Surah Al Hijr (The Rocky Tract)

1. Alif-Lm-R, are read separately and only Allah knows their implications. These are the verses of the clear lucid Quran.

2. Ibn Abbas said: ‘When the unbelievers of Quraish are exposed to the fire of Hell on the Day of Judgement, they will wish they had been Muslims. (‘Wish’ in itself suggests that the goal is too difficult to attain). It has also been said that the meaning is: on his deathbed, each unbeliever will wish he had been a Muslim. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “When those who are damned to hellfire are united with whichever of the Muslims Allah chooses, the former will address the Muslims saying: ‘Were you not Muslims?’ The Muslims will say: ‘Yes.’ ‘But what has Islam availed you,’ the former will ask, ‘since you are here in Hell with us?’ The Muslims will reply: ‘We committed sins for which we are now accountable.’ On hearing this, Allah will order that all Muslims be removed from Hell. When the unbelievers witness this they will say: ‘Had we embraced Islam we too would be removed from hell just like the Muslims.’ ” Consequently, the Messenger of Allah recited the above verse. (Narrated by Abu Musa al-Asha’ari and reported by al-Tabarani).

3. Allah Almighty threatens the unbelievers and addresses His noble Messenger saying: “Let the unbelievers wallow in their indifference and enjoy themselves, let them eat and be diverted by their hopes in this here life from repentance and their eventual return to Allah. They will soon know the punishment they will undergo when they shall see it descend on them.

4. Never did we destroy a town but it had its assigned term noted in the preserved tablet, which cannot be forgotten or ignored, hastened or delayed.

5. No nation can anticipate the term for its destruction nor can it delay it.

6. The iniquitous unbelievers said derisively and mockingly to the Prophet: “O you who claim that the Quran was revealed to you, what you say is dictated by a fit of madness, and this runs contrary to our beliefs and precepts! How do you expect us to accept what reason does not?

7. “If you are indeed truthful with regard to your claim that Allah has sent and supported you, why don’t you then ask Him to bring down with you angels from heaven to testify to the truth of your prophecy?”

8. Allah retorts by saying: “Allah does not send down angels to testify to the veracity of the call of His prophets and the messages He sends through them, but rather to support His messengers and destroy those who contradict them. When Allah sends angels to your people, O Mohammad, they will soon be destroyed with no hope of respite. It has been Allah’s law with the previous nations to destroy them without giving respite if they ask for a revelation and do not believe in it once it has been revealed to them.

9. Here Almighty Allah says that He Himself revealed the Quran to His Messenger, and that He is the keeper of this Book against alteration, modification and distortion.

10. Allah consoles His messenger for having been denied by the unbelievers. He says that He had sent envoys to previous nations who disbelieved in their Lord and denied His messengers. Thus Allah destroyed them for their persistence in disbelief and denial.

11. There is not a single prophet who has not been mocked at and contradicted by his people for it is burdensome to the self to observe what is obligatory and to renounce what is prohibited. Moreover, to coerce people to give up established beliefs is in itself onerous.

12. Besides, Almighty Allah allows the Quran to reach the hearts of those criminals to revive their spirits. They contradict, deride and reject it for they are not disposed to accept the truth and their souls are not illuminated by divine guidance to show them the true path. In this they behave as did their predecessors with their prophets; Allah destroyed them for their disbelief and denial. O Mohammad, follow the good example of the messengers who preceded you.

13. Your people do not believe in the Quran although they know how Allah punished those who contradicted the messengers with torment and extermination and how He saved His messengers and those who followed them. Those who contradict you will suffer the same fate as their predecessors and We will make you victorious over them after a short while.

14. In order to believe in you those obstinate unbelievers ask for angels to be sent down to them. However, they will not believe even if We were to open one of the gates of heaven, and they could continually go up to it and see the angels and the wonders there; they will not believe.

