Аль-Араф 7:187–193

The verse 187 speaks of the third principle, that is, the life in the Hereafter (آخرَت). The revelation of this verse is related with the following incident reported by Ibn Jarir and ` Abd ibn Humaid on the authority of Qatadah.

The Quraish of Makkah once asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ by way of mockery as to when the Hour of doom was to occur of which he used to warn them so often. The verse was revealed in response to this question.

The Arabic word Sa` ah سَاعَۃ signifies a short period without specific number of minutes or hours, while in our calendar it is a single unit out of twenty four units of the day and night. In Qur'anic terminology, however, it is used for the day when all the created beings will cease to exist, as well as for the day when all the creation shall be revived and presented before the Lord of all the creations. مُرسٰی Mursa signifies to stop or to stay, لَا يُجَلِّيهَا ' is a derivative of تَجلِیہ which means to disclose or open. Baghtatan بَغتۃ means suddenly while the word 'Hafiyyun' حَفِیُّ is used for a scholar or a knowledgeable person according to Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Abbas ؓ The word is generally used for a person who invests his effort and employs all his resources to ascertain some-thing.

The quintessence of the verse, therefore, is that the Quraish of Makkah should be answered that the exact time of the Doom is not known, and shall never be made known to anyone. It is a divine secret which shall disclose itself by it's sudden occurrence, as has been decided by the Qur'anic phrase "It shall not come upon you but suddenly".

Al-Bukhari and the Muslim have reported on the authority of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said with regard to sudden occurrence of the 'Qiyamah' (The Doomsday) that it has been made a close secret. The wisdom behind it is obviously to make people live their lives peacefully which would have not been possible in case the definite time of death was known to them. Besides, those who do not believe in Doomsday would have made mockery of it by knowing the remotely long period of its occurrence. The divine wisdom chose to keep it undefined in order to keep people vaguely in fear of its dreadful events which, in fact, is an effective measure against crime and corrupt practices.

By implication, the above verses make us alive to the fact that once we have come to believe that the day of Qiyamah has inevitably to come and all the created beings shall necessarily be presented before the Lord of all the creation and be called to account for all their minor or major deeds, and shall be rewarded or punished according to their performance in this world, the knowledge of time and period of the death becomes immaterial. It will not be wise to waste precious time of one's life in futile discussions like the time of occurrence of the Doomsday. On the contrary, human reason and wisdom demands that every moment of uncertain period of life is spent carefully in preparing oneself for the great Day of Judgment. This answer to the Quraish of Makkah made it clear that their question regarding the time of the Doomsday was a product of their ignorance. The next phrase of this verse speaks of another misconception of the disbelievers of Makkah. It said:

يَسْأَلُونَكَ كَأَنَّكَ حَفِيٌّ عَنْهَا

"They ask you as if you were aware of it."

They thought that the Holy Prophet had, somehow, secured the knowledge of the exact time of the occurrence of the Doomsday and that he was not disclosing it for some purpose. They

insisted him to disclose it to them. The Holy Prophet ﷺ was

asked to answer them in these words:

قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ اللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ‌ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

"Say, it's knowledge is only with Allah, but most of the people

do not know."

That is, it is not necessary for a prophet to know the definite time of the Doomsday or certain other matters that are kept secret by Allah. The lack of knowledge in such matters on the part of a prophet cannot, therefore, be taken as a proof against his prophethood. (The knowledge of a prophet can never be equal to the All-encompassing knowledge of Allah.)

The Holy Prophet ﷺ ، however, was given knowledge of certain specific signs indicating that the Doomsday was in proximity. He has informed the Muslim Ummah of all these signs in explicit terms in his Traditions. In one of such Traditions he said that his appearance and the Day of Qiyamah were as close to each other as two fingers of a hand. (Tirmidhi)

As for the reports giving the total age of this world as seven thousand years, they are the reports borrowed from some Israelite literature in certain Islamic books. They are neither authentic nor do they have any basis in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Similarly, geo-physical data of modern knowledge giving the age of this world as millions of years do not confront or contradict any of the Qur'anic verse or any authentic Tradition of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . On the contrary, the Holy Prophet ﷺ addressing the Muslim Ummah said in a Tradition:

"When compared to the early people, you are like a white thread of hair on the body of a black ox."

