In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

This short passage of three verses is characterized by a powerful rhythm. It begins with a statement of the essential characteristics of Godhead and a denouncement of those who turn away from guidance to sink back into disbelief and their associating partners with God. It portrays a person who is totally lost, bewildered, not knowing where to turn, and this emphasizes the meaning of turning away from faith after having believed in God. The passage then emphasizes that God’s guidance is the only true guidance. It ends on a high note as it speaks of God’s total sovereignty and His complete authority over all creation. On the Day of Resurrection, even the most hardened atheists cannot entertain any doubt about His complete sovereignty, and then to Him all creation returns.

Say: Shall we invoke, instead of God, something that can neither benefit nor harm us, and shall we turn back on our heels after God has given us guidance, like one whom the satans have lured away in the land, blunders along perplexed. Yet he has companions who call out to him, “Come to us for guidance.” Say: In truth, God’s guidance is the only guidance. We are commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord of all the worlds.” (Verse 71)

The passage starts with the instruction, `Say’. This is used often in this sūrah to formulate a recognition that all authority belongs to God and that the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) is the one chosen to convey a message and warn people against its rejection. As it imparts a feeling of the seriousness of the message, we are also made to understand that the Prophet does no more than what he is bidden. He implements his instructions with complete dedication.

“Say: Shall we invoke, instead of God, something that can neither benefit nor harm us?” (Verse 71) This is an order to the Prophet to tell the unbelievers that what they do is to invoke and appeal to beings other than God, allowing those beings to lead them where they please, when they cannot actually benefit or harm them in any way. This is true, whether those beings whom they invoke are idols of stone, trees, spirits, angels, devils or other human beings. They only have one quality in common, namely, that they can bring no benefit and cause no harm. Every movement in the universe occurs by God’s will. Hence, what God does not sanction cannot take place.

Nothing happens except what He approves of. Thus, the Prophet is instructed to denounce every type of worship, submission or appeal to anyone other than God and to make it clear that every action of this sort is absolutely absurd.

This instruction to the Prophet might have been given by way of reply to the suggestions made by the unbelievers to the Prophet for working out a compromise whereby he would join them in invoking their deities in return for their joining him in worshipping his Lord. On the other hand, it might have been an outright denunciation of the practices of the idolaters and a declaration by the Prophet and the believers that their way could have no meeting point with that followed by the unbelievers. Either way, the final result is the same. We have a strong denunciation of this absurdity which no human intellect can accept once it is freed of inherited traditions and prevailing values and is allowed to judge objectively for itself.

To emphasise the association of partners with God and to strengthen its denunciation, the sūrah portrays these beliefs in contrast to the concept of God’s oneness and submission to Him alone. It is to this concept that He has guided the believers: “Say: ‘Shall we invoke, instead of God, something that can neither benefit nor harm us, and shall we turn back on our heels after God has given us guidance?’” (Verse 71)

To revert to idolatry is, then, a turning back on one’s heels in a retrogressive movement after one has achieved considerable progress.

This is followed by a vividly realistic and inspiring scene: “Like one whom the satans have lured away in the land, blunders along perplexed. Yet he has companions who call out to him, ‘Come to us for guidance.’” (Verse 71) The scene is full of life. It describes the loss and bewilderment that inevitably overwhelms any person who reverts to idolatry after having believed in God’s oneness. He finds himself torn between believing in the Supreme Lord who has no partners, and numerous deities who are powerless. He is confused, unable to determine where to turn for guidance. He is lost, bewildered.

How miserable is his lot for being lured away, perplexed and for committing blunders. The word `lure’ is highly descriptive. The person we see in this scene does not follow the direction into which he is lured in order to establish a well-defined objective, even though it leads to error. He has, on the other side, friends and companions who have followed proper guidance, and who beckon him to come over to them. Between the lure of the devils and the beckoning of his guided companions this person continues to blunder along, unable to determine where to go and which side to join. His psychological suffering looms large, so much so that we actually feel it as it is described.

Every time I read these verses I can see this scene in front of me and feel all the confusion, hesitation and bewilderment with which it overflows. But that was merely a mental exercise. More recently, I have known real-life cases that answer this description very accurately. All the confusion was there to see and all the suffering to feel. These were examples of people who had known the faith and experienced what it meant to believe, but who then turned back on their heels in order to worship false deities, under the pressure of fear or temptation. No matter how strong or otherwise their faith was, their turning back subjected them to this utter misery. As I saw these people, the full import of these verses became much clearer to me.

