Quran-.org

Surah Al-Baqarah Part I (Ayahs 1-75)

By Abdur Raheem As-Saranbi

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For an introduction to our and for a discussion of the Basmallah, which is the first ayah of this , please see our tafsir of Surah Fatihah, which is also on -Tafsir.org

2. Alif. Lam. Meem.

In this ayah Allah (swt) only says three letters of the Arabic language. These letters which begin some of the of the Quran are known as Huruf muqatt‘at. No one knows their true meaning except Allah (swt). For our part we simply have to believe that they are from Allah

(swt) and so we accept that they are a part of the Quran. It is not right for us to question their purpose if Allah (swt) did not reveal their purpose. Allah (swt) has told us in Surah Al-Imran that there are certain ayahs in the Quran that are known as Mutashabiyat ayahs, these are ayahs whose true meaning is only known to Allah (swt). Since our knowledge is very limited and since

Allah (swt) has not told us about these ayahs we should not delve into their meaning. Part of our submission to Allah (swt) is for us to recognize the limits of our knowledge and the limits of our intellect and to not question or think into those issues that we do not know about. So the safest position concerning these ayahs is to say they are from Allah (swt) and their meaning is Known

Only to Allah (swt).

Some scholars have said that even though we do not know the meaning of these letters, we do know their purpose. They say that that the purpose of these letters is to remind the Arabs and in fact all mankind that this Quran is in the Arabic language. In other Surahs of the Quran, for example in Surah Yusuf, Allah (swt) explicitly mentions that this is an Arabic Quran. The

2 scholars say that these letters serve the same purpose as those ayahs, that is to remind the people that this Quran has not been revealed in some ancient or alien language but it has been revealed in pure Arabic. The reason why Allah (swt) reminds the people that this is an Arabic

Quran will become clear in ayah 24. That is the ayah where Allah (swt) challenges all of mankind to produce even one Surah like the Surahs in Quran. Allah (swt) challenges all of mankind and tells them that if they had any doubt whatsoever that this Quran was from Him (swt), then they only had to produce one small Surah like the Surahs the Quran contains. So with these letters

Allah (swt) is reminding the people of this challenge and telling them that this Quran is in a language that they know. If it is really from the mind of a human being then why are they unable to reproduce it? Why can they even not produce one small Surah? Thus we see that by placing these Arabic letters at the beginning of these Surahs Allah (swt) reminds us that this is an Arabic

Quran. Allah (swt) also reminds us that it could only have come from Him (swt) because no one can face the challenge of the Quran and produce a Surah similar to it. Allah (swt) Knows best!

Mawdudi tells us in his tafsir of this ayah how it was common practice at the time of the

Prophet (saw) for poets and orators to begin their works with some letters from the Arabic language. So when the Quran was revealed no one questioned the purpose of these letters. Its usage was accepted by both the companions of the Prophet (saw) and the enemies of this

Message, both of whom were experts in the Arabic language. It was only later when the use of these letters in poetry and prose declined did some people question as to why Allah (swt) is beginning the Surahs of the Quran with these letters. Some people then started to give meanings to these letters that were not supported by any ayah of the Quran or hadith of the Prophet

(saw). For example in this ayah, they would say —Alif“ is for Allah (swt), —Lam“ is for Gibreel and

—Mim“ is for the name of the Prophet (saw). But there is no evidence for this whatsoever from the Quran or the Sunnah, so how can we accept it? If Allah (swt) did not tell us the meanings of these letters, then who are we to put a meaning of them?

So in conclusion concerning these letters we simply accept that they are from Allah (swt).

The general meaning that we can take from them is that they are a reminder to all people that

3 this Quran is in the Arabic language. This shows that the challenge of the Quran is open to all mankind because the Arabic language is still with us today. It is not an ancient or forgotten language. We also know that the use of these letters was something that was common at the time that the Quran was revealed and no one questioned their usage at that time. It was later that ignorant people started putting meanings for these letters because they could not explain their usage. We have to save ourselves from becoming like them. We have to save ourselves from speaking about the Quran or Sunnah without knowledge. So for our part we simply accept that they are from Allah (swt), and we do not question into their details. May Allah (swt) guide us to the knowledge that will benefit us and protect us from knowledge that will not benefit us!

