072
The Message of the Quran
Muhammad Asad
AL-JINN (THE UNSEEN BEINGS)
THE SEVENTY-SECOND
SURAH
Total Verses: 28
Introduction
REVEALED not later than during the last two years of the
Prophet's sojourn in
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:
(1) SAY: "It has been revealed to
me that some of the unseen beings gave ear [to this divine writ], 1 and
thereupon said [unto their fellow-beings]: "'Verily, we have heard a
wondrous discourse,
(2) guiding towards consciousness of
what is right; and so We have come to believe in it. And we shall never ascribe
divinity to anyone beside our Sustainer,
(3) for [we know] that sublimely exalted
is our Sustainer's majesty: no consort has He ever taken unto Himself, nor a
son!
(4) "'And [now we know] that the
foolish among us were wont to say outrageous things about God, 2
(5) and that [we were mistaken when] we
thought that neither man nor [any of] the invisible forces would ever tell a
lie about God. 3
(6) Yet [it has always happened] that
certain kinds of humans would seek refuge with certain kinds of [such] invisible
forces: 4 but these only increased their confusion –
(7) so much so that they came to think,
as you [once] thought, that God would never [again] send forth anyone [as His
apostle]. 5
(8) "'And [so it happened] that we
reached out towards heaven: 6 but we found it filled with mighty guards and flames,
7
(9) notwithstanding that we were
established in positions [which we had thought well-suited] to listening to
[whatever secrets might be in] it: 8 and anyone
who now [or ever] tries to listen will [likewise] find a flame lying in wait
for him! 9
(10) "'And [now we have become
aware] that we [created beings] may not know whether evil fortune is intended
for [any of] those who live on earth, or whether it is their Sustainer’s will
to endow them with consciousness of what is right: 10
(11) Just as [we do not know how it
happens] that some from among us are righteous, while some of us are [far]
below that: we have always followed widely divergent paths.
(12) "'And, withal, we have come to
know that we can never elude God [while we live] on earth, and that we can
never elude Him by escaping [from life].
(13) Hence, as soon as we heard this
[call to His] guidance, we came to believe in it: and he who believes in his
Sustainer need never have fear of loss or injustice.
(14) "'Yet [it is true] that among
us are such as have surrendered themselves to God - just as there are among us
such as have abandoned themselves to wrongdoing. Now as for those who surrender
themselves to Him - it is they that have attained to consciousness of what is
right;
(15) but as for those who abandon
themselves to wrongdoing - they are indeed but fuel for [the fires of]
hell!’" 11
(16) [KNOW,] THEN, that if they [who
have heard Our call] keep firmly to the [right] path, We shall certainly shower
them with blessings abundant, 12
(17) so as to test them by this means:
for he who shall turn away from the remembrance of his Sustainer, him will He
cause to undergo suffering most grievous. 13
(18) And [know] that all worship 14 is
due to God [alone]: hence, do not invoke anyone side by side with God!
(19) Yet [thus it is] that whenever a
servant of God stands up in prayer to Him, they [who are bent on denying the
truth] would gladly overwhelm him with their crowds. 15
(20) Say: "I invoke my Sustainer
alone, for I do not ascribe divinity to anyone beside Him."
(21) Say: "Verily, it is not in my
power to cause you harm or to endow you with consciousness of what is
right."
(22) Say: "Verily, no one could
ever protect me from God, nor could I ever find a place to hide from Him
(23) if I should fail to convey 16 [to
the world whatever illumination comes to me] from God and His messages."
Now as for him who rebels against God and His Apostle - verily, the fire of
hell awaits him, therein to abide beyond the count of time. 17
(24) [Let them, then, wait] until the
time when they behold that [doom] of which they were forewarned: 18 for
then they will come to understand which [kind of man] is more helpless and
counts for less! 19
(25) Say: "I do not know whether
that [doom] of which you were forewarned is near, or whether my Sustainer has
set for it a distant term."
