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ʾinna lladhīna kafarū min ʾahli l-kitābi wa-l-mushrikīna fī nāri jahannama khālidīna fīhā ʾulāʾika hum sharru l-bariyyati
Indeed the faithless from among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of hell, to remain in it [forever]. It is they who are the worst of creatures.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Bayyinah, Verses 6-8
6. “Surely those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and the polytheists shall be in the fire of Hell, therein dwelling forever; they are the worst of all creatures.”
7. “Surely those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the best of all creatures.”
8. “Their reward with their Lord will be Gardens of eternity, beneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever; Allah is well-pleased with them and they are well-pleased with Him. That is for him who fears his Lord and Cherisher.”
The Best and the Worst Creatures
In the former verses, it was mentioned that the people of the Book and the polytheists were waiting for clear evidence to be sent by Allah, but when it came they were dispersed and everyone went his separate way. In the following verses, from the point of Faith in truth, people are divided into two groups believers and disbelievers, and then the fate of each is pointed out. At first it says:
The term /kafaru/ ‘they disbelieved', here refers to their blasphemy rather than their being Muslim, otherwise their previous infidelity was not a new matter. The phrase
is a startling statement which shows that among all the living and non-living creatures there is nothing worse than those who left the right path and went astray after the truth became clear and the argument and reason became complete. This is, in fact, like that which is mentioned in Surah Anfal, No. 8, verse 22:
Or similar still, to what Surah A'raf, No. 7, verse 179 says after referring to the people of Hell with the same characteristics:
There is also a point in the current verse which goes beyond these matters, because it introduces them as
and this is, indeed, a statement of evidence for their perpetual stay in the fire of Hell. And why not! They were the worst of all creatures, because all the means of salvation were being prepared for them, but they refused it intentionally, due to their pride, deceit and enmity. In this verse, again, the phrase 'the People of Book' is mentioned prior to 'polytheists' perhaps for the reason that they had heavenly Books and learned men among them and also possessed some signs and information about the Prophet of Islam which were clearly mentioned in their Books. Therefore, their rejection was more hideous and indecent.
In the next verse, the contrasting group, who are in a higher position, are referred to. It says:
Then their rewards are pointed out:
This high rank and the splendid, unparalleled rewards are for the one who fears his Lord:
It is worthy to note that when speaking about the righteous, it also mentions 'doing good deeds', which is in fact the fruit of Faith, and indicates that a mere claim of Faith is not enough. Man's conduct should adapt to this Faith, too. But blasphemy itself even with the lack of evil action causes aberration in Man and this is apart from the fact that blasphemy is usually the source of many kinds of sin, crimes, and wrong actions. The phrase:
clearly shows that good believing people who do righteous deeds are even higher than the angels, because the verse is general and there is no exception made in it. There are other verses, also, that are witness to this idea like the verses concerning the prostration of the angels to Adam, and the verse:
However, in this verse, the material and physical rewards of the righteous; gardens full of different blessings in Heaven, are mentioned first, and then, their spiritual reward is referred to, that is;
They are well-pleased with Allah because whatever they have asked of Him, He has given them and if they erred He forgave them by His Grace. What pleasure can be better or higher than that one feels that his beloved, his Lord, accepts him and is pleased with him and he succeeds to be close to Him. Yes, the Paradise, for Man's body, is the eternal Gardens of the next world, but the Paradise for his soul is the Lord's pleasure. The sentence:
shows that all these gifts come into being because of the existence of the 'fear of Allah' since it is the motive of all obedience, piety, and righteous deeds. It should also be noted that the 'fear of Allah' is the fear to offend His holy Law, the fear to do anything which is against His holy Will. Such fear is akin to love; for with it dawns the consciousness of Allah's loving care for all His creatures. Some of the commentators have combined this verse with Surah Fatir, No. 35, Verse 28:
and have concluded that Paradise is, in fact, the incontestable right of the scientists and learned people. Of course, regarding the fact that the 'fear of Allah' has stages and degrees as well as knowledge, which has hierarchies too, the meaning of this statement is clear. By the way, some believe that the position of /xasiyat/ is higher than that of /xauf/ because the latter is used for any fear, but the former is a kind of fear mixed with exaltation and respect.
Explanation: Hazrat Ali (as) and His Followers are 'the Best Creatures'
There are a great many narrations quoted by famous Sunnite and Shi'ite sources in which the verse:
is rendered to mean Hazrat Ali (as) and his followers. Hakim Haskani Neyshaburi, one of the famous Sunnite scholars, in the fifth century A.H., has cited some narrations with different references whose number is more than twenty in his well-known book Shawahid-ut-Tanzil. The following are some examples:
1. Ibn-Abbas says that when the verse:
was revealed, the holy Prophet (S) told Hazrat Ali (as):
"It is you and your followers who will come on the Day of Reckoning when you and your followers are well-pleased (yourselves) and well-pleasing Him and your enemy will come angrily pushed (into Hell)”. 3
2. Abu Barazah has narrated a tradition from the Prophet (S) who recited the verse and said:
“They are you and your followers. O' Ali! The appointment for you and me is (beside) the Pool of Abundance" 4
('Haud' is the pool of 'Kawthar').