May Allah (swt) guide us to the knowledge that will help us to better worship and serve

Him (swt) and save us from that knowledge that will distract us from that worship and servitude!

All that should matter is worshipping and serving Allah (swt) so that He (swt) gives us His (swt)‘s

Pleasure. Every piece of knowledge that we learn should help us to reach the goal of the

Pleasure of Allah (swt). If it does not, then we do not need it. May Allah (swt) guide us!

3. This is the Book in which there is no doubt. A guidance for the Muttaqoon.

This is the first ayah of the Surah that has a meaning that we can understand, so in many ways this really is the first ayah of the Surah. You can even say that this is the first ayah in the Quran. Why is this? It is because this is the first ayah that appears in the Quran after Surah

Fatihah. Remember how Surah Fatihah was a prayer for guidance. The Quran is the answer to that prayer and this is the first ayah in that answer. So ponder deeply on the meaning of this ayah and think to yourself as to why Allah (swt) would make this ayah as the first statement in

His (swt)‘s response to your prayer.

4 Allah (swt) begins this ayah by describing the Quran. There are two important attributes of the Quran that Allah (swt) tells us about in this ayah. The first is that this is a Book in which there is no doubt. The second is that it is guidance for the Muttaqoon. So in Surah Fatihah you were asking for guidance. In this ayah Allah (swt) is telling you that He (swt) has given you a

Book that has no doubt in it. Allah (swt) also tells us you that this Book is your guidance, but in order to get the guidance that is in this Book you have to be among the Muttaqoon. So in this

Book there is what will show you the purpose of your existence. But in order to receive it you must be among those who have Taqwa. You must be among those who always remember Allah

(swt) and who fear Him (swt).

Just a note about the way in which this ayah is read in Arabic. Ibn Kathir said that when we are reading this ayah, it is better to stop after the words —fi-hi“ rather than stopping after the word —rhayb“. In this way the guidance becomes an attribute of the Quran rather than the Quran simply containing guidance. In other words the Quran does not simply have guidance but it IS guidance itself. So Insha Allah when we read this ayah it is better to read it in this way.

So first Allah (swt) tells us that this Book has no doubt in it whatsoever. Everything in the

Quran is the Truth without even the smallest shred of doubt in it. When you want a Book to be a

Book that you will live by, a Book that will be the manual for your existence, then would you ever want there to be any doubt in such a book? That is why first of all Allah (swt) tells us that this is a Book of Truth, a Book with no falsehood in it whatsoever. Everything in the Quran must be part of our ”Aqeedah. Our ”Aqeedah is the belief that we have in our hearts concerning which have no doubt whatsoever, the scholars say that our ”Aqeedah is tied into our hearts like a strong knot.

Every single news or information that is presented in the Quran should be in our ”Aqeedah because everything in the Quran is certain with no doubt in it whatsoever. You should be as certain as to what is in the Quran as you are of your fingers that you see in front of you right now. This is what Allah (swt) means when He (swt) tells us that the Quran has no doubt in it whatsoever.

5 Then Allah (swt) describes the Quran as —guidance for the Muttaqoon“. The

Muttaqoon are those who always have Taqwa. To have Taqwa is to always remember Allah

(swt), it is to always remember that Allah (swt) Knows every single action that you do. This awareness that your Lord is watching you at this moment and that He (swt) will take you into account for everything that you say and do is what Taqwa is. It is a state of mind and it is those righteous actions that result from that state of mind. The people who are always remembering

Allah (swt), the ones who know that He (swt) will call them to account for everything that they do, they are the ones who will strive never to do anything that is displeasing to Him (swt). They are aware of the fact that their Lord is always watching them so they strive to avoid anything that is displeasing to Him (swt). They always strive to their utmost for Allah (swt) to perform the actions that He (swt) is pleased with, and they strive to their utmost to restrain themselves from the actions that He (swt) is displeased with. This is because they remember Allah (swt) and they are afraid of standing before Him (swt) and having to account for their actions. They are afraid of being called to account for their sins by Allah (swt). That is why they try their best to save themselves from sin. To save themselves from being disobedient to Allah (swt). They are the ones who have Taqwa. They are the ones who are the Muttaqoon.

