In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

This passage provides a pause for comment, which is one of a few instances in this sūrah. It is a long pause after the first scene in the great story of mankind. A similar pause is made at the end of every stage, as if we are told: let us stop here to reflect on the lessons of the previous epoch before we go further on our unique journey.

This pause comes at the beginning of the battle which is about to rage between Satan and man. It is meant as a warning against Satan’s schemes and exposes the numerous ways and fashions his scheming may take. But the Qur’ān does not issue any directive unless it is needed to face a practical situation, and does not relate a story unless it is relevant to the day-to-day life of the Islamic movement. It does not relate a story for the sake of literary enjoyment, and does not state a fact only to place it in a theoretical context. Islam is serious and practical, and its statements and directives are meant only to deal with realities which the Islamic movement may have to face.

This comment on the story of man’s fall from heaven is given here by way of facing up to the Arabian jāhiliyyah when, prior to the advent of Islam, the Quraysh, the major tribe in Arabia, had claimed for itself certain rights against the unbelievers of the rest of Arabia who went to Makkah for pilgrimage and paid homage to the idols which were placed in the Ka`bah. The Quraysh based its claims on concepts which it alleged to be part of the divine faith. It formulated these in laws, claiming them to be part of the divine law. How else could the Quraysh have won acceptance to its claim by the rest of Arabia? It had to resort to the same tactics followed by priests, chiefs and leaders in every ignorant community. The Quraysh gave itself a special name, al-Hums, and claimed for itself special privileges, some of which relate to the ritual of ţawāf which takes the form of walking round the Ka`bah, the first house ever to be dedicated for worshipping God. They claimed that al-Hums, or the Qurayshīs, were the only people to have the privilege of doing ţawāf wearing ordinary clothes. The rest of the Arabs could not do ţawāf wearing clothes that had previously been worn. Instead, they had to borrow clothes from al-Hums people, or wear brand new clothing. Otherwise, they had to do ţawāf in the nude, even though they had their women with them.

In his commentary on the Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr states:

The Arabs, other than the Quraysh, did not do ţawāf around the Ka`bah wearing clothes that they had already used. Their argument was that they could not do ţawāf wearing clothes that they had worn when committing disobedience to God. The Quraysh, who called themselves al-Hums, were the only ones to wear their ordinary garments when they did ţawāf. If anyone was able to borrow a garment from a Qurayshī man, he could use it for ţawāf Anyone who had a brand new garment could also use it in ţawāf, provided that he threw it away on finishing his ritual and that no one else used it afterwards. Otherwise, he had to do ţawāf naked. Even women were naked when they did ţawāf, but they could partially cover their private parts.

However, women mostly did ţawāf at night. This was something they invented, following the footsteps of their fathers, and believing that what their fathers did was based on divine orders. God reproached them for that, saying: “When they commit a shameful deed, they say, `We found our fathers doing it,’ and, `God has enjoined it upon us.’” (Verse 28) In reply God tells His Messenger, Muhammad, to answer their claims by saying: “Never does God enjoin what is indecent. Would you attribute to God something of which you have no knowledge?” (Verse 28)

Thus, he condemns their practice as unacceptable indecency. God would never enjoin anything like that: “Would you attribute to God something of which you have no knowledge?” Would you allege that God has said something when you do not know it to be correct? God also instructs His Messenger to tell his people that He only orders justice, the maintaining of the right path and sincere devotion: “Say: My Lord has enjoined justice, and that you set your whole selves [to Hind at every time and place of prayer, and call on Him, sincere in your faith in Him alone.” (Verse 29) That is to say that wherever you wish to worship God, you have to be sincere in your worship, following in the footsteps of messengers to whom God gave miracles to endorse the laws they gave you. Moreover, you have to be truly sincere in your worship, because God does not accept any action unless it combines these two essentials: that it is in line with His law and dedicated purely to Him alone.12

To deal with this practical state of ignorance and its manifestations in the shape of regulations for worship, ţawāf and dress, as well as similar traditions concerning food, and all that is claimed to be part of God’s law, the Qur’ān gives these comments on the first stage in the life of humanity. This stage involves the permission to eat of the fruit of the garden of heaven, except for what God has forbidden, and mentions man’s need to have clothes. We have learned how Satan seduced Adam and his wife and persuaded them to eat of the forbidden tree in order to expose their nakedness. Their natural shyness is also mentioned and the fact that they tried to cover their nakedness with leaves.