15. They would say: “Our eyes were closed and we could not see. We have been bewitched; what we see is imaginary, it has no reality. Mohammad (peace be upon him) has enchanted us with the signs he has brought to us.” Since matters stand thus, how can they ask you to produce signs?

16. Almighty Allah says that He has beautified the sky with planets and has set in it constellations which are stations for the sun and the moon. He has made the sky and its planets and constellations a delight for those who contemplate and meditate on its marvellous signs.

17. Allah has also protected it against all accursed devils banished from His mercy.

18. Should one of the devils however try to ascend to heaven to eavesdrop on the talk of the angels, he will be pursued by a manifest burning, fast-moving flame to destroy him.

19. Allah has created the earth, stretched it out, extended it and spread it out before the eyes of the beholders so that they can draw complete benefit from it. He has installed on it well-anchored mountains so that the earth would not quake along with the creatures on it. He has also caused to grow on it vegetation, plants and trees whose constituting elements were proportioned and accurately measured.

20. Allah has provided sustenance on earth for people to live on. They will live on its plants, grains and fruits; on the flesh of the animals which live on land and in the sea and feed on the produce of the land and that of the sea and rivers; He has provided them with clothing made from the wool, fur and hair of animals and from such plants as cotton and linen. Allah has also created beasts of burden and cattle so that men can benefit from them without having to feed them or care for them.

21. Here Almighty Allah makes it quite clear that He is the absolute Master of all that is in existence; everything is easy for Him. He keeps in reserve all that benefits men. However, He only sends down a determined measure He chooses for a reason which proceeds from His great wisdom and mercy on men.

22. Almighty Allah sends the winds to fertilize the clouds which pour down rain in abundance; the rain in turn fertilizes the trees which yield leaves and buds and fruit. These winds are fruitful (contrary to the sterile winds which produce nothing). Allah causes fresh water to fall from the sky, which one can drink from. One need not store the water since Allah stores it in springs, rivers and wells to quench the thirst of men, cattle, vegetation and trees. (Some interpreters say that ‘you are not its treasurer’ means ‘you are not the keeper of the stores’).

23. Almighty Allah, informs us of His power to initiate creation and repeat it; He has created men from nothing. He will cause them to die and will surely resurrect them on the Day of Resurrection. He tells us that He Himself will inherit the earth and whatever it harbours since only He will live on.

24. Ibn Abbas says: “ ‘Those who preceded’ are those who have perished between the time of Adam and the date of the revelation of this verse; ‘those who follow’ are those who were alive at the time this verse was revealed and all those who will come after them until the Day of Judgement.” Allah says: “We have known your predecessors; We have counted them and noted their deeds. Nothing escapes Us, neither what you do nor where you are.”

25. After that Almighty Allah will resuscitate those who went before and those who came after. He will gather them around Him on Judgement Day and call them to account for their deeds. Herein lies His great wisdom; He has full knowledge of them all.

26. We have created Adam, the progenitor of mankind from dry clay which produces a clink when tapped with the fingers. To begin with, this clay was malleable, blackish and of a changeable colour.

27. Before creating man We created the jinn from fire hot enough to penetrate the pores of the body.

28. O Mohammad! Recall when your Lord said to the angels: “I will create a human being (Adam) from clay which clinks when tapped with the fingers and which was before that blackish malleable mud.”

29. Here Almighty Allah says that after He had completed shaping Adam and had breathed into him of His Spirit, He ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before him as a sign of glorification and not of worship.

30. All the angels obeyed their Lord’s injunction and prostrated themselves before Adam.

31. None disobeyed Allah’s order except Lucifer; he refused to prostrate himself from motives of envy, disbelief, stubbornness and arrogance.

32. Allah the All-Mighty and All-Powerful asked Lucifer: “What is the matter with you, Lucifer, that you do not obey My order and prostrate yourself along with those who do so?”

33. Lucifer said to his Noble Lord that he was not ready to prostrate himself before a human being whom Allah had created from blackish clay of an unstable colour.

