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wa-qul jāʾa l-ḥaqqu wa-zahaqa l-bāṭilu ʾinna l-bāṭila kāna zahūqan
And say, ‘The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished. Indeed falsehood is bound to vanish.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
17Al-Isrā’الإسراءVerse 81 of 111
The Night Journey17. Al-Isrā’الإسراء
Al Isrā’
The Night Journey
MeccanVerse 81 of 111
Surah Isra’ – Verse 81
81. “And say: ‘The truth has come and the ‘falsehood’ has vanished away; verily, the ‘falsehood’ is (something) vanishing’.”
The ‘Truth’ is one of the names of the Lord which is in the sense of ‘constant and everlasting’. Therefore, the Lord and whatever emanates from Him is identical with the truth. The Arabic term /zahūq/, mentioned here, signifies ‘going away’. The phrase /zahaqa nafsahū/ means that ‘the soul went out of his body’. The verse says:
“And say: ‘The truth has come and the ‘falsehood’ has vanished away; verily, the ‘falsehood’ is (something) vanishing’.”
There are many extensions cited for this verse, such as: the emergence of Islam, arrival at Medina, the conquest of Mecca, and the breaking of the idols, in all of the cases of which, the ‘untruth’ has met with its own destruction. However, the verse has got a broader meaning which provides us with a sense of the destruction of the ‘untruth’ as well as the survival of the truth. As in pursuance of ‘honesty’ and ‘trust’ which have been referred to in the previous verse, hoping for a decisive victory is another cause for success. The Lord tells His Prophet in the last verse in question to say that the truth has come and the untruth will vanish away.
In principle, it is within the inherent nature of the untruth to be perishable. So, as it was said, the Arabic term /zahaqa/ is derived from /zahūq/, rhyming in weight with the Arabic term /qabūl/ and also equal in syllables, means extermination and, because of its form of exaggeration, it expresses the utmost condition, signifying something which is perishable in its entirety. The ‘untruth’ has got a certain period of maneuvering, though that period will not last long, and, eventually, the victory will be forth coming for the advocates and followers of the truth.
Explanations
1. ‘Night prayers’ are great spiritual worshipping acts. The tumult of daily life may attract the attention of every one, taking his imagination to the extremes of various points in such a way that one’s mind is rarely at ease, and his thoughts collected with his heart are not fully placed in order.
However, in the midst of night and before dawn, when the fuss of material life is pretty well-settled, and one’s a little amount of asleep has put one’s soul and body in order, man feels a unique sense of being refreshed all over. Certainly, in this calm sort of situation, away from all kinds of hypocrisy, bigotry, egoism, and coupled with one’s heartily attention, one is certain to focus in such a way his attention which is extremely reinforcing for his heart and tends to bring forth stages in the process of perfection.
It is for this reason that the ‘friends of Allah’ have always strengthened themselves, through their end-of-the night prayers, with the purging of their souls, reinforcement of their heart and of their will, and complementing of their sincerity. At the dawn of Islam, the Prophet (S), too, sought to develop the spiritual programming of the Muslims, elevating their personality so much that as if they were no more their own former ‘selves’. That is, he created ‘new men’ out of their former selves: decisive, brave, faithful, clean and sincere, and, perhaps, ‘the praised position’, which is alluded to in the former verses, might be so owing to this reason.
A survey of the quotations in the Islamic sources regarding the virtues of the ‘night prayers’, makes the issue more transparent. The following quotations are as some examples:
1. The Prophet (S) says:
“The best among you are the ones who are polite in their speech; who feed the hungry; and who perform prayers deep into the night, when all people are asleep.” 6
2. Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) says:
“Getting up at night for prayers will enhance one’s health of body, will please Allah, Almighly and Glorious, and will attract His favour, and, finally, will (enable one to) follow in the ethical course of the prophets.” 7
3. Imam Sadiq (as) told one of his disciples:
“Never stop getting up at night for prayers; he who is deprived of the getting up at night for prayers and for worship, is the one who is aggrieved.”
4. The Messenger of Allah (S) says:
“He who performs ‘the night prayers’, his face (as well as his soul) will turn good on the following day.”
