Tafsir of Surah Az-Zukhruf - Verse 13

The Idolators' admission that Allah is the Sole Creator, and Further Evidence of that

Allah says: `If you, O Muhammad, were to ask these idolators who associate others with Allah and worship others besides Him,'

مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ خَلَقَهُنَّ الْعَزِيزُ الْعَلِيمُ

("Who has created the heavens and the earth" They will surely say: "The All-Mighty, the All-Knower created them.") In other words, they will admit that the Creator of all that is Allah Alone, with no partner or associate, yet they still worship others -- idols and false gods -- alongside Him.

الَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الاٌّرْضَ مَهْداً

(Who has made for you the earth like a bed,) means, smooth, stable and firm, so that you can travel about in it, and stand on it and sleep and walk about, even though it is created above water, but He has strengthened it with the mountains, lest it should shake.

وَجَعَلَ لَكُمْ فِيهَا سُبُلاً

(and has made for you roads therein,) means, paths between the mountains and the valleys.

لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

(in order that you may find your way.) means, in your journeys from city to city, region to region, land to land.

وَالَّذِى نَزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً بِقَدَرٍ

(And Who sends down water from the sky in due measure, ) means, according to what is sufficient for your crops, fruits and drinking water for yourselves and your cattle.

فَأَنشَرْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَّيْتاً

(then We revive a dead land therewith,) means, a barren land, for when the water comes to it, it is stirred (to life), and it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth). By referring to the revival of the earth, Allah draws attention to how He will bring bodies back to life on the Day of Resurrection, after they have been dead.

كَذَلِكَ تُخْرَجُونَ

(and even so you will be brought forth.) Then Allah says:

وَالَّذِى خَلَقَ الأَزْوَجَ كُلَّهَا

(And Who has created all the pairs) meaning, of everything that grows in the earth, all kinds of plants, crops, fruits, flowers, etc., and all different kinds of animals.

وَجَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِّنَ الْفُلْكِ

(and has appointed for you ships) or vessels,

وَالاٌّنْعَـمِ مَا تَرْكَبُونَ

(and cattle on which you ride.) means, He has subjugated them to you and made it easy for you to eat their meat, drink their milk and ride on their backs. Allah says:

لِتَسْتَوُواْ عَلَى ظُهُورِهِ

(In order that you may mount on their backs, ) meaning, sit comfortably and securely,

عَلَى ظُهُورِهِ

(on their backs) means, on the backs of these kinds of animals.

ثُمَّ تَذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَةَ رَبِّكُمْ

(and then may remember the favor of your Lord) means, whereby these animals are subjugated to you.

إِذَا اسْتَوَيْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ وَتَقُولُواْ سُبْحَـنَ الَّذِى سَخَّرَ لَنَا هَـذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِنِينَ

(when you mount thereon, and say: "Glory to Him Who has subjected this to us, and we could have never had it.") means, if it were not for the fact that Allah has subjugated these things to us, we could never have done this by our own strength.' Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Zayd said: "We could not have done this ourselves."

وَإِنَّآ إِلَى رَبِّنَا لَمُنقَلِبُونَ

(And verily, to Our Lord we indeed are to return.) means, `We will return to Him after our death, and our ultimate destination is with Him.' In this Ayah, mention of earthly journeys draws attention to the journey of the Hereafter, just as elsewhere, mention of earthly provision draws attention to the importance of ensuring provision for the Hereafter, as Allah says:

وَتَزَوَّدُواْ فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَى

(And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is the Taqwa) (2:197). And mention of earthly garments is also used to draw attention to the raiment of the Hereafter:

وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ

(and as an adornment; and the raiment of the Taqwa, that is better) (7:26).

ثُمَّ تَذْكُرُ‌وا نِعْمَةَ رَ‌بِّكُمْ (then recall the favour of your Lord - 13). This tells us that a sensible and alert person should not display negligence, carelessness or his need-free of the divine help while enjoying the blessings of the Actual Benefactor, rather he should acknowledge that it is a reward from Allah Almighty, obliging him to be grateful and to display his impotence and humility. Actually this is the difference between an infidel and a Mu'min that an infidel uses the good things of this world carelessly and negligently, while the Mu'min congnizant of the blessings of Allah bows his head to Allah Almighty in humility. It is for this reason that the Qur'an and hadith have taught supplications for patience, steadfastness and gratefulness, and if anyone makes a habit of supplicating those prayers in his daily life while getting up, sitting down, walking about, etc., then all his (or hers) permissible activities turn into acts of worship. These supplications are collected by ` Allamah Ibn-ul-Jazri in his book Al-Hisn-ul-Hasin, and Maulana Thanawi in Munajat-e-Maqbul.

Supplications of a traveler

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ‌ لَنَا هَـٰذَا (Pure is the One who has subjugated this for us - 13). These words of supplication are to be said when mounting a transport. This was the practice of the Holy Prophet ﷺ according to many narrations. The mustahab (preferable) way to ride a transport, as stated by Sayyidna ` Ali ؓ ، is to say بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ :'Bismillah' (With the name of Allah) when one is putting the first foot on the animal or the vehicle, and after one has set himself or herself on the transport, one should say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ Alhamdulillah' (All praise belongs to Allah), and then one should say the words mentioned in this verse from سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ‌ لَنَا هَـٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِ‌نِينَ وَإِنَّا إِلَىٰ رَ‌بِّنَا لَمُنقَلِبُونَ (Qurtubi). Moreover according to some reports, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، after saying these words, used to supplicate in the following words also:

اَللَّھُمَّ اَنتَ الصَّاحِبُ فِی السَّفَرِ وَ الخلِیفَۃُ فِی الاَھلِ وَالمالِ اَللَّھُمَّ اِنِّی اَعُوذُبِکَ مَن وَّعثَآءِ السَّفَرِ وَ کَآا ؓ بَۃِ المُنقَلَبِ ، وَالحَورِ بعدَ الکَورِ وَ سُوءِ المَنظَر فِی الاَھلِ وَالمَالِ ۔

"0 Allah, you are my companion in the journey, and my substitute for my family. 0 Allah, I seek your refuge from the sufferings of the journey, and from coming back in a sad situation, and from a bad state of being after a good one, and from a bad scenario appearing to me about my family and my belongings."

According to one narration, the following words are added to the above supplication,

اللَّھُمَّ لَٓا اِلٰہَ اِلَّا اَنتِ ، ظَلَمتُ نَفسِی فاغفِر لِی اِنَّہُ لَا یَغفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ اِلَّا اَنتَ

0 Allah, there is no god but You. I have done wrong to myself; so forgive me. Surely, no one can forgive the sins, but You alone. (Qurtubi)

وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِ‌نِينَ (and we were not able to have control over it - 13). This statement is as true for mechanical means of transport as for cattle and animals, because if Allah Ta’ ala had not created their raw materials, or had not endowed them with their particular properties, or had not endowed the human intellect with capability to discover those properties, even the whole universe, acting together in unison, could not have produced these vehicles.

One way of ascribing partners to God is to assume that He can have offspring, for example, holding angels to be the daughters of God, or Christ to be the son of God, or subscribing to the theory of the unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud) or monism which interprets all things of the universe to be part and parcel of God. All such beliefs are baseless suppositions or flights of imagination, which are not borne out by reasoning. Here, certain of the gender characteristics of women have been dealt with under two headings—one is that by nature she is given to self-adornment and the other is that at times of dispute she is unable to vindicate herself. These weaknesses in a woman are facts, and that is why in Islam the distribution of work is such that the responsibility for outside work lies with the men and that of inside work with the women.