By your life, they went about blindly stumbling in their intoxication” (15:72)
Allah has not sworn to any other person in the Qur’an except to the life of Muhammad, may He bless and grant him peace. That too the swearing is to the life of the Prophet. In other words, it refers to his life span and presence. Obviously, it is a unique form of address to the Prophet as his life is worth referring to as a focal point. It shows the respect and regard of Allah towards His Messenger.
“Yaseen, By the wise Qur’an” (36:1-2)
Some scholars opine that the group of letters “Yaseen” is an oath, referring to the Prophet. In one tradition, the Prophet said that Taha (group of letters at the beginning of Sura 20 of the Qur’an) and Yaseen are his two names. Scholars say Yaseen means: O Muhammad, O Man and O Master. In one tradition, the Prophet said, “I am the master (leader) of the sons and daughters of Adam and I do not boast in saying so.”
“Nay! I swear by this city. And you are an inhabitant of this city.” (90:1-2)
Interestingly, this verse begins with Nay/No which is not negation of the sentence, as such, but repudiation of the stand of the opponents of the Prophet. Allah swore in the name of the city, Makkah, expressing its importance as the place of abode of His Messenger. The Prophet belonged to Makkah and this added manifold its value. The verse in continuation of the above two verses is also related to swearing with reference to the Prophet.
“And I swear by the parent and his offspring.” (90:3) Some scholars opine that it is general reference to Adam, may Allah be pleased with him, and his offspring, the whole humanity. However, others say that the swearing here is specific in the name of Prophet Ibrahim, may Allah be pleased with him, and his offspring. With reference to the city Makkah, the offspring of Ibrahim means Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace.
“By the brightness of the morning and the night as it settles. Your Lord did not abandon you, nor did He forget. The Hereafter is better for you than the First. And your Lord will give you, and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you orphaned, and sheltered you? And found you wandering, and guided you? And found you in need, and enriched you? Therefore, do not mistreat the orphan. Nor rebuff the seeker. And proclaim (talk about) the blessings of your Lord.” (93: 1-11)
It is reported that during a period in the initial days of revelations the Prophet did not receive any direct communication (wahi) from Allah, which was a disturbing situation for him. This Surah informs that his Lord has not abandoned him, ensuring that he was, and remained to be, under continuous and honourable divine protection. This Surah presented the position of the Prophet in different manners.
It began with the verse: ‘By the brightness of the morning and the night as it settles.’It is an expression of the high form of esteem that Allah placed the Prophet. The oath in the name of the soothing brightness of the morning sky and calmness of the settled night is all about the adoration of the Prophet.
The second expression of ‘Your Lord did not abandon you, nor did He forget’ was meant to convey that Allah had not ignored or forsaken him and He is very much with him.
The third verse ‘the Hereafter is better for you than the First’ meant that every passing moment of the Prophet will be proceeded by a better moment and finally hereafter, the day after this world, will be better than the life the Prophet lived in here.
The quality of hereafter for the Prophet has been expressed in a beautiful manner by the fourth verse saying ‘and your Lord will give you, and you will be satisfied.’ So, the reward will be so much and so good, both in quantum and quality, that he will be fully satisfied.
The next six verses discussed specific bounties of Allah to his Prophet and his required behaviour towards fellow human beings. The first one, kindness of Allah, described here is about providing proper shelter for the Prophet when he became orphan. He was taken care by his grandfather first, and after the death of his grandfather, by his uncle. The other bounty that Allah described was providing true guidance. The Prophet understood that whatever was happening, idol worshipping anarchy and unruliness in the society around him, was improper and a deviation from the Abrahamic faith. He was unhappy because of this but did not know what to do? Allah showed the way by providing His guidance. Allah bestowed a number of mercies on His Prophet. However, He recalled one more special gift of improving the economic life of the Prophet, a poor person married to a rich and caring lady. After describing these benevolence Allah asked His Prophet to be kind on fellow human beings by not mistreating orphans and repudiating any person seeking help in need. Allah took care of him when he became orphan, when he was poor and when he was perturbed owing to the wrong faiths and wrong doings of people around. As Allah took care earlier so would not forsake and shall not in all stages of the Prophet’s life leave him uncared. The care and affection from the Lord were assured. Similarly, he should take care of the orphans and needy.
Finally, Allah said that the Prophet should announce, talk about, speak up and let everyone know the bounties bestowed on him. ‘And proclaim (talk about) the blessings of your Lord.’ This display and proclamation of bounties bestowed goes along with thankfulness for the kindness and this was required by Allah for the Prophet and is the correct behaviour for all human beings.
