Tafsir of Surah Fatir - Verse 10

Evidence of Life after Death

Often Allah refers to the Resurrection by using the analogy of the earth coming back to life after it has died, as in the beginning of Surat Al-Hajj, where He urges His servants to draw the lesson of the former from the latter. For the earth is dead and lifeless, with nothing growing in it, then He sends to it clouds which bring water, which He sends down upon it,

اهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ

(it is stirred (to life), and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth)) (22:5). So too, when Allah wishes to resurrect the bodies, He will send rain from beneath the Throne which will cover the whole earth, and the bodies will grow in their graves like seeds grow in the earth. It says in the Sahih:

«كُلُّ ابْنِ آدَمَ يَبْلَى إِلَّا عَجْبُ الذَّنَبِ، مِنْهُ خُلِقَ وَمِنْهُ يُرَكَّب»

(Every part of the son of Adam will disintegrate apart from the coccyx, from which he was created and from him he will be made anew.) Allah says:

كَذَلِكَ النُّشُورُ

As such (will be) the Resurrection! According to the Hadith of Abu Raz0n: I said, O Messenger of Allah, how will Allah bring the dead back to life؟ What is the sign of that in His creation؟ He said:

«يَا أَبَا رَزِينٍ أَمَا مَرَرْتَ بِوَادِي قَوْمِكَ مُمْحِلًا ثُمَّ مَرَرْتَ بِهِ يَهْتَزُّ خَضِرًا»

(O Abu Razin, do you not pass through the valley of your people (and see it) arid and barren, then you pass through it (and see it) stirred (to life) and green) I said, `Yes.' He said:

«فَكَذَلِكَ يُحْيِي اللهُ الْمَوْتَى»

(Thus will Allah bring the dead back to life.)"

Honor, Power and Glory in this World and in the Hereafter come only by obeying Allah

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعاً

(Whosoever desires Al-`Izzah then to Allah belongs all Al-`Izzah.) means, whoever desires honor, power and glory in this world and the next, let him be obedient towards Allah, may He be exalted. This will help him reach his goal, for Allah is the Sovereign of this world and the Hereafter, and to Him belong all honor, power and glory. This is like the Ayat:

الَّذِينَ يَتَّخِذُونَ الْكَـفِرِينَ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَيَبْتَغُونَ عِندَهُمُ الْعِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ العِزَّةَ للَّهِ جَمِيعاً

(Those who take disbelievers for protectors instead of believers, do they seek Al-`Izzah with them Verily, then to Allah belongs all honor, power and glory.) (4:139)

وَلاَ يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ إِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ للَّهِ جَمِيعاً

(And let not their speech grieve you, for all Al-`Izzah belongs to Allah) (10:65).

وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَـكِنَّ الْمُنَـفِقِينَ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

(But Al-`Izzah belongs to Allah, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites know not) (63:8). Mujahid said:

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ

(Whosoever desires Al-`Izzah) means, by worshipping idols,

فَإِنَّ العِزَّةَ للَّهِ جَمِيعاً

(then to Allah belongs Al-`Izzah).

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَفَإِنَّ العِزَّةَ للَّهِ جَمِيعاً

(Whosoever desires Al-`Izzah then to Allah belongs Al-`Izzah.) means, let him seek honor, power and glory through obeying Allah, may He be glorified.

Righteous Deeds ascend to Allah

إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ

(To Him ascend the good words,) means, words of remembrance, recitation of Qur'an, and supplications. This was the view of more than one of the Salaf. Ibn Jarir recorded that Al-Mukhariq bin Sulaym said that "`Abdullah bin Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said to them, "If we tell you a Hadith, we will bring you proof of it from the Book of Allah. When the Muslim servants says, `Glory and praise be to Allah, there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, Allah is Most Great and blessed be Allah,' an angel takes these words and puts them under his wing, then he ascends with them to the heaven. He does not take them past any group of angels but they seek forgiveness for the one who said them, until he brings them before Allah, may He be glorified." Then `Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, recited:

إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ وَالْعَمَلُ الصَّـلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُ

(To Him ascend the good words, and the righteous deeds exalt it)." Imam Ahmad recorded that An-Nu`man bin Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللهَ مِنْ جَلَالِ اللهِ مِنْ تَسْبِيحِهِ وَتَكْبِيرِهِ وَتَحْمِيدِهِ وَتَهْلِيلِهِ، يَتَعَاطَفْنَ حَوْلَ الْعَرْشِ لَهُنَّ دَوِيٌّ كَدَوِيِّ النَّحْلِ، يَذْكُرْنَ بِصَاحِبِهِنَّ، أَلَا يُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ لَا يَزَالَ لَهُ عِنْدَ اللهِ شَيْءٌ يُذَكِّرُ بِه»

(Those who remember Allah and glory Allah by saying, `Glory be to Allah, Allah is most Great, all praise is due to Allah and La ilaha illallah, these words go around the Throne buzzing like bees, mentioning those who said them. Would one of you not like to have something with Allah mentioning him)" This was also recorded by Ibn Majah.

وَالْعَمَلُ الصَّـلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُ

and the righteous deeds exalt it. Ali bin Abi Tلalhلah reported that Ibn Abba0s, may Allah be pleased with him, said, The good word is the remembrance of Allah, may He be exalted, which is taken up to Allah, and the righteous deed is the performance of obligatory duties. Whoever remembers Allah when doing an obligatory duty, his deed carries his remembrance of Allah and takes it up to Allah, may He be exalted. Whoever remembers Allah and does not perform the obligatory duties, his words will be rejected, as will his deed.

وَالَّذِينَ يَمْكُرُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ

but those who plot evils, Muja0hid, Sa 0d bin Jubayr and Shahr bin Hلawshab said, This refers to those who show off by their actions, i.e., they deceive the people by giving the impression that they are obeying Allah, when in fact they are hated by Allah for showing off. Allah says:

لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَكْرُ أُوْلَـئِكَ هُوَ يَبُورُ

(theirs will be severe torment. And the plotting of such will perish.) meaning, it will fail and vanish, for their reality is apparent from up close to those who have insight and wisdom. No one conceals a secret but Allah will cause it to become known, on his face or by a slip of the tongue, or He will cause the person to wear it like a cloak (so that everyone will see it). If it is good, then the consequences will be good, and if it is bad, then the consequences will be bad. The person who shows off cannot continue to deceive anyone but the fool, but the believers who have insight are not deceived by that; from up close, they soon discover it. And nothing at all can be hidden from the Knower of the Unseen (Allah).

Allah is the Creator and Knower of the Unseen

وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ

(And Allah did create you from dust, then from Nutfah,) means, He initiated the creation of your father Adam from dust, then He created his offspring from semen of worthless water.

ثُمَّ جَعَلَكُمْ أَزْوَجاً

then He made you pairs. means, male and female, as a kindness and a mercy from Him, He gave you partners from your own kind, that you may find repose in them.

وَمَا تَحْمِلُ مِنْ أُنْثَى وَلاَ تَضَعُ إِلاَّ بِعِلْمِهِ

(And no female conceives or gives birth but with His knowledge.) means, He knows about that and nothing is hidden from Him at all, but,

وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلاَّ يَعْلَمُهَا وَلاَ حَبَّةٍ فِى ظُلُمَـتِ الاٌّرْضِ وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِى كِتَـبٍ مُّبِينٍ

(not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record.) (6:59) We have already discussed in this respect in the Ayah:

اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْمِلُ كُلُّ أُنثَى وَمَا تَغِيضُ الاٌّرْحَامُ وَمَا تَزْدَادُ وَكُلُّ شَىْءٍ عِندَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ - عَـلِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَـدَةِ الْكَبِيرُ الْمُتَعَالِ

(Allah knows what every female bears, and by how much the wombs fall short or exceed. Everything with Him is in (due) proportion. All-Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Most Great, the Most High.) (13:8-9).

وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ وَلاَ يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلاَّ فِى كِتَـبٍ

(And no aged man is granted a length of life nor is a part cut off from his life, but is in a Book.) means, some of those sperm are granted a long life, which He knows and it is recorded with Him in the First Book.

وَلاَ يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ

nor is a part cut off from his life, Here the pronoun (his) refers to mankind in general, not to a specific person, because the long life which is recorded in the Book and is known by Allah will not be cut off. It was reported via Al- Awfi that Ibn Abba0s said concerning the A0yah,

وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ وَلاَ يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلاَّ فِى كِتَـبٍ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

(And no aged man is granted a length of life nor is a part cut off from his life, but is in a Book. Surely, that is easy for Allah.) There is no one for whom Allah has decreed a long life but he will reach the age that has been decreed for him. When he reaches the time that has been decreed for him, he will not surpass it. And there is no one for whom Allah has decreed a short life but it will end when he reaches the age that has been decreed for him. Allah says:

وَلاَ يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ إِلاَّ فِى كِتَـبٍ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

(nor is a part cut off from his life, but is in a Book. Surely, that is easy for Allah.) He said, "That is recorded in a Book with Him." This was also the view of Ad-Dahhak bin Muzahim. On the other hand, some of them said, "The phrase

وَمَا يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُّعَمَّرٍ

(And no aged man is granted a length of life) means, what He decrees for him of life, and

وَلاَ يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِ

nor is a part cut off from his life means, his time is constantly decreasing. All of this is known to Allah year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour. Everything is written with Allah in His Book. This was reported by Ibn Jar0r from Abu Ma0lik, and was also the view of As-Suddi and Atلa0 Al-Khura0sa0ni. In the Tafsir of this Ayah, An-Nasa'i recorded that Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

«مَنْ سَرَّهُ أَنْ يُبْسَطَ لَهُ فِي رِزْقِهِ وَيُنْسَأَ لَهُ فِي أَثَرِهِ فَلْيَصِلْ رَحِمَه»

(Whoever would like to have ample provision and a long life, let him uphold the ties of kinship.)" It was also recorded by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Dawud.

إِنَّ ذلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

Surely, that is easy for Allah. means, that is very easy for Him, and He has detailed knowledge of all His creation, for His knowledge encompasses all things, and nothing at all is hidden from Him.

Commentary

In verse 10, it was said: إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ وَالْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ يَرْ‌فَعُهُ (Towards Him, ascends the pure word, and the righteous deed uplifts it). Immediately earlier to this, it was declared that the person seeking honor and power should understand that these matters are not controlled by anyone other than Allah. As for those who have taken certain things as objects of worship or have taken some people as friends in the hope of being honored by them, they cannot give honor to anyone. Given in the present verse, there is a method of acquiring the gifts of grace and honor from Allah Ta’ ala. It has two parts: (1) Good word (that is, the kalimah of tauhid: la ilaha il-lal-lah) and the knowledge of the being and attributes of Allah. (2) Good deed, that is, to believe by heart and then act in accordance with its dictates under the Shari` ah. Shah ` Abdul Qadir (رح) has said in Mudih-ul-Qur'an that this prescription of becoming a recipient of honor is perfectly true and tested, however, the condition is that one remains constant in remembering Allah and doing good deeds. When this constancy reaches an appointed limit, Allah Ta’ ala blesses the doer of these with an everlasting and unparalleled honor both in this world and in the world to come.

