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Al-Ahqaf (The Sand-Dunes)
Name
It is derived from the sentence idh andhara qauma-hu bil Ahqaf of verse
21.
Period of Revelation
It is determined by an historical event that has been mentioned in vv.
29-32. This incident of the visit of the jinn and their going back after
listening to the Qur'an had occurred, according to agreed traditions of
the Hadith and biographical literature, at the time when the Holy Prophet
had halted at Makkah during his return journey from Ta'if to Makkah. And
according to all authentic historical traditions he had gone to Ta'if
three years before the Hijrah; therefore it is determined that this Surah
was sent down towards the end of the 10th year or in the early part of
the 11th year of the Prophethood.
Historical Background
The 10th year of the Prophethood was a year of extreme persecution and
distress in the Holy prophet's life. The Quraish and the other tribes
had continued their boycott of the Bani Hashim and the Muslims for three
years and the Holy Prophet and the people of his family and Companions
lay besieged in Shi'b Abi Talib. The Quraish had blocked up this locality
from every side so that no supplies of any kind could reach the besieged
people. Only during the Hajj season they were allowed to come out and
buy some articles of necessity. But even at that time whenever Abu Lahab
noticed any of them approaching the market place or a trading caravan
he would call out to the merchants exhorting them to announce forbidding
rates of their articles for them, and would pledge that he himself would
buy those articles so that they did not suffer any loss. This boycott
which continued uninterrupted for three years had broken the back of the
Muslims and the Bani Hashim; so much so that at times they were even forced
to eat grass and the leaves of trees.
At last, when the siege was lifted this year, Abu Talib, the Holy Prophet's
uncle, who had been shielding him for ten long years, died, and hardly
a month later his wife, Hadrat Khadijah, who had been a source of peace
and consolation for him ever since the beginning of the call, also passed
away. Because of these tragic incidents, which closely followed each other,
the Holy Prophet used to refer to this year as the year of sorrow and
grief. After the death of Hadart Khadijah and Abu Talib the disbelievers
of Makkah became even bolder against the Holy Prophet. They started treating
him even more harshly. So much so that it became difficult for him to
step out of his house. Of these days Ibn Hisham has related the incident
that a Quraish scoundrel one day threw dust at him openly in the street.
At last, the Holy Prophet left for Ta'if with the intention that he should
invite the Bani Thaqif to Islam, for even if they did not accept Islam,
they might at least be persuaded to allow him to work for his mission
peacefully. He did not have the facility of any conveyance at that time,
and traveled all the way to Ta'if on foot. According to some traditions,
he had gone there alone, but according to others, he was accompanied by
Zaid bin Harithah. He stayed at Ta'if for a few days, and approached each
of the chiefs and nobles of the Bani Thaqif and talked to him about his
mission. But not only they refused to listen to him, but plainly gave
him the notice that he should leave their city, for they feared that his
preaching might "spoil" their younger generation. Thus, he was compelled
to leave Ta'if. When he was leaving the city, the chiefs of Thaqif set
their slaves and scoundrels behind him, who went on crying at him, abusing
him and petting him with stones for a long way from either side of the
road till he became broken down with wounds and his shoes were filled
with blood. Wearied and exhausted he took shelter in the shade of the
wall of a garden outside Ta'if, and prayed:
"O God, to Thee I complain of my weakness, little resource, and lowliness
before men. O Most Merciful, Thou art the Lord of the weak, and Thou art
my Lord. To whom wilt Thou confide me? To one afar who will misuse me?Or
to an enemy to whom Thou hast given power over me?If Thou art not angry
with me I care not. Thy favor is more wide for me. I take refuge in the
light of Thy countenance by which the darkness is illumined, and the things
of this world and the next are rightly ordered, lest Thy anger descend
upon me or Thy wrath light upon me. It is for Thee to be satisfied until
Thou art well pleased. There is no power and no might save in Thee." (Ibn
Hisham:A. Guillaume's Translation, p. 193).
Grieved and heart broken when he returned and reached near Qarn al-Manazil,
he felt as though the sky was overcast by clouds. He looked up and saw
Gabriel in front of him, who called out:"Allah has heard the way your
people have responded. He has, therefore, sent this angel incharge of
the mountains. You may command him as you please." Then the angel of the
mountains greeted him and submitted :"If you like I would overturn the
mountains from either side upon these people." The Holy Prophet replied
: "No, but I expect that Allah will create from their seed those who will
worship none but Allah, the One." (Bukhari, Dhikr al Mala'ikah; Muslim:
Kitab al-Maghazi; Nasa'i :Al-Bauth).
After this he went to stay for a few days at Makkah, perplexed as to how
he would face the people of Makkah, who, he thought, would be still further
emboldened against him after hearing what had happened at Ta'if. It was
here that one night when he was reciting the Qur'an in the Prayer, a group
of the jinn happened to pass by and listened to the Qur'an, believed in
it, and returned to their people to preach Islam. Thus, Allah gave His
Prophet the good news that if the men were running away from his invitation,
there were many of the jinn, who had become its believers, and they were
spreading his message among their own kind.
Subject Matter and Topics
Such were the conditions when this Surah was sent down. Anyone who keeps
this background in view, on the one hand, and studies this Surah, on the
other, will have no doubt left in his mind that this is not at all the
composition of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace), but "a Revelation
from the All Mighty, All Wise Allah." For nowhere in this Surah, from
the beginning to the end, does one find even a tinge of the human feelings
and reactions, which are naturally produced in a man who is passing through
such hard conditions. Had it been the word of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace) whom the occurrence of personal griefs one after the other and
the countless and the recent bitter experience at Ta'if had caused extreme
anguish and distress, it would have reflected in some degree the state
of the mind of the man who was the subject of these afflictions and griefs.
Consider the prayer that we have cited above: it contains his own language
its every word is saturated with the feelings that he had at the time.
But this Surah which was sent down precisely in the same period and was
recited even by him under the same conditions, is absolutely free from
every sign or trace of the time.
The subject matter of the Surah is to warn the disbelievers of the errors
in which they were involved, and also resisted arrogantly, and were condemning
the man who was trying to redeem them. They regarded the world as a useless
and purposeless place where they were not answerable to anyone. They thought
that invitation to Tauhid was false and stuck to the belief that their
own deities were actually the associates of Allah. They were not inclined
to believe that the Qur'an was the Word of the Lord of the worlds. They
had a strange erroneous concept of apostleship on the basis of which they
were proposing strange criteria of judging the Holy Prophet's claim to
it. In their estimation one great proof of Islam's not being based on
the truth was that their elders and important chiefs of the tribes and
so called leaders of their nation were not accepting it and only a few
young men, and some poor folks and some slaves had affirmed faith in it.
They thought that Resurrection and life after death and the rewards and
punishments of the Hereafter were fabrications whose occurrence was absolutely
out of the question.
In this Surah each of these misconceptions has been refuted in a brief
but rational way, and the disbelievers have been warned that if they would
reject the invitation of the Qur'an and the Prophethood of the Prophet
Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) by prejudice and stubbornness instead
of trying to understand its truth rationally, they would only be preparing
for their own doom.
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