The Light of the Holy Qur'an Interpretation of Sura Maryam (mary)

Commentary : Verse 59.60

59- فَخَلَفَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلاَةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِ فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيّاً

60- إِلاَّ مَن تَابَ وءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحاً فَاُوْلَئِكَ يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ وَلاَ يُظْلَمُونَ شَيْئاً

  1. " Then there succeeded them a later generation who ruined prayers and followed lusts. Soon, then, they shall meet perdition."

  2. " Except him who repents, and believes, and does a righteous deed, then these shall enter Paradise, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly in any way."

Commentary:

It sometimes happens that the offsprings and descendants of a person waste the efforts and endeavours of their ancestors and, thus, there may appear a wicked generation from some people who themselves had been good doers.

The Arabic term /xalaf/ is used for a righteous child, while the term /xalf/ is applied for an impious child.

The Qur'anic word /qayy/, used at the end of the first abovementioned verse, means 'destruction, perdition and error' and it is an antonym to the Arabic word /rus(d/ which means: 'rectitude, growth, and development'. The verse says:

" Then there succeeded them a later generation who ruined prayers and followed lusts. Soon, then, they shall meet perdition."

This sentence, in this holy verse, may refer to a group of the Children of Israel who paved the path of aberration. They forsook the Lord, preferred lusts to the remembrance of God and prayer, made mischief in the world, and, finally, they faced the fruit of their evil deeds in this life and they will be punished in the coming world, too.

However, wasting prayer is different from not establishing it or forsaking it. He who keeps up prayer, but without observing its conditions, or with delay, has wasted the prayer and has belittled it.(1)

Why the Qur'an, among all Divine services, emphasizes on prayer here? Its reason may be the fact that prayer is a barrier between man and sins. When this barrier is removed, it certainly results to man's being drowned in the lusts. In other words, as the divine prophets began their ranks to be promoted by the remembrance of Allah, and when the Divine revelations were recited to them they fell down prostrating and weeping, the aberration of these impious people began by forsaking the remembrance of Allah.

By the way, there is a tradition also recorded in many books of the scholars of the Sunnite which denotes: when the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) recited the first verse of the abovementioned couple of verses, he said: "After sixty years, there will come on the scene some people who recite the Qur'an pompously but it (their recitation) will not ascend higher than their shoulders." (Since it is done neither sincerely nor for contemplation and reflection in action, but it is done hypocritically and affectedly, or there are satisfied with its

1- Bihar-ul-'Anwar, vol. 11, p. 72

mere verbal utterances and, therefore, their deeds do not ascend to the rank of proximity of Allah.)(1)

It is worthy of attention that if we count sixty years from the migration of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) , it will exactly adapt to the time when Yazid took the rein of government and Imam Hussayn (a.s.) and his companions drank the drink of martyrdom. After that, the rest of the course of Ummayyads and the course of Abbasides came forth who had been contented with Islam by a bare name and with the Qur'an by a mere verbal utterance.

We refuge to Allah (s.w.t.) that we may be among such an impious group.

However, since the manner of the Qur'an, everywhere is that it let the path of return to Faith and the truth be open, here, too, after the statement of the fate of the impious generations, through verse 60, it says:

" Except him who repents, and believes, and does a righteous deed, then these shall enter Paradise, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly in any way."

Thus, it is not such that if a person goes astray in the lusts for a day, he must be disappointed forever from the mercy of Allah, but, until the last moments of the life in this world, he may return and repent.

Repentance and the Qur'an:

Next to the verses of punishment the Qur'an often mentions the phrase: "Except those who repent" or the phrase:

1- Commentary of Al-Mizan, vol. 14, p. 80 (Arabic version)

"Except him who repents" in order to say that the gate of penitence and reform is not closed to any one.

  1. Repentance is a necessary duty, because it is a divine commandment. Sura At-Tah?rim, No. 66, verse 8 says: "…Turn to Allah".

  2. The acceptance of repentance is really certain, because it cannot be believed that we repent by His commandment, but He does not accept it. Sura Ash-Shura, No. 42, verse 25 says: "And He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants…"

  3. Allah (s.w.t.) not only accepts repentance but also likes those who repent very much. The Qur'an in Sura Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 222 says: "…Verily Allah loves those who turn much (to Him), …".

  4. Repentance should be followed with good actions and amends of sins. Sura Al-Furqan, No. 25, verse 71 says: "And whoever repents and does righteously …"

  5. Repentance is the secret of felicity. Sura An-Nur, No. 24, verse 31 says: "…and turn to Allah all of you, O' believers! so that you may be successful".

  6. Repentance causes the rain to fall. Sura Hud, No. 11, verse 52 says: "…turn to Him, He will send on you clouds pouring down abundance of rain …"

  7. Repentance causes a good sustenance. Sura Hud, No. 11, verse 3 says: "…Then turn to Him; He will provide you with a goodly provision…"

  8. Delaying repentance until seeing the signs of death, is not accepted. Besides accepting repentance, Allah has also a special grace. In these verses, close to the subject of repentance, the Qur'an has referred to the grace, mercy and love of Allah, too. Sura Hud, No. 11, verse 90 says: "…Turn to Him; surely my Lord is Merciful, Loving-kind."

