ROOT ظ ل ل

7:161.

7:161; 20:81.

Important Words:

من (Manna). The infinitive من signifies bestowing favour on or doing good to. They say من علیه i.e. he bestowed a favour on him without his labouring for it. من means: (1) a favour; (2) anything obtained without trouble or difficulty; (3) honey-dew (Aqrab).

سلوی (Salwa) is derived from سلا. They say سلا عن الشیء i.e. he was satisfied with it سلاه عن الشیء means, he satisfied him with it; he removed his grief and worry through it. سلوی is (1) a whitish bird resembling a quail and found in some parts of Arabia and the neighbouring countries. It also means, (2) whatever renders a person contented and happy; (3) honey (Aqrab).

Commentary:

As the Israelites were camping in hot and open country, God speaks of the clouds having been sent to give them shade. We learn from Exod. 40:34-38, that clouds spread and shaded the spot where the Israelites encamped, and that they dispersed on the day when it was time for them to resume their journey. But the verse under comment shows that the clouds meant not only shadow but also rainfall because, firstly, it is rain-clouds that are generally dark and dense; and, secondly, along with the "clouds," the Quran also mentions two eatables, Manna and Salwa, which served as complement to the favour mentioned in the shadowing clouds. In fact, there was scarcity of both water and food in that arid country, and God used to quench their thirst by sending clouds, and satisfy their hunger by providing Manna and Salwa. And, no wonder, for God shows special favours to His servants in order to remove their difficulties and promote their comfort.

The sending down of Manna and Salwa has been mentioned in Exod. 16:11-15, where we read: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat."

When the children of Israel got no food in the wilderness and death stared them in the face, they began to murmur against Moses and Aaron. They said to them: "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (Exod. 16:3). These murmurings of the Israelites were answered in the passage quoted above.

The Holy Prophet refers to the Manna bestowed on the Israelites in the following, hadith. Says he: "The mushroom is one of the things included in the Manna, and the sap of it heals the eye" (Bukhari). He is also reported to have said: "The mushroom is among the things which God bestowed upon Moses, as a free gift" (Muhit). This shows that God provided the Israelites with a number of things in the wilderness, sometimes with one thing and sometimes with another.

The verse does not mention how the Israelites "wronged themselves". But as God speaks here of the favours bestowed upon them, it is evident that they wronged themselves by showing ingratitude and by murmuring and complaining of their lot in spite of God’s special favours. By doing so, however, they did no harm to God or His Messenger, but only harmed their own souls.

8:52; 41:47; 50:30.

Commentary:

The expression, Allah is not at all unjust to His servants, falsifies the inference to which the statement of the disbelievers mentioned in the previous verse gives rise. They seem to say that if Islam had been true, God Himself would have helped it and would not have asked others to help it with their money. To this objection the answer is given that if the Prophet is an impostor and yet God is helping him to thrive and prosper, it means that God is doing a great wrong to the people by granting respite to an impostor and by allowing the people to be led astray by helping a wrong cause. But as God cannot be unjust, so the cause of Islam must be, and is, a right cause.

5:13.

2:61.

2:58; 20:81.

Commentary:

See notes on 2:58 & 61.

The words, And they wronged Us not, mean that they did not harm the cause of the religion revealed by God

2:64.

Important Words:

نتقنا (We shook) is formed from نتق. They say نتقه i.e. (1) he shook it; (2) he raised it; or (3) he spread it. An Arab would say نتق الله فوقھم الجبل i.e. God raised the mountain shaking above them (Aqrab).

ظلة (covering). See 2:211.

Commentary:

Owing to the violent shaking, the Mount looked like being suspended over the heads of the Israelites as though it were a covering. See also 2:64, 94 & 4:155.

3:183; 22:11; 41:47.

Commentary:

This verse further explains and provides a reason for the idea expressed in the preceding verse.

