Overview - Surah 61: as-Saff (The Ranks )
The Surah exhorts Muslims to be in a united front and not be hypocritical in their actions. The Surah speaks about Prophet Moses and his difficulties with his own people. He told them to follow Allah’s rules and they did not listen to him. Then Allah sent Jesus among them and he also reminded them about Allah and gave them the good news of the coming of Prophet Muhammad. But they continue in their stubborn denial. The Surah ends with the good news that the true religion will prevail in the end and Allah will give it victory.
Sections:
- Struggle for the Truth. The light of Islam will shine more.
- The way of success for the believers is to struggle for the truth.
The Surah takes it name from the fourth Ayat, إِنَّ اللَّـهَ يُحِبُّ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِهِ صَفًّا كَأَنَّهُم بُنْيَانٌ مَّرْصُوصٌ "Indeed, Allah loves those who fight in His cause in a row as though they are a [single] structure joined firmly." [61:4].
There are 14 Ayat in this Surah.
Overview
| Total Ayat | 14 |
| Total Words * | 221 |
| Root Words * | 86 |
| Makki / Madani | Madani |
| Chronological Order* | 109th (according to Ibn Abbas) |
| Year of Revelation* | 17th year of Prophethood (4th Year Hijri) |
| Events during/before this Surah*
, Battle of Uhud, Change of Qiblah from Jerusalem to Makkah - Battle of Badr, Migration from Makkah to Madinah - Building of Masjid Nabi in Madinah - Treaty with Jews of Madinah - Marriage of Prophet to Aishah, , 2nd Pledge of Aqabah, 1st Pledge of Aqabah, Death of Abu Talib - Death of Khadijah - Stoning at Ta'if - al-Isra wal Mi'raj - Night Journey, Boycott of Banu Hashim Yr 3, Boycott of Banu Hashim Yr 2, Boycott of Banu Hashim Yr 1, 2nd Migration to Abyssinia, Physical beating and torture of some Muslims - 1st Migration of Muslims to Abyssinia, Public Invitation to Islam - Persecution of Muslims; antagonism - ridicule - derision - accusation - abuse and false propaganda., Revelation begins - Private Invitation to Islam , Revelation begins - Private Invitation to Islam , Revelation begins - Private Invitation to Islam
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| Events during/after still to occur*
Battle of Ahzab - Expedition of Banu Quraydhah,Treaty of Hudaiybiyah - Letters to Kings and Rulers,,Conquest of Makkah - Battle of Hunain,Hajj led by Abu Bakr - Expedition of Tabuk,Farewell Hajj by Prophet - Death of Prophet - End of Divine Revelation
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| Names of Prophets Mentioned
Musa, Isa, Muhammad
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| Surah Index
Ahmad, God (hard strivers rewarded better) , Children (of Israel) , Disciples (of Jesus), Hypocrites, Jesus, Jesus (disciples) , Jihad, Jihad (striving hard in God’s cause) , Mary, Moses, Prophet (people who are false prophets are wicked) , Sin, Torah
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It’s theme is to exhort the Muslims to adopt sincerity in Faith and to struggle with their lives in the cause of God. It is addressed to the Muslims with weak faith as well as those who had entered Islam with a false profession of the Faith and also those who were sincere in their profession. Some verses are addressed to the first two groups, some only to the hypocrites, and some only to the sincere Muslims.
At the outset the believers have been warned to the effect; “God indeed hates those people who say one thing and do another, and He indeed loves those who fight in the cause of the Truth, standing like a solid structure, against the enemies of God.”
In v. 5-7 the people of the Prophet’s community have been warned that their attitude towards their Messenger and their Religion should not be like the attitude that the Israelites had adopted towards the Prophets Moses and Jesus. In spite of acknowledging the Prophet Moses as a Messenger of God they continued to malign him as long as he lived, and in spite of witnessing clear signs from the Prophet Jesus they denied him without any hesitation. Consequently, the Israelites became perverse, incapable of benefiting from divine guidance. This is certainly not an enviable state which another nation should imitate.
Then, in v. 8-9 a proclamation has been made with the challenge: “The Jews and the Christians, and the hypocrites, who are conspiring with them, may try however hard they may to extinguish this Light of God, it will shine forth and spread in the world in all its fullness, and the Religion brought by the true Messenger of God shall prevail over every other religion however hateful it may be to the pagans and polytheists.”
