al-Najm

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَی

مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَی

1. By the star when it goes down.

2. Indeed, your companion [Prophet Muhammad (S)] has neither gone astray nor has erred.

The Chapter opens with the word najm "star" by which God Almighty swears

("By the star when it goes down").

Exegetes provide many a view regarding the contextual meaning of the word. Some maintain that it makes a reference to the Holy Qur’an since such connotation is consistent with the following blessed Verses regarding Divine Revelation. They hold that the expression alludes to the Arab's practice of terming as star what develops in time at different intervals. Since the Holy Qur’an was revealed to the Noble Prophet (S) in a period of twenty three years at different intervals, it is referred to as 'star' and the expression:

"when it goes down"

makes a reference to its Revelation to the pure heart of the Messenger of Allah (S). However, some other exegetes maintain that it alludes to a star like Pleiades or Jupiter since they are of particular significance. Some also hold that:

"the star"

refers to meteors through which devils are repelled from the heaven and Arabs term such meteors as najm. However, no evident argument has been provided for any of the four interpretations, but the blessed Verse, as far as the application of the word,

"the star"

requires, serves as an oath to all the stars reflecting Divine Manifestations of God Almighty, the great mysteries of the world of creation, and the extraordinarily great creatures created by Allah. Swearing by the great creatures of the world of creation like the sun and the moon are attested elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an. The ascent of the stars are more remarkable, but the emphasis laid on their "going down" is owing to the fact that their descent bears witness to their temporal contingence (huduth) and the negation of star worshippers beliefs.

Thus, God Almighty alludes to both the ascent and descent of stars, since such allusion substantiates their temporal contingence and their being checked by the laws of creation. It is worthy of note that the inner, rather than the outer, meaning of the Verse as attested in traditions, is taken by some exegetes to allude to the Noble Prophet (S) and accordingly,

"going down"

refers to his descent from the heaven on the night of Ascent. Now, let us turn toward the reason lying behind the oath. The blessed second Verse thus expounds that your companion, Prophet Muhammad (S) has never gone astray nor has he been in error,

("Indeed, your companion [Prophet Muhammad (S)] has neither gone astray nor has erred").

He always treads the Path of Truth and the slightest error may not be found in his words and deeds. The word:

"companion" (sahib)

may indicate that what he says is out of his compassion and love for you. Many an exegete draw no distinction between the Arabic past tense forms dhalla and ghawa ("go astray; be in error") but regard the twain as laying emphasis on each other. However, some exegetes maintain that there is a difference between the twain such that the former connotes that one may never find the right path toward one's destination but the latter connotes that one proceeds on a path but his path happens not to be straight and free from error.

The former is like "disbelief" and the latter resembles committing sins and transgressing the bounds. It is worthy of note that in his Mufradat under gh-y-y, Raghib says that the latter signifies "ignorance accompanied by corrupt belief." Thus, dhalala designates absolute ignorance but ghawaya signifies ignorance accompanied by false belief. However, in this blessed Verse, God Almighty intends to negate any form of error and ignorance from His Messenger (S) thereby repudiating the false accusations ascribed to him by his enemies.