Tafsir for verse: 36:4
عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٖ مُّسۡتَقِيمٖ ٤ ﴿4
4(and you are) on a straight path,
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Commentary

And when the prophets - peace be upon them - are from his light ﷺ; because he is the first of them in creation; and the last of them in sending; they are in reality merely preparers for his legislation; and he - glorified and exalted is He - sent him to complete the noble morals; and He - glorified and exalted is He - made it one of the noble traits that he does not speak to the people except with what their minds can comprehend; and the number of the messengers; as in the hadith of Abu Umamah al-Bahili; from Abu Dharr - may Allah be pleased with them both - in Ahmad; in the Musnad; three hundred and fifteen; and in it that the prophets are one hundred thousand and twenty-four thousand; and it is in al-Tabarani al-Kabir; from Abu Umamah - may Allah be pleased with him - that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ and mentioned only the number of the messengers; and the minds of the Arabs could not comprehend in any way; before faith; that they are from him; he swore - glorified and exalted is He - outwardly that he is from them; and a symbol for the pure inwardly that they are from him; by making their number the number of the letters of his name “Muhammad” ﷺ which he symbolized with the two letters at the beginning of the surah; as if he said: “Indeed, you, O Yasin; whose interpretation is (Muhammad); whose number of the letters of his name is equal to their number; for their origin”; thus it became a symbol within a symbol; and a precious treasure within a treasure; and a secret from a secret; and a land to a land; and it is sweeter in the company of loved ones than explicit speech; then he connected with the name of the acted upon his saying: ﴿on a path﴾; meaning: a wide path; clear; ﴿straight﴾; meaning: you are among those who have been confirmed that they are upon it; and it is the straight path, the most complete; which is advanced in “Al-Fatiha”; because it is for the special ones among those who have been favored; and for His saying (the Exalted) - regarding Musa and Harun - peace be upon them - ﴿And We guided them to the straight path﴾ [As-Saffat: 118]; so his tanween - by what the oath and emphasis have guided to - is for glorification; and the meaning is that they have been confirmed this great description; and you are among them; by what you have shared with them in the evidence; so no one has the right to single you out among them with denial.

And Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr said: When the Surah of 'Saba' and the Surah of 'Fatir' clarified the greatness of His dominion (exalted is He) and His uniqueness in that, and His exclusivity in that with dominion, creation, and invention, the intellects are cut off from conceiving its least aspect, and they can only encompass it by what He wills. And the signs and proofs pointed to what raises doubts and clarifies the conduct, from what thoughts had ceased to perceive, and negligence had taken over them. It was as if they had become stagnant from their accustomed movement. He reminded - glorified is He - of the blessing of movement, to consider it by His praise of the one He chose to clarify those verses and selected him to elucidate those clear signs. So He said (exalted is He): "Ya Seen" [Ya Seen: 1] "By the wise Qur'an" [Ya Seen: 2] "Indeed, you are among the messengers" [Ya Seen: 3] "On a straight path"; then He said: "To warn a people whose forefathers were not warned, so they are heedless" [Ya Seen: 6]; so He indicated - glorified is He - to what the blessing of warning bears fruit and what awareness is awakened by remembrance. Then He mentioned the reason for those who became blind after their movement, even if it was caused by nature and the evil of the previous ones; "Indeed, the word has been confirmed against most of them" [Ya Seen: 7]; the verses. Then He indicated that some of those who became blind to the greatness of those proofs at first glance may tremble upon their movement for their previous happiness. So He said (exalted is He): "Indeed, We give life to the dead" [Ya Seen: 12]; so likewise We do with these if We will to guide them; "Or one who was dead, so We gave him life" [Al-An'am: 122]; then He mentioned the habit of the obstinate and the path of the deniers, along with the statement of the matter. So He said: "And set forth for them the example of the people of the town" [Ya Seen: 13]; the verses. And He followed that - glorified is He - with what He deposited in existence of clear signs and proofs. So He said: "Did they not see how many generations We destroyed before them?" [Ya Seen: 31]; the verse. Then He said: "And a sign for them is the dead earth, We gave it life" [Ya Seen: 33]; until His saying: "Will they not be grateful?" [Ya Seen: 35]; then He said: "And a sign for them is the night, We strip from it the day" [Ya Seen: 37] "And all in an orbit are swimming" [Ya Seen: 40]; then He said: "And a sign for them is that We carried their offspring" [Ya Seen: 41]; until His saying: "Until a time" [Ya Seen: 44]; then He mentioned their turning away in light of these great proofs, their denial, and their bad state at their resurrection, and their regret, and their rebuke, and the testimony of their limbs regarding their deeds. Then the verses continued flowing in accordance with what is suitable from what preceded until the end of the Surah.

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