In v. 10-13, the believers have been told that the way to success both here and in the Hereafter is only one: that they should believe in God and His Messenger sincerely and should exert their utmost in God’s Way with their selves and their wealth. As a reward for this they will earn immunity from God’s punishment, forgiveness of their sins and the eternal Paradise in the Hereafter, and will be blessed with God’s good pleasure, assistance and victory in the world.
In conclusion, the believers have been exhorted to the effect that just as the disciples of the Prophet Jesus had helped him in the cause of God, so should they also become “helpers of God,” so that they too are blessed with the same kind of good pleasure and approval of God as had been the believers before them against the disbelievers.
The Surah revolves around ways of victory for the Religion. This cannot happen except if the Believers are in one Saff [row] stood shoulder to shoulder. An individual brick no matter how strong cannot fulfill its role for a wall or a structure. It is only when strong bricks unite that a wall or structure becomes solid and impenetrable.
Manuscripts / Inscriptions
- Both Surah al-Mumtahinah [60] and Surah as-Saff [61] begin with Ayat related to Jihad.
- Both the first Ayat of Surah as-Saff [61] and Surah al-Jumuah [62] end with names of Allah, al-Azeez al-Hakeem.
- Both Surah as-Saff [61] and al-Jumu'ah [62] mention the Jews.
- Surah Saff [61:6] mentions the prophecy of the Prophet Muhammd to be sent after Jesus and Surah al-Jumuah [62:2] mentions the sending of the Prophet Muhammad.
- There is a connection between the beginning of Surah as-Saff [61], al-Jum'uah [62] and al-Munafiqun [63]. In Surah as-Saff, Allah speaks of those who say that which they do not do. In the following Surah, this concept is mentioned again in the example of Jewish scholars who are like donkeys contradicting and not benefiting from the knowledge they are carrying. Then this is again followed by the next Surah, which begins with the statements of the Hypocrites who are saying they testify to the truth, whereas in reality they are liars. All three being examples of contradictions between word and deed.
- عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ سَلاَمٍ، قَالَ قَعَدْنَا نَفَرٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَتَذَاكَرْنَا فَقُلْنَا لَوْ نَعْلَمُ أَىَّ الأَعْمَالِ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ لَعَمِلْنَاهُ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى : ( سبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ * يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لاَ تَفْعَلُونَ ) قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَلاَمٍ فَقَرَأَهَا عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم
ِAbdullah bin Salam said, “A group of us Companions of the Messenger of Allah sat talking, and we said: ‘If we knew which deed was most beloved to Alllah then we would do it.’ So Allah, Most High, revealed: Whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth glorifies Allah. And He is Almighty, the All-Wise. O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do?.[Ayat no.4 has the mention of those whom Allah loves] ” Abdullah bin Salam said: “So the Messenger of Allah recited it to us.” Tirmidhee no. 3309
This is the only Surah of the Qur'an that mentions "Ahmad" as the name of the Prophet Muhammad as prophecised by Jesus,
وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّـهِ إِلَيْكُم مُّصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِن بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ ۖ فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا هَـٰذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ "And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic." (61:6)
Total Word Count per Ayat (shows how many words per Ayat) = * | ||
- Believers are commanded not to say something that they won't do (61:2) (61:3)
- The Prophet Isa (Jesus) gave good news of a Rasool coming after him whose name would be Ahmed (Muhammad-pbuh). (61:5)
- A bargain to save oneself from the hellfire is to believe in Allah, His Rasool and strive your utmost (Jihad) in the cause of Allah with one's wealth and person.
- Believers are commanded to be the helpers of Allah like the disciples of Isa (Jesus (pbuh).