34. Almighty Allah ordered that Lucifer be expelled from heaven and deprived of Allah’s mercy.

35. Allah cursed Lucifer; His curse will follow Lucifer ceaselessly and successively until Judgement Day when the punishment he deserves will be inflicted on him.

36. When Lucifer was assured that Allah’s wrath was inescapable, he begged his Lord to grant him respite and delay his death till the Resurrection Day. This was the result of his extreme envy of Adam and his progeny.

37. Almighty Allah responded to his request and told him that he would be granted respite so that he may be led to ruin.

38. Lucifer would be granted respite until the Day of Resurrection, which is the delay agreed upon.

39. Lucifer then said to Allah Almighty: “My Lord, since You lured me into error and misled me, I swear I will make disobedience attractive to mankind and will lure them and lead them to aberrations just as You lured me and led me astray.”

40. Still addressing Allah, Lucifer adds: “None of the children of Adam will be excepted from my intention to lead them astray and lure them but Your faithful servants who worship You piously and whose souls I cannot take over because they are devoted to You.”

41. Threateningly, Almighty Allah retorts: “You will return to me; you cannot escape your fate. Then I will reward you for your deeds, good for good and evil for evil.” It has been said that this verse means that the way of truth leads to Allah and ends with Him. It has also been suggested that Allah takes into account that the straight path is a reality.

42. Allah continues saying: “You, Lucifer, can never exercise any power over my servants whom I have destined to be guided; you can never lead them astray nor oblige them to commit sins too great for Me not to forgive. However, those who choose to willingly follow you will become your accomplices. Over them you have full authority.”

43. Hell is the promised place for all followers of Lucifer – what a wretched resting place!

44. Almighty Allah tells us that hell has seven gates and that He has destined to each of these seven gates a certain number of the followers of Lucifer so that they could enter hell according to their deeds. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says “Hell has seven gates, one of which is allotted to whoever draws a sword in fight against My nation.” (Reported by al-Tarmidhy). It has also been interpreted that hell has seven layers for the unbelievers to saunter down, each according to the rank of chastisement he is doomed to undergo.

45. Almighty Allah then moves on to speak about those who will live in paradise. He says: “As for the Allah-fearing believers, they shall live in gardens beneath which streams flow, and in which springs of fresh water gush forth.

46. They will be told: ‘Enter Paradise delivered from all diseases and disturbances, secure of the favours that Allah has blessed you with, and safe from all fear and panic. Do not fear expulsion, perishment or despair.’ ”

47. Allah will remove from the hearts of the people of paradise all traces of rancour, grudge and spite. They shall be seated on couches facing one another and look into each other’s faces while they indulge in pleasant conversation and enjoy each other’s company. They shall not sit back to back looking at each other’s backs like those who hate, or have lost affection for, one another.

48. The people of paradise will be spared hardship and harm. They need not toil to provide for themselves: Allah has spared them the trouble of working and ordered that they have access to whatever they wish for or demand.

49. O Mohammad! Tell My servants that I am all-forgiving and merciful; I will forgive the sins of whoever repents, begs for pardon and shows devotion in his work; I will not disgrace, punish or torture him for any sin after he has repented.

50. Tell those who persist in their disbelief that I reserve My punishment for those who disbelieve, become overbearing and arrogant and who persist in committing offences. Their punishment will be painful and terrible without equal.

51. Tell them about the guests of Abraham, notably the noble angels who were sent by Allah to inflict chastisement on Lot’s people.

52. The angels came to Abraham (peace be upon him) and greeted him, but he said that he feared them because they did not touch the roast veal which he served them. Therefore he believed that they wanted to harm him.

53. The angels said: “Have no fear of us. We are messengers from your Lord and we bring you the good news that Allah shall bless you with a son (Isaac) gifted with knowledge, intelligence and religious learning.”

54. Abraham was astonished that he could have a son when both he and his wife were old. He said: “How can you bring me the good news that I will have a child when I am an old man afflicted with age. This is a state which goes counter to your good news. What miracle are you announcing”’ Abraham said this in surprise and not because he judged it unlikely that Allah could work miracles. He knew that nothing was beyond the power of Almighty Allah, either here on earth or in heaven.

