Surah Al-Lail - The Night
(Revealed at Mecca)
21 Verses in 1 Section
Sections of Surah Al-Lail
-
None has done any favour to God
Al-Lail – None Has Done Any Favour To God
The righteous and the wicked described, None has done any favour to bring God under any obligation, Men only ask for His favour and whosoever does this, is granted.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
“In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful”
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰ
“By the Night when it spreadeth its evil!” (92:1)
وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّىٰ
“By the Day when (the sun’s light) shines!” (92:2)
وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ
“By Him Who created the male and the female!” (92:3)
إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ
“Verily your striving is (unto) diverse (ends)!” (92:4)
فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَاتَّقَىٰ
“Then as for him who giveth (alms) and guardeth1(himself against evil)” (92:5)
وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ
“And believeth in the Best (of all religions, Islam)” (92:6)
فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ
“We will smoothen2for him then the path unto bliss” (92:7)
وَأَمَّا مَنْ بَخِلَ وَاسْتَغْنَىٰ
“And as for him who acted niggardly and deemeth himself free from need3“ (92:8)
وَكَذَّبَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ
“And belieth the Best4“ (92:9)
فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْعُسْرَىٰ
“We will smoothen5for him then the path unto affliction” (92:10)
وَمَا يُغْنِي عَنْهُ مَالُهُ إِذَا تَرَدَّىٰ
“And will avail him not his wealth when he perisheth” (92:11)
إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا لَلْهُدَىٰ
“Verily on Us (dependeth) the guidance6“ (92:12)
وَإِنَّ لَنَا لَلْآخِرَةَ وَالْأُولَىٰ
“And verily Ours is the Hereafter and the Beginning7“ (92:13)
فَأَنْذَرْتُكُمْ نَارًا تَلَظَّىٰ
“So I warn you of the fire that flameth” (92:14)
لَا يَصْلَاهَا إِلَّا الْأَشْقَى
“None shall be cast into it but the most wretched (ones)” (92:15)
الَّذِي كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّىٰ
“(He) who belieth (the truth8) and turneth (his) back (unto it)” (92:16)
وَسَيُجَنَّبُهَا الْأَتْقَى
“And far removed shall be from it, he who guardeth9(himself) the most (from evil)” (92:17)
الَّذِي يُؤْتِي مَالَهُ يَتَزَكَّىٰ
“(He) who giveth away his wealth, to purify himself” (92:18)
وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِنْدَهُ مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ تُجْزَىٰ
“And no one hath (done) unto Him10any favour, that he should be recompensed” (92:19)
إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ الْأَعْلَىٰ
“Save the seeking of the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High” (92:20)
وَلَسَوْفَ يَرْضَىٰ
“And soon shall he be fully content” (92:21)
Commentary
Verse 1-3
Three things are brought into evidence viz., the Night, the Day and the Phenomenon of Sex Differences. Each of the things, is opposed in its qualities to the other. The darkness of the night is a contrast to the light of the day and two kinds of sexes are the opposites of one another. This contrast in the qualities of the three things is an illustration to what is said in the fourth verse.
Verse 4
People have different or diverse aims of their life - One might be taking the pleasures of this life while the other may be mindful only of the life hereafter. The one who loves this world, sacrifices his prosperity and the happiness in the hereafter and the other who aims at the hereafter sacrifices the luxuries and the ease of this life and bears the miseries and trials patiently and willingly.
Verse 5
He who practices charity and gives away alms and guards himself against evil.
Verse 6
He who has faith in God with conviction of his heart, does good to the World. Note - Islam, wherever it has demanded faith in God, has also made it conditional, its being accompanied with good deeds, i.e., goodness to the others. Mere verbal expression or the observance of any rituals do not prove the faith unless the faith manifests in the sincere acts of goodness to the others in the world. He who loves God will naturally love all that God loves and hate all that displeases Him. The love of good and hatred against evil, is the only and the great proof of the genuineness of the claim to the faith.
Verse 7
The first Holy Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib says that once the Holy Prophet attending the funeral of a man, with a stick in his hand and striking it on the ground, said: ‘For everyone there is space in the heaven and also in the Hell. A man asked ‘‘O’ Apostle of God, Then, shall we not act?” The Holy Prophet replied ‘‘You go on discharging your duties. Everyone has been created with an allotment of some work”. Saying this he recited this verse, i.e., God has provided with the facilities for every kind of work man chooses for himself. If he chooses good deeds he is helped and he creates a place for himself in the heaven and if he chooses any evil, there are the facilities for that also; and having done the evil, he creates a place for himself in Hell.
