Tafsir of Surah Al-Jathiya - Verse 33

Allah states to us His judgement in His creation on the Day of Resurrection,

فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّـلِحَـتِ

(Then, as for those who believed and did good deeds,) Those whose hearts believed and their limbs performed good deeds, in sincerity to Allah and conforming with Islamic legislation;

فَيُدْخِلُهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ فِى رَحْمَتِهِ

(their Lord will admit them to His mercy. ) and that is Paradise. In the Sahih, Allah said to Paradise;

«أَنْتِ رَحْمَتِي، أَرْحَمُ بِكِ مَنْ أَشَاء»

("You are My mercy, with which I grant mercy to whom I will,") Allah said;

ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْمُبِينُ

(That will be the evident success.) clear and apparent. Allah said,

وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ أَفَلَمْ تَكُنْ ءَايَـتِى تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ

(But as for those who disbelieved (it will be said to them): "Were not Our Ayat recited to you But you were proud...") They will be admonished and criticized with this statement, that means, `have not the Ayat of Ar-Rahman been recited to you But you did not follow them out of pride and turned away upon hearing them,'

وَكُنتُمْ قَوْماً مُّجْرِمِينَ

(and you were a people who were criminals.), `by your actions, as well as, the denial that your hearts contained.'

وَإِذَا قِيلَ إِنَّ وعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَالسَّاعَةُ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهَا

(And when it was said: "Verily, Allah's promise is the truth, and there is no doubt about the coming of the Hour,") `when the believers said these words to you;'

قُلْتُم مَّا نَدْرِى مَا السَّاعَةُ

(you said: "We know not what is the Hour...") `we do not recognize what you are talking about,'

إِن نَّظُنُّ إِلاَّ ظَنّاً

(we do not think it but conjecture,) `we only remotely think that it might come,'

وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُسْتَيْقِنِينَ

(and we have no firm convincing belief (therein).) `we are not sure of it.' Allah said,

وَبَدَا لَهُمْ سَيِّئَـتُ مَا عَمِلُواْ

(And the evil of what they did will appear to them,) the repercussion of their evil deeds will become apparent to them,

وَحَاقَ بِهِم

(and will completely encircle them.) from all directions,

مَا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(that which they used to mock at) of the coming torment and punishment,

وَقِيلَ الْيَوْمَ نَنسَاكُمْ

(And it will be said: "This Day We will forget you...") `We will treat you as if We have forgotten you, casting you in the fire of Jahannam,'

كَمَا نَسِيتُمْ لِقَآءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَـذَا

(as you forgot the meeting of this Day of yours.) `and did not work for it because you did not believe in its coming,'

وَمَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِّن نَّـصِرِينَ

(And your abode is the Fire, and there is none to help you.) In the Sahih, it is reported that Allah the Exalted will ask some of His servants on the Day of Resurrection,

«أَلَمْ أُزَوِّجْكَ؟ أَلَمْ أُكْرِمْكَ؟ أَلَمْ أُسَخِّرْ لَكَ الْخَيْلَ وَالْإِبِلَ، وَأَذَرْكَ تَرْأَسُ وَتَرْبَعُ؟ فَيَقُولُ: بَلَى يَارَبِّ. فَيَقُولُ: أَفَظَنَنْتَ أَنَّكَ مُلَاقِيَّ؟ فَيَقُولُ: لَا. فَيَقُولُ اللهُ تَعَالَى: فَالْيَوْمَ أَنْسَاكَ كَمَا نَسِيتَنِي»

("Have I not given you a spouse, honored you and subjected the camels and horses to you Have I not allowed you to be a chief and a master" The servant will say in answer, "Yes, O Lord!" Allah will say, "Did you think that you would ever meet Me" He will say, "No." Allah the Exalted will say, "then this Day, I will forget you as you forgot Me.") Allah the Exalted said,

ذَلِكُم بِأَنَّكُمُ اتَّخَذْتُمْ ءَايَـتِ اللَّهِ هُزُواً

(This, because you took the revelations of Allah in mockery.) `We gave you this punishment as retribution because you mocked Allah's proofs that He sent to you, and made them the subject of jokes and jest,'

وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْحَيَوةُ الدُّنْيَا

(and the life of the world deceived you.) `this life fooled you and you were seduced by to it, thus becoming among the ultimate losers,'

