An-Najm

Characteristics of Surah An-Najm

Surah An-Najm is the first chapter that the Holy Prophet ﷺ proclaimed in Makkah (` Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ has transmitted it - as in Qurtubi) and this is the first Surah in which a verse of sajdah (prostration) is revealed. The Holy Prophet recited it and prostrated. A strange thing happened on this occasion: When the Holy Prophet finished reciting the Surah before a mixed gathering of Muslims and disbelievers, and, along with his followers, he prostrated himself on the ground. The disbelievers too prostrated, except one proud and arrogant man (regarding whose name there is a difference of opinion (Tr.) ) who took a handful of soil and, having applied it on his forehead, said, 'this is enough'. ` Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ ، [ the transmitter of the Tradition ] said that he saw this man lying dead in the state of disbelief [ kufr ]. (Bukhari, Muslim and other compilers of Sunan - Ibn-Kathir [ condensed ])

At the outset of this Surah, the truth of the Qur'anic revelation and of the Divine claim is sought to be established. In a very exquisite and forceful style, it is stated that the Holy Prophet is a true Messenger of Allah, and there is no room for any doubt about this.

Allah Swears that the Messenger is True

وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَىٰ (By the star when it goes down to set,.... 53:1) The word najm means a star, and as a common noun every star is referred to as najm, and in that case the plural is nujum. There are however occasions when najm specifically refers to thurayya. In this case it is used as a proper noun and it signifies "the Pleiades" which is a loose cluster of many (hundred) stars, (six of which are visible to ordinary sight). In this context, some scholars, taking the word as a proper noun, interpret najm as thurayya. Farra' and Hasan Basri prefer the first interpretation, and take the word as a common noun (Qurtubi). This is the interpretation that is adopted in the translation.

The verb hawa means to fall or plunge. When stars fall, they set. In this verse Allah swears an oath to show that the Messenger ﷺ is true, and his words are a revelation from Allah, in which there is no room for any doubt. In Surah As-Saffat it has been explained in detail that the Creator, for various wise reasons, swears by whatever He wills among His creation, but His created beings only swear by the Creator. They are not allowed to swear by anything else. Here Allah has sworn an oath by the stars. Probably, the underlying wisdom in this is that as the Arabs are used to determine the course and direction of, and are guided in their travels by the movements of the stars in the sandy waste of Arabia, so they would now be led to the goal and end of their spiritual journey by the star par excellence, that is, by the Holy Prophet ﷺ .

مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَىٰ (your companion [ the Holy Prophet ﷺ ] has neither missed the way, nor did he deviate. [ 53:2] Verse [ 1] was قَسَم qasam or oath and verse [ 2] is jawab-ul-qasam or the subject for which oath is sworn. The verse means that the path towards which the Holy Prophet ﷺ is calling the people is the perfectly straight path leading to the desired goal of Allah's good pleasure. He is following the right guidance and has not deviated from the path of righteousness.

The Reason for Describing the Holy Prophet ﷺ as 'your companion'

The Qur'an on this occasion, when referring to the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، does not refer to him by his blessed name or refer to him as a Messenger or a Holy Prophet ﷺ . In fact, it refers to him as Sahibukum or "your companion". In this there seems to be a subtle rebuke to the pagans of Makkah, telling them in effect that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not an outsider, nor a stranger to them. He was their constant companion. He was born amongst them, he spent his childhood amongst them, and he grew up as a youth amongst them. He has lived among them a whole life-time, and they had always looked upon him as a paragon of honesty, integrity and truthfulness calling him اَمِین (The Honest One). But now - after his claim of Prophethood - they dare impute to him such a heinous sin as forging lies against Allah. A man who withheld himself from telling lies about men, how could he possibly forge lies against Allah? How inconsistent is their attitude?