Important Words:

ظلال (shadows) is the plural of both ظل (zill) and ظلة (zullah), which are derived from ظل (zalla). They say ظل الیوم i.e. the day became shady. ظل الشیء means, the thing became long or extended. ظلله means, he shaded him. اظله means, it cast its shade upon him; or he took him into his shelter or protection. ظل means, the light of the sun without the rays; shade; blackness of the night; an apparition or phantom or a thing that one sees like a shadow; a covering; might or power of resistance protection or shelter; person or corporeal form or figure which one sees from a distance. The Arabs say السلطان ظل الله فی الارض i.e. the sovereign is God’s means of protection or defence (or His representative) in the earth. In hadith we read الکافر یسجد لغیر الله و ظله یسجد لله ای جسمه i.e. an infidel prostrates himself before deities other than God but his ظل viz. his body, prostrates itself before God (meaning that his body is subject to divine law). ظلة means, anything that shades or covers or protects one (Lane & Bihar).

الغدو (mornings) is the plural of غدوة meaning, morning or early part of the forenoon (Lane).

الآصال (evenings) is the plural of اصیل which means, evening; time from the عصر (late afternoon) Prayer to sunset. The word also means, having root or foundation; rooted, fixed, stable or permanent; having lineage or pedigree (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse embodies a great truth. It says that all creation whether in the heavens or on the earth obeys or is bound to obey God-made laws of nature, willingly or unwillingly. The tongue must perform the function of tasting and the ear the function of hearing. This obedience to the laws of nature may be called compulsory. But then man is also given a certain freedom of action where he can use his volition and discretion. A hungry man chooses to eat to satisfy his hunger; another man goes about sight-seeing. Both these persons are free in what they do; but even in actions in which they appear to have been granted freedom, they are subject to a certain amount of compulsion, because they must obey God’s laws in whatever they do, willingly or unwillingly. It is to this point that the verse refers.

Figuratively, the verse also hints at the subtle ways in which God was helping the Holy Prophet. Certain things happened over which the disbelievers had no control but which were meant to help the cause of Islam. The Fall of Mecca, for example, helped to subjugate the whole of Arabia to the Holy Prophet, but the disbelievers could not prevent it. On the other hand, the terms of the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah were dictated by the disbelievers. They thought that these terms would bring disgrace to Muslims and that the cause of Islam would thereby suffer. But the treaty proved a blessing in disguise for the Muslims. Similarly, the Meccans forced the Holy Prophet to flee from Mecca and rejoiced to think that they had succeeded in driving Islam out of its Centre, but by doing so they dug their own grave and laid the foundation of the future prosperity and progress of Islam.

The words, willingly or unwillingly, may also refer to two classes of men, viz. believers who give willing submission to God and disbelievers who have to obey His laws and do it grudgingly.

Of the various meanings of ظلال given under Important Words, the word "shade" does not obviously apply here because shade, being the absence of light, is a negative thing which cannot be spoken of as submitting to God. But ظلwhich is the singular of ظلال also means, the body or corporeal substance of a thing. In this sense the verse would mean that the bodies of all things are subject to the laws of nature. Even the bodies of disbelievers have perforce to submit to God, though their hearts may rebel against Him. The word ظل also means, figuratively, the representative or follower of a thing or person. In this sense the verse would mean that not only all living things but also their followers and representatives obey the laws of God. Again as ظلال is also the plural of ظلة which means that which covers or shades or protects, the word would also signify "leaders or rulers of the people." Combining all these different senses of the word, the verse would therefore mean that the entire creation as well as leaders of men and their followers are all subject to the laws of God. What is hinted at is that disbelievers should beware of opposing the Holy Prophet because opposition to him means defiance of the whole of creation and of the very laws of nature, which is not possible to do. This interpretation of the verse is supported by 13:42.

By using the words, in the mornings and the evenings, which are the two times when the shadows of things are longest, the verse emphasizes that, however vast the power of disbelievers may grow, they cannot succeed against the Holy Prophet.

2:26; 4:58; 47:16.

