Al Islam

2878. The implication is that what the Holy Prophet had seen was a real experience; it was veritable truth and no figment of his imagination. (close)

2879. The Holy Prophet’s vision was a double spiritual experience. (close)

2880. In his Spiritual Ascension the Holy Prophet had reached such a high stage of nearness to God as was beyond human mind to conceive; or, the verse may signify that at that stage a sea of endless vistas of Divine knowledge and eternal realities and verities opened out before him; Sidrah which is derived from the same root meaning the sea (Lane). Or, the verse may possess a symbolic allusion to the fact that Divine knowledge vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet would, like the lote-tree, give comfort and shelter to the tired and jaded limbs of the spiritual wayfarers. Moreover, as the leaves of the lote-tree possess the quality of safeguarding a dead body from becoming corrupt, the verse may signify that the Teaching revealed to the Holy Prophet not only is itself immune to, but is eminently fitted to save and preserve mankind from, corruption. Or, it may possess a prophetic reference to the tree under which the Companions of the Holy Prophet took the oath of fealty at his hand at the time of the Truce of Hudaibiyah. (close)

2881. The words, 'that which covers,' signify Divine manifestation. (close)

2882. Some prejudiced critics of the Holy Prophet have woven quite a fantastic story of his having once fallen a victim to the machinations of Satan. It is stated that one day at Mecca, when the Holy Prophet recited this Surah before a mixed assembly of Muslims and disbelievers and during the recitation he came to these verses, Satan contrived to put in his mouth the words: Tilkal-Gharaniqul-‘ula wa inna shafa‘atahunna laturja, i.e. these are exalted goddesses and their intercession is hoped for (Zurqani). The critics call it the "lapse of Muhammad" or his "compromise with idolatry" and seem to rely for this entirely baseless story upon Waqidi, that inveterate liar and fabricator of reports, and on Tabari, who is generally regarded as a credulous and indiscriminate narrator of events. These gentlemen have the audacity to attribute this blasphemous utterance to that great iconoclast (the Holy Prophet) whose entire life was spent in denouncing and condemning idolatry and who carried out his noble mission with unremitting vigour and fearless devotion, spurning all offers of compromise with idol-worship, and whom blandishments, bribes, cajolery or intimidation failed to move an inch from his set purpose, and to whose unshakable firmness against idolatry the Almighty Himself has borne testimony (18:7; 68:10). Moreover, the whole context belies this baseless assertion. Not only do the verses that follow but the entire Surah contains an unsparing condemnation of idolatry and an uncompromising insistence on Divine Unity. It is strange that this patent fact should have escaped the notice of the Holy Prophet’s critics and carpers. Historical data, too, lend no support whatever to this so-called "lapse." The story has been rejected as completely unreliable by all the learned Commentators of the Qur’an, Ibn-e-Kathir and Razi among them. The renowned leaders of Muslim religious thought, well-versed in the science of Hadith, such as ‘Aini, Qadi ‘Ayyad and Nawawi, have regarded it as pure invention. No trace of this story is to be found in the Six Reliable Collections of Hadith. Imam Bukhari, whose collection, the Sahih Bukhari, is regarded by Muslim scholars as the most reliable book of Hadith and who himself was a contemporary of Waqidi to whom goes the unenviable credit of forging and reporting this story, makes no mention of it, nor does the great historian, Ibn- e-Ishaq, who was born more than 40 years before him. It may be, as stated by Qastalani and Zurqani and supported by some other eminent scholars, that when the Holy Prophet, during the recital of the present Surah before a mixed assembly of Muslims and disbelievers, recited these verses, some evil-minded person from among the disbelievers might have loudly interjected the above- mentioned words, as was the disbelievers’ wont to create confusion by resorting to such low tactics when the Qur’an was being recited (41:27). It is also on record that in the "Days of Ignorance," the Quraish, when making a circuit of the Ka‘bah used to recite these words (Mu‘jamul-Buldan, vol. 5, under ‘Uzza). It is further alleged that the 53rd verse of Surah Al-Hajj was revealed in connection with this incident. The fact that the present Surah was revealed in the 5th year of the Call and Surah Al-Hajj in the 12th or 13th year, takes the bottom completely from under this baseless assertion. See also 1962. (close)