This gives us an idea of the enormous age of this world as thought by the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Hafiz Ibn Hazm of Spain has, therefore, concluded that the exact age of this world cannot be assessed by any one1. (Marghni)

1. By inference it seems physically impossible to have an exact assessment of the age of this universe, because it would give the exact time of the end of this universe which has been precluded by the above verse saying that the knowledge of the occurrence of the Doomsday is not known to any one but Allah. (Translator)

The Verse 188 clears away a common misbelief of the people regarding the prophets of Allah. They thought that the prophets must possess the knowledge of each and everything in the universe, including the knowledge of the unseen future and unknown past. Similarly, they thought that the prophets must possess the power of bringing benefit or harm to any one out of their own will. The verse made it clear that the all-encompassing knowledge is an exclusive attribute of Allah which cannot be ascribed to any created being. Ascribing these exclusive attributes to anyone other than Allah is the greatest transgression and is tantamount to associating partners with Allah. The very purpose of the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and the advent of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been to eliminate all the traces of plurality of god and to establish the purest unity of Allah (Tauhid).

The Holy Prophet has been asked to declare that, not to speak of others, even he was unable to harm or benefit himself and that he did not possess the knowledge of the unseen. Had he possessed such knowledge, he would have stored all the good for himself and would have saved himself from every possible harm. There are evident instances in which the Holy Prophet ﷺ could not achieve his objectives inspite of all his effort, and in many other instances, he could not save himself from the damages and harm that reached him. The incident of the treaty of Hudaibiyah is an evident example when the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his companions travelled all the way to Makkah in order to perform the ` Umrah but were stopped by the unbelievers of Makkah. Despite all their desire and effort, they had to go back to Madinah without performing ` Umrah. similarly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was wounded in the battle of Uhud and the Muslims faced temporary defeat.

Perhaps, such events were allowed to happen, so that it may be demonstrated in practical terms that the Prophets, with due regards to their being closest to Allah and being the best of all the human beings, did not possess divine power and encompassing knowledge.

They were human like other human beings. The Christians fell prey to the same error. They ascribed the divine attributes of Allah to their Prophet and went astray.

The Prophets, however, are invested by Allah with as much knowledge and power as no other human being has ever acquired. They Holy Prophet ﷺ was certainly favoured with the degree of knowledge which surpassed the knowledge of all other prophets. He informed the Muslims of many things which were to happen in future. All his foretellings were seen to happen exactly as he had foretold.

We can say that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was given the knowledge of a number of unseen things, but in Qur'anic terminology this is not termed as (the knowledge of the unseen). Therefore, on the basis of this we are not allowed to call the Holy Prophet ﷺ عَالِمُ الغیب (the knower of the unseen), as knower of the unseen is none other than Allah.

The last sentence of the verse said, إِنْ أَنَا إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ‌ وَبَشِيرٌ‌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ I am but a warner and a harbinger of good for people who believe." That is, he has been assigned the duty of warning the evil doers against the punishment of Allah and give the good tidings of great reward by Allah to those who are righteous.

The next verse 189 speaks of the most basic belief of Islam that is Tauhid and, at the same time, brings out the falsity of believing in more than one god. In the beginning of the verse Allah سُبحَانہ و تعالیٰ has mentioned the creation of Sayyidna 'Adam and Sayyidah Hawwa' (علیہما السلام) which was a manifestation of His perfect power. The verse said:

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا

"He is the One who has created you from a single soul and from him created his wife, so that he may find comfort in her."

This manifestation of Allah's great Power should have made mankind more grateful to Allah and they must have abstained from associating partners with Allah, but negligent as they were, they acted differently. Their neglectful attitude has been referred to in this verse and in the next, in these words:

فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاهَا حَمَلَتْ حَمْلًا خَفِيفًا فَمَرَّ‌تْ بِهِ ۖ فَلَمَّا أَثْقَلَت دَّعَوَا اللَّهَ رَ‌بَّهُمَا لَئِنْ آتَيْتَنَا صَالِحًا لَّنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِ‌ينَ ﴿189﴾ فَلَمَّا آتَاهُمَا صَالِحًا جَعَلَا لَهُ شُرَ‌كَاءَ فِيمَا آتَاهُمَا ۚ فَتَعَالَى اللَّهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِ‌كُونَ ﴿190﴾

"So when he covered her with himself, she carried a light burden and moved about with it. Thereafter, when she grew heavy, they both prayed to Allah, their Lord, "If you bless us with a perfect child, we shall be among the grateful." So, when Allah blessed them with a perfect one, they ascribed partners with Him."

