Reflections on Sūrat al-Aʿlā

Occasion: Transcription of an evening khatira delivered on 27 November 2018 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

To You be praise until You are pleased, to You be praise when You are pleased, and to You be praise after being pleased, O Lord of the worlds.

From al-Ṭāriq to al-Aʿlā

In our last gathering on tafsīr we had spoken about Sūrat al-Ṭāriq, and we mentioned that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, swore by a world that had been absent from mankind for a long time. My son told me today that they told them at school that they had finally reached the planet Mars, and that the preparation for ascending to it took years of equipping and assembling, and that the journey itself extends for months at a speed close to the speed of sound. So imagine this tremendous preparation for moving from one planet to another planet, both in a single system! So how about the size of this universe in which we live without knowing its reality?

And when Allah, glorified and exalted is He, spoke to us with His saying: ﴿وَالسَّمَاءِ وَالطَّارِقِ﴾ (By the sky and the night comer) and then said: ﴿وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الطَّارِقُ * النَّجْمُ الثَّاقِبُ﴾ (And what can make you know what is the night comer? It is the piercing star), He spoke to us about a simple movement among the movements that take place inside a mighty universe that a mighty Creator created, and arranged its conditions and its pillars in an arrangement that none but He alone is able to move, and people do not know how the secrets of this vast universe, full of wonders, run. Then He asked man to look at what he was created from.

So Let Man Observe from What He Was Created

Glory be to Allah the Able! Did Allah, glorified is He, want us to draw a comparison between what we were created from and this great universe? Is the process of forming the human being so complex that it resembles in itself the composition of this vast universe? They might say: And what prevents that? Was the Prophet ﷺ not asked about the spirit and told: ﴿قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي﴾ (Say: The spirit is of the affair of my Lord)? And to this day people are unable to form a human creation however varied the means in their hands; the matters of artificial insemination and rented wombs and the sperm in different places, and the matters of cloning and what surrounds it, all these compositions and devices are mere attempts. But a man who is with his family, with his wife, with what is lawful for him, in a night, in a few minutes, from which results a human being! So who composed this process? And who guided the causes to the formation of this fetus? And who subjected the causes so that this creature should come to be? Then after that come the matters of growth inside this body: to what level it comes out, and how it will be? Tall or short, fat or thin, intelligent or dull, able to speak or withdrawn into himself. The human formation in itself: ﴿فَلْيَنْظُرِ الْإِنْسَانُ مِمَّ خُلِقَ﴾ (So let man observe from what he was created), is a matter that is neither easier nor more complex except by what Allah, glorified is He, knows of the formation of the universe itself.

What Is My Mission in the Universe?

And therefore the direct command comes from the Lord of the worlds. If these people plot a plot, and the Lord of Might, glorified is He, plots a plot, and Allah, glorified is He, says in Sūrat al-Ṭāriq: ﴿إِنَّهُمْ يَكِيدُونَ كَيْدًا * وَأَكِيدُ كَيْدًا * فَمَهِّلِ الْكَافِرِينَ أَمْهِلْهُمْ رُوَيْدًا﴾ (Indeed, they plot a plot. But I am planning a plan. So allow time for the disbelievers; leave them awhile), the believer may say: Well then, what is my mission in the universe? If I am going to leave the enemies of this religion to You, O Lord, You manage their affairs as You are pleased and as You will, and punish them whenever You will, then what is my mission? Then the answer comes right after: ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High).

And we try to look at the link between the two scenes. In the first, the Lord of Might, glorified is He, explains to the Prophet ﷺ; for the words that were in Sūrat al-Burūj before Sūrat al-Ṭāriq are very painful words if the believing soul takes them in: the believers are tortured all this torture and persecuted all this persecution! And if the matter were with the People of the Trench alone it would be easy, but He, glorified is He, says at the end of the sūra: ﴿هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ الْجُنُودِ * فِرْعَوْنَ وَثَمُودَ * بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا﴾ (Has there reached you the report of the soldiers, of Pharaoh and Thamūd? But those who disbelieve), so the matter is repeated, and this persecution of this believing group will not end through time. Well then, what do we do? He says to you: We present the logical proof to these people that Allah the Exalted deserves worship, and that He, glorified is He, is able to create man, and able to gather people to the Day of Resurrection, and sufficient to punish these obstinate ones as He wills whenever He wills. Send blessings upon the Prophet.