Commentary:

The idea underlying the word جنة generally rendered as Heaven but literally meaning garden, is not that of a land covered with trees, but of the trees themselves that give shade and cover the land. Thus the sentence تجری من تحت الانھار (through it flow streams) means that streams will flow under the trees of the gardens. This is intended to point not only to the proximity of water but also to the fact that the inmates of Heaven will be the owners and masters of the streams referred to. The word نھر (stream) properly signifies "water running with ease and unrestrictedly," which points to the unhampered and unimpeded progress of believers in Heaven. The word نھر (stream) also symbolizes the vastness of the works of believers, for it is only to water vast areas and not a few acres of land that streams or canals are constructed. Thus the word نھر (stream) implies the fact that the works of believers are and should be wide in their range and the scope of their vision unrestricted. It should be remembered that in the description of Paradise, trees stand for believers’ faith while streams symbolize their works. Just as trees without water become withered and dry, similarly, faith unaccompanied by good works is a dead formality.

The plural form انھار (streams) has been used in order to point to the fact that believers’ good works are of diverse kinds and versatile nature. This is why they will take the form of not one stream but of many. There will be a particular channel of running water representing a corresponding good work of man, reminding the inmates of Heaven that the different streams of Heaven represent their own many good works.

The words, its fruit is everlasting and so is its shade, signify that the fruits of Heaven will see no autumn, no season of decay, nor even of dormancy. Thus there will be no interruption in the boons and blessings of Paradise. "Fruit" and "shade" stand respectively for inward and outward blessings and imply that believers will enjoy all kinds of blessings in Heaven, both external and internal.

The words, the reward of the disbelievers is Fire, mean that as disbelievers paid no heed to their spiritual or moral welfare and only copied and imitated others and lived, as it were, not for themselves but for others, so they will have fire for their reward, which benefits others but burns itself.

Commentary:

See note on the succeeding verse.

Commentary:

In this verse disbelievers are told to consider and reflect that everything is subject to decline. Nations rise and fall. Flourishing cities and prosperous towns fall into ruin. Governments change and powerful countries fall victim to decay and decline. The poor become rich and the wealthy are reduced to poverty. So does the shadow of everything after reaching a certain stage become contracted, signifying that its power, influence and glory are about to depart and that it is about to be reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. When such is the eternal law of nature, why then do the disbelievers not take a lesson from this natural phenomenon and realize that their shadow is decreasing and why do they not give up conceit and pride and accept the Prophet of God?

In the preceding verses reference was made to the various forms of Divine punishment. In this verse, however, disbelievers are told to think and ponder why their power is declining and that of the Holy Prophet increasing. Nothing in this world can go against the will of the Creator. Natural objects have long shadows when the sun is at their backs. From this natural phenomenon it is easily understandable that the shadows of those who have God at their back must also become long, hinting that their power and influence must grow. But just as shadows have no independent existence of their own and depend on the sun for their increase or decrease, similarly success and prosperity depend only on the sun of the grace of God. When God withdraws His grace from a people, their progress and prosperity depart. Disbelievers are warned that punishments mentioned above will result in the complete obliteration of their shadows while the shadow of the Holy Prophet will continue to expand and lengthen until it will spread and reach to Mecca. Such is the eternal law of God which is embodied in the present verse and which they have been invited to study and profit by.

It may be objected that it is to the East or to the West that shadows are shifted and not to the right or to the left as mentioned in this verse. The reason for this description lies in the fact that it is with reference to the Holy Prophet and the Meccans that the directions have been mentioned in this verse. In fact, the verse implies a reference to the Hijrah. The Prophet was to go to Medina, which lies in the North, and the Meccans were in Mecca, which is in the South. If a person standing at a place where the boundaries of Mecca and Medina meet should face the East, Mecca will be on his right and Medina on his left. 'The right', thus refers to Mecca and 'the left' to Medina. The use of the word الیمین (the right) in the singular and الشمائل (the left) in the plural signifies that the shadow of disbelievers, being limited, will decline and decrease and the Holy Prophet who will migrate to a town situated to the left will have many shadows i.e. his cause will advance and progress from many sides.

43:18.