In the Shade of the Qur'an - Surah # 103
In the Shade of the Qur'an - Surah # 103
Syed Qutb
Sura # 103
The Declining Day
al 'Asr
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
I swear by the declining day, that man is a certain loser, save those who have faith and do righteous deeds and
counsel one another to follow the truth and counsel one another to be steadfast.
In the Shade of the Qur'an
This short surah of three verses outlines a complete system for human life
based on the Islamic viewpoint. It defines, in the clearest and most concise form, the basic concept of faith in
the context of its comprehensive reality. In a few words the whole Islamic constitution is covered and
in fact, the nation of Islam is described in its essential qualities and its message in one verse only: the third.
This is the eloquence of which Allah alone is capable. The great fact which this surah affirms
is simply that throughout the history of man there has been one worthwhile and trustworthy path - that
which the surah indicates and describes. All other paths lead only to loss and ruin. As it says in outline, that
path is first the adoption of faith, followed up with good deeds and exhortation to follow the truth
and to steadfastness.
What does the adoption of faith then signify? We shall not give here its juristic
definition. Instead, we shall describe its nature and its importance in human life. Faith is the characteristic
by which the minute, transient human being attains closeness to the Absolute and Everlasting Originator
of the universe and all that exists in it. He thus establishes a link with the whole world, which springs from
that One Origin, with the laws governing it and with the powers and potentialities created in It. As
a result, he breaks away from the narrow boundaries of his trivial self to the broadness of the universe, from
his inadequate power to the immensity of the unknown universal energies, and from the limits of his short
life to the "Eternity" that Allah alone comprehends. This proximity grants the human being a certain power, limitless
scope and freedom. It endows him with great enjoyment of life, its beauty and its constituents with
whose "souls" he lives in mutual friendship. Thus life becomes a pleasant journey for mankind everywhere and at
all times. From this everlasting happiness, delightful joy and true intimate understanding of life and
all creation are derived. This is the invaluable gain, to lack which is an immeasurable. The
qualities of faith are also precisely those of sublime and dignified humanity, such as the worship of one God which
elevates man above servitude to others and establishes within him the truth of the equality of all men
so that he neither yields nor bows down his head to any but the One, the Absolute. The result is that man will
enjoy true liberty, which radiates from within his conscience following his realisation of the fact
that there is only one power and one Lord in this world. This liberation is spontaneously developed from such an
awareness, for it is the only logical sequence. Godliness is the second quality of dignified
humanity. This quality determines for man the source from which he derives his concepts, values, criteria,
considerations. doctrines, laws and whatever brings him into relation with Allah, the world at large and with human
beings. Thus, equity and justice replace personal desires and self-interest. This strengthens the believer's
realisation of the value of his way of life and keeps him above ignorant concepts, values and interests and above
all strictly mundane values. This is so even when the believer is the only one of his kind. For he counters
these features with those which he derives directly from Allah and which therefore rank highest in value
and are the most sound and the most deserving of devotion and esteem.
A third quality of faith and dignified
humanity is the clarity of the relationship between the Creator and the created, the restricted creature
is connected with the Everlasting Truth without any mediator. It supplies man's heart with light, his soul with
contentment and gives him confidence and purpose. It eliminates from his mind perplexity fear, anxiety and
agitation as well as unlawful haughtiness on earth and unjustifiable tyranny over people. Steadfastness along the
path ordained by Allah is the next quality of such humanity. This must be maintained so that good does
not occur casually, incidentally or without deliberation but springs from definite motives and heads towards certain
aims. People united for Allah's cause collaborate. Thus, with a single definite purpose and a single
distinguished banner, the Muslim community is raised. This is true for all generations that are similarly welded
together. Another quality is belief in the dignity of man in the sight of Allah. This heightens man's
regard for himself and restrains him from aspiring for a position higher than that which the Creator has defined
for him. For man to feel that he is dignified in Allah's sight is the loftiest conception he may attain
of himself. Any ideology or concept which abases this valuation and ascribes a dishonourable origin to man, separating
him from the Highest Society of Allah is, in effect inviting him to abjection and derogation, though
it may not say so openly. Hence, the effects of Darwinism, Freudianism and Marxism are among the most horrid disasters
human nature has encountered. For they teach mankind that all abasement and downright animalism
are natural phenomena with which we should be familiar and of which we need not be ashamed. Purity of
motivation is yet another quality of the dignified humanity established by faith. This directly follows the
realisation of man's dignity in Allah's sight, His supervision over men's conscience and His knowledge of their
innermost undertakings. The normal human being whom the theories of Freud, Karl Marx and their type
have not deformed is bashful that another human being may come to know what incidental unhealthy feelings he may
have. The believer feels the awesome presence of Allah in his innermost consciousness and his awareness
makes him tremble. He therefore attends to selfpurification and spiritual cleansing. A refined moral sense is the
natural fruit of faith in a just, kind, compassionate, generous and forbearing God who abhors evil and
loves goodness and who knows the furtive look and the secret thought. From this follows the responsibility of the
believer which results from his free will and the comprehensiveness of Allah's supervision over him.
