32:3 As-Sajda (The Prostration)

ومن أعظم ما رباهم به، هذا الكتاب، الذي فيه كل ما يصلح أحوالهم، ويتمم أخلاقهم، وأنه لا ريب فيه، ولا شك، ولا امتراء، ومع ذلك قال المكذبون للرسول الظالمون في ذلك: افتراه محمد، واختلقه من عند نفسه، وهذا من أكبر الجراءة على إنكار كلام اللّه، ورمي محمد صلى اللّه عليه وسلم، بأعظم الكذب، وقدرة الخلق على كلام مثل كلام الخالق.وكل واحد من هذه من الأمور العظائم، قال اللّه - رادًا على من قال: افتراه:-{ بَلْ هُوَ الْحَقُّ } الذي لا يأتيه الباطل من بين يديه، ولا من خلفه، تنزيل من حكيم حميد. { مِنْ رَبِّكَ } أنزله رحمة للعباد { لِتُنْذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أَتَاهُمْ مِنْ نَذِيرٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ } أي: في حالة ضرورة وفاقة لإرسال الرسول، وإنزال الكتاب، لعدم النذير، بل هم في جهلهم يعمهون، وفي ظلمة ضلالهم يترددون، فأنزلنا الكتاب عليك { لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ } من ضلالهم، فيعرفون الحق فيؤثرونه.وهذه الأشياء التي ذكرها اللّه كلها، مناقضة لتكذيبهم له: وإنها تقتضي منهم الإيمان والتصديق التام به، وهو كونه { مِنْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ } وأنه { الْحَقُّ } والحق مقبول على كل حال، وأنه { لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ } بوجه من الوجوه، فليس فيه، ما يوجب الريبة، لا بخبر لا يطابق للواقع ولا بخفاء واشتباه معانيه، وأنهم في ضرورة وحاجة إلى الرسالة، وأن فيه الهداية لكل خير وإحسان.

ثم قال تعالى مخبرا عن المشركين "أم يقولون افتراه" أي اختلقه من تلقاء نفسه "بل هو الحق من ربك لتنذر قوما ما أتاهم من نذير من قبلك لعلهم يهتدون" أي يتبعون الحق.

Which was revealed in Al-Madinah

The Virtues of Surah Alif Lam Mim As-Sajdah

In the Book of the Friday prayer, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Hurayrah said, "The Prophet used to recite in Fajr on Fridays:

الم تَنزِيلَ

(Alif Lam Mim. The revelation of...), As-Sajdah, and

هَلْ أَتَى عَلَى الإِنسَـنِ

(Has there not been over man...)Al-Insan (76)." This was also recorded by Muslim. Imam Ahmad recorded that Jabir said, "The Prophet would never sleep until he recited:

الم تَنزِيلَ

(Alif Lam Mim. The revelation of...), As-Sajdah, and

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِى بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ

(Blessed be He in Whose Hand is the dominion) Al-Mulk (67)."

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Qur'an is the Book of Allah in which there is no Doubt

We discussed the individual letters at the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah, and there is no need to repeat it here.

تَنزِيلُ الْكِتَـبِ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ

(The revelation of the Book in which there is no doubt,) means, there is no doubt whatsoever that it has been revealed

مِّن رَّبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(from the Lord of all that exists.) Then Allah tells us about the idolators:

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ

(Or say they: "He has fabricated it"): they say, he has fabricated it, i.e., he has made it up by himself.

بَلْ هُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ لِتُنذِرَ قَوْماً مَّآ أَتَـهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ

(Nay, it is the truth from your Lord, so that you may warn a people to whom no warner has come before you, in order that they may be guided.) means, in order that they may follow the truth.

Or do they say ‘He Muhammad (s) has invented it’? Nay but it is the truth from your Lord that you may warn thereby a people to whom no warner came before you mā is for negation that perhaps they may find right guidance by your warning.

Commentary

At this place, the word: نَّذِيرٍ (nadhir: warner) in: مَّا أَتَاهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ (to whom no warner has come.. -3)means a rasul or messenger.The sense is that no messenger had appeared amidst the Quraish of Makkah before the Holy Prophet t. This does not mean that the call of the messengers had just not reached them until that time, because it was clearly said in another verse of the Qur'an: وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا خَلَا فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ (And there was no community without a warner having passed among them - 35:24). In this verse, (i.e. the verse 35:24) the word: نَّذِيرٍ (warner) appears in its general lexical sense, that is, one who calls people towards Allah, whether a messenger or prophet or one of their deputies, khali'fah or the ` alim of din. So, from this verse, it seems that the call of pure monotheism (tauhid) had reached all communities and groups. That is correct in its place and certainly the dictate of universal Divine mercy. Commentator Abu Hayyan says that the call to tauhid and 'iman has never ceased in any time or place or people. And wherever a long time passed after the appearance of a prophet, it resulted in the dearth of those having the knowledge of the legacy of prophethood. Thereupon, some new prophet or messenger was sent. This requires that the call to tauhid should have reached the Arab peoples definitely, and much earlier. But, for this it is not necessary that the call should have been brought in by some prophet or messenger in person. It is possible that it may have reached through the learned serving as deputies to the prophetic mission. Therefore, the verses of this Surah, Surah Ya Sin and others which prove that no nadhir (warner) had appeared amidst the Quraish of Arabia before the Holy Prophet ﷺ must be approached with the necessary consideration that the word: نَّذِيرٍ (nadhir) used there should mean a prophet and messenger in the technical sense denoting that no prophet and messenger had come amidst those people before the Holy Prophet ﷺ - even though, the call to tauhid and 'iman may have reached there too through other means.

Before the period of فَترَۃ fatrah, that is, before the appearance of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، it stands proved about some blessed souls who firmly adhered to the faith of Sayyidna Ibrahim and Ismail (علیہما السلام) . They believed in the Oneness of Allah and were averse to the worship of and sacrifices for idols.

Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani reports from the Maghazi of Musa Ibn 'Uqbah about one such person whose name was Zayd Ibn ` Amr Ibn Nufayl. He had also met the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، before he was ordained as a prophet. But, it was still before his prophethood that he died in the year the Quraish had built the edifice of the Baytullah - and this happened five years prior to his prophethood. About him, Musa Ibn 'Uqbah says, ` He used to stop the Quraish from indulging in the worship of idols. He opposed the offering of sacrifices in the name of idols as an evil practice and would not eat the meat from animals slaughtered by the Mushriks.'

Abu Dawud Tayalisi has reported from Sayyidna Said Ibn Zayd Ibn Amr ؓ ، the son of Zayd Ibn ` Amr Ibn Nufayl, one of the celebrated ten (عَشرۃ مُبَشّرّۃ) among the noble Sahabah, that he had submitted before the Holy Prophet ﷺ saying: "You already know about my father that he adhered to pure monotheism and rejected idolatry. Can I, then, pray for his forgiveness?" The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes, for him the prayer of forgiveness is permissible. He will, on the day of Qiyamah, rise as a community of his own." (Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani)

Similarly, Warqah Ibn Nawfal ؓ who was present during the initial period of the prophethood and the revelation of the Qur'an was an adherent of pure monotheism (tauhid). He had expressed his resolve to help the Holy Prophet ﷺ but he died soon after. These examples prove that the people of Arabia were though not totally deprived of the Divine call to faith and monotheism, but that no prophet had appeared amidst them as such. Allah knows best.

All three verses cited above carry an affirmation of the veracity of the Qur'an and the Prophet of Islam.