Surah Maryam - verses 34-40

[SunniWaqas]

Assalam u alaikum,

Here are my notes for Ayahs 34 - 40. Ayah numbers are bolded and in round brackets following which are notes for the different parts of that specific Ayah.

The name of the thread could be changed once we cover more verses tomorrow and someone posts the notes for those verses.

Tafseer: Surah Maryam – continuing from Ayah 34

(34) ‘dhaalika…’ = This is Isa (as), the son of Maryam (whose speech and attributes have been mentioned from which his being a favoured servant is known; not as the Nasaara have removed him from servitude and elevated up to an Ilaah (God) nor as the Jews who have degraded him; he was neither of the two).

‘dhaalika’ is Mubtada, however, question is why was it chosen (because it’s an Ism Isharah of distance) over ‘hadha’? Reason: To indicate upon the elevation of his rank and the distance of his status and his completely being distinct by means of all of those praiseworthy attributes mentioned previously from all other people. He’s been mentioned here as if he’s in front of us i.e. being observed and being witnessed.

The above is a restrictive statement (‘hasr) i.e. ‘this one alone is ‘Isa ibn Maryam (and not anybody else)’ which is coming from the context. ‘Hasr can be created by:

i) Bringing ‘Innama’ at the front to create ‘hasr in the last portion
ii) It can also be achieved by bringing something – which was supposed to come later – forward e.g. bringing the faa’il before the fa’il itself as a Mubtada.

‘qaul al haqqi’ = ‘qaul’ is mansoob due to various reasons (another qira’a has ‘qaulul’ on the basis of khabar for a hidden mubtada ‘hua’). Ml. Thanwi (ra) says ‘I speak the absolute truth’ and this is being said by Allah (swt).

1st reason for Nasb: it’s maf’ul mutlaq for a hidden ‘aqoolu’.

2nd reason for Nasb: ‘Qaul’ is in the meaning of ‘kalima’ and ‘alhaqq’ is Allah (swt) so like ‘kalimatullah’ which was ‘Isa’s (as) title. So ‘qaul’ will be mansoob on the basis of mad’h. ‘(amda’hu) qaulal haqqi’ = I specifically praise Allah’s word’.

3rd reason for Nasb: Could be maf’ul mutlaq for the ‘qaala inni ‘abdullah’ at the front and ‘dhaalika…’ could be a Jumlah Mu’taridaa’ (like Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) brought to strengthen what has passed.

‘qaul al haqqi…’ is a Jumlah Musta’nifa i.e. no waw. It has a purpose in the text. Purpose here is: to strengthen the gist of the previous sentence which was the ‘hasr in the ‘dhaalika Isa…’

‘alladhi fihi yamtaroon’ = in which they (Christians and Jews) doubt – also read as ‘tamtaroon’. Better translation is quarrel.

(35) ‘kaana’ = kaana tamma which doesn’t need a predicate and is in the meaning of ‘sa’hhaa’.

‘subhaanahu’ = He is pure of all faults – literal meaning here, not the exclamation mark meaning i.e. ‘Glory be to Him!’

‘qadhaa’ = decrees.

For such a Perfect Being – who says ‘kun’ and it is - it is rationally impossible to have a child.

(36) (Say to the people) ‘Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord…’

1st interpretation: the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was instructed to say the above to the polytheists.

2nd interpretation: This is part of ‘Isa’s (as) speech continuing from the ‘inni ‘abdullah coming earlier when he was a child.

3rd interpretation: This is part of ‘Isa’s (as) speech after growing up and while he was instructing the people to the correct path.

‘siraatum mustaqeem’ = This (exclusive worship of Allah; also known as monotheism) is the straight path (of religion).

(37) ‘ahzaab’ = various groups – Despite all the textual facts, these groups differed amongst themselves (by rejecting Tauheed).

‘mim baynihim’ = amongst themselves.