So what is our mission, O believers? He says to you: Your mission is that you not depart from the mission of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. O Allah, send blessings upon him. And what is the mission of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ? He said to him: ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High); higher than the scheming of these people and higher than their plotting. And whoever says this interpretation is a person who thinks with very good intention; what scheming and what plotting? They are weak people! So look now at what is higher than the piercing star. Have they reached the piercing star? Do you not see the whole world trembling when they learn that something coming down from the sky will strike the earth? The world is turned upside down, devices and warnings, over merely a small piece of the universe that will move by the command of the Lord of Might, glorified is He.

Higher than the Whole Universe

So higher than what, then? He says to you: not only higher than the piercing star, but higher than this whole universe, because the universe is some of the creation of Allah, glorified is He. The universe with everything in it of moons and planets and suns and stars is part of the creation of Allah. And so, as we indicated earlier, and as the people of knowledge say, Allah the Exalted speaks to us sometimes about the mulk (dominion) and sometimes about the malakūt (sovereignty). We said: The mulk is what can be perceived. And if this thing that can be perceived has its distances between planets measured in months of travel at the speed of sound, then what knowledge is this? And what is this speed and what are these distances? And what device sets off, and the earth's gravity and exiting its framework, and the laws of physics and chemistry and biology? All this world and this piece of the universe is a small part of what Allah, glorified is He, created in the universe. If this is the mulk, then what will we speak of when we speak of the malakūt? And how do we imagine that?

So when He says to you: ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High), do you then imagine that you have a dispute with so-and-so and he has defeated you? Your Lord is the Most High! Or that you have lost your job in such-and-such place and have little left and you are bewildered not knowing what to do? Man, you are addressing your Lord, the Most High! Or that you have a difficulty in moving from place to place, or in living here or there, or about your house, or your children whom you will leave behind? What are you thinking about? ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى * الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High, who created and proportioned).

Who Created and Proportioned

Before Allah, Mighty and Majestic, creates this human being, what has He prepared for him? The angel comes to him and says: Your name will be such-and-such, and you will live happy or wretched, and your provision will be such an amount, and your life span such an amount. The matter was finished long ago! So what are we talking about, then? You are speaking of what is already accomplished, and you follow the causes, but what is required of you is a role you perform in this universe. If you embody that you are a servant of the Lord of Might, glorified is He, then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will ease for you every difficulty besides it, and matters become easier than you imagine and picture. And therefore there is a very great difference between one who lives in the midst of mud and one who lives in the spirituality of the company of Allah, glorified and exalted is He.

And the Prophet ﷺ was intensely attached to his prayer and his prostration, and when he was asked about his prolonging it he said: «أفلا أكون عبدًا شكورًا؟» ("Should I not be a grateful servant?")^[1] He, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, felt the effect of the blessing he was in: the blessing of servanthood in itself, the blessing of prostration to Allah, glorified is He, the blessing of sensing the effects of the Qur'an in this human soul. And the Lord of Might, glorified is He, teaches the Prophet ﷺ how to express that.

And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: ﴿الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّى﴾ (who created and proportioned); so there is nothing in the universe created in error. So if you see a person whose psychology is complex, do not say: This one was composed wrongly, because our Lord created him so. And if you see one whose character or traits have a crookedness, He created and proportioned, He created him according to the mission He wants him to be in. And Allah, glorified is He, ﴿لَا يَظْلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَدًا﴾ (your Lord does not wrong anyone), and does not wrong by an atom's weight, neither in kind nor in amount.

Then the Lord of Might, glorified is He, says: ﴿وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى﴾ (and who destined and guided). He destined Aḥmad to be a shaykh, and caused the causes for him until he sat on this chair. And He destined you, sir, to be an engineer, and drove to you the pen and the ruler until you learned engineering. And He destined you to be a doctor, and taught you how to hold the scalpel. And He destined this person to be a merchant, and placed in him these skills so that he can earn money. ﴿قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى﴾ (destined and guided). So whoever possesses something of the Book of Allah, Allah the Exalted has willed that for him and guided him to it, and in neglecting this blessing is a rejection of Allah's blessing upon him, and that is the utmost ingratitude, and we seek refuge in Allah the Exalted from that.

The Seed and the Plant

And some people may have a mind too weak to take in this great speech, so it is said to him: I will give you an example in utmost simplicity. Which of us with his human ability can bring out a plant from a seed? Put a seed under the ground, and bring out for me, by your cleverness, the plant! In the old days when we went about sowing wheat in the ground we would take a handful and scatter it, and someone would say to you: This is a lot. You say to him: No, because some of it will spoil under the ground, so do you control what will spoil and what will thrive, and which seed will be active and the plant come out of it? And when it comes out it will not find a stone that confines it so that it dies below. So who splits this rock and brings out from its midst this seed so that it appears and sees the sun, and the air wraps it and it breathes and grows, becoming a stalk and then a fruit and so on? ﴿الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَى﴾ (who brought out the pasture).

