23 And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.
There is a difference between Nazzal and Anzal. In the former is a gradual descent, from time to time, according to the events that occurred and which occasioned the revelation of a verse. In the latter, the revelation was done once and for all, like the revelation of the Torah; it was revealed ultimately, all at once.
The Qur’an was revealed gradually. Even the disbelievers said:
- And those who disbelieve say: Why is the Qur’an not revealed unto him all at once? (It is revealed) thus that We may strengthen thy heart therewith; and We have arranged it in right order. (Al-Furqaan)
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant,” then He has established that the Qur’an was from Him. At the same time, he has affirmed that Muhammad is his Messenger and servant who cannot do anything without the permission of his Master. Servitude to Allah is the highest honour man can attain with his Maker. “Our servant,” He said.
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto;” a portion of it. And the shortest Sarah in the Qur’an is an-Nasr.
Surah 110. An-Nasr
- When Allah’s succour and the triumph cometh
- And thou seest mankind entering the religion of Allah in troops.
- Then hymn the praises of thy Lord, and seek forgiveness of Him. Lo! He is ever ready to show mercy.
- “…and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.” Call your witnesses, helpers, idols and rhetoricians besides Allah to produce something like the Qur’an.
“…and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.” If your doubts concerning Muhammad are genuine, that he forged the Qur’an, that it was his invention.
24 But if ye cannot- and of a surety ye cannot- then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones,- which is prepared for those who reject Faith.
If you cannot produce a Surah as you have been challenged to do – a reduction to an earlier challenge to produce 10 Surahs – since you failed in the past, you will fail in the future. You will never be able to produce anything like the Qur’an.
- Or they say: He hath invented it. Say: Then bring ten surahs, the like thereof, invented, and call on everyone ye can beside Allah, if ye are truthful! (Hud)
- Say: Verily, though mankind and the Jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof though they were helpers one of another. (Al-Israa)
If anyone doubts his mission, will he be able to make this kind of challenge? To say that if you doubt my mission, produce something like it, and if you cannot, you will never be able to do it forever? If this points to anything, it is clear proof that Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, did not invent the Qur’an; that it was revealed to him by Allah, who knows the past and the future. Now, after more than 14 hundred years, no man could produce something like it. Those who attempted only ended up making fools of themselves.
24 But if ye cannot- and of a surety ye cannot- then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones,- which is prepared for those who reject Faith.
What kind of fire is this whose fuel is men and stones? Unless there is an inflatable substance, you won’t find fire in stone; even then, the stone is not fuel to any burning object. But this fire prepared for the rejectors of faith has stones and men as its fuel. What a fire!
By the authority of this verse, the fire is already in existence, waiting for its inhabitants, just as Paradise is already created and made ready for its successful applicants.
24 But if ye cannot- and of a surety ye cannot- then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones,- which is prepared for those who reject Faith.
What about the believers; what is in store for them?
25 But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion is Gardens, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say: “Why, this is what we were fed with before,” for they are given things in similitude; and they have therein companions pure (and holy); and they abide therein (for ever).
Why didn’t Allah address the believers directly as He did in respect of the unbelievers? To them, He said:
“then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones,- which is prepared for those who reject Faith.” But to the believers, He ordered His Messenger to give the glad tidings –
“But give glad tidings to those who believe.” Oh Muhammad… as if Allah wants to grant him the honour of giving this glad tidings, to bring to us what will please us. Also, this shows that the believers deserve the honour of receiving these glad tidings. Yes, a believer deserves the prophets to give him glad tidings and the angels before his death.
- Lo! those who say: Our Lord is Allah, and afterward are upright, the angels descend upon them, saying: Fear not nor grieve, but bear good tidings of the paradise which ye are promised.
- We are your protecting friends in the life of the world and in the Hereafter. There ye will have (all) that your souls desire, and there ye will have (all) for which ye pray. (Fussilat)
25 But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion is Gardens, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say: “Why, this is what we were fed with before,” for they are given things in similitude; and they have therein companions pure (and holy); and they abide therein (forever).
Iman encompasses three things: 1) conviction in the heart, 2) affirmation with the tongue and 3) action with the limbs.
The absence of this conviction is disbelief because he utters what is not in his heart with his tongue – he is a hypocrite. One who refuses to affirm with the tongue is a disbeliever. If the last thing is missing, practice with the limbs; then he is a Faasiq. He is a believer, but he does not pray, for instance.
“But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness,” refers to those believers whose imaan encompasses the three things mentioned.
“…that their portion is Gardens, beneath which rivers flow.” Then it is not one Jannah – Jannatul Firdaus, Jannatun Na’eem, Jannatul Ma’waa, Darul Khuldi, Darul Qaraar, ‘Illeyyun, “that their portion is Gardens, beneath which rivers flow.”
- A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear run honey; therein for them is every kind of fruit, with pardon from their Lord. (Are those who enjoy all this) like those who are immortal in the Fire and are given boiling water to drink so that it teareth their bowels? (Muhammad).
“Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say: “Why, this is what we were fed with before,” for they are given things in similitude;” yes, it looks like the apple, the grapes, the cucumber they were used to in the world, but the taste is different. It is also said that they are giving what they are used to to familiarise themselves with whatever is new to them in Paradise. Because man is wary of food he is not used to. A plate of frogs, for instance, is a costly delicacy in some regions of the world, but we cannot come anywhere near such a dish. What is good food to us may not be palatable to people from another world. So, the fruits of Jannah take the shape of what we are used to in the world for us to accept and eat readily, but they are not what they appear to be. They are giving us in similitude.
The best of what was mentioned in this regard is that the fruits are the fruits of Jannah. Whenever you desire to take any part of it, the fruit moves towards you so you can take it without hardship.
- Whereof the clusters are in easy reach. (Al-Haaqah)
And if you take it, say, Rummaan (pomegranate), as soon as you pluck it, it is replaced immediately with another like it. When you finish the first Rummaan and decide to take the one that appeared in its place from the same branch, you will find that the taste is different from that of the first you ate. And if you repeat the same process, you will still get a different result.
Someone said the sign of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. But not in Paradise. Whatever you repeat, your result differs from what you got earlier or a day before. Even the women of Paradise are like that when you come to them.
- Lo! We have created them a (new) creation
- And made them virgins (al-Waaqi’ah)
There is no boredom in Jannah.
“Every time they are fed with fruits therefrom, they say: “Why, this is what we were fed with before,””…for they are given things in similitude;”
It looks like it, but it is different.
“…and they have therein companions pure (and holy);”
He said. Mutahharah.
He did not say . Taahirah.
If He had said Taahirah, it would have meant that the companions of Jannah are women who have purified themselves. But Mutahharah means Allah purifies them!
Whatever dirt is in a woman, it does not exist in Jannah.
