Qur'an 59:21
 | |
| Verse's Information | |
|---|---|
| Sura | al-Hashr (Qur'an 59) |
| Verse | 21 |
| Juz' | 28 |
| Content Information | |
| Place of Revelation | Medina |
| Topic | Greatness of Qur'anic teachings |
| Related Verses | Qur'an 2:74 • Qur'an 13:31 • Qur'an 73:5 |
Qur'an 59:21 is considered a parable illustrating the greatness of the station of the Qur'an[1] and the weight of its truths.[2] This parable states that if the Qur'an had been sent down upon a mountain, that mountain would have been humbled and shattered from the fear of God.[3] The purpose of presenting such parables in the Qur'an is considered to be provoking people's thought to grasp the truth.[4]
Exegesis
According to some exegetes, the meaning of Qur'an 59:21 becomes clearer when read alongside the preceding verses. In those verses, the Qur'an delivers powerful admonitions—so moving that if a person truly listened, his heart would naturally soften toward its truths.[5] For this reason, Verse 21 is understood as a rebuke to those who reject the Qur'an's message.[6]
The argument of the verse is presented as follows: if it were possible for the Qur'an to be revealed upon a mountain, the mountain—despite its size and hardness—would certainly crumble from awe and fear of God, the speaker of these words. If a mountain would react in such a way, then a human being is even more deserving of showing humility before the Qur'an and submitting to its guidance. Thus, it is striking that some people not only fail to become humble upon hearing the Qur'an, but instead respond with hostility and opposition.[7]
According to Nasir Makarim Shirazi, many exegetes have regarded Qur'an 59:21 as a parable to express the greatness of the Qur'an.[8] Quoting him, they have considered the phrase "wa tilka l-amthalu nadribuha li-l-nas la'allahum yatafakkarun" (And these are parables We set forth for mankind that perhaps they may reflect) as the evidence for their view.[9]
| “ | لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
|
” |
| “ | Had We sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have surely seen it humbled [and] shattered out of the fear of Allah. We draw such parables for mankind so that they may reflect.
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” |
| — Qur'an 59:21 | ||
'Allama Tabataba'i considers the reason for the emphasis on the greatness of the Qur'an in Qur'an 59:21 to be the presence of true teachings, principles of religious laws, instructive truths, admonitions, and promises and threats in the Qur'an.[10] He regards the subsequent verses of this sura, in which some Divine Names and Attributes are mentioned, as the cause for the humility and shattering of mountains before the greatness of the Qur'an.[11] According to al-Sayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarrisi, based on this verse, humility, as an ethical act, prepares the ground for theoretical submission and practical application of the human being toward the truth.[12]
Notes
- ↑ Al-Ṭūsī, Al-Tibyān, vol. 9, p. 572; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 19, p. 221.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 20, p. 62; Jawādī Āmulī, Qurʾān dar Qurʾān, 1395 Sh, p. 25.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 19, p. 221.
- ↑ See: Muṭahharī, Āshnāyī bā Qurʾān, vol. 6, p. 186.
- ↑ Muṭahharī, Āshnāyī bā Qurʾān, vol. 6, p. 185; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 23, p. 549.
- ↑ Fayḍ Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, 1415 AH, vol. 5, p. 159.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 9, p. 399; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 19, p. 221; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 23, p. 550; Jawādī Āmulī, Qurʾān dar Qurʾān, 1395 Sh, p. 25.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 23, p. 550.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 23, p. 550.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 19, p. 221.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, 1394 AH, vol. 19, pp. 221-222.
- ↑ Al-Mudarrisī, Min hudā al-Qurʾān, 1419 AH, vol. 15, p. 57.
References
- Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. Shāh-Murtaḍā. Tafsīr al-ṣāfī. Ed. Ḥusayn Aʿlamī. Tehran, Maktabat al-Ṣadr, 1415 AH.
- Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Qurʾān dar Qurʾān (Tafsīr-i mawḍūʿī-yi Qurʾān-i karīm, vol. 1). Qom, Markaz-i Nashr-i Isrāʾ, 1395 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
- Al-Mudarrisī, Sayyid Muḥammad Taqī. Min hudā al-Qurʾān. Tehran, Dār Muḥibbī al-Ḥusayn, 1419 AH.
- Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. Āshnāyī bā Qurʾān (Tafsīr-i sūrahā-yi al-Raḥmān, Wāqiʿa, Ḥadīd, Ḥashr wa Mumtaḥina). Tehran, Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā, 1382 Sh.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut, Muʾassisas al-Aʿlamī li-l-maṭbūʿāt, 1392 AH.
- Al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Ed. Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī & Sayyid Faḍl Allāh Yazdī Ṭabāṭabāʾī. Tehran, Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.
- Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Ed. Aḥmad Ḥabīb al-ʿĀmilī. Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.