55. Allah’s messengers confirmed the truth of the glad tidings which they gave him saying that he would indeed have a son. They asked him not to despair of Allah’s grace and mercy.

56. Abraham said that he did not despair of the mercy of Allah, but that he begged Him for a son even though he and his wife had grown too old. He had had more convincing proof of Allah’s power and mercy. Also, he added, none despair of the mercy of Allah but those who stray from the path of guidance and faith and ignore the greatness of the Creator.

57. When Abraham’s fear was dissipated and he had received the good news, he began to inquire of the angels about the mission they had come to accomplish for they were numerous and it needed but one angel to announce to him the good news.

58. They said that they had been sent to a criminal people who do evil and were charged with destroying them. The people referred to are Lot’s people.

59. They said that they would save Lot and all his family,

60. except his wife, who would stay behind in the town when chastisement was inflicted on the people there. She would face destruction along with the others.

61. When the envoys came to the household of Lot in the form of handsome youths,

62. Lot felt uneasy about their visit for he feared the perversity and wickedness of his people. He was annoyed to see them in that town whose inhabitants were iniquitous.

63. They said to him that they had brought punishment to his people and that they were there to destroy them. When Lot had warned his people of this punishment, and frightened them by saying that it was a punishment from Allah for their iniquity, perversion and corruption, they doubted that they would suffer such chastisement.

64. The angel envoys went on to say: “We bring you certain and undisputed truth, notably the punishment that Allah has decreed for your people. We are indeed truthful with regards to our tidings of the destruction of your people and the deliverance of yourself and your household.”

65. In due course, the angels ordered Lot to set out with his household when night was advanced and to remain behind them to protect them. They also ordered him that none should look back when they heard the clamor of the torment and destruction of the infamous people. Lot and his family were told to head to a place appointed to them by Allah and which would become their new home.

66. Almighty Allah revealed to Lot His irreversible decree that the very last of his people would be destroyed by dawn. None would survive. (It follows that if the last is destroyed the first will also be destroyed. Thus all are destroyed).

67. Almighty Allah then began to narrate the moral degeneration of Lot’s people when they heard of the arrival of good-looking guests at his house and their destruction in consequence as has been mentioned before Almighty Allah said: “The people of the town converged at Lot’s house in happiness and at great speed believing that they would gratify their carnal desires with the guests and commit infamy. (It is said that Lot’s wife herself told her people about the arrival of the guests at her husband’s house).

68. Before realizing that his guests were Allah’s envoys, Lot began to defend them to keep them out of his people’s reach by saying that they were his guests. He entreated the latter not to disgrace or dishonor him by assaulting his guests and violating the protection he had to provide to them.

69. Lot wanted to remind his people of their obligation to him, begging them not to disgrace him before his guests. He appealed to them in earnest to fear Allah, and not to fail to observe His injunctions.

70. They replied: “Did we not forbid you again and again to extend hospitality to any stranger in our town?” It was customary for the people of Lot to subject any stranger to bad treatment, whereas Lot used to forbid them from indulging in shameless vices and would defend his guests against them.

71. He guided them to approach the women Allah created and to marry those of the town. He forbade them to give themselves up to homosexual practices. (He called the women of the town ‘my daughters’ because a messenger is a father among his people).

72. The angels said to Lot: “Upon your life, O Messenger of Allah, your people are so sunk in their aberrations that they have been left perplexed, not knowing of the afflictions which surround them and unconscious of the punishment awaiting them, such is their lack of clear-sightedness).

73. Then the expected chastisement was inflicted on them, and they were caught by the mighty blast at sunrise. Allah began to hail his punishment on them at dawn and stopped at sunrise. That is why Allah says in verse 66 ‘musbihin’ thus alluding to dawn; and in this verse He says ‘mushriqin’ thus alluding to sunrise.