(26) He [alone] knows that which is
beyond the reach of a created being's perception, and to none does He disclose
aught of the mysteries of His Own unfathomable knowledge, 20
(27) unless it be to an apostle whom He
has been pleased to elect [therefor]: 21 and
then He sends forth [the forces of heaven] to watch over him in whatever lies
open before him and in what is beyond his ken 22 –
(28) so as to make manifest that it is
indeed [but] their Sustainer's messages that these [apostles] deliver: for it
is He who encompasses [with His knowledge] all that they have [to say], 23
just as He takes count, one by one, of everything [that exists].
1 I.e., had
heard and accepted it: this being the meaning, in the above context, of
the verbal form istama’a. - As regards the various meanings attributable
to the plural noun jinn (rendered by me here as "unseen
beings"), see Appendix III. As pointed out there, the jinn are
referred to in the Qur'an in many connotations. In a few cases - e.g., in the
present instance and in 46:29-32 - this expression may possibly signify "hitherto
unseen beings", namely, strangers who had never before been seen by
the people among and to whom the Qur'an was then being revealed. From 46:30
(which evidently relates to the same occurrence as the present one) it
transpires that the jinn in question were followers of the Mosaic faith,
inasmuch as they refer to the Qur'an as "a revelation bestowed from on
high after [that of] Moses", thus pointedly omitting any mention of the
intervening prophet, Jesus, and equally pointedly (in verse 3 of the present surah)
stressing their rejection of the Christian concept of the Trinity. All this
leads one to the assumption that they may have been Jews from distant parts of
what is now the Arab world, perhaps from Syria or even Mesopotamia. (Tabari
mentions in several places that the jinn referred to in this surah as
well as in 46:29 ff. hailed from Nasibin, a town on the upper reaches of the
Euphrates.) I should, however, like to stress that my explanation of this
occurrence is purely tentative.
2 If we accept the supposition
that the beings spoken of here were Jewish strangers, the "outrageous
things" (shatat) which they mention would appear to be an allusion
to the deep-set belief of the Jews that they were "God's chosen
people" - a belief which the Qur'an consistently rejects, and of which the
new converts now divested themselves.
3 In this and the next verse, the
term jinn (rendered here as "invisible forces") apparently
refers to what is described as "occult powers'" or, rather to a
person's preoccupation with them (see Appendix III). Irrespective of whether
these "forces" are real or mere products of human imagination, they
"tell lies about God" inasmuch as they induce their devotees to
conceive all manner of fantastic, arbitrary notions about the
"nature" of His Being and of His alleged relations with the created
universe: notions exemplified in all mystery-religions, in the various gnostic
and theosophical systems, in cabalistic Judaism, and in the many medieval
offshoots of each of them.
4 Lit., "that men (rijal) from
among the humans used to (kana) seek refuge with men from among the jinn".
Since the reference to "the humans" (al-ins) applies to
men and women, the expression rijal is obviously used here - as
so often in the Qur'an - in the sense of "some persons" or
"certain kinds" of people. "Seeking refuge" is synonymous
with seeking help, protection or the satisfaction of physical or spiritual
needs: in the context of the above passage, this is evidently an allusion to
the hope of "certain kinds of humans" that the occult powers to which
they have turned would successfully guide them through life, and thus make it
unnecessary for them to look forward to the coming of a new prophet.
5 Thus Tabari (on the authority of
Al-Kalbi) and Ibn Kathir. The overwhelming majority of the Jews were convinced
that no prophet would be raised after those who were explicitly mentioned in
the Old Testament: hence their rejection of Jesus and, of course, Muhammad, and
their "reaching out towards heaven" (see next verse) in order to
obtain a direct insight into God's plan of creation.
6 The above may be understood as
alluding not only, metaphorically, to the arrogant Jewish belief in their being
"God's chosen people", but also, more factually, to their old
inclination to, and practice of, astrology as a means to foretell the future.
