Surah al-Muzammil (The Enwrapped One) 73 : 1

Overview

(Verses 1 - 9)

The One Enfolded

You enfolded one! Stand in prayer at night, all but a small part of it, half of it, or a little less, or add to it. Recite the Qur'an calmly and distinctly. We shall bestow on you a weighty message. The night hours are strongest of tread and most upright of speech. During the day you have a long chain of things to attend to. Therefore, remember your Lord's name and devote yourself wholeheartedly to Him. He is the Lord of the east and the west. There is no deity other than Him. Take Him for your guardian. (Verses 1-9)

"You enfolded one! Stand.. ." This is a call from on high, given by God Almighty. Stand, for you have a great mission and a heavy burden. Stand, for you need to put in sustained efforts. Stand, for the time of sleep and comfort is over. You need to prepare for the task ahead of you.

This is an awesome command requiring the Prophet to pull himself out from the warmth of his bed in a comfortable home and with a happy family life so as to place himself in the midst of a hard struggle, with different forces pulling him here and there. A man who lives for himself may find comfort and ease, but he lives small and dies small. The noble soul who shoulders such a heavy burden has a different perspective: what has he got to do with sleep, comfort, a warm bed and an easy life? The Prophet realised and accepted this. When his wife, Khadijah, once told him to go to bed and relax, he said to her: "The time for sleep has passed." Yes, indeed. He had nothing more than long nights and a long struggle ahead of him.

"You enfolded one! Stand in prayer at night, all but a small part of it, half of it, or a little less, or add to it. Recite the Qur'an calmly and
distinctly." (Verses 1-4) Such is the preparation for the great task. It uses divine methods, which are guaranteed to succeed. The method is night worship, which on the higher level of remembrance of God takes up more than half the night but less than two-thirds, and on the lower level, but still in complete remembrance of Him, takes one-third of the night. This long time should be spent in prayer and recitation of the Qur'an, aloud but with calmness and without singing. It is authentically reported that the Prophet prayed his Witr in no more than 11 rak`ahs, but these took up nearly two-thirds of the night, and he read at length from the Qur'an.

"Sa'id ibn Hisham reports that he asked Ibn 'Abbas how the Prophet prayed Witr. He said: 'Shall I tell you who of all people knows this best?' He said: 'Yes.' Ibn 'Abbas said: 'Go and ask 'A'ishah and then come back and tell me her answer'." Sa'id continues: "I said to her: 'Mother of the believers, tell me what was the Prophet like in his manners?' She said: 'Do you not read the Qur'an?' I said I did. She said: 'His manners were as the Qur'an says.' I was about to leave, but then I thought of the Prophet's night worship, so I said: 'Mother of the believers, tell me how the Prophet offered his night worship.' She said: 'Do you not read the surah starting with, You enfolded one!' I said I did. She said: 'God made night worship obligatory at the opening of the surah, and the Prophet and his Companions offered night worship until their feet were swollen. God retained the end of that surah with Himself for 12 months, then the relaxation was given. Thus, night worship became voluntary after it had been obligatory.' I was about to rise, but then I remembered Witt., and I said to her: 'Mother of the believers, tell me how the Prophet offered Witr.' She said: 'We used to prepare for him his tooth stick and the water for his ablutions. He would rise at night, as God wished, and he would use his tooth stick to brush his teeth, then would perform his ablution. He would offer eight rak'ahs without sitting in between until he had completed the eighth rak'ah. He would then sit down and glorify God and supplicate, then he would stand before ending his prayer, to offer his ninth rak`ah. He would sit glorifying God alone, then supplicating. He would then finish his prayer with Salam. He said it aloud so that we would hear it. He then prayed two rak'ahs sitting down. Thus he would complete 11 rak'ahs. When he was older and put on some weight, he would pray Witr in seven rak`ahs and do two rak'ahs seated to complete nine. When the Prophet offered some voluntary prayers he liked to keep this up. If something distracted him from night worship, such as sleep or illness, he would offer 12 rak'ahs during the day. I know that the Prophet never read the whole of the Qur'an in one night up to the morning, and I know that he never fasted a complete month other than Ramadan'." [Related by Ahmad and Muslim.]

