Surah Muhammad (47): Read Online and Download - English Translation

Commentary

Essential Characteristics of Paradise

Verse sixteen mentions four kinds of favours and blessings in the next world, that is, rivers of pure water, rivers of milk of which the taste does not change, rivers of wine which gives delight and rivers of purified honey which will be given to the righteous in plenty.

Worldly waters become polluted by getting mixed with earth, vegetation and other adulterating substances which make them stink. But in Paradise, there will be rivers having un-pollutable water. The river of pure, clean water that will not go bad in taste, smell or colour, (and will flow uninterruptedly without layers of dregs, scum or any other unpleasant- looking substances).

Milk, in this world, is secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, such as the cow's udders or the breasts of the human female, and soon it starts to deteriorate. In Paradise it will flow in rivers and the Heavenly milk will never be spoilt. Its taste will be eternally delicious, relishing and delightful.

Worldly wine has a foul smell and a bitter taste, (though the ones addict to it do not feel its bitterness, being accustomed to it). But the Heavenly wine will give endless delight to the drinker. In Surah As-St [ 37:47] the Qur’ an describes the Heavenly wine as لَا فِيهَا غَوْلٌ وَلَا هُمْ عَنْهَا يُنزَفُونَ intoxicated: "which has no headache in it, nor from it will they be ."

Honey, in this world, is the secretion derived principally from the nectarines of flowers, from which it is extracted by bees in the form of nectar and deposited in their honey-sacs, where it undergoes a certain change prior to storage in the cells of the comb. When it is ripe, that is, it has become sufficiently thick by evaporation, it may now be extracted or thrown from the honey-comb by centrifugal force or by gravity. When it is so extracted, it needs to be clarified of the accompanying particles of wax, scum and other unwanted substances. However, the honey in Paradise will be pure and clean and will be available amply, as rivers of honey will flow uninterruptedly without layers of dregs, scum or any other unpleasant-looking substances.

All four kinds of rivers - of water, milk, wine and honey - are used in their primary senses. There is no need to apply them unnecessarily in their figurative sense. However, it is obvious that the bounties of Paradise cannot be compared to things of this world. The taste and quality of the bounties of Paradise will be unique and can only be experienced in the gardens of Paradise.

Commentary

The lexical item اشراط "ashrat" occurring in this passage means "signs". The portents of the last Hour starts with the very advent of Khatam-un-Nabiyyin ﷺ [ the Last of the Holy Prophets ] as the end of the Holy Prophethood is the sign of the approach of the last Hour. The miracle of the splitting of the moon by the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been described thus in the Holy Qur'an [ 54:1]: اقْتَرَ‌بَتِ السَّاعَةُ "The hour has drawn near and the moon has split." - indicating that this miracle is also one of the signs of the last Hour. These are initial portents of the Hour which appeared at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an. Besides, there are many other portents that have been predicted in authentic Ahadith, one of which is reported by Anas in which he says that I have heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Among the signs of the last hour is the removal of knowledge, abundance of ignorance, the prevalence of fornication, the prevalence of wine-drinking, the small number of men and the large number of women so that fifty women will have one man to look after them". (Bukhari and Muslim) A version has "knowledge will dwindle and ignorance will be widespread."

Abu Hurayrah ؓ reports Allah's Messenger ﷺ as saying: "When the spoils of war are taken as personal wealth, property given in trust is treated as spoil, zakah is treated as a fine, learning is acquired for other than religious purpose, a man obeys his wife and is undutiful towards his mother, brings his friend near and drives his father far off, voices are raised in the mosques, the most wicked member of a tribe becomes its ruler, the most worthless member of a people becomes its leader, a man is honored through fear of the evil he may do, singing-girls and stringed-instruments make their appearance, wines are drunk, and the last members of this community curse the earlier ones, look at that time for a violent wind, an earthquake, being swallowed up by the earth, metamorphosis, pelting rain, and signs following one another like bits of a necklace falling one after the other when its string is cut. (Tirmidhi)

