45. Surah Al-Jathiyah (Kneeling Down)
Mecca Period 65 [37 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
حم
﴿١﴾
45: 1. Ha Mim.
C4735. See Introduction to Surah 40.
تَنزِيلُ
الْكِتَابِ
مِنَ
اللَّهِ
الْعَزِيزِ
الْحَكِيمِ
﴿٢﴾
45: 2. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Exalted in power, Full of Wisdom.
C4736. This verse is the same as 40:2, except that "wisdom" is here substituted in the last line for "knowledge".
This is appropriate, as in this Surah we are dealing with the folly of those who reject Allah and His Signs, while Surah 40. dealt with the individual soul's witness to Faith and Virtue.
إِنَّ
فِي
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ
لَآيَاتٍ
لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينََ
﴿٣﴾
45: 3. Verily in the heavens and the earth, are Signs for those who believe.
C4737. Verses 3-5 deal with some of the points in the noble argument in 2:164, but again there are differences on account of the different context.
Note that here the argument is divided into three parts, one in each verse.
- In verse 3 we are dealing with big Signs external to ourselves, some of which are far beyond our personal experiences: for them we require Faith: they are Signs "for those who believe."
For the other two see the next two notes.
وَفِي
خَلْقِكُمْ...
45: 4. And in the creation of yourselves
C4738.
- These Signs are in our own nature and in the animals we meet with every day; here we have certainty within human limits:
...وَمَا يَبُثُّ مِن دَابَّةٍ آيَاتٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ ﴿٤﴾
and the fact that animals are scattered (through the earth), are Signs for those of assured Faith.
these are "for those of assured Faith".
وَاخْتِلَافِ
اللَّيْلِ
وَالنَّهَارِ...
45: 5. And in the alternation of Night and Day,
C4739.
- These are our daily experiences from external things, but they affect us and our lives intimately:
here are questions of deductions "for those that are wise."
...وَمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّمَاء مِن رِّزْقٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا...
and the fact that Allah sends down Sustenance from the sky, and revives therewith the earth after its death,
C4740. "Sustenance" is almost equivalent here to "rain".
And "rain" itself, and its revival of a dead earth, refer symbolically to Revelation and its putting new life into a dead soul.
Similarly the alternation of Night and Day, and the change of the winds, besides being Signs as wonderful phenomena of Nature, refer to spiritual ignorance and knowledge, rest and activity, and the constant beneficent changes that are going on in the world, making for the spread of the blessing of Allah's Revelation.
...وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ آيَاتٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ﴿٥﴾
and the change of the winds, are Signs for those that are wise.
Asad’s Version:
In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:
45:1 Ha. Mim. 1 THE BESTOWAL from on high of this divine writ I issues from God, the Almighty, the Wise.
45:3 Behold, in the heavens as well as on earth there are indeed messages for all who [are willing to] believe. 2
(45:4) And in your own nature, and in [that of] all the animals which He scatters [over the earth] there are messages for people who are endowed with inner certainty. 3
45:5 And in the succession of night and day, and in the means of subsistence 4 which God sends down from the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and in the change of the winds: [in all this] there are messages for people who use their reason.
[[Asad’s notes - 1 See Appendix II.
2 Cf. 2:164, where the term ayat has been rendered by me in the same way, inasmuch as those visible signs of a consciously creative Power convey a spiritual message to man.
3 Cf. 7:185 and the corresponding note 151 . - The intricate structure of human and animal bodies, and the life-preserving instincts with which all living creatures have been endowed, make it virtually impossible to assume that all this has developed "by accident"; and if we assume, as we must, that a creative purpose underlies this development, we must conclude, too, that it has been willed by a conscious Power which creates all natural phenomena in accordance with an inner truth" (see note 1 1 on 10:5).
4 I.e., rain, with the symbolic connotation of physical and spiritual grace often attached to it in the Qur'an. ]]