al-Ṣaffāt

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَالصَّافَّاتِ صَفّاً

فَالزَّاجِرَاتِ زَجْراً

فَالتَّالِيَاتِ ذِكْراً

1. “By those who range themselves in ranks,”

2. “And those who drive away (the evils and temptations) with reproof,”

3. “And the reciters of a Remembrance (Qur’an),”

It is necessary that there should be some impedimental factors of sins and forbidders of indecencies in the society. This Surah is the first Surah of the Qur’an that the beginning verses of which begin with oaths. They are some expressive oaths which take the man’s thought with them toward different directions of this world and make it ready for accepting the facts. It is true that Allah is more truthful than all truthful ones and He does not need to take any oath. Moreover, if the oath is for the believers, they are submitted without any oath, and if it is for the rejecters, they do not believe in the oaths of Allah. But noting to two points will solve the problem of oaths in all verses of the Qur’an upon which we will deal with henceforth.

The first point is this that oaths are always made by the worthy and important things. Thus, the oaths of the Qur’an show the importance and greatness of the things that the oaths are made by, and this very matter causes the more contemplation upon the thing that the concerning oaths are made by, a contemplation which makes man acquainted with some new facts. The other point is that: oath is always for emphasis, and it is a proof upon this fact that the things for which the oath is made are among the completely earnest and emphasized affairs of creation.

Besides, when a speaker states his speech decisively, it will psychologically affect more on the addressee’s heart, strengthens the believers more, and makes the deniers of that speech milder. However, at the beginning of this Surah, we find three groups by whom oaths are made. At first, it says:

Then, it says:

Who are these three groups? And whom are these qualities about? And what is its final aim? The popular and known commentary is that these are some qualities for some groups of angels. These are some groups of angels who have stood in rows in the world of existence and are ready for performing the command of Allah. They are some groups of Divine angels who restrain men from sins, and nullify the temptations of Satans in their hearts. Or they are arranged for the cloud in sky to take them to different sides and make them ready to water the dry lands.

And, finally, there are some groups of angels who, at the time of revelation of the verses of the heavenly Books, recite them to the Divine prophets. It is noteworthy that the Qur’anic term /saffat/ is the plural form of /saffah/ which in term has a plural sense, and it refers to a group who have ranged themselves in rank. Therefore, the term /saffat/ indicates some numerous rows. The Qur’anic term /zajirat/ is derived from /zajr/ in the sense of driving away something with sound and shout. Then it has been used in a vaster scope of meaning which envelops any repel and prohibition. Therefore, the term /zajirat/ means some groups who act in prohibition, repelling, and driving others away.

The Arabic term /taliyat/ is derived from /talawat/, the plural form of /tali/, and means some groups who take action on reciting something. And, regarding to the vastness of the concepts of these words, it is not surprising that commentators have mentioned different interpretations for them that, in the meantime, they do not contrast each other, and all of them may be found in the concept of these verses. For example, the purpose of ‘Saffat’ is all the rows of the angels who are ready to perform the Divine commands in the world of creation, and also the angels who are ordered to bring the revelation down to Divine prophets in the atmosphere of religion; and also the rows of strivers and strugglers in the path of Allah, or the rows of keepers of prayer and worshippers.

Although the frame of references show that the purpose of it is mostly the angels, this meaning has been referred to in some Islamic narrations.¹ Also, it does not matter that the Arabic term /zajirat/ refers to both the angels who drive away the Satanic temptations from the men’s hearts, and the men who perform the duty of forbidding from doing evils. And the term /taliyat/ points to all Divine angels and groups of the believers who constantly recite the Divine verses and the name of Allah.

However, the oath of Allah made by all these groups shows the greatness of their rank with Allah, and in the meantime inspires this fact that those who pave the path of the Truth also for reaching the destination must pass these three stages. Firstly, they must arrange their rows and every group stand in their own row. Then they must remove the barriers from the way and repel the troubles by shout and a loud voice. And, after that, they must continually recite the Divine verses and the commands of Allah to the receptive hearts and try to actualize their contents.

The strugglers of the path of the truth have not any way but passing these three stages, either. In the same manner, the truthful scholars, in their collective efforts, must also follow the same program. It is notable that some of the commentators have rendered these verses into ‘strugglers’ and some others into ‘scholars’, but restricting the concept of these holy verses to those two groups seems improbable, while the generality of verses is not improbable; and we also consider them particular to the angels, again others can be inspired in their lives by the program of these angels.

In the first sermon of Nahj-ul-Balaqah, where the angels are spoken of, Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as), dividing them into different groups, says:

“…some of them (angels) are in array and do not leave their position. Others are extolling Allah and do not get tired. The sleep of the eye or the slip of wit, or languor of the body, or the effect of forgetfulness does not affect them. Among them are those who work as trusted bearers of the message, those who serve as speaking tongues for His prophets…”

Footnotes

1. 1. Burhan, the commentary, Vol. 4, P. 15, Ad-Durr-ul-Manthur, Vol. 5, P. 271