It stimulates within him healthy awareness, sensitivity, serenity and foresight. It is a communal responsibility
rather than an individual one and it is a responsibility towards all humanity in relation to goodness,
pure and simple. The believer feels all these in every action. He achieves a higher degree of self-respect
and calculates the results before taking any steps. He is of value in the world and the whole realm of existence
and has a role in its smooth running. The final quality is man's elevation above greed for
worldly gains and the choice of Allah's richer, everlasting reward for which all men should strive,
as the Qur'an directs them to do and which results in elevation, purification and cleansing of their souls. Of
Immense help in this regard is the fact that the believer has a broad scope to move in: between this
life and the next and between the heavens and the earth. The elevation of man lessens his anxiety about the results
and fruits of his deed. He does good only because it is good and because Allah requires it. It is never
his concern whether it leads to further goodness in his own short life time. Allah, for whom he performs the good,
never dies nor does He forget nor ignore any of men's deeds. The reward is not to be received
here, for this life is not the last. Thus, the believer acquires the power to continue to perform good deeds
sustained by this overwhelming belief. This it is that guarantees that doing good becomes a deliberate way of life
and not a casual incident or motiveless event. It is this belief that supplies the believer with the
power and the fortitude to face evil, whether manifested in the despotism of a tyrant or in the pressures of Ignorance
or in the frailty of his will-power to control his passions which arise primarily from his feeling of
the shortness of his life to achieve aims and enjoyments and from his inability to comprehend the deeper results
of the good and witness the victory of right over evil. Faith tackles these feelings radically and perfectly.
Faith is the great root of life from which goodness springs in its various forms and to which
all its fruits are bound. What does not spring from faith is a branch cut from a tree: it is bound to fade and
perish, it is indeed a devilish production, limited and impermanent! Faith is the axis to which all
the fine fabric of life's network is connected. Without it life is a loose event, wasted through the pursuit of
yearnings and fantasies. It is the ideology which collects diversified deeds under a consonant system,
following the same route and geared to the same mechanism, possessing a definite motive and a predetermined goal.
Hence, all deeds not stemming from this origin and not related to that path are completely disregarded by the Qur'an.
Islam is invariably candid over this. In surah 14, "Abraham", we read what may be translated as:
The likeness of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their works are like ashes which the wind blows
furiously on a tempestuous day. They have no power over anything they have earned.
In surah 24, Light's, we have: As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are like
a mirage in a desert. The thirsty traveller thinks it is water but when he comes
near he finds that it is nothing. Now these are clear statements discrediting every deed
not related to faith, which, in turn, gives it a motive that is connected with the origin of its existence
and an aim that is compatible with the purpose of the world in all creation. This is a logical view of an ideology
that attributes all events to Allah. Whoever dissociates himself from Him, vanishes and loses the reality
of his existence.
Faith is a sign of health in a person's nature and soundness in his disposition.
It also indicates man's harmony with the nature of the whole universe, and a sign of mutual effect between man
and the world around him. His life, as long as his behaviour is straightforward, must bring about an
orientation which ends up in his adoption of faith because of what this universe itself possesses of signs and
testimonies about the absolute power that so created it. Were the contrary the case, something must
then be wrong or lacking in the state of the recipient - i.e. the human being - which would be a sign of corruption
that only leads to loss and nullifies any deed which might somehow give an appearance of righteousness.
So extensive and comprehensive, so sublime and beautiful, so happy is the believer's world
that the world of the disbelievers around appears to him minute, trivial, low, feeble, ugly and miserable - that
is, in a state of ruin and complete loss.
