Al Ankabūt

يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فإِِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ

56. “O’ My servants who believe! Verily My earth is vast, therefore, Me alone should you worship!”

Occasion of Revelation

Many of the commentators believe that this verse has been sent down about the believers who were under such a so hard pressure of the pagans in Mecca that they were not able to perform their Islamic duties. So, they were commanded to migrate from that region. Since the words in previous holy verses were about the different reactions of polytheists against Islam and Muslims, now the verses under discussion refer to the situation of the early Muslims themselves and their duty and responsibility concerning one of their problems in connection with the pagans, i.e., the problem of restriction, pressure, and harm and trouble they were faced with.

This holy verse addresses the Muslim believers who were under the pressure of the enemy because of fulfilling their religious duties and implies that Allah’s land is vast and they should migrate to somewhere else and worship Him alone. The verse says:

However, Islam has enjoined migration for a group of people. Those who live in places where infidelity and tyrant govern, who are involved with cruelty and restrictions and who find their own growth and deliverance in emigration, they must migrate. But, for fulfilling this duty, there will be some temptations cast on man from inside and outside, the answer of which will be given through later verses. One of these temptations is the danger of death and one may say: if he migrates death might not come to him, but the next verse announces that wherever he lives he tastes death.

Another temptation is for detaching one’s heart from his residence, which is difficult for him, and he may hesitate not to migrate. Verse No. 58 answers them that instead of the worldly residence, those believers who migrate will be rewarded with lofty chambers of Paradise; and verse 59 implies that this temptation must be removed by patience and relying on the Lord. Another temptation is for providing provision. He who thinks of emigration may say that his emigration deprives him from income and sustenance. Verse No. 60 answers him that how many a moving creature that does not carry its own provision but Allah sustains it, let alone those emigrants who work and struggle.

Emigration is the factor of creating sincerity. Those who do not migrate, when they ought to do, and depend themselves on an individual, party, region, tribe and possibilities of this and that one, desirably or undesirably, the regional, racial, and tribal problems, and insularities raised from jealousies, and negative rivals from the side of both familiar and foreign persons bring out man from sincerity. Thus, emigration to the places wherein these affairs are absent is the best circumstance for the appearance of sincerity and devotion.

In the explanation of this verse, Imam Baqir (as) says:

“Do not follow the mischievous governor, and if you fear that they cause you deviate from your religion, then do migrate.” ²

Of course, we must bear the bitter hardships of emigration by the Divine friendly call, because Allah (s.w.t.) has a special attention to the believers when He in this verse says: