Welcome to our weekly programme "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Quran.

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 50 and 51 of Surah Roum:

فَانظُرْ إِلَىٰ آثَارِ رَحْمَتِ اللَّـهِ كَيْفَ يُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

وَلَئِنْ أَرْسَلْنَا رِيحًا فَرَأَوْهُ مُصْفَرًّا لَّظَلُّوا مِن بَعْدِهِ يَكْفُرُونَ

“So observe the effects of Allah’s mercy: how He revives the earth after its death! Indeed He is the reviver of the dead, and He has power over all things.”

“And if We send a wind and they see it turn yellow, they will surely become ungrateful after that.”

Last week, while explaining ayahs 48 and 49 of this Surah, we had described the benefits of winds and rainfall, and how the sight of rain-bearing clouds removes despair and despondency and gladdens farmers and all looking forward to this blessing of God Almighty. The ayahs which we recited to you now arouse our conscience by urging us to observe the signs of Allah’s mercy all around us, and how the seemingly dead earth has been revived with the sprouting of plants, flowers and vegetation, because of the effects of rainfall. The effect of Allah’s mercy in giving life to the dead lands by means of rain is so much manifest that it appears for any man by a glance without being in need of searching and seeking for it. Rain waters the dry lands and causes the seeds of plants grow. Rain gives new life to the trees. Rain clears dust from the air and makes the living environment safe and clean. Rain washes the plants and gives them freshness. Rain makes the weather moist and mild so that it will be appropriate for human beings to inhale fresh air. Rain penetrates the ground and after some time it appears on the ground in the form of springs. Rain creates some floods, which, after being controlled by dams, produce electricity, light, and energy. Finally, rain usually adjusts both cold and hot weather. It decreases the heat and makes cold tolerable. The Almighty Creator, likewise revives the dead human beings and on the Day of Resurrection all will be raised to life from dust and scattered bones. In other words, the One, Who gives life to the dead land and creates movement and liveliness in it, and this phenomena occurs every year and sometimes every day, also has the ability to give life to all human beings after they had died. Everywhere death is in His authority, and life is also by His command. The deniers of Resurrection have no other way but to admit Divine Wisdom at work everywhere.

The next ayah speaks of fatal winds, or winds that cause harm. Although such winds are rare compared to beneficial winds that blow every day and night, the occurrence of harmful wind is a Divine Test mean to determine the faith of human beings, whether they are grateful to Allah’s bounties or are ungrateful.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The holy Qur’an describes rains as Divine Mercy and the elixir of life for the earth and its inhabitants.
2. The revival of the seemingly dead earth every year is an indication of God’s power and draw our attention to the undeniable fact of Resurrection after death, even after millenniums when corpses have been turned into dust.
3. At times the phenomena of nature including winds are meant to test our faith to determine whether we are thankful to the Lord’s bounties or are ingrate.

Now we listen to ayahs 52 and 53 of Surah Roum:

فَإِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ

وَمَا أَنتَ بِهَادِ الْعُمْيِ عَن ضَلَالَتِهِمْ ۖ إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِآيَاتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

“Indeed you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs [upon you],”

“Nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can make hear only those who have faith in Our signs, and thus have submitted.”

These ayahs divide people in 4 groups: The first group is made up of those who are seemingly alive, but actually indifferent or dead to the call of reason, to the extent that they deprive themselves of faith and guidance. The second group is made up of those who are dead to reasoning and to rationality by refusing to respond to the call of guidance from the Prophets, the Imams and the Saints. The third group is made up of those who hate to hear facts and truths, and thus are misled. The 4^th and last group is made up of the true believers who heed words of guidance and always strive to discover facts and realities, and on realizing the truth, they wholeheartedly submit to the Lord Most High.

These ayahs are not a mere physical and material assessment of the human being and their senses, but in fact, is a spiritual and humane assessment. The first condition for comprehending the reality is to have a ready and receptive heart, a seeing eye and a hearing ear, otherwise if all prophets and saints come and point out the straight and unwavering path of truth to the one who has lost discriminating sense and apprehension of the facts as a result of committing sins, there will not appear a change in such a person. It is worth noting that the holy Qur’an points to only two parts of our body, that is eyes and ears, because these are the two organs which properly used, have the power to make an analysis of wisdom. Here it is important to negate the negative thinking of the Wahhabi cult which thinks that the Prophet, the Infallible Imams and the martyrs are dead and do not understand anything. This is not the case, otherwise God would not have commanded us to salute the Prophet of Islam during the daily obligatory ritual prayers. “As-salamu alayka ayyuhan-Nabiyu wa rahmatullah-e-wa barakatuh” Here the address to the Prophet and salutation to him, irrespective of the distance in time and place, is not figurative, but real and comprehended by the Prophet, though he is physically not alive. As a matter of fact, these figures, including the Prophets, the Imams, the saints, and martyrs, hear and respond.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. If we do not prepare our faculties for realization of the truth and acceptance of facts, even the words of Prophets, Imams, and Saints will not affect us.
2. Having ears, eyes and the intellect is not sufficient. What is important is proper use of these faculties to sift truth from falsehood.

Now we listen to ayah 54 of Surah Roum:

اللَّـهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفًا وَشَيْبَةً ۚ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُ

“It is Allah Who created you from [a state of] weakness, then He gave you power after weakness. Then, after power, He ordained weakness and old age: He creates whatever He wishes, and He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.”

The main point of Surah Roum is to outline divine blessings and present proofs of monotheism. These ayah points to the various phases of human life from the beginning to the end. They mean to say: when you were born, you were weak but as you grew you became strong, and then when you age and become old, you will again become weak. In other words, at the beginning you were so weak that you were not able even to keep away a fly from yourself, or hold up your saliva. This is from the point of the body; but from the mental viewpoint, you did not know anything, even your kind parents who permanently took care of you. But, little by little, you became bodily and mentally strong and, just like a person who ascends a mountain until he reaches its top, you began to come down from other side of it and you reached the bottom of the valley of weakness and became unable bodily and spiritually. All this has been decreed by the One and Only Creator and no one else has any role in it. He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Weakness is both the beginning and end of a human being, which means a being who is placed between two weaknesses should not become proud and arrogant.
2. In view of the fact that we enjoy strength for a limited period of our life, we should appreciate this blessing of God, and use it in the best way possible instead of indulging in sins.  
3. The phases of weakness and power of human beings have been designed by God, the All-Knowing, and the All-Powerful.

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