37:6 As-Saaffaat (Those drawn up in Ranks)

وخص اللّه المشارق بالذكر، لدلالتها على المغارب، أو لأنها مشارق النجوم التي سيذكرها، فلهذا قال: { إِنَّا زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِينَةٍ الْكَوَاكِبِ وَحِفْظًا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ مَارِدٍ لَا يَسَّمَّعُونَ إِلَى الْمَلَإِ الْأَعْلَى } ذكر اللّه في الكواكب هاتين الفائدتين العظيمتين: إحداهما: كونها زينة للسماء، إذ لولاها، لكانت السماء جرما مظلما لا ضوء فيها، ولكن زينها فيها لتستنير أرجاؤها، وتحسن صورتها، ويهتدى بها في ظلمات البر والبحر، ويحصل فيها من المصالح ما يحصل.والثانية: حراسة السماء عن كل شيطان مارد، يصل بتمرده إلى استماع الملأ الأعلى، وهم الملائكة، فإذا استمعت قذفتها بالشهب الثواقب { مِنْ كُلِّ جَانِبٍ } طردا لهم، وإبعادا عن استماع ما يقول الملأ الأعلى.

يخبر تعالى أنه زين السماء الدنيا للناظرين إليها من أهل الأرض بزينة الكواكب قرئ بالإضافة وبالبدل وكلاهما بمعنى واحد فالكواكب السيارة والثوابت يثقب ضوءها جرم السماء الشفاف فتضيء لأهل الأرض كما قال تبارك وتعالى "ولقد زينا السماء الدنيا بمصابيح وجعلناها رجوما للشياطين واعتدنا لهم عذاب السعير" وقال عز وجل "ولقد جعلنا في السماء بروجا وزيناها للناظرين وحفظناها من كل شيطان رجيم إلا من استرق السمع فأتبعه شهاب مبين".

The Adornment and Protection of the Heaven comes from Allah

Allah tells us that He has adorned the lowest heaven with the heavenly bodies for those among the people of the earth who look at it. The stars and planets in the sky give light to the people of earth, as Allah says:

وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا السَّمَآءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَـبِيحَ وَجَعَلْنَـهَا رُجُوماً لِّلشَّيَـطِينِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابَ السَّعِيرِ

(And indeed We have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps, and We have made such lamps (as) missiles to drive away the Shayatin, and have prepared for them the torment of the blazing Fire.) (67:5),

وَلَقَدْ جَعَلْنَا فِى السَّمَاءِ بُرُوجًا وَزَيَّنَّـهَا لِلنَّـظِرِينَ - وَحَفِظْنَـهَا مِن كُلِّ شَيْطَـنٍ رَّجِيمٍ - إِلاَّ مَنِ اسْتَرَقَ السَّمْعَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ مُّبِينٌ

(And indeed, We have put the big stars in the heaven and We beautified it for the beholders. And We have guarded it from every outcast Shaytan. Except him who steals the hearing then he is pursued by a clear flaming fire.) (15:16-18). And Allah says here:

وَحِفْظاً

(And to guard) meaning, to protect as it should be protected,

مِّن كُلِّ شَيْطَـنٍ مَّارِدٍ

(against every rebellious Shaytan. ) means, every insolent and impudent devil, when he wants to eavesdrop (on news in the heavens), a piercing fire comes and burns him. Allah, may He be glorified, says:

لاَّ يَسَّمَّعُونَ إِلَى الْمَلإِ الاٌّعْلَى

(They cannot listen to the higher group) meaning, they cannot reach the higher group -- which refers to the heavens and the angels in them -- when they speak of what has been revealed by Allah of His Laws and decrees. We have already mentioned this when explaining the Hadiths quoted when we discussed the Ayah,

حَتَّى إِذَا فُزِّعَ عَن قُلُوبِهِمْ قَالُواْ مَاذَا قَالَ رَبُّكُمْ قَالُواْ الْحَقَّ وَهُوَ الْعَلِىُّ الْكَبِيرُ

(when fear is banished from their hearts, they say: "What is it that your Lord has said" They say: "The truth. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.) (34:23). Allah says:

وَيَقْذِفُونَ

(for they are pelted) meaning, they are hit,

مِن كُلِّ جَانِبٍ

(from every side.) means, from all directions from which they try to reach the heaven.

دُحُوراً

(Outcast,) means, they are rejected, and are repelled and prevented from reaching it, and they are pelted.

وَلَهُمْ عَذابٌ وَاصِبٌ

(and theirs is a constant torment.) means, in the Hereafter, they will have an ongoing, everlasting and painful torment, as Allah says:

وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابَ السَّعِيرِ

(and We have prepared for them the torment of the blazing Fire) (67:5).

إِلاَّ مَنْ خَطِفَ الْخَطْفَةَ

(Except such as snatch away something by stealing,) means, except for the one among the Shayatin who manages to get something, which is a word he has heard from the heaven. Then he throws it down to the one who is beneath him, who in turn throws it down to the one who is beneath him. Perhaps the flaming fire will strike him before he is able to throw it down, or perhaps he will throw it -- by the decree of Allah -- before the flaming fire strikes him and burns him. So the other devil takes it to the soothsayer, as we have seen previously in the Hadith. Allah says:

إِلاَّ مَنْ خَطِفَ الْخَطْفَةَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ ثَاقِبٌ

(Except such as snatch away something by stealing, and they are pursued by a flaming fire of piercing brightness.) meaning, shining brightly. Ibn Jarir recorded that Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Shayatin had places where they sat in the heavens listening to what was being revealed by Allah. The stars did not move and the Shayatin were not struck. When they heard the revelation, they would come down to earth and to every word they would add nine of their own. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sent, if a Shaytan wanted to take his seat in the heavens, the flaming fire would come and would not miss him; it would burn him every time. They complained about this to Iblis, may Allah curse him, and he said, `Something must have happened.' He sent his troops out and they found the Messenger of Allah ﷺ standing in prayer between the two mountains of Nakhlah." -- Waki` said, "This means in the valley of Nakhlah." -- "They went back to Iblis and told him about that, and he said, `This is what has happened."'

We have indeed adorned the lowest heaven with an adornment the stars that is to say adorned with their light or with them the stars the genitive annexation bi-zīnati’l-kawākib is for explication; similarly explicative is the reading of bi-zīnatin ‘with an adornment’ with nunation the adornment explained as being ‘the stars’;

In the next verse, it was said: إِنَّا زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِينَةٍ الْكَوَاكِبِ (Verily, We have decorated the nearest sky with an adornment, the stars, - 37:6). Here, the expression السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا : (as-sama'ud-dunya: the nearest sky) means the closest sky. The sense is that Allah Ta’ ala has made this sky closest to the world look good through the glittering presence of stars. Now, it is not necessary that these stars are located precisely within the sky. In fact, even if they are detached from it, even then, should they be looked at from the earth, they appear to be on the sky - and keep imparting a glow to it. What is being said here is no more but that this star spangled sky is an open proof of the fact that it did not come into existence on its own, instead, it has been created by its creator. And why a Being that can bring such enormous things into existence would need any partner and sharer in His creation? In addition to that, when even the disbelievers find it a settled matter that Allah Ta’ ala is the creator of all heavenly bodies, would it not be injustice that, despite His being the Creator and Master, someone or something else be taken as the object of worship? As for the problem of stars being part of the sky or being separate from it in the light of the Qur'an as well as that of the coherence of astronomy with the noble Qur'an, these have been taken up in detail in the commentary on Surah al-Hijr (Ma’ ariful-Qur an, Volume V, Verses 15:16, page 302)