74. Almighty Allah then demolished their town over their heads. He shook their land violently and poured down on them stones of baked clay so that these last would kill whoever had survived the quake and would destroy the houses.

75. The annihilation and chastisement We have inflicted on the people of Lot are signs that invite people who contemplate to reflect on the universe and take warning by the instruction and admonition implied therein, and examine them using their sight and discernment.

76. This town (the town of the people of Lot), which Allah destroyed and turned upside down, is a clearly visible landmark on the route from Hijaz to Syria; travellers can still see remnants of the ruins.

77. The extermination and destruction We inflicted on the people of Lot, and the deliverance We extended to Lot and his household, is an indication and a manifest admonition to those who believe in Allah and His Messenger because they know that the chastisement was inflicted on them as a revenge on the wicked unbelievers who have denied Allah, contradicted His messenger and transgressed His commands.

78. The people of Aykah are the people of the prophet Shu’ayb. They showed themselves iniquitous because of their idolatry, their waylaying travellers and their giving short measure. Allah Almighty sent them Shu’ayb but they denied him

79. Allah avenged Himself through a series of clamours, earthquakes and the punishment of the day of darkness. Their land was close to that of Lot’s people but Shu’ayb’s people lived at a later historical period. Their respective villages were situated on a known route which they travelled by between Al-Hijaz and the land of al-Sham. Thus Shu’ayb said, warning his people against Allah’s vengeance: “The people of Lot are not far away from you.” (see chapter 11- Hud (The Prophet Hud), 89).

80. The people of al-Hijr are the people of Thamud. They denied their Prophet Saleh and whoever denies a Messenger has denied all messengers. Thus Almighty Allah said that they denied the messengers.

81. Allah revealed signs to them to prove the veracity of the message brought to them by His Messenger Saleh (peace be upon him). Among these signs, and in response to his people, Saleh invoked Allah Who produced a fully grown she-camel out of a solid rock to graze freely in their town, and share with them their water on alternate days. They soon grew tired of this she-camel and slaughtered her. Consequently Allah destroyed them to the very last one of their race.

82. They used to hew out their houses in the mountains for fear that thieves should pull them down or loot them or that their enemies should destroy them. It has also been said that the meaning is as follows: they hewed their houses in the mountains not because they feared aught, nor yet because they needed them, but because they were motivated by mere arrogance, wickedness and impiety.

83. When they denied their messenger and slaughtered the she-camel, their Prophet Saleh said to them: “You have disobeyed the commandments of your Lord; await, therefore, Allah’s punishment and torment which will befall you in three days’s time.” On that very day, that is the fourth day, they were seized by the clamour of punishment in the morning. Allah destroyed them all. None were left alive.

84. Neither their cultivation of plants and fruit, the water for which they begrudged the she-camel, until they slaughtered her so that she would not share it with them, nor the money they earned for hewing houses in the mountains and for their constructions on earth availed them when Allah’s will was done. The houses they had hewed in the mountains in order that they would be spared the vicissitudes of time did not save them from Allah’s decree.

85. Almighty Allah says that He has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in truth and justice, for reasons proceeding from His wisdom and for a specific benefit. He has not created them from vanity and frivolity for His own amusement and diversion. He then says to the Prophet (peace be upon him) that the hour of the Last Judgment will come without any doubt and each will then be rewarded according to his deserts. He then orders the Prophet to forgive the wrongs and the harm done him by the polytheists and to forgive them their denial of the message which he brought them.

86. Almighty Allah decrees that He will resurrect all creatures on the Day of Judgment; He is powerful enough to do that for He is the Creator and nothing in the heavens or on earth is beyond His power. He has created them as well as everything in existence, and His knowledge encompasses everything relating to their conditions, their deeds and even the parts of their bodies scattered all over the earth.

