SURAH 7
Al-A'raaf (The Heights)
INTRODUCTION:
This Surah
consists of 206 verses, 3,325 sentences, 14.010 letters and 24 Ruku’s.
Name
It takes its name from vv. 136, 138 and 139 in which some superstitious beliefs of the idolatrous Arabs concerning the lawfulness of some cattle (anam) and the unlawfulness of some others have been refuted.
Period of
Revelation
According to a
tradition of Ibn Abbas, the whole of the Surah was revealed at one sitting at
Makkah. Asma, a daughter of Yazid and a first cousin of Hadrat Mu'az-bin Jahl,
says, "During the revelation of this Surah, the Holy Prophet was riding on a
she-camel and I was holding her nose-string. The she-camel began to feel the
weight so heavily that it seemed as if her bones would break under it." We also
learn from other traditions that the Holy Prophet dictated the whole of the
Surah the same night that it was revealed.
Its
subject-matter clearly shows that it must have been revealed during the last
year of the Holy Prophet's life at Makkah. The tradition of Asma, daughter of
Yazid, also confirms this. As she belonged to the Ansar and embraced Islam after
the migration of the Holy Prophet to Yathrab, her visit to the Holy Prophet at
Makkah must have taken place during the last year of his life there. For before
this, his relations with those people were not so intimate that a woman from
there might have come to visit him at Makkah.
Occasion
of Revelation
After
determining the period of its revelation, it is easier to visualise the
background of the Surah. Twelve years had passed since the Holy Prophet had been
inviting the people to Islam. The antagonism and persecution by the Quraish had
become most savage and brutal, and the majority of the Muslims had to leave
their homes and migrate to Habash (Abyssinia). Above all, the two great
supporters of the Holy Prophet, Abu Talib and Hadrat Khadijah, were no more to
help and give strength to him. Thus he was deprived of all the worldly support.
But in spite of this, he carried on his mission in the teeth of opposition. As a
result of this, on the one hand, all the good people of Makkah and the
surrounding clans gradually began to accept Islam; on the other hand, the
community as a whole, was bent upon obduracy and rejection. Therefore, if anyone
showed any inclination towards Islam, he was subjected to taunts and derision,
physical violence and social boycott. It was in these dark circumstances that a
ray of hope gleamed from Yathrab, where Islam began to spread freely by the
efforts of some influential people of Aus and Khazraj, who had embraced Islam at
Makkah. This was a humble beginning in the march of Islam towards success and
none could foresee at that time the great potentialities that lay hidden in it.
For, to a casual observer, it appeared at that time as if Islam was merely a
weak movement; it had no material backing except the meagre support of the
Prophet's own family and of the few poor adherents of the Movement. Obviously
the latter could not give much help because they themselves had been cast out by
their own people who became their enemies and were persecuting them.
Topics
These were the conditions, when this discourse was revealed. The main topics dealt with in this discourse may be divided under seven headings:
1.
Refutation of shirk and invitation to the creed of Tawhid.
2.
Enunciation of the doctrine of the "Life-after-death" and refutation of the
wrong notion that there was nothing beyond this worldly life.
3.
Refutation of the prevalent superstitions.
4.
Enunciation of the fundamental moral principles for the building up of the
Islamic Society.
5.
Answers to the objections raised against the person of the Holy Prophet and his
mission.
6.
Comfort and encouragement to the Holy Prophet and his followers who were at that
time in a state of anxiety and despondency because of the apparent failure of
the mission.
7.
Admonition, warning and threats to the disbelievers and opponents to give up
their apathy and haughtiness. It must, however, be noted that the above topics
have not been dealt with one by one under separate headings, but the discourse
goes on as a continuous whole and these topics come under discussion over and
over again in new and different ways.
The Background of Makki Suras
As this is the first long Makki Surah in the order of the compilation of the Quran, it will be useful to explain the historical background of Makki Surahs in general, so that the reader may easily understand the Makki Surahs and our references to its different stages in connection with our commentary on them. First of all, it should be noted that comparatively very little material is available in regard to the background of the revelation of Makki Surahs whereas the period of the revelation of all the Madani Surahs is known or can be determined with a little effort. There are authentic traditions even in regard to the occasions of the revelation of the majority of the verses. On the other hand, we do not have such detailed information regarding the Makki Surahs. There are only a few Surahs and verses which have authentic traditions concerning the time and occasion of their revelation. This is because the history of the Makki period had not been compiled in such detail as that of the Madani period. Therefore we have to depend on the internal evidence of these Surahs for determining the period of their revelation: for example, the topics they discuss, their subject. matter, their style and the direct or indirect references to the events and the occasions of their revelation. Thus it is obvious that with the help of such evidence as this, we cannot say with precision that such and such Surah or verse was revealed on such and such an occasion. The most we can do is to compare the internal evidence of a Surah with the events of the life of the Holy Prophet at Makkah, and then come to a more or less correct conclusion as to what particular stage a certain Surah belongs. If we keep the above things in view, the history of the mission of the Holy Prophet at Makkah can be divided into four stages.
1.
The
first stage began with his appointment as a Messenger and ended with the
proclamation of Prophethood three years later. During this period the Message
was given secretly to some selected persons only, but the common people of
Makkah were not aware of it.
2.
The
second stage lasted for two years after the proclamation of his Prophethood. It
began with opposition by individuals: then by and by, it took the shape of
antagonism, ridicule, derision,, accusation, abuse, and false propaganda then
gangs were formed to persecute those Muslims who were comparatively poor, weak
and helpless.
3.
The
third stage lasted for about six years from the beginning of the persecution to
the death of Abu Talib and Hadrat Khadijah in the tenth year of Prophethood.
During this period, the persecution of the Muslims became so savage and brutal
that many of them were forced to migrate to Habash. Social and economic boycott
was applied against the Holy Prophet and the members of his family, and those
Muslims who continued to stay in Makkah were forced to take refuge in
Shi'b-i-A'bi Talib which was besieged.
4.
The
fourth stage lasted for about three years from the tenth to the thirteenth year
of Prophethood. This was a period of hard trials and grievous sufferings for the
Holy Prophet and his followers. Life had become unendurable at Makkah and there
appeared to be no place of refuge even outside it. So much so that when the Holy
Prophet went to Ta'if, it offered no shelter or protection. Besides this, on the
occasion of Hajj, he would appeal to each and every Arab clan to accept his
invitation to Islam but met with blank refusal from every quarter. At the same
time, the people of Makkah were holding counsels to get rid of him by killing or
imprisoning or banishing him from their city. It was at that most critical time
that Allah opened for Islam the hearts of the Ansar of Yathrab where he migrated
at their invitation. Now that we have divided the life of the Holy Prophet at
Makkah into four stages, it has become easier for us to tell, as far as
possible, the particular stage in which a certain Makki Surah was revealed. This
is because the Surahs belonging to a particular stage can be distinguished from
those of the other stages with the help of their subject matter and style.
Besides this, they also contain such references as throw light on the
circumstances and events that form the background of their revelation. In the
succeeding Makki Surahs, we will determine on the basis of the distinctive
features of each stage, and point out in the Preface, the particular stage in
which a certain Makki Surah was revealed.
Subject : Islamic Creed.
This Surah mainly discusses the different aspects of the major articles of the Islamic Creed: Tawhid, Life-after-death, Prophethood and their practical application to human life. Side by side with this, it refutes the erroneous beliefs of the opponents and answers their objections, warns and admonishes them and comforts the Holy Prophet and his followers, who were then suffering from persecution. Of course, these themes have not been dealt with under separate heads but have been blended in an excellent manner.
