In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

You enfolded one! Stand in prayer at night, all but a small part of it, half of it, or a little less, or add to it. Recite the Quran calmly and distinctly We shall bestow on you a weighty message. The night hours are strongest of tread and most upright of speech. During the day you have a long chain of things to attend to. Therefore, remember your Lord's name and devote yourself wholeheartedly to Him. He is the Lord of the east and the west. There is no deity other than Him. Take Him for your guardian. (Verses 1-9)

“ You enfolded one! Stand..This is a call from on high, given by God Almighty. Stand, for you have a great mission and a heavy burden. Stand, for you need to put in sustained efforts. Stand, for the time of sleep and comfort is over. You need to prepare for the task ahead of you.

This is an awesome command requiring the Prophet to pull himself out from the warmth of his bed in a comfortable home and with a happy family life so as to place himself in the midst of a hard struggle, with different forces pulling him here and there. A man who lives for himself may find comfort and ease, but he lives small and dies small. The noble soul who shoulders such a heavy burden has a different perspective:

what has he got to do with sleep, comfort, a warm bed and an easy life?

The Prophet realized and accepted this. When his wife, Khadijah, once told him to go to bed and relax, he said to her: “The time for sleep has passed.” Yes, indeed. He had nothing more than long nights and a long struggle ahead of him.

“ You enfolded one! Stand in prayer at night, all but a small part of it, half of it, or a little less, or add to it. Recite the Qur'an calmly and distinctly” (Verses 1—4) Such is the preparation for the great task. It uses divine methods, which are guaranteed to succeed. The method is night worship, which on the higher level of remembrance of God takes up more than half the night but less than two-thirds, and on the lower level, but still in complete remembrance of Him, takes one-third of the night. This long time should be spent in prayer and recitation of the Qur’an, aloud but with calmness and without singing. It is authentically reported that the Prophet prayed his Witr in no more than 11 rak'ahs, but these took up nearly two-thirds of the night, and he read at length from the Qur’an.

“Sa‘id ibn Hisham reports that he asked Ibn ‘Abbas how the Prophet prayed Witr. He said: * Shall I tell you who of all people knows this best?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ Ibn ‘Abbas said: ‘Go and ask ‘A’ishah and then come back and tell me her answer’.” Sa‘id continues: “I said to her: ‘Mother of the believers, tell me what was the Prophet like in his manners?’ She said: ‘Do you not read the Qur’an?’ I said I did. She said: ‘His manners were as the Qur’an says.’ I was about to leave, but then I thought of the Prophet’s night worship, so I said: ‘Mother of the believers, tell me how the Prophet offered his night worship.’ She said: ‘Do you not read the surah starting with, You enfolded one? I said 1 did. She said: ‘God made night worship obligatory at the opening of the surah, and the Prophet and his Companions offered night worship until their feet were swollen.

God retained the end of that surah with Himself for 12 months, then the relaxation was given. Thus, night worship became voluntary after it had been obligatory.’ I was about to rise, but then I remembered Witr, and I said to her: ‘Mother of the believers, tell me how the Prophet offered Witr.' She said: ‘We used to prepare for him his tooth stick and the water for his ablutions. He would rise at night, as God wished, and he would use his tooth stick to brush his teeth, then would perform his ablution.

He would offer eight rak'ahs without sitting in between until he had completed the eighth rak1ah. He would then sit down and glorify God and supplicate, then he would stand before ending his prayer, to offer his ninth rak'ah. He would sit glorifying God alone, then supplicating.

He would then finish his prayer with Salam. He said it aloud so that we would hear it. He then prayed two rak (ahs sitting down. Thus he would complete 11 rak (ahs. When he was older and put on some weight, he would pray Witr in seven rak (ahs and do two rak 'ahs seated to complete nine. When the Prophet offered some voluntary prayers he liked to keep this up. If something distracted him from night worship, such as sleep or illness, he would offer 12 rak'ahs during the day. I know that the Prophet never read the whole of the Qur’an in one night up to the morning, and I know that he never fasted a complete month other than Ramadan.” [Related by Ahmad and Muslim.]2

All these preparations were made so that the Prophet could receive the weighty discourse: “ We shall bestow on you a weighty message" (Verse 5)

This is a reference to the Qur’an and the assignment it gives the Prophet.

The Qur’an is not weighty in its phraseology; on the contrary, it is both easy to bear in mind and recite. However, it is weighty in the scales of truth, and profound in its effect on people’s hearts: “ Had We brought down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it humble itself and break asunder for fear of God." (59: 21) Instead, God sent down the Qur’an to a man’s heart, which received it and was steadier than a mountain.