Even, we have it in some quotations that such acts of worship are so important that no one else, except the ‘pure’ and the ‘righteous’ can achieve it with success.
5. A man, calling on Amir-ul-Mo’mineen Ali (as), said:
“I was deprived from performing the night prayers.”
Ali (as) answered:
“You are the one whose sins have held him captive.” 8
6. In another quotation from Imam Sadiq (as), we read:
“Man sometimes tells lies and this causes him to be deprived of the night prayers. Once, he is deprived in such a manner, he would also be deprived from sustenance, (the material and spiritual blessing which will ensue).” 9
7. Notwithstanding we know that such a person like Ali (as) never gave up the night prayers, the core of the importance of the matter is such that the Prophet (S) recommended to him in his testament as:
“I am recommending you to perform certain acts; keep them well in mind.”
Then he said:
“O’ Lord: Assist him in performing these duties.”
Then he went as far as saying:
“Never keep away or forget about the night prayers! Never keep away or forget about the night prayers!” 10
8. The Prophet of Islam (S) told Gabriel:
“Give me some pieces of advice”
Gabriel said:
“‘O’ Muhammad! Go on living as long as you may, but beware that you will eventually die; love whatever you wish to, but let it be known to you that you will finally separate from it (your object of love)!
Perform every kind of act which pleases you, but do know that you will get the end-result of your action. And, finally, beware that a believer is honored by having his night prayers performed, while, his glory rests with abstinence from damaging the reputation of other people.” 11
Such heavenly pieces of advice of Gabriel, which are all well-calculated, exhibit the fact that the prayers performed in the depth of the night alter and shape one’s personality, education, spirituality and faith to such an extent that it would serve as one’s source of prestige and honor as would be the case with abstinence from causing harms to other people, which by itself, will be one’s source of pride.
9. Imam Sadiq (as) states:
“There are three points which serve as (a source of) pride for the believers and would be as an ornamental gift in this world and the next: Prayers in the depth of the night, being heedless of what is in the hands of other people, and, ‘the Wilayat’, (love and leadership) of the Imam from among the progeny of the Prophet (S). 12
10. That ‘Imam’ has also been quoted as saying:
“Whatever of good acts performed by a believer has been mentioned with its reward explicitly in the Qur’an, except that of the night prayers which Allah has not mentioned in a transparent way because of the extraordinary importance of it. He has only stated that:
‘They forsake their beds of sleep, the while they call on their Lord in fear and hope. And they spend (in charity) out of the sustenance which We have bestowed on them.’ 13
Nonetheless, no one knows as to what kind of reward Allah has in mind for their remuneration for their acts which causes their eyes to be enlightened.” 14
11. The highly-esteemed Prophet of Islam (S) has said:
“The best of the prayers, next to the compulsory prayers, are the ones (which one performs) deep into the night.” 15
12. The blissful Prophet (S) said:
“The two-unit-prayer which the child of Adam performs in the midst of late night is better for him than the world and what is in it. Were it not causing difficulties for my herd ‘people’, certainly I would have made it compulsory for them (to perform).” 16
13. Imam Rida (as) has said:
“Beware of the late-night prayers! There is no servant, who gets up late of night and does perform prayers in eight units, and Shaf‘ prayer into two units, and the ‘Watr’ prayer in one unit, seeking forgiveness of Allah seventy times in his ‘Qunūt’, save that Allah will spare him the chastisement of the grave and that of the Fire, prolong his lifetime for him, and will provide a wider range of means in his sustenance.”
Afterwards, the Imam (as) said:
“Verily the houses in which such night prayers are performed their light will illuminate for the residents of heaven in the same manner that the starts shine and shed light for the inhabitants of the earth.” 17
14. The blissful Prophet said:
“The late-night prayers will serve as a pleasant source for the Lord, the friendship of the angels, the practice of the prophets, the light of the gnosis (of Allah), the roots of faith, a cause for providing calmness of the body, provoking the disgust of the Satan, spearheading against the foes, a means of acceptance for one’s invocation, acceptance of one’s deeds, and blessings for one’s means of sustenance.