3. Jabir-ibn-'Abdillah-Ansari narrates in another tradition that they were sitting with the holy Prophet (S) in the Sacred House when Ali (as) came to them.
As soon as the Prophet (S) saw him, he said:
"My brother is coming to you".
Then, he turned toward the Ka'ba and said:
"By the Lord of this Structure! Surely this man and his followers will be triumphant on the Day of Judgement".
Then, he addressed them and added:
"By Allah! Truly he was formost to all of you in believing in Allah; and among you all he is the most correct in obeying Allah; the most faithful in fulfilling the covenant of Allah; the hardest to the decree of Allah, the best distributor of the (treasury) in equality, the justest to the citizen and the most important in position with Allah".
Jabir said it was then that Allah sent down the verse:
and from then on whenever Ali came, the Helpers of the Prophet (S) would say:
“The best of all creatures next to the Messenger of Allah came". 5
The descent of this verse, in Mecca, does not contrast with the idea that the Surah is Medinan, because it might have been revealed, again, there. Further, the descent of this verse might have happened on one of the holy Prophet's trips from Medina to Mecca, in particular that the reporter of the narration is 'Jabir-ibn-'Abdillah-Ansari' who joined the Prophet (S) in Medina. Then, terming these kinds of verses 'Medinan' is not improbable. Some of these traditions are cited by 'Ibn-Hijr' in 'Sawa'iq' and some others by 'Muhammad Shablanji' in 'Nur-ul-Absar'. 6
A great part of the last narration is narrated from Ibn- 'Asakir, from Jabir-ibn-'Abdillah by Jalal-id-Din-Suyuti in Durr-ul-Manthur.
4. It is narrated from Ibn-'Abbas in Durr-ul-Manthur that when the verse.
was revealed the holy Prophet (S) told Ali:
"It is you and your followers who, on the Day of Reckoning are well-pleased (yourselves) and well-pleasing (Him).” 7
5. In another tradition, the above mentioned person narrates from Ibn-Marduyah from Hazrat Ali (as) that the Prophet (S) had told him (Ali):
"Have you not heard the word of Allah:
You and your followers are those and the appointment place of mine and yours will be at the Pool of Abundance'. When I come for the account of nations you will be invited in the case that your foreheads are white (to be known)”. 8
Many other Sunnite scholars have also cited the same meaning in their works including: Khatib Kharazmi in 'Manaqib', Abu-Na'im Isfahani in' Kifayat -ul -Khisam', 'Allamah Tabari in his famous commentary, Tabari, Ibn- Shabbaq Maliki in 'Fusul-ul-Muhimmah', Allamah Shoukani in' Fath-ul-Qadir', Shaykh Sulayman Qanduzi in 'Yanabi' -ul- Mawwadah', Alusi in' Ruh -ul -Ma'ani', and some others. In conclusion, the above mentioned tradition is one of the famous traditions that is accepted by a great many scholars of Islam. And this, in itself, is an important, matchless excellence for Hazrat Ali (as) and his followers.
By the way, this narration makes this fact clear that the term 'Shi'ah' was applied and was spread among Muslims by the Prophet (S), himself, at that time, and it refers to the particular followers of Amir-al-Mo'mineen Ali (as).
The Necessity of Intention in Adorations
Some of the scholars of the principles of Islamic Jurisprudence have taken the verse:
as an evidence for (niyyat) 'intention' with divine motive being necessary in 'worship' and this depends on the word 'din', here to be meant 'worship' so that it becomes a reason for the necessity of sincerity in worship. We should also take the term
in this verse, unlimited in order to have a sense of necessity of intention with divine motive in all commands. However, the meaning of the verse does not seem to be either of them, but the purpose of the verse is to prove monotheism in contrast with polytheism. It means they are only invited to monotheism.
The Wonderful Heights and Depths to Which Man Can Reach
We understand, clearly, from the verses of this Surah that there is no creature in the world like, Man to be able to gain the highest ranks and being the best of all by doing righteous deeds, (note that 'righteous deeds' includes all good deeds; not only a part of them), and if he goes on the path of blasphemy and aberration he will fall so deep that he can be the worst of all creatures. The vast, great distance between these two extremes of highness and lowliness of Man; although a very sensitive and dangerous status for him, indicates his dignity and capability of development. It is natural that Man, with such an efficiency and extraordinary potentiality, is also quite close to the possibility of extraordinary aberration.
Supplication
O Lord! We look to You, Your Grace, to gain the high rank of “The best of all creatures".
O Lord! Count us among the followers of the man who deserves this title the best.
O Lord! Endow us with such a sincerity that we worship and love nothing but You.
Footnotes