Teachings and Commentary
1 Mount Fig and Mount Olive 2 and Mount Sinai 3 and this City
of peace present witness that 4 We certainly have created man with the most
excellent potential; 5 then We reduce him to the lowest of the low, 6
except for those who believe and do good deeds – for them there will be unending
recompense. 7 So on what basis can they contradict you about the Recompense?
8 Is not Allaah the most just of Rulers?
Usually the first verse is translated as “By the fig and the olive” giving an impression
that the fruits themselves have been used for oath. That impression is not valid
as it is inconsistent with verses two and three which are clearly talking about
two geographic locations and it is a known fact that whenever there are a series
of oaths in the Qur-aan, the items used for those multiple oaths are of the same
kind. It was also a known practice in earlier generations of Jews and Arabs to name
a place by the name of the produce most commonly and abundantly grown in that area.
Thus, the Fig and the Olive in this verse do not mean the fruits themselves but
the localities of their growth, or the mountains famous by the name of these fruits.
So what are the places that these oaths refer to? The Fig refers to the mountain
where Adam and Hawwah (Eve) ‘alayhimussalaam ended up after their expulsion
from Jannah, and where they covered their private parts with fig leaves [1] . The Arabs knew it as the name of the
place and one of their famous poets, Nabighah Zibyani, mentioned it as such in one
of his verses. It is also the place where Nooh’s (Noah’s)
Ark
rested after the flood on the
Mount
Joodiy
in the mountains of Ararat in
Turkey
, the land of figs.
The Olive refers to
Mount
Olive
in
Jerusalem
that was frequented by Prophet ‘Eesa (Jesus)
[2] ‘alayhissalaam .
Mount Sinai
obviously was the mountain where Moosa ‘alayhissalaam talked to Allaah Subhaanahu
wa Ta‘aala, spent forty days in worship, received the Commandments and where the
Israelites made their covenant with Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala.
“This city of peace” refers to Makkah that was founded and inhabited by Ibraaheem
and Ismaa‘eel ‘alayhimussalaam , and where they built the first house of
worship for Allaah. It was because of this house that Makkah always remained peaceful
and secure when the rest of
Arabia
was engulfed in the flames of violence. And it is also the city of the Last messenger,
Prophet Muhammad sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam himself.
These four places were presented to people so that they could understand Allaah
Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala’s system of reward and punishment.
To understand the impact of their evidence, it should be remembered that Allaah
Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala pre-programmed all inanimate creation with His laws of nature
so that they continue to function in a balanced manner, maintaining an equilibrium
as desired by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala. The living creatures are pre-programmed
though instincts in addition to the laws of nature. Thus they also sustain a balance
among various creatures. Human beings and Jinns are the only exceptions who have
been given freedom to makes choices and decisions on their own which can be very
different from instinctive behaviour.
Biologically, human beings are not much different from animals. So, what is the
difference between people and animals? Yes, we have a physical shape that is more
adaptable and flexible to give us an edge over other living organisms. And we can
talk and communicate more expressively and eloquently than other creatures. Also,
our intelligence is more developed and sophisticated than other species. These are
important differences. They collectively give us much superiority over animals.
But there are some much more profound and crucial differences that truly distinguish
us from animals:
Animals are pre-programmed through their instincts to react specifically to a certain
stimulus. They cannot choose any response that is not instinctively programmed.
For example, they cannot think beyond fight or flight. Human beings have freedom
of choice. They have a capability to intercept between the stimulus and instinctive
response to choose between options. They can review the pros and cons of different
responses, their personal objectives and preferences and the results they want to
achieve and then choose a response that is most appropriate for their situation.
They have myriad of choices and they can come up with imaginative new ways of handling
situations.
Furthermore, human beings can look inwards at any time and review and assess what
is going on in their mind and thought processes. In addition, they have an innate
sense of right and wrong. When they look inside they can judge themselves on whether
they are doing something good or something bad. They feel good when they find themselves
doing the right thing and they feel guilty when they find themselves doing wrong.