For such people the Quran is guidance. For them the Quran is the answer to their prayer when they called out to Allah (swt). Recall the prayer that we made in Surah Fatihah to Allah

(swt) where we asked Him (swt) to guide us on how to worship and serve Him (swt). We asked

Him (swt) to guide us to Siratul Mustaqeem. The Path of those actions that He (swt) is pleased with. The Path of the prophets, the true, the martyrs and the righteous. The Path of those who have earned His (swt)‘s Pleasure and not the Path of those Who earn His (swt)‘s anger or of those who go astray. The Quran is a guide to the Path that leads to the Pleasure of Allah (swt) and His (swt)‘s Paradise. To walk on this Path is to do the actions that Allah (swt) is pleased with, and to stay away from the actions that He (swt) is displeased with. It is even to have the emotions and feelings that Allah (swt) likes and to remove from ourselves the emotions and feelings that Allah (swt) is displeased with. This is what the Quran shows us how to do and so

6 that is how it is guidance. A guidance to the purpose of our existence. A guidance to the Real and the True. Can you then imagine how important this Book is? May Allah (swt) allow all the sincere people in this Ummah benefit from this guidance that He (swt) has sent to us!

4. The ones who have Iman in the Ghayb, and establish the Salah, and from what we have given them they spend.

We saw in the previous ayah how Allah (swt) told us that the Quran was guidance for the Muttaqoon. We said that the Muttaqoon are the ones who are always aware of Allah (swt), and as a result of that awareness they always try to do what is pleasing to Him (swt). In this ayah Allah (swt) tells us what it is that is pleasing to Him (swt). This is what the Muttaqoon do that makes them eligible for the guidance that is in the Quran.

The first thing that the Muttaqoon do that earns the Pleasure of Allah (swt) is that they have Iman in the Ghayb. Linguistically the word Ghayb means anything that is hidden from the view of humans, anything that cannot be seen. But in this ayah Allah (swt) uses the word Ghayb to refer to everything in the unseen that He (swt) has told us about in the Quran. So the

Muttaqoon are those who believe in what the Quran tells them even if it is in the unseen. The

Quran gives us a lot of information that is from the Ghayb, it tells us about many things that we have not sensed at all. Examples of these are the Perfect Names of Allah (swt), descriptions of the Day of Judgment, descriptions of Paradise and Hellfire, and events of the previous prophets and the past nations. All of this is are things that we have never seen or heard of. For example you have never seen Paradise with your own eyes nor have you seen what happened when Musa

7 (as) went to Firaun, but you still believe in it even though it is in the unseen. So the first requirement that we have must fulfill to be worthy of this guidance is to have in Iman in everything that is in the Quran, even if it is in the unseen. When something is part of our

”Aqeedah then we have Iman in that thing. So to have Iman in what Allah (swt) tells us about in the Quran is to believe in it with utmost certainty. To believe in it without a shadow of doubt. As

”Ali (ra) once said —Even if I see the fire in front of me today, it would not increase my certainty in it“. The meaning of this statement is that ”Ali (ra) already believed in the Hellfire with utmost certainty that even if he (ra) saw it with his own eyes it would not increase his (ra)‘s belief in it.

So the first condition that we must fulfill to be eligible for the guidance of the Quran is to believe in all that it has with utmost certainty. If we find ourselves reading an ayah of Quran and we doubt what it is saying in any way then we have already removed ourselves from that group of people that is eligible for the guidance that is in the Quran. In fact, we have even removed ourselves from being Muslim because part of the requirements of our ”Aqeedah is that we believe in everything that the Quran says without the shadow of a doubt. May Allah (swt) save us from having doubts! May Allah (swt) allow all of us to always have that level of certainty of what He

(swt) has told us in the Quran!

All of the scholars agree that to have belief in what Allah (swt) revealed is a precondition to any of our actions. Before we do anything we must believe. There is nothing that is more important than belief, than Iman. Even the actions that we do for Allah (swt) must come from our belief in Him (swt) and from our belief in what He (swt) has told us through His Messenger

(saw). The reason why we do our actions must be because we are aware that Allah (swt) is observing us and that He (swt) will take us to account for what we do. If we simply do righteous actions because they feel good to us, or to please some other human beings then we cannot expect Allah (swt) to reward us for that action. Our actions must be based on our belief in Him

(swt). So we cannot underestimate how important it is for us to have the correct belief in Allah

(swt) and all that He (swt) has told us in the Quran.

