Surah As-Saaffaat: Verse 4 - إن إلهكم لواحد... - English

Verily, verily, your Allah is one!- (4)

Why has the statement been sworn by the angels?

The reason why angels have been sworn by in the Surah particularly - as already submitted - lies in the central theme of this Surah. It aims at refuting the peculiar kind of shirk (ascribing of partners in the pure divinity of Allah) based on which the people of Makkah used to call angels the daughters of Allah. Accordingly, at the very beginning of the Surah, by swearing in the name of the angels, described there were their unique attributes that demonstrated their perfect servitude. In other words, the sense is that should you ponder over these angelic attributes of servitude, they will themselves become a witness before you that their relationship with Allah Ta’ ala is not that of a father and daughter, instead, it is that of servants and the Master.

Injunctions about sworn statement of Allah Ta’ ala: Three questions and their answers

In the noble Qur'an, there are statement in which Allah Ta’ ala has sworn in various ways in order to lay emphasis on many matters of principles relating to faith and its articles. At some places, it is that of His own Being while, at other places, it is that of particular things out of what He has created. This raises many questions. Therefore, it has become a detailed issue in the science of the Tafsir (exegesis) of the noble Qur'an. Hafiz Ibn Qaiyyim has written a regular book on the subject entitled التبیان فی احکام القرآن۔Tibyan fi Aqsam-il-Qur'an. ` Allamah as-Suyuti has, in his book الاتقان al-Itqan on the principle of Tafsir has discussed it in details in the sixty-seventh category of discussions. Some necessary components are being given here:

Question One: When Allah Ta’ ala makes a sworn statement, a question naturally arises: Is it not that Allah Ta’ ala is the most need free of all? Why would he need to strengthen His statement with an oath in order to make someone believe?

Abulqasim al-Qushairi has answered to this question by saying that Allah needs not to swear before anyone, but His compassion towards His servants invited Him to do so in the hope that they, after hearing such a sworn statement made by Allah Ta’ ala, may tend to accept the truth and save themselves from the punishment. When an Arab bedouin heard the verse وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِ‌زْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ فَوَرَ‌بِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ (And in heaven is your provision, and that you are promised, it is surely true as that you have speech - 51:22-23) where Allah Ta’ ala has sworn by 'the Lord of the heavens and the earth', he remarked, "Who has annoyed the Almighty to make Him swear an oath?"

In short, as said earlier, this is something necessitated by Divine compassion for His creation. Is it not that we have with us a recognized method of settling disagreements and differences? A witness is presented to support a claim. If there is no witness, a sworn statement is offered. Similarly, Allah Ta’ ala has elected to go by this familiar way of human beings in their interest. On occasions, He has laid stress on the subject by using the word: شَھَادَت (witness) as in: شَهِدَ اللَّـهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ (Allah bears witness that there is no god but He - And [ so do ] the angels and the men of knowledge - 'A1-` Imran, 3:18). Then, there are occasions when words of oath have been used as in: إِي وَرَ‌بِّي إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ (Yes, by my Lord, it is true -Yunus, 10:53).

Question Two: When it comes to taking an oath, it is usually done in the name of someone comparatively higher, bigger or more significant. But, how is it that Allah Ta’ ala has sworn by things in His creation that are inferior to Him in all conceivable respects?

It can be answered by saying that there simply is, nor can there be, any being or entity greater than Allah Ta’ ala. When so, it is obvious that the oath of Allah Ta'ala cannot be like that of the common creation. Therefore, on occasions, Allah subhanahu wa Ta’ ala has sworn by His own pristine Being as in: إِي وَرَ‌بِّي (Yes, by my Lord - 10:53). Then, there are seven places in the Qur'an where oaths are sworn by Allah Himself. Then there are other places where oaths are sworn by Divine acts or attributes and the Qur'an itself, for example: وَالسَّمَاءِ وَمَا بَنَاهَا ﴿5﴾ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا ﴿6﴾ وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا ﴿7﴾ (And by the sky, and One who built it, and by the earth, and the One who spread it, and by the soul, and who made it well - ash-Shams, 91:5-7). And most of such oaths relate to the objects of creation that, being the means of recognition of Allah, do but revert back to Allah Himself as the ultimate source of all creation. (as mentioned by Ibn-ul- Qayyim)

Out of the things in creation that have been sworn by, at places, the purpose is to highlight the sublimity of that particular thing, as is the case with an oath by the blessed life of the Holy Prophet t in the Holy Qur'an by saying: لَعَمْرُ‌كَ إِنَّهُمْ لَفِي سَكْرَ‌تِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ (By your life [ 0 prophet ], they are wandering blindly in their intoxication [ misguidance ] - al-Hijr, 15:72). Ibn Marduwayh reports the saying of Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that Allah Ta’ ala has not created anyone or anything in this world more sublime and esteemed than the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself, and it is for this reason that no oath by the person of any prophet or messenger appears anywhere in the entire Qur'an. The only such oath being by the blessed life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ appears in the verse mentioned here. Similarly, the two oaths in: وَالطُّورِ‌(By the Mount - at-Tur, 52:1) and وَكِتَابٍ مَّسْطُورٍ‌ (By the Written Book - at-Tar, 52:2) appear there to highlight the greatness of the two objects sworn by.

And on occasions, a certain created object has been sworn by for the reason that it yields a lot of benefits as in: وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ (By the fig, and the olive - at-Tin, 95:1). And there are other occasions where some created object has been sworn by for the reason that its creation is the manifestation of the great power of Allah Ta’ ala, and an important source of getting to know the Master-Creator of the universe. And in most cases, the thing sworn by does have some role to play in proving the subject stressed with the force of an oath. This unveils itself with a little deliberation wherever it occurs.

Question Three: For human beings in general, the well-known rule of the Shari'ah is that swearing by anyone other than Allah Ta'ala is not permissible. This poses a question: Is it not that the statements sworn by Allah Ta’ ala in the name of His own created objects go on to prove that a statement sworn in the name of someone other than Allah will also become permissible for others as well? This has been answered by Hasan al-Basri (رح) by saying:

اِنَّ اللہَ یقوم بماشاء من خلقہ ولیس لاحد اَن یقسم اِلَّا بِاللہ

Surely, Allah Ta’ ala has the right to swear by whatever of His creation He wills, but it is not for anyone else to swear by anyone other than Allah (reported by Ibn Abi Haim, as in Mazharl).

Here, the core sense is that taking one's own self on the analogy of the most-exalted Allah is wrong and false. Once the Divine Law has prohibited swearing by anyone other than Allah in the case of human beings at large, any effort to counter argue on the basis of what He elects to do on His own, simply cannot be anything but false.

Explanation of verses

Turning to the explanation of the verses cited above, we see that the statement: مَعبُود بَرحَق (Verily, your God is but One - 4) has been placed at the end of the first three verses in which oaths by angels are sworn. Though, during the course of these oaths, mentioned therein are particular attributes of angels that, if deliberated upon even in a modest measure, would turn out to be nothing short of initial proofs of the belief in Tauhid, the Oneness of Allah. But, in the six verses that follow next, a standing proof of Tauhid has also been supplied.

(4)