sura nabaa
(the great news)
no. 78 (verses 1-5)
in
the name of allah, the beneficent, the merciful
1. "o what do they ask (one another)?"
2. "of the great news,"
3. "that in which they differ".
4. "nay! they shall soon (come to) know,"
5. "nay indeed! they shall soon (come to) know".
commentary:
the great news!
in the first verse, it astonishingly
questions: "0 what do they
ask (one another)?" then, without expecting them to reply, the qur'an
answers: "of the great news".
* * * *
"that in which they differ".
* * * *
for the meaning of
"naba'-in-'az!im", the commentators have put
forth different ideas. some of
them say it means: `the day of
resurrection' while some others have meant it as `the revelation of the
holy qur'an and still others have said it means: `the whole islamic
principles'. in some narrations it has been commented on to mean
`vicegereney and
guardianship'; which will be dealt
with later.
paying careful attention to all verses of the sura, especially to
some points in the following
verses and specifically to the sentence:
"verily the day of sorting
out is (a day) appointed", which has come after
mentioning some signs of allah's
power in the heavens and on the
earth, and also paying attention
to the fact that the most intensive
opposition of the unbelievers was
about the existence of `resurrection':
all in all most commentators
approve of the first idea, that is, in the
sense of `resurrection' for the phrase "naba'-in-'azjm".
as raqib says in his book, mufrad!, the term "naba'' means: `a
great news which is useful and
man is acquainted with it or has a strong
conviction to it; and these three
things are the conditions of "naba'".
therefore, the term '`azim" `great'
is more emphatic and, on the
whole, indicates that this news,
about which some were doubtful, has
been a known fact, great and full
of importance, and therefore, its most
appropriate meaning is `resurrection'.
the phrase `they ask (one another)' may refer only to the
unbelievers who used to ask each
other about the resurrection: of
course, not for their research
and comprehension, but, due to their
doubts.
it is also probable that the question is from the believers or from
the prophet (p.b.u.h.), himself.
here, a question may arise that: if "naba'-in-'azim" refers to the
resurrection, which apparently all the disbelievers denied, why
does it
say "that in which they differ"?
to answer this question, we say that: the denial of the
resurrection, in an absolute form, does not decisively exist even
among
the disbelievers, because many of
them assume that there is the
existence of the spirit after
death, or in other words, `the
spiritual
resurrection'.
some of them were doubtful about the bodily resurrection as in
sura naml, no. 27, verse 66: "still less can their knowledge
comprehend the hereafter: nay, they
are in doubt and uncertainty regarding
it, nay, they are blind
thereunto!". and some of them
completely denied
the resurrection and even said
that the prophet (p.b.u.h.) was mad,
because of his claim about
resurrection; as in sura saba. no. 34,
verse 7-8: "the unbelievers say (in ridicule): shall we
point out to you a
man that will tell you, when you are
all scattered to pieces in disintegration,
that you shall (then be raised) in a
new creation?". "has he invented a
falsehood against allah, or has a
spirit (seized) him? nay, it is those who
believe not in the hereafter, that
are in (real) penalty, and in farthest
error". thus, their rejection of the resurrection is certain.
* * * *
it further states: "nay! they shall soon (come to) know".
* * * *
"nay indeed! they shall soon (come to)
know".
when they will be
informed, they will cry and will be sorry for
themselves; each of them saying:
"lest the soul should (then) say:
ah!
woe is me! in that i neglected (my
duty) towards allah"(sura
zumar, no. 39, verse 56).
on the day that they are surrounded by massive punishment, and
they wish to return to their
former life, they ask: "is
there any way (to
effect) a return?" (sura shura, no. 42, verse 44.).
even when they, being at the point of death, are sure about the
partition and resurrection; because all the curtains will be removed,
then, and the facts of the next
world will become obvious, they cry
saying: "...o my lord! send me back (to life)",
"in order that i may work
righteousness in the things i
neglected...", (sura momin,
no. 23,
verses 99-100).
the arabic term "saya' lamun" `they
shall soon come to know',
begins with (s) which is usually
used as a sign for near future,
and denotes that the hereafter is
near; that this whole life is just a
fleeting moment in comparison to
it.
commentators have suggested different ideas about the twice
repeated verse, mentioned above,
which says the same facts for
emphasis: to inform them that the
hereafter is in the near future, or to
tell them two separate matters:
(1) that they will see the punishment of
this world in the near future,
and (2) that they will see the next world's
punishment after that (of which,
the first idea seems more appropriate).
it is also probable that this refers to the improvement and
progress of man's knowledge, when
there will be so many reasons and
evidences for the possibility of
the resurrection that even the
disbelievers cannot afford to
deny, but can only confess, the reality.
however, the fault in this commentary is that this kind of
knowledge is for the later
generations of mankind, which this verse
refers to, and not for those who
used to live at the prophet's time (p.b.u.h.)
and differed on the existence of
the hereafter.
