In the Name of Allah, the
Gracious, the Merciful
Mutashaabihaat
Extract from Chapter 3 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:
7. Huwa allathee anzala AAalayka alkitaba
minhu ayatun muhkamatun hunna ommu alkitabi
waokharu mutashabihatun faamma allatheena fee quloobihim
zayghun fayattabiAAoona ma tashabaha minhu ibtighaa
alfitnati waibtighaa ta/weelihi wama yaAAlamu ta/weelahu
illa Allahu waalrrasikhoona fee alAAilmi yaqooloona
amanna bihi kullun min AAindi rabbina wama yaththakkaru
illa oloo al-albabi
7. It is He Who
has sent down the Book upon you. Therein are Verses that are unambiguous and
authoritative – these form the essence of the Book – and therein are other
Verses, the interpretation of which is not clear to mankind5. Those
then with dishonesty in their minds, zealously pursue what is not clear
thereof, seeking mischief and seeking its interpretation; but no one knows its
interpretation but Allah. And persons, deeply versed in knowledge, say,
"We believe in it; it is all from our Lord." And none but those
endowed with insight receive admonition.6
5. Mutashaabihaat are Verses, in
other words, that are not clearly understood by the human mind. One example is
the oft-repeated divine statement that the wicked shall be punished by putting
them into Hell-fire. If any person is put into a burning fire in this world,
that person is sure to die in a matter of minutes. But the Hell-fire in the
Hereafter would be such as wouldn't make persons put in it to die, although
they would very much wish to die. The human mind is unable to grasp the concept
of such a fire. The Verses that present such concepts which are
incomprehensible to the human mind, in this world, are Mutashaabihaat. Muhkamaat,
on the other hand, are Verses that are well-explained in the Qur'aan itself,
and therefore capable of being well-understood by the human mind, in this
world. Muhkamaat, moreover, contain clearly worded divine commands and
admonition that are required to be obeyed and acted upon by mankind to get
salvation from certain doom.
6. The first Verse of this Qur'aanic
Chapter, containing only Arabic letters corresponding to the English letters A
L M, is another example of mutashaabihaat. No one knows the
interpretation of those letters there, except Allah. The question then arises
as to what is the divine purpose of placing such Verses in the Qur'aan, the
meanings of which are not clear to the human mind! The purpose obviously is to
provide for a test of a believer's faith in the divine authorship of the
Qur'aan. As the Verse itself indicates, a true believer shall unquestioningly
accept such Verses to be from Allah. But a deviated mind will seek mischief
therein.
Friday, the 24th
November 2017.
