• The Present Life Is Nothing But A Sport And A Play Vying In The Multiplication Of Wealth And Issues

• To Hasten Seeking Forgiveness

• Niggardliness Condemned

• Prophets Were Sent With Books And Balance To Establish Justice On Earth

Al-Hadid Verses 20 - 25

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

“Know ye! That the life of this world1is only a sport and play, a gaiety and a boasting and the lustful-vying2in the multi-plication of wealth and children, is like unto the rain therewith springeth up the vegetation, it pleaseth the husbandmen3; then it is withered away, and thou seest it becometh yellow, then becometh it stubble crumbleth down; And in the hereafter is a severe chastisement and (also) forgiveness from God, and (His) pleasures; and naught is the life of this world but means of illusion4” (57:20)

سَابِقُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا كَعَرْضِ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أُعِدَّتْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ

“Vie ye in hastening unto forgiveness from your Lord and unto a garden whose extent is like the extent of the heaven and the earth, prepared for those who believe in God and His Apostles; that is the grace of God, He bestoweth it upon whomsoever He willeth; and God is the Lord of Mighty Grace5” (57:21)

مَا أَصَابَ مِنْ مُصِيبَةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَبْرَأَهَا إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ

“Befalleth not any disaster in the earth or in your own selves save it is in a Book, ere We cause it to be, verily that is easy for God” (57:22)

لِكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ

“Lest distress ye yourselves for what escapeth you, and be over- joyous for what He hath granted you; and God lovcth not an arrogant boaster” (57:23)

الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ

“Those who are niggardly and enjoin upon people niggardliness; and whosoever turneth away (from charity) then verily God is He who is Self-Sufficient6, the Most Praise-Worthy7” (57:24)

لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْمِيزَانَ لِيَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا الْحَدِيدَ فِيهِ بَأْسٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَنْصُرُهُ وَرُسُلَهُ بِالْغَيْبِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ

“Indeed, sent We Our apostles with clear proofs, and sent We down8with them the Book and the scale that people may establish themselves in justice; and sent We down iron wherein is latent (in its use) mighty power9and also benefits for mankind10and that God may prove who helpeth Him and His apostles in secret; Verily God is All-Strong the Ever-Prevalent11” (57:25)

Commentary

Verse 20

There is in this terse the manifest truth about this world. People not only spend their life in it, but they mostly indulge in showing off and boasting and piling up riches in rivalry12 .

Note the divine mercy of the Lord constantly mentioning of His wrath and the punishment followed by His pleasure and pardon.

The aptness of the similitude of this life to vain sport is perfect. It is a manifest Truth that children exert to maximum limits of their strength and abilities in vain sports, the end of which is nothing. To Ammar Ibn Yasir told the Holy Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib:

“O Ammar! grieve thou not for this world, for all the amusement of this world is in six things: (1) Rating, (2) Drinking, (3) Dressing, (4) Wedding, (5) Riding, (6) Smelling scents.

1. Take for instance honey, the sweetest of the natural foods of man, it is the saliva of a small insect, the bee.

2. The best of the natural drinks of man is mater in consuming which man is equal to any other animal.

3. Of the scents there is the valuable Musk which is of the blood of an animal, the deer.

4. Of the material implement of riding the horse, there is the danger of a fatal fall from it.

5. The nicest of the dress is made of silk which is the refuse of a small worm.

6. The object of wedding a woman is the enjoyment of co-habiting with her, which is admitting of a urinary organ into another urinary organ.

Once the Holy Prophet along with some of his companions passed a corpse of a goat lying swollen, rotten and giving out foul smell. The Holy Prophet asked “Would anyone purchase this for a penny?”

The companions replied “No’, “no one would do it.” Then he said: “This world which people are madly after possessing. In the view of the Lord, its value is lower than this rotten corpse.”

The First Holy Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib said:

“The World is a corpse and the seekers of it are dogs.”

If the same world is duly used - the Holy Prophet said:

“This world is the farm to cultivate for the hereafter.”

