Commentary
Surah "Q" and it is called the Tall Ones.
Its intended purpose is to affirm the Prophet's ﷺ message, the majority of which is a warning, and its greatest aspect is the announcement of the Day of Resurrection, by indicating that after the heard verses, which are rich in their miraculous nature, there is no need for support from the seen verses that definitively indicate the encompassing of all attributes of perfection. It is better to say: its intended purpose is to indicate the encompassing power that is the result of what has been concluded in the chambers regarding the encompassing knowledge, to clarify that there must be resurrection for the Day of Warning. This encompassing is accompanied by what occurs of grace among the servants with justice; for that is the secret of existence, and that is the result of the intended purpose of Al-Baqarah. What has been witnessed of the encompassing of the [Majd] of the Qur'an with its miraculous nature in reaching each of all meanings, the exaltation of the arrangements, the grandeur of the individual words, the interdependence of the letters, the harmony of the composition, the elegance of the gathering, and the sweetness of the preference to a degree that the powers cannot bear. And from the encompassing of the attributes of the Messenger whom He, glorified and exalted is He, chose to convey this book to creation, and what has been witnessed of the encompassing of the power regarding what the Qur'an has guided to from the verses of creation and annihilation. In both possibilities, its name 'Q' indicates what is in its verses from the affirmation of majesty with this book, and majesty is honor and generosity (p-397), elevation and exaltation. This cannot be except with the one who brings it likewise, and it is associated with his truthfulness in all that he has brought. The letter Qaf alone has the most complete indication of that, firstly by its articulation, for it is from the root of the tongue that is near the throat and adjacent to the upper palate; for that is an indication that the intended purpose of the surah is the essence and the exaltation, and each of them indicates truthfulness with a strong indication; for the essence of the statement of news is truthfulness, and its indication of falsehood is a situational one, not a rational one. It is also encompassing with its name or its designation with the three articulations, and the encompassing of the truth cannot be except with exaltation, and it cannot be except with truthfulness. For its encompassing, it has been named the mountain that surrounds the earth, this by its articulation. As for its attribute, it is great in that; for it has loudness, intensity, openness, elevation, and restlessness, and each of them is a clear indication of that indeed. The most indicative of the creatures regarding this purpose is the date palm; for it is unique in what it shares with other plants by encompassing height and abundance of benefits; for it is a gathering for enjoyment with the heart, then the flower, then the unripe dates, then the ripe dates, and by its sustenance with the dates and with the wood and the firewood and the fibers useful for spreading and the useful fibers for ropes. And below that and above it are the interstices. This is with the abundance of the association of the Arabs who are the first called by this book of remembrance to it and their knowledge of its properties. The most indicative of it is the height, even though its roots do not extend in the earth and have the stability that others have. Such is not sufficient in the usual to refrain from falling and the abundance of bearing and the greatness of the harvest and the stacking of the fruits. For that reason, it has been named the surah of the lofty ones, not the date palms.
'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' is the one whose encompassing praise is His statement regarding His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and for His power, glorified and exalted is He, from the encompassing that has no limit. 'The Most Gracious' who encompassed His creation with His mercy when He sent to them Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, with His laws. He is the most truthful of the servants and has manifested through His great miracles that His power has no end. 'The Most Merciful' who has specifically granted success in the abode of permanence to the people of abundance. * * When He, glorified and exalted is He, concluded the chapters with the encompassing of knowledge, He said at the beginning of this: ﴿Q﴾ as a reference to the fact that He, glorified and exalted is He, alone is the one who encompasses in knowledge and power what He has of exaltation, strength, sustaining power, and dominance, and the execution of judgment and the opening of what He wills from the closed matters, as indicated by the letter Qaf with its attributes and manifested by its exit, encompassing what it has gathered from its three exits: the throat, the tongue, and the lips. And the master Abu al-Hasan al-Haralli said in the secret of the opening of the detailed with this letter, he said at the end of his book regarding this letter: Know that the Qur'an is revealed in pairs, except for what is beyond the detailed part of it, which is from Qaf to the end of the mighty book and the opening of what is specific to the people of knowledge and jurisprudence from the extensive wisdoms and the definitive rulings and the lengthy narratives, and the similar verses, and the chapter that begins with the general letters for the encompassing of the unseen that is spelled out and attributed to the individual numbers. Due to the high rank of its presentation and its length, the truth, glorified is He, repeated the address and organized it in many chapters with a manageable number of verses that are short in measure. In it, He mentioned from the edges of the stories, the admonitions, the rulings, the praise, and the matter of recompense what is appropriate for the hearing of the general public so that it is easy for them to hear it and to take a share of what the special ones have taken, and to be repeated to their ears in the recitation of the imams for them in the obligatory prayers from which they have no escape, what would be a substitute for them from the content of all the lengthy chapters. Thus, what is most appropriate to begin with in their detailed part is the letter 'Q' which is the odd of the individuals, and the apparent from it is the content of what it contains from what begins with Alif Lam Meem. Likewise, he, blessings and peace be upon him, would often recite in the sermon of the day of Friday to them because it is a prayer that gathers the apparent with the opening of the detailed that is specific to them, and in its content is the meaning of power and dominance that is needed in establishing the affairs of the general public, which is sufficient. And it was complemented by the purifying chapter, so they were specifically granted what is in it of dominance and repentance, and the chapter of Noon was condensed from the requirements of knowledge that is encompassing of the affairs of the general public that culminates in the comprehensive mention of all worlds.
