in
the name of allah, the beneficent, the merciful
sura insan
(human)
no.76 (31 verses)
(the arabic meaning of `insan'
is `human'. in the english language
the words `mankind' and `man' are
also used for `human' and we
have used `man' in the text.)
contents of the sura:
in spite of its brevity, this sura
presents a deep, varied and
comprehensive theme which can be
divided into five sections:
1. man's creation from a drop of mingled sperm; his
guidance and his
free-will.
2. the reward offered to the righteous abrar (this
part has a special
occasion for its revelation in
relation to the household of the prophet
(p.b.u.h.), ie. ahlul-bait; which
will be discussed at a later point.)
3. the merits which cause one to deserve the rewards.
4. the importance of the qur'an, the manner of
conducting its
principles and the demanding road
of self-perfection.
5. the dominance of allah's will (even though man has
limited
free-will).
there are different titles for this sura. the most famous are
"man" (insan), "time"
(dahr) and "has there come"
(hal-ata); each of which is taken
from one of the words at the
beginning of the sura; however,
in the traditions we will discuss, here,
about the virtue of the sura,
only hal-ata is mentioned.
* * * *
was the sura revealed
in medina?
the consensus of scholars
and commentators is that all or at least
part of the beginning verses,
which explain the position or dignity of the
righteous and their good deeds,
were revealed in medina. the occasion
of revelation about them, that
is, the story of ali, fatima, hassan,
hosain (p.b.u.h.) and fezza
(their house-helper); and their vows, will be
explained in detail at the
appropriate time.
from among the famous scholars,
we can mention qartabi the
well-known commentator who points
out: "the consensus of
scholars
believe that the sura has been revealed
in medina. 1
in addition to this, we can also
mention the following:
1. hakim ab-ai-qasim haskani has, in detail, quoted
from ibn-abbas
the number of verses, which were
separately revealed in mecca and
medina. he has considered it as a
medinan sura which has been
revealed after sura al-rahman and
before sura al-taha. 2
prof. ahmad zahid, the writer of
`idah', has also quoted the same from
ibn-abbas. 3
2. abu `abdullah zanjani, in his book, tharikh-i-qur'an
(the history of
the qur'an) has quoted from `nazm-ad-
dorar wa tanasiq-ai-ayat-i wa'l-sowar'
that a group of scholars have
considered this sura among the medinan ones. 4
3. from the same source, (tharikh-l-qur'an, quoting
from fihrist-i- ibn nadim)
` is quoted from ibn-abbaas that
this sura is considered the
eleventh medinan sura. 5
4. suyuti, in his book `itqan' has
quoted from dalayl-al-nabowwa by
beyhaqi, who has in turn quoted
from `akrama that: "sura insan was
revealed in medina". 6
5. in durr al-manthur, the same
comment from ibn-abbas is quoted in
different forms. 7
6. tafsjr-i kashshaf, a commentary,
is where zamakhshari has pointed
out that the occasion of
revelation, in the beginning verses, was about
the vows taken by ali, fatima,
hassan and hosain (p.b.u.h.). 8
7. there are still many other scholars, besides the
aforementioned ones,
who say that the beginning verses
are about ali, fatima, hassan and
hosain (p.b.u.h.). 9
this verifies that the sura has
been revealed in medina (since we
know that hassan and hosain
(p.b.u.h.) were born in medina). among
these scholars' books we can
mention the master vahidi's `asbas
al-nozul', baqavi's
`ma'alim-at-tanzil', sebt ibn-jouzi's "tathkirah",
ganji shafi'i's
`kifayat-at-ta1ib' and so on. this verification is so
reputable and well known that
mohammad ibn-idris shafi'i has referred
to it in his poem:
"how
longs, how longs. up until when.
will you reproach me my love
for this sentle man?
was not fatima marries but only to him?
and was not hal-ata reveals
about only but him?"
there are many
other evidences supporting these views, some of which,
will be pointed out later, when
the occasion of revelation of the verses is
discussed.
in spite of these facts, some
enthusiasts still insist on counting the
sura among meccan ones and reject
all the narrations about the
revelation of the sura being
revealed in medina as well as the revelation
of this sura being about ali,
fatima, hassan and hosain (p.b.u.h.).
* * * *
the virtue in studying
sura insan (man):
there is a tradition
from the prophet (p.b.u.h.) that says: "one who
studies sura hal-ata will be rewarded heaven and
clothes of silk
(in heaven) by ailah." 10
there is also a narration from
imam baqir (p.b.u.h.) which says:
"one of the rewards
for a person who studies sura
hal-ata every
thursday morning is that he will
be with the prophet (p.b.u.h.) on the day
of judgment." 11
1 tafsir-i.-qartab vol.10, p.6909.
2 majma`-al-bayan, vol.10, p.405.
3 ibid
4 tarikh qur'an, p.55.
5 ibid
6 al-mizan, vol.20, p.221.
7 ibid
8 kashshaf, vol.4, p.670.)
9 ihqaq-al-haqq, vol.3, p.157-170.
10 majma'-ai-bayan, vol.10, p.402.
11 ibid |
