In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

This third section takes us on several rounds in the great universe where the Qur’ān depicts a variety of phenomena and imagery which all confirm faith and provide irrefutable proof in support of it. This follows from the earlier discussion about guidance and going astray, and comforting the Prophet so he would not grieve over the unbelievers’ constant rejection. Whoever wants to look for the truth, its evidence is available with glorious clarity everywhere in the universe. Anyone who chooses to go astray does so against such irrefutable evidence.

The image of life springing up from a dead land is clear evidence that also serves to confirm resurrection. Similar evidence can be deduced from man’s creation from dust and his progression to the highly sophisticated form we know. Every stage of his creation and life goes according to predetermined measures. We see the image of the two great bodies of water, clearly distinct, yet they provide man with endless blessings for which he should show gratitude. The night and day move in a cycle that always brings one into the other, and they get longer or shorter as time moves round.

The sun and the moon are also controlled within the same accurate system. All these images provide evidence about the great universal stage. All are created and controlled by God. He owns it all. The false deities that unbelievers worship own nothing whatsoever. They neither hear nor respond. On the Day of Judgement they even disown the very people who worshipped them.

It is God who sends forth the winds, so that they raise clouds, and We drive them to a dead land and thereby give life to the earth after it had been lifeless. Thus shall resurrection be. (Verse 9)

This phenomenon is frequently mentioned within the context of evidence to the truth derived from the universe. It shows the wind raising clouds. In fact hot winds make sea water evaporate, then cold winds in the atmosphere condense the vapour making clouds which are then driven in different directions by winds in the upper strata of the atmosphere. Then they arrive at the destination God has determined for them, which may be a dead land which He wants to quicken by means of the rain carried by these clouds. Indeed, water is the source of all life on this planet. “We thereby give life to the earth after it was lifeless.” Thus the miracle occurs. It happens at every moment, but people are oblivious to its significance. Yet despite this miracle of life springing up at every moment, they continue to deny resurrection which they see happening in their world all about them. Simply and without argument, the Qur’ān says: “Thus shall be the resurrection.” This scene is used frequently in the Qur’ān for two reasons: first it provides tangible, undeniable evidence and secondly it has a strong influence on people’s hearts and minds when they contemplate it without hindrance. Moreover, it is a beautiful image, particularly in the desert, which looks barren and lifeless today, and then gushes with life the next. In this way the Qur’ān uses the inspiration of things people see all around them. They may ignore them because of familiarity, but when they contemplate them with an alert mind and heart, they appreciate just how miraculous they are.

There is here a sudden jolt as the sūrah moves on to speak of might, power and dignity, linking this with good words that are welcome by God and good action that is blessed by Him. The opposite is also shown, whereby wicked scheming leads to ruin:

Whoever desires might and glory should know that all might and glory belong to God alone. To Him ascends all good words, and He exalts the good deed. For those who plot evil there is severe suffering in store. All their plotting will come to nothing. (Verse 10)

Perhaps the link between life starting in what is lifeless and a good word and action is the fact that there is good life in all. There is certainly a strong relation between life and the universe. Allusion to this relation is stated in Sarah 14, Abraham:

“Do you not see how God compares a good word to a good tree? Its roots are firm and its branches reach to the sky. It yields its fruits at all times by its Lord’s leave. Thus does God set parables for people so that they may reflect. And an evil word is like a corrupt tree, torn up onto the face of the earth. It cannot have a stable position.” (14: 24-26) The relation is almost real in the nature of both the word and the tree: both live and grow.

The idolaters used their idolatry to retain their religious position in Makkah, one which gave them leadership of the Arabian tribes, and which facilitated various privileges. Needless to say, the most important of these were power and glory.

Hence they used to say to the Prophet: “If we were to follow the guidance along with you, we would be torn away from our land.” (28: 57) Therefore, God tells them: “Whoever desires might and glory should know that all might and glory belong to God alone.” (Verse 10)

When this fact is well established in people’s hearts and minds, it ensures that values, standards, as well as means and methods undergo a complete change. The truth is that might and glory belong totally to God. No one else possesses a shred of either. Therefore, if anyone wants them, and they are incidentally expressed in one Arabic word, `izzah, which combines both and adds connotations of dignity, then they should seek them from their only source: God Almighty. They cannot be found with anyone else.

The Quraysh sought to enjoy might and glory among the Arabs through idolatrous beliefs that lacked real substance. They feared to follow divine guidance, even though they acknowledged that it was guidance, because they feared for their own status. Yet those people, the Arabian tribes and clans, were not a source of might and glory. They could not give or deny these to anyone: “all might and glory belong to God alone.” (Verse 10) If they enjoyed any measure of power and might, it was only because God gave them this. Therefore, anyone who wishes to have these should go to the original source, not to a recipient of that source. Recipients can only give what they have in excess. Besides, recipients are also weak and in need.

