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la-qad khalaqnā l-ʾinsāna fī kabadin
certainly We created man in travail.
— Ali Quli Qarai
90Al-BaladالبلدVerse 4 of 20
The City90. Al-Baladالبلد
al-Balad
The City
MeccanVerse 4 of 20
90Al-BaladالبلدVerse 4 of 20
The City
certainly We created man in travail.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Balad, Verses 1-7
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
1. “Nay! I swear by this city (Mecca)”
2. “And you are an inhabitant of this city,"
3. “And by the begetter and whom he begot,"
4. “Certainly We have created man to be in distress.”
5. “Does he think that no one has power over him?"
6. “He says: I have squandered wealth abundant!"
7. “Does he think that no one, sees him?"
By This Sacred City!
It is the style of the Qur'an when stating facts of very great importance, to often begin with oaths. These oaths, themselves, evoke thought and intelligence in Man. Here, too, in order to state the fact that Man's life, in the present world, is always associated with toil and struggle, it begins with a new oath and says:
Mecca is not directly mentioned in these verses, but regarding the Surah, on the one hand, which is Meccan, and the extraordinary importance of this sacred city, on the other hand, it is clear that it is in reference to Mecca. The consensus of commentators concur. Of course, the holiness and greatness of Mecca requires that Allah makes oath to it. The first center of monotheism and worship to the Lord has been built here and great prophets have circumambulated it.
But the verse:
contains a new matter. It says that this city is so highly sacred and holy because of the Prophet (S), and his blessed existence in it, that it deserves to be sworn to. The fact is that the spiritual value of land is due to the value of those who dwell there. The pagans should not think that the Qur'an has made worthy this land and made oath to it because it is their home or that it is the central place of their idols. Nay, it is not so. The value of this city, besides its special historical background, is for the sake of the blessed existence, in it, of Muhammad (S); Allah's unique servant.
There is also another commentary which says: 'We do not swear by this sacred city when they treated you disrespectfully and bid that your life, wealth and honour be free and permissible for all. ' This is a terrible disgrace to the pagans of Quraish who considered themselves the servitors and protectors of the temple of Mecca and respected it so highly that if a murderer of their father were seen there, he would be left safe. It is said that even those who took the bark of the trees of Mecca with them were safe because of this respect. Ironically, in showing this kind of respect they did not observe these customs and traditions regarding the Prophet (S)
Why did the pagans hurt him and his companions with every kind of torment that they could, so that they even counted the slaying of them lawful? This commentary is also narrated in a tradition from Imam Sadiq (as).3
To answer the question of who is the parent and who is the child, different commentaries have been cited:
1. The father is Abraham and the child is Ismail. Referring to the oath in the previous verse made to the city of Mecca, and we do know that Abraham and his son were the founders of Kaaba and Mecca, this commentary seems very appropriate; in particular, that the pagan Arabs maintained an extraordinary importance for Abraham and his son and they were very proud of them. Many of them have claimed that they have descended from Abraham.
2. The begetter is Adam and whom he begot is his children.
3. The meaning is Adam and all of the Prophets who came from his descendents.
4. It is an oath to any father and child because the process of human reproduction and its survival throughout history is one of the most wonderful things in the creation to which Allah has sworn.
To gather, these four commentaries, together, is not impossible, but the first one seems the most fitting. Then, the attention is paid to a thing which is the final purpose of these oaths:
The term /kabad/, as Tabarsi cites in Majma'-al-Bayan, originally means 'intensity’. But, as Raqib cites in Mufradat, the word /kabad/ means 'a disease in the liver of a person’. and so, it is used for any trouble and misery. Whatever the root of this word might be, its present use means trouble and misery. Yes, from the early moments of life, even as a foetus in the womb, Man passes through different, difficult stages with pain and toil until the time he is born, and even from then on; during his childhood, the period of his adolescense, and the most difficult times, his mature years, he is always faced with many kinds of trouble and misery. This is the nature of the present world. Those who have other expectations, about this world, other than that there is pain and toil, here are wrong.