‘wayl’ = woe

‘fawayl lul lil lazeena kafaroo’ = instead of pronoun ‘hum’, the ‘allazheena’ is used. This has Balagha benefits and is called ‘placing a muzhhar (clear noun) in place of a mudhmar (pronoun)’ i.e. ‘wadu’ ul muzhar maudhi’ al mudhmar’. Benefits:

i) The verb in the Silah applies to all these ‘ahzaab’ i.e. all these groups are on Kufr.
ii) To give the cause behind the ‘wayl’ i.e. the disbelief, which would’ve been unclear otherwise.
iii) Another acceptable benefit: to make the verse more general i.e. not only Jews and Christians but also other groups who are on Kufr.

‘mashhadi yaumin ‘azeem’ = coming of an awesome day. Mashhad has multiple meanings; we are assuming it’s a Masdar i.e. ‘coming’ but it can also mean ‘place of witness’, ‘witnessing’. 6 possible meanings of the Mashhad:

i) ‘Coming’
ii) ‘Witnessing’
iii) Time of Shuhuud i.e. they will be in a very difficult state when this time comes.
iv) Place of Shuhuud.
v) Time of witnessing of the great day i.e. people on that day will bear witness upon them i.e. the Anbiyaa, Malaika, their own body parts etc. etc.
vi) Place of witnessing of the great day.

(38) ‘asmi’= it’s a maadhi on the pattern of amr and this only happens in the verbs of ta’ajjub. Translation would be: “How strong will their hearing and seeing be!” in contrast to the deafness and the blindness in the Dunya, so this is a cause for astonishment. In this interpretation, the ‘him’ is in the place of Raf’ on the basis of Faa’il.

2nd interpretation: This is threatening them with what they’ll hear and what they’ll see on that day.

Weak opinion: The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is being instructed to make them hear and see (in this case, the verbs will in their Amr meaning and the ‘him’ will be in the place of Nasb on the basis of Maf’ul Bihi).

‘laakin…’ = ‘however these oppressors today are in clear error.’ Placement of ‘zhaalimeen’ in place of the pronoun is to show that by doing this, they are oppressing themselves.

(39) ‘anzirhum…’ = Warn them (O Prophet) from the day of remorse when the (final) judgement (of heaven and hell) will be made. This ‘final judgement’ is talking about an event in which a ram representing death will be slaughtered after which an announcement will be made that “No death after today!” The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) recited this verse while mentioning this event.

‘iz qudhiay alamru’ is badal from ‘yaum al hasrati’ and will be in the place of Nasb because of extension from ‘yaum al hasrati’. Other way is that ‘hasra’ is a masdar and the ‘iz qudhiay…’ is maf’ul fihi for that masdar i.e. ‘the day of hasra when the final judgement is made.’ A definite masdar can govern so this is possible.

‘wa hum fi ghaflatin wa hum laa yu’minoon’ = these are two Jumlah Ismiyyahs and both of them are Haal “while they are in ghaflah and while they aren’t believers”.

Dhul Haal: 2 interpretations:

i) ‘hum’ in anzirhum
ii) an extra ‘mustaqirroon’ after the ‘fi dhalaalim mubeen’ is the Dhul Haal.

After the Ayah: (But they too will die one day) connecting with the following Ayah…

(40) ‘And We (and only We) will become the inheritors i.e. the ultimate owners of the earth and all that is upon it and to Us will they return’

[hefsasharif]

Jzk, for posting.

[nadeemabdulhamid]

nice masha-Allah

[Yusuf Mullan]

MashAllah. Very nice. I didn't spot anything worthy of editing.

One thing though regarding mustaqirroona (not related to the notes above, but my explaining). In the lecture I said the two sentences are haal from the waw in mustaqirroona. That was inaccurate, because in sifah mushtaqs.. the fa'il is always mustatir (mutlaqan). Does anyone remember this?

Pointing at the waw and saying that it is the pronoun is inaccurate.

I remember it clearly. Hope everyone understood this point. Check in HN, if it's unclear.

[Yusuf Mullan]

Also, my notes without the grammar can be found in the recordings thread. I'll later merge the threads and change the title of this one after tomorrow's class, insha Allah.

[SunniWaqas]

One thing though regarding mustaqirroona (not related to the notes above, but my explaining). In the lecture I said the two sentences are haal from the waw in mustaqirroona. That was inaccurate, because in sifah mushtaqs.. the fa'il is always mustatir (mutlaqan). Does anyone remember this?