I need to imagine that the creation of man from his origin and his growth and flourishing is no more and no harder and no more difficult than the existence of a plant that comes up from the earth. The One who brought out the pasture is the One who brings out this human being from this drop, so it becomes such-and-such, and goes forth in this womb and becomes such-and-such, until he comes out to the world a human being, as Allah has willed, complete; even this hair that has grown, the newborn is born with it! And so on, glory be to the Able. The Lord of Might, glorified is He, says: ﴿الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَى * فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَى﴾ (who brought out the pasture, and then made it black stubble), something that fills the eye and sight.

We Will Make You Recite, So You Will Not Forget

The first command: ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High). And the second: ﴿سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنْسَى﴾ (We will make you recite, so you will not forget). This is not a command, but an address to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and a glad tiding to him ﷺ that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, will deposit the Qur'an in his heart so he will not forget it. And you remember that in Sūrat al-Qiyāma the Lord of the worlds, glorified is He, says to him: ﴿لَا تُحَرِّكْ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِ * إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُ وَقُرْآنَهُ﴾ (Move not your tongue with it, to hasten with it. Indeed, upon Us is its collection and its recitation); that is, We will place the Qur'an and fix it in your heart and mind, so not a letter of it will be lost, and nothing of it will leave your heart by the permission of the Lord of Might, glorified is He: ﴿سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنْسَى﴾ (We will make you recite, so you will not forget). The Qur'an is present in the heart of the Prophet ﷺ.

So our mission is confined to two matters. The first is glorifying the Lord of Might, glorified and exalted is He. And when this glorification is realized in the soul of the believer, as we mentioned, he feels compassion for those around him and wants to convey to them this message, so he conveys the religion of Allah, which in its substance and origin and constitution is the Qur'an. So you feel compassion for people and convey the call, and the call you will convey is the message of the Qur'an. And there is nothing better than that; there is no more complete method than the Book of Allah the Exalted, nor any better admonition than the Book of Allah, nor any more eloquent expression than the Book of Allah, blessed and exalted is He.

So Where Is the Problem?

So where is the problem? Why do people not believe? He says to you: Because we are the incapable ones, we are those who are not able to convey the message, and not able to speak with the method of the Noble Qur'an in our address to others. And why are we deviant, with one of us committing a sin here, and another trading in the forbidden, and a third we do not know what he is doing? He says to you: Because you are the one incapable of taking in the Qur'anic material. If the Qur'an is that by which Allah guides all people, and its method is great, then why am I troubled and my condition bad? He says to me: Because you are the one who cannot take in the method; the vessel you have is too small to take in this great material. Have you ever seen someone who came with a cup that holds half a gallon and poured four gallons into it? The cup will take its share of the half, and the rest will fall on the ground and be lost. Our hearts are small because we have narrowed them with many sins. And in proportion as hearts are polished they widen for more of the mercies of the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted is He, and become a great vessel. So where does the matter of the purification of souls work? It works in these hearts whose owners want them to grow and be prepared until they become something distinguished.

And We Will Ease You toward the Easy Way

The Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted is He, says: ﴿وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلْيُسْرَى﴾ (and We will ease you toward ease); do not worry, the means in your hands will be made easy. On what condition? The condition is that you do well in conveying the Qur'an, and you will not do well in conveying the Qur'an except on a condition: that you glorify your Lord, the Most High, that you feel the greatness of Allah, and that faith in Allah, glorified and exalted is He, be present in your heart and mind, so that nothing in the universe is hard with it, because the One who eases is the Lord of Might, glorified is He: ﴿وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلْيُسْرَى﴾ (and We will ease you toward ease).

So Remind

﴿فَذَكِّرْ﴾ (So remind), only, no more than this. When you sit and say the two words, who among them is asleep, and who wants to leave, and who is in a hurry, and who is tired from the day's work? This is not my problem; my problem is that I convey. And who responded? This is not my concern either. My mission is that I convey. So if you have a colleague at work who is not a Muslim, and you said to him: By Allah the truth is such-and-such, whether he responded or did not respond, he is free, and this is his matter; it is not upon us to guide people, but upon us is the conveying. This is how Allah, blessed and exalted is He, teaches His Messenger ﷺ: ﴿فَذَكِّرْ إِنْ نَفَعَتِ الذِّكْرَى﴾ (So remind, if the reminder should benefit).