Tafsir Zone
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Sayyid Qutb Overview (Verses 6 - 9) Trying to Extinguish God's Light It seems that the verses that follow are mostly concerned with the way the Jews and the Christians received the Prophet mentioned in their scriptures. They are denounced for the reception they gave Muhammad and for their designs to undermine the new and final message God willed to prevail over all other religions: But when he came to them with all evidence of the truth, they said: `This is plain source .'Who could be more wicked than one who invents a falsehood about God, when he is only being called upon to submit to Him? God does not bestow His guidance upon the wrongdoers. They aim to extinguish God's light with their mouths, but God will spread His light in all its fullness, however hateful this may be to the unbelievers. (Verses 6-8) The Jews' attitude to this new faith was a combination of hostility, evil scheming and misrepresentation. They waged a determined fight against Islam, using all means and resources, and this has continued to the present day. They levelled charges against it: "when he came to them with all evidence of the truth, they said: This is plain sorcery." (Verse 6) This echoes the allegations of idolaters who had no scriptures and had no advance news of the new faith. The Jews also sought to create discord within the Muslim community. In particular, they tried to create division between the Muhājireen and the Ansar in Madinah, and between the two tribes of the Aws and the Khazraj. They conspired with the hypocrites at times and with the idolaters at others. They also joined with the idolaters' attack on Madinah, as happened in the Battle of the Moat. Their designs against the new faith also included spreading false rumours, as happened in what is known as the story of falsehood in which the main culprit was Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Sahli. Later, they used the same tactics in the events masterminded by `Abdullah ibn Saba', which led to the assassination of `Uthman, the third Caliph. Thereafter, they tried further to undermine Islam with the fabrications and false stories they managed to infiltrate into hadith, the reports of the history of the Prophet and the books of commentary on the Qur'an. All this after they found themselves totally incapable of implanting any falsehood into the Qur'an itself. This war has continued unabated until the present day. Zionism and Christian imperialism have continued to scheme against Islam, launching or supporting aggression against Islam in every generation. They launched the Crusades against the Muslim east, and they fought against the Muslims in Andalus in the west. They also fought against Islam in its central area launching one attack after another against the last Caliphate, i.e. the Ottoman Caliphate, which they called 'the sick man of Europe', until they managed to destroy it and divide its provinces. They needed to create false heroes in the land of Islam to carry out their schemes against it. When they needed to destroy the Caliphate as the last symbol of Islamic rule, they created in Turkey a national 'hero' and groomed his image. Thus, the Allied forces, which were in control of the Ottoman capital, retreated before his army in order to make him a great hero. In this way was he able to abolish the Caliphate regime and the Arabic language, and to separate Turkey from the rest of the Muslim world making of it a secular state. The Jews and Christians continue to create such false heroes whenever they feel the need to smash an Islamic movement in any Muslim country and replace Islamic ties with other bonds. "They aim to extinguish God's light with their mouths, but God will spread His light in all its fullness, however hateful this may be to the unbelievers." (Verse 8) This verse expresses a fact and paints a pathetic image of those enemies of Islam. It is true that they used to say about the Prophet and his message, This is plain sorcery. It is also true that they continued to scheme against Islam, trying to undermine it. It is a pathetic picture we see of them as they try to extinguish God's light with a blow from their mouths. How naïve and weak they are! "But God will spread His light in all its fullness, however hateful this may be to the unbelievers." (Verse 8) There is no doubt that God's promise will always come true. He brought His light to fullness during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), when the Muslim community came into being as a living and practical representation of the system He had chosen for mankind. It was a well-defined religion with clearly delineated features so that future generations could follow in its footsteps. It was a fact of history, not a theory explained in books. He also brought His light to fullness when he perfected the favour He bestowed on Muslims, choosing Islam as their religion and making it complete. Thus, they loved their religion and were keen to fight for its cause. Anyone of them would prefer to be thrown in a fire rather than