What is related of the events of the story and the comments made on those events are thus meant as an answer to a particular situation that prevails in an ignorant community unity. The story is mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’ān, addressing other situations. Every time certain scenes and events are emphasized in order to give comments and statements that relate to those other situations. Everything that is mentioned is true and accurate but the choice is made at each time to confront a relevant situation. Thus harmony is established on every occasion with the subject matter to be emphasized.

Children of Adam, We have sent down to you clothing to cover your nakedness, and garments pleasing to the eye; but the robe of God-consciousness is the finest of all. In this there is a sign from God, so that they may reflect. (Verse 26)

This address contrasts with the scene of exposed nakedness and the patching up of leaves from the garden to cover that nakedness. That exposure came as a result of disobeying an express order given by God and eating something He had forbidden.

It is not the sin mentioned in certain legends which has inspired endless artistic images in the West as also Freud’s poisonous suggestions. That sin was not eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge, as claimed in the legend of the Old Testament.

There is no truth in the absurd claim that God felt jealous of man and feared that he would eat of the tree of life and become a God as well. Nor is the sin the sexual pleasure around which much of the European artistic imagery is concentrated in order to interpret all life activities in terms of sexual pleasure as Freud’s disciples try to affirm.

In contrast to the nakedness that followed Adam’s sin we have here a fitting reply to the arbitrary impositions of nakedness practised by the unbelievers in the days of ignorance in Arabia. In His address, God reminds people of His grace as He taught them and made things easy for them, and made it a law for them that they should wear garments to cover their nakedness so that they replace naked ugliness with the beauty of dressing up. In the Arabic text, the term used here for dressing with clothes, “We have sent down to you clothing”, is often used to denote `revelation’. This gives the Qur’ānic statement added connotations so as to mean, “We have legislated in the revelations We have sent down to you, etc.” The term used in the Arabic text for `clothing’ may denote underwear which covers the private parts, and may also denote general clothing, and the term denoting `garments’ gives the sense of top outfits normally selected for their beautiful appearance. It may also connote wealth and comfortable living. These meanings often go hand in hand:

“Children of Adam, We have sent down to you clothing to cover your nakedness, and garments pleasing to the eye.” (Verse 26) This is followed by a mention of the robe of piety, described here as ‘fine’: “But the robe of God-consciousness is the finest of all. In this there is a sign from God, so that they may reflect.” (Verse 26)

`Abd al-Raĥmān ibn Aslam, an early scholar, says: “When a person fears God, he covers his nakedness. Thus he clothes himself with the robe of piety.” In divine law, then, there is a close relationship between garments that a person wears to cover his nakedness and to give himself a fine appearance on the one hand and fearing God and being pious on the other. Both are garments, with one covering mental or abstract nakedness and the other physical nakedness. Both give a human being a fine appearance and both go together. When a person is conscious of God and feels ashamed to appear in a way which is unpleasing to Him, he feels physical nakedness to be abhorrent and shies away from it. On the other hand, a person who feels no sense of shame in front of God and does not fear Him is one who does not hesitate to appear naked or to call people to do likewise. Being modest and covering one’s body are not matters of social tradition, as claimed by those who try to destroy the humanity of people by attacking their sense of shame and chastity in order to carry out the wicked designs of the Protocol of the Elders of Zion. To have a sense of shame is something that God has implanted in human nature and embodied in His law which He sent down to be implemented in human life. He has made them able to implement this law by giving them talents, abilities and provisions.

