Commentary
And when He commanded him to spend time in the worship of the Creator, and to do good to the creatures with the highest of the creatures, He explained to him that he has no distraction or need at all that occupies him. He said: "Indeed, your enemy" meaning your hater, the one who disavows you and belittles you, along with what you have been given of beauty, noble traits, and perfection, "is" specifically "the one cut off" meaning cut off from his origin, cut off in lineage, lacking, and devoid of goodness, blessing, and mention. He will not have anyone who carries out his affairs or is mentioned by him, even if he gathers wealth and his body is adorned with every beauty. And you are the one connected in affairs, the one whose mention is exalted, the one raised in rank, so do not turn to them in any way, for they are too few for one who dedicates himself to winning the honor of being present in our noble gatherings, and boasting of being devoted at our lofty and magnificent doors. You have what you are upon, and they have what they are in. The last verse is the result of the fact that among the abundance is the exaltation of his affair and the affair of his lovers and followers in the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and the river of Paradise, and the lowly status of his enemy in both. For it has wrapped around, as you see, its details with its connector, and the end of it is known by its beginning. And it is known that its middle is like the middle boundaries, embracing the first by being among its fruits, and connected to the other because it is from the ends of its course. And Allah has spoken the truth, and who is more truthful than Allah in speech? There remains for none of his haters any mention by offspring or follower, nor is there found for them any grateful one, nor any praiser, nor any one who elevates. As for him, blessings and peace be upon him, his offspring have filled the earth from Fatimah al-Zahra, and they are the noblest, with the kings exaggerating in their killing of them, and clearing the earth of their lineage, out of fear of their high honor over their own honor, and their elevation through the humility that overcomes their arrogance. And when you refer back to the verse.
﴿Muhammad was not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah﴾ [Al-Ahzab: 40]. From Al-Ahzab, you have learned that the passing of his sons, peace be upon them, before him is from the elevation of his status and the increase of his honor by the unity of his mention. As for his followers, they have dominated most of the land, and they are the people of discernment, vast knowledge, and understanding. It can be inferred from this that whoever dedicates himself to his Lord will destroy his enemy and suffice him against each one of them. It has been known that the essence of this Surah is the favor upon him, blessings and peace be upon him, with the great good, which includes the river flowing from Paradise on the Day of Gathering for those who follow him, which is forbidden to those who refuse it and sever it. He commanded him to pray and to sacrifice for the expansion of the needy, and the glad tidings of cutting off the roots of his enemies and the victory of his allies. Just as one of the objectives of Al-A'raf is to confront it in response to the severance at the beginning, threatening the oppressors with destruction in His saying, ﴿And how many a city have We destroyed﴾ [Al-A'raf: 4] - the verse, and depicting that by mentioning the fates of the past for their opposition to the messengers, blessings and peace be upon them, and the command to pray and cover the private parts, and what is intended by the sacrifice in His saying: ﴿Take your adornment at every mosque and eat and drink﴾ [Al-A'raf: 31] - the verses, and He mentioned who will be granted the water of Paradise and who will be denied it by His saying, ﴿And the companions of the Fire called to the companions of Paradise, 'Pour upon us some water or from what Allah has provided you'﴾ [Al-A'raf: 50] - the verses, and His saying, ﴿And My mercy encompasses all things, so I will decree it for those who fear [Allah] and give zakah and those who believe in Our verses﴾ [Al-A'raf: 156] ﴿Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written in their scriptures﴾ [Al-A'raf: 157] - the verses. This is what relates to the interpretation of its structures and sentences, and the interpretation of its details and its generalities, as well as its counterparts in the principles of its matter and its complements. Then this Surah consists of ten words in writing, indicating that the [completion of] severing his adversary will occur with the completion of the tenth year of the Hijrah. And so it was; the eleventh year of the Hijrah did not pass in the Arabian Peninsula except for those who see the noblest of their conditions as sacrificing their lives and wealth in love for him. And if we add to it the two hidden pronouns, it becomes twelve. In the twelfth year of Prophethood, the Ansar pledged allegiance to him, blessings and peace be upon him, for the confrontation of the disbelievers. And if we add to the ten the five prominent pronouns, it becomes fifteen, indicating that he, blessings and peace be upon him, at the completion of the fifteenth year of his Prophethood extends his high hand for the severing of his enemies, and so it was in the great Battle of Badr. In the hidden pronouns, the pledge was hidden, and in the prominent pronouns, Badr was famous. And if we add to that the two hidden pronouns, it becomes seventeen. In the