Salaam, and welcome to our latest episode of “Path towards Enlightenment”, which is an endeavour to make you and us familiar with an easy and fluent explanation of God’s Final Scripture to all mankind, the holy Qur’an that was revealed to the Last and Greatest of all Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

As you know we have started explanation of “Surah Qalam” – the number 68 in the serial order of compilation of the holy Qur’an. Revealed in Mecca, it has 52 Ayahs and opens with a single discrete Arabic letter “Noon” and the Divine Oath by the instrument of “Qalam” or “The Pen”, as well as all knowledge that people are able to preserve and communicate thereby. It enumerates the noble characteristics of the Prophet of Islam and exhorts him to patience and steadfastness while rejecting the accusations of his foes who tried to mock him as insane. It exposes the vices of the enemies of Islam and referring to the inevitability of Resurrection and Final Judgement warns them of Divine Wrath.

A statement from the Prophet speaks of Divine rewards for those who recite Surah Qalam (regularly), while the Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) says recitation of this Surah whether in the obligatory or supererogatory ritual prayers shall be immunity from the pressures of the grave for an observant Muslim.

We continue from where we left you in our last episode and here are Ayahs 8 and 9:

“So do not hearken to the deniers;

“Who are eager that you should be flexible so that they would be flexible [with you – a flexibility that is deviation from the Right Path].”

If you might recall, in our last episode of “Path towards Enlightenment” we said Allah Almighty warns the disbelievers of the consequences of calling the Prophet crazy and leveling unfounded accusations against his flawless character in a bid to dissuade people from listening to his message, but their plots went awry when more and more people were attracted to the teachings of Islam.

As is clear by the Ayahs that we recited to you now the Almighty Creator cautions the Prophet – as well as all believers – against flexibility in the face of the plots of the deniers of Islam whose intention is to force the truthful into a sort of compromise with their falsehood so that some Divine Commandments are set aside. In other words, since a compromise with the enemies of Islam helps the deniers to cling to their wicked ways and unlawful privileges, Allah has warned against the notion of comprise between truth and falsehood.

The pagan Arab chiefs alarmed at the spread of Islam made a desperate bid to prevent the people from accepting monotheism by offering concessions to the Prophet, who was cautioned by Allah against any flexibility with the liars.

From these Ayahs we learn that:

1. It is unwise to compromise with the deviated and corrupt elements, whose intention is deceit.
2. Prophets are in constant communion with God Almighty Who very well knows the plots of the deniers of truth.
3. Temptation and meaningless concessions are among the ways of the enemies to lull believers into inaction and deviation from the right path.

Now let us listen to Ayahs 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the same Surah:

“And do not believe any vile swearer;

“Scandal-monger, tale-bearer;

“Hinderer of all good, a sinful transgressor;

“Callous and, on top of that, baseborn.”

These Ayahs are an apt description of some of the despicable characteristics of the enemies of Islam, especially of Waleed bin Mughayra, a ringleader of the pagan Arabs of Mecca who used to belie and slander Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Here God Almighty makes depiction of the liars and their vices, seemingly unparalleled elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an, reflecting the evil characteristics of the enemies of truth and humanitarian values. Such people who tried to deceive the Prophet through offers of wealth and women if he stopped preaching the message of Islam, were liars, backbiters, scandal-mongers, sinful transgressors, preventers of all good things, heartlessly cruel, and moreover baseborn, that is, illegitimate by birth. This is evident at the end of Ayah 13 by the Arabic word “Zaneem”, which means “son of an adulteress”, which is a clear reference to Waleed, who was actually conceived through illicit relations with a slave and was not the son of Mughayra the husband of his mother.

These Ayahs teach us that:

1. We should not be deceived by the promises and oaths of the sworn enemies of Islam and humanity, and should avoid compromise with them.
2. Faith in Allah, sublime values, humanitarian principles, and the peerless personality of the Prophet and his Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt, are immunity for believers against being misled to follow the path of heathens, hypocrites and evil persons, even if they pretend to have changed their ways.

In conclusion of this week’s episode of “Path towards Enlightenment”, here are Ayahs 14, 15, and 16 of Surah Qalam:

“[only] because he has wealth and children.

“When Our signs are recited to him, he says, ‘Myths of the ancients!’

“Soon We shall brand him on the snout.”

These Ayahs refer to one of the root causes of adamancy and rejection of the manifest truth; hence the warning to the believers from being influenced by the deviants who possess wealth, tribal prestige, political positions, big families, powerful connections, and the like, which they use to attract followers and mislead people from the path of truth.

The Prophet of Islam and his loyal followers were never deceived by such persons, whose arrogance and satanic inclinations make them mock at the Holy Qur’an as “myths of the ancients”, whereas the Divine Revelation is not just flawless eloquence but timeless wisdom for those who use their intellect to discern truth from falsehood.

Ayah 16 indicates Divine Wrath reserved for such devilish disbelievers, saying soon they shall be branded on the snout. Such eloquent expression reflects the utmost disgrace of the enemies of truth, in view of the fact the Arabic word “khurtoum” implies a reference to not just elephants but to pigs whose ugly protruding noses that hide the mouth are unlike that of other mammals.

History bears witness to the miserable fate of the obdurate enemies of Islam who were so disgraced that their humiliation was unparalleled, while more severe torment awaits them on Resurrection and the Day of Judgement.

From these Ayahs we learn the following points:

1. Arrogance on the basis of wealth and power leads to denial of religion and truth, and that is the reason the rich and the politically powerful were always the archenemies of the prophets of God.
2. In spite of the plots and conspiracies of the enemies to desecrate the Heavenly Scripture, these opponents of truth and realities will end up in utter disgrace, since the Almighty Creator has promised that Islam will eventually prevail over all creeds and schools of thought.

RM/AS/SS