Doing what is righteous is the natural fruit of faith
and a spontaneous activity generated at the same time as the reality of faith settles inside the human
heart and mind. For faith is a positive and active concept which, once it has pervaded the human conscience, hastens
to activate it to the outside world in good deeds. This is the Islamic view of faith. It must be dynamic.
If it is not, then it is either phoney or non-existent, just as a flower cannot withhold its fragrance which, if
present, naturally spreads, or else it is not in the flower at all. From all this we recognise
the values of faith: dynamism, activity, creativeness and productiveness devoted to Allah's pleasure and not
narrowness, negativity or isolation into self. It is not just sincere and innocent intentions, that never develop
into actions. This is the distinguishing characteristic of Islam that makes it a creative power in practical
life. All this is logical only as long as faith remains the link with the Divinely ordained
path. This path is characterised by perpetual dynamism in the world among people. It is founded according to a
specific plan and orientated towards a definite goal. Moreover, faith propels humanity towards implementing
that which is good, pure, constructive and utilitarian.
Counseling one another to follow the truth
and to steadfastness reveals a picture of Islamic society which has its own very special entity, a unique
inter-relationship between its individual members and a single destination and which fully understands its entity
as well as its duties. It realises the essence of its faith and what it has to do of good deeds which
include, among other tasks, the leadership of humanity along its own path. To execute this tremendous duty, counseling
and exhortation becomes a necessity. From the meaning and nature of the very word "counsel"
appears the loftiest and most magnificent picture of that integrated, coordinated, righteous and enlightened
nation or society which caters for right, justice and goodness on this earth. This exactly is how Islam wants
the Islamic nation to be. Mutual counsel aimed at that which is right is a necessity because it is hard always
to maintain what is right, bearing in mind that the obstacles in its way are innumerable: egoistic passions
and predilictions, the false concepts in the environment, and the tyranny, inequity and despotism of some. Hence
the mutual exhortation urged here means reminding, encouraging and expressing the unity in aim and destination
and equality in responsibility and charge. It also collects the individual efforts into a unified whole and thus
increases the feelings of brotherhood in every guardian of truth, that there are others with him to
exhort, encourage, support and love him. This is precisely the case with Islam, the righteous way of life whose
establishment requires the care of a co-ordinated, interdependent, self sufficient and self-supporting
community. Counsel and exhortation to be steadfast are also a necessity because the sustenance
of faith and good deeds and catering for right and equity are the hardest tasks ever to carry out. This makes endurance
utterly indispensible. Endurance is also necessary when adapting oneself to the Islamic way of life,
when confronting others, when afflicted with maltreatment and hardship. Steadfastness is necessary when evil and
falsehood triumph. It is necessary for traversing the length of the route, putting up with the slowness
of the process of reform, the obscurity of road-posts and the lengthy road leading to the destination.
Exhortation to endurance and steadfastness widens the capacities by inspiring unity of aim and direction and the
feeling of togetherness in everyone, equipping them with love, fortitude and determination. It generates
vitality in the community where the truth of Islam can survive and through which it is implemented.
Judging by the doctrine which the Qur'an outlines for the life of the successful group which attains salvation,
we are gravely shocked to see the loss and the ruin in which humanity finds itself everywhere on this
earth today. We are shocked by the frustrations humanity suffers in this present world and by witnessing how humanity
turns away, in vain, from the goodness Allah has bestowed upon it. We are the more distressed by the
absence of a righteous and faithful authority to stand up for the Truth. Moreover, the Muslims, or rather people
claiming to be Muslims, are the farthest of all from what is good and the most averse to the ideology
Allah ordained for their nation and the one route He prescribed for their deliverance from loss and ruin. People,
in the very realm where this righteousness took its roots, have deserted the banner Allah raised for
them, that of faith, to raise instead banners of race which have never done them any good all through their history
or given them any reputation either on earth or in the heavens. Islam it was that raised for them the
banner totally conforming to Allah's will, flying in His name only and identified with Him alone. Under this banner
the Arabs triumphed, were predominant and gave humanity a righteous, strong, enlightened and successful
leadership for the first time in their history and the long history of humanity. Professor Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi
outlines the characteristics of this unique leadership in Chapter 3 of his valuable book, Islam and
the World:
Once the Muslims were aroused, they quickly burst the bounds of Arabia
and threw themselves zealously into the task of the fuller working out of human destiny. Their leadership
held the guarantee of light and happiness for the world; it gave the promise of turning humanity into
a single divinely-guided society. Some of the characteristics of Muslim leadership
were: The Muslims had the unique advantage of being in possession of the Divine Book (the Qur'an) and
the Sacred Law (the Shari'at). They did not have to fall back on their own judgement on
the vital questions of life, and were thus saved from the manifold difficulties and perils that are
attendant upon such a course. The Divine Word had illumined all the avenues of life for them and had
enabled them to progress towards a destination which they clearly envisaged.