The Holy Prophet's Words are a Revelation from Allah

وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ (And he does not speak out of (his own) desire. It is not but revelation revealed [ to him ]....53:3-4]. The verses tell us that it is absolutely impossible for the Messenger ﷺ to forge lies and impute them to Allah. Nothing he utters is of his own wish or desire. He only conveys to the people what he was commanded to convey, in its entirety, without additions or deletions. An analysis of the various Traditions in Bukhari indicates that there are many categories or types of wahy [ inspiration or revelation ]. Type one is that in which the wordings and the meaning are both directly from Allah. This is called Qur'an. Type two is the one in which only the meaning comes from Allah, and the Messenger ﷺ expresses the meaning in his own words. This is called Hadith or Sunnah [ Tradition ]. The subject of Hadith, which comes from Allah, sometimes lays down injunctions or rules of conduct in clear and express terms, and at other times it establishes a general principle from which the Messenger ﷺ derives laws on the basis of ijtihad or analogy, and promulgates them. In this there does exist the possibility of mistake of judgment. But it is the characteristic of the Messenger ﷺ and other Prophets (علیہم السلام) that if they commit any error of judgment, Allah sends down a revelation to amend it, so that they do not unwittingly persist in their mistaken ijtihad. Unlike other scholars of ijtihad, who can persist in their erroneous conclusions. However, their error is not only forgiven, but they also receive one reward for exerting their utmost effort in comprehending the rule of religion to the fullest extent, as authentic and well-known Traditions bear testimony to this fact.

The foregoing discussion also allays the following doubt: It seems, according to the above verses, that the Messenger ﷺ does not speak of his own desire, but whatever he conveys to the people is a revelation from Allah. It follows from this that he does not exercise independent reasoning in any matter whatsoever, whereas authentic Traditions show otherwise. There are incidents recorded .that at the beginning, he promulgated one law, but, later on, revelation descended and the law was changed. This is an indication that the earlier law was not the law of Allah, but it was based on his ijtihad. The foregoing paragraph already responded to this objection: The second type of revelation establishes a general principle of law from which the Messenger ﷺ derives laws on the basis of ijtihad, and promulgates them. Because the general principle has descended from Allah, all the laws are said to be the revelation from Allah. Allah knows best!

عَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَىٰ (It is taught to him by one [ angel ] of strong faculties,...53:5) From here upto the eighteenth verse, لَقَدْ رَ‌أَىٰ مِنْ آيَاتِ رَ‌بِّهِ الْكُبْرَ‌ىٰ the subject-matter is the revelation from Allah. It has been established that the Qur'an is a record of verbal revelation vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . There is no room for doubt about the fact that it is the very Words of Allah. It was sent down in such a way that no possibility of confusion or error ever existed.

Divergent Interpretation of the Verses of Najm

Regarding these verses of Surah Najm, two divergent interpretations of the leading commentators are reported. The summary of one interpretation is that all these verses relate to the incident of Mi` raj (Ascension of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to the heavens). As a result, words and phrases like شَدِيدُ الْقُوَىٰ shadid-ul-quwa (One of strong faculties), dhu mirrah (one of vigour) فَاسْتَوَىٰ fastawa (he stood poised), and ) دَنَا فَتَدَلَّىٰ dana fatadalla (then he drew near, and came down,) are all qualities and actions of Allah. (It means that Allah Ta’ ala has taught the Holy Prophet ﷺ directly without any media, and that he came close to Him. The Qur'an further speaks of Vision [ ru'yah ] and Witnessing [ mushahadah ]. They too have been taken to mean the Vision and Witnessing of Allah. Among the noble Companions, Sayyidna Anas and Ibn ` Abbas ؓ have adopted this interpretation. In Tafsir Mazhari too this interpretation has been given preference. Many noble Companions, tabi` n [ Companions' pupils ] and other leading commentators, however, take these verses to refer to the event when the Holy Prophet ﷺ saw the noble angel Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) in his original shape. According to them, shadid-ul-quwa (one of strong faculties), and other qualities and acts mentioned in these verses are the qualities of Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) . There are many factors in support of this interpretation. Historically, Surah An-Najm is one of the very early Surahs and, according to Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ ، this is the first Surah the Holy Prophet ﷺ recited in public in the Sacred city of Makkah. Obviously, the incident of Mi` raj took place much later. This argument, however, may be debatable. But the stronger proof in favor of the second interpretation is that in a tradition recorded in the Musnad of Ahmad, the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself interprets these verses that they relate to seeing the noble Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) .

