Tafsir of Surah Ya-Sin - Verse 69

Allah tells us that the longer the son of Adam lives, the more he becomes weak after being strong, and incapable after being able and active

This is like the Ayah:

اللَّهُ الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفاً وَشَيْبَةً يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُ

(Allah is He Who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after strength gave weakness and gray hair. He creates what He wills. And it is He Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.) (30:54). And Allah says:

وَمِنكُمْ مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَى أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلاَ يَعْلَمَ مِن بَعْدِ عِلْمٍ شَيْئاً

(And among you there is he who is brought back to the miserable old age, so that he knows nothing after having known) (22:5). The meaning here -- and Allah knows best -- is that Allah is telling us that this world is transient and will come to an end, it is not eternal and lasting. Allah says:

أَفَلاَ يَعْقِلُونَ

(Will they not then understand) meaning, will they not think about how they were created, then they become gray-haired, then they become old and senile, so that they may know that they were created for another world that is not transient and will not pass away, and from which there is no way out, which is the Hereafter.

Allah does not teach His Messenger Poetry

وَمَا عَلَّمْنَـهُ الشِّعْرَ وَمَا يَنبَغِى لَهُ

(And We have not taught him poetry, nor is it suitable for him.) Allah tells us that He has not taught His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ poetry.

وَمَا يَنبَغِى لَهُ

(nor is it suitable for him.) means, he did not know how to compose it, he did not like it and he had no natural inclination towards it. It was narrated that he never memorized a stanza of poetry with the correct meter or rhyme -- he would transpose words or memorize it incompletely. In Ad-Dala'il, Al-Bayhaqi recorded that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Al-`Abbas bin Mirdas As-Sulami, may Allah be pleased with him:

«أَنْتَ الْقَائِلُ: أَتَجْعَلُ نَهْبِي وَنَهْبَ الْعُبَيدِ بَيْنَ الْأَقْرَعِ وَعُيَيْنَة»

(You are the one who said: "Do you distribute my booty and the booty of the servants between Al-Aqra` and `Uyainah.") He said, "It is `Uyainah and Al-Aqra`." He said:

«الْكُلُّ سَوَاء»

(It is all the same.) i.e., it means the same thing. And Allah knows best. This is because Allah taught him the Qur'an, which

لاَّ يَأْتِيهِ الْبَـطِلُ مِن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَلاَ مِنْ خَلْفِهِ تَنزِيلٌ مِّنْ حَكِيمٍ حَمِيدٍ

(Falsehood cannot come to it from before it or behind it; sent down by the All-Wise, Worthy of all praise.) (41:42). This is not poetry, as some of the ignorant disbelievers of the Quraysh claimed; neither is it sorcery, a fabrication or a magic spell, as the misguided and ignorant people variously suggested. The Prophet was naturally disinclined to compose verse, and was forbidden to do so by Divine Law.

إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ ذِكْرٌ وَقُرْءَانٌ مُّبِينٌ

(This is only a Reminder and a plain Qur'an.) means, it is clear and self-explanatory to the one who ponders and comprehends its meanings, Allah says:

لِّيُنذِرَ مَن كَانَ حَيّاً

(That he or it may give warning to him who is living,) meaning, so that this plain Qur'an might warn every living person on the face of the earth. This is like the Ayat:

لاٌّنذِرَكُمْ بِهِ وَمَن بَلَغَ

(that I may therewith warn you and whomsoever it may reach) (6:19).

وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِهِ مِنَ الاٌّحْزَابِ فَالنَّارُ مَوْعِدُهُ

(but those of the sects that reject it, the Fire will be their promised meeting place) (11:17). Those who will benefit from his warning will be those whose hearts are alive and who have enlightened insight, as Qatadah said, "Alive of heart and alive of insight." Ad-Dahhak said, "This means wise."

وَيَحِقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَى الْكَـفِرِينَ

(and that Word may be justified against the disbelievers.) means, it is a mercy to the believers and evidence against the disbelievers.