A Heavy Weight to Carry

All these preparations were made so that the Prophet could receive the weighty discourse: "We shall bestow on you a weighty message." (Verse 5) This is a reference to the Qur'an and the assignment it gives the Prophet. The Qur'an is not weighty in its phraseology; on the contrary, it is both easy to bear in mind and recite. However, it is weighty in the scales of truth, and profound in its effect on people's hearts: " HadWe brought down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humble itself and break asunder for fear of God." (59: 21) Instead, God sent down the Qur'an to a man's heart, which received it and was steadier than a mountain.

Receiving such an overflow of light and knowledge and understanding it is certainly a weighty task. Dealing with great universal truths as they are is weighty indeed. Likewise, to be in contact with those on high and with the spirits of animate and inanimate creatures in the manner the Prophet was is also weighty. Moreover, to undertake this mission without hesitation and not to turn away here or there in response to temptation is mightily weighty. All this certainly requires long preparation.

Standing up in night worship when others are asleep, leaving aside the distractions of daily life, being in contact with God, receiving His light and bounty, seeking the pleasure of being alone with Him, reciting the Qur'an in the deep silence of the night as if it is being bestowed now from on high so as to be echoed by the whole universe, and receiving inspiration from the Qur'an and its melody in the quiet of the night... is all part of the preparation. It provides the necessary preparedness to shoulder the weighty task and undertake the sustained and strenuous efforts required of the Prophet and anyone who advocates the message of Islam. It enlightens advocates' hearts along their hard way, protecting them from Satan's whispering and temptations, and guiding their footsteps so that they do not fall into the dark maze that stands adjacent to this shining road.

"The night hours that are strongest of tread and most upright of speech." (Verse 6) The night hours referred to here are those that follow the Isha Prayer. This verse describes these hours as 'strongest of tread , which means more physically exhausting, and 'most upright of speech', which means better rewarding, [according to Mujahid]. To overcome the appeal of bed after a long day is exhausting, but it declares the triumph of the spirit in response to God's instructions. Since the person spending these hours in worship prefers to be in contact with God, these hours are most upright of speech, because they give a special taste to God's glorification. They make prayer more enlightening, and supplication more transparent. They fill the heart with light and happiness that may not be felt in day prayers. God, who created man and his heart, knows how it responds, what it takes in, how it opens to callers, and at which times it is more responsive and better prepared.

When God wanted to prepare His servant and Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him), for his weighty message, He chose for him night worship because the night hours are the ones that are strongest of tread, producing the most profound impression, and most upright of speech. God knows that during the day he had to attend to different tasks that took up much of his energy. "During the day you have a long chain of things to attend to." (Verse 7) Let him, then, do whatever he needs to do during the day, putting in whatever effort was necessary. When the night comes, however, he should devote himself to his Lord, offering prayer and glorifying Him: "Therefore, remember your Lord's name and devote yourself wholeheartedly to Him." (Verse 8)

Remembering God's name does not mean repeating His honoured name verbally, counting with a bead of one hundred or a thousand pieces. Rather, this is a heart-felt remembrance along with verbal mention, or it means prayer and reading the Qur'an while praying. Wholehearted devotion means concentrating all one's attention on God, addressing one's worship to Him, discarding all thoughts and feelings other than the bond with Him.

The surah follows this instruction by making it clear that there is none other than God to turn to: "He is the Lord of the east and the west. There is no deity other than Him. Take Him for your guardian." (Verse 9) He is the Lord of all, the One God other than whom there is no deity. To devote oneself to Him is to be with the only truth in the universe, and to place one's trust in Him is to place it in the only power in the universe. Such reliance on Him is the natural result of believing in His oneness and His control of the east and the west, or in other words, His control of the entire universe. The Prophet, who is told to stand in order to carry his heavy burden, needs to devote himself wholeheartedly to God and to rely on Him only. It is from this that he derives the strength necessary to carry his heavy burden along his long way.