Surah At-Tin - The Fig
(Revealed at Mecca)
8 Verses in 1 Section
Sections of Surah At-Tin
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Man created in the best stature.
At-Tin - Man Created In The Best Stature
Man has been created with the best of endowments in the best proportion.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
“In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful”
وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ
“By the Fig and the Olive!” (95:1)
وَطُورِ سِينِينَ
وَهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ الْأَمِينِ
“And by this City (declared) Inviolate2!” (95:1)
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ
“Indeed, We created man in the best structure” (95:3)
ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ
“Then We reverted3him to the lowest of the low4“ (95:5)
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ
“Save those who believe and do good deeds, for them shall be a recompense incessant” (95:6)
فَمَا يُكَذِّبُكَ بَعْدُ بِالدِّينِ
“(O’ Man!) What then can make thee belie after this the Final Judgment? (95:7)
أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ
“What! Is not God the Judge of the judges5? (95:8)
Commentary
Verse 1
The names of the things and the events which have been used in the solemn statements in the Holy Qur’an, are mostly symbols of some latent objects, the knowledge of which God has willed to keep it away from the common minds.
‘Teen’, i.e., Fig, but commentators have given many alternate interpretations which are only conjectures. Ibn-Abbas says i.e., the Fig stands for the Mosque of Noah, and ‘Zaitoon’, i.e., the Olive, for Jerusalem. ‘Balad al-Ameen’, i.e., the City of Security, City of the Trusted One the Holy Prophet i.e., Mecca.
Fig is known to be the finest, the most wholesome and also the most nutritious fruit used not only as food but a remedy for several bodily complaints. It is taken as a symbol for man’s destiny. In its origin, i.e., in its existence, as a seed, it is full of worms and maggots and insipid in taste, but in its full and healthy growth, it is the best fruit as said above. Similarly, man when he deteriorates, becomes the lowest of the low and when he develops or rises, he excels even the angels in excellence.
Jesus coming from Bethany, feeling hungry, went to a fig tree and finding it standing without any fruits dropping only dry leaves, cursed it and it immediately withered to its roots6. Prophet Jeremiah has also used figs as symbols in comparing the good ones of the Jews to good figs and the bad ones among them to vile ones of the fruit7.
For the symbol of the Olive - see 24:35 refer the lamp lit by God - It might refer to Jerusalem. See 52:2 and Math. 24/3-4.
Verses 2 and 3 refer to Holy Places wherefrom the Word of God, Torah and Qur’an, were given to the two prominent Law-giver Prophets - So the fig and the Olive in the first verse must appropriately refer to the places where the Word of God was revealed. It is said that ‘Teen’ is the name of a mountain in Damascus and ‘Zaitoon’, another mountain in Palestine. They were named after the fruits that grew on them, and these were the places where Jesus and Moses and the other Israelite Prophets used to retire for communion with God. (A.P.).
Verse 2
‘Seneen’, i.e., Sinai - where the Law was given to Moses - See 19:52 and on the Mount Sinai God manifested His glory to Moses and the men who came there asking for the manifestation of God’s glory.
Verse 3
‘Balad al-Ameen’ - The city of security - Mecca, where the Final Word of God, the Holy Qur’an, had the start of its revelation. But some say ‘Ameen’ stands for the Holy Prophet - then it will mean the city (Mecca) where the Holy Prophet, the Last Apostle of God, was born. The people themselves called the Holy Prophet as ‘Ameen’.
Verse 4
‘Ahsan’, i.e., the best. ‘Taqweem’, i.e., the make, the constitution, structure, form, pattern. One who knows the wonderful wisdom with which every part of the human body, with its form, its structure, its faculties and its constitution, which manages the function of each part in perfect harmony with every other and the marvellous faculties, the brain is endowed with, will know the significance of man being referred to in invoking the recognition of the existence of the One with the supreme Wisdom, Power and the Authority who has affected such marvels in the Universe. The make of everything in God’s creation is so perfect that there is no room for any change or alternative in it8. Man has been made with such supreme endowments that with the maintenance of these gifts in their original purity, he is the Vicegerent of God on earth, superior even to the greatest of the angels in the heavens. It is only to man that is given the wonderful endowment or gift of conscience or discretion, a tool with which there is no height to which man cannot reach. In short, if man keeps his soul safe against getting polluted or getting covered with the dust and the dirt of the low desires and loathsome passions, he can get the divine attributes of the Creator Lord reflected in him and which is the highest level and the final goal of the human life on earth.
Verse 5
When man, the same wonderful and the great work of the Almighty and All-Wise Providence, loses the equilibrium of his conscience and gets lost into the wrong tracks of low passions seeking the satisfaction of the carnal desires, is thrown in the abyss of degradation and ignominy, and fits himself only for the flames of the hell-fire.
The same Almighty and All-Wise Author of the laws of nature, Who creates man with such marvellous and excellent gifts of the wonderful strength of mind and body, again manifests the function of His will on the reverse side of the existence that as man advances in age, after reaching the zenith of the development of the endowed faculties, he begins to deteriorate and is ultimately reduced to the stage of helplessness of his babyhood with which he started his life and returns to the dust from which he was brought forth.
Verse 6
It is far from real charity to give a thing and take it back. When we give anything to the needy, we do not take it back from them. Would God, having given life to man, take it away from him? No! Man has been created for eternity. He has to work in this world, for the life eternal of his, in the hereafter, to be either in bliss and enjoyment or in misery and suffering. The life in this world is only the chance given to every individual man and woman to prepare or build his or her own heaven or hell. He who believes in the True Lord and does good to others in this life shall get the unending blissful life in heaven and if he fails, he gets the same life eternal of horrible suffering and terrible tortures.
Never to be cut off. This is a clear assertion that man of Faith and Virtues is the Topmost in the order of creation in absolute conformity with the Vicegerency of man and thus this discards the doctrine of Original sin and the fall of Adam, for Adam as the chosen one and the rest of the chosen issues of his, all come under this exception. The reversion applies to those who fail to follow the divine guidance after Adam settled on earth9.
Another point is that the human structure being the best one in the Order of Creation, the man of Faith and Virtues shall retain their forms in all the stages in their movement towards the Absolute and even in the Final Resurrection. Hence the tradition that the martyr’s soul will have the form of a green bird hanging under the Arsh! has been pointed out by the Sixth Holy Imam as spurious. (A.P.)
Verse 7
In spite of so much clear evidence given and the doubtless proofs presented, none can ever contradict what the Holy Prophet preached about the Day of Judgment.
Verse 8
God is the Best of judges to know the truth about each individual being, be that open or concealed. Justice will be meted out to each one according to the individual’s merits and demerits. None can ever escape the law of requital which will be strictly followed both in this life as well as in the hereafter.