“This world is a prison for the believers and a garden for the disbeliever”

Note the apt similitude given to the world to the crops, the rain and the cultivator and the ultimate disappointment. The wise ones, take things with the real value and avail of them to their spiritual gain, more than the material profit. They gain knowledge of everything and select things which could afford hem the nourishment they need in this life for their physical life, paving the way or facilitating their spiritual uplift. They know the end of everything, is decay and vanishing and the end of every enjoyment is fatigue and exhaustion, leading to disease and death.

Most of the attractions of the vanities of this world are but trials and tests13.

This is the condition of the life here, but the life hereafter is the decisive one - either of punishment or of reward (A.P.).

Verse 21

It is said that his deputy from Heracles asked the Holy Prophet, “If Paradise is to be extensive in the heavens and the earth, where would then be the hell?” The Holy Prophet replied “Glory he to God! Where remains the night when day comes.”14

Verse 22

‘Kitab’ referred to in this verse is the secured Tablet. ‘Lawh al-Mahfooz’ which is the record of everything that is willed by God to be enacted. When it has been said that nothing takes effect without God’s Will, i.e., everything is done when it is willed by God, man should resign himself to the will of the Lord both in pain and pleasure in loss and gain. In loss because it is the unavoidable decree of the Lord and in prosperity because the man would die leaving everything behind.

The recording, is the necessary consequence of His Infinite Knowledge but informing man of the predestined record to avoid distress to man as stated in verse 23 (A.P.).

Verse 25

‘Mizan’, i.e., The Balance or Measure or the laws governing justice.

‘Hadeed’, i.e., Iron. According to the holy Ahl Al-Bayt the iron in this verse refers to Zul Fiqar the sword which was gifted to ‘Ali by the Holy Prophet at Uhud.

‘To know’ stands for ‘To make people know’ i.e., To prove to the world as to who helps the cause of God and who does not do it. In every battle, God distinguished the sincere believers who stood fast with the Holy Prophet to the last, front those who ran away from the battlefields deserting the cause of God and His Apostle.

This passage points out:

1. That all prophets had come with clear proof and testimony.

2. That with each was sent down a Book.

3. Reading this with 16:36 that every nation had a prophet and every prophet had a Book with him.

4. The passage refers to three aspects of God’s Sovereignty:

(1) Legislation

(2) Judiciary

(3) Execution in their respective term of Book, Scale, and the revelation of Iron.

5. Everything which exists here be it concrete or abstract is the revealed form of what is reserved with God15

6. No Book is left without a Scale. The relation of the Scale to the Book is the relation of a Scale of a map to the map itself. The Books represent the map of divine knowledge in its revelation in form and no map can be of any use without a correct infallible Scale. Whatever may be said about the appropriate Scale corresponding to the revealed Book, there is no doubt that the ultimate Scale for the Books, cannot be but an infallible man who himself could be considered to be the microcosm or the miniature of the whole universe16.

7. The Scriptures prior to Qur’an were like the sectional maps and they had their corresponding scale and Qur’an is the overall and a complete and general map of the whole universe with its corresponding Scale.

8. It is wrong to interpret the revealed Scale here as the scale used for weighing or measuring physical objects.

9. The verse itself points out the utility and the advantage of the iron - its strength and its benefit to mankind and as a means of testing man’s attitude toward the divine law and order.

10. Iron is one of the sources of achieving the political and the economic power for man (A.P.).

• 1. The instability of which is like vegetation
• 2. Rivalry.
• 3. May refer to ungodly peasants.
• 4. Refer to Verses 6:32; 29:64; 47:36.
• 5. Refer to Verse 3:132.
• 6. In Arabic, Ghani.
• 7. In Arabic, Hameed.
• 8. Revealed, through the Messenger Angel.
• 9. Violence - Strength.
• 10. It is worth imagining for a while as to what will happen to human life on earth if God only commands the iron to become soft instead of being hard.
• 11. Refer to Verses 16:35; 55:7-9.
• 12. Refer to Verses 6:32; 29:64; 47:36.
• 13. Refer to Verse 3:185.
• 14. Refer to Verse 3:132.
• 15. Refer to Verse 15:21.
• 16. Refer to Verses 55:7-9.