The scene is followed by a clear statement outlining the right way which all people should follow: “Say: ‘In truth, God’s guidance is the only guidance. We are commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord of all the worlds, and to attend regularly to prayers and to fear Him.’” (Verses 71-2) This decisive statement fits perfectly with the psychological situation described here. When someone fully appreciates the type of bewilderment the Qur’ānic verse describes and the suffering of anyone who so experiences such bewilderment, he is ready to receive with reassurance such a decisive statement and accept it without hesitation. “Say: ‘In truth, God’s guidance is the only guidance.’” (Verse 71) This is an absolute certainty. Whenever people abandon this guidance and replace it with man-made concepts, regimes, laws and values they find themselves lost in absolute bewilderment.

God has given man the ability to recognize and appreciate some of the laws of nature, its forces and potentials so that he may be able to use these in discharging the task assigned to him of building the earth and promoting human life and civilization.

But man has not been granted by God the ability to get to the core of the absolute truths of the universe or to fathom the world which lies beyond the reach of his perceptions. This world includes the workings of his own mind and soul, and even the workings of his own organs and the causes which enable his body to function properly, according to a definite system and a particular fashion.

Hence, man is in need of divine guidance concerning everything that relates to his own nature, including faith, morals, values and standards, systems and laws. Only with such guidance can man regulate his life as it should be regulated. Whenever man adopts God’s guidance, he finds himself following the right track, because “God’s guidance is the only guidance”. Whenever man abandons God’s guidance completely or deviates from it partially in order to replace it with something else, he loses his way. This is due to the fact that whatever is in conflict with God’s guidance represents error and loss. There is simply no third cause: “What is in conflict with the truth other than error.” (10: 32)

Humanity continues to endure the terrible effects of going astray, for these are inevitable when mankind moves away from God’s guidance. Indeed, this is the one historical inevitability which is certain to take place because, unlike those inevitabilities claimed by the advocates of different philosophies, this one is determined by God. Anyone who wishes to look closely at the misery to which people expose themselves when they deviate from God’s guidance does not need to look far. That misery is everywhere for us to see. Those who are endowed with insight and intelligence continue to raise their voices to warn against it.

The Qur’ānic verse states clearly that human beings must submit themselves to God alone, offer worship to Him and continue to fear Him alone: “We are commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord of all the worlds, and to attend regularly to our prayers and to fear Him.” (Verses 71-2)

The instructions given to the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) are such that he has to declare in absolute clarity that God’s guidance is the only guidance. As such, we are commanded to submit to the Lord of all the universe, because to Him alone all the worlds submit. Why should man be the only exception out of all creation when everything in the universe submits to God’s absolute Lordship? The reference made here to the fact that God is `the Lord of all the worlds’ comes at the right time. It emphasizes an undeniable fact that all the worlds, whether known or unknown to us, submit to the laws God has set in operation and cannot break away from them. Biologically, man is also subject to the laws of nature. What he needs to do, then, is to submit also in the area in which he has been given a choice: to follow guidance or to sink in error. When man chooses to submit to God in the same way as he does biologically, all his affairs will be set aright, because harmony will be established between his constitution and his action, between his body and his soul, between his present life and his life to come. The declaration made by God’s Messenger and his followers that they have complied with the commandment to surrender themselves to God is enough to inspire anyone to open his mind and make himself ready to respond to the divine instruction.

After the declaration of surrender to the Lord of all the worlds is given, some of the duties required of man are given in terms of acts of worship and attitudes:

“Attend regularly to prayers and to fear Him.” (Verse 72) The most essential thing, then, is complete submission to God and the acknowledgement of His Lordship over the universe. The offering of worship and the moulding of conscious attitudes follow from this, because these cannot be done properly unless they are based on the solid foundation of man’s submission to God.

The final note in this passage brings together a number of essential components of the concept of faith, namely, resurrection, creation, wisdom and awareness of all that takes place in the universe. All these are attributes so that our concept of God is properly formulated: “It is to Him you all shall be gathered. He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in truth. Whenever He says, Be,’ it shall be. His word is the truth. All sovereignty shall be His on the day when the trumpet is blown. He knows all that is beyond the reach of human perception, and all that is manifest. He alone is truly wise, all-aware.” (Verses 72-3)

Since all creation will be gathered before the Lord of all the worlds, submission to Him alone is absolutely essential. It is only wise that people should consider their future in the light of the fact that they will inevitably be gathered to God. They better submit to Him, as all the worlds and all creation do, before they are brought to account in front of Him. We see how the fact of resurrection is used here to convince people that it is in their best interests to submit to God right at the beginning.

Especially since they have no option but to submit to Him in the end.