The lives of the prophets and saints of Allah, who have been the best of all creatures, have been full of diverse difficulties and painful situations. When the world has been like this for them, then, the status of others is clear. We may see some people or some societies which have no apparent trouble and seem to live in ease. It is either because of our insufficient information about them, and when we approach them and study their outwardly comfortable lives, we see the depth of their pain and suffering; or their comfortable situation exists for a short time or in an exceptional period, but, however, it does not change the general law of the world.
The verse denotes that the life of Man, which is mixed with pain and toil, is an evidence that he has no power. But, Man is proud and commits any sin and crime as if he were quite safe and were out of the limits of AlIah's punishment. When he gains power, he neglects all the laws of Allah and disobeys Him, totally. Does he really think that he can escape from the grips of divine punishment? What a great error! It is also probable that the objective point of the verse is directed toward the rich people who thought no one could take their wealth from them.
Also, it has been cited that the objective point is of those who thought that they will never be questioned about their deeds. The scope of the concept, of the verse, is so vast and wide that it may cover all of these commentaries, combined. Some have said that the above verse is about a man from the tribe of Jamh by the name of Abul-Asad. He was so powerful that when he sat on a piece of leather and ten men tried to take the leather out from under him they failed. Sometimes the leather might have been torn to pieces, but he would remain sitting. 4
In any case, the verse pointing to these arrogant people does not limit the generality of its meaning. Then, on the same theme, it continues stating:
The verse is about those of whom when they were told to spend some money on good deeds, they would respond, boastfully, that they had spent much in that way; but they had spent nothing; and if they had given something to anyone it had been for personal intentions and hypocritical aims. Some have said that the verse refers to the ones who had spent much wealth on enmity against Islam and the holy Prophet (S) and for the plots against Islam, and for this they boasted.
As an evidence, a tradition says that in the battle of Khandaq when Hazrat Ali (as) invited 'Amr-ibn-i-'Abdud to Islam he protested thus:
"What about that which I have spent, abundantly from my wealth, against you?" 5
Some have also said that the verse points to some of the chiefs of Quraish such as one of the worst enemies of the Prophet (S). Harith-ibn-'Amir, who had committed a sin and asked the Prophet (S) what he should do about it and Hazrat ordered him to pay atonement, then he replied:
"From the day I became a Muslim I have squandered wealth abundant”. 6
It is of no consequence whether all of these three commentaries are combined, though the first one is more fitting with the next verse. The term
denotes that he has, indeed, wasted his wealth, but has not gained anything beneficial. The term /lubad/ means 'a dense crowd or thing' and. here it means 'much wealth’.
He does not pay attention to the fact that Allah not only sees the deeds he has done in private and in public, but He also knows all that goes through his mind and what he keeps hidden in the depth of his heart or what he intends to do in the future. Is it possible for the infinite Creator Who knows everything not to be able to see or know about a single thing'? These neglectful people think that they are out of the scope of His constant watch, but it is because of their own ignorance.
Yes, Allah knows where they have obtained their wealth and how and for what purpose they have used it. A tradition is narrated by Ibn-Abbas that the Prophet (S) said:
"(On Dooms Day) no servant can walk forth unless he is asked about four things:
1) about his lifetime and how he spent it,
2) about his wealth and where he gathered it from and what he spent it for,
3) about his deeds and what he has done, and
4) about his love for us; the Ahlul-Bait". 7
In short, how can Man be proud of his wealth and boast that he is powerful while all his life is spent in pain and toil, and if he has some wealth it can disappear in one day and if he has strength it can be removed by a fever? Furthermore, how can a person claim that he has spent much wealth for the sake of Allah when He knows his intentions? Allah knows both the source of that unlawful wealth and how he spent it hypocritically and grudgingly.
Footnotes