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Ar-Rahman Section 1: The Bounties OF God

  • The Various Bounties Of God Referred To

Ar-Rahman Verses 1- 25

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

الرَّحْمَٰنُ

“(God) The Beneficent” (55:1)

عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

“Taught He the Qur’an” (55:2)

خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ

“He created man1“ (55:3)

عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ

“He taught him expression2“ (55:4)

الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ

“The sun and the moon follow the (prescribed) timings3“ (55:5)

وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ

And the herbs and the trees do obeisance (unto Him)4“ (55:6)

وَالسَّمَاءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ الْمِيزَانَ

“And the heaven, He did raise it high, and placed the scale (within reach)5“ (55:7)

أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا فِي الْمِيزَانِ

“So that ye may not transgress in scales” (55:8)

وَأَقِيمُوا الْوَزْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ

“And maintain ye the measure with justice and do not cut short in the scale6“ (55:9)

وَالْأَرْضَ وَضَعَهَا لِلْأَنَامِ

“And the earth, He hath made7it for (His) (living) creatures” (55:10)

فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ وَالنَّخْلُ ذَاتُ الْأَكْمَامِ

“Therein is fruit and palms having, sheathed clusters” (55:11)

وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ

“And corn with (its) leaves and stalks and with sweet-smelling herbs” (55:12)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye two (men and jinns8)9belie?” (55:13)

خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ

“He created man from dry clay like that of the earthen vessels” (55:14)

وَخَلَقَ الْجَانَّ مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ

“And created He the jinn of a flame of fire10“ (55:15)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye two belie?” (55:16)

رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقَيْنِ وَرَبُّ الْمَغْرِبَيْنِ

“(He alone is the) Lord of the two easts and the Lord of the two wests11“ (55:17)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye two12belie?” (55:18)

مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ

“He hath let loose the two seas that they flow together meeting each other13“ (55:19)

بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ

“(Yet) between them (He hath caused) a barrier, (that) they encroach not (one upon another)” (55:20)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties your Lord will ye two belie?” (55:21)

يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَانُ

“Come forth out of the two, pearls and corals” (55:22)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye two belie?” (55:23)

وَلَهُ الْجَوَارِ الْمُنْشَآتُ فِي الْبَحْرِ كَالْأَعْلَامِ

“And His are the ships14towering up at the sea like mountains” (55:24)

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“Which then of the bounties of vour Lord will ve two belie?” (55:25)

Commentary

Verses 1 - 2

It is only the Beneficent God who taught the Holy Qur’an - The Teacher is mentioned to be God, and the Thing taught, i.e., the Book, is said to be the Holy Qur’an, but the question arises, as to who was the student, for there could be none of the mankind, for in the verse, the creation of man, comes after the teaching takes place.

It is self-evident that the Beneficent God, first conditioned the soul with the Qur’anic knowledge and then the soul was accommodated into a human frame.

Of the attributes presenting God’s actions the most comprehensive is Rahman15 - and according to Qur’an the Holy Prophet is the sole manifestation and this attribute of God16, meaning that his mission represents the Universal grace of the Absolute (A.P.).

Verse 2

The Qur’an is the manifestation of the Universal grace, and God Himself is the Teacher (A.P.).

Verses 3 – 4

The man referred to here, could never be meant to be a sinner - man of an ordinary order.

When a quality is indefinitely mentioned, it means the perfect degree of it. It must be remembered that sinning is a later occurrence in the mankind subsequent to the creation of the First man, and when the Fist man was created the individual must naturally have been with the purity or the divinity of the Creator, reflecting in him. The purity or the divinity was in the sense of the knowledge, the man was charged with.

The reflection of the knowledge or the divinity in the human soul was originating directly from the Beneficent God. Beneficent in this regard because. He wills it by His grace to he so, otherwise nothing could ever be affected without His will. This is referred to in verse 2:31, wherein is said, that, God taught Adam (Insan) all the Names - i.e., charged him with the knowledge of everything, is said to be the Qur’an17.

A Qur’anic verse could be interpreted or explained by another Qur’anic verse - There is the brief description as to how God created Man (Insan)18, wherein it is clearly said that God causing it to be complete, then He inspired into it the spirit.

