Surah Ar-Rahman Part 6

In the Name of God the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace

Part 6

خلق النسان من صلصال كالفخار 

و خلق الجان من مار جمن نار

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

رب المشرقين و رب المغربين

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

He created Man from clay like the pottery
And He created Jinn from flame of fire
Which of the favours of Your Lord will you deny?
Lord of the two sunrises and the two sunsets.
Which of the favours of Your Lord will you deny?

Remember in Part 1, I asked the question of who did God teach the Qur'an to other than Man?  Also in the refrain فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن, it is addressed to you in the dual sense (the Lord of you both).  Well, here the mystery is solved when God describes the creation of Man and Jinn.

After the beautiful verses describing the Earth and the Universe, the lens shifts to the creation of the two beings highlighted in this Surah.  These are the two amongst all of God's creation with free will, i.e. they are given the freedom of choice whether to obey or not to obey.  Here God is reminding us and the Jinns of our creations; that we come from 'humble' beginnings.

If in the third verse of this Surah, God said He created Man and taught him al-Bayan (speech/ language/ communication), this verse continues by saying we were created from basically the humble clay which when dry become like fragile pottery and when broken, is basically useless.  So however great we think we are, with all the education, sophistication, powerful and persuasive communication, we are basically being told - remember your humble beginning and that Time is ticking.  Sooner than you think, you will be like that broken pottery.  While we may not know much about the Jinns' creation, I would hazard a guess that there is a similar reminder for them too.

How does this tie back to the rest of theme of this Surah, i.e. that we cannot deny His favours and that it is part of His mercy?  

My late mother used to worry about me being a bit arrogant and proud.  Her deathbed advice to me is "Be humble."  Humility is a virtue that is difficult to maintain the higher up you go and the more you are successful.  You start to think that all the accolades, the success, the things that you own, the respect people give to you as your due.  That you are entitled to them.  You start to forget your origin - you lose sight of yourself, instead you create a construct/image of yourself that does not reflect the reality.

Be humble, have humility - God's reminder of our humble beginnings is exactly the force we need to knock down that construct and take a serious look at ourselves before time runs out.  A reminder from Ar-Rahman because He does not want us to fool ourselves into thinking we are going to get A+ when the results are revealed when we are actually failing miserably.

After that reality check, He then reminds us of His dominion over the two Easts (points of sunrise) and two Wests (points of sunset).  There are many other places where God states that to Him belongs the East and the West.  But I believe that this is the only verse mentioning about two Easts and Wests.  Scholars have slightly varying interpretations but the general consensus is that wherever you turn and look across the horizon, there is God. (In fact there is a verse in Surah al-Baqarah that mentions this very idea by linking the directions with the Face of God.)

What is quite interesting is His choice in describing Himself as Rabb, which means Sustainer.  It implies that the points of rising and setting of the sun (and the moon) are being maintained by Him.  It implies power and at the same time mercy.

Juxtapose that with the reminder of our humble beginnings and the universe that He described earlier, we see a clearer picture of ourselves in relation to everything else.  If that is not a favour, then there is nothing left to say.

Surah Ar-Rahman: Part 9

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispense of Grace

Part 9

يسءله من فى السموت و الارض كل يوم هو فى شان

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

سنفرغلكم آيه الثقلن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

بمعسكر الجن و الانس ان استطعتم ان تنفذوا من أقطار السموت و الارض فانفذوا لا تنفذون الا بسلطن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

يرسل عليكم شواظ من نار و نحاس فلا تنتصرن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

Asks Him whoever is in the skies/heavens and the earth.  Everyday, He is in (attending to) a matter.
Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

Soon We will attend to you (all), oh you two classes

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

O assembly of Jinns and Man, if you are able to pass beyond the realms of the skies/heaven and the earth, then pass.  You cannot pass it except with authority.

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

Will be sent against you (all) a flame of fire and smoke, but you will not be able to defend yourselves.

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

In Part 8, we talked about our dependencies on God.  Here God explicit states it - Nouman Ali Khan mentioned that يسءله does not just mean 'Asks Him' but also connotes dependency.  That everything depends on Him, in whichever realm there is.  Nouman Ali Khan also commented that شان denotes a matter to which only the person can do.  So not only is everything dependent on Him and asks Him (for which He answers the call of those who asks), but He is also busy attending to matters that only He has the capability of doing every single day.  Like maintaining the sun, moon, stars.  Like growing the fruits and vegetation.  Like letting the oceans meet and maintaining the barriers.  Like creating human beings and Jinns anew (each day there are so many being birthed).  Like keeping the ships afloat.  In our little minds, we think that God can't possibly be paying attention to us if He is so busy.  But then God says "Soon We will attend to you..." implying that He has been paying attention after all.  When the Hour is here, He will free Himself and attend to us and the Jinn.  

