13:15 Ar-Ra'd (The Thunder)

أي: جميع ما احتوت عليه السماوات والأرض كلها خاضعة لربها، تسجد له { طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا } فالطوع لمن يأتي بالسجود والخضوع اختيارا كالمؤمنين، والكره لمن يستكبر عن عبادة ربه، وحاله وفطرته تكذبه في ذلك، { وَظِلَالُهُمْ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ } أي: ويسجد له ظلال المخلوقات أول النهار وآخره وسجود كل شيء بحسب حاله كما قال تعالى: { وإن من شيء إلا يسبح بحمده ولكن لا تفقهون تسبيحهم } فإذا كانت المخلوقات كلها تسجد لربها طوعا وكرها كان هو الإله حقا المعبود المحمود حقا وإلاهية غيره باطلة، ولهذا ذكر بطلانها

يخبر تعالى عن عظمته وسلطانه الذي قهر كل شيء ودان له كل شيء ولهذا يسجد له كل شيء طوعا من المؤمنين وكرها على الكافرين " وظلالهم بالغدو " أي البكر " والآصال " وهو جمع أصيل وهو آخر النهار كقوله تعالى " أولم يروا إلى ما خلق الله من شيء يتفيؤ ظلاله ".

Everything prostrates unto Allah

Allah affirms His might and power, for He has full control over everything, and everything is subservient to Him. Therefore, everything, including the believers, prostrate to Allah willingly, while the disbelievers do so unwillingly,

وَظِلَـلُهُم بِالْغُدُوِّ

(and so do their shadows in the mornings), in the beginning of the days,

وَالاٌّصَالِ

(and in the afternoons.) towards the end of the days. Allah said in another Ayah,

أَوَ لَمْيَرَوْاْ إِلَىخَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِن شَىْءٍ يَتَفَيَّأُ

(Have they not observed things that Allah has created: (how) their shadows incline.) 16:48

قُلْ مَن رَّبُّ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ قُلِ اللَّهُ قُلْ أَفَاتَّخَذْتُمْ مِّن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَآءَ لاَ يَمْلِكُونَ لأَنْفُسِهِمْ نَفْعًا وَلاَ ضَرًّا قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِى الاٌّعْمَى وَالْبَصِيرُ أَمْ هَلْ تَسْتَوِى الظُّلُمَـتُ وَالنُّورُ أَمْ جَعَلُواْ للَّهِ شُرَكَآءَ خَلَقُواْ كَخَلْقِهِ فَتَشَابَهَ الْخَلْقُ عَلَيْهِمْ قُلِ اللَّهُ خَـلِقُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَهُوَ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّـرُ

And to God prostrate whoever is in the heavens and the earth willingly such as believers or unwillingly such as hypocrites and those coerced by the sword and their shadows also prostrate in the mornings and the evenings.

In the next verse (13), it was said: وَيُسَبِّحُ الرَّ‌عْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ مِنْ خِيفَتِهِ (And the thunder proclaims His purity with His praise, and [ so do ] the angels, out of His awe). In Arabic usage, the word: الرَّ‌عْدُ (Ar-Ra` d)refers to the sound of the clouds generated by their collision. The sense of (Tasbih: the glorification of Allah) mentioned here is that of the same Tasbih about which it has been said in another verse of the Qur’ an: وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَـٰكِن لَّا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ 'And there is nothing in the heavens and the earth which does not glorify Allah, but they do not understand their glorification' - (17:44).

And it appears in some narrations of Hadith that Ar-Ra'd is the name of the angel appointed to bring rains. In terms of this sense, the reciting of Tasbih is obvious.

Said in the next sentence 12 is: وَيُرْ‌سِلُ الصَّوَاعِقَ فَيُصِيبُ بِهَا مَن يَشَاءُ (And He sends the thunderbolts and strikes with it whom He wills). The word: الصَّوَاعِقَ (as-sawa` iq) is the plural form of a-sa` iqah which is the name of the thunderbolt that strikes the earth. The sense of the verse is that it is Allah who sends these thunderbolts down upon the earth and, with these, He strikes whom He wills.

The last sentence of this verse is: وَهُمْ يُجَادِلُونَ فِي اللَّـهِ وَهُوَ شَدِيدُ الْمِحَالِ they are quarrelling about Allah, and He is stern in His plan). The word: الْمِحَالِ (al-mihal: with Kasrah on the initial letter Mim) has been used here in the triple sense of stratagem and plan, and retribution and punishment, and in the sense of power as well. The verse means that (it is in the background of what has been stated above) that these people are busy with debates and altercations about the truth of Allah's Oneness - despite the fact that Allah Ta` ala has the ultimate power whose plan overtakes all and nothing works against it.

To God prostrate themselves all in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly. In the tongue of commentary, the prostration of the unbeliever is an unwilling prostration, for he prostrates himself and shows humility at the time of tribulation in the state of hardship so as to repel harm from himself. Thus MuṣṬafā said to Ḥaṣīn Khuzāʿī,1 " How many gods do you wor- ship today? " He said, " Seven: one in heaven and six in the earth. " He said, " Which one of them do you look to on the day of your hope and fear? " He said, " The one in heaven. " According to these words, when someone prostrates himself to a god wanting to attract a benefit or repel a harm, that is a prostration of unwillingness, not a prostration of willingness. The willing prostration is the one done for the command alone and to venerate the Real's exaltedness. There is no taint of wanting, no hope for compensation, and no dread of tribulation. The individual is in prostration, the heart in finding, the spirit in witnessing; the individual is with loyalty, the heart with shame, and the spirit with limpidness. That chieftain of the Tariqah, Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī, was addressed in a dream: " 'O Abū Yazīd, Our storehouses are full of worship. Approach Us with brokenness and abasement.' In Our thresh- old, bowing and prostrating are of no use without brokenness of the heart and limpidness of the spirit, for the storehouses of Our exaltedness are already full of the bowing and prostrating of the lords of the heart. When you come to Our threshold, place the heart's pain in the spirit's cup and send it to the Presence of the Beloved, for the heart's pain has measure with Us. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " The tawḤīd of the hearts of the faithful is in the measure of the heart's pain. The more a heart is burnt and the more complete its pain, the more it is familiar with tawḤīd and the closer it is to the Real. " Without the perfection of burning pain, don't mention religion's name. Without the beauty of yearning for union, don't lean on faith.