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Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
We continue today with ‘The Bee,’ described as the chapter of ‘Blessings!’
Their commentaries can only be read in verse by verse view.
COMMENTS:
1. Today, the Qur’an continues, speaking to its listeners directly (in the ‘second person plural’ ‘you’) as it continues to count God’s Blessings:
The mountains which keep the earth from shaking beneath our feet, the rivers and paths to guide us (Verse 15), landmarks and stars, also to guide us (Verse 16) and the inevitable question: ‘Is ‘Someone Who Creates’ comparable to ‘someone who does not create’?...(Verse 17)…and finally:
“…do you not then Remember?”
2. Verse 18 reminds us of HQ14:34 (see the extraordinary Posting of June 12th – don’t’ miss it). Today’s verse is short and concise, telling us that if we were to count God’s Blessing/ Favor (singular) we would not calculate/ enumerate it (we would never be able to know its depth or breadth or details, no matter how hard we tried), and it ends by telling us that God is indeed Most Merciful and Unceasingly Compassionate.
The last verse directly addressed to listeners in general is Verse 19, which tells us that God knows what we conceal and reveal.
3. Verses 20- 21 describe those who call on anyone or anything other than God: they are invoking mere creatures, lifeless entities without perception!
Verse 22 again speaks directly to listeners saying: “Your God is One God..” then it tells us of ‘those who do not believe in the Hereafter,’ giving us important information as to why they do not believe in it: Their hearts/minds are objecting, and they are arrogant (towards the concept of being called to account).
Isn’t this interesting? Read on!
4. After they are warned in Verse 23 that God knows all, we listen to a short exchange in Verse 24: When asked about their Lord’s Revelations, they seem to dismiss them as unimportant, calling them ‘Ancestral Stories,’ so as to bear their full burden at the time of Resurrection (Verse 25).
I prefer to explain (أساطير) as stories rather than ‘fables’ because of the umbilical connection the word ‘story’ has to the Arabic ‘ustoora’ from the root verb ‘satara’سطر) ), see its etymology and 1,000 year-old definition in Posting of March 21st.
5. Verse 26 tells us of their predecessors who had similarly construed- or rather ‘misconstrued’ the significance of God’s Revelations:
Baseless was the ground they had built their assumptions upon; their entire construct caved in, and suffering came to them from areas they had never even thought of!
This scene describes the Deniers’ reality on so many levels, but it doesn’t end here!
Afterwards (‘thumma’(ثم- always denotes a later stage), so after the entire self-made construct of their existence had caved in, Verse 27 tells us of their disgrace at the time of Resurrection. What this means, is that their ‘construct’ caved in before Resurrection, and the next verses show us that this took place in life.
Remember HQ 15:99 when Death was referred to as the ‘Certitude’- ‘al yaqeen’?
Verse 28 shows us that the throes of Death are in fact, the time when such persons’ entire constructs break down, and they helplessly offer last-minute excuses to the Angels of death. Having wronged their own Selves by proud detachment and spent their entire lives in Denial, they are now consigned to the Abode of the Arrogant (Verse 29).
From March 26th:
“….Meanwhile, the Angels are overpowering saying: “Get yourselves out! Today you shall be rewarded with humiliating suffering due to what you were attributing to God of Untruths, and the arrogance in which you dismissed His Signs!” (6:93)
6. Leaving the powerful verses of Dissuasion ترهيب-, we now arrive at beautiful verses of Persuasion ترغيب- where we listen to another, very different exchange. Here, Those Who were Aware are asked about what they have received in Life. Their positive response to their Lord grants them the favorable Abode of the Aware (Verse 30), with its Everlasting Garden (Verse 31). For the definition of ‘Eden,’ (عدن) and the meaning of ‘Ma’danمعدن- ,’ and ‘Adnanعدنان- ’ see May 3rd.
The Aware retain their positivity till the last minute of Life (Verse 32), as witnessed in the exchange between them and the Angels of Death. In this verse we notice that these persons who were in life Pure, Wholesome, Peaceful, and Aware, enter heaven BY WHAT THEY HAVE DONE OF DEEDS.
7. The final verses in today’s Reading (33-34) pose a cautionary question to all Deniers (which Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him, conveyed to Qureish), warning them against wronging their own Selves, according to Asad's explanation::
“ARE THEY [who deny the truth] but waiting for the angels to appear unto them, or for your Sustainer’s judgment to become manifest?
Even thus did behave those [stubborn sinners] who lived before their time; and [when they were destroyed,] it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves:
Even thus did behave those [stubborn sinners] who lived before their time; and [when they were destroyed,] it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves:
for all the evil that they had done fell [back] upon them, and they were overwhelmed by the very thing which they had been wont to deride.”
Enough said!
Our next Reading is from HQ 16:35-55.
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