This is an essential truth of Islamic faith which establishes values, standards, judgement, behaviour, ways and means. When this truth is firmly rooted in one’s heart, one does not hesitate to stand up in dignity and glory to the rest of the world, knowing from whom one derives might and glory. Such a person does not bow before any despot, storm, calamity, state, or worldly force whatsoever. Why would they when all might and glory belong to God alone, and when no one receives any portion of it without His leave?

This is the reason good words and right actions are mentioned here: “To Him ascends all good words, and He exalts the good deed.” (Verse 10) This is mentioned here for a purpose: it is a reference to the means by which might and glory are assured for those who seek it from God. Good words and good deeds which are allowed to ascend to God where they are received with honour that reflects on the speaker who says the good word and does the good work.

True `izzah, combining all connotations of dignity and glory, is first established in one’s heart before it takes any form in the outside world. When it is so established, the person concerned rises above all considerations that cause humiliation and prostration before anyone other than God. He rises first of all above his own fears, desires and ambitions that may be gratified by others. When he has done this, no one will ever be able to humiliate or subjugate him. People are only humbled by their desires, fears and ambitions. Should these be held in check, that person will retain his glory and dignity in all situations and with all people. This is indeed true might, glory and dignity.

True `izzah is not stubbornness that seeks strength through falsehood, or tyranny that uses brutal force to silence others, or an overwhelming upsurge motivated by desire, or a blind force that pays no heed to right and justice. It is none of this. It is the ability to rise above one’s own desires, rejecting fetters and humiliations, and refusing to submit to any other than God. It also means submitting only to God, fearing Him alone and obeying Him in all situations. It is through submission to God alone that our heads are raised high, and through fearing Him that we can stand up to whatever He disapproves of. Our watching Him also means that we care nothing for anything other than earning His pleasure. This then explains the relation between the good word and deed on the one hand and might, glory and dignity on the other.

The opposite picture is then given: “For those who plot evil there is severe suffering in store. All their plotting will come to nothing.” (Verse 10) Such people will see that their plots and schemes yield no fruit and end in failure, and that they will endure severe suffering as a result. We note here the contrasting image which brings life to a lifeless land.

These people plot evil because they are after false power and imagined glory.

They may appear to have power at their command, but it is the good word and deed that ascend to God and through which we receive ‘izzah in its full sense. Evil schemes and plots cannot achieve this, even though they may occasionally be coupled with physical power. Their assured end, however, is ruin and severe suffering. This is God’s promise that never fails.

Having referred to the fact that all life starts with water, the sūrah now refers to the start of man’s own life, beginning with pregnancy and followed by a term in this world, which can be long or short as God determines:

It is God who creates you all out of dust, then out of a gamete. He then makes you into a couple. No female conceives or gives birth without His knowledge. No one attains to old age or has his life cut short unless it be thus laid down in [God’s] decree. All this is easy for God. (Verse 11)

Reference to man’s origin as a creature made from dust in the first place is often mentioned in the Qur’ān, as is the first element in producing a pregnancy, namely the gamete. While a gamete is something that carries the potential of life, dust has no trace of life. The first miracle is life’ itself, and no one knows where it came from or how it was mixed with the first element. This remains a closed book as far as humanity is concerned. Yet it is a fact we all see and have no option but to accept and recognize. The evidence it provides, pointing to the Creator who gives life, is irrefutable.

The transformation that gives life to what is lifeless represents a bridge over a gap that is far greater than any distance in time and place. Contemplating such transformation will never tire a mind that looks at the great secrets of the universe.

Again, the gap separating the stage of one cell, a gamete, from that of a fully formed embryo, when a male is distinguished from a female, is again too wide to imagine. It is to this latter stage that the Qur’ān refers in the sentence, “He makes you into pairs (males and females),” whether this is a reference to a couple, male and female, in the embryo stage, or to married couples after they have become adults. How far removed is the one-cell gamete from the greatly complex human constitution which includes numerous systems and functions, and also from a human being with its many characteristics?

Look at the senseless fertilized egg as it divides and multiplies, and then each group of cells it produces joining together to form a particular organ with a specific nature and function. Look how all these organs fit together and group to make a single creature which is remarkably distinct from all other creatures of the human race, including those who are most closely related to him. Thus, no two human beings are exactly and completely identical. Yet all of them come from gametes that carry no distinctive mark of any sort, or at least that we can make out. Then look at these cells and follow their way until they become couples able to restart the cycle once more, with new gametes that follow the same line and the same stages, without deviation. All this is amazing, truly wonderful. This is the reason for the repeated references in the Qur’ān to this miraculous process, or indeed processes, involving unknown secrets. People should listen to these references and set their minds thinking about this process of creation. It may awaken their spirits to its message.