Apart from this - and in a more general sense - their "reaching out towards
heaven" may be a metaphorical description of a state of mind which causes
man to regard himself as "self-sufficient" and to delude himself into
thinking that he is bound to achieve mastery over his own fate.
7 See notes 16 and 17 on 15:17-18.
8 I.e., "we failed
notwithstanding our status as descendants of Abraham, and despite all our
ability and learning".
9 As the sequence shows (and as
has been pointed out in note 17 on 15:18), this relates to all attempts at
predicting the future by means of astrology or esoteric calculations, or at
influencing the course of future events by means of "occult
sciences".
10 Thus, as in verses 2 and 21 of
this surah, "consciousness of what is right" (rashad or
rushd) is equated with the opposite of evil fortune, i.e., with happiness.
11 With this assertion ends,
according to all classical commentators, the "confession of faith" of
the beings described at the beginning of this passage as jinn. Whatever
be the real meaning of this term in the present instance - whether it signifies
"unseen beings" of a nature unknown to man or, alternatively, a group
of humans from distant lands - matters little, for the context makes it
abundantly clear that the "speech" of those beings is but a parable
of the guidance which the Qur'an offers to a mind intent on attaining to
"consciousness of what is right".
12 Lit., "water
abundant": a metaphor of happiness, echoing the allegorical reference, so
frequently occurring in the Qur'an, to the "running waters" of
paradise (Abu Muslim, quoted by Razi).
13 I.e., God's bestowal of
blessings is not just a "reward" of righteousness but, rather, a test
of man's remaining conscious of, and therefore grateful to, Him.
14 Lit, "the places of
worship" (al-masajid): i.e., worship as such.
15 Lit, "would almost be upon
him in crowds (libad, sing. libdah )" - i.e., with a view to
"extinguishing God's [guiding] light" (Tabari, evidently alluding to
9:32). Most of the commentators assume that the above verse refers to the
Prophet Muhammad and the hostility shown to him by his pagan contemporaries.
While this may have been so in the first instance, it is obvious that the
passage has a general import as well, alluding to the hostility shown by the
majority of people, at all times and in all societies, to a minority or an
individual who stands up for a self-evident - but unpopular - moral truth. (In
order to be understood fully, the above verse should be read in conjunction
with 19:73-74 and the corresponding notes.)
16 Lit., "except through an
announcement" (illa balaghan). In this instance, however,
the particle illa is evidently a contraction of in la ("if
not"): thus, the above phrase signifies "if I do not [or "if
should fail to"] convey. . .", etc. (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Razi).
17 This obviously relates to
"those who are bent on denying the truth"- i.e., consciously - and
thus destroy their own spiritual identity. The people alluded to in this
particular instance are those who "would gladly overwhelm God's servant
with their crowds" (verse 19).
18 I.e., on the Day of Judgment.
Cf. the second paragraph of 19:75, which is similarly phrased.
19 Lit., "is weaker as to
helpers and less in numbers" - i.e., less significant despite its
greater numbers.
20 The possessive pronoun
"His" in the phrase ala ghaybihi evidently indicates God
exclusive knowledge of "that which is beyond the perception of any
created being" (al-ghayb): hence the above, somewhat free,
rendering of this truly untranslatable phrase.
21 Cf. 3:179 - "And it is not
God's will to give you insight into that which is beyond the real of human
perception: but [to that end] God elects whomsoever He wills from among His
apostles".
22 For an explanation of this
rendering of the phrase min bayni yadayhi wa-min khalfihi (lit.,
"from between his hands and from behind him"), see note 247 on 2:255.
In the present context the phrase implies that the very fact of his being
graced by divine revelation protects every apostle, spiritually, in all
concerns of his life, irrespective of whether these concerns are obvious to him
or are beyond his ken.
23 Lit., "all that is with
them", i.e., of knowledge and wisdom.