With them it was not to be a case of trial and error. Says the Holy Qur'an:
Can he who is dead, to whom We give life and a Light whereby he can walk amongst men, be
like him who is in the depths of dark ness from which he can never come out? (6:122).
They were to judge among men on the basis of the Revealed Word; they were not to diverge from the dictates
of justice and equity; their view was not to be blurred by enmity, hatred or desire for revenge.
O you who believe, stand out firmly for God as witnesses to fair
dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from
justice. Be just; that is nearer to piety; and fear God, for God is well acquainted with
all that ye do. (5:8).
They had not by themselves leapt into
power all of a sudden from the abysmal depth of degradation. The Qur'an had already beaten them into
shape. They had been brought to a high level of nobility and purity by the Prophet
through long years of unremitting care. The Prophet had conditioned them to a life of austerity and
righteousness; he had instilled into their hearts the virtues of humility and courageous
self-denial; he had purged them clean of greed and of striving after power, renown or wealth. It was
laid down by him as a fundamental principle of Islamic polity that "We shall not assign an office under
the government to anyone who makes a request for it, or shows his longing for
it in any other way."
The Muslims were as far removed from falsehood, haughtiness and mischief
as white is from black. The following words of the Qur'an had not in vain been grounded into them night
and day: That Home of the Hereafter We shall give to those who intend
not high-handedness or mischief on earth; and the End is (best) for
the righteous. (28:33).
Instead of aspiring for positions of authority and trust, they accepted
them with great reluctance and when they did accept an official position they
accepted it as a trust from God, to Whom they would have to render full account of their sins of omission
and commission on the Day of Judgement. Says the Holy Qur'an:
God commands you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due; and when you
judge between man and man, that you judge with justice. (4:58).
It is He Who has made you (His) vicegerents on the earth. He has raised you in ranks, some
above others, that He might try you in the gifts you receive; for your Lord is quick in
punishment, yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (6:165).
Further, the Muslims were not the agents of any particular race or country; nor were they out to establish
Arab imperialism. Their mission was a universal mission of faith and freedom. They were happily
free from all the sickly obsessions of colour and territorial nationality. All men were equal before
them. The Qur'an had pointedly said: O mankind, We created you from
(a single pair of) a male and a female; and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know
each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight
of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is Well
Acquainted (with all things). (49:13).
Once the son of 'Amr ibn al-'As, the Governor of Egypt, struck
an Egyptian commoner with a whip. The matter was brought to the notice of Caliph
'Umar. The Caliph did not show the least regard for the high status of the offender's father, and ordered
the Egyptian straightaway to avenge himself for harm done to him. To the offender's
father he administered this telling rebuke, "Why have you made them slaves when they were born free?"'
The Arabs were not stingy in making the benefits of Faith, culture and learning
available to the non-Arabs. They did not care for the nationality or the family connections of the
recipients when it came to the conferment of high honours and positions in the State. They
were, as it were, a cloud of bliss that rained ungrudgingly over the entire world, and from which all
peoples, everywhere freely profited according to their own capacity.' The Arabs allowed a free
and equal partnership to all nations in the establishment of a new socio-political structure and in
the advancement of mankind towards a fuller and richer moral ideal. There were no national divisions,
no colour bars, no vested interests, no priesthood and no hereditary nobility
in the Islamic Commonwealth. No special benefits were reserved for anyone. There was nothing to prevent
the non-Arabs from surpassing the Arabs in the various fields of life. Even as Doctors
of Fiqh and Hadith a number of non-Arabs attained to distinction for which the Muslims in general and
the Arabs in particular feel proud. Ibn Khaldun writes:
It is an amazing fact of history that though their religion is of Arabian origin and the
Law that the Prophet had brought had an Arab complexion, with a few exceptions, all eminent
men of learning in the Muslim Millat, in the field of theological as
well as secular sciences, are non-Arabs. Even those who are Arabs by birth are non-Arabs
by education, language and scholarship.