God did not ask the angels to bow down to the mere body of Adam but the command to the angels was to bow down to Adam only after His (Sawwaituhu) completing the personality of Adam (Insan) and after His (Nafakhtu fihi) inspiring into the body His (God’s) spirit, it was that the angels had to prostrate for Adam. Thus, the prostration was not for the body of Adam but for the spirit of God which was inspired into it, and the spirit inspired had the qualities of ‘Hyat’ i.e., (Life or existence) ‘Ilm’ (i.e., knowledge) and ‘Qudraf’ (i.e. Power or Authority) originating from the Absolute All Perfect Self of God.

This knowledge was not given to the angels and it is their lacking the knowledge, that justified the demand on them to do obeisance to Adam (Insan)19, the Angels on their inability to answer about the Names, confessed that they did not possess more than what was taught to them, which means that they did not possess the knowledge which Adam (Insan) was endued with.

Thus, it is proved that the Insan (Adam) who was first created, was complete in his personality, was endowed with the perfect integration of all the faculties in him, and was inspired with the spirit of God. And all these would mean that the Insan created by God was the one purified by God Himself.

For those purified by God Himself, see 33:33, which means the First created one among the beings called Insan was the forefather or the grand sire of the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt, mentioned in 33:33 viz, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and this is further clarified by the announcement of the Holy Prophet about himself. ‘Kuntu Nabiyyan wa Aadama bayn al-mawatteen’, i.e., I was the Apostle of God when Adam was yet in the water and clay, i.e., yet in the making (Hadith), and said ‘Awwalu ma Khalaqa Allahu Noori’, i.e., “the First or the Foremost which God created was my Light” (Hadith). But the creation of the Holy Prophet referred to here, is not the one in this physical world but in the state Pre-physical.

Thus, Insan referred to here is the divinely conditioned, integrated, perfected human personality of the Holy Prophet. It was this original purity endowed in Adam, which entitled Adam to the highest regard of prostration from the angels and this same light, was caused to pass through the progeny of Adam and had its manifestation in the various outlets of Apostolic beings, until it reached Abd Al-Muttalib from where it was caused to travel into Two Channels, in the seeds of his two sons Abdullah and Abu Talib and from Abdullah it shone, to be called Muhammad and from Abu Talib into the divine personality named ‘Ali.

The Holy Prophet said, “I and ‘Ali are of one and the same light.” These two rays of the divine light were united, through the medium of the Lady Fatimah the daughter of the Holy Prophet, married to ‘Ali, and from ‘Ali and Fatimah, sprang the Eleven Holy Imams, all these are called the holy Ahl Al-Bayt about whom God, says that He Himself purified them with the perfection of a purification20. All these rays of the one and the same light manifested the godly purity of their personality through their divine character and godly conduct and the wonderful endowment of the knowledge of which each one was the fountain-head, though it is proved from their life history that they never had any education under any mortal in the world, besides the inspiration they had from the Lord and from the Holy Prophet, who was born duly conditioned with it. The knowledge which the Holy Prophet was gifted was caused to flow from ‘Ali in the first instance and from ‘Ali to all his issues - The Holy Prophet said ‘Ana Madinat ul-‘Ilm wa Aliyyun Babuha’, i.e., ‘I am the City of Knowledge and ‘Ali is its Gate.’

Of the knowledge inspired in the Insan - (Insan al-Kamil), i.e., the Perfect Man, (i.e., the Holy Prophet) was endowed in Adam to be inherited by the issues of Adam, as much as each one in his progeny could get it reflected by maintaining the original cleanliness of his soul, protecting or guarding it, against getting covered by the dust and the dirt of carnal desires of his self, i.e., by not allowing the baser self, obstructing the reflection of the knowledge in his or her individuality. It is with reference to this phenomenon, that God says:

“He who cleansed his soul has succeeded” (91:9) 21

“And he who allowed it to be polluted lost it” (91:10)

And this became the test of the human life on earth and the purity of the Holy Prophet and his holy Ahl Al-Bayt became the ideal or the model for mankind to follow and the touchstone or the balance to try with, and judge or assess the individual value of each human character and conduct, making the love of these holy ones or the attachment to them, as the sign of Purity, Goodness, and Piety and their enmity or turning away from them as the Sign of pollution, evil and wickedness.

