Keep Working-Deen Workers!!

(15-42,Shura-Surah Ash)

﴿فَلِذَلِكَ فَادْعُ وَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَآ أُمِرْتَ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ وَقُلْ ءَامَنتُ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ مِن كِتَـبٍ وَأُمِرْتُ لاًّعْدِلَ بَيْنَكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ لَنَآ أَعْمَـلُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَـلُكُمْ لاَ حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ اللَّهُ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ﴾

(15. So unto this then invite (people), and stand firm as you are commanded, and follow not their desires but say: “I believe in whatsoever Allah has sent down of the Book and I am commanded to do justice among you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. For us our deeds and for you your deeds. There is no dispute between us and you. Allah will assemble us (all), and to Him is the final return.”)

They (the scholars) said that there is nothing else like it in the Qur’an, apart from Ayat Al-Kursi ﴿2:255﴾, which also includes ten ideas.

﴿فَلِذَلِكَ فَادْعُ﴾

(So unto this then invite (people),) means, `so call people to this which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined upon all the Prophets before you,’ the Prophets of major ways ﴿of Shari`ah﴾ that were followed, such as the Messengers of strong will, and others.

﴿وَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَآ أُمِرْتَ﴾

(and stand firm as you are commanded, ) means, `adhere firmly, you and those who follow you, to the worship of Allah as He has commanded you.’

﴿وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ﴾

(and follow not their desires) means, the desires of the idolators, in the falsehoods that they have invented and fabricated by worshipping idols.

﴿وَقُلْ ءَامَنتُ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ مِن كِتَـبٍ﴾

(but say: “I believe in whatsoever Allah has sent down of the Book…”) means, `I believe in all the Books that have been revealed from heaven to the Prophets; we do not differentiate between any of them.’

﴿وَأُمِرْتُ لاًّعْدِلَ بَيْنَكُمُ﴾

(and I am commanded to do justice among you.) means, when judging according to the commands of Allah.

﴿اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ﴾

(Allah is our Lord and your Lord.) means, `He is the One Who is to be worshipped, and there is no true God but He. We affirm this willingly, and even though you do not do so willingly, everyone in the universe prostrates to Him obediently and willingly.’

﴿لَنَآ أَعْمَـلُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَـلُكُمْ﴾

(For us our deeds and for you your deeds.) means, `we have nothing to do with you. ‘ This is like the Ayah:

﴿وَإِن كَذَّبُوكَ فَقُل لِّى عَمَلِى وَلَكُمْ عَمَلُكُمْ أَنتُمْ بَرِيئُونَ مِمَّآ أَعْمَلُ وَأَنَاْ بَرِىءٌ مِّمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ﴾

(And if they deny you, say: “For me are my deeds and for you are your deeds! You are innocent of what I do, and I am innocent of what you do!”) (10:41)

﴿لاَ حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ﴾

(There is no dispute between us and you.) Mujahid said, “This means, no argument.” As-Suddi said, “This was before Ayah of the sword was revealed.” This fits the context, because this Ayah was revealed in Makkah, and Ayah (22:39-40) was revealed after the Hijrah.

﴿اللَّهُ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا﴾

(Allah will assemble us (all),) means, on the Day of Resurrection. This is like the Ayah:

﴿قُلْ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا رَبُّنَا ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ بَيْنَنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَهُوَ الْفَتَّاحُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴾

(Say: “Our Lord will assemble us all together, then He will judge between us with truth. And He is the Just Judge, the All-Knower of the true state of affairs.”) (34:26).

﴿وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ﴾

(and to Him is the final return.) means, the final return on the Day of Reckoning.

 

SOURCE: Tafsir Ibn Kathir

THE STORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE DITCH

This story is mentioned in the beginning of Surah Al-Burooj and it is one of the most wonderful stories that you’ll ever read.

Suhaib reported that Allah’s Messenger (salallahu alaihi wasallam) thus said:

There lived a king before you and he had a (court) magician. As he (the magician) grew old, he said to the king: I have grown old, send some young boy to me so that I should teach him magic. He (the king) sent to him a young man so that he should train him (in magic). And on his way (to the magician) he (the young man) found a monk sitting there.

He (the young man) listened to his (the monk’s) talk and was impressed by it. It became his habit that on his way to the magician he met the monk and set there and he came to the magician (late). He (the magician) beat him because of delay. He made a complaint of that to the monk and he said to him: When you feel afraid of the magician, say: Members of my family had detained me. And when you feel afraid of your family you should say: The magician had detained me.

It so happened that there came a huge beast (of prey) and it blocked the way of the people, and he (the young boy) said: I will come to know today whether the magician is superior or the monk is superior. He picked up a stone and said: O Allah, if the affair of the monk is dearer to Thee than the affair of the magician, cause death to this animal so that the people should be able to move about freely.

