Verses 1–11
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
This chapter contains a theological argument for the oneness of God (tawḥīd). It warns those who associate partners with God and gives glad tidings to the purified, sincere believers (mukhlaṣīn). It also elaborates on the fate of each group. Then, it recalls some of God’s believing servants whom God blessed and aided against their enemies. The end of the chapter ties things together by concluding that God is free from imperfection, sending peace upon the divine messengers, and praising God for His acts. The [style and content of the] text indicates that the chapter is Meccan.
Commentary
وَالصَّافَّاتِ صَفًّا ١ فَالزَّاجِرَاتِ زَجْرًا ٢ فَالتَّالِيَاتِ ذِكْرًا ٣
(37:1–3) By those who array themselves in ranks (wa al-ṣāffāt-i ṣaffan), and those who threaten away (wal-zājirāt-i zajran), and those who recite a reminder (fal-tāliyāt-i dhikran).
Ṣāffāt (“rows of rows”, “ranks”) is said to be the plural of ṣāffāh (“rows”, “lines”, “queues”), which itself is the plural of ṣāf (“line”, “row”, “queue”). It speaks of a group whose members arrange themselves into rows and ranks. Zājirāt comes from the root z-j-r and means “to ward something off through instilling fear of censure or consequences”. Tāliyāt comes from the root t-l-w and means “reciting” or “reading aloud”.
God has sworn an oath by these three things—the ṣāffāt, the zājirāt, and the tāliyāt. However, exegetes disagree over what God means by this. Here are some of their views on the meaning of ṣāffāt:
- They are the angels, who line themselves up in the heavens, just like the faithful on earth line themselves up in rows for prayer.
- They are the angels; the word describes their wings stilling in the air when they wish to descend to earth and are awaiting the command of God.
- They are a group of the faithful, standing in prayer or lining up for battle.
Regarding zājirāt, they say:
- They are the angels, warning the believers away from sins. God conveys these warnings to people’s hearts through impressions and thoughts, in the same way that Satan casts whispers into the hearts of men.
- They are the angels responsible for the clouds. They keep them in check and drive them forth to the places that God wills.
- They are the zawājir of the Qur’an—namely, the verses which prohibit ugly deeds.
- They are the faithful, raising their voices in reciting the Qur’an, urging people to abstain from what is forbidden.
Regarding tāliyāt, they say:
- These are the angels, reciting the revelation to a prophet who is receiving revelation.
- These are the angels, reciting the book of God’s decree; in it is mention of what is to come.
- It is a group of the reciters of the Qur’an, reciting it during the ritual prayer.
Possibly—and God knows best—these three groups (the ṣāffāt, zājirāt, and tāliyāt) are groups of angels descending with the revelation and charged with protecting the path [that the revelation travels along] from the meddling or intrusion of demons (shayāṭīn), so that it reaches the intended prophet in its pristine form. This may refer specifically to the Prophet Muḥammad, as can be gleaned from the following verses:
Knower of the unseen! He does not reveal His secrets to any except to him whom He chooses as a messenger. He makes a guard march before and after him, so that He may know that they have truly delivered the messages of their Lord, and He encompasses what is with them. ()
With these verses in mind, the first three verses of this chapter would mean, “I swear by the angels who line up along the path of revelation, who scare off the shayāṭīn and prevent them from tinkering with the revelation, and who recite the ‘reminder’ (that is, the Qur’an) to the Prophet.” The “reminder” is either revelation in general, or the Qur’an specifically; the word tāliyāt suggests the latter.
