Tafsir

The Command to convey the Message of Tawhid

Here Allah commands His Messenger to convey the Message and recite the Qur'an to people. He tells him that he will be brought back to the return, which is the Day of Resurrection, where he will be asked about the prophethood he was entrusted with. So Allah says:إِنَّ الَّذِى فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْءَانَ لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(Verily, He Who has given you the Qur'an, will surely bring you back to the return.) meaning, `the One Who has commanded you to put it into practice among mankind,'لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(will surely bring you back to the return.) `On the Day of Resurrection, where He will question you concerning that,' as Allah said:فَلَنَسْـَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْـَلَنَّ الْمُرْسَلِينَ(Then surely, We shall question those to whom it was sent and verily, We shall question the Messengers.) (7:6) Allah said:يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ اللَّهُ الرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَآ أُجِبْتُمْ(On the Day when Allah will gather the Messengers together and say to them: "What was the response you received") (5:109).

And He said:وَجِـىءَ بِالنَّبِيِّيْنَ وَالشُّهَدَآءِ(and the Prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward) (39: 69) In his Tafsir of his Sahih, Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn `Abbas commented on the Ayah:لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(will surely bring you back to the return.) "To Makkah." This was also recorded by An-Nasa'i in his Tafsir in his Sunan, and by Ibn Jarir.

Al-`Awfi also reported from Ibn `Abbas that the phrase:لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(will surely bring you back to the return.) means, "will surely bring you back to Makkah as He brought you out of it." Muhammad bin Ishaq recorded that Mujahid commented on:لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(will surely bring you back to the return.) He said, "Back to your place of birth in Makkah." Ibn `Abbas is also reported to have interpreted it variously referring to death, to the Day of Resurrection which will come after death, and to Paradise which will be his reward and his destiny for putting the Message of Allah into practice and conveying it to the humans and Jinns, and because he is the most perfect, most eloquent and most noble of all the creation of Allah.

Allah's saying:قُل رَّبِّى أَعْلَمُ مَن جَآءَ بِالْهُدَى وَمَنْ هُوَ فِى ضَلَـلٍ مُّبِينٍ(Say: "My Lord is Aware of him who brings guidance, and of him who is in manifest error.") means: "Say, O Muhammad, to those among your people who oppose you and disbelieve you, among the idolators and those who follow them in their disbelief, `My Lord knows best which of us, you or I, is rightly guided, and you will come to know for which of us will be the (happy) end in the Hereafter, and for which of us will be a good end and victory in this world and in the Hereafter'." Then Allah reminds His Prophet the numerous blessings He granted to him and mankind by virtue of sending him to them:وَمَا كُنتَ تَرْجُو أَن يُلْقَى إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَـبُ(And you were not expecting that the Book would be sent down to you,) `Before the revelation was sent down to you, you did not expect that revelation would be sent down to you.'وَلَـكِن رَّحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ(but it is a mercy from your Lord.) means, `but revelation has been sent down to you from Allah as a mercy to you and to mankind because of you.

Since Allah has granted you this great blessing,'فَلاَ تَكُونَنَّ ظَهيراً(So never be a supporter) i.e., a helper,لِلْكَـفِرِينَ(of the disbelievers.) rather, separate from them, `express your hostility towards them and oppose them.

'وَلاَ يَصُدُّنَّكَ عَنْ ءَايَـتِ اللَّهِ بَعْدَ إِذْ أُنزِلَتْ إِلَيْكَ(And let them not turn you away from the Ayat of Allah after they have been sent down to you.) meaning, `Do not let their opposition to you affect you or put people off from following your way; do not worry about that or pay any attention to it, for Allah will make your word supreme, will support your religion and will make the Message with which He has sent you prevail over all other religions.' So He says:وَادْعُ إِلَى رَبِّكَ(and invite to your Lord) to worship your Lord Alone, with no partners or associates,وَلاَ تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكَينَ(and be not of idolators.)وَلاَ تَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَـهاً ءَاخَرَ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ(And invoke not any other god along with Allah, there is no God but Him.) means, it is not appropriate to worship anything or anybody except Him, and divinity does not befit any except His glory.كُلُّ شَىْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلاَّ وَجْهَهُ(Everything will perish save His Face.) Here Allah is telling us that He is Eternal, Ever Lasting, Ever Living, Self-Sustaining, Who, although His creation dies, He will never die, as He says:كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ - وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلْـلِ وَالإِكْرَامِ(Whatsoever is on it will perish.

