The Thirty- Sixth
Surah Ya Sin (O Thou Human Being) Mecca 41
36: 13 AND SET FORTH unto them a parable - [the story of how] the people of a township [behaved] when [Our] message-bearers came unto them.
(34:14) Lo! We sent unto them two [apostles], and they gave the lie to both; and so We strengthened [the two] with a third; and thereupon they said: "Behold, we have been sent unto you [by God]!" 10
36:15 [The others] answered: "You are nothing but mortal men like ourselves; moreover, the Most Gracious has never bestowed aught [of revelation] from on high. You do nothing but lie !""
(36:16) Said [the apostles]: "Our Sustainer knows that we have indeed been sent unto you;
(36:17) but we are not bound to do more than clearly deliver the message [entrusted to us]."
36:18 Said [the others]: "Truly, we augur evil from you! 12 Indeed, if you desist not, we will surely stone you, and grievous suffering is bound to befall you at our hands!"
36:19 [The apostles] replied: "Your destiny, good or evil, is [bound up] with yourselves! 13 [Does it seem evil to you] if you are told to take [the truth] to heart? Nay, but you are people who have wasted their own selves!" 14
36:20 At that, a man came running from the farthest end of the city, [and] exclaimed: "O my people! Follow these message-bearers!
(36:21) Follow those who ask no reward of you, and themselves are rightly guided!
The Quranic text and Ali’s version of 36:13-22
وَاضْرِبْ
لَهُم مَّثَلاً
أَصْحَابَ
الْقَرْيَةِ ...
13. Set forth to them, by way of a parable, the (story of) the Companions of the City.
C3957. Many of the classical Commentators have supposed that the City referred to was Antioch.
Now Antioch was one of the most important cities in North Syria in the first century of the Christian era. It was a Greek city founded by Seleucus Nicator, one of the successors of Alexander, about 300 B.C. in memory of his father Antiochus. It was close to the sea, and had its sea-port at Seleucia. Soon after Christ his disciples successfully preached there, and they "were called Christians first in Antioch":Acts, 11:26.
It afterwards became the seat of a most important Bishopric of the Christian Church.
In the story told here "by way of a parable", the City rejected the Message, and the City was destroyed: 36:29.
Following Ibn Kathir, I reject the identification with Antioch decisively. No name, or period, or place is mentioned in the text.
The significance of the story is in the lessons to be derived from it as a parable, for which see the next note. That is independent of name, time, or place.
... إِذْ جَاءهَا الْمُرْسَلُونَ ﴿١٣﴾
Behold, there came messengers to it.
إِذْ
أَرْسَلْنَا
إِلَيْهِمُ
اثْنَيْنِ
فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا...
14. When We (first) sent to them two messengers, they rejected them:
... فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ ...
but We strengthened them with a third:
C3958. Allah sends His messengers or teachers of Truth by ones and twos, and where the opposition is great and He considers it necessary, he supports them with others.
Their mission is divine, but they do not claim to be more than men. This is used by the unjust and the ungodly as if it were a reproach, whereas it should commend them to men, for mankind is glorified by such commission and by Allah's Self-revelation.
The Message is clearly expressed in human language, but because it exposes all evil, men think it unlucky, as it checks their selfishness. It is often the poorest and most despised of mankind, from the outskirts or "farthest parts of the City", that accept the Message and are willing to work and die for it. The stiff-necked resist and accomplish their own destruction.
... فَقَالُوا إِنَّا إِلَيْكُم مُّرْسَلُونَ ﴿١٤﴾
they said, "Truly, we have been sent on a mission to you."
قَالُوا
مَا أَنتُمْ
إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ
مِّثْلُنَا ...
15. The (people) said:
"Ye are only men like ourselves;
C3959. Cf. Acts, 14:15, where Paul and Barnabas say, in the city of Lystra near the modern Konia, "We also are men with like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities..."
... وَمَا أَنزَلَ الرَّحْمن مِن شَيْءٍ...
and (Allah) Most Gracious sends no sort of revelation:
C3960. They not only reject the mission of the particular messengers, but they deny the possibility of Allah's sending such mission.
Note how they convict themselves of inconsistency by using Allah's name "Most Gracious", even though they may mean it ironically!
... إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلاَّ تَكْذِبُونَ ﴿١٥﴾
Ye do nothing but lie."
قَالُوا
رَبُّنَا يَعْلَمُ
إِنَّا إِلَيْكُمْ
لَمُرْسَلُونَ ﴿١٦﴾
16. They said:
"Our Lord doth know that we have been sent on a mission to you:
C3961. Just as a Messenger whose credentials are doubted can refer to the authority granted by his Principal, as the highest proof of his mission, so these messengers of Allah invoke the authority of Allah in proof of their mission.
In effect they say: "The knowledge of Allah is perfect, and He knows that our mission is from Him; if you do not, it is your own misfortune." (R).
وَمَا
عَلَيْنَا
إِلاَّ الْبَلاَغُ
الْمُبِينُ ﴿١٧﴾
17. "And Our duty is only to proclaim the clear Message."
C3962. Then they proceed to explain what their mission is.
It is not to force them but to convince them. It is to proclaim openly and clearly Allah's Law, which they were breaking,-to denounce their sins and to show them the better path. If they were obstinate, it was their own loss. If they were rebellious against Allah, the punishment rested with Allah.