Receiving such an overflow of light and knowledge and understanding it is certainly a weighty task. Dealing with great universal truths as they are is weighty indeed. Likewise, to be in contact with those on high and with the spirits of animate and inanimate creatures in the manner the Prophet was is also weighty. Moreover, to undertake this mission without hesitation and not to turn away here or there in response to temptation is mightily weighty. All this certainly requires long preparation.

Standing up in night worship when others are asleep, leaving aside the distractions of daily life, being in contact with God, receiving His light and bounty, seeking the pleasure of being alone with Him, reciting the Qur’an in the deep silence of the night as if it is being bestowed now from on high so as to be echoed by the whole universe, and receiving inspiration from the Qur’an and its melody in the quiet of the night...

is all part of the preparation. It provides the necessary preparedness to shoulder the weighty task and undertake the sustained and strenuous efforts required of the Prophet and anyone who advocates the message of Islam. It enlightens advocates hearts along their hard way, protecting them from Satan’s whispering and temptations, and guiding their footsteps so that they do not fall into the dark maze that stands adjacent to this shining road.

“ The night hours that are strongest of tread and most upright of speech, ” (Verse 6) The night hours referred to here are those that follow the Isha Prayer. This verse describes these hours as ‘strongest of tread, which means more physically exhausting, and ‘most upright of speech', which means better rewarding, [according to Mujahid]. To overcome the appeal of bed after a long day is exhausting, but it declares the triumph of the spirit in response to God’s instructions. Since the person spending these hours in worship prefers to be in contact with God, these hours are most upright of speech, because they give a special taste to God’s glorification. They make prayer more enlightening, and supplication more transparent.

They fill the heart with light and happiness that may not be felt in day prayers. God, who created man and his heart, knows how it responds, what it takes in, how it opens to callers, and at which times it is more responsive and better prepared.

When God wanted to prepare His servant and Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him), for his weighty message, He chose for him night worship because the night hours are the ones that are strongest of tread, producing the most profound impression, and most upright of speech.

God knows that during the day he had to attend to different tasks that took up much of his energy. “During the day you have a long chain of things to attend to." (Verse 7) Let him, then, do whatever he needs to do during the day, putting in whatever effort was necessary. When the night comes, however, he should devote himself to his Lord, offering prayer and glorifying Him: “Therefore, remember your Lord's name and devote yourself whole heartedly to Him'' (Verse 8)

Remembering God’s name does not mean repeating His honoured name verbally, counting with a bead of one hundred or a thousand pieces.

Rather, this is a heart-felt remembrance along with verbal mention, or it means prayer and reading the Qur’an while praying. Wholehearted devotion means concentrating all ones attention on God, addressing ones worship to Him, discarding all thoughts and feelings other than the bond with Him.

The surah follows this instruction by making it clear that there is none other than God to turn to: “He is the Lord of the east and the west.

There is no deity other than Him. Take Him for your guardian.” (Verse 9)

He is the Lord of all, the One God other than whom there is no deity.

To devote oneself to Him is to be with the only truth in the universe, and to place ones trust in Him is to place it in the only power in the universe. Such reliance on Him is the natural result of believing in His oneness and His control of the east and the west, or in other words, His control of the entire universe. The Prophet, who is told to stand in order to carry his heavy burden, needs to devote himself wholeheartedly to God and to rely on Him only. It is from this that he derives the strength necessary to carry his heavy burden along his long way.

God then directs His Messenger to remain content and patient in the face of all opposition and false accusation, telling him to leave those people who so behave to Him to deal with:

Endure with patience what people may say, and leave their company with noble dignity. Leave to Me those who deny the truth and enjoy the comforts of this life. Bear with them for a little while. We have heavy fetters and a blazing fire, food that chokes and painful suffering on the day when the earth and the mountains will shake, and the mountains will crumble into heaps of shifting sand. We have sent you a Messenger to be your witness, just as We sent a messenger to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger, and so We inflicted on him a severe punishment. How will you, if you continue to disbelieve, guard yourselves against a day that will turn childrens hair grey? That is the day when the skies shall be rent asunder. God's promise will certainly be fulfilled. (Verses 10-18)

If the first report concerning the revelation of this surah's opening is correct and that it took place during the early days of the Islamic message, this means that this second passage was revealed later, after the call to Islam went public and began to encounter opposition from those who denied it. Some of these were arrogant in their opposition, speaking ill of the Prophet and the believers. If, on the other hand, the second report is more accurate, then the first part of the surah was revealed in full when the Prophet was at the receiving end of the unbelievers’ determined opposition to his message. Be that as it may, we see that the directive to remain patient comes after the one to attend to night worship and engage in glorifying God. These two instructions are often given together with the aim of reinforcing the advocates of the divine message with the help they need along their long journey. These advocates contend with difficulties both from within themselves and from outside by the opponents of Islam. Both types of difficulty are extremely hard to deal with. Hence, the first directive is to remain patient: “Endure with patience what people may say \ which may be infuriating. Next comes a similarly magnanimous directive:

“And leave their company with noble dignity." (Verse 10) No need for any remonstration, showing anger, friction or hostility. Such was the policy of the Islamic message in Makkah, particularly in the early days.