  9. The Qur'an has counted the absence of repentance an injustice. Sura Al-Hujurat, No. 49, verse 11 says: "…and whoever does not repent, these it is that are the unjust.".

  10. However, the condition of felicity, and entering into heaven, is repentance, Faith, and righteous deeds. The abovementioned verse says: "…him who repents, and believes, and does a righteous deed, then these shall enter Paradise, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly in any way."

Commentary : Verse 61.62.63

61- جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ الَّتِى وَعَدَ الرَّحْمنُ عِبَادَهُ بِالْغَيْبِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ وَعْدُهُ مَأْتِيّاً

62- لاَّ يَسْمَعُونَ فِيهَا لَغْواً إِلاَّ سَلاَماً وَلَهُمْ رِزْقُهُمْ فِيهَا بُكْرَةً وَعَشِيّاً

63- تِلْكَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِى نُورِثُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا مَن كَانَ تَقِيّاً

  1. " Gardens of Eternity that the Beneficent (Allah) has promised to His servants in the Unseen; verily His promise shall come to pass."

  2. " There they shall hear no idle talk, but only 'Peace'. Therein they shall have their sustenance (every) morning and evening."

  3. " This is the Garden (Paradise) which We shall cause those of Our servants to inherit who are pious."

Commentary:

Through the preceding verse the word /jannat/ (garden, Paradise) was used in its singular form: "…These shall enter Paradise…", while in this verse the plural form of the term, /jannat/, is used: "Gardens of Eternity…". This shows that the garden of the people of Heaven is a collection of numerous gardens. This sense may be for the sake that every one of the people of Heaven has four gardens.

This matter has been pointed out in Sura Ar-Rahman, No. 55, verses 46 and 62, where the Qur'an says: "And for him who fears (to stand before) his Lord are two gardens", "And besides these two are two (other) gardens". These gardens, with together, are four gardens, the latter couple of which are either nearer, or have a lower level than the former couple; or because of the different ranks of the people of Heaven the kind of gardens are different.(1)

The Qur'an has repeatedly referred to the fulfillment of Allah's promise, and among them, it has said: "…And who is more faithful to his promise than Allah?"(2)

The phrase upon Paradise, saying that there is no idle talk therein, refers both to our life today that we should avoid idle talks, and to the fact that there will be therein nothing of the idle talks of disbelievers and the vain speech by which they used to hurt the believers in the world.

In the Qur'anic phrase which says: "…which We shall cause those of Our servants to inherit who are pious", the Qur'an points to both piety, which is the key of Paradise, and contains the sense of 'inheritance' which hints to a wealth and bounty gained with no pain and trouble. It is true that piety is the key of Paradise, but those plenty of rewards are the inheritance of Allah unto us for our deeds. In fact, our rewards are some heritage which we gain from the side of Allah without any pain.

There is an Islamic tradition which says: every person has a proper place both in Paradise and Hell. If the person enters Paradise, his place in Hell will be inherited by same Hellish people. And if he enters Hell, his place in Paradise will be inherited by the people of Paradise.(3)

In this holy verse, the Qur'an describes Heaven and its bounties. At first, it qualifies the promised Paradise where there are some eternal gardens which Allah has promised to

1- Tafsir-i-Kashf-ul-'Asrar 2- Sura At-Taubah, No. 9, verse 111 3- Nur-uth-thaqalayn, vol. 2, p. 31

His servants. They have not seen them, but they believe in them. In other words, the purpose of 'in the Unseen' is that neither any eyes have seen that Paradise nor any ears have heard of its description. The verse says:

" Gardens of Eternity that the Beneficent (Allah) has promised to His servants in the Unseen; verily His promise shall come to pass."

After that, the Qur'an has pointed to one of the greatest bounties in Heaven. It says:

" There they shall hear no idle talk, …"

In Heaven, they hear neither any falsehood, nor any abuse, slander, sarcasm, and any ridicule, nor even a vain word; and there is no statement there, but "peace", a greeting which is the sign of a secure place. It is a gathering place full of sincerity, purity, piety, peace and calmness. The holy verse continues saying:

"…but only 'Peace'. …"

And, next to mentioning this bounty, the Qur'an points to another bounty, when it says:

"…Therein they shall have their sustenance (every) morning and evening."

An Islamic tradition indicates that a person went to Imam Sadiq (a.s.) and complained of his stomachache. The Imam (a.s.) advised him to eat food two times a day: morning and evening, and to avoid eating food between them, which might cause the body to become rotten. Then he (a.s.) recited this verse: "They shall have their sustenance (every) morning and evening."(1)

1- The commentary of Nur-uth-Thaqalayn

After a description about Paradise and its material and spiritual bounties, the Qur'an, in a short sentence, introduce the people of Paradise. It says:

" This is the Garden (Paradise) which We shall cause those of Our servants to inherit who are pious."

Thus, the key of the door of Paradise, with all those bounties, is nothing but 'piety'.