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Tafseer of Surah Maryam, verses 1-6
Kaf Ha Ya Ain Sad (1) A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zakariya (2) When he called upon his Lord in a low voice (3) He said: My Lord! Surely my bones are weakened and my head flares with hoariness, and, my Lord! I have never been unsuccessful in my prayer to Thee (4) And surely I fear my cousins after me, and my wife is barren, therefore grant me from Thyself an heir (5) Who should inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub, and make him, my Lord, one in whom Thou art well pleased (6)GENERAL COMMENT The theme of this surah (chapter) is as mentioned at the end of the surah by the verse: «فإنما يسرناه بلسانك لتبشر به المتقين و تنذر به قوما لدا» So We have made this (the Qur’ân) easy in your own tongue (O Muhammad SAW), only that you may give glad tidings to the Muttaqûn and warn with it the Ludda people and so on, is to give warning and glad tidings. This theme has been carried on in an innovative and exciting manner. At the beginning it starts with pointing to the adventures of Ibraham, Ishaq, Yakoob (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the incident of Haroon and Musa (Aaron and Moses) and the story of Isma’il (Ishmael) and Idris (Elijah) and their share of blessed al-wilayat (الولاية = ordained leadership) that has been given to them, that is, either by being a Nabi (prophet) or having al-ikhlas ( الإخلاص= sincerety, loyalty) and as-sadiq (الصدق = truthfulness, veracity). Then it states the reasons for these favours that these honourables ones had in outstanding quality, such as being humble to their provider, but their followers were turning their faces away from their provider and they were completely ignorant of being attentive to their provider. Instead they chose to follow the shahvat (الشهوات = desires). For this reason soon they face the state of ghay ( غيا = delusion) and deviate from roshd (الرشد = progress, maturity), unless they ask for forgiveness and return to their God, and finally join the blessed ones. The surah goes on to mention some examples of the mistakes of the people of the state of ghay (الغي) and their oppression and their unreasonable ideas such as denying the moua’ad (future life in the Hereafter), accusing God for having a son, idol worship and whatever are the reasons for such mistakes arising from adversity. The punishment for this behaviour is also mentioned. Therefore we can say by stating that this surah is like a claimant who is giving examples to prove his claim. It is like saying, so and so, who are the men of roshd (الرشد = progress, maturity) and having the blessing of their provider, had such a manner in their life that they abandoned their nafs (worldly desires) and they were made attentive to their provider choosing the way of humbleness and when they were mentioned by the ayats (verses or signs) of their provider they became humble from deep down in their hearts for this is the only way for man to achieve roshd (الرشد = progress, maturity) and being blessed. However, the successors of these people abandoned this way of life and welcomed the disobedience of God and accepted forbidden desires. This way of life led them to ghay (غيا) that is the opposite of roshd (الرشد) and will not do any good except putting them solidly on the false path. Finally they deny returning back to God and they prove a partner for God and are a barrier for each other’s way of invitation (leading) to the right path. These acts will take them nowhere except to adversity and punishment. Therefore this surah, as you have noticed, starts with a few examples and ends with a general conclusion from those examples and this conclusion is evident from the verse: «أولئك الذين أنعم الله عليهم»Those were they unto whom Allâh bestowed His Grace and continues to the next few ayats.
This Surah puts the people into three categories: 1- The ones who are blessed by God and who are anbiya (النبيين = prophets) or the men of guidance. 2- The people of ghay (الغي) are the ones who have lost their quality and ability of growth. 3- The ones who have asked for forgiveness and become faithful and have done good deeds (عملوا صالحا) soon they will join the group of blessed (النعمة) and the ones who have progressed (الرشد). Then it mentions the thavab (ثواب = reward) of repentance, of the penitent (التائبين)and the guided ones, and the punishment of the mislead ones (الغاوين) who are the companions of Satan and his followers. This Surah, without doubt, has been revealed in Mecca because some of the scholars have mentioned it from the viewpoint of some of the mofassirin (exegetes), in that they all agree it is a Meccan surah and also the context of the ayats (verses) show the reason for this claim. COMMENTARY Qur’an: «كهيعص» “Kaf Ha Ya Ain Sad” In the previous chapters, at the beginning of the interpretation of Surah Araf we mentioned that those surah (chapters) of Holy Quran that start with huroofe-muqatiaat ( بالحروف المقطعة = letter symbols) should have a link between the context of the chapter and these letters, so, those letter symbols that are common in different chapters tell us that the context of those surahs have some common link also. The proof of the above statement is the link and the similarity that can be seen between this surah and surah Sad in which it talks about the story of Prophets. God Willing, we will soon present a comprehensive discussion about the letter symbols in the Quran and the link to related surahs as well as the similarity of their contexts with the other surahs that have the same or similar letters at their beginning such as surah Maryam that is the subject of our discussion and surah Yaseen in which the letter Ya is to be found in both or the surah Shura in which the letter Ain is found. Qur’an: «ذكر رحمة ربك عبده زكريا» A mention of the mercy of your Lord to his servant Zakariya; It is apparent from the context of the verse, that the word dhikr (الذكر) is a suggestion for an omitted subject and is an infinitive in the meaning of the object. The composition of the words, from the viewpoint of (Zakariya's) destiny, refers to the subject that is “this news is the merciful news of your provider” and its aim is the acceptance of the prayers of Zakariya by God so that its explanation will start from the sentence «إذ نادى ربه» “when he called upon his Lord”. Qur’an: «إذ نادى ربه نداء خفيا» When he called upon his Lord in a low voice;