seventeenth year of his Prophethood, the Battle of Badr was the appointed time, and in it, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, had the promise of coming to Badr to meet Quraysh for fighting and confronting the champions. Allah informed them, but they did not come. And what was considered after the Hijrah from the conditions of Prophethood was when the written words were counted as ten for being the strongest conditions of Prophethood, just as the written words are stronger than the pronouns, even if they all share in the name of the words. Therefore, the completion of the severing for the adversary was what occurred in the eleventh year of the destruction of the people of apostasy and the steadfastness of the Arabs in the state of Islam. And when the five prominent pronouns, which are closer to the hidden ones, were added to the written words, it was considered nineteen words. If it was considered with what came after the Hijrah, it would correspond to the time of the death of Caesar, the tyrant of Rome, in the nineteenth year of the Hijrah, whom Allah destroyed. He had prepared to fight the Arabs from Alexandria himself and commanded that no one from the Romans should lag behind him. So Allah broke the power of the Romans with his death, and the Arabs became strong at that time. Thus, the letters indicated a severing of the adversary from the Persians, and the words indicated a severing of the adversary from the Romans, for they are more deserving of the indication of the letters because they are not people of knowledge, while the Romans, with the words, are people of knowledge, and the words are closer to knowledge. And if the letters of the Basmala are considered, they were eighteen letters. If you made them years from the beginning of Prophethood, their end would be the fifth year of the Hijrah, in which the Battle of the Confederates took place. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said after their departure from it.
'Now we will invade them and they will not invade us.' This is the first taking of the adversary in the context of breaking away. If you consider the letters according to the script, the last nineteen are the year six, which is the Umrah of Al-Hudaybiyah in the year of the opening, the reason being the treaty in which Surah Al-Fath was revealed. Allah called it an opening, and the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Indeed, it is the greatest opening.' The reason for the greatest opening was the mixing of the disbelievers with the people of Islam through the treaty. They rushed to Islam by entering it due to what they saw of the virtues of the religion and the miraculous nature of the Qur'an. On the day of the opening, they were ten thousand after they had been, two years prior on the day of Al-Hudaybiyah, one thousand four hundred. And Allah is the Grantor of success. This is a small part of the secrets of this Surah, and it is known from its miraculous nature what clarifies thoughts and delights the observers. For it surpasses beauty over the gardens of delight. It is also known the madness of the vile mocker Musaylimah the liar - may the curse and destruction be upon him - and he has a bad end and return. He said in his opposition to it: 'Indeed, we have given you the masses, so pray to your Lord and migrate. Indeed, we have sufficed you against the arrogant or the openly defiant.' This is because it is mere words, although it is short-lived, weak in composition and substance, drowning in the arena and destruction, with no richness in it. Rather, all of it is toil and hardship. Is the weaving of the weak fabric, severed from its ties, shaken in its corners, corrupt in meaning and structure, base in wording, worse than the fruit? For the defects are contrary to the effects, and the comprehensive are contrary to the included. Then I saw in the proofs of the miracle for Imam Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani that the intermediate is the one who said: 'The fornicator and openly defiant, if it is in religion, does not prevent the proclamation of falsehood.' And this is not accepted by any sane person. If it is in war, it is half for everyone who reflects and knows. There is no text in it on the dominance of its two desired matters, nor is there a request with the deficiency of generosity for every estimation, which is the goal for the rich and the poor, the commanded and the commander. This is along with the emphasis on the style and the adherence to the known without deviation. 'In retaliation, there is life' [Al-Baqarah: 179] in the negation of 'killing is the most effective deterrent to killing' with elegance along with brevity, sweetness along with eloquence, in a meaning that leads to the permission of taking a life, and encourages the promptness to comply with the command. The first is from the foolishness of the lowly mind, and his eating? To the creation with the deficiency of the beneficial meaning for the secrets, and the other is neglectful of those with doubts and concealment along with what it has missed from the shortcoming of loss and the specifics of the blessing to what it contains of the clear statement of the decisive lie for the destructive lives of the homes, confirming the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, who is righteous with the hands of his chosen companions. Indeed, in that is a lesson for those with insight. So glorified is He who is exalted in action, His words are all words, and peace and praise be to Allah in every situation.
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