It was only an address to hearts and minds, putting the truth before people in a calm and dignified way.

This policy of leaving the company of arrogant opponents with noble dignity is not easy; it requires patience in addition to remembrance and glorification of God. Patience was enjoined by God on every one of His messengers, time after time, and enjoined on His servants who believed in His messengers. No one can dedicate himself to Gods message unless he makes patience his main resort, equipment and armament. Advocacy of the divine message is a hard struggle. It requires striving against ones own weaknesses, distractions, desires, haste and despair, and striving against the opponents of the message, their schemes, plots as well as the harm they may directly seek to inflict on the message and its supporters.

It also involves striving against general trends to abandon the divine message and its duties, and to disregard its values while paying lip-service to it. Facing such a struggle, an advocate of Islam can resort to nothing other than patience. Turning to God and glorifying Him goes hand in hand with patience in almost every situation.

So, the Prophet is instructed to endure with patience whatever is said against his message and to leave with noble dignity the company of those who are so hostile to it, leaving them to God to deal with: “Leave to Me those who deny the truth and enjoy the comforts of this life. Bear with them fora little while? (Verse 11) This is said by none other than the Almighty, who has control of all forces. It is He who says: “Leave to Me those who deny the truth? They are only ordinary people while this threat is issued by the One who originated them and created this vast universe needing for the purpose nothing more than to say, 'Be . God is saying here that the message is His own, so those who deny it should be left to Him, while the Prophet should carry on with his task of delivering the message. If they want to persist in their denial, then let them do so, but leave their company with noble dignity. It is God who will take care of them and foil their designs. The Prophet need not think further about them.

The warning is terrifying and stunning. It implies that the Almighty will deal with such petty people. They “w4y enjoy the comforts of this life\ but they remain powerless in front of Him, no matter how despotic they may be in this world.

“Bear with them for a little while? (Verse 11) If he were to bear with them for the length of life on earth, this would still only represent 'a little while', because this life is in Gods measure only a day or a part of a day. Indeed, it will seem thus to them when it is over. On the Day of Judgement, they will feel that it was no more than an hour of a day. So, it remains 'a little while no matter how long this may be; even if they depart this life in safety, without being punished in this world.

“ We have heavy fetters and a blazing fire, food that chokes and painful suffering? (Verses 12-13) All these are fitting requitals for those who enjoy a life of comfort in this world but who continue to deny the divine message. They do not appreciate what they are given; nor do they give due thanks for the comforts they enjoy. Therefore, you, Muhammad, bear with patience what they say and do, and leave them to Me. We have what they deserve: heavy fetters, a blazing fire, food that is so hard to swallow and a painful suffering on a day that fills everyone with fear.

An image of that day and the fear it spreads is then drawn: “On the day when the earth and the mountains will shake, and the mountains will crumble into heaps of shifting sand.” (Verse 14) The feeling of fear transcends all people to spread over the whole earth: it thus shudders and crashes, with the great mountains crumbling into heaps of sand.

How, then, will humans react?

Having given this scary image, the surah addresses those unbelievers who enjoy a life of luxury reminding them of a great tyrant, Pharaoh, and how God swept him away: “ We have sent you a Messenger to be your witness, just as We sent a messenger to Pharaoh. Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger, and so We inflicted on him a severe punishment.” verses 15-16) The terrible end suffered by Pharaoh is given in such a brief word that it strikes even more fear into their hearts, and this after the scene depicting the earth shaking and the mountains flattened.

These are two images of punishment, one in this life and one in the hereafter. How do those unbelievers think they will be saved from such punishment? “How will you, if you continue to disbelieve, guard yourselves against a day that will turn childrens hair grey? That is the day when the skies shall be rent asunder.” (Verses 17-18) This is an image of a fearful event that leaves the sky rent asunder, after the earth and the mountains have crumbled into sand. It turns childrens hair grey. The images of this terrifying event are drawn from a silent landscape as well as a living humanity. The surah portrays these images before the addressees as if they are taking place now. It then confirms this most emphatically:

“God’s promise will certainly be fulfilled.” (Verse 18) It is happening, no doubt. Whatever God wills is certain to be done.

