37: Those Ranging in Ranks (Al-Saffat)

The wāw, which means and, is in such places rendered as by, and signifies an oath. In such cases the oath simply draws attention to a certain testimony. The real object in taking an oath is to make an assertion more convincing, but in the Quran, when such a form is adopted, the conviction is produced not by mere allegation, but by some clear argument. Sometimes attention is called in these oaths to obvious laws of nature to infer spiritual laws from them, and on other occasions the oath reveals a kind of prophecy, whose fulfilment makes the truth of the preaching of the Prophet to be obvious. The latter is the case here. The description given in verses 1–3 applies to the believers. V.1 shows them as ranging themselves in ranks, or praying to God standing in ranks, which Muslims do five times daily in their prayers in congregation, and may prophetically refer to their subsequent ranging themselves in ranks in the field of battle against their enemies. V. 2 describes them as holding in restraint their passions, so that a people who were ruled by their passions or their sensual desires were so entirely changed that they became complete masters of their passions. The words may also contain a prophecy to their holding in restraint a powerful enemy bent upon their extirpation. V. 3 makes it clear that only Muslims are described here: those who recite the Reminder. It is a special characteristic of the Muslims that they recite the Quran in their prayers, so much so that even their armies in the field of battle are regular in their prayers, in which they recite the Quran. And the great Truth that is thus established is Divine Unity — surely your God is One.

The reference to the eastern lands is a prophecy of the early spread of Islam in the East, while Islam’s conquests in the West seem to have been reserved for a later age.

The Prophet’s preaching was confronted by a twofold opposition among the Arabs — the secular classes and the priestly class, i.e., the diviners and the soothsayers, the class known as Kāhin. It is these soothsayers who are called the rebellious devils, because they thought that they could invoke spirits and answer questions put to them relating to the future. This phase of opposition was equally swept away by the forceful tide of Islamic truth, and the profession of the Kāhin disappeared from Arabia as Islam advanced. The mention of heaven and stars in the previous verse refers to the popular superstition that the diviners and soothsayers obtained their knowledge of the future from the stars. The safeguard against every rebellious devil indicates that they have no access to Divine secrets; see further 52:38 and 72:8.

The reference here is to the conjectures of the soothsayers regarding the future, by which they maintained their ascendancy over the masses. It is pointed out that they have no access whatever to the source of prophecy. The exalted assembly signifies those angels to whom Divine revelation is first made known. Or, the reference may be to the secular opponents of the Prophet, who, it is here foretold, would be thrown at from every side, so that success could not attend any of their efforts.

This verse and those preceding it describe the state of the soothsayers at the advent of the Prophet. Before the advent of the Holy Prophet, the soothsayers may have been able to mislead the people to a certain extent by their guesses regarding future events, but after his advent they were reproached on every side, and ultimately the profession of the kahin disappeared from Arabia, as shown in the footnote to v. 7. Or, the reference may be to the overthrow of ordinary opposition.

The meaning is that, if a soothsayer gets but one opportunity, there soon follows a flame that pierces through the darkness; in other words, dispels the darkness to which the soothsayer leads people.

Those created of firm clay are the spiritually perfect men, the Prophet and his followers. The verse points to the opposition of the soothsayers to the Prophet, and warns the former that the Prophet will be triumphant, because he is made perfect by Allah’s hand.

That is, you will not only be raised after death to taste of your evil deeds, but even here you will be brought low. This is again a prophecy of the defeat of the enemy in this very life.

Though the description of the helplessness of the wrongdoers given in this and the following verses applies to life after death, it equally describes their condition in this life.

The word ma‘lūm (“known”) shows that the sustenance mentioned in the verses that follow is one that is already known to those servants of Allah who are purified from every pollution. This description of the blessings of paradise shows that all those blessings were spiritually tasted by the righteous in this life. In fact, their brief but important description as fruits in the next verse clearly shows those blessings to be the fruits of their good deeds.

The drinks of this life, though a source of pleasure, bring evil in their train. The drinks of the next life cause neither loss of reason, nor exhaustion. The name is common, but the nature of the two is different.

The description of women given here calls attention to the prominent feature of the character of a good woman. Attention is first called to the fact that the most valuable virtue of woman is that rare chastity which is described here as modest in gaze or freedom of the eye from lust. Then the beauty of their eyes is praised, the suggestion clearly being that the real beauty of the eye consists in its purity. Secondly, they are described as being eggs carefully protected, which alludes to their pure and unsoiled character. It should, however, be noted that what is apparently a description of women is really a description of the fruits of deeds done in this life, the words adopted being applicable to both (see the word ḥūr in 52:20), and these are in fact spiritual blessings manifested physically. The blessings which it promises, whatever they may be, are as much meant for men as for women; the only thing certain about them is that their nature is different from the nature of the physical blessings of this life. See also 38:52.

