58 . Surah Al-Mujadalah (The Pleading)
Medina Period [105]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا إِذَا
قِيلَ لَكُمْ
تَفَسَّحُوا
فِي الْمَجَالِسِ
فَافْسَحُوا...
58: 11. O ye who believe!
When ye are told to make room in the assemblies, (spread out and) make room:
C5347. Even when a great man or a Leader comes into an Assembly, we are not to press forward without discipline, as it causes inconvenience to him and detriment to public business. Nor are we to shut out other people who have equal rights to be in the Assembly. We must spread out, for Allah's earth is spacious, and so are our opportunities
...يَفْسَحِ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ...
(Ample) room will Allah provide for you.
...وَإِذَا قِيلَ انشُزُوا فَانشُزُوا...
And when ye are told to rise up, rise up:
C5348. Rising up is a mark of respect. Just as those who obey soon become worthy of command, so those who honour where honour is due, become themselves worthy of honour, in various degrees according to their capacities.
"Rise up" here may imply: 'when the Assembly is dismissed, do not loiter about'.
...يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ دَرَجَاتٍ...
Allah will raise up, to (suitable) ranks (and degrees), those of you who believe and who have been granted Knowledge:
C5349. Faith makes all people equal in the Kingdom of Allah, as regards the essentials of citizenship in the Kingdom. But there is leadership, and rank and degree, joined with greater or less responsibility, and that depends on true knowledge and insight. (R).
...وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ ﴿١١﴾
and Allah is well-acquainted with all ye do.
Asad’s Version:
58:11 O YOU who have attained to faith! When you are told, "Make room for one another in your collective life", 18 do make room: [and in return,] God will make room for you [in His grace]. 18 And whenever you are told, "Rise up [for a good deed]", do rise up; 20 [and] God will exalt by [many] degrees those of you who have attained to faith and, [above all,] such as have been vouchsafed [true] knowledge: 21 for God is fully aware of all that you do.
[[Asad’s note - 1 8 Lit., "in the assemblies (al-majalis)" . Although it is frequently assumed that this refers to the assemblies held by the Prophet, when his followers would throng around him in their eagerness the better to hear what he had to say, or - more generally - to congregations in mosques, etc., in later times, I am (with Razi) of the opinion that the plural noun majalis is used here in a tropical or metaphorical
sense, denoting the totality of men's social life. Taken in this sense, the "making room for one another" implies the mutual providing of opportunities for a decent life to all - and especially to the needy or handicapped - members of the community. See also next note.
19 Commenting on this passage, Razi says: "This verse indicates that if one widens the means (abwab) of happiness and well-being of God's creatures ('ibad), God will widen for him all that is good in this life and in the hereafter. Hence, no reasonable person (al-'aqil) could ever restrict [the purport of] this 'verse to merely making room for one another in an [actual) assembly."
20 The interpretation implied in the words "for a good deed" interpolated by me above is analogous to that offered by most of the classical commentators, and most explicitly by Tabari; in the words of Qatadah (ibid.), "Whenever you are called upon to do a good deed, respond to this call. "
21 Cf. the saying of the Prophet: "The superiority of a learned man ('alim) over a [mere] worshipper ('abid) is like the superiority of the moon on the night when it is full over all other stars" (Ibn Hanbal, Abu Da'ud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Darimi). ]]