al-‘Alaq

كَلَّا إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَى

أَن رَّآهُ اسْتَغْنَى

إِنَّ إِلَى رَبِّكَ الرُّجْعَى

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَى

عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّى

أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَانَ عَلَى الْهُدَى

أَوْ أَمَرَ بِالتَّقْوَى

أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّى

أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَى

6. “Nay! Most surely man does transgress (all bounds).”
7. “For he thinks himself self-sufficient.”
8. “Verily, to your Lord is the return (of all).”
9. “Have you seen him who forbids"
10. “A servant when he prays?"
11. “Have you seen whether he is on (the road of) Guidance?"
12. “Or enjoins piety?"
13. “Have you seen if he rejects and turns away?"
14. “Does he not know that Allah surely sees?"

Do You Not Know That Allah Surely Sees What You Do?

Following the last verses in which some material and spiritual gifts of Allah bestowed on Man were mentioned, that which demands his gratitude and absolute submission to Him, here it says:

This is the nature of most human beings, the nature of those who are not acquainted with revelation and are not trained wisely that, when they think they are self-sufficient, they rebel. Although all of our knowledge and capacities come as gifts from Allah, Man, in his inordinate vanity and insolence. Misinterprets Allah's gifts as his own achievements. So, he neither obeys Him nor follows His guidance, nor pays attention to his conscience, nor observes the right and justice.

Not only Man, but, also, no creature will be self-sufficient and free from the help of Allah. All of them are always in need of His Grace and His blessings. If His Mercy stops for a moment, just at the same time, all will be destroyed. Man sometimes makes mistakes and as the verse points out, thinks himself self-sufficient. The delicate sense of the verse is that it says:

and not: 'For he becomes self-sufficient'. Some think that the word 'Man' in the verse, here means, Abu-Jahl', who opposed the invitation to Islam from the Prophet (S) in the very beginning. But, 'Man', here certainly means Mankind collectively and persons like Abu-Jahl are only an example. At any rate, the verse seems to mean that the Prophet (S) should not expect that all people will accept his invitation easily, but he should be prepared to be opposed by the denial and enmity of the transgressors and know that the road in front of him is full of ups and downs.

Then, warning the rebels, it says:

And it is Allah Who punishes the transgressors for their deeds. Originally, just as the return of all is to Him and

everything has also been from Him, from the beginning, then, it is not reasonable for Man to think that he is self-sufficient and to become bold and rebel. Next, our attention is turned to a on the behaviour of the arrogant transgressors who prevent believing people from doing righteous deeds, and says:

Does such a person not deserve the Divine Punishment? In traditions it is said that Abu-Jahl inquired of the people around him:

"Does Muhammad put his face on the ground (for prostration) amongst you, too?"

They answered that he did. Then, he said:

"By what we take an oath to, if I see him in that state I will tread His neck under my foot".

At that moment they told him to look; that the Prophet was praying thereabout. Abu-Jahl went to tread the Prophet's (S) neck under his foot, but when he approached him he stopped and it seemed as if he was pushing something away from himself with his hand. He was asked what was the matter with him, and he answered.

“Suddenly, I saw a ditch of fire between me and him; a frightful thing, and I saw some wings and feathers, too.”

The Messenger of Allah (S) said about this:

"By the One in Whose hand is my life, if he had come close to me, the angels of Allah would have torn his body to pieces and taken them away one by one.”

It was on this occasion that the above verses were revealed.⁶ In conformity with those traditions, the above verses were revealed at the beginning of the Prophetic mission. They were not revealed later when the call of Islam was known to all. Hence, some believe that only the first five verses of this Surah were revealed at the beginning of the Prophetic mission and the rest were revealed after a considerable length of time. In any case, this occasion of revelation can never stand as a barrier for the broad meaning of the verse.

To show further emphasis, it says-

Is it right for him (a man such as Abu-Jahl) to forbid? Can the punishment of such a man be anything but the fire of Hell?

The aforementioned conditional sentence indicates that this proud rebel should, at least, think of the possibility that the Prophet (S) is on the path of piety. This contingency is enough to stop his rebellion. Therefore, these verses do not contain the meaning that there is doubt about the invitation of the Prophet (S) of people to guidance and piety, but they point out the above delicate case. Some of the commentators think that the pronoun in the Arabic word /kana/ or /amr/ refers to the one who prohibits, like Abu-Jahl. So, the verses mean that if he assumes the guidance and instead of prohibiting the saying of prayers, invites to piety, how beneficial it will be for himself!

Yet, the first commentary seems more appropriate.

Explanation: All the World is Before the Presence of Allah

Taking this fact into consideration that all the deeds that Man does are in front of Allah and for that matter, all the world is in front of Him, so that nothing of Man's deeds and thoughts is hidden from Him, this still has little effect on the routine of Man, in his whole life, or prevents him from doing wrong except when faith, in this fact, actually settles in his mind and establishes a certain belief in him. There is a saying which goes:

"Worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, He sees you.”

It is said that once a heedful believer, who had repented for his sin, was weeping. Someone asked him:

"Why are you weeping? Do you not know that Allah, the Almighty, is forgiving?".

He answered:

"Yes, He might forgive, but how can I keep away the shame of that which He has seen from me?"