Commentary

In this verse the address is to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and he is, through an imperative verb, commanded to know that there is no object of worship besides Allah. It is quite obvious that every Muslim has the knowledge of this - let alone the leader of the Holy Prophets ﷺ who should have its knowledge more profoundly. Then why is he enjoined to acquire this knowledge? There can be two responses to this question: it can either mean that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is enjoined to be steadfast in his worship of Allah or it could mean that he must fulfill the demands of his knowledge. Qurtubi cites the incident of Sufyan Ibn ` Uyaynah (رح) who was asked about the significance of knowledge, he replied: Did you not read verse 19 of Surah Muhammad: فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّـهُ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ‌ لِذَنبِكَ " So know for sure (0 Holy Prophet ﷺ) that there is no god but Allah, and seek forgiveness for your fault. It is required in this verse that knowledge should be acquired before action. Similarly, on other occasions in the Qur'an, first it is enjoined to acquire knowledge and then to fulfill its corresponding demands. For example, in [ 57:20] the Holy Qur'an has said, اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ “ Know that the present life is but a sport and a diversion ... " Then it was said, سَابِقُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَ‌ةٍ مِّن رَّ‌بِّكُمْ "Race to forgiveness from your Lord (57:21) ". In Surah Anfal, (verse) the Qur'an says: وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ "Know that your wealth and children are a trial..." The demand of this knowledge is mentioned in Surah At-Taghabun (Verse 14): فَاحْذَرُ‌وهُمْ "...so be fearful of Him.". Thus on these occasions first the knowledge of different things are imparted, and then it is enjoined to fulfill the demands of that knowledge.

In this context, although the Holy Prophet ﷺ had prior knowledge of the Oneness of Allah, the injunction here is for the Holy Prophet ﷺ to fulfill the demand of this fundamental knowledge, that is, " وَاسْتَغْفِرْ‌ لِذَنبِكَ and ask forgiveness for your faults (47:19) ". The Holy Prophet ﷺ is infallible and immune from sin, and therefore the possibility that he would commit sins is unthinkable. Despite this, the possibility of Allah's Holy Prophets ﷺ committing misjudgment in Ijtihad cannot be ruled out. But, according to the sacred law, such mistakes are not regarded as sins. In fact, they are rewarded, though the prophets (علیہم السلام) are told about the correct position, and keeping in view the high status of the prophets, such mistakes too are sometimes referred to as "dhanb" (fault or sin), as for instance in Surah ` Abasa [ 80] the Holy Prophets ] was criticized for his misjudgment. The details will be set out when discussing that Surah. The error of judgment referred to in that Surah was not really a sin. In fact, a reward was promised to him for that, but because it was not in conformity with his high status, Allah Ta` ala expressed His dislike. This type of "dhanb" (fault) is referred to in the current verse.

Note

Sayyidna Abu Bakr Siddiq ؓ reports that Allah's Messenger ﷺ said: Recite لا إلہ إلا اللہ la ilaha illallah and istighfar frequently because Iblis (Shaitan) says, 'I got people involved in sins and destroyed them, but they destroyed me by reciting إلا اللہ illallah, so I got them involved in false and baseless thoughts and notions which they pursue as true, authentic and righteous, (for instance, the common religious innovations (bid'at), because they treat them as righteous,) hence, they do not feel any need to repent for their practice of innovations.

مُتَقَلَّبَكُمْ وَمَثْوَاكُمْ last line (your moving from place to place and your permanent abode.) The word متَقَلَّب mutaqallab lexically means "turning around or turning over". The word mathwa means "permanent resting place ". It is open to several interpretations. As a result, the commentators have assigned different meanings to the phrase. As a matter of fact, all the meanings attached to the phrase are correct, sound, authentic and true, because human beings are confronted by two types of conditions: in the one case their invovement in something is temporary, and other case it is permanent. Likewise, in some places man’ s stay is “ temporary” and in other places it is permanent. In the concluding phrase of the current verse, the word مُتَقَلَّبَ mutaqallab has been used to describe “ temporary” and مثوٰی is used to describe "permanent". Thus this verse signifies that Allah is fully aware of all conditions of human beings.