These elements of human psyche – the capability of reviewing one’s own decisions,
the ability to choose and change one’s course of action, a concern about right and
wrong, the process of self judgement and feelings about their behaviour – are all
very pronounced, strong and well developed features that differentiate people from
animals. Taken all together, they provide a tremendous potential to human beings
enabling them to excel in morals and behaviour. Thus the God-given freedom allows
them to do better than merely being just, equitable, and balanced. It allows them
to be forgiving, magnanimous, outstanding and excellent.
The Soorah talks about this tremendous human potential and presents four physical
locations where people of the best calibre lived. The messengers associated with
these localities, Adam, Nooh, ‘Eesa, Moosa, Ibraaheem and Muĥammad ‘alayhimussalaam
, have been mentioned to provide a vivid evidence of how excellent a person can
become. By mentioning them, the Qur-aan has actually put in front of us the whole
chain of prophets from the first to the last, including all the five top ranking
messengers [3] . They were the most
outstanding people of their societies in terms of intelligence, status, personality,
good qualities, commendable behaviour and moral excellence. They excelled in being
kind, gracious, forgiving, sharing, fair, supportive of the weak, helpers of helpless,
restorers of human dignity, promoters of human equality, keepers of their words,
truthful, honest, courageous, steadfast, firm, gentle and adorned with many other
beautiful qualities. They have been presented to us as evidence of the potential
of human beings, showing how much people can excel if they choose to do so. In that
case, they are better than angels because angels are pre-programmed for obedience,
but obedient Muslims choose to do so despite the freedom accorded to them.
However, even if they do not excel, if they continue to live by the teachings of
Islam, they can maintain justice, fairness and resulting peace, at the minimum.
On the other hand, if people want to go the wrong way, they have the potential to
become the worst of the worst. They can fall to the lowest of the low levels. In
that case, they become far worse than animals. Animals only kill for food or to
defend if threatened. People kill by planning to do so: for fun, for animosity,
out of jealousy or simply arrogance. No animal ever collects and recruits armies
to attack another group of their own species. People do. They invent hydrogen bombs
and other weapons of mass destruction. They use such weapons and then have the nerve
to call themselves civilized. Animals engage in sexual activity only with a willing
partner. People rape and use rape as a weapon. It is used as an act of war where
helpless innocent women of the perceived enemy are gang raped. To add insult to
the torture, they are raped in front of their helpless relatives. They do not even
spare innocent children. They are abused, murdered, maimed and used for sexual activities
and pornography. Their vengeance is also unbridled. Murder is not enough to cool
their anger, arrogance or vengeance. They mutilate and dismember people who are
alive and disrespect the corpses of the dead. They force mothers to drink the blood
of their children. They invent such techniques of physical, mental and psychological
torture and persecution of fellow human beings that are indescribable. Just read
about what the Christian Militia of
Lebanon
did, what Israelis do to Palestinians, what Indians do to Kashmiris, and what Serbs
did to Bosnians and Kosovars. In addition, there are such deranged people who become
serial killers and rapists and their victims are not even enemies but members of
their own society. In politics, they lie, break promises and demonstrate the dirtiest
demagoguery. In business, they cheat the most vulnerable of the people out of their
meagre finances. When they deviate in matters of religion, they worship stones,
trees, snakes, and even sexual organs. Or, in their sectarian madness, they kill
people busy in worshipping Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala. In short, when people choose
to stoop low, they prove to be horribly vicious.
[4]
Although all people have the potential to be like prophets or like the worst kind
of savages, those who believe and do good deeds are only the people who try to emulate
the prophets and develop themselves in their good potential. They are motivated
to excel in morals and ethics. Such people are usually fewer because doing good
is not easy. It is like going uphill, which has its own risks and difficulties.
It takes effort, resolve and constancy. On the other hand, going downhill is easy.
You just let yourself roll and you will end up in the lowest of the ditches. Just
follow your temptations and submit to your lusts, and you will be rolling down fast.
Hence, without faith in the Creator, without a desire to reach to the top, and without
commitment to succeed in the life Hereafter, it is difficult to resist those temptations
and deny those lusts. Only those who do so will be reaching the top. They will have
a never-ending, uninterrupted reward in the life Hereafter.
