15:17 Al-Hijr (The Rock)

{ وحفظناها من كل شيطان رجيم } إذا استرق السمع أتبعته الشهب الثواقب فبقيت السماء ظاهرها مجملا بالنجوم النيرات وباطنها محروسا ممنوعا من الآفات.

وقال عطية العوفي البروج ههنا هي قصور فيها الحرس وجعل الشهب حرسا لها من مردة الشياطين لئلا يسمعوا إلى الملإ الأعلى فمن تمرد وتقدم منهم لاستراق السمع جاءه شهاب مبين فأتلفه فربما يكون قد ألقى الكلمة التي سمعها قبل أن يدركه الشهاب إلى الذي هو دونه فيأخذها الآخر ويأتي بها إلى وليه كما جاء مصرحا به في الصحيح كما قال البخاري.في تفسير هذه الآية: حدثنا علي بن عبد الله حدثنا سفيان عن عمرو عن عكرمة عن أبي هريرة يبلغ به النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال " إذا قضى الله الأمر في السماء ضربت الملائكة بأجنحتها خضعانا لقوله كأنه سلسلة على صفوان " قال علي وقال غيره صفوان ينفذهم ذلك فإذا فزع عن قلوبهم قالوا ماذا قال ربكم؟ قالوا للذي قال الحق وهو العلي الكبير فيسمعها مسترقو السمع ومسترقو السمع هكذا واحد فوق آخر ووصف سفيان بيده وفرج بين أصابع يده اليمنى نصبها بعضها فوق بعض فربما أدرك الشهاب المستمع قبل أن يرمي بها إلى صاحبه فيحرقه وربما لم يدركه حتى يرمي بها إلى الذي يليه إلى الذي هو أسفل منه حتى يلقوها إلى الأرض وربما قال سفيان حتى تنتهي إلى الأرض فتلقى على فم الساحر أو الكاهن فيكذب معها مائة كذبة فيصدق فيقولون ألم يخبرنا يوم كذا وكذا يكون كذا وكذا فوجدناه حقا للكلمة التي سمعت من السماء.

The Power of Allah and His Signs in the Heavens and on Earth

To those who ponder, and look repeatedly at the dazzling signs and wonders that are to be seen in the creation, Allah mentions His creation of the heavens, with their immense height, and both the fixed and moving heavenly bodies with which He has adorned it. Here, Mujahid and Qatadah said that Buruj big stars refers to the heavenly bodies. (I say): This is like the Ayah :

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِى جَعَلَ فِى السَّمَآءِ بُرُوجاً

(Blessed be He Who has placed the big stars in the heavens.) 25:61 `Atiyah Al-`Awfi said: "Buruj here refers to sentinel fortresses." He made the "shooting stars" to guard it against the evil devils who try to listen to information conveyed at the highest heights. If any devil breaches it and advances hoping to listen, a clear "shooting star" comes to him and destroys him. He may already have passed on whatever he heard before the fire hit him, to another devil below him; the latter will then take it to his friends among humans, as is stated in the Sahih. Explaining this Ayah, Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:

«إِذَا قَضَى اللهُ الْأَمْرَ فِي السَّمَاءِ ضَرَبَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ بِأَجْنِحَتِهَا خُضْعَانًا لِقَوْلِهِ كَأَنَّهُ سِلْسِلَةٌ عَلَى صَفْوَان»

(When Allah decrees any matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His Word, with a sound like a chain beating on a smooth rock.") (`Ali and other subnarrators said, "The sound reaches them.") "When the fright leaves their (angels') hearts, they (angels) are asked: `What did your Lord say' They respond: "The truth. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.' So those who hope to hear something listen, and they are standing one above the other." Sufyan the narrator described them with a gesture, spreading the fingers of his right hand and holding it in such a way that the fingers were above one another. "Sometimes the flaming fire hits one of these listeners before he is able to convey what he has heard to the one who is beneath him, and he is burned up, or sometimes the fire does not hit him until he has pit on to the one beneath him, so he brings it to the earth." Perhaps Sufyan said: "...until it reaches the earth and he puts it into the mouth of the sorcerer or fortune-teller, so that after telling a hundred lies he gets something right, and the people say, `Did he not tell us that on such and such a day such and such would happen, and we found it to be the truth among the statements which were heard from heaven."' Then Allah mentions His creation of the earth and how He spread it out, and the firm mountains, valleys, lands and sands that he has placed in it, and the plants and fruits that He causes to grow in their appropriate locations.

مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مَّوْزُونٍ

(all kinds of things in due proportion.) Ibn `Abbas said that this means with their predetermined proportions. This was also the opinion of Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, Abu Malik, Mujahid, Al-Hakim bin `Utaybah, Al-Hasan bin Muhammad, Abu Salih and Qatadah.

وَجَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَعَـيِشَ

(And We have provided therein means of living, for you) Here Allah mentions that He created the earth with different means of provisions and livelihood of all kinds.

وَمَن لَّسْتُمْ لَهُ بِرَزِقِينَ

(and for those whom you provide not.) Mujahid said, "This refers to the riding animals and the cattle." Ibn Jarir said, "They are slaves, men and women, as well as the animals and the cattle. The meaning is that Allah, may He be exalted, is reminding them of the ways of earning provision that He has made easy for them, and of the animals that He has subjugated for them to ride and to eat, and the slaves from whom they benefit, but the provision of all of these comes from Allah alone."

and We have guarded them with meteors from every outcast devil;

Sequence

Mentioned in the previous verses was the doggedness and hostility of deniers and disbelievers. In the present verse, and in those which follow immediately after, clear proofs of the Oneness, Knowledge and Power of Allah Ta’ ala have been given. Described alongside is what transpires before His creation between the heavens and the earth, a little deliberation in which on the part of a sensible person would make any denial impossible.

Commentary

The word: بُرُ‌وجًا ; is the plural of: بُرُج (burj) which is applied to big palaces and castles and to similar other structural entities. Tafsir authorities Mujahid, Qatadah, Abu Salih and others have explained 'buruj' at this place in the sense of big stars. As for the statement in this verse which points to the creation of these big stars in the sky, the word: السَّمَاءِ (as-sama’) sky means atmosphere which, in common modern day terminology, is called the 'space.' The application of 'as-sama" in both these senses is common, and recognized. Thus, the physical presence of deep space is identified as 'as-sama" and the atmosphere much lower than it has also been repeatedly termed as 'as-sama" in the Holy Qur'an. As for the planets and stars being in the space, and not in the skies, the relevant investigative details, as coordinated with the verses of the Qur’ an and classical and modern astronomy, will Insh’ Allah appear under our comments on the verse: تَبَارَ‌كَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ فِي السَّمَاءِ بُرُ‌وجًا وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا سِرَ‌اجًا وَقَمَرً‌ا مُّنِيرً‌ا (Blessed is He Who made in the sky stellar formations and made in it the Sun and the Moon providing light) of Surah Al-Furqan (25 :61).