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qul kafā bi-llāhi shahīdan baynī wa-baynakum ʾinnahū kāna bi-ʿibādihī khabīran baṣīran
Say, ‘Allah suffices as witness between me and you. Indeed He is well aware His servants and a keen observer.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
17Al-Isrā’الإسراءVerse 96 of 111
The Night Journey17. Al-Isrā’الإسراء
Al Isrā’
The Night Journey
MeccanVerse 96 of 111
Surah Isra’ – Verses 96 - 97
96. “Say: ‘Allah suffices as a witness between me and you; verily He, of his servants, is All-Aware, All-Seeing.”
97. “And whomever Allah guides, then he is guided aright, and whomever He leaves to stray, you will never find for him guardians other than Him; and We shall muster them on the Day of Resurrection upon their faces, blind, dumb and deaf whose dwelling shall be Hell; whenever it abates, We shall increase for them the blaze.”
Pursuing the previous discussions, which centered around monotheism and prophetic mission as well as discourses with the opponents, here, in this verse, there is a sort of declaration of the termination of the current discussion, at this stage, and providing conclusion. At first the Qur’an implies that if they do not accept your reasoning concerning monotheism, prophecy and resurrection, proclaim upon them, saying: It suffices for me that the Lord is an intermediary and a witness between you and I, for, He is aware of the feelings of His servants and He is All-seeing unto their works.
The verse says:
“Say: ‘Allah suffices as a witness between me and you; verily He, of his servants, is All-Aware, All-Seeing.”
In fact, there are two objectives in view in making this statement. The first one relates to the fact that the obstinate, and fanatic opponents receive a threat that the Lord is aware and All-seeing while He is witnessing all our deeds and all your acts. Do not imagine that you can escape His sphere of power or part of your acts remains hidden from Him. The other objective is that the Prophet (S) should exhibit decisively his firm conviction as to what he has stated, for the speaker’s decisiveness in his speech leaves a great impact on the listener.
Maybe, this expression, which is firm and decisive coupled with a sort of mild threat, leaves its impact on them, shaking them in their hearts, and awakening them, calling them to the right path. Afterwards, the Qur’an adds:
“And whomever Allah guides, then he is guided aright, and whomever He leaves to stray, you will never find for him guardians other than Him…”
The only way they have is to return to Him once again and seek the light of guidance from Him. These two sentences, in fact, are allusions to the fact that the mere pounding reasoning is not sufficient for embracing the faith. On the contrary, before gaining the Divine success and proper eligibility of Allah’s guidance, it is impossible for him to embrace the faith. A Persian poem indicates:
It is the clean sperm necessary to become worthy of receiving favour; Otherwise every pebble or piece of clay will never turn into shining stones or pearls.
Then, the Qur’an illustrates for them one of the scenes of the resurrection day as a challenging and pounding threat, which is the certain consequences of their actions, proclaiming that:
“…and We shall muster them on the Day of Resurrection upon their faces…”
Instead of them walking in an upright and erect standing position, the angels of punishment draw them on their faces, or they will be crawling over their faces and chests like reptiles. They will be entering into that great court in a state of blindness, deafness, and dumbness. The holy verse continues saying:
“…blind, dumb and deaf…”
There are different stages and stop phases for the day of resurrection, in some of which the sinners are blind, deaf, and dumb, though in other platforms they regain their eyesight, their sense of hearing, and their tongues open up so as to enable them to witness scenes of punishment, listen to the blaming of others, and cry for help, expressing their weakness, which itself is one way for punishing them. The culprits also are deprived from seeing what is the source of delight, and from hearing what is joyful, and from saying whatever is directed towards salvation; on the contrary, they only see, hear, and say what is a source of discomfort.
In the end of the verse, the Holy Qur’an implies that their eternal abode is Hell, but you must not imagine that its Fire will eventually be extinguished, like the worldly fire. Nay!
“Whenever it is about to fade away, We shall rekindle new flames to it.” 1
The verse says:
“…whose dwelling shall be Hell; whenever it abates, We shall increase for them the blaze.”
Footnotes