3:17 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

{ الصابرين } أنفسهم على ما يحبه الله من طاعته، وعن معصيته، وعلى أقداره المؤلمة، { والصادقين } في إيمانهم وأقوالهم وأحوالهم { والمنفقين } مما رزقهم الله بأنواع النفقات على المحاويج من الأقارب وغيرهم { والمستغفرين بالأسحار } لما بين صفاتهم الحميدة ذكر احتقارهم لأنفسهم وأنهم لا يرون لأنفسهم، حالا ولا مقاما، بل يرون أنفسهم مذنبين مقصرين فيستغفرون ربهم، ويتوقعون أوقات الإجابة وهي السحر، قال الحسن: مدوا الصلاة إلى السحر، ثم جلسوا يستغفرون ربهم. فتضمنت هذه الآيات حالة الناس في الدنيا وأنها متاع ينقضي، ثم وصف الجنة وما فيها من النعيم وفاضل بينهما، وفضل الآخرة على الدنيا تنبيها على أنه يجب إيثارها والعمل لها، ووصف أهل الجنة وهم المتقون، ثم فصل خصال التقوى، فبهذه الخصال يزن العبد نفسه، هل هو من أهل الجنة أم لا؟

ثم قال تعالى "الصابرين" أي في قيامهم بالطاعات وتركهم المحرمات "والصادقين" فيما أخبروا به من إيمانهم بما يلتزمونه من الأعمال الشاقة "والقانتين" والقنوت الطاعة والخضوع "والمنفقين" أي من أموالهم في جميع ما أمروا به من الطاعات وصلة الأرحام والقرابات وسد الخلات ومواساة ذوي الحاجات "والمستغفرين بالأسحار" دل على فضيلة الاستغفار وقت الأسحار وقد قيل:إن يعقوب عليه السلام لما قال لبنيه "سوف أستغفر لكم ربي" أنه أخرهم إلى وقت السحر. وثبت في الصحيحين وغيرهما من المسانيد والسنن من غير وجه من جماعة من الصحابة أن رسول الله صلى الله تعالى عليه وعلى آله وسلم قال "ينزل الله تبارك وتعالى في كل ليلة إلى السماء الدنيا حين يبقى ثلث الليل الأخير فقول:هل من سائل فأعطيه؟ هل من داع فأستجيب له؟ هل من مستغفر فأغفر له؟" الحديث. وقد أفرد الحافظ أبو الحسن الدارقطني في ذلك جزءا على حدة فرواه من طرق متعددة. وفي الصحيحين عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت:من كل الليل قد أوتر رسول الله صلى الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من أوله وأوسطه وآخره فانتهى وتره إلى السَّحَر. وكان عبدالله بن عمر يصلي من الليل ثم يقول:يا نافع هل جاء السحر؟ فإذا قال:نعم أقبل على الدعاء والاستغفار حتى يصبح رواه ابن أبي حاتم. وقال ابن جرير:حدثنا ابن وكيع حدثنا أبي عن حريث بن أبي مطر عن إبراهيم بن حاطب عن أبيه قال:سمعت رجلا في السحر في ناحية المسجد وهو يقول:يا رب أمرتني فأطعتك وهذا السحر فاغفر لي فنظرت فإذا هو ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه. وروى ابن مردويه عن أنس بن مالك قال:كنا نؤمر إذا صلينا من الليل أن نستغفر في آخر السحر سبعين مرة.

The Supplication and Description of Al-Muttaqin

Allah describes the Muttaqin, His pious servants, whom He promised tremendous rewards,

الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا

(Those who say: "Our Lord! We have indeed believed") in You, Your Book and Your Messenger.

فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا

(so forgive us our sins) because of our faith in You and in what You legislated for us. Therefore, forgive us our errors and shortcomings, with Your bounty and mercy,

وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

(and save us from the punishment of the Fire.)

Allah then said,

الصَّـبِرِينَ

((They are) those who are patient) while performing acts of obedience and abandoning the prohibitions.

وَالصَّـدِقِينَ

(those who are true) concerning their proclamation of faith, by performing the difficult deeds.

وَالْقَـنِتِينَ

(and obedient) meaning, they submit and obey Allah,

وَالْمُنَـفِقِينَ

(those who spend) from their wealth on all the acts of obedience they were commanded, being kind to kith and kin, helping the needy, and comforting the destitute.

وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالاٌّسْحَارِ

(and those who pray and beg Allah's pardon in the last hours of the night) and this testifies to the virtue of seeking Allah's forgiveness in the latter part of the night. It was reported that when Ya`qub said to his children,

سَوْفَ أَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكُمْ رَبِّى

(I will ask my Lord for forgiveness for you) 12:98 he waited until the latter part of the night to say his supplication.

Furthermore, the Two Sahihs, the Musnad and Sunan collections recorded through several Companions that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«يَنْزِلُ اللهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالى فِي كُلِّ لَيْلَةٍ إِلى سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الْآخِرُ، فَيَقُولُ: هَلْ مِنْ سَائِلٍ فَأُعْطِيَهُ؟ هَلْ مِنْ دَاعٍ فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ؟ هَلْ مِنْ مُسْتَغْفِرٍ فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ؟»

(Every night, when the last third of it remains, our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, descends to the lowest heaven saying, "Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to his invocation Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him")

The Two Sahihs recorded that `A'ishah said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed Witr during the first part, the middle and latter parts of the night. Then, later (in his life), he would perform it (only) during the latter part." `Abdullah bin `Umar used to pray during the night and would ask, "O Nafi`! Is it the latter part of the night yet" and if Nafi` said, "Yes," Ibn `Umar would start supplicating to Allah and seeking His forgiveness until dawn. This Hadith was collected by Ibn Abi Hatim.

The patient in obedience and against disobedience al-sābirīna ‘the patient’ is an adjectival qualification of alladhīna ‘those’ truthful in their faith obedient compliant before God expenders of charity imploring God’s pardon by saying ‘Lord forgive us’ at daybreak’ in the last part of the night singled out here for mention because it is the time of unawareness and of the joy of sleep.

In the second verse that follows (15), the same subject has been further cleared by saying:

قُلْ أَؤُنَبِّئُكُم بِخَيْرٍ‌ مِّن ذَٰلِكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا عِندَ رَ‌بِّهِمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِ‌ي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ‌ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَأَزْوَاجٌ مُّطَهَّرَ‌ةٌ وَرِ‌ضْوَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّـهِ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ بَصِيرٌ‌ بِالْعِبَادِ ﴿15﴾

Say: "Shall I not tell you what is far better than that? For those who fear Allah, there are with their Lord gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they shall live forever, and wives purified, and approval from Allah. And Allah is watchful over His servants."

Here, the address is to the Holy Prophet ﷺ who is being asked to tell those who become obsessed with imperfect and perishable blessings they find in the present life that he is in a position to lead them on to far better blessings. These shall be the lot of those who fear Allah and are obedient to Him. These blessings are, 'gardens beneath which rivers flow, wives purified and favours from Allah' - the last being the ultimate man can and should aspire for.

It will be recalled that in the preceding verse (14), the total count of blessings that infatuate man was given as six women, children, heaps of gold and silver, fine horses, cattle and tillage. As compared to that, only three blessings of the Hereafter, that is, the gardens of Par-adise, wives purified and the approval from Allah have been identified. Out of the rest, children were not mentioned because man loves children during his life in the world as children help and strengthen him in what he does and through them his name lives on. But, in the Here-after he would not need such help, nor would he 'die' in which case he may have to look for an heir. Apart from this, whoever has children would have them all in the Paradise. Whoever has no children in the mortal world would, to begin with, just not have the desire to have them in the Paradise. Should someone desire that he may have children, Allah Almighty would bless him with children. According to a hadith in Jami` al-Tirmidhi, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: 'If a dweller of Paradise wishes to have children, the process of pregnancy, birth and growth of the child will be completed in no time and he would have what he wished for.'

Similarly, gold and silver were not mentioned in relation to the Paradise because gold and silver are needed in the mortal world as material things are bought against them or anything else one-needs can be procured through them. In the Hereafter, there will be just no need to buy anything or sell anything or pay for anything. Instead of that, whatever the dweller of Paradise needs will be instantly provided. Incidentally, the Paradise itself is not without gold and silver.

Some sayings of the Prophet ﷺ mention that some places of Paradise will have bricks of gold and silver masoned one after the other. However, in view of the uniqueness of that life; gold and silver were not considered worth mentioning.

