ سَاعَةٍ that is, ‘When the Dooms Day will come, these deniers of the Dooms Day will start swearing by losing senses after looking at the horrid scenes, that their stay was not more than one hour'. It is probable that the stay referred to here is the stay in this world, because they spent the time in this world in comfort and ease. And when they will encounter troubles in the Hereafter, they, by way of a natural habit of man to regard the comfortable period of his life very short, will swear that they lived in the world hardly for one hour.

The other probability is that this 'stay' is their stay in graves and barzakh. In that case, the meaning would be that they had thought that their stay in graves, that is barzakh, would be very long and the Dooms Day would come after a long period, but it would seem to them that they stayed in barzakh for a very short time, and the Day of Judgment dawned too early. The reason for this feeling is that they will not find any comfort for themselves in the Hereafter, rather it will bring nothing but problems for them. And it is human nature that when he is taken over by problems, he considers the time previously spent in comfort being very short-lived. Although the barzakh is also a place of punishment for the infidels, yet it is much lighter as compared to what they will come across in Qiyamah. Hence they will regard the period of barzakh as very short and swear that their stay in it was brief.

Would anyone be able to lie before Allah on the Day of Resurrection?

It is revealed in this verse that the infidels will lie on the Day of Resurrection in their swearing that they did not stay in the world or barzakh for more than an hour. It is also revealed in another verse that the disbelievers will say on oath that they were not disbelievers وَاللَّـهِ رَ‌بِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِ‌كِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we ascribed no partners to Allah - 6:23). What needs to be understood here is that it will be Allah's court on the Day of Resurrection, and He will allow all and sundry to say whatever one wishes to say, whether one lies or speaks the truth. Allah is All-Knowledgeable and is not dependent on any one to find out what is false and what is true. When any one will speak a lie, his mouth will be sealed, and his skin, hair and limbs will be asked to give evidence. They will relate the truth in full detail, after which the liar will be left with no excuse. The verse الْيَوْمَ نَخْتِمُ عَلَىٰ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَا أَيْدِيهِمْ (Today We set a seal on their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us. - 36:65) means the same. Some other Qur'anic verses reveal that there will be different occasions for the appearance of human beings before Allah Ta’ ala on the Day of Resurrection. On one such occasion, no one will have the right to speak without permission from Allah Ta’ ala, and he will have to speak nothing but truth. It will not be possible for him to speak a lie, as stated in the verse لَّا يَتَكَلَّمُونَ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنُ وَقَالَ صَوَابًا (They shall speak not, save him to whom the All-Merciful has given leave, and who speaks aright - 78:38).

No one will be able to speak a lie in the grave

As against this, it is related in some authentic ahadith in regard to questions and answers in the grave that when it will be asked from the infidels ` who is your Lord?' and ` who is Muhammad?' they will answer ھَاہ ھَاہ لَا اَدرِی That is ` Alas! I do not know anything'. If it were possible to speak a lie, he would have said ` Allah is my Lord' and ` Muhammad is His Prophet ﷺ .' It looks rather strange that infidels are capable of speaking lies before Allah Ta’ ala, but not before the angels. But when it is looked at deeply, the explanation is simple, that is the angels neither have the knowledge of the unknown nor can they seek evidence from the limbs to confute the liar. If they had the capability of speaking lies before the angels, then all infidels and sinners would have been carefree about the torment of the grave. On the other hand, Allah Ta’ ala knows even the secrets of hearts, and also has the power to elicit evidence from the limbs and organs for exposing the liars. Therefore, allowing this freedom on the Day of Resurrection will not interfere with the rule of justice. وَاللہُ اَعلَم

Surah Ar-Rum was completed by grace of Allah on 28th of Dhulqa'dah, 1391 Hijrah.

Al-Hamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah Ar-Rum

Ends here.

In this world, the criterion of the proper performance of a task (ihsan) is that it should be in accordance with the facts. From this point of view, one who carries out a task in this way is one who admits the reality (muhsin); his actions become a manifestation of his spirit of submission. Those who have it in their nature to mould themselves according to the factual position, are those who, when the Truth presents itself to them, accept it without suffering from any psychological complications. They immediately start fulfilling its practical requirements—they become regular offerers of prayers (salat), which is symbolic of fulfilling God’s will. They give prescribed alms (zakat), which amounts to honouring the rights of God’s subjects in the economic sphere. They shun the worship of worldly achievements and begin to think fondly of the Hereafter, because they know that the place where the question of success or failure shall finally be decided is nowhere other than the Hereafter.