Welcome to our weekly program “Path towards Enlightenment” in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the divine ayahs of the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last week and here are ayahs 14, 15 and 16 of Surah Roum:

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَفَرَّقُونَ

فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَهُمْ فِي رَوْضَةٍ يُحْبَرُونَ

وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَلِقَاءِ الْآخِرَةِ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ فِي الْعَذَابِ مُحْضَرُونَ

“The day the Hour sets in, they will be divided on that day:”

“As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, they shall be in a garden, rejoicing.”

“But as for those who were faithless and denied Our signs and the encounter of the Hereafter, they will be brought to the punishment.”

This ayah points to the different groups of people on the Day of Judgement, and means to say that on Resurrection Day the true believers who used to do good deeds and heed the commandments of the Lord Most High, will be separated from those that ascribed partners to God, that is the polytheists, and those that denied God, that is the atheists, and those who indulged in sins without the least repentance. The Hereafter will mark the end of ungodly relations and friendships. A point to note is that the superficial divisions during transient life in the mortal world, such as wealth, rank, academic qualifications, post, ethnicity, colour of skin, and the language spoken, will no longer exist on the Day of Resurrection when all mankind will be assembled for judgement. There will also be no distinction of age. Another point to note is that mere profession of faith or lip service to Islam will not suffice, and only those who believed from the depth of the heart and practically performed good deeds, will be the initial ones to achieve immediate salvation. Thus, for entering Paradise, faith, coupled with righteous deeds is required, while, concerning the people who would be cast into the fires of Hell, the Qur’an suffices to mentioning only their lack of belief in God which is evident by their rejection of Divine signs and of the Day of Resurrection, while they were alive. Death in the state of polytheism or atheism means is the greatest and unpardonable sin that end in the fires of hell.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. On the Day of Resurrection, the true believers will be separated from the polytheists, the atheists, the hypocrites, and the unrepentant sinners.
2. It is faith in God that makes a person do good deedsable.
3. Sins are the result of weak faith or total lack of faith.

Now we listen to ayahs 17 and 18 of Surah Roum:

فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ حِينَ تُمْسُونَ وَحِينَ تُصْبِحُونَ

وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُونَ

“So glorify Allah when you enter evening and when you rise at dawn.”

“To Him belongs all praise in the heavens and the earth, at nightfall and when you enter noontime.”

Some exegetes believe that these ayahs refer to the times of the daily obligatory prayers; the ritual remembrance of God at dawn, at noontime, afternoon, dusk and evening. As a matter of fact, the entire world of creation glorifies God in their own particular manner. Praise of Allah has been generalized from the point of place and it encompasses the expanse of the heaven and the earth. So a believer is always cognizant of the Omnipresence Lord, Who is free of any defect, and this separates the faithful from the polytheists and the atheists.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The Praises of God is not confined to the rituals performed by the human beings, but is prevalent throughout the heavens and the earth, although for mankind, the Best of Creation, God Almighty has fixes certain hours for performance of obligatory prayers.
2. God the All-Glorious is praised by all His creatures including birds, animals, plants, and the seemingly lifeless or stony objects, in their own particular manner.  

Now we listen to ayah 19 of Surah Roum:

يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَيُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ تُخْرَجُونَ

“He brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living, and revives the earth after its death. Likewise you [too] shall be raised [from the dead].”

In response to those who deny the Day of Resurrection, these ayahs refer to the revival of the dead in this world and mean to say: How you deny the revival of the dead on the Day of Resurrection while God always brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living. In winter plants and trees die and they come back to life in spring and summer every year. This cycle is repeated every year before our eyes. Moreover, every year various plants come out of the lifeless soil and demonstrate to us the exuberance of life, while many wonderful and colourful creature die and turn into soil.

The food and water that we eat are not living creatures. But when they become part of our body they turn into living cells. In the system of nature life comes out of death and death from life. This is among the best proofs for cognizance of the Power and Wisdom of God for bringing back to life all mankind on the Day of Resurrection.

Of course, the abovementioned ayah has some other meanings too, from the spiritual point of view, including the birth of some believers from disbelievers, disbelievers from believers, coming forth of learned ones from ignorant one, and ignorant ones from learned ones, and good doers from evildoers, and evildoers from good doers. These meanings have been mentioned in some of the Hadith as well.  

From this ayah we learn that:

1. An intellectually sound person does not doubt the Day of Resurrection, for; God has displayed His power in the birth and death of creatures and the yearly cycle of nature.
2. In the world of creation, the rotation of creatures between life and death is clearly seen and this continues till the Day of Resurrection.

AS/MG