Now the horses. In the world of our experience, horses help cover distances. In the other world, there is no travel and no riding but, sound hadith reports do prove that fine horses will be presented before the dwellers of Paradise on Fridays which they will ride to go and meet friends and relatives. As is evident, horses were not worth mentioning in this context, which is also true about cattles and farms and their produce. The services they provide have already been provided in the Paradise by Allah Almighty without their medium.

However, should there be someone there who for some unnecessary reason wishes to try farming, he will have his wish granted. As it appears in some reports in al-Tabarani, everything needed for farming will be assembled instantly for such a person. Thereafter the whole process of ploughing, seeding, ripening and cutting will be accomplished in no time and he will have what he wished for before him. So, among the blessings of the آخرۃ Akhirah, the mention of 'wives purified' was considered sufficient because the Holy Qur'an has another promise for the people of Paradise: وَلَهُم مَّا يَشْتَهُونَ ﴿57﴾ And for them there is what they wish for). After such a comprehensive declaration, there remains no need to individually mention any particular blessing. Those that have been mentioned are blessings already there without any need to ask for these.

The last and most important messing mentioned is the approval of Allah Almighty something one cannot easily conceptualize - after which there is no danger of displeasure from Allah. According to a hadith, when the people of Paradise would have settled down there, happy and content without having any desire remaining unfulfilled, Allah Almighty will speak to them asking if they are happy and if they need anything. They will say: Our Lord, You have given us everything, what else could we ever need. Allah Almighty would say: Now I give you the greatest of all blessings - you all have My approval that I will never be displeased with you, and nearness forever.

Since the danger of Allah's displeasure does not exist in Paradise, there is also no danger that the blessings of Paradise will ever be taken back or reduced.

It is the very subject of these verses that the Holy Prophet has summarized in the following hadith:

الدنیا ملعونۃ و ملعون ما فیھا الا ما ابتغی بہ وجہ اللہ وفی روایہ الا

زکر اللہ و ما والاہ او عالماً او متعلماً

'Wordly life is cursed and cursed is what is in there, except what is used to seek the pleasure of Allah'. According to another narration: ' except the Dhikr (Remembrance) of Allah and what Allah likes and except ` Alim عالِم (religious scholar) and Talib ilm طالب العلم (student in religion).'

This hadith has been reported by Ibn Majah and al-Tabarani on the authority of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ .

The patient, the truthful, the devoted, the expenders, those who ask forgiveness at dawn. The patient, that is, with their hearts, the truthful with their spirits, the devoted with their souls, the expenders of what they are able, those who ask forgiveness with their tongues.2 The chevaliers are those whose speaking is this and whose doing is this. In the heart they are patient with the Real's command, in the spirit they walk straight in the Real's covenant, in the body they observe the right- ful due of the Real's command, with wealth they spend in the Real's road, with tongue they ask forgiveness and seek from the Real's generosity. The patient: That is, they are patient in trial and they reject complaint until they reach the Patron, nothing of this world or the afterworld holding them back. They are patient in every trial and put aside complaint. They turn their faces away from both this world and the afterworld until they reach the Patron. The truthful: That is, they speak the truth in seeking, so they aim straight, then they speak the truth until they witness. They speak truthfully and begin traveling. They travel truthfully to reach the domicile. They think truthfully to reach the destination. Then they put aside the marks bearing witness to truthfulness and throw themselves into the ocean to reach the shore of security and the seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The devoted: That is, in clinging to the door, drinking down sorrow, leaving aside loved ones, and rejecting companions until they realize proximity. They put on the clothing of poverty and hold up the hands of need at the door of the house of generosity: “Until You open, we will not leave, and until You caress, we will not go away.” Sometimes they are in prostration, sometimes standing, sometimes in fear, sometimes in hope. From the Exalted Presence comes this caress: “The field of friendship's road is solitariness, and the drinker of its wine is promised vision. Who- ever is truthful will one day reach his desire.” Some day good fortune will enter my door, some day the sun of elation will rise, Some day You will cast a glance at me, some day this sorrow of mine will end. The expenders: That is, they are munificent with their property to the extent they are able, then with their souls in respect of deeds, then with their hearts through truthfulness of states.