What is Islam

AL SAJDAH (The Prostration).

1 Alif Lam Mim
2 (This is) the revelation of the Book in which there is no doubt, from the Lord of the Worlds.
3 Or do they say, He has forged it? nay, it is the Truth from thy Lord, that thou mayest admonish a people to whom no warner has come before thee: in order that they may receive guidance.
4 It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all between them, in six Days, and in firmly established on the Throne (of authority): ye have none, besides Him, to protect or intercede (for you): will ye not then receive admonition?
5 He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning.
6 Such is He, the Knower of all things, hidden and open, the Exalted (in power), the Merciful;
7 He Who has made everything which He has created most Good: He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay,
8 And made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised:
9 But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (and understanding): little thanks do ye give.
10 And they say: What when we lie, hidden and lost, in the earth, shall we indeed be in a Creation renewed? nay, they deny the Meeting with their Lord
11 Say: The Angel of Death, put in charge of you, will (duly) take your souls: then shall ye be brought back to your Lord.
12 If only thou couldst see when the guilty ones will bend low their heads before their Lord (saying:) Our Lord We have seen and we have heard: now then send us back (to the world): we will work righteousness: for we do indeed (now) believe.
13 If We had so willed we could certainly have brought every soul its true guidance: but the World from Me will come true, I will fill Hell with Jinns and men all together.
14 Taste ye then for ye forget the Meeting of this Day of yours, and Wee too will forget you taste ye the Penalty of Eternity for your (evil) deeds
15 Only those believe in Our Signs, who, when they are recited to them, fall down in adoration, and celebrate the praises of their Lord, nor are they (ever) puffed up with pride.
16 Their limbs do forsake their beds of sleep, the while they call on their Lord, in Fear and Hope: and they spend (in Charity) out of the sustenance which we have bestowed on them.
17 Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in reserve) for them as a reward for their (good) Deeds.
18 Is then the man who believes no better than the man who is rebellious and wicked? not equal are they.
19 For those who believe and do righteous deeds, are Gardens as hospitable homes, for their (good) deeds.
20 As to those who are rebellious and wicked, their abode will be the Fire: every time they wish to get away therefrom, they will be forced there into, and it will be said to them: Taste ye the Penalty of the Fire, The which ye were wont to reject as false.
21 And indeed We will make them taste of the Penalty of this (life) prior to the supreme Penalty, in order that they may (repent and) return.
22 And who does more wrong than one to whom are recited the Signs of his Lord, and who then turns away therefrom? Verily from those who transgress We shall exact (due) Retribution.
23 We did indeed aforetime give the Book to Moses: be not then in doubt of its reaching (thee): and We made it a guide to the Children of Israel.
24 And We appointed, from among them, Leaders, Giving guidance under Our command, so long as they persevered with patience and continued to have Faith in Our Signs.
25 Verily thy Lord will judge between them on the Day of Judgment, in the matters wherein they differ (among themselves)
26 Does it not teach them a lesson, how many generations We destroyed before them, In whose dwellings they (now) go to and fro? Verily in that are Sings: do they not then listen?
27 And do they not see that We do drive Rain to parched soil (bare of herbage), and produce therewith crops, providing food for their cattle and themselves? Have they not the vision?
28 They say: When will this Decision be, if ye are telling the truth?
29 Say: On the Day of Decision, no profit will be to Unbelievers if they (then) believe nor will they be granted a respite.
30 So turn away from them and wait: they too are waiting.

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Explination of the Surah

Name The Surah has been entitled As-Sajdah after the theme of Sajdah (prostration) as expressed in verse 15. Period of Revelation From the style of the Surah it appears that it was sent down during the middle Makkah period, more particularly in its initial stage, for one does not find in its background that severity of the persecution and tyranny which one finds in the Surahs sent down in the later stages. Theme and Topics The main theme of the Surah is to remove the doubts of the people concerning Tauhid, the Hereafter and the Prophet-hood, and to invite them to all these three realities. The disbelievers of Makkah, when they talked of the Holy Prophet in private, said to one another, "This person is forging strange things sometimes he gives news of what will happen after death. He says: when you have become dust, you will be called to render your accounts, and there will be Hell and Heaven. Sometimes he says: these gods and goddesses and saints are nonentities: One God alone is the Deity. And sometimes he says: the discourses which I recite are not my own but Allah's Word. All these are strange things which he presents. "The answer to these doubts and misgivings forms the theme and subject matter of this Surah. In this connection, the disbelievers have been told: "Most certainly it is Allah's Word, which has been sent down in order to arouse a people who are sunk in heedlessness, being deprived of the bounties and blessings of Prophet-hood. How can you call it a fabrication when its having been sent dawn from Allah is manifest and self-evident? " Then, they have been asked, "Use your common sense and judge for yourselves which of the things presented by the Quran is strange and novel? Look at the administration of the heavens and the earth: consider your own creation and structure. Don't these things testify to the teaching which this Prophet is presenting before you in the Quran? Does the system of the universe point to Tauhid or to shirk? When you consider this whole system and your own creation, does your intellect testify that the One Who has given you your present existence, will not be able to create you once again? " Then a scene of the Hereafter has been depicted, the fruits of belief and the evil consequences of disbelief have been mentioned and the people exhorted to give up disbelief even before they meet their doom and accept the teaching of the Quran, which will be to their own advantage in the Hereafter. Then they have been told: It is Allah's supreme Mercy that He does not seize man immediately for his errors to punish him finally and decisively but warns him beforehand by afflicting him with small troubles and hardships and calamities and losses and strokes of misfortune so that he may wake up and take admonition. Then it is said: "This is not the first and novel event of its kind that a Book has been sent down upon a man from God. Before this the Book had been sent upon Moses also, which you all know. There is nothing strange in this at which you should marvel. Be assured that this Book has come down from God, and note it well that the same will happen now as has already happened in the time of Moses. Leadership now will be bestowed only on those who will accept this Divine Book. Those who reject it shall be doomed to failure. " Then the disbelievers of Makkah have been admonished to the effect: "See the end of the doomed communities of the past by whose ruined habitations you pass during your trade journeys. Will you like to meet the same doom yourself? Do not be deluded by the apparent and superficial. Today you see that no one is listening to Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) except a few young men and some slaves and poor men, and he is being made the target of curses and ugly remarks from every side. From this you have formed the wrong impression that his mission will fail. But this is only a deception of your eyes. Don't you see the phenomenon in your daily life that a land previously lying absolutely barren starts swelling with vegetation and plant life everywhere just by a single shower of the rain though before this no one could ever imagine that under the layers of its soil there lay hidden such treasures of greenery and herbage? " In conclusion, the Holy Prophet has been addressed to the effect: "These people mock at what you say and ask as to when you will attain this decisive victory. Tell them: when the time comes for the final judgment regarding you and us, believing then will not profit you at all. If you have to believe, believe now. But if you intend to await the final judgment, then await it as you please. "