Keeping Together What is to be Joined
Ruby’s comments – These verses that addressed the issue from positive side that is righteous keep together that are to remain joined, the Quran also address it from negative side that is how heinous sin it as associating with dreadful punishments for severing that are supposed to be together or joined. The subject is extremely important in Islam and it is nebulous. The injunction touches a person’s all aspects of life and living: family relations, relations with friends, neighbors, relatives and kith and kin, all social and political affairs one stubbles into. Causing dissension and division in an organization, or in a group one belongs, any action that destabilizes an organization or institution including but not limited to governmental, social, religious may fall into this serious violation of moral code. From the positive side, in essence, any activity or behavior that contribute towards or promotes justice, stability and peace may very well belong to the domain of this critical injunction of the Quran.
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَفَمَن
يَعْلَمُ أَنَّمَا
أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ
مِن رَبِّكَ
الْحَقُّ كَمَنْ
هُوَ أَعْمَى...
13: 19. Is then one who doth know that that which hath been revealed unto these from thy Lord is the Truth, like one who is blind?
C1834. In this section the contrast between Faith and Righteousness on the one hand and Infidelity and Evil on the other is set out.
The righteous man is known as one who;
- receives admonition;
- is true to his covenants;
- follows the universal Religion of Faith and Practice joined together;
- is patient and persevering in seeking Allah;
and in practical matters he is known to be;
- regular in prayer;
- generous in true charity, whether open or secret; and
- not revengeful, but anxious to turn off evil with good, thus breaking the chain of evil which tends to perpetuate itself.
...إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُواْ الأَلْبَابِ ﴿١٩﴾
It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition --
الَّذِينَ
يُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِ
اللّهِ وَلاَ
يِنقُضُونَ
الْمِيثَاقَ ﴿٢٠﴾
13: 20. Those who fulfil the Covenant of Allah and fail not in their plighted word;
وَالَّذِينَ
يَصِلُونَ مَا
أَمَرَ اللّهُ
بِهِ أَن يُوصَلَ...
13: 21. Those who join together those things which Allah hath commanded to be joined,
- join faith with practice,
- love of God with love of man, and
- respect for all Prophets alike, i.e., follow the right Religion, and not odd bits of it.
...وَيَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ وَيَخَافُونَ سُوءَ الحِسَابِ ﴿٢١﴾
hold their Lord in awe, and fear the terrible reckoning;
وَالَّذِينَ
صَبَرُواْ
ابْتِغَاء
وَجْهِ رَبِّهِمْ...
13: 22. Those who patiently persevere, seeking the countenance their Lord;
...وَأَقَامُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَأَنفَقُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلاَنِيَةً...
establish regular prayers;
spend, out of (the gifts) We have bestowed for their sustenance, secretly and openly;
...وَيَدْرَؤُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ...
and turn off Evil with good:
...أُوْلَئِكَ لَهُمْ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ ﴿٢٢﴾
for such there is the final attainment of the (Eternal) Home --
C1836. Their journey in this life was at best a sojourn. The Heaven is their eternal Home, which is further prefigured in the two following verses.
جَنَّاتُ
عَدْنٍ يَدْخُلُونَهَا
وَمَنْ صَلَحَ
مِنْ آبَائِهِمْ
وَأَزْوَاجِهِمْ
وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ...
13: 23. Gardens of perpetual bliss:
they shall enter there, as well as the righteous among their fathers, their spouses, and their offspring:
C1837. The relationships of this life are temporal, but love in righteousness is eternal.
In the eternal Gardens of Bliss the righteous will be reunited with all those near and dear ones whom they loved, provided only that they were righteous also; for in eternity nothing else counts.
Blood-relationships and marriage relationships create certain physical bonds in this life, which may lead to much good, and possibly also to evil. All that is physical or evil will go. But the good will come forth with a new meaning in the final Reckoning. Thus ancestors and descendants, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, (for dhurriyat includes them), whose love was pure and sanctified, will find new bliss in the perfecting of their love and will see a new and mystic meaning in the old and ephemeral bonds.
Can we wonder at Jacob's reunion with Joseph, or that of Moses with Aaron, or Muhammad Al Mustafa with the Lady Khadija?
In fact all the Righteous will be reunited in the Hereafter (12:101).
...وَالمَلاَئِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِم مِّن كُلِّ بَابٍ ﴿٢٣﴾
and angels shall enter unto them from every gate (with the salutation):
سَلاَمٌ
عَلَيْكُم بِمَا
صَبَرْتُمْ
فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى
الدَّارِ ﴿٢٤﴾
13: 24. "Peace unto you for that ye persevered in patience!
Now how excellent is the final Home!"
Asad’s Version:
13:19 CAN, THEN, he who knows that whatever has been bestowed from on high upon thee by thy Sustainer is the truth be deemed equal to one who is blind? Only they who are endowed with insight keep this in mind:
(13:20) they who are true to their bond with God and never break
their covenant; 42
(13:21) and who keep together what God has bidden to be joined," and stand in awe of their Sustainer and fear the most evil reckoning [which awaits such as do not respond to Him];
(13:22) and who are patient in adversity out of a longing for their Sustainer's countenance, and are constant in prayer, and spend on others, secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance, and [who] repel evil with good. 44
It is these that shall find their fulfilment in the hereafter: 45 (13:23) gardens of perpetual bliss, which they shall enter together with the righteous from among their parents, their spouses, and their offspring; 46 and the angels will come unto them from every gate [and will say]:
(13:24) "Peace be upon you, because you have persevered!" How excellent, then, this fulfilment in the hereafter!
13: 21
Yusuf Ali Those who join together those things which Allah hath commanded to be joined hold their Lord in awe and fear the terrible reckoning;
Pickthall Such as unite that which Allah hath commanded should be joined, and fear their Lord, and dread a woeful reckoning.
Transliteration Wallazina yasilu_na ma_ amaralla_hu bihi ay yu_sala wa yakhsyauna rabbahum wa yakha_fu_na su_'al hisa_b(i).
[ Asad note 43: This refers to all ties arising from human relationships – e.g., the bonds of family, responsibility for orphans and the poor, the mutual rights and duties of neighbors – as well as the spiritual and practical bonds which ought to exist between all who belong to the brotherhood of Islam……..according to Razi – man’s moral duty to treat all living beings with love and compassion. ]
[ Ali’s note 1835 : That is, join faith with practice, love of God with love of man, and respect for all Prophets alike, i.e., follow the right Religion, and not odd bits of it. (13.21) ]