sura
balad
(the city)
no. 90 (verses 8-10)
8.
"have we not made for him two eyes?"
9. "and a tongue and two lips?"
10."and showed him the two ways (of good
and evil)?"
commentary:
the gifts of eyes, tongue and
guidance!
in the former verses the discussion was
about the pride and
negligence of neglectful man, but
in the following verses, a part of the
greatest material and spiritual
gifts of allah to man is described, in
order to break his pride and
negligence, on the one hand, and to make
him think about the creator of
these gifts, on the other hand; and, for
stirring the sense of gratitude
inside his soul, which sends him forth to
the knowledge of allah.
"have we not made for him
two eyes?"
* * * *
"and a tongue and two lips?"
* * * *
"and showed him the two ways (of good
and evil)?"
thus, in these short sentences,
three great material gifts and a
great spiritual gift, all which
are from the most important divine gifts.
are pointed out. the gifts of
eyes, tongue and lips are on one side, and
the gift of knowledge and
guidance is on the other side.
(it should be noted that the term
/najd/ originally means `an open
highway' and here /najdayn/, in contrast with /tihamah/ `low land', is to
he understood as 'the two highways (of good and evil').
for the importance of the above gifts it is enough to know that
the eyes are the most important
means by which to communicate with
the outside world. the wonder of
the eyes is such that makes man
humiliate himself in front of the
creator of them.
each of the seven parts of the eye; the sclerotic cornea, choroid,
iris, dermoid, aqueous humor,
vitreous humor, and retina has a
wonderful, special and delicate
structure in which the laws of light and
mirrors, physically and
chemically, are so precisely coordinated that the
most modern cameras are worthless
in comparsion to them. in fact, if
there were nothing in the world
except man, and of all parts of his body
onlv his eye was studied, its
wonders would be enough to recognize the
greatness of the knowledge and
power of allah.
next, the tongue is referred to, which is the most important means
of speech, and speech, itself, is
the most important means of
communication for human beings.
it is with language that humans are
able to convey the experience and
information of one nation to another,
or from one generation to another
one. if it were not so, man could
never develop so well in
knowledge, science, and civilization both in
material and spiritual affairs.
then the lips are mentioned. they have an effective function in
speech because many sounds and
phonemes, in language, are produced
by the lips. besides, the lips
are useful in eating foods, preserving the
moisture of the mouth, and
drinking water. if they were not so, the
function of eating and drinking
would be dificult for man, and even his
face, with water flowing out of
his mouth and the absence of some
phonemes in his speech, would be
in a disgraceful state.
we know that the first steps in learning many facts ara doubled
with the help of eyesight and
language.
therefore, the gifts of reasoning and guidance, which are natural
and intellectual, are pointed
out. the verse can even cover 'religious
guidance' which is introduced by prophets and saints.
in fact, allah has given us eyesight and the light; i.e. guidance, to
use them which enables us to
discover what is right and what is wrong
and to know them and, then, we
choose between them, ourselves. thus,
if we go the wrong way and stray
we deserve the fruits of our decision.
the sentence: "andshowed
him ihe two ways (of good and evil)",
besides stating man's free will,
regarding 'his way' denotes that going
the right way is not free from
difficulties and toil, as even climbing the
high lands has some difficulties,
doing wrong has some troubles, too. so,
man should try to choose the
right way.
it is man, himself, who chooses the way for which he can use his
eyes and tongue in a lawful
direction or an unlawful one and, then,
follows the good way or the evil
one.
that is why the prophet (p.b.u.h.), in a tradition, has said: "allah
told mankind: o children of adam! if
your tongue wants to make you
commit in, i have supplied you with two
lips to control it, and if your eyes
are going to attract you to something
unlawful, two eyelids are with you;
dose them!...1
thus, allah has given man the means of controlling these gifts
which is one of the great
blessings that he has bestowed on him.
it is noteworthy that in the above verses when speaking of the
tongue, the lips are mentioned
but, in talking about the eyes, eyelids are
not referred to. apparently, it
is for two reasons: the first is that the
function of the lips in eating
drinking and speaking is more important
than the function of the eyelids
with the eyes; and the second is that the
ability to control the tongue is
more effective than that of the eyes.
1 nur-uth-thaqalayn, vol.5, p. 581 |
