In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful
Extract from QUR’AANIC
STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:
255. Allahu la ilaha illa
huwa alhayyu alqayyoomu la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala
nawmun lahu ma fee alssamawati wama fee
al-ardi man tha allathee yashfaAAu AAindahu illa
bi-ithnihi yaAAlamu ma bayna aydeehim wama khalfahum wala
yuheetoona bishay-in min AAilmihi illa bima shaa
wasiAAa kursiyyuhu alssamawati waal-arda wala
yaooduhu hifthuhuma wahuwa alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu
2:255. Allah! None besides
Him is worthy of worship. HE is forever living, abiding. Neither slumber nor
sleep overtakes Him ever. To Him belongs whatever there is in the heavens and
in/on the earth. Who could intercede with Him, except by His leave? 482,
483 HE knows what is in their hands and what is behind them.484
And none can take anything of His knowledge except for what He wills. His seat
of authority encompasses the heavens and the earth, and their upkeep tires Him
not. And He is the One High above anything, the One Immensely Great.485
482. In the light of the very categorical statement in
the preceding Verse that there shall be no intercession on the Day of Judgment,
this statement here, in the form of an interrogation, could only mean emphatic
reiteration of that earlier statement. In Allah's presence, no one – not even a
Prophet – can dare intercede on one's own initiative, against His Judgment or
Will. That is what the interrogative statement here signifies. And if Allah
gives permission for any Prophet or Angel to intercede, it means that it is, first,
Allah's Own Will to pardon the person concerned.
483. It is important to understand this matter of
intercession correctly. In the absence of this understanding, we're likely to
fall into a satanic trap, and commit the abominable sin of shirk. Most
Christians have already fallen into this trap. They have come to believe,
absolutely, that whatever sins they commit here in this world, their Jesus is
sure to intercede with God on their behalf and give them an assured entry into
Paradise. See now what has happened to the Christians. They have forgotten God
almost entirely and have taken to the worship of Jesus and his mother, Mary.
This happening, in front of us all, has provided enough proof that if any group
of persons considers any Prophet – or anyone else for that matter – as endowed
with the power of intercession, that group is sure to raise that Prophet/person
to divinity, and thus commit shirk. Most Muslims today are, I am afraid,
dangerously close to following in the Christians' footsteps.
484. Verse 34:9 tells us, "Do they not then
consider what is in their hands and what is behind them of the heaven and the
earth? ..." This sentence in that Verse gives us a pretty good idea of the
divine meaning of the Arabic term maa bayna aydihim wa maa khalfahum,
translated literally here as 'what is in their hands and what is behind them'.
The context there of the heaven and the earth indicates that 'what is in their
hands' means 'what is in their knowledge' or 'what they are capable of
knowing'. And 'what is behind them' means 'what is not in their knowledge' or
'what they are not capable of knowing'. The same divine meaning must be made
applicable here to the very same phrase used in Verse 2:255 that we are
presently studying.
485. This beautiful Verse is generally known as 'aayatul
kursi' because of the word kursi (seat of authority) occurring therein.
Along with Chapter 112 of the Qur'aan, this Verse gives us a comprehensive
divine description of Allah, our Creator, and our Lord.
Friday, the 31st
of May 2019.
