By the (Steeds) that run, with panting (breath), And strike sparks of fire, And push home the charge in the morning, And raise the dust in clouds the while, And penetrate forthwith into the midst (of the foe) en masse;- Truly man is, to his Lord, ungrateful; And to that (fact) he bears witness (by his deeds); And violent is he in his love of wealth. Does he not know,- when that which is in the graves is scattered abroad And that which is (locked up) in (human) breasts is made manifest- That their Lord had been Well-acquainted with them, (even to) that Day.
The sheer poetic beauty of this Surah hit me this morning, after reading it for years as my go to Salah (we all have one dont we?).
The first part of the Surah captures a scene of chaos and confusion. The snorting of the steed, running at speed through dust in a raid seeks to take the minds of people to a scene of battle. The vivid imagery, now maybe alien to use, would certainly stop a person from that era and force him to listen.
A war horse is a loyal beast, charging in the midst of clashing steel at the behest of its owner. The horse is loyal to the one who feeds him, who takes care of him. His loyalty is such, that the horse is willing to jump headfirst into the valley of death on his command. The horse does not question, does not disobey.
A beautiful analogy is drawn here. Between the submission a horse has to its master and the disobedience humans have to theirs. An animal is shown to be better than the humans in this regard. Man may forget that one day he too will die, and will be resurrected to answer to Allah for his sins.
I often think that in todays age, we rely on tafseers to make us understand the Quran. Even with simple translation, I would not have been able to draw this analogy. Yet, this was a Makki surah which meant that the aim of this Surah was to get disbelievers attention so they may reflect on the Quran. Early Makkans who accepted Islam based on hearing this Surah must have been moved by it’s heart wrenching analogy and vivid imagery. And yet it took my years of reciting it until it suddenly hit me today. I just wanted to share something I liked today!
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from Islam https://ift.tt/3aUzGzN
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