He threw that stone towards it and killed it and the people began to move about (on the path freely). He (the young man) then came to that monk and informed him and the monk said: Son, today you are superior to me. Your affair has come to a stage where I find that you would be soon put to a trial, and in case you are put to a trial don’t give my clue.

That young man began to treat the blind and those suffering from leprosy and he in fact began to cure people from (all kinds) of illness. When a companion of the king who had gone blind heard about him, he came to him with numerous gifts and said: If you cure me all these things collected together here would be yours. He said: I myself do not cure anyone. It is Allah Who cures and if you affirm faith in Allah, I shall also supplicate Allah to cure you.

He affirmed his faith in Allah and Allah cured him and he came to the king and sat by his side as he used to sit before. The king said to him: Who restored your eyesight? He said: My Lord. Thereupon he said: It means that your Lord is One besides me. He said: My Lord and your Lord is Allah, so he (the king) took hold of him and tormented him till he gave a clue of that boy. The young man was thus summoned and the king said to him: O boy, it has been conveyed to me that you have become so much proficient in your magic that you cure the blind and those suffering from leprosy and you do such and such things. Thereupon he said: I do not cure anyone; it is Allah Who cures, and he (the king) took hold of him and began to torment him. So he gave a clue of the monk.

The monk was thus summoned and it was said to him: You should turn back from your religion. He, however, refused to do so. He (ordered) for a saw to be brought (and when it was done) he (the king) placed it in the middle of his head and tore it into parts until a part fell down. Then the courtier of the king was brought and it was said to him: Turn back from your religion. And he refused to do so, and the saw was placed in the midst of his head and it was torn until a part fell down.

Then that young boy was brought and it was said to him: Turn back from your religion. He refused to do so and he was handed over to a group of his courtiers. And he said to them: Take him to such and such mountain; make him climb up that mountain and when you reach its top (ask him to renounce his faith) but if he refuses to do so, then throw him (down the mountain).

So they took him and made him climb up the mountain and he said: ‘O Allah, save me from them (in any way) Thou likest’ and the mountain began to quake and they all fell down and that person came walking to the king. The king said to him: ‘What has happened to your companions?’ He said: ‘Allah has saved me from them’. He again handed him to some of his courtiers and said: ‘Take him and carry him in a small boat and when you reach the middle of the ocean (ask him to renounce) his religion, but if he does not renounce his religion throw him (into the water).’

So they took him and he said: ‘O Allah, save me from them and what they want to do.’ It was quite soon that the boat turned over and they were drowned and he came walking to the king, and the king said to him: ‘What has happened to your companions?’ He said: ‘Allah has saved me from them’, and he said to the king: ‘You cannot kill me until you do what I ask you to do. ‘And he said: ‘What is that?’ He said: ‘You should gather people in a plain and hang me by the trunk (of a tree).

Then take hold of an arrow from the quiver and say: In the name of Allah, the Lord of the worlds; then shoot an arrow and if you do that then you would be able to kill me.’ So he (the king) called the people in an open plain and tied him (the boy) to the trunk of a tree, then he took hold of an arrow from his quiver and then placed the arrow in the bow and then said: In the name of Allah, the Lord of the young boy; he then shot an arrow and it bit his temple.

He (the boy) placed his hands upon the temple where the arrow had bit him and he died and the people said: We affirm our faith in the Lord of this young man, we affirm our faith in the Lord of this young man, we affirm our faith in the Lord of this young man. The courtiers came to the king and it was said to him: Do you see that Allah has actually done what you aimed at averting. They (the people) have affirmed their faith in the Lord.

He (the king) commanded ditches to be dug at important points in the path. When these ditches were dug, and the fire was lit in them it was said (to the people): He who would not turn back from his (boy’s) religion would be thrown in the fire or it would be said to them to jump in that. (The people courted death but did not renounce religion) until a woman came with her child and she felt hesitant in jumping into the fire and the child said to her: 0 mother, endure (this ordeal) for it is the truth.” 

[Saheeh Muslim, Hadeeth No. 7148]

The Story in the Quran:

By the heaven, holding the big stars.

And by the Promised Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection);

And by the witnessing day (i.e. Friday), and by the witnessed day [i.e. the day of ‘Arafat (Hajj) the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah];

Cursed were the people of the ditch (the story of the Boy and the King).

Fire supplied (abundantly) with fuel,

When they sat by it (fire),

And they witnessed what they were doing against the believers (i.e. burning them).

They had nothing against them, except that they believed in Allah, the All-Mighty, Worthy of all Praise!

Who, to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is Witness over everything.

Verily, those who put into trial the believing men and believing women (by torturing them and burning them), and then do not turn in repentance, (to Allah), will have the torment of Hell, and they will have the punishment of the burning Fire.

Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds will have gardens beneath which rivers flow. That is the great attainment.

(Surah Al-Buruj 85:1-11)