This view is supported by (a) the mention, shortly after this verse, of shooting stars pelting the shayāṭīn, and (b) the verse: So ask them, are they stronger in creation, or the ones We created? ()
This does not conflict with the way that the Qur’an attributes the revelation of the Qur’an to Jibrāʾīl alone, as in these verses:
Whoever is an enemy to Jibrāʾīl—[know that] he brought down the Qur’an to your heart. ()
The trustworthy spirit [Jibrāʾīl] revealed it to your heart. ()
This is because these angels would be his aides; Jibrāʾīl would still be carrying out this task [and there is nothing wrong with other angels participating in it]. God says:
In honored books, exalted, purified, in the hands of [angelic] scribes, noble and virtuous. ()
And we [angels] do not descend except by the command of your Lord. ()
And we are the ones who arrange themselves in ranks, and we are the ones who glorify [Allah]. ()
This is similar to how the angelic messengers take the soul at the time of death; however, the Angel of Death is their head:
Until death comes to one of them, and Our messengers take their soul. ()
Say: The Angel of Death shall take your soul, and he has been tasked with you [all]. ()
Some might question why a feminine plural adjective is used to describe angels [thereby implying that, in fact, these words do not describe angels at all]. However, there is no harm in using feminine adjectives to describe the angels because it is used to describe a group [of angels], and the word for “angels” (malāʾikah) is grammatically feminine.
This is the first chapter of the Qur’an to open with oaths. In many places, God swears by many of His creations such as the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the night, the day, the angels, humanity, the land, and fruit. This is solely because these things enjoy the honor of being created and sustained by God; He is the source of all dignity and splendor.
إِنَّ إِلَٰهَكُمْ لَوَاحِدٌ ٤
(37:4) Surely, your Lord is One.
This addresses humanity as a whole and is what is being sworn by the preceding three things. Arguments for this assertion will come later.
رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَرَبُّ الْمَشَارِقِ ٥
(37:5) The Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, and the Lord of the eastern horizons.
There are three grammatical possibilities for this verse: (a) it is a second predicate affixed to the particle inna [in verse ]; (b) it is a predicate of a sentence whose subject has been elided, such as, “He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth…”; or, (c) instead of being a predicate, it may be an apposition (badal) for the word one (wāḥid, ).
These verses hint at why your Allah is One, just as the aforementioned things (ṣāffāt, zājirāt, and tāliyāt) that were sworn upon also hint at why your Lord is one. It is as if it says, “Truly, your Lord is one. The defining criterion for divinity—of being truly worthy of worship—is being a Lord who manages the affairs of creation. You acknowledge that He does this. He is the Lord of the heavens, the earth, and all between them; He manages their affairs and dispenses things throughout them.”
And how could it be otherwise? He has the angels and the inhabitants of the heavens at His disposal when sending revelation to His prophet. They line up between heaven and earth and threaten off the shayāṭīn, lest they interfere. This is an example of how He manages what is between the heavens and the earth, including the shayāṭīn. Then the angels recite the revelation to the Prophet, thereby perfecting and nurturing humanity—whether they accept or reject it. The process of sending down the revelation involves the management of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them. And so He is the single Lord of all, the one who manages the affairs of creation, the true deity.
The Lord of the eastern horizons: This refers to (a) the different points along the eastern horizon that the sun rises from, which vary seasonally, (b) the places in the east where all the stars [including the sun] rise, or (c) eastern horizons in general.
The phrase eastern horizons [as opposed to, say, western horizons] is appropriate for the revelation because the revelation dawns from heaven through the angels. God says [regarding the heavenly realm]:
And he saw him on the clear horizon. ()
And he was upon the highest horizon. ()
إِنَّا زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِينَةٍ الْكَوَاكِبِ ٦
(37:6) We have gilded (zayyannā) the heavens above with ornaments of stars (zīnatin al-kawākib).
Zīnah means “ornament”, “decoration”, or “adornment.” Kawākib is either an explanation of or an apposition (badal) for zīnah. The word zīnah and its cognates are used elsewhere in the Qur’an to describe the sprinkling of stars above, as in:
We adorned (zayyannā) the heavens above with lanterns. ()
We have adorned (zayyannā) the heavens above with lamps. ()
Do they not look to the sky above, how We have built it and adorned it (zayyannāhā)? ()
It should be apparent the sky (samāʾ) is in fact one of the seven heavens which are mentioned in the Qur’an. This is the realm of the stars above the earth. However, some exegetes favor views which agree with ancient or modern cosmology.