These two parts have been expressed in the cited verse by saying that good word ascends towards Allah and reaches Him while good deed uplifts it and makes it reach Him. In the grammatical arrangement of: الْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ يَرْ‌فَعُهُ the good deed uplifts it) there are certain probabilities. The meanings of the sentence change in terms of each such probability. Authorities in Tafsir have explained it in line with the respective probabilities that they have deemed to be appropriate by them. According to the first probability, the subjective pronoun in: يَرْ‌فَعُهُ (uplifts) should be taken as reverting to: ... (the good deed) and the objective pronoun (it) to: ... (good word) meaning: 'good words ascend to Allah, but the thing through which they are made to ascend are good deeds (as in the khulasa-e-Tafsir of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi (رح)). The majority of Tafsir authorities - Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas, Ibn Jubayr, Hasan al-Basri, Mujahid, Dahhak, Shahr Ibn Hawshab and others - have opted for this very approach. And the sense of ascending to and being helped to ascend is being accepted in the sight of Allah, therefore, the gist of the sentence would be that good word, be it the kalimah of tauhid or others words of the remembrance and glorification of Allah, nothing of it gets to be acceptable with Allah without good deed. Here, the confirmation by heart is an integral part of good deed the most important part of which is the belief by heart in His Oneness. This belief by heart is a necessary condition for the acceptance of deeds in the absolute sense. Without it, neither the Kalimah: لا إله إلا اللہ (la ilaha il-lal-lah) nor any other Dhikr of Allah is acceptable.

Then, there are the other parts of good deed, such as, prayers and fasting and abstinence from forbidden and reprehensible things. Though, the acceptability of the 'good word’, that is, the kalimah of tauhid does not depend on such good deeds, yet these deeds too are conditions to a perfect acceptability of the 'good words'. If a person simply does not have faith, and its confirmation, in his heart, then, no matter how many times he repeats the words of the cardinal statement of one's Islam (Kalimah Tauhid: la ilaha il-lal-lah) and remains engaged with dhikr and Tasbih of Allah, he will not deserve the least of acceptability in the sight of Allah. In contrast, there is the case of the other person who does have faith and its confirmation, but fails to do other good deeds or falls short in them, then, his saying of the kalimah of tauhid and the doing of the dhikr of Allah will, though, not go to waste totally, however, its benefit will be restricted to delivering him from the everlasting punishment. The consequence will be that he will go through a certain punishment for some time that will be in proportion to his abandonment of duty and the shortcoming.

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said, 'Allah Ta’ ala does not accept any word without deed, and any word and deed without the intention, and any word, deed and intention without compatibility with sunnah (as said and done by him).' (Qurtubi)

This tells us that correspondence with sunnah is the condition of perfect acceptability. Even if the word, the deed and the intention, all these, are also correct but the mode and method of conduct is not in accordance with sunnah, then, one cannot become a recipient of perfect acceptability with Allah.

Some commentators suggest another syntactical arrangement in respect of this sentence. According to them, the subjective pronoun in: يَرْ‌فَعُهُ (uplifts) reverts to: ضَمِر فَاعِل good word) and the objective pronoun (i.e.'it' ) to: کلم طیّب ( good deed). Thus, the meaning of the sentence become totally different from that of the earlier, that is, 'good word' which is the dhikr of Allah, makes 'good deed' ascend and makes it rise higher up, that is, makes it worthy of being accepted. The outcome would then be that a person who does good deeds, and along with it, also does his dhikr of Allah abundantly, then, this dhikr of Allah embellishes his deed and makes it acceptable.

The present world gives us an introduction to the Hereafter. Rain, a common phenomenon, indicates that a force is at work which is beyond our ken. Rain results from the action of universal forces. The sun, the air, the sea, gravitational force and many other factors combine with each other in perfect co-ordination to produce the rain which makes dry land come alive. This process of rain-making proves that the Organizer of the universe has full powers over it. He brings about an event according to His plan. Re-vitalizing a barren piece of land and resurrecting a dead man are both feats of the same calibre. If the possibility of the first event is proved, then by analogy, the possibility of the second event automatically stands proved. The present world is a testing ground. Therefore, here even an undeserving person may temporarily receive honour, but in the Hereafter all the honours will fall to the lot of those who are really deserving of them. The criteria for judging worthiness will be righteous words (al-kalim at-tayyib) and pious deeds (al-‘amal as-salih), that is, man’s expression—in thought, word and deed—of his discovery of God and the devotion of all his strength to the service of the Almighty. Those who build their lives in piety are bound to secure God’s help.