87. Almighty Allah says to His Prophet that He has given him the seven which are repeated many times in the prayers as well as the Holy Quran. Interpreters have disagreed over the meaning of ‘the seven which are oft-repeated’:
– Ibn Mas’oud and Ibn Abbas say that they refer to the seven long suras (chapters) that is, al-Baqara (The Heifer), Al-Imran (Family of Imran), al-Nisaa (The Women), al-Ma’ida (The Table Spread), al-An’am (Cattle), al-A’raf (The Heights) and Yunus (Jonah). Almighty Allah explains in these seven suras the Islamic duties, the imposed limitations, the penalties and the precepts. Ibn Abbas said: “In these suras Almighty Allah uses examples, informs and gives lessons.”
– Others are of the view that the ‘seven which are oft-repeated’ refers to al-Fatiha (The Opening Chapter) because this last comprises seven verses of praise to Allah and these are repeated: these verses are recited at each prostration during the prayer. It is reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The mother of the Quran consists of the seven which are oft-repeated as well as the sublime Quran.” (Narrated by Abu-Huraira).

88. O Mohammed! We have given you the Holy Quran and the seven which are oft-repeated. You have been endowed with magnificent favours which have no equal in this here life so do not turn your eyes upon this present life; do not look at its glitter and adornments or look with longing at the ephemeral pleasures We have given to some to dazzle and tempt them. Do not envy them their present state or sadden yourself because they deny you and contradict your message but show a gentle goodwill to the believers.

89. Almighty Allah commands His Prophet to tell the people that he has come to warn them of the painful chastisement that may befall them as it befell the nations before them who contradicted their prophets and were therefore exterminated by Allah.

90. ‘Al-muktasimoun’ (people who take a vow) are those who meet to swear to oppose the Prophets and to harm and contradict them. Or, as was the case with a group of Saleh’s people who agreed to kill him, they met and took an oath among themselves on what they had decided so that none should abstain and recoil from that which they had agreed upon. Thus, no sooner had ‘al-muktasimoun’ agreed on something than they took an oath upon it. Allah Almighty says that He inflicted chastisement on those people just as he did on those earlier nations who vowed and took oath to contradict the prophets, to kill and harm them.
Ibn Abbas says that the meaning is as follows: We bestowed on you (Mohammed) the seven which are oft-repeated just as We granted the Torah to the Jews, and the Bible to the Christians. However, they divided the Quran into fragments. They believed in those parts which agreed with their Book and rejected those which contradicted it.

91. Those who divided the Quran into fragments, believed in certain parts of it and rejected others,

92. and contradicted and took oath, will be summoned by Almighty Allah Who swears by His Noble Self to call them to account for all their words and actions directed against the message the Prophet was entrusted with communicating to them.

93. That is, Allah will question those who fragmented the Quran, who believed in parts of it and rejected others, about all their deeds on the Last Day when He will assemble them to judge them.

94. Almighty Allah commands His messenger to communicate to the people what he has been charged with by his Lord. He should announce this publicly, confront the unbelievers with the message and not fear them for Allah Almighty will defend him against people and protect him from all evil.

95. Almighty Allah has spared you the trouble of dealing with those who scoff at you and ridicule the Quran. He protects you from them.
The scoffers are the heads of disbelief who used to harm the Prophet. He passed by five of them who began winking at each other in mockery. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then invoked Allah’s imprecations against them and Allah saved him from their evil intentions.

96. Allah’s wrath and torment will descend upon these people for they have worshipped other deities with Allah. They will know the punishment they are going to undergo on Judgement Day.

97. We know how distressed and sad you feel at their harmful deeds, at their contradictions and their mockery. Do not be oppressed by them and do not be discouraged from your mission of transmitting your Lord’s message.

98. If you are grieved and you fall into misfortune, return to Allah and rely on Him; invoke Him and praise Him; glorify, worship and pray to Him for this alleviates the pain they cause you. (Whenever the messenger was in distress, he would resort to prayer.)

99. Almighty Allah commands His messenger to apply himself to the worship of Allah and to persevere in His service till his death.