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Surah Al-Buruj - The Celestial Stations

(Revealed at Mecca)

22 Verses in 1 Section

Section of Surah Al-Buruj

  1. Qur’an Secured in the Guarded Tablet.

Al-Buruj - Qur’an Secured In The Guarded Tablet.

Those who persecute the believers, shall be punished, The righteous shall be rewarded - The fate of the hosts of Pharaoh and Thamood referred to, The glorious Qur’an is secured in the Guarded Tablet the ‘Lauh Mahfooz’.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

“In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful”

وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْبُرُوجِ

“By the heaven full of Constellations1!” (85:1)

وَالْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُودِ

“By the Day2promised!” (85:2)

وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ

“By the witness and the witnessed!” (85:3)

قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الْأُخْدُودِ

“That (Self) destroyed were the fellows of the ditch” (85:4)

النَّارِ ذَاتِ الْوَقُودِ

“Of the fire with fuel” (85:5)

إِذْ هُمْ عَلَيْهَا قُعُودٌ

“When facing it sat they” (85:6)

هُمْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَفْعَلُونَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ شُهُودٌ

“While they witnessed what they did unto the believers” (85:7)

وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ

“They3tormented (them) for naught but that they4believe in God, the Ever-Prevalent, the Most Praised” (85:8)

الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

“He, unto Whom belongeth the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and God is, over all things, a Witness” (85:9)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ

“Verily, those who persecute the believer men and the believer women, and yet they repent not, for them shall be the chastisement of the hell and for them is a burning torture” (85:10)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْكَبِيرُ

“Verily, those who believe and do good deeds, for them shall be the gardens ‘neath which flow rivers; That shall be a great achievement” (85:11)

إِنَّ بَطْشَ رَبِّكَ لَشَدِيدٌ

“Verily the Grip of thy Lord is terrible” (85:12)

إِنَّهُ هُوَ يُبْدِئُ وَيُعِيدُ

“Verily, He it is Who originateth (everything) and causeth it to return” (85:13)

وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ

“He is the Oft-Forgiver5, the Most Loving One” (85:14)

ذُو الْعَرْشِ الْمَجِيدُ

“Lord of the ‘Arsh6’ Glorious” (85:15)

فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ

“The Mighty Doer of whatsoever He willeth” (85:16)

هَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ الْجُنُودِ

“Has not come unto thee the story of the hosts7“ (85:17)

فِرْعَوْنَ وَثَمُودَ

“Of Pharaoh8and Thamood9?” (85:18)

بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي تَكْذِيبٍ

“Nay! Those who disbelieve are (used) to belie10“ (85:19)

وَاللَّهُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ مُحِيطٌ

“While God is the Encompassing One, over them” (85:20)

بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ

“Nay! It is Qur’an the Glorious11“ (85:21)

فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ

“(Inscribed) in the ‘Lauh al- Mahfuz’ (the Guarded Tablet)” (85:22)

Commentary

Verse 1

‘Buruj’ the twelve celestial stations through which the celestial bodies, the planets annually pass through - ‘Buruj’ are also interpreted as the Big Stars12. The twelve stations of the system of the constellations indicated by the following Zodiac signs are: -

  1. Hand - (Ram) - Aries.

  2. Thaur - (Bull) - Taurus.

  3. Jauz - (Twins) - Gemini.

  4. Sarihan - (Crab) – Cancer

  5. Asad - (Lion) – Leo

  6. Sumbula - (Virgin) – Virgo

  7. Meezan - (Balance) – Libra

  8. Aqrab - (Scorpion) – Scorpio

  9. Qaus - (Archer) – Sagittarius

  10. Jadi - (Goat) – Capricornus

  11. Dalv - (Water-bearer) – Aquarius

  12. Hooth - (Fishes) - Pisces.

‘Buruj’ is since been used for Zodiac signs or Constellations. (A.P.)

Verse 2

The Day of the Final Judgment which every man is warned of - to be mindful of the inevitable requital in the ultimate even if respite is given for the whole of this life.

Verse 3

The terms are very comprehensive - Taking the meanings in terms of the legal proceedings of the administrating of justice of the Day of Judgment, the following are the position interpretations.

For ‘Shahid’ the witness - the following can be meant: -

  1. God Himself - See 3:81, 10:61.

  2. The Apostles of God - See 31:81.

  3. The Recording Angels - See 50:21.

  4. The Limbs or the sinners - See 24:24.

  5. The Records of deeds - See 7:14.

  6. The Sinner himself - See 7:14.

The subject witnessed may be:

  1. The deed or the crime.

  2. The sinner against whom the witness gives the evidence.

The verse means that no sinner can ever possibly escape the consequence of the sins commit-ted by him. He must avail of the respite and immediately repent and amend his life and seek God’s merciful pardon for his sins.