* * * *
explanation:
the proposition of "vicegereny'
and "naba`-in-`azim" (the great news)';
as was mentioned earlier, it has been
said that the phrase
'naba'-in-'azim" has several
meanings: `the hereafter, the holy
qur'an, the
entire islamic principles', etc. but, the whole concept, taken from the
verses altogether, leads us to `resurrection' as having the closest
meaning.
there are a lot of narrations, some of which have been cited by
the household of the prophet 'ahlul-bait'.(p.b.u.h.), and some others by
sunni commentators, that say the
phrase "naba'-in-`azim" i refers to
hazrat ali's (p.b.u.h.)
vicegerency and imamat (the leadership of the
islamic community), which is a
matter of dispute among a group of
muslims, even today. or it is
interpreted as vicegerency, in general.
three of the narrations are as
follows:
1. hafiz-mohammad-ibn-mo'min -
shirazi, one of the scholars of the
sunni community, has narrated a
tradition from the prophet (p.b.u.h.)
on the commentary of the first
verse of this sura, and he (p.b.u.h.) said:
"it means the vicegereney
of ali; about which everyone will be asked in the
grave, and no one in the east or
west, in the seas or over the land passes
away without the angels asking him
about the vicegerency of
amir-al-mo'minin, and he will also
be asked what his religion is, who his
prophet is, and who his imam
is".1
2. another narration says that on the day of the
battle of sefin, a man
from the troops of sham
(damascus), having his armor on and carrying
a qur'an with him, entered the
battlefield while he was reciting sura
nabaa. then ali (p.b.u.h.),
himself, faced him and questioned him:
"do you know what
"naba'-in-'azm" (the great news), in which they differ,is?"
the man replied: "no, i do not know".
imam ali (p.b.u.h.) said: "i am, by allah, the very
"naba-in-azim"
(the great news) that you differ in
and you quarrel against my vicegereney.
you turned away from my vicegereney
after you had pledged allegiance to it,
and only on dooms day will you
really comprehend, once more, what you
had understood about it
before". 2
3. a narration from imam sadiq
says:
"`the great news' is the
same as vicegerency" .3
to gather the contents of these narrations and the commentary of
the verse, in the same sense as
`resurrection', which was previously
mentioned, is possible in two
ways: (1) the phrase "naba'-in-'azim" has a
broad meaning which includes all
of the meanings previously given,
though when these verses were
revealed the qur'an insisted on
`resurrection' more than anything else. still, this does not
hinder us
from finding more
interpretations, of the verse, other than the above
and (tafsir-i-borhan, vol.4,
p.419, tradition 3.)
as we know and as it has been
mentioned repeatedly, the qur'an
has various meanings; that is, a
verse may have several meanings, in
different dimensions, among which
only one is obvious by the apparent
words and the other meanings are
hidden, but they can be found with
the help of other explanations
and are not clear to anyone except `the
distinguished ones'.
this is not the only verse that has obvious and hidden meanings.
there are many other verses, in
the holy qur'an, of which the islamic
narrations contain different
commentaries.
but, we emphatically state that it is not possible to understand the
hidden meanings of the qur'an
without the clear explanations or
commentaries from the prophet or
sinless imams (p.b.u.h.th), and the
existence of hidden meanings, in
the qur'an, should not be a possible
way of misusing it by the
mischief-makers who comment on the verses in
whatever way they wish.
why is the resurrection emphasized on so
much?
it was mentioned, before, that the most important thing which is
emphasized on and spoken about,
in the thirtieth part of the holy
qur'an; whose suras are mostly
meccan, is the resurrection and man's
state in the hereafter.
this is so because, for the improvement of man, the first step is to
know that there is a reckoning day. and there is a flawless court in
which nothing is hidden from its
judges; a court where you can find no
transgression, no oppressor, and
no mistake.
neither recommendations nor bribes are useful therein. no one
can tell a lie or deny the truth.
in short, there is no way to flee from
the grip of punishment, there;
the only way is staying away from sin,
here; in this world.
the belief in there being such a court shakes man, awakens the
sleeping souls, makes the spirit
of piety and responsibility come alive,
and invites human beings to be
careful of their duties.
generally, the main factor in the appearance of corruption, in any
environment, is one of two
following points: (1) the weakness of the
watchmen, or (2) the weakness of
judicial organization.
if the watchful guards look over the deeds of man, and careful
courts verify the offenders'
crimes and let no mischief leave without
penalty, then, in such a safe and
sound environment, surely inequity,
corruption, transgression, and
rebellion will decrease to the minimum.
when the worldly life, under the control of its watchmen and
courts is so, then man's divine
spiritual life is obvious.
belief in an omnipresent unity that: "..from
whom is not hidden
the least little atom...." (sura saba no. 34, verse 3), and belief in the
existence of resurrection, which
according to sura zi1al no. 99,
verses 7-8: "so, whoever has done an atom's weight of
goad shall behold
it!". "and whoever has
done an atom's weight of evil shall behold it",
nothing will he forgotten and
everything will be in front of man. this
kind of belief supplies such a
piety in man that can guide him to the
path of charity and goodness
throughout his life.
1 risa'lat-ui-i'tiqad, abu
bakr-mohammad-ibn-i-shirazi
(based on ihqaq-ul-haqq, vol.4, p.484)
2 tafsjr-i-borhan,
vol.4 p.420, tradition 9.
3 tafsjr-i-borhan,
vol.4 p.419, tradition 3. |
