Boreal
Getting to Know Allah
Allah's Bounties
Muhammad
said that Surah 55, The All-Compassionate, was "the adornment of the Qur'an."
The surah is referred to as "The Beauty of the Qur'an"; beauty, in this
instance, may be in the eye of the believer.
THE ALL-COMPASSIONATE
55 Ar-Rahmân
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
55:1 The Compassionate,
55:2 Has taught the Qur’an.
55:3 He created man;
55:4 And taught him elocution.
55:5 The sun and the moon move according to a plan.
55:6 And the shrubs (or stars) and the trees prostrate themselves.
55:7 And the sky, He raised and He set up the balance (almost all commentators have interpreted ‘balance’ to mean justice, Moududi);
55:8 That you may not transgress in the balance.
55:9 Conduct your weighing with equity and do not stint the balance.
55:10 And the earth, He set up for all mankind.
55:11 In it are fruit and palm trees in buds;
55:12 And grain in blades and fragrant plants.
Part of the attraction of Surah 55 has to be the refrain that we first encounter at Revelation 55:13.
55:13 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you, both (jinn and humans) deny?
In The All-Compassionate, God repeatedly challenges the jinn and humans to deny His Bounties after enumerating what He has done for them.
55:14 He created man from hard clay, like bricks.
55:15 And He created the jinn from tongues of fire.
55:16 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
55:17 The Lord of the two Easts and the two Wests.[24]
55:18 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
Allah controls what happens when two seas merge.
55:19 He unleashed the two seas so as to merge together.
55:20 Between them is a barrier which they do not overstep.
55:21 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
55:22 From them both come out pearls and coral. 25:53 And it is He Who mixed the two sea, this one sweet and pure and that one salty and bitter; and He set up between them a barrier and a firm prohibition. 55:23 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
The best explanation that Moududi can come up with as to what are these “two seas,” one salty and one sweet, is the following—and it’s a stretch by any standard.
This phenomenon has been perceived in many places in the sea and on the land that sweet water and bitter water has existed side by side. Turkish Admiral Syedi Ali Rais, in his book Mirat-al-Mamalik, written in the 16th century, has mentioned a place in the Persian Gulf, where springs of sweet waver exist under the bitter waters of the sea, where he could get drinking water for his fleet.
Moududi offers the same explanation for another verse about “the two seas.”
35:12 The two seas are not the same; one is sweet, clear and delectable to drink and the other is salty and bitter. Yet from both you eat tender flesh and extract ornaments which you wear, and you see ships cruising therein, that you may seek His bounty, and that perchance you may be thankful.
After informing us that “He unleashed the two seas so as to merge together,” Allah emphasises, in Revelation 25:53, that He has set up between the two seas a “barrier” which the two seas are prohibited from breaching and allowing their waters to mix. It may not so much be a barrier as to what is flowing into what.
For example, the fresh water Nile flows into the salty Mediterranean. The fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean is not enough to noticeably change its salinity. The large Nile delta could also have been mistaken for a sea for which the Koran provides no definition. The Mediterranean has very low amplitude tides (a few centimetres on average), which means salt water never makes its way up river, therefore a Dark Ages observer—the period during which the Koran was revealed—could have mistaken what was happening as God having placed the type of barrier mentioned in the Koran. And yes, there is such a thing as fresh water coral and fresh water pearls.
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Allah was obviously impressed by large seaworthy crafts for Him to claim ownership.
55:24 To Him belong the seagoing ships towering upon the sea like mountains.
55:25 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
Allah will maintain His composure, even in the midst of chaos and death of which He is the author and which He considers a bounty.
55:26 Everyone upon it (the earth) is perishing;
55:27 But the Face of Your Lord, full of majesty and nobility, shall abide.
55:28 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
Allah is a busy god. Makes you wonder why, when everything is preordained, He has such a hectic schedule.
55:29 Whatever is in the heavens or on the earth petitions Him, and every day He is attending to some new matter.
55:30 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and human) deny?
Race, in the Koran, is based on the material used in the creation of the first progenitors: clay for men and fire for the jinn.
55:31 We shall attend to you, O two races (jinn and humans)?
55:32 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
It will definitely be easier for the jinn to take up Allah’s challenge in Verse 55:33, as they are able to fly above the clouds all the way to the first level of Paradise. Any attempt, however, will be met with fire and melted brass. A bounty, that is not (as Yoda might say).
55:33 O jinn and human folk, if you can pass through the bounds of the heavens and the earth, pass through them. You will not pass through without some authority.
55:34 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
55:35 A flame of fire and brass will be loosed (sic) upon you, so that you will not receive any support.
55:36 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
Another favourite topic of Allah's is Judgement Day, whatever is being revealed. Judgement Day, for many, will not be a bounty.
55:37 When the heaven shall be rent asunder and turned red like pigment.
55:38 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
55:39 On that day, none shall be questioned about his sin[25], whether a man or a jinn.
55:40 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
How can the following be considered any kind of bounty?
55:41 The criminals shall be known by their marks; then they shall be seized by their forelocks and their feet.
55:42 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny? 55:43 This is Hell, which the criminals deny.
55:44 They circle between it and between a hot-water caldron.
55:45 So, which of your Lord's Bounties do you both (jinn and humans) deny?
The remaining revelations (55-46:78) in Surah The All-Compassionate can be found in the book all about Allah’s hedonistic utopia in the sky, The Islamic Hereafter: “Paradise” (Boreal Books).
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[24] "The Lord of the two Easts and the two Wests." Discussions are wide ranging as to what Allah’s means by this.
[25] “It means that in that great assembly where all the former and the latter generations will have gathered together, there will be no need to ask as to who are the culprits, nor will any man or jinn need be asked whether he is a culprit or not. The dejected faces of the culprits, their terror-stricken eyes, their disturbed and alarmed countenances will themselves be enough to expose the secret that they are the culprits.” Moududi