The late-night prayers also serve as an intercessor between the performer of the prayers and the Angel of Death, as a light for his grave, as a carpet under him, as a respondent for the ‘Nakir and Munkar’, an associate and a visitor for man deep in his grave till the Day of Resurrection.” 18
15. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“When a man commits sin, he will be deprived of performing his late-night prayers. Truly, an evil act, ‘a sin’, serves as a sharper means on the person involved than a knife cutting meat.” 19
16. The blissful Prophet (S) said:
“When a person gets up from his pleasure-providing bed while he has got his eyes full of sleep, in order to please his Lord, Glory be to His Mighty, by his late-night prayers, the Lord takes pride by it to the angels: saying:
‘Do you not watch this My servant, who has got up from his pleasant bed to perform the prayers which I have not compelled him to do? Do bear witness that, verily, I have pardoned him’.” 20
17. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“There is no good that a servant does but there has been stated a reward for it in the Qur’an, except for late-night prayers which Allah has not defined its reward because of its importance with Him.” 21
18. Imam Sadiq (as) said:
“He has told a lie who thinks he will starve in spite of having performed late-night prayers, for verily the late-night prayers guarantee the means of sustenance of the day.” 22
Certainly, such prayers have got their own many manners. We shall but present their simplest form in here so that the admirers of such a spiritual act can benefit further from it. The late-night prayers have got 11 units which are divided into three sections as follows:
a) Four set of prayers each divided into two units, which total 8 units, called: ‘Nafilah’ (supererogation) of the night.
b) One set of prayers, consisting of two units which is called ‘Nafilah Shaf‘. (even supererogation).
c) One set of prayers, consisting of one unit which is called ‘Nafilah Watr’. The rituals of which are just the same as the morning prayers though there are no ‘prayer call’ and Iqamah. (The declaration of prayer). When the Watr prayer is being performed, the longer the Qunūt the better.
What is a Praised Position?
As it is obvious from its apparent form, the position of the ‘highly praised one’ has got an extensive meaning which includes every type of high position and rank which is worthy and eligible for appraisal, though, certainly here, it refers to the outstanding and extraordinary place which has been attained by the Prophet (S), as a result of his nightly vigilance for worshipping and praying. As was said earlier, this rank, the Praised Position, according to the commentators, is widely known to be the position of ‘the Great Intercession’ of the Prophet (S).
This comment has been introduced in numerous quotations as well. In ‘Ayyashi’s commentaries, we have it quoted from Imam Baqir (as) or Imam Sadiq (as) who, commenting on the last sentence of verse 79 from the current Surah said:
“It is intercession.”
Some commentators have sought to infer this fact from the very meaning of the verse. They are of the opinion that the Qur’anic sentence: /‘as a ’an yab‘aaka/provides justification as to the fact that such a position ‘will be accorded to you by Allah in the future’. This is a rank which will be the object of universal appreciation, for it will be of benefit to the whole people, (for the Qur’anic term /mahmūd/ ‘highly praised’, mentioned in the above sentence, refers to the absolute sense of the word and is not subject to any kind of conditions).
Moreover, praise and glory takes place in the case of a voluntary action, and that which embraces all of these worthy attributes, can be nothing else but the ‘universal intercession’ of the Prophet (S).23 This is also probable that the ‘highly praised position’ is the utmost proximity towards the Lord, one of the consequences of which embraces the ‘Great Intercession’.
The addressee in this holy verse is apparently the Prophet (S), yet, from one point of view, one may generalize the verdict to include all those believing individuals who perform the Divine spiritual program of reciting the late-night prayers, saying they, too, will have a share of the ‘praised position’, and will find their way for proximity towards the Lord’s sanctuary as a result of and just to their depth of faith and their practices. They will be able, then, to intercede and assist the wretched people with the same scale, for we know that every believer will enjoy this rank of intercession, by the leave of Allah, according to the amount of his faith, though the brilliant and utmost complete example of this verse is the very Prophet (S) himself.
3: Three Factors underlying Success: It is usual with respect to the campaign of the truth against ‘the untruth’, that the latter excels the former in number and in power, while, the former, despite its lack of resources, and number, enjoys eye-catching victories. The examples of such cases are witnessed over and again in the Islamic Wars of Badr and ’Ahz ab as well as in Hunayn and the like. In our contemporary world, we also notice the conquest by oppressed nations over the oppressor powers. This is because the advocates of the truth enjoy specific spiritual powers which sometimes turn one ‘man’ into one ‘nation’.