The adverb of idh is related to the sentence: «رحمة ربك» Mercy of your Lord and the words an-nida and monadah means proclamation and calling with a loud voice opposite to the word monajah meaning calling with low voice. One might ask that if an-nida means calling with a loud voice, why God (s.w.t) has described it as a low voice (khafiyyah). We should say that there is no contradiction because this invitation may take place with a loud voice in a place where no one could hear it such as a desert. Accordingly, the sentence: «فخرج على قومه من المحراب» “Then he came out to his people from al-Mihrâb” has a similar meaning. Some people have said that the patronage of interpretation to nida is that Hazrat Zakariya imagined himself far from God and he wanted to observe an order of politeness in which he has been kept away from God by his sins, the same way as is true for every other people that fears the punishment of God seeing himself as far away from God. Qur’an: «قال رب إني وهن العظم مني» He said: My Lord! Surely my bones are weakened…;
This verse is preparing for a request that will narrate from Zakariya where he said: «فهب لي من لدنك وليا“Therefore grant me from Thyself an heir”. The word «رب» Rabb (Lord) has been mentioned prior to the other words because of petitioning for mercy. He wanted to stir God’s ocean of mercy in the beginning of the prayer (du’a) and then after to pray for his request. He has emphasized his subject with the word inni (surely) because he wanted to show that his request for having a child is a vital and pressing need and the word wahn ( الوهن= weakness and lack of strength). If he has related this weakness to his bones it is because the basis of existence of the human is his bones so that in every movement and stopping, he can repose on his bones. He didn’t say: “my bones or my bone” because he wanted to relate his weakness to the quality of his bones and to have it as an abstract for further details. Qur'an: «و اشتعل الرأس شيبا» And my head flares with hoariness; Eshte-al (الاشتعال) means inflammation and the spreading of flames and its penetration into everything that is flammable. It has been said in the book of Majma-ul ba-yan that the sentence: «و اشتعل الرأس شيبا» is among the best metaphors, its meaning being that the grey hair in my head has been spread around as the inflammation of the flame of fire. Qur'an: «و لم أكن بدعائك رب شقيا» And my Lord! I have never been unsuccessful in my prayer to Thee; Sheqaawah (الشقاوة) here means adversity which is the opposite of prosperity. It seems that the intention of using this word is deprivation from blessing that is either a requirement for adversity or the adversity by itself. The word: be-du’a-eka («بدعائك») belongs to shaqi (شقي ) and the letter Ba is saba-bi-yah (للسببية = causality) or it means fi (in). The meaning of the verse is: Oh my Lord! I have always been honoured with prosperity because of my prayers; You have responded to me whenever I called You without depriving me or making me wretched. It could also mean: Oh my Lord I have never been deprived by You in my prayers, You have made me used to Your acceptance of the prayers, You have accepted me whenever I had a call for you. In either meaning the word du’a (prayer) is an infinitive (added verb) to the object. Some of the exegetes have said: the word du’a-eka «دعائك» is the infinitive (added verb) to the subject and that it means: Oh Lord! Your response to me has never made me vicious and disobedient from being Your slave; whenever You have invited me, I have obeyed You and I have worshipped You with pure intention. However, we think that the first meaning is clearer. In the repetition of the word Rabb (Lord) and in placing it between the ka’an as a noun and its predicate in the sentence: «و لم أكن بدعائك رب شقيا» "And my Lord! I have never been unsuccessful in my prayer to Thee" there is such a degree of eloquence that it cannot be measured by any scale. This also appears in the sentence: «و اجعله رب رضيا» "and make him, my Lord, one in whom Thou art well pleased". Qur'an: «و إني خفت الموالي من ورائي و كانت امرأتي عاقرا» And surely I fear my cousins after me, and my wife is barren; This is the rest of the arrangement and preparation that he did prior to his prayer. The word al-mawaali (الموالي) represents the uncles and cousins, and some have said that it means collaterally, and some say it represents only the cousins, while others believe that it means the heir. In any respect, considering any of these meanings, it means a child except a consanguineous (his own) child. The intention of his saying: I fear of my cousins (mawaali) is that he has a fear of the actions of his cousins. The main idea of saying min wara’aei (من ورائي = after me) is "after my death". In brief, Hazrat Zakariya had fear that he would die with no generation that could inherit from him, that is, an allusion of being with no child. The word a'aqiraa (العاقر ) in the sentence «و كانت امرأتي عاقرا» "and my wife is barren" means a barren woman. A'aqir (عاقر ) for males applies to a man who did not have a child in his marriage life. His narration about his wife being barren represents that his wife not only had not had any child up to the time of his prayer, but she also could not have a child because of her age. It seems the word “in” (أن) has not been repeated in the sentence: «و كانت امرأتي»”and my wife is” and so on, because the sentence is expressing present time. Thus, the meaning of the whole sentence from: “And surely I fear” «و إني خفت» to “is barren” «عاقرا» is one section of the story with the meaning that since my wife is barren (عاقر) hence it is quite clear that I should have fear of my heirs after me. Therefore all the preparation that he has done for his prayer (du’a) is divided into two sections. The first section is that the Honoured and Glorified Lord has accustomed him to acceptance of his prayers. Secondly, he has fear of his heirs after him because his wife is barren (عاقر). We may also consider the statement in three sections where his aging is the third section and his wife’s barrenness being the second section.
