Verses 41–48
The verses urge the faithful to remember and glorify God. They warmly promise a generous reward from the divine. They also speak to Prophet beautifully, and tell him to encourage the faithful and not to cede to the faithless or the hypocrites. Possibly, the verses about the faithful and the faithless were revealed at a different times.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا ٤١
(33:41) O you who believe! Remember (udhkurū) Allah abundantly,
“Remember” (udhkurū, from dhikr) is the opposite of “forget”. It means to direct one’s attention towards what is being remembered. While the word dhikr (“remembrance”) can be used to mean uttering the names and attributes of God [such as when counting on a tasbīḥ or rosary], this is only one type of dhikr.
وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا ٤٢
(33:42) And glorify Him at daybreak (bukratan) and eventide (aṣīlan).
Glorify (sabbiḥūhu, from tasbīḥ) means to declare that God is above any sort of imperfection. Like dhikr, glorification does not need to be verbal; saying aloud subḥan Allāh (“glory be to God”) is only one type of glorification.
Daybreak (bukratan) is the beginning of the day. Eventide (aṣīlan) is the end of the day, after the afternoon. Daybreak and eventide are singled out for glorification because these are liminal times [day turns to night, or night turns to day]. Therefore, it is particularly appropriate to glorify God at these times by declaring that God is above any sort of change or imperfection. [That is, God is eternally subsisting and everlasting, whereas the day and night ebb and flow.]. Daybreak and eventide can also be metaphorical for “at all times”, as in this verse: They glorify him night and day ().
هُوَ الَّذِي يُصَلِّي عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَلَائِكَتُهُ لِيُخْرِجَكُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ۚ وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَحِيمًا ٤٣
(33:43) He is the one who blesses you (yuṣallī ʿalaykum)—as do the angels—that you may be led from darkness towards light. And He is merciful towards the faithful.
Yuṣallī comes from ṣalāt (“prayers”, “blessings”) and overall has the meaning of inʿiṭāf (“bending”, “bowing”, or “inclining towards someone”). However, exegetes differ about how it should be understood here. Some say that ṣalāt from God means “God’s mercy”, ṣalāt from the angels means “their seeking forgiveness for someone”, and ṣalāt from other people means “prayers for someone (duʿāʾ)”. Here, this verse specifically explains that ṣalāt from God is His mercy—not any mercy, but a specific type of mercy towards the faithful, which brings them eternal happiness in the afterlife. This is explained in the subsequent clause: that you may be led from darkness towards light. And He is merciful towards the faithful.
Similarly, God links their forgetting Him to Him forgetting them, and their remembering Him to Him remembering them: They forgot Allah, so He forgot them. () Remember Me, and I shall remember you. ()
His sending ṣalāt upon them is His remembering them mercifully. For if they remember Him abundantly, and glorify Him morning and evening, He blesses them abundantly, enwraps them with light, and keeps them away from the darkness.
From this, it is clear that He is the one who blesses you follows from O you who believe! Remember Allah abundantly in the sense of cause and effect. If you remember God abundantly, He will remember you with His mercy copiously, and take you from darkness into light. Furthermore, from this, it can be understood that darkness here is the darkness of forgetfulness and heedlessness of God, whereas light is the light of remembrance of God.
And He is merciful towards the faithful: There is a shift in person here. It says “towards the faithful” instead of “towards you” to emphasise that it is faith which triggers His mercy.
تَحِيَّتُهُمْ يَوْمَ يَلْقَوْنَهُ سَلَامٌ ۚ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا كَرِيمًا ٤٤
(33:44) Their greeting (taḥiyyatuhum) on the day they meet Him shall be peace, and He has prepared for them a generous reward.
Taḥiyyatuhum (Their greeting) is a verbal noun with a pronoun (-hum) appended to it and is an implied construction in the passive voice, meaning that they will be greeted with “peace” by the angels and before their Lord. That is, on the day they encounter them, they will enjoy safety and security; nothing shall vex them, and punishment shall not touch them.
And He has prepared for them a generous reward: Meaning, God has prepared for them a handsome recompense.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ شَاهِدًا وَمُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرًا ٤٥
(33:45) O Prophet! We sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner.
The Prophet is described as a witness because he bears witness to the deeds [of people, or of the ummah] in this world and reports them on the Day of Resurrection, as mentioned in the verse that you may be witnesses over the people and that the Messenger may be a witness over you (), as well as other verses referring to the Prophet as the foremost witness.
Bearer of glad tidings and warner means that he gives good news of divine reward and Paradise to the faithful who obey God and His Messenger, and he warns the faithless and disobedient of divine punishment and the Fire.
وَدَاعِيًا إِلَى اللَّهِ بِإِذْنِهِ وَسِرَاجًا مُنِيرًا ٤٦
(33:46) As someone calling to Allah—by His permission—and as a lamp spreading light.
Calling to Allah means that he calls the people to believe in God alone; as a corollary, this must include faith in the religion of God. By His permission refers to his being formally appointed as a prophet [that is, the biʿthah].
As a lamp spreading light is metaphorical; it means that he guides the people to their true happiness and saves them from the darkness of misery and misguidance. Some exegetes say that the shining light is the Qur’an and it means that it is like a shining light; however, this is rather distant from the text.
وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَضْلًا كَبِيرًا ٤٧
(33:47) Give glad tidings to the believers that they shall have a great grace (faḍlan) from Allah.