God reminds the children of Adam of His grace as He requires them to cover their nakedness with dress in order to protect their humanity against sinking to the level of animals. Everything He has facilitated for them is also an aspect of His grace. He reminds them of it “so that they may reflect.” (Verse 26) A Muslim, then should never overlook the clear link between the attacks on people’s morality and sense of shame while calling for physical nudity in the name of friendliness and civilization, and the Zionist scheme which aims to destroy their humanity and spread immorality as a prelude to forcing them to submit to Zion’s power. He should also realize that there is a direct link between all this and the schemes trying to uproot even the vague religious sentiments that remain in the hearts of Muslim people. Even these vague sentiments are not tolerated. The aim is to eradicate them all. Hence, a wicked and shameless campaign advocating physical and mental nudity is launched with the support of writers and media working in the service of world Zionism. Human beauty is that of dress and cover while animal beauty is that of nudity. Human beings in this day and age are sinking into the depth of ignorant reaction that sends them down to the level of animals. Hence they do not remember God’s grace which enables them to protect and maintain their humanity.

Children of Adam, do not allow Satan to seduce you in the same way as he caused your [first] parents to be turned out of the Garden. He stripped them of their garment in order to make them aware of their nakedness. Surely, he and his tribe watch you from where you cannot perceive them. We have made the devils as patrons for those who do not believe. When they commit a shameful deed, they say, “We found our fathers doing it,” and, “God has enjoined it upon us.” Say... Never does God enjoin what is indecent. Would you attribute to God something of which you have no knowledge? Say... My Lord has enjoined justice, and that you set your whole selves [to Him] at every time and place of prayer, and call on Him, sincere in your faith in Him alone. As it was He who brought you into being in the first instance, so also [to Him] you will return: some [of you] He will have graced with His guidance, whereas for some a straying from the right path will have become unavoidable. For, they will have taken satans for their protectors in preference to God, thinking all the while that they have found the right path. (Verses 27-30)

This is the second address to the children of Adam in this passage. It provides comments on the story of their first parents and their experience with Satan, and the scene of nakedness in which he placed them after they had forgotten their Lord’s commandment and listened to this wicked whispering. This address becomes easier to understand when we bear in mind the traditions of pagan Arabia, particularly those relating to the nudity imposed by the people of Makkah on the rest of the Arabs in ţawāf rituals. What made their action worse was that they alleged that the practices of their fathers must be part of religion and must have been ordered by God.

The first address to the children of Adam speaks of the affliction caused to their first father, and of God’s grace when He ordered human beings to wear clothes, to cover their nakedness, and gave them fine garments pleasing to the eye. In this second address there is a warning to human beings in general and most directly to the pagans whom Islam addressed at the time of its revelation. This warning makes it clear to them that they must not obey Satan in whatever laws they enact for themselves and any traditions they may observe. If they do, he will certainly seduce them just as he seduced their first parents when he caused them to be driven out of heaven and exposed their nakedness showing them what had previously been hidden. Hence revealing much of the body, which is characteristic of all ignorant societies, past and present, is the direct result of listening to Satan’s whisperings. He is a most persistent enemy who utilizes nudity to achieve his goal of seducing Adam and his offspring. This is part of the unabating battle that rages on between man and Satan. Human beings, then, should be wise enough not to allow their enemy to seduce them. For his victory means that he will cause hell to be filled with a great many of mankind.

In order to emphasize the urgency of His warning, their Lord tells mankind that Satan and his tribe can see them whereas they cannot see or perceive satans. Satan, then, has a greater ability to seduce them, utilizing his subtle means. They need to be on their guard all the time so that they are not taken unawares: “Surely, he and his tribe watch you from where you cannot perceive them.” (Verse 27) Then follows an increased heightening of the effect by saying that God has allowed a relationship of patronage to develop between satans and unbelievers. Doomed indeed is the one whose patron is his enemy. For this enables his enemy to direct him the way he wishes, when he has no real help or support and cannot resort to God’s patronage since he is an unbeliever: “We have made the devils as patrons for those who do not believe.” (Verse 27)

It is a true fact that Satan is the patronizing friend of the nonbelievers, while God is the protector of believers.