“He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in truth.” (Verse 73) This is another undeniable fact mentioned here to influence people into choosing the right course of submission to God. If they do, they only surrender to the One who has created the heavens and the earth. Needless to say, the one who creates is the one who owns, controls and determines the destiny of the heavens and the earth and all that lives in or on them. Moreover, this creation has been made `in truth’. This is to refuse all the conjectural theories advanced by philosophers, particularly Plato and the Utopians, which suggest that this physical world of ours is a delusion and has no real substance. The Qur’ānic statement goes further than refuting such theories. It makes it clear that the truth is an essential element in the foundation, as well as the destiny of this universe. The truth which people seek and to which they turn is supported by the truth which is essential in the nature of existence. Thus, it becomes an overpowering force which sweeps all falsehood away. Indeed, falsehood cannot establish any roots in the structure of the universe. It is only `like an evil tree torn out of the earth and shorn of all its roots’. Falsehood is like swelling foam surfacing over running water: it has no substance. This is again a profoundly powerful statement of fact.

A believer feels that the truth which he advocates and feels within himself is directly linked to the greater truth manifested in the universe, and this, in turn, is directly linked to the absolute truth of God. In another sūrah, we read this Qur’ānic statement: “Indeed, God is the ultimate truth.” (22: 62) Equipped with this realization a believer views falsehood as no more than a large bubble which is certain to explode.

Falsehood may indeed manifest itself as large and powerful and able to cause believers much harm. The fact remains, however, that it has no root to support its structure. It soon disappears and becomes forgotten as if it never existed.

When an unbeliever contemplates this truth, he is bound to experience a feeling of awe. He may give up his falsehood and accept God’s guidance.

“Whenever He says, ‘Be,’ it shall be.” (Verse 73) His power dominates all, and His will is unrestrained. He creates, changes and replaces as He pleases. This fact is mentioned here for a dual purpose: it helps the proper formulation of the correct concept of faith in the believers’ hearts and it inspires those who are called upon to submit to God, the Lord of all the worlds, the Creator of everything, the One who says to anything He wishes to create, “Be”, and it is instantly there.

“His word is the truth.” (Verse 73) This fact applies to God’s word, “Be”, which causes creation. This His commandment that all creation should submit to Him alone, this His word providing legislation for mankind to implement, and this His word which tells us about the past, present and future, the origin of creation, resurrection, reckoning and reward. In all this, His word is the truth. Hence, those who associate with Him partners that can cause no benefit or harm, those who follow the bidding of anyone other than Him, or who adopt any philosophy other than that of the divine faith, or who implement any legislation other than His code are advised to surrender themselves to Him alone.

“All sovereignty shall be His on the Day when the trumpet is blown.” (Verse 73) On the Day of Resurrection, the trumpet is sounded in a way that no human being has thus far heard. It is part of what God has kept to Himself. The nature of that trumpet and how people respond to it remain unknown to anyone other than God. The reports available to us suggest that it is a horn-like trumpet, made of light. It is blown by an angel. As the dead in their graves hear it, they immediately rise up. Indeed, this is the second blow given on that trumpet. The first one causes all creatures in the heavens and on earth to be stunned, with the exception of those God chooses to exempt. This is mentioned in verse 68 of Sūrah 39: “The trumpet will be sounded, and all creatures that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will fall down senseless, unless they be such as God wills to exempt. And then it will be sounded again, and they all stand up and will begin to see.” These descriptions of the trumpet and the effects of its blowing make it clear to us that it is something different from what human beings have seen or heard on this earth or what they visualize. It belongs to the world that lies beyond the reach of human perception. We know about it only by virtue of what God has chosen to inform us of its shape and effect. We confine ourselves to this information so as not to indulge in speculation which lacks solid foundation.

On that day when the trumpet is sounded, even the rejecters and the blind will begin to see and realize that all sovereignty belongs to God alone. No one has any power other than Him. No will can operate other than His. Hence, those who in this life refuse to submit to Him willingly are well advised to change their attitude before they have to submit to His absolute power on the day when the trumpet is blown.

“He knows all that is beyond the reach of human perception, and all that is manifest.” (Verse 73) His knowledge is perfect, absolute. It includes everything that is kept away from us as well as that which we see in the universe. Nothing of people’s affairs and no part of their lives can be hidden from Him. Again, they will follow good counsel if they surrender themselves to Him, worship Him and be God-fearing.

This fact is mentioned here for its own sake and is used as something with which to influence those who reject the faith.

“He alone is truly wise, all-aware.” (Verse 73) He conducts all the affairs of the universe which He has created, as well as the affairs of the creatures over whom He has absolute power in this life and in the life to come. All that He does is characterized by wisdom and is based on unbounded knowledge. When they submit to His law, they will enjoy the happiness that is imparted to their lives by His wisdom. They will bring themselves out of their loss and bewilderment to enjoy His guidance and learn happiness from His wisdom.