عَنِ الشَّعبِی عَن مَسرُوق قَالَ کُنتُ عِندَ عَایٔشَۃَ ؓ فَقُلتُ اَلَیسَ اللہُ یَقُولُ ( وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ بِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَ‌ىٰ ) فَقَالَتُ اَنَااَوَّلُ ھٰذِہِ الُامَّٰۃ سَاَلتُ رَسُولَ اللہِ ﷺ عَنھَا فَقَالَ اِنَّمَا ذَاکَ جِبرَیٔلُ لَم یَرَہ ، فِی صُورَتِہِ الَّتِی خُلِقَ عَلَیھَا اِلَّا مَرَّتَینِ رَاٰہُ مُنھَبِطاً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ اِلَی الاَعرضِ سَادَّا عِظَم خَلقِہٖ مَا بَینَ السَّمَآءِ وَ اَلاَرضِ ، اَخرجاہ فی الصَّحیحین من حدیث الشعبی ۔ (ابن کثیر)

Masruq reports from Sha` bi (رح) : Masruq ؓ said: "One day I was sitting with Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ and I asked her, 'Did not Allah say وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ بِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَ‌ىٰ ‘And indeed he saw him in the clear horizon' and 'Indeed he saw him another time' she replied: 'I was the first among the Ummah to ask the Holy Prophet ﷺ about it.' He said: 'That was Jibra'il. He only saw him twice in his actual and real figure. He saw Jibra'il descend from heaven to earth, and he was so huge that he covered the entire horizon between the sky and the earth." (Ibn-Kathir)

The wordings of this narration in Sahih of Muslim are almost the same as recorded above. Hafiz Ibn Hajar, in the chapter of Tafsir of Fath-ul-Bari, has narrated this tradition on the authority of Ibn Marduwaih in the following words:

اَنَا اَوَّلُ مَن سَاَلَ رَسُول اللہِ ﷺ عَن ھٰذَا، فَقُلتُ : یا رَسُول اللہِ ھل رَاَیتَ رَبَّکَ ؟ فَقَالَ : اِنَّمَا رَاَیتُ جِبرَیِٔلَ مُنھَبِطاً ۔ “ (فتح الباری، ص 393 ج 7)

Siddiqah ` A'ishah ؓ says: "I asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ about It, and I said, 'Did you see your Lord?' He replied, 'No: I saw Jibra'il descending." (Fath-ul-Bari vol, 8/p, 493)

Sahih of Bukhari records that Shaibani asked Sayyidna Zirr about the meaning of the verses فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَىٰ فَأَوْحَىٰ إِلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ مَا أَوْحَىٰ (so as he was at a distance between two bows (joined together), rather even nearer. Thus He [ Allah ] revealed to His slave what He revealed - 53:9-10 He replied that ` Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ narrated to us that Muhammad ﷺ saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) having six hundred wings. Ibn Jarir, with his own chain of transmitters, reports that Sayyidna ` Abdullh Ibn Masud ؓ interpreting the verse 11: مَا كَذَبَ الْفُؤَادُ مَا رَ‌أَىٰ ("The heart did not err in what he saw" ) says that the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) clad in rafraf [ green ] garment filling the entire space between heaven and earth.