The next verse is where the explanations of some contemporary commentators were not quite convincing.  They said it predicted that men could only get out of Earth's atmosphere with power because they translated the word Sultan as power.

In actuality, if we consider the narative of the whole Surah, this verse is meant to be sarcastic.  With the Hour now here and God has "freed" Himself, where can either Jinns or men really run to escape.  Especially with fires raining down from above and hitting the ground.  On this day, will we still be denying God's favours all this while (which included the temporary respite He gave us)?  Should we not be grateful for this reminder while we are still in the respite phase?

Surah Ar-Rahman Part 10

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace

Part 10

فإذا انشقت السماء فكانت وردة كالدهان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

فيومءذ لا يسءل عن ذنبه انس و لا جان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

يعرف المجرمون بسيماهم فيؤخذ يالنواصىو الأقدام

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

هذه جهنم التى يكذب بها المجرمون

يطوفون بينها و بين حميم ان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

So when the sky is rent asunder and it become red like (burning) oil.

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

Then neither man nor jinn will be asked about his sins

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

The sinners (criminals) will be known by their marks and seized by the forelock and the feet

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

This is Hell that the sinners (criminals) denied

They will go around between it and the burning water.

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

This is a very graphic scene about the Day of Judgement and Hell painted by Ar-Rahman.  Questions some would ask:
1.  Why did God describe such a horrible picture and still describe Himself as Ar-Rahman and also calls it a favour?
2.  Why would God create Hell in the first place if He is so merciful?

Let's tackle the second question first - this was my question when I was young and adults (other than my parents) would always threaten me with Hell when I was naughty.  So, in my childhood, I never really connected God with Mercy or Grace.  Today, there are many childhood me out there, I am sure - some are even adults.  

I think I had the wrong concept of mercy/love at the time.  I thought that a God that love would/could not punish.  But that would violate another important aspect of God, that of justice.  Let's not even go on to the topic of God - let's just look at the dynamics of a parent and a child.  No one can ever say that a (normal) mother never love her child - she would literally give up her life for her child.  But when the child misbehave, does she not punish to administer discipline?  All for the benefit of the child - basically, if the child has no discipline, he will be spoilt.  Thus on this Earth too, do we find that God teaches us discipline through various tests and hardships.

But there will always be those who refuse to learn and continue to violate the laws of God.  I am reminded of this old Malay film "Anakku Sazali" where a man spoilt his child so much that the child grew up to be a criminal and the law caught up with him.  When a criminal breaks the law, we expect justice to be served but quite often, criminals escape justice here on earth and quite often the wrong people get punished.  In order to maintain balance (mizan) and establish justice (qist) when we failed to do so, the Day of Judgement is established.  Did we and the Jinns think we were going to escape (in the previous post) God's justice and accounting?  

Unfortunately for the criminals (those who wronged themselves and others), there is no escape from the balance of God's justice.  The Hour comes when the sky is rent asunder.  In that Hour, even before the accounting starts, we already know what each of us has sent forth.  And that is why God said there will be no questions to be asked of our sins - guilt will be evident on our faces.

Nouman Ali Khan said that the line about seized by the forelock and the feet was to remind the people at the time of how they used to roast animals - tying the head and the feet to a pole which is turned over the fire pit.  It is definitely graphic but that, I believe, is exactly why it is able to convey the message effectively.  The message that if we continue to deny God's favours and therefore are ungrateful and turn away from Him, and are not willing to establish the balance and justice, then this is going to our fate.  

He then reinforces the message by describing Hell - "This" emphasise the nearness of it and its reality - a reality which criminals deny, not wanting to face the fact that there is no escape from the divine justice.  But not only is the criminal threatened with Hell but that he will move from the fire of Hell to the boiling hot water and back - running back and forth trying to escape from one to the other as these are their only two choices.  

Hell, to some scholars, is not a permanent place because of some verses in the Qur'an seem to indicate that.  But it is still a reality.  Because as much as God's mercy, God's justice has to be established as who else can stand up for those whose voices cannot be heard and whose very souls would otherwise go unacknowledged.  Without justice, mercy has no meaning.

That comes back to the first question of why did God describe such graphic scenes and call it a favour?  Precisely because of its shock factor, most of us will recoil and step back to ponder whether we really want to continue in our denials and persist in our wrongdoings.  It helps deter those of us who are willing to accept its message from going down the path to destruction.

May we be amongst those who stop in their tracks and turn back towards God.