And the Face of your Lord full of majesty and honor will remain forever.) (55:26-27). Allah used the word "Face" to refer to Himself, as He says here:كُلُّ شَىْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلاَّ وَجْهَهُ(Everything will perish save His Face.) meaning, everything except Him. It was reported in the Sahih via Abu Salamah that Abu Hurayrah said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:«أَصْدَقُ كَلِمَةٍ قَالَهَا الشَّاعِرُ لَبِيدُ أَلَا كُلُّ شَيْءٍ مَا خَلَا اللهَ بَاطِلُ »(The truest word of a poet was the saying of Labid - indeed everything except Allah is false.)لَهُ الْحُكْمُ(His is the decision,) means, dominion and control, and there is none who can reverse His judgement or decision.وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ(and to Him you shall be returned.) means, on the Day when you will be brought back, and He will reward or punish you according to your deeds: if they are good, then you will be rewarded, and if they are bad, then you will be punished. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Qasas. To Allah be praise and blessings.

Commentaryإِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَ‌ضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْ‌آنَ لَرَ‌ادُّكَ إِلَىٰ مَعَادٍ (Surely the One who has enjoined the Qur’ an upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return. - 28:85). At the end of Surah these verses were revealed to console the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، and to make him firm in his mission as a messenger. These verses are relevant to the previous verses in that in this Surah, Allah Ta’ ala has narrated in detail the story of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) with the Pharaoh, his enmity with Bani Isra'il, their fear of him and how he overpowered the people of the Pharaoh. Since the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ faced a similar situation in that he was harassed, and plans were made to kill him, the lives of Muslims were made miserable in Makkah, but following His (Allah) old tradition, Allah graced them with victory over all of them. He finally gifted the Muslims possession of Makkah, from where they were made to vacate.الَّذِي فَرَ‌ضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْ‌آنَ (The One who has enjoined the Qur’ an upon you - 28:85).

It means that the Lord of the universe who has made it obligatory on you to recite, teach and act on it, will take you back to Ma` ad, which lexically means 'a place of return'. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has explained that Ma` ad in this verse refers to Makkah, as reported in Sahih al-Bukhari. So, the meaning of the sentence is that although the Holy Prophet ﷺ would have to leave his hometown, especially the Haram for a short while, he would be brought back in Makkah by Allah Ta’ ala, who had revealed the Qur'an on him, and had made it obligatory to act upon it. The Imam of tafsir, Muqatil, has narrated that during the Hijrah (emigration) from Makkah to Madinah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ came out from the cave of Thaur at night, and by passing the conventional route, treaded the unfamiliar paths, because the enemies were pursuing him. When he reached Juhfah, which was a well-known place on the way to Madinah near Rabigh, and where the conventional route to Madinah separates from that of Makkah, at that time he glanced back toward the route of Makkah and remembered his hometown.

On that moment, Jibra'l (علیہ السلام) descended with this verse, in which he was given the good tiding that separation from Makkah was temporary and he would return there soon. That was in fact the advance news of the victory of Makkah. It is in this background that Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has observed in a narration that this verse was revealed in Juhfah, and that it is neither Makki nor Madani. (Qurtubi).

Qur’ an is a means of victory over enemies and of one's success in his objectives

While promising to the Holy Prophet ﷺ that he will be brought back by Allah to his hometown which will be conquered by him, Allah Ta’ ala has made a special reference to Himself as 'the One who has enjoined the Qur’ an on him'. This reference contains a hint to the fact that recitation of Qur’ an and acting on its injunctions would actually be the cause of the Divine help and manifest victory.