Faḍl (“grace”, also “leftover” or “extra”) bespeaks of whatever a person is given beyond what they have earned or deserve, as in:
Whoever brings one good deed, We shall reward that person with ten of the like. ()
They shall have whatever they desire there, and with Us is even more. ()
This demonstrates that the divine reward is not merely in proportion to a deed; rather, it is a form of grace beyond that. Nothing in the verse specifies that this is only in the Hereafter.
وَلَا تُطِعِ الْكَافِرِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ وَدَعْ أَذَاهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ وَكِيلًا ٤٨
(33:48) Obey not the faithless and the hypocrites. Heed not their annoyances, and trust in Allah; Allah suffices as a protector.
The meaning of obey, faithless, and hypocrites was explained at the beginning of this sūrah.
Heed not their annoyances: Meaning, turn away from whatever annoys you and do not concern yourself with it. Evidence for this interpretation is found in trust in Allah, meaning, do not go at it alone when repulsing their intrusions; rather, make God your protector in that, and God suffices as a protector.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of naration from Ibn al-Qādiḥ that Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣadiq] said:
Everything has a boundary that it finishes at, except for dhikr (the remembrance of God), for dhikr has no end. God, the Mighty and Glorious, ordained certain religious duties; once they have been performed, they come to an end. Fasting the month of Ramaḍān and performing the hajj both have an end; whoever fasts the month of Ramaḍān reaches its end, and whoever performs the hajj reaches its end [that is, these acts conclude at the end of the month of Ramaḍān and the end of the season of hajj]. However, dhikr is endless, for God, the Mighty and Glorious, was not content with dhikr to be done in a small amount; therefore, he did not set any limit for it.
O you who believe! Remember Allah abundantly, and glorify Him morntide and eventide (). God did not set any finish line for dhikr.
My father [Imām al-Bāqir] used to remember God abundantly. When I walked with him, he would remember God. When I ate with him, he would remember God. He used to ask people what was distracting them from the remembrance of God. I used to see his tongue held fast to the top of his mouth, saying: “There is no god but God!” He used to gather us to remember God until the sun rose. He would order those of us who could recite to recite, and those of us who could not recite to do dhikr.
A house in which the Qur’an is recited and God is remembered in is full of blessings. The angels come to it, and the shayāṭīn leave it. It shines for the inhabitants of the heavens like a star shines for the inhabitants of the earth. A house in which the Qur’an is not recited and God is not remembered has few blessings. The angels leave it, and the shayāṭīn come to it.
The Messenger of God said, “Shall I tell you what the best of your deeds is? The one that will elevate you the most and will purify you before your true sovereign? The one that is better for you than dinars and dirhams, and the one that is better for you than if you were to encounter your enemy, slay and be slain?”
The said, “Yes.”
He said, “Remembering God, the Mighty and Glorious, abundantly.”
Once, a man came to the Prophet and asked, “Who is the best person at the mosque?”
He said, “The one who remembers God the most.”
The Messenger of God said, “Whoever has been gifted a tongue which remembers God has been given a great good in tthis world and in the afterlife.”
Regarding and bestow not favours that you may receive again with increase (), he said, “Do not regard any good act you have done for the sake of God as something big.”
In the same book, Abū al-Muʿizzī relates without a further chain of narration:
The Commander of the Faithful said: “Whoever remembers God secretly has remembered God abundantly. The hypocrites remember God openly but do not remember God secretly. God, the Mighty and Glorious, said: They do it [pray] to be seen by people, and they but remember Allah little ().”
Author’s comments: This is an elegant application of this verse.
- In al-Khiṣāl, it is related from Zayd al-Shaḥām:
Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq] said, “The severest trial a believer can endure is being deprived of three traits.”
He was asked, “What are they?”
He said, “ Sharing his wealth with others out of sympathy, being fair towards others regarding himself, and remembering God abundantly. However, by this, I do not mean just reciting subḥān Allāh wal-ḥamdu lillāh wa lā ilāha illā Allāh wa Allāhu akbar, even though this is a type of dhikr; rather, it means remembrance of God in the face of what He has permitted and prohibited.”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Bayhaqī relate from Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī:
The Messenger of God was asked which servants of God have the higest degree with Him on the Day of Resurrection.
He said, “Those who remember God abundantly.”
I said, “O Messenger of God, what about those to go to battle for the sake of God?”
He said, “Even if he fought the faithless and the idolaters with his sword until it broke and he was drenched in blood, those who remember God abundantly would still have a higher level than him.”
- In ʿIlal al-Sharāʿi, it is related via a chain of narration from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan from his father from his grandfather al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī:
A group of Jews came to the Messenger of God, and the most learned of them asked him a question.
One of their questions was, “Why are you called Muḥammad, Aḥmad, Abū al-Qāsim, bashīr (bringer of glad tidings), nadhīr (warner), and dāʿī (caller)?”
He said, “Dāʿī: because I call the people to the way (dīn) of their Lord, the Mighty and Glorious. Nadhīr: because I warn anyone who disobeys me about the Fire. Bashīr: because I give glad tidings of Paradise to whomever obeys me.”
- Tafsir al-Qummī says regarding verses (O Prophet! We sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner… Allah suffices as a protector):
These were revealed in Mecca five years before the migration to Medina.
The phrase “there is no god but God (lā ilāha illa Allāh)” comprises mostly of the letter l, which is formed by the tongue being held against the top of the palate. (Trans.) ↩︎
“Exalted be God, and praise be to God, and there is no god but God, and God is the greatest,” something which could be recited repeatedly as a form of dhikr. (Trans.) ↩︎