And when all of the surahs that begin with letters contain the nine ranks, and the tenth that is comprehensive and encompassing in all of the Qur'an, for this reason, Surah Qaf and Surah 'N' have a specific comprehensiveness and a specific encompassing concerning the generality of the Qur'an, which gathers them on the earth by what surrounds its exterior in the form of the mountain of Qaf, and what surrounds its interior in the form of the creature 'Nūn', whose matter is complete between the two spans of its establishment. For this reason, this surah that begins with the letter has shown the specificity of the Qur'an and its distinction from other books due to its inclusion of the comprehensiveness that can only be with what is for the comprehensive seal. And it is associated with the preference in its surahs that is fitting for its comprehensiveness, and for the encompassing of its meanings. Everything that has been interpreted in terms of meaning that returns to its requirement is correct in its comprehensiveness and its status among the names of Allah and their arrangement in all of the worlds. Thus, no interpreter will err in it; for whenever he intends a direction of interpretation, he does not deviate from the comprehensiveness of what it necessitates. And however it is interpreted in terms of being among the names of Allah, the Exalted, or among the names of the angels, or among the names of the prophets, or among similar things, and the forms of existents, or that they are sections by which He swore, or openings by which the surahs are known, or numbers that indicate incidents and fortunes from the exterior of the matter or its interior, according to different ranks and states of what has been given to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, from the extent of the caliphate, kingship, and sovereignty, and what his matter ends with from the emergence of guidance and the like of that which encompasses the extent of his day to other than that, and all is included in its comprehensiveness. For this reason, it also does not specify a particular place that requires a specific grammatical marker; whatever is estimated in its locations from this surah, whether in the form of genitive, accusative, or nominative, intertwines in the comprehensiveness of its rank and does not necessitate a specific meaning or specific grammar for what does not have an arrangement; for they are independent encompassing ones. Rather, what is arranged is what completes the meaning of each one of those arranged by the occurrence of arrangement, and that is specific from the words to what is limited by the comprehensiveness of the content of the letters, so that whenever independence and comprehensiveness occur in a word, there is no arrangement in it.
And when He, glorified and exalted is He, referred to this encompassing nature of the letter Qaf, He swore an oath that is in itself indicative of it, saying: ﴿By the Quran﴾ meaning: the comprehensive book that distinguishes. ﴿The Glorious﴾ which has exaltation, honor, generosity, and greatness over every speech. The response is that they certainly know what the Qaf indicates of My power, greatness, the encompassing nature of My knowledge, and My ability. And what the Quran includes of glory through its miraculous nature and its encompassing of all greatness, they did not deny anything of that in their hearts. The Glorious Quran, as was previously mentioned in the context of Al-Fatiha, what you have experienced of its rulings from among the immediate matters witnessed and the future matters known by the knowledge of what has been witnessed. It was known through the certain experience of what has been transmitted from past stories, and what has been witnessed from the present effects, and what renews with the times from its like and its counterparts. And if you reflect on the Surah, you will find its revealed verses addressing all of that. For indeed, He, glorified and exalted is He, reminded them in it of what they know of the creation of the heavens and the earth and what is in them, and of the fates of the former peoples. Likewise, the previous Surah, especially its end, indicates that He has introduced to the people belief in a single man who overcame them with his glory and miraculous nature for the glory of his Sender through His ability and the encompassing nature of His knowledge. And Allah is the Guide. Whoever encompasses knowledge of its meanings and acts upon what is in it is honored with Allah and with the people.
'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubair said: When the Surah of Al-Fath contained a number of the kindnesses that Allah has bestowed upon His believing servants, such as His mentioning, glorified and exalted is He, their brotherhood, and His commanding them to be steadfast in the face of the maliciousness of a sinful aggressor, 'O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with a report' [Al-Hujurat: 6]. And He commanded them to lower their voices in the presence of their Prophet and not to precede him in speech nor to treat him in public speech as they treat one another. And He commanded them to avoid much suspicion and forbade them from spying and backbiting. And He commanded them to be humble in His saying: 'O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female' [Al-Hujurat: 13]. And He informed them, glorified and exalted is He, that their response and compliance with these commands is not by their own strength, but by His grace and favor. So He said: 'But Allah has endeared to you faith and has made it pleasing in your hearts and has made hateful to you disbelief, disobedience, and sin' [Al-Hujurat: 7]. Then He followed that with His saying: 'They count it a favor to you that they have accepted Islam' [Al-Hujurat: 17], to clarify that all of this is in His hand and from Him. He showed them, glorified is He, the state of one whom He has decreed disbelief for and has not made faith pleasing to him nor adorned it in his heart. Rather, He placed it in the context of the state of one whom He commanded and forbade in the Surah of Al-Hujurat, along with the equality in creation and the similarity of the tools, so He said, glorified and exalted is He: 'And the glorious Qur'an' 'But they wondered that there has come to them a warner from among themselves' [Q: 2]. Then He mentioned, glorified and exalted is He, the clarity of the evidence: 'Do they not reflect upon the heaven above them?' [Q: 6]. Then He mentioned the state of others who were of their opinion: 'The people of Noah denied before them' [Q: 12], so that those who have been mentioned in their state and their commands and prohibitions in the Surah of Al-Hujurat may remember by the totality of this. And the believer should observe the manners of Allah and know that whatever good befalls him is indeed from the favor of his Lord and His kindness. Then the verses connected to His saying at the conclusion of the Surah: 'We know what they say and you are not upon them' [Q: 45]. End.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Qaf verse 1