وَحِفْظًا مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ مَارِدٍ ٧
(37:7) As protection (ḥifẓan) from every rebellious shayṭān.
Protection (ḥifẓan) is a direct object of an elided verb sharing the same word root. It would read something along the lines of, “We have protected them with a protection from every rebellious shayṭān.” A shayṭān is a malevolent, wicked, vicious jinn wholly devoid of goodness.
لَا يَسَّمَّعُونَ إِلَى الْمَلَإِ الْأَعْلَىٰ وَيُقْذَفُونَ مِنْ كُلِّ جَانِبٍ ٨
(37:8) They cannot eavesdrop (lā yassammaʿūna) on the exalted assembly (al-malaʾ al-aʿlā) and are cast away from every side.
The verb yassammaʿūn (“they cannot listen”) comes from the verb yatasamnaʿūn and means “to listen to”, “to eavesdrop”. This is a figurative expression, showing how they are disallowed [from the heavenly realms] and driven away. In this regard, it describes all of the shayāṭīn. It should not be taken literally to mean that they are inherently unable to hear the assembly; otherwise, there would be no need to cast them out.
Among human beings, a malaʾ (“assembly”, “council of elders”) is comprised of their eminent chiefs or nobles. The exalted assembly (al-malaʾ al-aʿlā) is comprised of those whom the shayāṭīn want to listen to—that is to say, the honored angels who reside in the heights of the heavens. This is what is indicated by the verse:
We would have sent down to them from heaven an angel as a messenger. ()
“Eavesdropping on the exalted assembly” refers to their attempt to acquire news of the unseen pertaining to this terrestrial world, such as future events, and guarded secrets, as indicated in this verse:
And the shayāṭīn have not brought it down, nor would this befit them. They are unable to do this, for they are kept away from hearing. ()
God tells of what the jinn said:
We sought to reach heaven, but we found it filled with strong guards and flaming stars. And we used to sit in some of the sitting-places thereof to steal a hearing, but any [of us] who would listen now would find a flame lying in wait. ()
And are cast away (yuqdhafūn) from every side (jānib): Yuqdhafūn means “throwing”, “casting”, “shooting”. Jānib means “side”.
دُحُورًا ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ وَاصِبٌ
(37:9) Driven off (duḥūran); for them is perpetual (wāṣib) torment.
Duḥūr means “to repel”, “to expel”, “to banish”. It is either (a) a verbal noun (maṣdar) taking on the meaning of an object, in the accusative case as a circumstantial adverb and meaning “they are in the state or condition of having been driven off”; (b) a causative object; or (c) a cognate object of [an omitted] verb sharing the same root letters. Wāṣib means “permanent”, “lasting”, or “binding”.
إِلَّا مَنْ خَطِفَ الْخَطْفَةَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ ثَاقِبٌ ١٠
(37:10) Except for the one who snatches a fragment (khaṭifa khaṭfah), then is chased off by a piercing flame.
Khaṭfah means “snatching” or “nabbing”. Shihāb means “shooting star” or “meteor”, as seen in the sky. Thāqib means “piercing”. The shooting stars here are described as “piercing” because they never miss their marks.
Khaṭfah here means “stealing a chance at listening”. It is also used elsewhere to describe stealing a chance to listen in on something, as in:
Except for the one who steals a hearing, and is chased by a bright flame. ()
The use of “except” (illā) applies to the subject of the verb they cannot listen, although some exegetes consider it acceptable to have a clause with an exception by itself.