قَالُوا
إِنَّا تَطَيَّرْنَا
بِكُمْ...
18. The (people) said:
"For us, We augur an evil omen from you:
C3963. Tair means a bird.
Like the Roman augurs, the Arabs had a superstition about deriving omens from birds.
Cf. the English word "auspicious", from the Latin avis, a bird, and specio, I see.
From Tair (bird) came ta-taiyara, or ittaiyara, to draw evil omens. Because the prophets of Allah denounced evil, the evil-doers thought that they brought ill-luck to them.
As a matter of fact any evil that happened to them was the result of their own Hi-deeds.
Cf. 7:131, where the Egyptians ascribed their calamities to the ill-luck brought by Moses:
and 27:47, where the Thamud ascribed ill-luck to the preaching of Salih.
... لَئِن لَّمْ تَنتَهُوا لَنَرْجُمَنَّكُمْ وَلَيَمَسَّنَّكُم مِّنَّا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿١٨﴾
if ye desist not, we will certainly stone you, and a grievous punishment indeed will be inflicted on you by us."
قَالُوا
طَائِرُكُمْ
مَعَكُمْ ...
19. They said:
"Your evil omens are with yourselves:
C3964. 'What ye call omens arise from your own ill-deeds. Do you suppose that a man who comes to warn you and teach you the better way brings you ill-luck?
Fie upon you!'
... أَئِن ذُكِّرْتُم...
(deem ye this an evil omen), if ye are admonished?
... بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ ﴿١٩﴾
Nay, but ye are a people transgressing all bounds!"
C3965. To call Good evil and accuse of falsehood men of truth who come unselfishly to bring the message of the beneficent Mercy of Allah, is the very height of extravagance and transgression.
وَجَاء
مِنْ أَقْصَى
الْمَدِينَةِ
رَجُلٌ يَسْعَى...
20. Then there came running, from the farthest part of the City, a man,
C3966. While the wealthy, influential, and fashionable men in the city were doubtful of Allah's providence and superstitiously believed in Chance and evil omens, the Truth was seen by a man in the outskirts of the City, a man held in low esteem by the arrogant. He had believed, and he wanted his City to believe.
So, in Arabia, when the arrogant chiefs of the Quraish exiled the holy Prophet, it was men from Madinah and from the outskirts, who welcomed him, believed in him, and supported his mission in every way.
... قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اتَّبِعُوا الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴿٢٠﴾
saying,
"O my people! obey the messengers:
اتَّبِعُوا
مَن لاَّ يَسْأَلُكُمْ
أَجْرًا وَهُم
مُّهْتَدُونَ ﴿٢١﴾
21. "Obey those who ask no reward of you (for themselves), and who have themselves received Guidance.
C3967. Prophets do not seek their own advantage. They serve Allah and humanity. 'Their hope lies in the good pleasure of Allah, to Whose service they are devoted.
وَمَا
لِي لاَ أَعْبُدُ
الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي ...
36:22. "It would not be reasonable in me if I did not serve Him Who created me,
... وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾
and to Whom ye shall (all) be brought back.
Asad’s version
(36:22) "[As for me,] why should I not worship Him who has brought me into being, and to whom you all will be brought back?
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[[ Asad’s note:
10 As is usual with such passages, the commentators advance various speculations as to the "identity" of the town and the apostles. Since, however, the story is clearly described as a parable, it must be understood as such and not as an histoncal narrative. It seems to me that we have here an allegory of the three great monotheistic religions, successively propounded by Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, and embodying, essentially, the same spiritual truths. The "township" (qaryah) mentioned in the
parable represents, I think, the common cultural environment within which these three religions appeared. The apostles of the first two are said to have been sent "together", implying that the teachings of both were - and are - anchored in one and the same scripture, the Old Testament of the Bible. When, in the course of time, their impact proved insufficient to mould the ethical attitude of the people or peoples concerned, God "strengthened" them by means of His final message, conveyed to the world by the third and last of the apostles, Muhammad.
11 Cf. 6:91 "no true understanding of God have they when they say, 'Never has God revealed anything unto man.'" See also 34:31 and the corresponding note 38. Both these passages, as well as the one above, allude to people who like to think of themselves as "believing" in God without, however, allowing their "belief" to interfere in the practical concerns of their lives: and this they justify by conceding to religion no more than a vaguely emotional role, and by refusing to admit the fact of objective revelation for the concept of revelation invariably implies a promulgation, by God, of absolute moral values and, thus, a demand for one's self-surrender to them.
12 For an explanation of the phrase tat ayyania bikum, see surah 7, note 95.
13 Cf. 17:13 "every human being's destiny (ta-'ir) have We tied to his neck" and the
corresponding note 17.
1 4 For this rendering of musrifan (sing, musrif), see note 21 on the last sentence of 1 0: 1 2. ]]
[[ Ali’s note:
C3968. The argument throughout is that of intense personal conviction for the individual himself, coupled with an appeal to his people to follow that conviction and get the benefit of the spiritual satisfaction which he has himself achieved. He says in effect:
'how is it possible for me to do otherwise than to serve and adore my Maker?
I shall return to Him, and so will you, and all this applies to you as much as to me.'
Note how effective is the transition from the personal experience to the collective appeal.]]