The effect of this state of affairs is far-reaching, but it is mentioned here in absolute terms before the pagans are given an example of its operation in their real world. We are thus made to feel how Satan’s patronage can distort people’s concepts and ruin their lives: “When they commit a shameful deed, they say, ‘We found our fathers doing it,’ and, ‘God has enjoined it upon us.’” (Verse 28)

That was indeed what the pagan Arabs used to do and say. They performed ţawāf around God’s sacred house in the nude, accompanying their women. This they claimed God had ordered them to do, just as He had ordered their fathers: in other words, they inherited the practice from them. Despite their paganism, the Arabs did not make boastful claims similar to those used by people of latter day ignorance who wonder why religion should interfere with human life. They claim that they are the only ones who have any authority to enact laws, develop values and standards, and endorse habits and traditions while the pagan Arabs used to make their false inventions and claim that God ordered them to do so. That may be a more sly and cunning method because it deceives those who still maintain some religious sentiment to the extent that they imagine that their practices are acceptable to God.

Nevertheless, it is less impudent than the attitude of those who claim that they have the right to enact legislation in preference to God’s.

God commands the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to make it clear to them that their inventions are false and that their claims to have God’s endorsement are insupportable. He is further ordered to declare that God’s law is incompatible with indecency. God would not command anything that is indecent: “Say: ‘Never does God enjoin what is indecent. Would you attribute to God something of which you have no knowledge?’” (Verse 28)

The word `indecency’ refers to any act which goes beyond the limits of what is acceptable. Nudity is one such act. Hence, God does not enjoin it, for how would He enjoin the transgression of the limits He laid down, and the violation of His orders to cover one’s nakedness and to be always modest and God-fearing? Besides, who told them that God enjoined that? What God orders and enjoins cannot be the subject of unsupported claims. These are contained in the Books He has revealed to His messengers. There is simply no other source from which to learn what God says and enjoins. No one can describe any matter as belonging to divine law unless he can rely on a statement in the divine book or by God’s Messenger. This is the only way to know for certain what God enjoins. If everyone claims that whatever he sees fit belongs to God’s law, then humanity will end up in endless chaos.

Jāhiliyyah is a state of ignorance that always maintains its essential characteristics.

Every time people revert to jāhiliyyah, they make similar allegations and uphold similar concepts despite the great differences in time and place.

In the jāhiliyyah of our contemporary times, we find that every now and then a liar comes up with whatever whims he has and claims that they belong to God’s law.

Time after time, a shameless impudent person, stands up to deny the clearly stated divine orders and commandments, claiming that divine religion could not order this or that. He has no justification for his claim other than his own prejudices. Hence the rhetorical question: “Would you attribute to God something of which you have no knowledge?” (Verse 28)

Having denounced their claims that God has ordered them to follow such indecent practices, God tells them that His commandments run in the opposite direction. God has enjoined justice and moderation in all matters, not indecency. He has also ordered people to follow what He has laid down in matters of worship, and to derive their laws and values from what He has revealed to His Messenger. He has not left matters disorganized, allowing everyone to state what he wants and then claim that his prejudices are endorsed by God. He has also commanded that submission to Him should be pure and complete so that no one submits to anyone else.

Say: ‘My Lord has enjoined justice, and that you set your whole selves [to Him] at every time and place of prayer, and call on Him, sincere in your faith in Him alone.’ (Verse 29)

This is what God has enjoined. It runs opposite to their practices in which they follow their fathers and implement their man-made laws. It is also contrary to exposing one’s nakedness after God has given human beings, out of His grace, clothing to cover themselves and garments with which they appear beautiful.

Furthermore, it is contrary to having two different sources of reference in their lives, one for lawmaking and another for worship; for that is a practical form of associating partners with God.