Altogether, these five verses mean: “We adorned the heaven closest to you—the lowest of the [seven] heavens—with ornaments, and these ornaments are the stars. We protected them every wicked shayṭān who is devoid of good. They are forbidden from listening in on the exalted assembly and learning news of the unseen. They are pelted away from every side. They have been banished, and they shall have a lasting punishment. This is apart from one who might catch a snippet of the discussion but who is then chased off with a piercing shooting star which never fails in its aim.”
Discourse
The discussion “On the Meaning of Shuhub (“Shooting Stars”, sing. Shihāb)” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.
فَاسْتَفْتِهِمْ أَهُمْ أَشَدُّ خَلْقًا أَمْ مَنْ خَلَقْنَا ۚ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُمْ مِنْ طِينٍ لَازِبٍ١١
(37:11) So ask them, are they stronger in creation, or the ones We created? We created them of firm (lāzib) clay.
The adjective lāzib describes things which are firmly affixed or stuck to each other. Majmaʿ al-Bayān says that lāzib means lāzim (“necessary”, “binding”, “affixed”).
The ones We created refers to either (a) the angels who guard the revelation and shoot the shooting stars at the shayāṭīn, or (b) enormous creations other than human beings, such as the heavens, the earth, and the angels. The plural pronoun them [hum, which is typically applied to sentient, animate beings such as human beings or angels] may be used here more expansively to encompass both animate and inanimate creations [such as angels and the cosmos].
It means: “If God is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all between them, and the angels, then ask them [the people] to decide which was a greater matter: creating them or creating other things? They are the least of God’s creation, for We created them from sticky clay; they hold no power over Us.”
Examining Narrations
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says regarding by those who array themselves in ranks ():
These are the angels and the prophets.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, al-Qummī relates that Imām al-Ṣādiq said:
The Commander of the Faithful said: “These stars in the sky are cities [or civilizations, madāʾin] like the cities on earth.”
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it is related from Abū al-Jārūd that Imām al-Bāqir said regarding perpetual torment (ʿadhābun wāṣib):
It means that it is unending and agonizing, reaching their hearts.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, it is related that the Prophet said when describing his night ascension (miʿrāj):
Jibraʾīl and I ascended towards the heaven of this world. In it was an angel called Ismāʿīl, who was responsible [to repel] the ones who sneak up and eavesdrop, as God, the Exalted and Glorious, described in: Except for the one who snatches a fragment, then is chased off by a piercing flame. () Surrounding him were seven thousand angels; under the command of each angel were seven thousand more.
Author’s comments: Narrations on this topic are many. We mentioned some of them in our exegesis on Except for the one who steals a hearing, and is chased by a bright flame (). Others will be mentioned in the exegesis of Sūrah al-Mulk and Sūrah al-Jinn, God willing.
- In Nahj al-Balāghah, it says [that Imām ʿAlī said]:
God—the Exalted—gathered dust from the high, rugged lands and the lowlands, the pleasant lands and the salty lands and worked it with water until it became pure, then kneaded it with moisture until it became sticky.
Lit. dhikr (“reminder”), a word the Qur’an uses to describe itself. Tāliyāt supports the idea that dhikr here is used to mean the Qur’an itself because the Qur’an is recited. [Trans.] ↩︎
That is, even though the Qur’an does not portray angels in the Qur’an as inherently female, and, usually, sentient beings take an adjective which matches their gender (a male adjective for male sentient beings, a female adjective for female sentient beings, and a male adjective for a mixed group), the plural construct of “angels” ends with -ah which is, grammatically, a feminine marker; therefore, it is acceptable to use an adjective for feminine plural sentient beings with it. Ṣāffāt, zājirāt, and tāliyāt all end with the feminine plural marker -āt. [Trans.] ↩︎
And ʿAllamāh puts forward a metaphorical understanding for “sky” or “heaven” (samāʾ) later in this section. [Trans.] ↩︎
He relates this from his father and Yaʿqūb ibn Yazīd from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr from some of the companions of the Imāms. ↩︎