We have noted allusions made to the three factors leading to victory in the above-mentioned verses; the factors from which the contemporary Muslims have distanced themselves and therefore, they witness successive defeats at the hands of their opponents. These three factors consist of: honest and sincere initiation in the course of actions as well as the pursuit of such a course through to the end. Reliance upon the power of the Lord, self-reliance, and renouncement from every sort of reliance on others are other factors.
Thus, no policies can prove more efficient than honesty and sincerity in the course of action, and no point of reference and support can be worthier than that of independence, negation of interdependence, and trust in Allah. How can on earth the Muslims drive their present enemies out of their occupied and usurped lands, who are looting and plundering their resources, while they are heavily dependent on them militarily, economically and politically?
Can we ever overcome our enemies by using those same weapons which we have bought form them? What a stupid idea! 4: The Truth will Prevail and the ‘Untruth’ will Die out. We encounter one more general and fundamental principle as well as one everlasting Allah’s way of treatment in the previous verses, which provide us with a source of hope for all the truth-seeking individuals which pinpoints to the ultimate victory of the truth and the right over ‘the wrong’ and which drives out the ‘wrong’ in its entirety.
The ‘wrong’ has got a certain period of prosperity and strength; it initiates blasting temporarily; it shows itself off though its life cycle is short and limited, and its eventual destiny is annihilation. Or, according to the Qur’an, like foam on water, it winks, making a fuss, and dies out, and water, which provides life, will prevail.24 The reason for such a case is hidden in the word ‘untruth’ itself, for it is that kind of thing which is inconsistent with the world of creation and has got no share in actual reality and the truth.
‘Untruth’ is fabricated and artificial; it is fake, rootless, void from within, and, thus, those things which are normally in possession of such attributes cannot last long. The truth-seeking individuals rely on the force of their faith, logic and keeping their words, the authenticity of their character, self-denials, and preparedness for sacrificing their lives as far as the point of martyrdom. They are those who are enlightened in their hearts and fear no one but ‘Allah’, relying on no one else except Him, hence, this provides the clue to their victory.
5: This Verse, and the Uprising of Mahdi (as): In some quotations, the Qur’anic sentence:
refers to the uprising of Hadrat Mahdi (as) as commented upon. Imam Baqir (as) said:
“The meaning of these Divine words is that: ‘Once the living Imam (as) rises up, the fake administration will be up-rooted’.” 25
Certainly, the meaning of these traditions do not confine the significance of the extensive meaning of the verse to this example only, but the uprising of Mahdi (as) is the most notable example of it, the eventuality of which consists of the ultimate victory of the truth over the untruth throughout the entire world. We have it in the biography of the blissful Prophet (S) that on the day of the conquest of Mecca, he entered the ‘Sacred Mosque’, overthrowing 360 idols which were placed round the Ka‘bah by the Arab tribes, and breaking them one after another by his stick, he was reciting this noble verse continuously.
Briefly speaking, this very Divine universal law, and this unequivocal law of creation, have got examples in every epoch. The uprising of the Prophet (S) and his conquest over the army of paganism and idol-worshippers, as well as the uprising of Mahdi (as) (May our souls be sacrificed for him) against the tyrants and oppressors of the world are cases of the evident examples of depicting this universal law. It is that same Divine law which provides the truth-seeking people with incentives as against the difficulties, making them more hopeful and strong in resistance, and they reinforce and refresh us in our Islamic efforts.
In the end of the verse, the Qur’an implies that Allah pounds the truth over the ‘untruth’, hence uprooting it, in which case, the untruth will perish. Thus, the truth must invade the untruth powerfully, pounding it. It is in the Divine law and His way of treatment that the truth must survive and the wrong must perish and be wiped out, and this process must take place in actual fact and not in an incidental way or in imagination, though the quantitative number of the followers of the truth might be small and the number of the followers of the wrong might be great, for the truth, like water, will be prevalent and the wrong will be wiped out like the foam over the water.
Footnotes