Next comes an image of God’s absolute knowledge, which is akin to the images given in the preceding sūrah, Sheba: “No female conceives or gives birth without His knowledge.” (Verse 11) The reference here is not merely to women, but to all females, including animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and others which we may or may not know about. All of them conceive and give birth, including those which lay eggs. An egg is an embryo which does not fully develop inside its mother’s body. It is laid in the form of an egg, and is then incubated, either by its mother or in an incubator, until it completes its development, and breaks its shell to continue its growth. God’s knowledge includes every conception, of every form, and every birth throughout the universe.

Describing God’s absolute knowledge in this way is not something a human mind normally follows, neither in conception nor expression.

By itself it is proof that the Qur’ān is revelation from God: it confirms its divine source thereby.

The same applies to the reference to age in the same verse: “No one attains to old age or has his life cut short unless it be thus laid down in [God’s] decree. All this is easy for God.

(Verse 11) Let our imagination follow every living thing in the universe, including trees, birds, animals, humans and others, with their different shapes, sizes, kinds, races, abodes and times. No one can imagine the total number of all these. Yet imagine that every single one of them may be allowed to attain to old age, or may have its life cut short, and that whatever happens is according to specific knowledge concerning this individual, and indeed concerning every part of every individual. A leaf in a tree may be allowed to remain green, extending its life span, or it may dry up and fall. A bird’s feather may remain in its wing or fall and he blown by the wind.

A horn may remain in an animal or get broken in a quarrel. A human eye, or a hair, may stay or be removed. Yet all this occurs in accordance with specific knowledge which is ‘laid down in God’s decree’ that is part of His comprehensive knowledge. It neither requires an effort nor constitutes a burden: “All this is easy for God.” (Verse 11)

If we let our imagination follow t his line and look at what it entails, our amazement is endless. It is a line that human imagination does not normally follow, nor does it normally try to understand or describe facts in this way.

The Arabic verb nu`ammir, which is translated as ‘attain to old age’, also connotes blessing someone’s life so as to use one’s days and years in what is useful and beneficial, as well as filling it with feelings, actions and lasting benefits. Likewise, cutting one’s life short may mean giving that person a shorter number of years to live or making his life devoid of blessing so as to spend his days producing nothing of real value. A blessed hour that is full of useful action, ideas and feelings may be equal to a complete lifetime, while a whole year may be spent without recording anything of value either in human life’s measure or in God’s scales. Yet everything any human being thinks or does anywhere in the universe is recorded by God.

Nations and communities are the same as individuals: they may live long or have their lives cut short. Hence, the Qur’ānic statement includes them, as indeed it includes inanimate objects, such as rocks, caves and rivers which could have a long or short life span. Likewise, man-made things, such as buildings, machines and appliances, clothes, etc., may all live long or short lives. Every life duration, of every creature and every thing, is recorded in God’s book. This belongs to His absolute and infinite knowledge.

When we look at things in this light, we feel we want to contemplate the universe in a new way. Anyone who feels that God’s hand and eye controls everything in such a meticulous manner will hardly ever forget or go astray. He will see God’s hand, power and care in everything around him. This is the effect the Qur’ān has on people’s hearts and minds.

The sūrah then focuses on a different phenomenon we all see, which is water and its varieties. One type of water is sweet and palatable while the other is bitter and salty. They go their separate ways, or meet together, by God’s will, serving man’s needs:

The two great bodies of water on earth are not alike: one is palatable, sweet and pleasant to drink, and the other is salty and bitter. Yet from each you eat fresh meat and extract ornaments to wear. You also see there ships that plough their course through them so that you may go in quest of some of His bounty and be grateful.

(Verse 12)

That God wanted water to be of different types is clear. That such variety serves a definite purpose is also something we should be clear about. We know some aspects of the wisdom behind providing sweet, palatable water, since we use it for different purposes. It is indeed essential for life. As for the other type of water, which is bitter and salty, filling seas and oceans, we may quote a few lines from a famous scientist explaining this immaculate design:

In spite of all the gaseous emanations from the earth of all the ages, most of them poisonous, the atmosphere remains practically uncontaminated and unchanging in its balanced relationship necessary to man’s very existence.

The great balance wheel is that vast mass of water, the sea, from which have come life, food, rain, temperate climate, plants, animals, and ultimately man himself. Let him who comprehends this stand in awe before its majesty and gratefully acknowledge his obligations. 10

This is some of what we have been able to understand of the purpose behind the diversity of creation. It is clear that it is all done for a specific reason aiming to achieve harmony and balance, which allows the overall system of the universe to function. This can only be done by the Creator of the universe and everything that lives in it. Such a meticulously accurate system cannot come about by sheer coincidence. The reference to the difference in the two great bodies of water suggests that, like every other variation, it is done deliberately. Later on, the sūrah refers to some aspects of this variety in the realm of feelings, values and standards.