At this point they are given a reminder and a warning. They should always remember that they will return to God after they have finished their present life which is meant as a test for them. When they return to God they will be in two groups: those who followed God’s commandments and those who followed Satan:

“As it was He who brought you into being in the first instance, so also [to Him] you will return: some [of you] He will have graced with His guidance, whereas for some a straying from the right path will have become unavoidable. For, they will have taken satans for their protectors in preference to God, thinking all the while that they have found the right path.” (Verses 29-30)

This is a remarkable picture showing the starting point and the finishing line in the great journey of life: “As it was He who brought you into being in the first instance, so also [to Him] you will return.” (Verse 29)

When they started the journey, they were in two groups: Adam and his wife in one group, and Satan and his tribe in the other. They will return in the same classification: the obedient will return together with their father, Adam, and their mother, Eve, who were both believers, submitting themselves to God, and following His commandments. In the other group, the disobedient will return together with Satan and his tribe and they will fill Hell because of their mutual patronage of Satan.

What is singular is that these people always think that they follow the right path.

God guides whoever seeks His patronage, and He leaves anyone who takes Satan for patron to go astray. In the end they come back to their different destinations:

“some [of you] He will have graced with His guidance, whereas for some a straying from the right path will have become unavoidable. For, they will have taken satans for their protectors in preference to God, thinking all the while that they have found the right path.” (Verse 30)

A new address is now made to mankind, serving as a pause to comment on the events related earlier before resuming the main theme in the sūrah: “Children of Adam, dress well when you attend any place of worship. Eat and drink but do not be wasteful. Surely He does not love the wasteful. Say, ‘Who is there to forbid the beauty which God has produced for His servants, and the wholesome means of sustenance?’ Say, ‘They are [lawful] in the life of this world, to all who believe — to be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’ Thus do We make Our revelations clear to people of knowledge. Say, ‘My Lord has only forbidden shameful deeds, be they open or secret, and all types of sin, and wrongful oppression, and that you should associate with God anything for which He has given no authority, and that you attribute to God anything of which you have no knowledge.’” (Verses 31-33)

In this address, we note the emphasis on the basic principle of faith in order to stress the falsehood of the practices of the pagan Arabs. One of the clearest examples is to link their arbitrary prohibition of good wholesome things God has provided for His servants with ascribing partners to God. This is indeed the proper description of anyone who falsely claims the authority to make such a prohibition, attributing to God things of which he has no knowledge.

God tells mankind to don their best clothes, which He has given them and taught them how to make, whenever they attend to any act of worship, including ţawāf, which means walking round the Ka`bah glorifying God, acknowledging His Lordship and asking Him to grant our wishes. Those Arabs used to do ţawāf naked, forbidding themselves the wearing of any garments when God did not forbid them that. On the contrary, He made the provision of such clothes an aspect of His grace.

The proper thing to be expected is that they should obey Him and make use of what He has given them, not taking off their clothing in a grossly indecent manner:

“Children of Adam, dress well when you attend any place of worship.” (Verse 31) He also tells them to enjoy the wholesome provisions He has given them, without being extravagant: “Eat and drink but do not be wasteful. Surely He does not love the wasteful.” (Verse 31)

It has been reported that the Arabs also used to forbid themselves certain types of food in a similar manner to their prohibition of certain types of clothing. All these were inventions perpetrated by the Quraysh, the ruling tribe in Makkah.

In an authentic report related by Muslim on the authority of `Urwah who quotes his father, a companion of the Prophet, as saying: “The Arabs used to do ţawāf around the Ka`bah completely naked with the exception of the Hums, a title given to the Quraysh people and their descendants. They would go around the Sacred House in the nude unless they wore clothes given them by the Hums. Some of the men of Quraysh might give some of their clothes to other men and their women might give to other women. During pilgrimage, the Hums would stay at Muzdalifah, going no further, while the rest of the pilgrims would go as far as ‘Arafat. They justified this by saying: `We, the Quraysh, are the dwellers of the Ĥaram (i.e. the sacred area). No person from the rest of Arabia may do ţawāf wearing any clothes other than our clothes or eating any food other than ours.’ Thus, any Arab who did not have a friend in Makkah to lend him a garment, or did not have the money to hire such a garment, faced the choice of either doing ţawāf naked or wearing his own clothes which he must throw away after he completed his ţawāf. No one else was allowed to touch those clothes after they had been thrown away. Such clothes were considered as discarded clothes, or liqā.” In his commentary known as Aĥkām al-Qur’ān, al-Qurţubī, a famous scholar, says:

“It has been reported that in pre-Islamic days, the Arabs used not to eat any rich food during their pilgrimage, limiting themselves only to eating very little, and they used to do ţawāf naked. They were told: ‘Dress well when you attend any place of worship. Eat and drink but do not be wasteful.” (Verse 31) This is a clear indication that they must not forbid themselves what is lawful. From the linguistic point of view, the term used for ‘being wasteful’ could mean extravagance and could also denote the prohibition of what is lawful. In each case, the practice involves going beyond the proper limits.” The sūrah does not stop at calling on people to dress well when they attend to any act of worship or to enjoy wholesome food and elegant dress. It censures the prohibitions of such adornment which God has provided for His servants as well as the prohibition of wholesome provisions. The authority to prohibit any thing belongs only to God who has given us the details of what He has forbidden and what He has made lawful in the legal code He has enacted for human life. “Say: ‘Who is there to forbid the beauty which God has produced for His servants, and the wholesome means of sustenance?’” (Verse 32)

This clear disapproval is followed by a statement making clear that such adornment and means of sustenance are for the enjoyment of believers on account of their belief in God, their Lord, who has produced them for the believers. If such matters are also made available in this life to unbelievers, they will be reserved exclusively for believers on the Day of Resurrection. Unbelievers will have no share in them: “Say, ‘They are [lawful] in the life of this world, to all who believe — to be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’” (Verse 32) This could not have been the case if such adornments and provisions were forbidden. God would not have given them something forbidden to be theirs alone in the life to come. “Thus do We make Our revelations clear to people of knowledge.” (Verse 32) Indeed, those who know the essence of this faith well are the ones to benefit by this explanation.

God has certainly forbidden neither what is reasonable of adornment and clothing nor wholesome food and drink. What He has truly forbidden is what those unbelievers used to practise: “Say: ‘My Lord has only forbidden shameful deeds, be they open or secret, and all types of sin, and wrongful oppression, and that you should associate with God anything for which He has given no authority, and that you attribute to God anything of which you have no knowledge.’” (Verse 33)

This is in a nutshell the total sum of what God has forbidden. It includes every excess that goes beyond the limits God has laid down, whether committed openly or in secret. It also includes sin, which denotes every disobedience to God, and oppression, which denotes every type of injustice or violation of other people’s rights which God has made clear to all. It further includes ascribing the qualities of Godhead to any being other than God. This includes what used to be practised in ignorant Arabia and what happens in every ignorant society when people accept legislation from any source other than God. God has also forbidden that people should attribute to God something of which they have no knowledge. This includes, by way of example, what they used to assert of prohibition and attributing that to God Himself without any true or sound basis.

A most amazing example of the reaction of the unbelievers who were the first to be addressed by these verses, considering the denunciation of their false prohibitions, is given by al-Kalbī, a renowned scholar in the early generations of Islam: “When Muslims went on their ţawāf around the Ka`bah wearing their clothes, the unbelievers criticized their action and ridiculed them. This verse was then revealed to answer their ridicules. This is a most amazing example of how ignorance can twist human logic. Here we have human beings who go around the sacred house of worship in the nude. Their nature has been corrupted and moved far away from sound human nature to which the Qur’ān refers in the story of Adam and Eve and their experience in heaven: “When they both had tasted the fruit of the tree, their nakedness became apparent to them, and they began to cover themselves with leaves from the Garden.” (Verse 22) But when these unbelievers see the Muslims doing their worship around the Ka`bah wearing their clothes, they criticize and ridicule them. Yet what have the Muslims done except put on their garments which God has given them. He wants them to appear dignified and well covered, so that their sound human qualities are given a chance to grow and be firmly established, and animal nakedness becomes abhorrent to them.” Such is the effect of ignorance, or jāhiliyyah, on people. It distorts their nature, taste, concepts and values. If we look at the jāhiliyyah prevailing today in our world we find that it affects people in the same way as the pre-Islamic ignorance affected the pagan Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Persians and all other pagan nations. Modern jāhiliyyah also fools people so that they take off their clothes and shed their sense of shame. Moreover, it describes that as progress and civilization. Chaste Muslim women are described as reactionary and old fashioned, simply because they maintain their standard of propriety when they appear in public. It is the same twisted logic which distorts human nature and turns values and standards upside down. It is also coupled with the same type of arrogance that insists on adhering to what is false and what is unlawful. It is as the Qur’ān says: “Have they, perchance, handed down this [way of thinking] as a legacy to one another? Nay, they are filled with overweening arrogance.” (51: 53)