8 The second condition that we must fulfill to be eligible for the guidance that is in the

Quran is that we establish Salah. Our prayer is the most important of all actions that we do for

Allah (swt). Of all the commands that were ever given to us from Allah (swt), Salah is the only

Law that Allah (swt) Himself told the Prophet (saw) about. All of the other laws in , hundreds and hundreds of them, were revealed by the angel Gibreel (as). Salah is the only Law that was revealed by Allah (swt) directly to the Prophet (saw) when he (saw) met his Rabb on the miraj. This shows how important this command is for us to fulfill. The scholars all agree that there is no excuse whatsoever for a Muslim not to pray. If he cannot pray standing, he can pray sitting, if he cannot pray sitting, he can pray lying down, if he cannot move his hands while lying down, he can pray with his eyes. No matter what his condition is he must always pray.

We should also notice the verb that Allah (swt) uses. When Allah (swt) describes the

Muttaqoon He (swt) does not simply say that they —make“ Salah but He (swt) says that they

—establish“ Salah. This means that they make their Salah in the most perfect way. This means that the Salah must be made on time, it must be made with all the necessary preconditions such as having wudu, facing the qibla, covering the awra and so forth. It must also be made with tranquility and concentration. When you are standing and reciting the Quran, you should think about the words that you are reading. When you bow in ruku you must feel humbled before the

Greatness and Majesty of Allah (swt). When you prostrate in sujood you must realize your nothingness and the absolute Perfection of Allah (swt). If you are praying one of the obligatory

Salah then it is also best that you make it in congregation, and it is even better if that congregation is in the masjid. Thus we see that Allah (swt) is not simply telling us to make the

Salah but He (swt) is calling on us to establish the Salah. So not only should we be among those who pray but we must be among those who constantly strive to improve their prayer. The Salah is a matter of great importance and so it must be implemented in a way that reflects its importance. Only then will you be among the Muttaqoon. Only then will you be among those who are eligible for receiving the guidance of the Quran.

9 Just a few of the many ahadith of the Prophet (saw) where he (saw) has stressed the importance of Salah include the narration of when a man once came to the Prophet (saw) and asked him (saw) as to what deed was most virtuous. The Prophet (saw) replied by saying —Salah made at the earliest time“, the man asked again and again, and each time he got the same reply.

The fourth time the Prophet (saw) finally replied —Jihad in the way of Allah“. So we see from this hadith that the prayer made at the earliest time for that prayer is among the most beloved of acts to Allah (swt). There is also the hadith where the Prophet (saw) once gave the Sahabah (ra) a beautiful example by saying —If a person had a stream outside his door and bathed in it five times a day, do you think he will have any filth left on him?“ The Sahabah replied by saying that he would not. The Prophet (saw) then said —That is like the five daily prayers. Allah wipes away the sins by them“. These are just a few of the many hadith where the Prophet (saw) has told us the excellence of prayer. May Allah (swt) always help us to remember these words of our Prophet

(saw)! May Allah (swt) make us always be constant in our Salah!

The lesson that we can take from this part of the ayah is to remember that Salah is the most important obligation that any Muslim has. If you find yourself being deficient in your Salah, for example you do not pray all or your Salah on time or you even miss your Salah or you always find yourself hurrying through your Salah such that it becomes like an exercise routine for you, then you have to realize what a grave situation you are in. You are failing to properly perform the most important command that Allah (swt) gave you. If this is your condition then before you start thinking about doing any work for Islam and the dawah you have to work on improving your Salah. Always think about Allah (swt) and think about all that He (swt) has done for you.

Allah (swt) is the One Who created you and He (swt) is the One Who is sustaining you at this very moment. Remember how one day soon you will return to Him (swt). You will stand alone and naked before Allah (swt) and the first thing that He (swt) will ask you about is your Salah. If your Salah is not present then He (swt) will not look at any of your other deeds. Where then do you think that you will end up? May Allah (swt) allow us all to establish the Salah for our Rabb, the One to Whom we will all return!

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