Qur’an: «فهب لي من لدنك وليا يرثني و يرث من آل يعقوب و اجعله رب رضيا» “therefore grant me from Thyself and heir, who should inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub, and make him, my Lord, one in whom Thou art well pleased”; This is the prayer that we mentioned he asserted and in that assertion he emphasized the requested divine blessing with the adverb: «من لدنك» “from Thyself”, because he was disappointed in the ordinary means. One of the ordinary means that has been given to him and all other individuals is the natural ability of a husband, so he had lost that ability because of aging. The other ordinary means is the ability of the wife to become pregnant and he didn’t have that either since his wife was barren from her youth so she would still be barren at the time of old age. And he asked the Lord for a wali (ولي) because everyone’s wali is the one who will be in charge and custodian of his affairs. The wali of a dead person is the one who will take action on his will and become his successor or inheritor of his wealth. The word a’al in a’ale Yaqoub, with particular meaning, refers to the ones that the dead person’s affairs have been passed on to, such as the children, relatives and others. Some have said that the original word for a’al was the word ahl and it meant Yaqoub, the son of Isaac, the son of Ibrahim (a.s.). Others have stated that it meant Yaqoub ibn Ma’than, the brother of Imran ibn Ma’than, the father of Maryam. The wife of Zakariya was Maryam’s sister. Therefore the meaning of «يرثني و يرث من آل يعقوب» “inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub” would be that: he should inherit from me and from my wife who is one of the members of Yaqoub’s family. In that case, it is better to use the word min «من» in the sentence «من آل يعقوب» “from the children of Yaqoub” in order to show favouritism. However, it is also correct to consider it as primary. In the sentence: «و اجعله رب رضيا» “..and make him, my Lord, one in whom thou art well pleased”, the word radhi (الرضي ) means mardhi (المرضي = satisfactory) and it applies to the required satisfaction. This absolute satisfaction should include both the knowledge and the deed so it applies to an individual whose knowledge and deeds are satisfactory. In other words it means: Oh Lord adorn him with beneficial knowledge and pious deeds (العمل الصال). The Honoured and Glorified Lord has mentioned this story in surah A’ale Imran, which is a Medinan surah (sections that have been revealed in Medina) and revealed after surah Maryam. It follows the story of Maryam and has stated that:
«فتقبلها ربها بقبول حسن و أنبتها نباتا حسنا و كفلها زكريا كلما دخل عليها زكريا المحراب وجد عندها رزقا قال يا مريم أنى لك هذا قالت هو من عند الله إن الله يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب هنالك دعا زكريا ربه قال رب هب لي من لدنك ذرية طيبة إنك سميع الدعاء “So her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and made her grow up a good growing, and gave her into the charge of Zakariya; whenever Zakariya entered the sanctuary to (see) her, he found with her food. He said: O Maryam! Whence comes this to you? She said, “It is from Allah. Surely Allah gives to whom he pleases without measure. There did Zakariya pray to his Lord; He said My Lord! Grant me from Thee good offspring; surely thou art the Hearer of prayer.” (3:37-38) There is no one who, upon pondering the above two verses carefully, does not see the clarity revealed that the only thing that pushed Zakariya to such a prayer was the generosity that the Lord had shown to Maryam, and her servitude and sincerity to God. Zakariya was delighted in witnessing that situation and wished for his own child with such honour to be his heir, but he remembered his own disability and old age and also his wife’s barrenness and old age. At the same time, he also remembered that none of his heirs had the quality and condition of Maryam. He became excited and in need to have a child. Suddenly his heart was enlightened and he remembered that the exalted God had accustomed him to acceptance of his prayers and sufficiency for his foremost problems up to that day in his life. Therefore, he raised his hands in prayer and with a heart overflowing with hope he asked for a chaste progeny. So, the sentence: «رب هب لي من لدنك ذرية طيبة» “My Lord! Grant me from thee good offspring” in surah A’ale Imran is corresponding to: «فهب لي من لدنك وليا يرثني و يرث من آل يعقوب و اجعله رب رضيا» “Who should inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub, and make him, my Lord, one in whom thou art well pleased.” in surah Maryam. The word tay-yiba «طيبة» (chaste) in the verse in A’ale Imran corresponds to the sentence «و اجعله رب رضيا» “And make him, my Lord, one in whom thou art well pleased” in this surah. His intention for using the word radhi was the nearness and generosity that he observed from the Lord to Maryam, and the pious deeds (العمل الصال) of Maryam towards her Lord. Now, the remaining sentence in surah A’ale Imran, «هب لي من لدنك ذرية» “Grant me from Thee good offspring” corresponds to: «فهب لي من لدنك وليا يرثني و يرث من آل يعقوب» “Grant me from Thee who should inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub” which is, in fact, the explanation of the word wali-yan (an heir) in that verse. Therefore the intention of the sentence: «وليا يرثني» “an heir who should inherit me” is a natural offspring child who can inherit from him.