Pointing at the waw and saying that it is the pronoun is inaccurate.

I wasn't able to find anything about this in the Ism ul Faa'il section in HN but it makes sense to me since 'mustaqirroon' is a plural Ism ul Faa'il and the 'waw' is for the plurality not the pronoun.

Having said that, is this interpretation invalid or do we replace the 'mustaqirroon' with 'istaqarroo' which does have a 'waw' pronoun at the end which could be regarded as the Dhul Haal?

[Yusuf Mullan]

Check HN in the pronoun section, where he explains where the pronoun would be bariz and where it would mustatir.

In any case, pulling out mustaqirroona is fine. That wasn't what I was trying to point out.

[SunniWaqas]

Ok got it. He talks about it on pg. 59 of the book.

In summary, using 'mustaqirroon' is fine but its Faa'il is implicit and the 'waw' can't be said to be its Faa'il.

[Yusuf Mullan]

That's correct.

[Yusuf Mullan]

Relationship

The upcoming verses draw conclusion of monotheism from the story of Eisa (alaihis salam) and by mentioning Judgement-day threaten those that reject Tawheed.

Conclusion of Tawheed and Scolding the Obstinate Disbeliever

This is Eisa: Son of Maryam whose speech and attributes have been mentioned, from which his being a favoured servant is known; not as the Nasaara have removed him from servitude and elevated him to divinity, nor as the Jews have degraded him from being an accepted one and laid upon him (and his mother) various blames and accusations. I speak the absolute truth in which these people of excess and degradation (ifraat and tafreet) quarrel.

Hence, the statements of the Jews and Christians are understood from the above. Since the claim of the Jews even outwardly implied detracting from the rank of a Prophet which is self-evidently false. For this reason it has not been addressed here. The belief of the Christians, on the other hand, implies greater perfection; in addition to prophethood, they establish the rank of being offspring of the Almighty. This is refuted in the following verse, the substance of which is that due to contradicting the fundamentals of monotheism it necessitates detraction from Allah, Almighty. It is not befitting for Allah to take unto himself a son. He is absolutely pure from all faults. This is because when he decrees a matter he merely says to it Be: and it is. For such perfection, rationally, having children is a deficiency.

Say O Prophet to the people in order to establish Tawheed, the polytheists will also hear, Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So worship him alone. This exclusive worship of Allah known as monotheism is the straight path of religion. In spite of these textual and rational proofs establishing Tawheed, various factions have caused division among themselves; by rejecting Tawheed they have invented many different religious paths. So woe to these disbelievers from the coming of an awesome day!

(Referring to the Day of judgement, which with respect to its length and intensity will be awesome.) The day in which they will come to us, how strong will there hearing and vision be!

On Judgement-day these realities will become manifest and all misguidance and misconceptions will be removed. However, these oppressors today in this world are in clear error.

Warn them, O Prophet, from the day of remorse when the final judgement of Heaven and Hell will be made, as mentioned in the Hadith of al-Bukhari, Muslim and at-Tirmidhi, that Death will be brought in the form of a spotted ram which will then be slaughtered in front of the people of Hell and Heaven. Thereupon both groups with be made aware of the judgement of eternity, while they are in heedlessness, and are not believing, but one day they too will die along with everyone else. We, and only We, will remain the inheritors (ultimate owners) of the earth and all who are on it, and to Us they will be returned. They will then be punished for their disbelief and association.

Benefits

The manner of how impossibility of divine offspring is deduced from idh qudhiya alamru... was explained at the 3 quarter mark of the first juz under the ruku' of wa qaalat alyahood where a very similar verse occurred.

Though remorse will occur several times before this event, this will be the most severe.

Inna Allaha rabbi.. Can also be understood based on the verses of Surah Zukhruf to be from the speech of Hazrat Maseeh PBUH in which case a "qaala" would be assumed prior to it. That is to say, he said the previous while a child and he said this after becoming a Prophet.

What is meant by "Ahzab" are those factions which occurred after Sayidna Easa (alaihis salam) - and Allah knows best.