The two different bodies of water are shown as united in being subjected to man:

“Yet from each you eat fresh meat and extract ornaments to wear. You also see there ships that plough their course through them.” (Verse 12) The fresh meat refers to fish and the great variety of marine animals, while the ornaments refer to pearls and corals.

Pearls are found in the body of certain bivalve molluscs. It is a hard smooth round iridescent mass, formed of layers of calcium carbonate deposited around a foreign body in the shell of these molluscs. After a while it solidifies in the form of a pearl, which is valued as a gem for its lustre. Coral is a sort of plant made by marine polyps which can become extensive reefs stretching over an area of several miles. It can also present a hazard to shipping and to any foreign creature that falls within it. It can be cut by special methods and is often used in jewellery and ornamentation.

Ships plough their way through rivers and seas, benefiting by what God has given every creature of characteristics and qualities. The density of the water and the substances used in shipbuilding is a factor in making ships float and move. Another factor is wind. Other forces may be used to achieve this useful condition, such as electric and steam power. All are subjected to man’s will by God.

“So that you may go in quest of some of His bounty and be grateful.” (Verse 12) Thus you may use both bodies of water to travel and do business, as also find food and nourishment. It behoves you to be grateful to God for all this bounty, which is made available to you.

This part concludes on another universal beat that mentions the alternation of day and night, arid the subjection of the sun and the moon to the divine system until their appointed time: “He causes the night to pass into the day, and the day to pass into the night; and He has made the sun and the moon subservient [to His laws], each running its course in an appointed term.” (Verse 13) The passing of the day and the night into each other may be a reference to the two spectacular scenes when the night creeps into the day, with its light gradually diminishing and the darkness increasing until the sun has disappeared followed by the darkness moving in and slowly spreading its wings.

The other scene witnesses the start of the day creeping into the night, with the first breath of dawn. The light then begins to gradually spread while the darkness bit by bit disappears. Then the sun rises and the day is resplendent with brightness.

Alternatively, the Qur’ānic expression may refer to the night as it takes a bite out of the day, as if it is going into the day, and also the day getting longer as it takes one bite after another off the night. It could also mean both situations at the same time, describing them together. All these scenes have a profound effect on our hearts, spreading a feeling of awe and even fear as we see God’s hand pulling one line here and relaxing one there in a fine, accurate and balanced system that does not miss a tick day after day, century after century.

Again making the sun and the moon subservient to God’s law and setting them on their courses until the appointed term, known only to God, is another phenomenon that everyone of us sees. They appear and disappear, rise and set before everyone.

Their unfailing movements do not require any knowledge or calculation to contemplate. They serve as signs for all generations to contemplate. We may know about them more than what the first people addressed by the Qur’ān knew, but this is not the point. What is important is that these phenomena give us the same inspiration as they gave them. They certainly motivate us to contemplate the work of God’s hand in the universe.

Concluding these inspiring scenes, the sūrah states the truth of God’s Lordship over the universe. It also states the falsehood of every claim of partnership with God, and its ultimate and miserable result on the Day of Judgement:

Thus is God, your Lord: to Him belongs all dominion, while those whom you invoke instead of Him do not own even the skin of a date-stone. If you invoke them they cannot hear your call. Even if they could hear, they would not respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection they will utterly disown your having associated them with God.

None can give you information like the One who is all- aware. (Verses 13-14)

The One who sends the wind driving the clouds, makes the dead land quicken, creates you out of dust, makes you in pairs, knows what each female bears and gives birth to, what gets a long life or a short one, has created the two great bodies of water, causes the day and night to pass into each other and makes the sun and the moon subservient to His law: that One is “your Lord: to Him belongs all dominion, while those whom you invoke instead of Him do not own even the skin of a date-stone.” (Verse 13)

They do not even own such a trifling thing as a date-stone.

The sūrah goes further in drawing a true image of them: “If you invoke them they cannot hear your call.” (Verse 14) They are statues, idols, trees, stars, angels or jinn; and none of them actually owns the skin of a date-stone. None of them can respond to those who worship them, but, “Even if they could hear, they would not respond to you.” (Verse 14) This applies, for example, to the jinn and the angels. The jinn cannot respond, while the angels do not respond to those who have gone astray. All this is relevant to this present life, but on the Day of Judgement they disassociate themselves from error and those who follow it: “On the Day of Resurrection they will utterly disown your having associated them with God.” (Verse 14) This is stated by the One who knows everything in this life and beyond it, who overlooks nothing in the universe now or in the life to come: “None can give you information like the One who is all-aware.” (Verse 14)

So does this passage conclude. It only remains to be said that it gives any human mind enough to last a lifetime. Indeed, it is sufficient for any human heart to listen carefully to a single passage of any sūrah if he is seeking proof and searching for guidance.