فَالْيَوْمَ لاَ يُخْرَجُونَ مِنْهَا

(So this Day, they shall not be taken out from there), from Hellfire,

وَلاَ هُمْ يُسْتَعْتَبُونَ

(nor shall they be returned to the worldly life.) no apologies shall be sought from them, but they will be punished without limit or delay, just as a group of the believers will enter Paradise without limit or delay. After Allah mentioned His judgement for the believers and the disbelievers, He said,

فَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ رَبِّ السَّمَـوَتِ وَرَبِّ الاٌّرْضِ

(So all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth,) He is their Owner and the Owner of all that is in and on them, and surely,

رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(and the Lord of all that exists.) Allah said next,

وَلَهُ الْكِبْرِيَآءُ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ

(And His is the majesty in the heavens and the earth, ) meaning, the kingship, according to Mujahid. This Ayah means, Allah is the Almighty, Worthy of all praise; everything and everyone is subservient and in complete need of and dependent upon Him. In an authentic Hadith, the Prophet said,

«يَقُولُ اللهُ تَعَالَى: الْعَظَمَةُ إِزَارِي، وَالْكِبْرِيَاءُ رِدَائِي، فَمَنْ نَازَعَنِي وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمَا أَسْكَنْتُهُ نَارِي»

(Allah the Exalted said, "Glory is My robe and pride is My garment; whoever rivals Me for either of them, I will make him reside in My Fire!") Muslim collected a similar Hadith. Allah said,

وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ

(and He is the Al-`Aziz,) Who is never resisted or rivaled,

الْحَكِيمُ

(Al-Hakim) all wise in His statements, actions, legislation and the decree that He appoints; all glory and praise are due to Him, none has the right to be worshipped but He, Alone. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Jathiyah. All praise and thanks are due to Allah alone.

Commentary

وَتَرَ‌ىٰ كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ جَاثِيَةً ("And you will see every community kneeling down...45:28" ). The word jathiyah is derived from جُثُو juthuww. It means ` to sit with knees upon the ground'. Sayyidna Sufyan ؓ says that the word means ` to sit in such a way that only the knees and the toes of the feet rest on the ground'. The latter type of sitting will be on account of awe, horror and fear. The words, كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ "every community" means that horrors of Resurrection will be felt by all on the plain - believers, non-believers, and righteous and unrighteous, all of them. There are other verses and traditions that exclude the Prophets and the righteous from experiencing the horrors of the Plains of Resurrection. The present verse is not in conflict with them. It is possible that the Prophets (علیہم السلام) and the righteous will experience the horrors of the Plains of Resurrection for a short period of time - the period of time will be so short as if it never existed. It is also possible that the word hull is not used in the sense of "every" but in the sense of ` most' - as is used occasionally. From this point of view, the phrase would mean not all the people on the Plain of Resurrection but ` most people' will experience horror, thus the prophets and the righteous are excluded. Some of the scholars take the position that the word jathiyah means ` to sit like the sitting posture in salah'. If this be taken for granted, the difficulty automatically disappears because such a sitting is not out of fear or horror. It is out of respect and honour.

كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ تُدْعَىٰ إِلَىٰ كِتَابِهَا ...Every community will be called to its book (of record)...45:28". The word kitab, according to most commentators, refers to ` book of record' which the angels have been writing in the world. The record-books will be thrown on the Plains of Resurrection and each one will receive his respective record-book and it will be said to him: "Read your book. This day you yourself are enough to take your own account. (17:14) " The phrase ` Calling towards the record-books' purports to say that they will have to render an account of their deeds before Allah in the next life.

Alhamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah Aljathiyah

Ends here

In the present world when a man commits evil, its bad results do not at once appear before him. This serves to embolden him. When he is warned about his bad deeds, he is not prepared to give any serious attention to this. But, in the Hereafter, the consequences of his misdeeds will appear before his eyes and he will be completely engulfed in them. At that time he will accept the Truth, which he had formerly ridiculed as being worthless. In the Hereafter, man will accept the Truth which he denied in this world. But this will carry no weight there, as it is only acceptance of Truth at the ‘unseen’ level which is of value, not acceptance after the revelation of Reality.