Wahidi in his famous work ‘Asbab un-Nazool’, narrates on the authority of Ibn-Abbas that a man found a palm tree, a branch of which was bent towards the house of a poor man who had a large family. Sometimes the owner of the palm tree took the fruits and if by chance some date would fall in the poor man’s house and his children picked it up, the owner would come and snatch them away from their hands and even from their mouth. The poor man complained to the Holy Prophet who asked the owner if he would give him (Holy Prophet) the tree in question, in return for a palm tree in Paradise. The man declined with the plea that the date of this tree is so delicate that he could not give it up. There was another man named Abu Huddah, who heard what the Holy Prophet promised the owner. He said: ‘‘O’ Prophet of God! would you promise the same to me if I get the palm tree from the owner and give it to you?” The Holy Prophet said ‘Yes’. He got the palm in exchange for forty trees of high quality and presented it to the Holy Prophet who gave it to the poor man. This illustrates the significance of the passage. No illustration or ‘Shan al-Nuzool’ restricts any significance of any of the verses of the Holy Qur’an - as said the Sixth Holy Imam: ‘‘It is clear that man’s salvation and eternal happiness depends on the strength of the faith and good deeds” (A.P.).
Verse 8
He who practised niggardliness and became carefree of the life hereafter and did not think of providing for himself for that life by being righteous, doing charity in this world.
Verse 9
He who disbelieved and did not accept the truth willingly, with a sincere heart.
Verse 10
Those described in the above two verses, will not be entitled to any merciful relief from the evil consequences of his own evil, i.e., the miseries and the tortures he will get in the life hereafter and on the day of the Final Judgment.
Verse 11
The occasion for the revelation of this Surah is said to be as follows:
In the house of one of the Ansars (one of those Madinites who helped the Holy Prophet on his migration from Mecca to Madina), was a date palm, the branches of the palm hung in the neighbour’s house. Whenever the neighbour used to get up on the palm to take the dates and if any dates fell into his neighbour’s house and the neighbour’s children picked them up, the man used to get down and snatch away even the one or two dates picked up by the young children and even if the children had put the fruit into their mouths, the man used to put his finger in their mouth, and take it out of their mouths, even the half bitten or already munched parts of the date. Sometimes the man would even beat the children.
The neighbour reported the matter to the Holy Prophet who called the man and asked if he would sell the palm in exchange for a date palm in the heaven. The man refused and said that he would sell it in exchange for forty palms for the palm used to yield profusely. Abu Huddah immediately purchased the palm for the price of forty palms in Madina and sold it to the Holy Prophet in exchange for the palm in the heaven, promised by the Holy Prophet. The Holy Prophet went to the poor neighbour of the niggardly man and gifted the palm to him. This Surah was revealed in praise of Abu Huddah, condemning the niggardly man.
Though the immediate application of the matter of the Surah was for Abu Huddah and the niggard but it has the common application of it. He who acts in any of the positions, will have the return attached to the goodness and the evil respectively.
No amount of wealth amassed in this life, will be of any avail at all on the Day of Judgment when only the purity of faith and goodness in deeds, will be counted.
Verse 15
‘Ashqa’ is the superlative degree ‘Shaqi’, i.e., the unfortunate one, thus the punishment mentioned in verse 14 above, will be for the most unfortunate one, i.e., the one who has not availed of the lifelong respite given to seek the pardon of the All-Merciful Lord and went on persistently and deliberately sinning for his whole life.
Verse 17
‘Atqa’ the most guarded one against evil. This is the superlative of ‘Taqa’ in contrast to ‘Ashqa’ in verse 15 above.
Verse 18
‘Yatazakka’, i.e., seeking purity, i.e., nothing but the pleasure of God and not for any show or fame. Note the highest degree of the excellence in the motive of charity which Islam demands.
Verse 19
The one who sincerely gives anything in charity or spends in the way of the Lord, not in return for any good already done to him or even in the expectation of any return for it, from the one whom he does the good.
Verse 20
The act of charity or goodness is done merely to earn the countenance, i.e., the pleasure of the Lord, the Most High.
Verse 21
Such a wholehearted devotee of God shall find God’s pleasure as he expects.
‘Atqa’, i.e., the most pious ones are those whose, one and the only aim of their life, is explained in 6:164. And the most honourable with God, are also only those who guard themselves the most, against evil11.
With the variance in the degree of piety and righteousness, will also naturally be the degree of the heavenly bliss that will be meted out. Hence the heaven or Paradise of the ‘Atqa’ or those ‘Nafs al- Mutmainna’ the perfectly satisfied soul, mentioned in 89:27, will be God’s own heaven as He Himself names it in 89:30 which is His absolute pleasure.
In Islam, this degree of piety could be found in the Holy Prophet and his Ahl Al-Bayt who have been granted by God Himself the exclusive excellence of perfect purity - having been purified by God Himself12.