We have explained the above subject in order to show the heresy (invalidity) of some statements that have been said about Zakariya (a.s.) in relation to the expression: “Grant me from Thee who should inherit me”. It has been wrongly said that he requested from God someone who could be his successor and heir, either a child or someone else besides a child. Others continue this perversion by saying that he was disappointed in his wife for not having a child so he asked God for someone to inherit from him and to be his successor and that it could be anybody even if he is not his own child. And consequently, this heresy aspect of the verse in surah A’ale Imran springs from what Zakariya (a.s.) said explicitly in asking for a child: «رب هب لي من لدنك ذرية طيبة»“ My Lord! Grant me from Thee good offspring”.
In the above expression, the use of the proverb hably «هب لي» (Grant me), is by itself an indication of some kind of ownership that Zakariya (a.s.) should possess and this ownership cannot be for other people, because it does not make sense that Zakariya becomes the owner of others. If there was any other intention like what the above exegesis states, then it would be necessary to say: «و اجعل لنا من لدنك وليا و اجعل لنا من لدنك نصيرا» “…and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help." (4:75) This statement clarifies that the sentence «وليا يرثني» refers to a son, as it refers to an offspring in the verse of surah A’ale Imran. So what is meant by the word wali (heir) is an offspring that is an heir in inheritance. Without a doubt, what first springs to mind from the word “inheritance” is the same as inheriting the estate of a deceased person of his wealth and living goods; either because this word is in fact financial inheriting and it is an allegory for non financial; as it says such and such has inherited the knowledge, bravery, piety and other spiritual qualities from his father, or it is because it is dispensing with inheriting the wealth although it could also be true for inheriting the qualities. Therefore, on the surface it refers to financial inheritance but considering all of its concomitants it defines the word wali (heir) and it explains that the heir only refers to a child. The sentence: «و إني خفت الموالي من ورائي»“And surely I fear my cousins after me” that precedes the sentence being discussed will support this manifestation with a statement that will be presented. Now the argument of that interpretation visa-vis the intention of inheritance is prophethood (النبوة) and that Zakariya (a.s.) was asking God to give him a child so he can inherit the prophethood from him, is a statement, which is being negated by the subject, which was mentioned in the few previous lines. As we have said, the reason for Zakariya’s prayer was the greatness he witnessed in Maryam and whatever he saw of her was not prophethood. There was not even a notion of such a thing. Therefore, we search for a possible link that could be found between the pleasure of witnessing the great state of Maryam as a result of her prayer and her greatness, and the request for a child from the Lord so that the child could inherit the prophethood from Zakariya (a.s.). Clearly no such link is to be found between these two statements Furthermore, prophethood (النبوة) is not something that can be inherited by family. Assuming that in order to justify this idea they say that the intention of inheriting is just to have a prophet after another prophet or from his generation or from some other generations, which figuratively is a kind of inheritance. In this case how would they deal with the other problem that is applicable to it? The problem is that this interpretation is not compatible with the sentence: «و اجعله رب رضيا» “..and make him, my Lord, one in whom thou art well pleased”, because one who becomes a prophet is honoured with the virtue of satisfaction or even higher than that so there would be no need for requesting that state.
More verses coming soon!.
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