Pars Today

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).

Today we will complete explanation of “Surah Jinn” which has 28 Ayahs. Number 72 in the serial order of compilation of the holy Qur’an, it was revealed in Mecca and has 28 Ayahs. The title of the Surah indicates that it mainly treats a species of creatures invisible to the human eye, and hence called “jinn”. Endowed with some sort of intelligence and the moral choice to discern good from evil, the jinn have believers and disbelievers amongst them. They were acquainted with the prophets of the past and the previously revealed heavenly scriptures. With the start of the universal mission of Islam it became incumbent upon them, similar to the human race, to believe in the message entrusted by God Almighty to the “Mercy unto the whole creation”, that is, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). They shall be rewarded or punished according to their specific deeds. The Surah ends with Ayahs referring to the Almighty Creator’s knowledge of the unseen that is unknown to all beings.

We start from where we left you last week and here are Ayahs 23 and 24:

“[Say O’ Prophet to the polytheists: I have no duty] except to transmit from Allah and to communicate His messages; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Prophet, indeed there will be for him the fire of hell to remain in it forever.

“When they see what they are promised, they will then know who is weaker in supporters and fewer in numbers."

If you might recall, last Friday in our explanation of the previous Ayahs of this Surah we said God has granted infallibility to the Prophets and the Imams in view of their highest degree of sincere servitude to Him and thus they do not invoke anyone else and anything except the Almighty Creator Whose absolute monotheism they preach in order to deliver humanity from darkness and guide them towards the bliss of Paradise.

The Ayahs which we recited to you now quote the Prophet of Islam as saying that his sole duty is to convey the commandments of God to mankind, and whoever disobeys the Divine guidelines, especially the polytheists and all other disbelievers, will permanently end up in the eternal fires of Hell, while those who earnestly repent and believe, are forgiven of their sins.

In Hell the polytheists and all those who had disbelieved will see that whatever the Prophets had warned about has come true as promised, and finally realize their utter weakness and lack of any supporters, in contrast to the true believers who are the real powerful ones and against whom these disbelievers used to brag of their supposed power and large numbers.

As a matter of fact the arrogant oppressors will eventually be humiliated and defeated in the world itself with the triumph of the true believers in the end times and establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice by the Prophet of Islam’s 12^th and Last Infallible Successor, Imam Mahdi (AS) – may God hasten his reappearance.  

These Ayahs teach us the following points:

1. Denial of the mission of the Prophets and opposition to them is actually denial of Allah and disobedience to His commandments, thereby entailing harsh punishment.
2. It is a Divine Promise that the true believers who do righteous deeds, despite being viewed as downtrodden, will overcome the oppressors and the arrogant, who will finally be weakened and humiliated.
3. No arrogant power and its hollow promise should be relied upon, since none can stand against the Will of the Almighty Creator.

Now let us listen to Ayahs 25 and 26 of the same Surah:

"Say (O Prophet to the disbelievers), 'I not know if what you are promised is near, or if my Lord has set a term for it.'

“Knower of the Unseen, He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone."

Here Allah commands the Prophet to answer those who tried to ridicule him by asking about the Divine promise of punishment for the disbelievers that no one except the All-Wise Creator knows whether the time of the retribution is near or far.

As the next Ayah says the unseen and all events to happen are known only to the Almighty Creator Who does not disclose it to anyone. This means whatever the Prophet knows about the unseen and of the future is only because God has informed him. It is thus clear that if mankind knew when Divine Wrath befalls, it will be meaningless to set trial and tribulation for them as tests of faith, because in such a case people will measure and plan their deeds, including evil acts, fully confident of repenting before death after freely indulging in sins and vices.

From these Ayahs we learn that:

1. The Prophet made it clear to the people that only the Almighty Creator knows the unseen and the events to occur, including the time of the retribution promised to the disbelievers.
2. The vast universe is not limited to what is seen and felt, since the countless creatures and phenomena are beyond the reach of human senses and the intellect, despite their scientific progress.
3. The knowledge of the Unseen is the exclusive authority of Allah and He grants part of it to whomever He deems deserving; hence prophets do not have the knowledge of future and the unseen by themselves.

In conclusion of this week’s episode of Path towards Enlightenment here are Ayahs 27 and 28 of Surah Jinn:

“Except to a Prophet He approves of; then He dispatches a sentinel (that is, a guardian angel) before and behind him,

“So that He (God) may ascertain that they have communicated the messages of their Lord, and He comprehends all that is with them, and He keeps count of all things.”

In continuation of the previous Ayah, here God the All-Knowing says that He grants part of the knowledge of the unseen to the most deserving of the Prophets, through Divine revelation, especially to the Last and Greatest of them, that is, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Thus, God has endowed the Prophet of Islam and through him his Infallible Heirs, the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, with part of the knowledge of the unseen. Moreover, God has granted infallibility to the Prophets and the Imams, for whom angels have been appointed as sentinels or guards. So, what the Prophet and the Imams have conveyed to us of events before and after creation of mankind, till the end times of life on earth, is the absolute truth having no connection either to the historians whose chronicles cannot be fully relied upon, or to the soothsayers and fortune-tellers, who are liars and imposters.

The next Ayah stresses that the Prophets sincerely and without the least mistake, convey to the people whatever Divine commandments they receive through revelation and Allah the All-Aware has decreed the meticulous recording of all things.

These Ayahs teach us that:

1. God has granted the Prophets part of the knowledge of the unseen in order to make them flawlessly and perfectly accomplish their mission.
2. God has absolute authority and supervision over His prophets who are assigned guardian angels for their protection.
3. Those persons who claim to know the unseen and predict the future are imposters and falsifiers.
4. The Almighty Creator’s knowledge is infinite and encompasses everything and everywhere.

Well dear friends, on that note we finish Surah Jinn, and next week, Insha Allah (God Willing), we will start explanation of Surah Muzzammil. Till then, God bless you and goodbye.

RM/AS/SS