Surah Al-Hajj: Verse 46 - أفلم يسيروا في الأرض فتكون... - English
Tafsir of Verse 46, Surah Al-Hajj
English Translation
So have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts.English Transliteration
Afalam yaseeroo fee alardi fatakoona lahum quloobun yaAAqiloona biha aw athanun yasmaAAoona biha fainnaha la taAAma alabsaru walakin taAAma alquloobu allatee fee alssudooriTafsir of Verse 46
Commentary
Travels undertaken to acquire insight into things and to learn lessons from the past is one of the religious objectives
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (Have they not, then, travelled on earth so that they should have hearts - 22:46) This verse encourages travel, provided the person travelling keeps his eyes wide open and imbibes in his mind the lessons of history. The phrase فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (so that they should have hearts - 22:46) suggests that a person can gain wisdom and intelligence by a careful study of the history of bygone times and an account of people who inhabited this world in different ages. Every event of history holds a lesson for a person who has insight and who does not regard history as a mere record of episodes and occurrences. Ibn Abi Hatim has written in his book اَلتَفَکّر quoting Malik Ibn Dinar (رح) that Allah Ta’ ala commanded Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to wear shoes made of iron and to hold in his hand a staff made of iron and travel around the earth until his shoes would be worn out and his staff broken down. (Ruh-Ma ani). If this narration is true, then naturally it means to acquire knowledge and lessons from the past.