There are several views about the (witness and the witnessed - given by the commentators. The most comprehensive one, is given by the Second Imam Hasan Ibn Ali al-Mujtaba who said: ‘‘Shahid stands for the Holy Prophet” and recited the verse 33:45 and ‘‘Witnessed stands for the Resurrection Day” (11:103) - all that has been said about the witness and the witnessed can be included in this. (A.P.)

Verse 4-7

The wording of this verse seems to refer to the conduct of some particular people. A commentator takes it to be of an illustration of general application. It is no doubt a fact that in ancient history of the world, particularly the Medieval Europe, people who did not conform to the religion of the people in power, were mercilessly sacrificed at the stake. There is the reference to Nimrod’s treatment to Abraham13. There is the history of catholic Christendom enacting the Edict of Milan which victimised numberless Jewish men, women old and young and even innocent children.

There is the case of Zu-Nawas the last Himyarite king of Yamen, a Jew by religion, mercilessly persecuting the Christians of Najran burning them at the stake. This is reported to have occurred in the latter half of the sixth century of the Christian Era. (MS) gives the following story to have been referred to in these verses. The Fifth Holy Imam Muhammad Ibn-Ali Al-Baqir says that once the First Holy Imam Ali-Ibn Abu Talib sent a man to the religious head of the Christians of Najran asking them about the people of Ditch - and on receiving their reply sent word saying ‘‘What ye say about those people, is not the true story but the story runs as follows” - he related the following story.

God had sent an Abyssinian as His Apostle to the Abyssinians. The Apostle had to fight the forces of the king whose name was Zu-Nuwas who was a pagan who claimed himself to be a deity and wanted the people to worship him.

Most of the companions of the Apostle were killed. The king took the Apostle and his surviving believers as captives and gathered them along with the followers of the Apostle at a place. A huge pit was prepared with fire burning in it and it was announced that all those who believed in God which the Apostle claimed to have been sent from, may throw themselves into the burning pit. A believer woman with a small baby in her lap also came to fall into the pit but as she came near the fire, her love for her baby, held her back. The baby by God’s command cried out to its mother saying ‘‘Mother! Jump thou along with me into the fire for this is too small a test in the way of the Lord” The woman jumped into the fire along with her baby. But by God’s command, the Apostle, all the believers, the woman and the baby were safe in the pit, unhurt with the fire (MS.) M.B. gives a detailed note of a story quite similar to the above.

A question would arise in the mind of any intelligent one that will there not be a requital or accounting for inflicting persecution and causing the worst miseries and tortures to those poor souls for being faithfully attached to the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt of the Holy Prophet. How hundreds and thousands of men, women and children were persecuted and put to death for being the Shias of Ali and how many were asked to pay a merciless tax for visiting the shrine of the Holy Imam Husayn and of the martyrs of Karbala.

There are several anecdotes of the believers being mercilessly persecuted and burnt by their opponents and the scene being observed and enjoyed by the spectators. Qur’an’s scope is to condemn not only the persecution of the believers but even those who witnessed such cruelties and did not attempt to prevent and object to it and this was a warning to the people of Mecca who were persecuting the Muslims for their embracing Islam, and the same would apply to the persecution and massacre and the ruthless treatment of the believers who firmly adhered to the cause of the Ahl Al-Bayt.

This is why in the Ziarat it is said: ‘‘La’anallaho Ummatan Zalamatka ma La’anallho Ummatan Same’at bezaaleka wa raziat beh” ‘‘Cursed be the people who did injustice to you and cursed be the people who heard this and were pleased with it” (A.P.)

Verse 21

This verse condemning the disbelievers who belie the divine origin of Qur’an. It asserts that it is the glorious Qur’an, the original of it is in the Well-Guarded Tablet which has 56:78 as ‘Kitab al-Maknoon’, i.e., the Hidden Book which in 13:39 have been termed as the ‘Ummul Kitab’, i.e., the Mother Book and that is which is not within the reach of anyone save those who are purified by God 33:33 vide 56:79 and this is what is termed as ‘Illiyoon’ - in 83:19-22. (A.P.)

Verse 22

Tablets14 mentioned are not of any material of this world. The tablets are only a figurative expression to mean that the Holy Qur’an is the Final Word from the Lord which is fully guarded and preserved in the heavens. Even the Qur’an on earth is a Book protected, God Himself having taken the responsibility of guarding or protecting it from being made extinct or getting corrupted in its form or meaning by any wicked hands. Before departing from this world, the Holy Prophet declared that:

‘‘I leave behind me Two important things, The Book of God, i.e., the Holy Qur’an and my Ahl Al-Bayt. If ye be attached to these Two, ye will never get astray, for these Two will never be separated from each other until they meet me at the Cistern of Kawthar.’’

The ‘Lauh al-Mahfooz’ in this world, is the heart of these Holy ones in whom has been secured the Book of God, i.e., the Final Word of the Lord, i.e., the Holy Qur’an.

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