During the later centuries, too, the non-Arab Muslims continued to produce leaders, statesmen, saints
and savants of exceptional merit. This would obviously not have been possible, had the Arabs been mean
or prejudiced in sharing their opportunities with the people of other nationalities
in the Islamic world. Humanity has many sides - physical, emotional, social, moral, mental and spiritual.
We cannot neglect any one of them for the benefit of another. Humanity cannot progress to
its highest level unless every human instinct is brought into proper play. It would be futile to hope
for the establishment of a healthy human society till an intellectual, material, moral and spiritual
environment is created in which a man is enabled to develop his latent potentialities
in harmony with God's plan of creation. We learn from experience that this goal must remain a dream
so long as the reins of civilization are not held by those who attach due importance to both
the material and the spiritual yearnings of life, and can, together with having a high moral and spiritual
sense, fitly appreciate the claims of flesh and blood upon man and the inter relationship between
the individual and the society.
He then speaks of the reign of the first four Caliphs who ruled after the
Prophet:
We, consequently, find that no period in the recorded history of the
human race has been more auspicious for it in the true sense of the term than what is known among the
Muslims as Khilafat-i-Rashida. During this epoch, all the material, moral and spiritual resources of
man were brought into use to make him an ideal citizen of an ideal State. The
Government!! was judged by the yard-stick of morality, and the morals were judged by their utility
to lift humanity in permanent values and establishing justice in human society. Though the Islamic
Commonwealth was the richest and the most powerful State of its time, the popular
heroes and ideal personalities in it used to be drawn from among those who possessed, not earthly glory,
but purity and nobleness of character. There was no disparity between power and morality. Material
advancement was not allowed to out-run moral progress. That is why in the Islamic
world the incidence of crime was very low in spite of the abundance of wealth and the great heterogeneity
of its population. To put it in a nutshell, this epoch was the most beautiful springtime mankind has
to this day experienced.
We know some features of that glorious period of human history
whose generation lived under the Islamic Constitution, the pillars of which this particular surah erects
and under the banner carried by the group of believers who performed righteous deeds and encouraged each other
to follow the truth and to be steadfast. Now what, in the light of all this, is the "loss" humanity
is suffering everywhere and how great is its failure in the battle between good and evil because of a blind eye
it turns to that great message the Arabs conveyed to it when they raised the banner of Islam and thus
assumed the leadership of mankind? Having abandoned Islam, the Arab nation is in the forefront of the caravan which
is heading towards loss and ruin. Since then, the banners of mankind have been for Satan, falsehood,
error, darkness and loss. No banner has been raised for Allah, truth, guidance, light or success. The banner of
Allah, however, is still there awaiting the arms that will raise it and the nation which under this
banner will advance towards righteousness, guidance and success.
All that has been said so far concerned
gain and loss in this life which, though of great importance, is very trivial in comparison with the here
after. There is an everlasting life and a world of reality - the real gain and the real loss, the attainment or
deprivation of Paradise and the pleasure of Allah. There man either accomplishes the highest of perfection
allowed for him or completely collapses so that his humanity is crushed and ends up as worthless as pebbles or
even worse in condition On a day when a man will look on what his hands have forwarded and
the disbeliever will cry: 'Would that I were dust' This surah
is unequivocal in indicating the path leading humanity away from loss, "save those who have faith and do righteous
deeds, and counsel one another to follow the truth and counsel one another to be steadfast . There is
one right path and one only - that of faith, good deeds and the existence of a Muslim community whose members counsel
each other to follow the truth and to show endurance and steadfastness.
Consequently, whenever two
companions of the Messenger of Allah were about to depart from each other, they would read this surah, after which
they would shake hands. This was indicative of a pledge to accept this doctrine fully, to preserve this
faith, piety and a willingness to counsel each other to follow the truth and remain steadfast. It was a mutual
compact to remain good elements in an Islamic society established according to that doctrine and to
preserve the foundation of this society.
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