al-Jinn

وَأَنَّا كُنَّا نَقْعُدُ مِنْهَا مَقَاعِدَ لِلسَّمْعِ ۖ فَمَنْ يَسْتَمِعِ الْآنَ يَجِدْ لَهُ شِهَابًا رَصَدًا

وَأَنَّا لَا نَدْرِي أَشَرٌّ أُرِيدَ بِمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَمْ أَرَادَ بِهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ رَشَدًا

9. 'And we used to sit there in stations to eavesdrop, but any who intends to eavesdrop now will find a shooting star watching him in ambush.
10. '[Having said that] we know not whether evil is intended for the inhabitants of the earth or whether their Lord wills to Guide them.

Revelation of the Holy Qur’an had its impressions in the heavens. Before the Revelation, the jinn used to eavesdrop the heavenly messages, but they were thereafter impeded from doing likewise; as a consequence of which they say that formerly they would sit in the heaven to eavesdrop and receive heavenly messages and imparted them to their friends, though whoever intends to act likewise will find meteors targeting him in ambush. What crosses one’s mind is that drastic alterations were made in the world following the Prophetic call of Allah’s Messenger (S) and the Revelation of the Holy Qur’an, since they were formerly able to eavesdrop, but no one is able to do likewise now.

The blessed Verses in question reflect that the dark age of ploys, soothsaying, and deception is over and the night has ended and the sun of Divine Revelation and the Prophetic call has risen. The Arabic word shihab lexically denotes flame, though it connotes the blazing flames emerging in straight lines in the heaven, namely shooting stars and meteors. According to scientific research, meteors are small pieces of stone moving without the atmosphere of the earth. Upon approaching the earth, they gravitate toward it rapidly.

When they enter the atmosphere, namely the condensed gaseous later surrounding the earth, they turn into fireballs owing to the intensity of friction against it and the resulting incandescence turns into ashes scattering on the face of the earth. It is recurrently reflected in the Holy Qur’an that meteors are arrows shot at devils aiming at eavesdropping in the heavens. Detailed discussions are to be found above under 15:18 and 37:10, though they are not reflected herein for the sake of brevity.

At any rate, the Arabic nominal form rasad implies preparedness for some occurrence and lying in ambush. The word is at times a present participial form employed in the sense of one waiting in ambush. According to the blessed Verse 10, they further say that having taken into account the circumstances, they do not know whether such eavesdropping reflects that some bad intention is in store for the people on the earth or God Almighty is thereby willing to lead them to the Path of Guidance.

In other words, they have no idea whether it preludes afflictions to be inflicted by God Almighty or their Guidance. Nonetheless, the believing jinn are supposed to have comprehended that forbidding eavesdropping, simultaneous with the Noble Prophet’s (S) prophetic call, preludes guiding people and consigning to oblivion soothsaying and like superstitious beliefs. It is but the proclamation of the end of a dark period and the outset of a luminous one. However, the jinn were attached to eavesdropping and still failed to believe that such impediment entail Blessings and Bounties, but it is crystal clear that relying on eavesdropping, soothsayers in pre-Islamic times had a great impact in leading the people astray.

It is worthy of note, however, that Guidance is herein ascribed to God Almighty, but evil, used in passive voice, is not attributed to Him, reflecting that the good and Guidance comes from God Almighty and evil and corruption come from people themselves consequent to their misuse of Divine Bounties and the Blessings of Creation.