That is to say, at the initial stage of pregnancy the woman feels free to move about, but later when fetus grows heavy in her womb, the parents are anxious about their unborn. They are not sure if they would get a perfect child, because there are occasions when new born is not a normal child or is deaf dumb or blind etc. Having such apprehensions, they start praying for a perfect child and make promises with Allah to be grateful to Him if He favours them with a perfect child. Now, when Allah grants their prayers by giving them a normal and healthy baby, they ascribe partners with Allah, and thus their children, themselves, become the source of their misguidance.

It happens in a variety of ways. Sometimes they are misled by their false belief that their new born is a gift of some holy or godly person. Sometimes, they devote it to some living or dead person and start making offerings in their names. Some people take their children to them and bow their forehead before them. Sometimes, they involve themselves in Shirk شِرک by naming their children like ` Abdullat عبدَاللات ` Abd ul ` Uzza عبد العُزٰی ` Abdul Shams عَبد الشمس or Bandah ` Ali بَندہِ علی etc., assigning their children to false gods, indicating that these children have been created or gifted by these gods or personalities.

In short, all the above acts or beliefs are different forms of 'Shirk' ~,. and the worst kind of ungratefulness to Allah, their Lord. The last sentence of this verse confirms misguidance of such people by saying:

فَتَعَالَى اللَّهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِ‌كُونَ

"So far beyond is Allah than what they associate with Him."

The above interpretation of this verse has made it clear that by referring to the Prophet 'Adam and Hawwa' (Eve) (علیہما السلام) in the first sentence of this verse, the children of 'Adam have been asked to follow him and show their gratefulness to Allah, while the rest of the verse speaks of the misguidance and perversion of their descendants who, instead of being grateful to their Lord ascribed partners to Him.

This makes it clear that the Prophet 'Adam and Hawwa' (علیہما السلام) have nothing to do with those who ascribed partners with Allah. The verse refers to the generations coming after them who were ungrateful to Allah and involved themselves in Shirk. We have adopted this interpretation on the authority of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ reported by Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abi Hatim, in Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthur. The story related by Tirmidhi and Hakim about 'Adam and Hawwa' being deceived by Shaitan has been taken by some scholars as an unauthentic Israelite report which is liable to be rejected. Many Mulhaddithin, the scholars in Hadith have, on the other hand, confirmed it. The above interpretation, however, clears away any possible doubt even if the story is taken to be authentic.

The above verse has provided us with the following points of significant value.

1. The men and women have been created in the same species in order that they may have a natural affinity and perfect understanding with each other, and discharge their duties towards the construction of a good society.

Havoc caused by immodesty

2. The rights and obligations assigned to the married couple basically aim at providing a peaceful environment at home. There are many social behaviours of modern age that are directly opposed to the above objective of creating a peaceful atmosphere. For example, the so called freedom of woman has caused havoc to social peace. The alarming number of divorces and serious altercations are mostly the result of free mixing of men and women in society. By experience we know that the growth of immodest practices in society is proportional to the destruction of social values and deprives man of peace at home and in the society.

3. The third point refers to the naming of one's children. It is prohibited to give names to the children like ` Abdul Shams (The slave of the Sun) or ` Abd al ` Uzza (The slave of ` Uzza) which purport to assign them to entities other than Allah. Giving such names is prohibited even if parents do not really mean it. This practice is a great sin in Islam.

4. The best way of offering our gratitude to Allah is to name our children after the good names of Allah and His Messenger. The Holy Prophet ﷺ has, therefore, recommended the names like ` Abd ur Raliman, and ` Abdullah etc.

It is a pity that, one by one, we are depriving ourselves of all the Islamic manners and values. Firstly, we give our children non Islamic names simply following the fashion of the non-Islamic cultures. In addition, we find that most of the parents abbreviate the names of their children into English initials which makes it all the more difficult to distinguish them as Muslims. specially so, when we have worn the appearance of the non-Muslims, altogether. May Allah favour us with the real understanding of Islam and Islamic values.