Commentary

In the first verse cited here, it was said: وَمَا عَلَّمْنَاهُ الشِّعْرَ‌ وَمَا يَنبَغِي لَهُ (And We did not teach him poetry and it is not proper for him.) Since the deniers of the appearance of a prophet and messenger with a mission could not deny the unique effectiveness of the Qur'an and its ability to move hearts that was a matter of common experience, therefore, they invented convenient excuses. At times, they would call this Divine Word, some magic and the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، a magician. Then, on other occasions, they would say that this Word was poetry and he was a poet. By saying that, they wanted to prove that this unique effectiveness did not come out of the Divine Word as such, instead, they were either words of magic or sorcery that made an impression on hearts, or it is poetic speech for that too affects hearts.

In this verse, Allah Ta’ ala said that He did not teach His prophet the art of poetry, nor was it appropriate to his station and saying that he was a poet, is false and wrong.

Here, we have a question. Is it not that Arabs are a people who have poetry in their blood? Even their women and children would compose impromptu lines of poetry. They knew poetry and its reality. How could they say that the Qur'an was poetry and the Holy Prophet ﷺ was a poet? On what basis could this be because neither is the Qur'an restricted by the compulsion of poetic meter, nor of radif (the unchanging word that appears at the end of the hemistich) and qafiyah (the changing rhymed word that appears before the radif) anywhere in the text? Not even someone who is pathetically ignorant of the mores of poetry would think of calling this poetry.

To answer this, it can be said that, essentially, poetry is composed of self-structured imaginary subjects, whether in poetry or prose. By calling the Qur'an, poetry and the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، a poet their purpose was to tell him that the Divine Word he claims to have brought, is no more than imaginary tales. Or, may be, they called him a poet in terms of the well recognized meaning of poetry with a certain congruity in mind, that is, the effect produced by the Qur'an is similar to the effect produced by poetic compositions.

Quoting his own chain of authority, Imam Abu Bakr al-Jassas (رح) has reported that someone asked Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ if the Holy Prophet ﷺ used to recite some verse of poetry once in a while. To that, she said, "No, however, he once did recite a verse of Ibn Tarfah:

\----۔ و یأتیک بالاخبار من لّم تزوّدِ ستبدی لک الایام ما کنت جاھلاً-----

"The time will reveal to you that which you did not know, and the news will be brought to you by one whom you did not appoint to do so.

But the holy Prophet ﷺ recited this as: وزن شعری in a manner that broke the poetic measure. Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ submitted, 'Ya RasulAllah, this verse is not like that.' He said, 'I am not a poet, nor is poetry appropriate for me."

Ibn Kathir has reported this narration in his Tafsir, and at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'I and Imam Ahmad have also reported it. This tells us that he simply did not consider reciting verses of poetry composed by others as appropriate for him. That he would compose it himself was unthinkable. As for some sentences having the resonance of poetic measure reported from the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself, they did not issue forth from him with the intention of composing formal poetry. They were casual, and should some one or two lines issue forth from a person that fall into poetic measure, these do not make him a poet. But, from this natural condition of the Holy Prophet ﷺ that was based on great considerations of wisdom, it does not become necessary that poetry should be taken as blameworthy in any absolute sense - as explained under the details of injunctions relating to poetry in our commentary on verse 224 of Surah Ash-Shu` ara' (26) appearing at its end in Volume VI of Ma’ ariful-Qur'an, English. Those interested may see it there.

The miraculous literary style of the Quran also attracted listeners. The opponents of the Prophet used this to deride the importance of the Quran by referring to it as a poetic work and not a Divine Discourse. This was a baseless assertion. The extremely serious tone of the Quran; the unveiling of hidden facts; its teachings concerning the realisation of God; its rare unity of thought from the beginning till the end and the indescribable glimpses of God that it provides—all these firmly indicate that it is much more than a work of man-made poetry. The Quran’s veracity will be evident only to those whose souls are truly alive, and only such people will admit the Truth.