revert to disbelief. Thus the truth of the faith lived in people's hearts and in their world. This truth continues to spring up time after time, showing that it continues to live in spite of all the sustained aggression, repeated scheming and unabated persecution campaigns waged against Islam and its followers. The fact is that God's light cannot be extinguished by people's mouths, nor can it be stifled by fire and iron-fisted tactics to which some small people resort. It may appear to tyrants, stooges made up as heroes and to Zionists that they can achieve this goal and put out God's light, but all their efforts will come to nothing. It is God's will that this religion should prevail. Hence, it is inevitable that it will: It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may cause it to prevail over all other religions, however hateful this may be to the idolaters. (Verse 9) That God testifies that this religion of Islam is guidance and the religion of truth' is the final word. God's will has been fulfilled, and this religion has prevailed over all other religions. It has prevailed by its very nature as a religion. No other religion compares with it in its nature. Pagan and idolatrous religions cannot stand up to it for a moment. Divine religions, on the other hand, find it as their final and complete version. So, in essence, Islam is the perfect and complete version of these faiths, and it will preserve its pure form for the rest of time. Earlier divine religions were distorted by omissions and additions. Thus, they became unfit to lead human life in any direction. Even if they had remained free of distortion, they are no more than earlier versions of the divine faith which did not cater for ever-increasing life requirements, because they were intended by God to serve for a limited time only. This shows that God's promise has come true from the viewpoint of the nature of faith. As for real life, God's promise was fulfilled at one time when Islam gained power and established its own system of government. Within one century, most of the populated world came under its rule. Then it moved peacefully into Asia and Africa to win, through advocacy efforts, more than five times the numbers who embraced it during the early Jihad efforts. It continues to spread without having a single state implementing it fully, after Zionism and Christian imperialism destroyed the last Caliphate in Turkey at the hands of the 'hero' they manufactured for this purpose. It continues to spread by God's grace, despite all the schemes devised to stop its march and undermine it, and the persecution of Islamic revivalist movements everywhere at the hands of other 'heroes' Zionism and imperialism create. This religion will continue to have other roles to fulfil in the life of humanity. It will prevail in fulfilment of God's promise. Human efforts cannot stop God's will, no matter how powerful they may be or how wicked their schemes of misrepresentation are. These verses served as motivation to the believers to carry the trust for which God has chosen them, after it was abandoned by the Jews and Christians who were not true to it. These verses reassure the believers that they are simply the means of fulfilling God's will. They continue to provide such motivation and reassurance to new believers who are certain that God's promise will always come true. They will give new generations the same motives and reassurance until God's promise comes to be fulfilled in people's real life once more, God willing. |
Ibn Kathir (English)
Sayyid Qutb
Sha'rawi
Al Jalalain
الطبري - جامع البيان
ابن كثير - تفسير القرآن العظيم
القرطبي - الجامع لأحكام
البغوي - معالم التنزيل
ابن أبي حاتم الرازي - تفسير القرآن
ابن عاشور - التحرير والتنوير
ابن القيم - تفسير ابن قيّم
السيوطي - الدر المنثور
الشنقيطي - أضواء البيان
ابن الجوزي - زاد المسير
الآلوسي - روح المعاني
ابن عطية - المحرر الوجيز
الرازي - مفاتيح الغيب
أبو السعود - إرشاد العقل السليم
الزمخشري - الكشاف
البقاعي - نظم الدرر
الهداية إلى بلوغ النهاية — مكي ابن أبي طالب
القاسمي - محاسن التأويل
الماوردي - النكت والعيون
السعدي - تيسير الكريم الرحمن
عبد الرحمن الثعالبي - الجواهر الحسان
السمرقندي - بحر العلوم
أبو إسحاق الثعلبي - الكشف والبيان
الشوكاني - فتح القدير
النيسابوري - التفسير البسيط
أبو حيان - البحر المحيط
البيضاوي - أنوار التنزيل
النسفي - مدارك التنزيل
ابن جُزَيّ - التسهيل لعلوم التنزيل
علي الواحدي النيسابوري - الوجيز
السيوطي - تفسير الجلالين
المختصر في التفسير — مركز تفسير
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- Surah 61. As-Saff - Saad al Ghamidi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0WwBhj93Q0&index=61&list=PLhM2xiAUdw2cAqW_o3zZkbhJNw0bnaBZN
- Surah 61. As-Saff Mahmoud Khalil Al Hussary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPwaUp6fenc&index=61&list=PLxpAkjlGauHfMFWX22VZWOKpzjr-vH_BM
- Surah 61. As-Saff Muhammad Al Luhaydan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgRiK1FhJVo&index=61&list=PLxpAkjlGauHfKAYuQLRNAZomoezhfhRZe
- Surah 61. As-Saff Muhammad Minshawi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEPykEv_hys&list=PLxpAkjlGauHdUcO_uc-8F8J2NUQRDZjPG&index=61