The question that arises here concerns the link between such nakedness, twisted logic, overweening arrogance by associating partners with God and accepting laws from deities other than God.

Those pagan Arabs received their notions concerning their nakedness from false lords who were able to fool them and manipulate their ignorance to ensure their supremacy in Arabia remained unchallenged. Other ancient jāhiliyyah societies followed the same pattern and received their notions from their priests and chiefs.

The same applies to the unbelievers of today who cannot challenge the concepts that false lords are keen to establish.

Fashion houses and designers, and cosmetic manufacturers and sellers are the lords who advocate the stupidity which is blindly followed by men and women in the jāhiliyyah societies of today. Those lords have only to set their standards, and they are slavishly obeyed by the multitude of fools throughout the world. Whether this year’s fashion or the cosmetics in vogue are suitable to a particular woman or not, she must still obey, or be subjected to the ridicule of other fools who have no say in their own affairs.

It is important to ask who controls those fashion houses and cosmetic companies?

Who feeds the campaign promoting nakedness? Who promotes all those films, pictures, novels, magazines and papers that are in the forefront of this campaign?

Some of these are nothing less than an epitomized brothel. Indeed it is important to ask, who controls all this? The answer is that the main control is in the hands of Zionism. It is the Zionist Jews who usurp the qualities of God’s lordship, subjugating all these fools to their bidding. They achieve their aims, for which they organize sustained campaigns throughout the world, trying to keep the whole world preoccupied with such filth. They try hard to spread immorality and corrupt human nature so that it can be moulded by fashion designers and cosmetic manufacturers.

Beyond that, they also have economic objectives which they achieve through the wasteful usage of dress material, cosmetics and other ancillary products.

The question of dress and fashion is not separate from God’s law and the way of life He has laid down for mankind. Hence, it is linked in the sūrah to the question of faith. There are indeed several aspects linking it to faith and divine law. It has, first of all, a direct relationship with the question of Lordship and the authority which has the power to issue legislation in these matters that have a profound influence on morals, the economy and other aspects of life. Fashion and dress also have a direct bearing on enhancing the human qualities in man and giving them prominence over carnal qualities.

Jāhiliyyah distorts concepts, values and tastes, making nakedness, which is an animal quality, an aspect of progress and advancement, while considering propriety backward and old fashioned. There can be no clearer distortion of human nature.

We find some people advocating such jāhiliyyah and protesting: what has religion got to do with fashion, cosmetics and how women dress? This is only the twisted logic that is characteristic of jāhiliyyah everywhere and in all generations.

Because this question, which often appears to be only a side issue, has such great importance in the Islamic view — since it relates to the question of faith and to promoting sound human nature and proper human values — the sūrah concludes its discussion with a very strong and inspiring comment that is normally used with major issues of faith. The comment reminds human beings that their term on earth is limited, and that when it draws to a close, they cannot delay or hasten it at all: “For every community a term has been set. When [the end of] their term approaches, they can neither delay nor hasten it by a single moment.” (Verse 34)

This is a basic concept of faith which serves here as a reminder so that dormant hearts wake up and realize that they must not let themselves be deluded by an apparently unending life.