Now the surah gives their hearts a gentle touch so that they may remember and choose the road to safety: “ This is but a reminder. Let him who will, take the way to his Lord.” (Verse 19) The way to God is safer and easier to traverse. It spares people such a terrible outcome.

The verses carrying these warnings strike the unbelievers hard. They shake them violently, leaving them in great fear. At the same time, they provide strengthening reassurance to the Prophet and his small group of followers. They feel that God is with them, punishing their enemies.

It is only but a short while and the appointed time will arrive. The matter will then be settled. God will take His enemies, who are their enemies, and put them to the fate they deserve. God does not abandon the believers to His enemies, even though He may give His enemies respite for a while.

Then comes the second part of the surah, consisting of a single, long verse that was revealed one year after the first part, according to the more authentic reports:

Your Lord knows that you stand in prayer nearly two-thirds of the night, or one-half or a third of it, as do some of your followers. It is God who determines the measure of night and day He is aware that you will not be able to keep a measure of it, and therefore He turns towards you in His grace. Recite of the Quran as much as may be easy for you.

He knows that some of you will be sick, others will go about in the land seeking God's bounty, and others will be fighting for God's cause.

Therefore, recite whatever you may do with ease. Attend regularly to prayer, pay your obligatory charity [i.e. zakat], and give God a goodly loan. Whatever good you may offer on your own behalf, you shall find it with God to be better and richer in reward. Seek God's forgiveness, for God is Much-Forgiving, Ever Merciful. (Verse 20)

This is a compassionate touch, providing relief after much fatigue.

It is a relaxation by God granted to the Prophet and the believers, when they have proved themselves to be dedicated totally to His divine message. They were exhausted after having stood up for long hours at night offering prayers in which very long passages of the Qur’an were recited. God never wanted to afflict His Prophet with the Qur’an, putting him to such hardship. Rather, He was only preparing him for the hard task that he was to undertake for the rest of his life. The believers who followed him would also have to share in this heavy burden.

The verse starts with friendly reassurance: “ Your Lord knows that you stand in prayer nearly two-thirds of the night, or one-half or a third of it, as do some of your followers." (Verse 20) He has seen you doing it, and what you and your Companions offered of night worship has been accepted and entered in Gods records. He knows that you have abandoned your beds, warm as they are on a cold night, preferring to listen to His directives. He is Compassionate towards you and those who are with you. “A is God who determines the measure of night and day” (Verse 20) He causes the one to be longer and the other to be shorter.

Thus, the night may get longer or shorter, but you are all carrying on with the duty required of you, staying up close to two-thirds of the night, or half of it, or even a third. He is aware of your weakness. He does not want to afflict you or put you to unbearable hardship; all He wants is that you should have the necessary training. Now that you have been trained, you can relax and take things easier: “ Recite of the Quran as much as may be easy for you” during your night worship, without putting yourselves to much difficulty. God knows that things will happen to you and drain your energy, making standing long into the night worshipping too hard: “He knows that some of you will be sick” and these cannot offer night worship. “Others will go about in the land seeking God's bounty” (Verse 20) These need to attend to their work and earn their living. This is essential. God does not want people to abandon their life’s needs and lead the life of a monk who is totally devoted to worship. “And others will be fighting for God's cause” (Verse 20) God will permit you to stand up and fight against those who wage aggression against you. He will permit you to fight so that Islam will have its safe and sovereign place. You may, then, relax and approach your duty in a comfortable way: “ Therefore, recite whatever you may do with ease” (Verse 20) Let there be no exhaustion or hardship. However, you must attend to all obligatory worship: “Attend regularly to prayer, pay your obligatory charity [i.e. zakat].” (Verse 20) When you have done this you may wish to add voluntary charity, which will increase your reward: “And give God a goodly loan. Whatever good you may offer on your own behalf, you shall find it with God to be better and richer in reward” (Verse 20) Turn to God, appealing for forgiveness of your shortcomings. Man remains short of what is needed, no matter how diligent he tries to be. “Seek God's forgiveness, for God is Much-Forgiving, Ever Merciful” (Verse 20)

This is a compassionate touch, providing relaxation and reassurance after a whole year of night worship. God relaxed this duty for Muslims, In the Shade of the Qur’an making night worship voluntary, rather than an obligatory duty. The Prophet, however, continued on the same lines, offering night worship for no less than one-third of the night. He would appeal to his Lord in the depths of the night, and receive from Him what he needed for his struggle in life. Although his eyes might sleep, his heart would not. His heart was always busy with God’s remembrance. It had no desire for anything else in this life.