“By the star when it sets! your companion has neither strayed nor is he deluded; nor does he speak out of his desire. This is nothing but a revelation that is conveyed to him, something that a very powerful one has imparted to him, one endowed with immense wisdom. He came forth and stood poised, being on the higher horizon. Then he drew near and hung above suspended, until he was two bows’ length away, or nearer. Then he revealed to Allah’s servant whatever he had to reveal. His heart added no untruth to what he saw. Are you, then, going to contend with him regarding what he sees with his eyes? Indeed, he saw him a second time, by the lote-tree at the farthest boundary, near which is the Garden of Abode. (This was) when the lote-tree was covered with that which covered it. His eye did not waver, nor did it stray, and he certainly saw some of the greatest Signs of His Lord.” (53:1-18)
These are another set of verses by Allah describing the position, truthfulness, purity and unique experiences of the Prophet. Experts have different opinions about the oath of ‘star.’ Some say it refers to the Qur’an, others opine it means the Prophet himself, particularly his pure heart. The other opinion appears to be more plausible in view of the description about events unfolded in further verses.
No human being can understand fully and comprehend completely this meeting of the Prophet with the angel Jibril, including the conversations therein and the place it happened. Obviously, we cannot grasp the feeling and meaning of Jibril hanging over suspended, coming closer to two bows’ length away, or nearer, revealing the message whatever he had to reveal, and seen second time by the lote-tree at the farthest boundary, near which is the Garden of Abode, when the lote-tree was covered with that which covered it.
These descriptions of events carry the meaning of importance, magnanimity, value and the depth of the worlds of angels and heavens that was shown to Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace. Allah praises His servant who witnessed those things with open eyes, without blinking a moment and standing poise with immense wisdom. Allah further confirms with appreciation that the Prophet neither strayed nor deluded. Hence while unfolding the world unseen to fellow human beings and conveying the message received from Allah directly or through angel Jibril, he added no untruth.
These verses testify the purity of the Prophet’s heart (his heart added no untruth to what he saw), eyes (his eye did not waver, nor did it stray), and tongue (nor does he speak out of his desire).
The praises of the Prophet under oath by Allah are also carried at other places in the Qur’an, including the following.
“No indeed; I swear by the alternating star that hide, and by the night as it recedes, and the morn as it breathes. Verily this is the word of a noble message-bearer; one mighty and held in honour with the Lord of the Throne; there he is obeyed and held trustworthy. (O people of Makkah), your companion is not mad; he indeed saw the message-bearer on the clear horizon; nor does he grudge (conveying this knowledge about) the Unseen;nor is it a word of an accursed Satan.” (81:15-25)
Like above mentioned set of verses, here too Allah swore to the stars. These verses talk about a mighty message-bearer who is obeyed by others and is honourable with the Lord, who is trustworthy regarding the message passing through him. Some experts opine that the Prophet is referred to in this description. However, other experts consider him to be the angle Jibril.
The reference to ‘your companion’ in the verse is obviously to the Prophet who saw Jibril in the latter’s real form and received the message of Allah from him. The message includes information about the unseen world which were conveyed to the human beings as enlightment through the Prophet. The world that was unseen for mankind was unfolded in this manner – from Allah to trustworthy and powerful angel to the noble Prophet – keeping no room for Satan to intervene or interrupt at any place. The importance, relevance and place of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace, in this scheme of communication of message from Allah to mankind is obvious.
The enemies of the Prophet, who rejected his message, were inflicting pain by calling him a madman. Allah consoled him with love and affection, asking him not to bother about what they said as he was not so, rather his character and persona was far above and distinct. Afterwards, Allah took his enemies to task and described a representative character among them in much disdain.
“Nūn. By the pen and what the scribes write. By your Lord’s Grace, you are not afflicted with madness, and surely yours shall be a never-ending reward, and you are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence.” (68:1-4)
This Sura begins with a very special swearing, the pen and what the scribes write, and addresses the Prophet in a loving manner:‘By your Lord’s Grace.’ Then Allah consoles his Messenger by saying that he was not mad, rather a person with highest degree of moral excellence. So, he should ignore what his enemies were saying. Allah continued by saying that the position as to who were inflicted with madness will be clear soon. Everything will be known and obvious to both the parties.
“So, you will soon see, and they too will see, which of you is afflicted with madness. Surely your Lord knows well those who have strayed from His Way just as He knows well those who are on the Right Way” (68:5-7).
Allah called the enemies of the Prophet as persons who strayed from His ways. So, what will befall them would be the outcome of this straying away?
“Do not, then, yield to those who reject the Truth, decrying it as false; they would wish you to be pliant so that they too may be pliant. And do not yield to any contemptible swearer, the fault-finder who goes around slandering, the hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; the coarse-grained, and above all mean and ignoble; (who so acts) simply because he has wealth and sons, and whenever Our verses are rehearsed to him, he says: These are fairy- tales of times gone by.” (68:8-15)
Obviously, there was no need to yield to the people who strayed away. They displeased Allah and so were warned about serious consequences of their behaviour. Then Allah picked up and described the character of a wealthy person with several sons, who had all bad characteristics: irresponsible swearer, slanderer, hinderer of good, the transgressor, the sinful; the coarse-grained, and mean and ignoble. Hence Allah compared two characters: one of His dear Messenger having the most exalted standard of moral excellence, on the one hand, and a bad character in the society who rejected the message of the right way communicated by the Messenger as fairy tales of olden days. Comparison makes positions crystal clear and this positioning of the high character of the Prophet with that of his enemy glorifies the personality of the Prophet.