Ibn Kathir's Findings

Ibn Kathir has quoted all these narrations in his Tafsir and said that in all the above-quoted verses perception and proximity refer to seeing and being close to Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) . From among the noble Companions ؓ ، this is the view of the Mother of the Faithful Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ and of Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn Masud, Abu Dharr Ghifari, Abu Hurairah ؓ and others. This is why Ibn Kathir says:

Vision and proximity in these verses refer to seeing and being close to Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) when the Holy Prophet ﷺ had seen him for the first time in his original shape. Then he saw him for the second time on the night of Mi` raj near Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (Lote-tree of the Uppermost Boundary). He saw him the first time at the very beginning of his Prophethood when Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) descended with the very first installment of revelation, and delivered to him Surah Iqra'. After that, there was an interval which caused terrible grief and [ spiritual ] depression. As a result, time and again, the thought crossed his mind that he should go to the top of the mountain and fall from there and give his life away. Whenever such a situation arose, Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) called out to him invisibly from the air: '0 Muhammad! You are Allah's Messenger; you are true; and I am Jibra'il.' The voice would calm his heart, and recompose it. Whenever such a thought crossed his mind, Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) would comfort him by his voice. But the comforting and consoling were always invisible.

One day Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) was in an open field at Batha' in his original shape with six hundred wings which had covered the entire horizon. Then Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) came close to Allah's Messenger ﷺ ، and delivered the Divine revelation to him. On that occasion, the reality of the greatness of Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) and his majestic value in the sight of Allah became manifest to Allah's Messenger".

In short, Imam Ibn Kathir himself, on the basis of the statement of the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself and the views of the blessed Companions ؓ ، preferred this interpretation of the above verses of Surah An-Najm, that is, it refers to seeing Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) and being close to him. This was the Holy Prophet's ﷺ first experience of seeing Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) in this world on the horizon of Makkah. Some of the versions narrate that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw him in his actual and real shape for the first time, he became unconscious. Then Jibra'il علیہ السلام came very close to him in the shape of a human being [ and he regained consciousness ].

The second incident of Holy Prophet's ﷺ seeing Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) is mentioned in Verse 13 and 14 of this Surah in the following words: وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَ‌ىٰ ﴿13﴾ عِندَ سِدْرَ‌ةِ الْمُنتَهَىٰ (And indeed he saw him another time [ 13] by sidrat-ul-muntaha (the lote-tree in the upper realm), [ 14] ". This verse mentions that the Holy Prophet ﷺ saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) for the second time, and this happened on the Night of Ascension (Mi` raj). On the basis of reasons stated above, the commentators generally adopt this interpretation. Ibn Kathir's arguments have just been put forward. Qurtubi, Abu Hayyan, Imam Razi and others normally prefer this interpretation. My mentor Maulana Ashraf Ali (رح) has also preferred this interpretation, the summary of which is that the earlier verses of Surah An-Najm which makes mention of ru'yah (seeing) does not refer to having a Vision of Allah, but of Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) . Nawawi, in his commentary on Muslim, and Hafiz in Fath-ul-Bari also have preferred this interpretation.

ذُو مِرَّ‌ةٍ فَاسْتَوَىٰ وَهُوَ بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ (one of vigour. So he stood poised, while he was on the upper horizon...53:6-7] The word mirrah means 'strength' or 'vigour'. This is another quality of Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) in that he is no weakling, but strong, mighty in power and firm, so that it may not be suspected that the devil may intercept the angel carrying the Divine revelation and snatch it away from him. Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) is so mighty in power and strength that the devil dare not come anywhere near him. The word اِسْتَوَىٰ istawa means to be or become straight or to level. The verse means that when he saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) the first time, the latter was descending from the heaven. Having descended, he sat or settled straight on the highest part of the horizon. Ufuq [ horizon ] is qualified by a'la [ the highest part or uppermost ] and it signifies that Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) was shown on the uppermost horizon, [ so that he could be seen clearly ] because the lower part of the horizon which seems to be adjacent to the earth is normally hidden from the sight [ as a result he would not have been visible to the Holy Prophet ﷺ .