The term mentioned in this verse could apply to the end of every generation, which is determined by death, or the term that is allowed for every nation to be strong and prosperous. Whichever meaning we apply to the Qur’ānic verse, the term is pre-determined, and they cannot either delay their deadline or hasten it.

Before we finish our commentary on this passage, we better remind ourselves of the great similarity in how the Qur’ān deals with jāhiliyyah concepts, whether they relate to slaughtered animals, what is lawful of them and what is forbidden, as explained in the previous sūrah, and the way it deals with ignorance and its arbitrary concepts concerning dress and food.

When the previous sūrah discussed the question of slaughtered animals and crops that are pledged for certain purposes, it explained the practices of the Arabian jāhiliyyah society and its false claims that such practices were sanctioned by God. It then challenged them to produce evidence supporting their claim that God has forbidden what they claimed to be forbidden and made lawful what they considered as such: “Is it, perchance, that you were witnesses when God gave you these commandments? Who could be more wicked than one who, without any real knowledge, invents lies about God in order to lead people astray? God does not guide the wrongdoers.” (6:

144) It then confronted them face to face when they tried to evade giving a proper answer, claiming that it all belonged to God’s will, and that it was God’s will that caused them to maintain their practices: “Those who associate partners with God will say:

`Had God so willed, neither we nor our fathers would have associated any partners with Him; nor would we have declared anything as forbidden.’ In like manner did those who have lived before them deny the truth, until they came to taste Our punishment. Say: Have you any certain knowledge which you can put before us? You follow nothing but conjecture, and you do nothing but guess. Say: ‘With God alone rests the final evidence. Had He so willed, He would have guided you all aright.’ Say: ‘Bring forward your witnesses who will testify that God has forbidden this.’ If they so testify, do not you testify with them; and do not follow the wishes of those who deny Our revelations, and those who do not believe in the life to come and who consider others as equal to their Lord.” (6: 148-150)

When Sūrah 6 has totally refuted their false claims, it offers to give them a detailed account of what God has ordered them to do and what He has forbidden them. It proceeds to outline such prohibitions in three very clear verses: 151-153.

This sūrah follows the same pattern. First it describes their indecent practices, promoting nakedness and associating partners with God.

Thus, they assume for themselves the authority to pronounce certain types of dress and food as lawful or forbidden. It then warns them against these, reminding them of the painful lessons their first parents learned in heaven and their suffering as a result of Satan’s scheming against them. It also reminds them of God’s grace, as He has provided them with fine garments. It denounces their claims that what they practised was part of God’s law: “Say, ‘Who is there to forbid the beauty which God has produced for His servants, and the wholesome means of sustenance?’ Say, ‘They are [lawful] in the life of this world, to all who believe — to be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.

Thus do We make Our revelations clear to people of knowledge.’” (Verse 32) This is coupled with a reference to the absolutely certain knowledge upon which concepts of faith, acts of worship and laws must be established. When all their claims have been refuted, the sūrah reiterates what God has actually forbidden: “Say, ‘My Lord has only forbidden shameful deeds, be they open or secret, and all types of sin, and wrongful oppression, and that you should associate with God anything for which He has given no authority, and that you attribute to God anything of which you have no knowledge.’” (Verse 33) Prior to that, the sūrah clarified divine instructions concerning dress and food:

“Children of Adam, dress well when you attend any place of worship. Eat and drink but do not be wasteful.” (Verse 31)

In both types of confrontation, the whole question is linked directly to the question of faith. This is due to the fact that in essence, the question is that of sovereignty and to whom it belongs, and people’s servitude and to whom it should be addressed. It is the same question, treated in the same manner, following the same steps. This unity of approach appears to be much more important when we remember the different natures of the two sūrahs and the scope each of them takes in dealing with the question of faith. That difference of scope does not affect the adoption of the same approach in dealing with basic questions and the confrontation with jāhiliyyah over these questions. Limitless is God in His glory who has revealed this Qur’ān.