And do not put speech in the wrong place; for the Lord of Might, glorified and exalted is He, says that people are of two kinds: people whose hearts are receptive to give and take, receptive to admonition: ﴿سَيَذَّكَّرُ مَنْ يَخْشَى * وَيَتَجَنَّبُهَا الْأَشْقَى﴾ (He who fears [Allah] will be reminded. But the wretched one will avoid it). And Allah, glorified is He, did not speak here about the reward of the most God-fearing who fears, but spoke about the punishment of the most wretched, so He, Mighty and Majestic, said: ﴿الَّذِي يَصْلَى النَّارَ الْكُبْرَى﴾ (who will enter the greatest Fire). Do you know why this was said here? So that you do not think that so-and-so the disbeliever is one we need to take vengeance on; this is not your matter, this is the matter of our Lord. And it may not be now, and it may be on the Day of Resurrection and in the Hereafter, and the matter in it is up to Allah. But do not occupy yourself with the punishment of people, occupy yourself with their guidance. If you are able to reach their hearts with guidance, you have fulfilled your role, and if you are not able and people remain in their disbelief, their affair is with Allah.

Three Fingers toward You

My brothers, our problem is that we think of others before we think of ourselves, we look at the faults of people before we look at our faults. I am preoccupied with the fact that so-and-so did not listen to my words, and not preoccupied with the fact that I was not sincere enough for my words to reach the heart. I did not accuse myself of a loss of sincerity, or of failing to convey the proof, or of lack of clarity; rather I accused him of being a transgressor and wicked and a disbeliever who will not enter Paradise, all fingers of accusation pointed at him. And I never tried to look and find three fingers coming toward me! So do not point your finger at anyone, because three are directed at you, so see your faults before you throw anything at people.

The Lord of Might, glorified and exalted is He, says: ﴿قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ تَزَكَّى﴾ (He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself). If you really want to succeed, do not think that your success lies in judging others, but your success lies in rescuing yourself: ﴿قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ تَزَكَّى * وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّى﴾ (He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself, and mentions the name of his Lord and prays).

What Has Held Us Back?

So what has held us back, young people? What has returned us to the rear like this? He says to you: the problem of the world that you cannot remove from your hearts: ﴿بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا﴾ (But you prefer the life of this world). If we understood and perceived and took in this with our minds, and with our hearts that need to awaken, we would perceive the good: ﴿وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى﴾ (while the Hereafter is better and more lasting).

And beware of imagining that what we say today is new; for this speech is very old: ﴿إِنَّ هَذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَى * صُحُفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَى﴾ (Indeed, this is in the former scriptures, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses). It is the same message repeated to people. Nothing is required of creation except that they believe in Allah the Most High, and consider everything besides Allah, Mighty and Majestic, small, and know that the fulfillment of needs and the management of affairs and the causes of causes in the world, all of that is by the command of the Lord of Might, glorified is He.

Why the Scriptures of Abraham and Moses?

And what is the wisdom in mentioning the scriptures of Abraham and Moses? Why Abraham and Moses specifically? Where are Yaḥyā and Zakariyyā and Ismāʿīl? Where are the prophets? Where is Noah? He says to you: Look at the performance of these people in carrying the message of Allah the Exalted and their conveying it to creation, and take a lesson from what happened from them and with them; for they were among those who conveyed the religion of Allah the most, and among those who met the most from their opponents in that, and yet which of them drew back? Which of them said: No, enough, I have nothing to do with this? Only Yūnus, peace be upon him, did it, and it was not fitting for him to leave the call of his Lord, so the Lord of the worlds returned him to his people and Allah, blessed and exalted is He, guided them through him. This is your basic function if you want truly to glorify our Lord.

In Sum

So if you want to embody ﴿سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى﴾ (Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High), know that your mission is: ﴿فَذَكِّرْ إِنْ نَفَعَتِ الذِّكْرَى﴾ (So remind, if the reminder should benefit). And if you find the attempt and trial difficult, hold fast with me: ﴿وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلْيُسْرَى﴾ (and We will ease you toward ease). And if you want to look for a real fault in people, look in yourself first, and know that the great disease spreading among all creation is: ﴿بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا﴾ (But you prefer the life of this world). And if you want to convince creation, teach them what Allah has prepared for them in Paradise: ﴿وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى﴾ (while the Hereafter is better and more lasting).

I ask Allah the Exalted for me and for you safety, well-being, security, and tranquility; may Allah be pleased with you and make you pleased, and bring you to the places of His mercies, and may Allah reward you with good, and peace be upon you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The speaker gave the phrase without attribution; and "Should I not be a grateful servant" occurs in the two Ṣaḥīḥs in the context of the Prophet ﷺ standing in prayer until his feet swelled. The speaker also mentioned that he ﷺ, were it not for the means, would have remained prostrating through his night, and this meaning is not known in a ḥadīth with its wording, so it was removed from the body.