Zaqqūm is “a dust-coloured tree, having small round leaves without thorns. It has a pungent odour and is bitter, and has knots in its stems … the heads of its leaves are very foul” and it also means any deadly food (Lane’s Lexicon). See also 17:60 and 44:43.

The words, then their return is surely to the flaming Fire, are very significant, as if the food and drink described above were to be given to them before they went to hell. This is the reason that it is called an entertainment (v. 62). It is in fact a description of their evil plight in this life as well as in the Hereafter.

The people with whom Abraham contended were not only worshippers of idols, but also worshippers of stars. Hence Abraham cast a glance at the stars and declared that he could not bear their worshipping others than God. The words here may also be translated as I bear spite to your false gods.

That the child spoken of here was Ishmael and not Isaac is made clear by v. 112, which states that it was after this incident that Abraham received the news of the birth of Isaac. This, no doubt, contradicts the Bible statement, but the fact that Ishmael’s descendants kept a memorial of this sacrifice in the annual pilgrimage to Makkah shows clearly that Ishmael, and not Isaac, was the son whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice. Moreover, the Bible contradicts itself when it speaks of Isaac as “your only son” (Genesis, 22:2). Only Ishmael could be spoken of as “only son” before the birth of Isaac.

The words, you have indeed fulfilled the vision, show that the act of slaughtering was not needed for the fulfilment of the vision; the preparedness to do it amounted to its fulfilment. According to the Bible, Abraham cast out his son Ishmael and his mother Hagar in some wilderness when Ishmael was fourteen years of age (Genesis, 21:9–21). The Quran is silent on this point, but, according to Bukhari, the incident occurred when Ishmael was yet a suckling, and it was not in accordance with the wishes of Sarah but according to a Divine commandment that Abraham left Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness near the Sacred House, and it was here, when Ishmael was in distress, that the water at Zamzam was discovered (Bukhari, 60:9). The reference in the words you have indeed fulfilled the vision may be to this incident, Abraham being told that the dream had already been fulfilled by casting out Ishmael and leaving him at Makkah.

To commemorate Ishmael’s sacrifice, a great sacrifice was ordered. This was not only the sacrifice of a ram on this particular occasion, but the great institution of sacrifice now connected with the pilgrimage to Makkah. Perhaps there is also a reference here to the abolition of human sacrifice, which was prevalent among most ancient nations, and the significance is that the place of human sacrifice was now forever being taken by the sacrifice of a ram.

Abraham and Isaac are spoken of distinctly to show that by blessing Abraham is here meant blessing his descendants through Ishmael.

Ba‘l stands for the sun, or the sun-god.

Ilyāsīn, the word used here, is only another form of the name of Ilyās or Elias. Elias is mentioned as being one of the prophets in 6:85 and is the same as the Elijah of the Bible.

It is meaningless to say that Jonah fled from God. He was a prophet and knew that no one could flee from God, for God’s kingdom is unlimited. Nor does the Quran say that he fled from God. It would appear that he fled from his people or from the king; see also 21:87 and footnotes.

According to Jonah 1:17, Jonah was devoured by a fish. The word used in the Quran is iltaqama, which does not necessarily signify the act of devouring and means he took into his mouth. According to one explanation, his heel only was drawn by the fish into its mouth.

The meaning is that the fish would have eaten him, and he would have died. By the day when they are raised is not meant the actual day of Resurrection, because the fish could not live to the day of Resurrection. A person’s death is generally called the day of his resurrection in a certain sense.

According to the Bible, the gourd gave shelter to Jonah, but the next day a worm damaged the plant so that it withered, and Jonah grieved for it. The lesson drawn from this incident is stated thus: “But the Lord said, You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left” (Jonah 4:10–11). These were the hundred thousand or more persons to which Jonah was sent.

They said that they considered the angels to be daughters of God and worshipped them. In the Quran, however, it is stated that it was really the jinn — their own leaders in evil — that they worshipped, not the angels; see 34:40–41.

It is the evildoers that will be brought up for judgment (v. 158), not the servants of Allah.

These words are put into the mouth of the believers.

That is, the time of victory.