The four aforementioned places also remind people of the incidents of rewards and
punishment attached to these places. The mountain with figs reminds us of Adam ‘alayhissalaam
being expelled from Jannah because of his disobedience to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala
as well as of the good news of the acceptance of his repentance. That area also
reminds us of how rejecters of Nooh’s ‘alayhissalaam message were destroyed
while the Muslims were saved. They prospered and spread out from there to other
parts of the world.
The
Mount of Olives
is where Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala informed ‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam that He will
be raised and the Israelites will be cursed and punished.
At Mount Sinai, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala took a covenant from the Israelites
under very terrifying circumstances while it appeared that the mountain was about
to fall over them, This was done in order to emphasize that the covenant they are
entering into is not a trivial matter but very serious, the violation of which will
have dire consequences.
It was in the City of Makkah where Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala appointed Ibraaheem
‘alayhissalaam as the leader of the human kind while the wrongdoers of his
progeny were excluded from this favour and reward.
Usually, people who follow their lusts deny the Day of Judgement. They have their
doubts about resurrection and life Hereafter. They think that death will be end
of it. They assume that a saint and a serial killer and rapist will have the same
end! Do they not think about why Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala gave them all the
capabilities not given to animals - if they were just to eat, drink and die like
animals? How do they figure that a person climbing up and the one rolling down will
both end up at the same destination?
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala asks:
§ “Will We treat Muslims and criminals alike? What is wrong with you? How do you
judge?” [5]
§ “Have those who commit evils assumed that We will treat them the same as those
who believe and do good deeds—that they will be equal in life and death? What an
evil assumption they make!” [6]
§ “Have you assumed that We have created you purposelessly and that you will not
be brought back to Us?” [7]
How can anyone harbour the ideas that the Creator Who has given people the potentials
to be good and bad will not judge them and that He created them with all these human
faculties for nothing? Does He, with Eternal Wisdom and Absolute Knowledge, do meaningless
things? He endowed you your own conscience and your feelings of right and wrong
so that you are warned internally before you commit a wrong and so that you can
judge yourselves before you are judged! How can He, Who has taken so many measures
to guide you towards realizing your best potential, let you off scot-free without
holding you accountable if you have done so or not?
So after all this rational evidence, what is your reason to deny or doubt the Resurrection,
Judgment, Justice, Rewards and Punishment?
If the administrators and rulers of this world try to maintain law and order and
deliver justice in their territory, why will Allaah, the Sovereign of the whole
universe, not deliver perfect justice? Is He not the Most Just of all the rulers?
Indeed, He is!
[1] Genesis 3:1
[2] Luke 19:29, 37; 21:37 and 22:39.
Also Matthew 21:1, 24:3 and 26:30
[3] Even in the order of their mention
there is wisdom. Adam and Eesa ‘alayhimussalaam have been put one after the other
in order because of their similarity in their creation. Then, Moosa and Muhammad
‘alayhimussalaam are together because of the very close similarity between the two
mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur-aan. Nooh’s relationship with Adam and Muhammad’s
strong relationship with Ibraaheem ‘alayhimussalaam are also indicated by associating
each couple to the same place.
[4] Some people take a totally different
kind of meaning from this Soorah. They think the best form represents physical capabilities
and lowest of the low refers to the old age when a person is totally debilitated
after the strength of the youth. This meaning neither fits the context whatsoever
nor does it make sense. If we consider it referring to the lifecycle of a person,
then a child is not born in the best form. In that case, a human being is born in
weakness and dies in weakness. Secondly, it is not that only non-Muslims grow old
and Muslims stay young. These stages come to every human being, so how can they
provide any evidence about reward and punishment? This meaning makes the question
about Recompense totally out of place. Thirdly, the oaths in the beginning have
no relationship to this meaning at all.
Because someone in the past has expressed this opinion does not mean that we accept
the opinion of the previous scholars even if it does not make any sense. That is
why all the major contemporary commentators of the Qur-aan do not accept this view.
[5] Al-Qalam 68:35-36
[6] Al-Jaathiya 45:21
[7] Al-Mo’minoon 18:114
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