This verse shows the Timing, the Taught one, i.e., man and the Method of teaching. It means that man has been endowed with the power of reflection and expression as a microcosm. The only difference between man and man, is the degree and the time of the development of the endowment. In the case of the prophets and their successors in general, this endowment is developed from their very birth and creation and in the case of the Last Prophet who is the manifestation of the Universal Beneficence - the development and the timing surpass all that is in conformity with the Verse 53:1 (A.P.).

Verse 4

‘Biyan’, i.e., the means of expressing one’s mind - ‘Biyan’ has also been used for the Holy Qur’an22.

Taking the word for the art of verbal expression of the ideas, the Holy Qur’an which is the only record of what spoke out the Holy Prophet, is such a wonderful verbal expression which, in spite of its open challenge23, the world would never till now produce an equal even to the smallest chapter of it. It is further said that even if mankind as a whole and jinns joining with them, try to produce an equal to the Holy Qur’an they shall never be able to do it at all24.

As regards the daily discourses, the utterance of the Holy Prophet was suspected by the disbelievers as a magician, sorcerer or an enchanter. And besides the Holy Prophet, ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib was known as the most eloquent of the people.

The Sixth Holy Imam Ja’far Ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq said that ‘Byan’ is the greatest name of God through which everything is known, which means the divine gift through which man reflects whatever he receives (A.P.).

Verse 5

The astronomical constitution of the universe is bound by such strict, universal and fixed mathematical laws and calculations and are continuously going on with its work, in such an unchanging manner, that men could depend upon the knowledge of the heavenly bodies without any fear of any change or alteration in the original laws.

This verse refers to two of the major heavenly bodies, the sun and the moon, following the computed courses in the prescribed order. This announcement of the natural phenomenon active in the heavens, was made at a time when the world was indulged only in mere conjectures about the astronomical world25.

Verse 6

Prostration here means submitting to the law of the Lord, i.e., serving them - never going against their respective native endowments. It is in this sense that all nature adores God, its Creator Lord26.

Everything in the heavens and in the earth adores God.

Verse 7

The perfect man as the microcosm is the infallible scale with which the truth of the Universe and the right and wrong, of human action should be measured and viewing the Holy Prophet as such Abu Talib says: ‘The Scale of Truth which defaults not even Io an atom - and weigher of the justice his weighing falleth not short’ (A.P.).

Verse 10

Made it available. The right of opportunity shall be maintained and that none shall be deprived of the opportunity (A.P.).

Verse 13

The question is to both the human beings and the jinns, (i.e., beings other than mankind) who are enjoying alike the bounties of the Lord.

Verses 20-22

The Holy Prophet said: “The meeting of the Two Seas indicates the matrimonial union between ‘Ali and Fatimah and the ‘Barzakh’. i.e., the Barrier between the Two Seas is the Holy Prophet and the coming out of the Pearl and Coral - Hasan and Husayn.” This is the report of Ibn Mardwaih, Ibn Abbas, Anas Ibn Malik27 (M.S.).

This is true of many geographical flowing of the seas with the barrier between them but it also figuratively has been applied by the Imams of the Ahl Al-Bayt to the two Streams of ‘Nubuwwah’, Prophethood, and ‘Wilayah’ which flew together and yet with distinctive barriers preventing the two divine functions from encroaching on each other creating any confusion.

In this figurative sense, it has been applied to the Holy Prophet as the most perfect manifestation of Prophethood and to ‘Ali as the most perfect manifestation of ‘Wilayah’ taking Fatimah as the Barrier and the connecting link between.

According to other traditions from Salman al-Farsi and Syed Ibn Jubair and Sofyan Sauri the two oceans mean ‘Ali and Fatimah and the Barrier is the Holy Prophet and the outcome the pearls and corals: Hasan and Husayn (A.P.).

It may refer to the geographical ones or in figurative sense, meaning the offsprings of the Holy Prophet and ‘Ali (A.P.).

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