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Al-Hadid Section 1: The Kingdom Of God

  • All Knowledge, Power, And Authority Belongs Only To God

  • Everything In The Heavens And In The Earth Works At His Command

  • Charity Commended

Al-Hadid Verses 1- 10

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ

“Celebrateth the praise of God, whatever is in the heavens and the earth; and He is the Ever-Prevalent, the All-Wise1“ (57:1)

لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He causeth life and causeth death; and He, over all hath power” (57:2)

هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

“He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden: and He is the Knower of all things2“ (57:3)

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنْزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

“He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, then firmly established (Himself) over the ‘Arsh’3(the Seat of supreme authority)’, knoweth He whatever entereth the earth, and whatever goeth forth from it, and whatever descendeth from the heaven, and whatever goeth up into it; and He is with you wherever ye be; and God, is the Seer4of whatever ye do5“ (57:4)

لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورُ

“His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and unto God (alone) arc returned (all) affairs6“ (57:5)

يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ

“He causeth the night to enter in upon the day, and causeth (He) the day to enter in upon the night, and He (alone) is the Knower of whatever is in the breasts7“ (57:6)

آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَأَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُمْ مُسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَأَنْفَقُوا لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ

“Believe ye in God and His Apostle (Muhammad)! and spend ye (in charity) of whatever He hath made you the successors thereof; for whosoever among you believe and spend (in charity), for them is a recompense very great8“ (57:7)

وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِتُؤْمِنُوا بِرَبِّكُمْ وَقَدْ أَخَذَ مِيثَاقَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“And what reasons have ye that ye believe not in God? And the Apostle9inviteth you to believe in your Lord, and hath indeed taken a covenant from you if ye are believers” (57:8)

هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ لِيُخْرِجَكُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ

“He it is Who sendeth down unto His Servant10signs manifest, so that He may bring you out of the darkness (of infidelity) into the light (of faith)’11, and verily God unto you is the Most Kind and the Most Merciful!” (57:9)

وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تُنْفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنْكُمْ مَنْ أَنْفَقَ مِنْ قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَىٰ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ

“And what reasons have ye that ye spend not in the way of God, and God’s is the heritage of the heavens and the earth; alike are not among you those who spent before the victory and fought and (those who did not), they are more exalted in rank than those who spent and fought afterwards; and unto all hath promised God goodness; And verily God, of whatever ye do, is All-Aware” (57:10)

Commentary

Verse 1

The praise or the glorification of the creatures of the Almighty Creator of the Universe is their serving Him, governed by His laws, the laws of nature which none could ever go against. Surrender is of two kinds, the helplessness under which an individual or a group of individuals cannot but act in a given pattern, and while acting realise the Wisdom and the Grace endowed in the behaviour or the pattern and then glorifying the Authority controlling the affairs.

The second kind of surrender is, the voluntary submission adopting a pattern or a mode of thought or action, of one’s own accord, at one’s own choice and discretion, knowing the beauties, the wisdom and the grace of the Lord endowed on the offered pattern and the loss and the disadvantage involved in rejecting the offer. Under this kind of submission, the pattern is only offered, leaving the acceptance or rejection both to the individual discretionary choice of every man or woman. This is Islam.

While offering the blessings of the Truth, individuals are nor compelled or forced to accept it, the mission of guidance to it ends with making the truth manifest to facilitate the faculty of discretion endowed exclusively on man, i.e. to distinguish the right from the wrong, the truth from falsehood12.

The grace of the Lord has been repeatedly admonishing man, to use his discretion - his reflective faculty, the wisdom, h s insight while studying the Holy Qur’an to distinguish the right from the wrong, and never to get his sight, his ears and his heart sealed with any preconceived false notion or prejudice, and constantly inviting mankind to the right path, with the promise of the Reward for goodness and condemning the wrong one, with warnings against the penalty which consequently- would be inflicted on the evil ones. This is Islam, the Religion of the Holy Qur’an, the Religion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and thus the only Religion acceptable to God13.

Verse 2

Compare this Verse with:

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Math 6/10).

The manner in which the Bible of the Church, founded in the name of Jesus which suggests that somebody else rules on earth and the will of someone else other than God, is done on it and man is yet praying for the kingdom of God to come and God’s will to be done. The Holy Qur’an refutes such a belief and declares that to God, to none else, belongs the kingdom both of the heavens as well as of the earth. The following verses up to verse 8, give further illustration of the declaration of God’s exclusive ownership of the universe and the different aspects of the functioning of it.

Verse 3

Note how brief is the statement, within only four of the divine attributes of the Absolute viz., the External, the Manifest and the Hidden Existence of the Reality of the All-Divine Being is presented.

These attributes in their true sense cannot be applicable but to an Absolute and Unlimited and All-embracing One about Whom nothing can be said actually except negation of the ideas and the concepts which are applicable to beings of composite nature (A.P.).

Verse 4

This state of the Creator, being with His creatures, in all circumstances, is another state which indicates His only presence of All-embracing nature and is a blow to all anthropomorphic conception of the godhead (A.P.).

Verse 7

Any intelligent student of the Holy Qur’an would not fail to note and appreciate Islam associating alms or charity with the faith. In fact, the sincerity of the believer in Islam, is proved by his attitude to his possessions in the material world. One who loves God, would surrender himself with all his interest, to Him.

The verse means - “admonish the believer to remember that the wealth you have inherited was earned by the previous owners with toilsome efforts, they did not use it for themselves, nor did they spend ii in the way of God. They only owned it and now it has come to you - and before it is too late, you spend it in charity otherwise you would leave it and go away and the others would own it, and you also would pass away from this world, for wealth is of none but God’s property and the possessor of it, is only a trustee or an agent, who should spend it in the manner as the owner desires or directs”.

The first Holy Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib says that it is in the Hadith Qudsi that God says “Wealth! Wealth is Mine. The possessor of it is only a trustee and the poor and needy in the world are the members of My family and woe unto the possessor of the wealth who does not discharge his trust faithfully.’’’ The Holy Qur’an has constantly been admonishing mankind to be charitable14.

This includes every kind of gift - intellectual as well as physical (A.P.).

Verse 8

Some commentator says that the ‘Covenant’ stands for the promise taken by God from each soul in the pregenital spiritual state, that the souls would serve God and none else.

Verse 10

Before the capture of Mecca, the Muslims who yet were a small minority, were very poor – those who spent before the victory of Mecca which opened the road to ease the economic tension and paved the way to prosperity - could not be equal to those who spent when there was not so much need for it. It was ‘Ali and exclusively ‘Ali among the companions of the Holy Prophet who used to give away the last penny he got. The earliest period of Islamic history is full of the sacrifices of ‘Ali and Fatimah.

The garments of these two godly beings were full of patches. And during the wars, none can deny the fact that it was ‘Ali who was always the foremost and even when all the others of the companions of the Holy Prophet had run away from the battlefields, deserting the Apostle of God, ‘Ali was the single-handed fighter for God until Truth triumphed at his hands.

The concluding words of the verse, mean that God always watches and sees as to what everyone does in His cause and who stands fast with his Apostle Muhammad to the last, and who deserts the faith and leaves away the ranks of the faithful.

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