َفَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِرَبِّ الْمَشَارِقِ وَالْمَغَارِبِ
إِنَّا لَقَادِرُون
So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings and settings
that indeed We are able
I
am reading ridiculous answers by non-Muslims who know nothing of the Quran and
have obviously never read it. What is this ridiculousness about “pagan
origins”. Islam from its inception was and continues to be a monotheistic
religion. Don’t believe me? Let God speak for himself:
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ (1) اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ (2) لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ (3) وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ (4)
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the
Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like
unto Him. (Quran Surat Al Ikhlas)
اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ
ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي
الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا
بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ
إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا
يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ
Allah! there is no god but He the living the
Self-subsisting Eternal. No slumber can seize him nor sleep. His are all things
in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except
as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to his creatures as) before or
after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of his knowledge except as
He willeth. His throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth and He
feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For He is the Most High the
Supreme (in glory). (Quran 2:255)
Is
it clear to you yet? There is only one God in Islam. Now back to the verse the
questioner is asking about. It is not referring to two lords, but only one
Lord. The Lord of the East and West is Allah. Allah is swearing upon himself.
Have you ever heard Queen Elizabeth speak? How she consistently refers to
herself as “we” and in the third person? That is exactly how Allah speaks in
the Quran. He didn’t say in the verse “Lord of the East and Lord of the West”,
No! He said “Lord of all risings and settings” or “Lord of all easts and all
wests”. One Lord. One God.
People
should not be answering that in which they have no knowledge. As for the
questioner, you had a good question as you had no knowledge and went out to
seek it, however I advise you next time if you have a question about the Quran
to seek it from the scholars or look up the tafsir or
explanation online.
---------
(70:40) I swear by the Lord of the easts and the wests
that We have the power
“Here, Allah has sworn an oath by Himself.
The words Easts and Wests have been used because the sun rises and sets at a
new angle every day during the year, and goes on rising and setting
successively at different times around the globe. Thus considered the Easts and
the Wests are not one but many. From another point of view as against the north
and the south there is a direction of east and a direction of west. On this
basis in( Surah
Ash-Shuara, Ayat 28) and( Surah
Al-Muzzammi1, Ayat 19 )the words
Rabb-ulrnashriqi wal-maghrib have been used. From still another view-point the
earth has two easts and two wests, for when the sun sets on one hemisphere, it
rises on the other. On this basis the words Rabb-ul-mashriqayn wa
Rabb-ulmaghribayn (Lord of two easts and two wests) have been used in (Surah
Ar-Rahman, Ayat 17). (For further explanation,
see (E.N.
17 of Surah Ar-Rahman).”
Footnotes
[1] Surah Al-Ma'arij 70:1-44 - Towards
Understanding the Quran - Quran Translation Commentary - Tafheem ul Quran
------------
This
is a tafsir by ibn kathir where he interprets the meaning as
But
no!
I
swear by the Lord of the easts and the wests.
meaning,
the One Who created the heavens and the earth and made the east and the west.
He is the One Who subjected the stars causing them to appear in the eastern
parts of the sky and vanish in the western parts of it.
The
point of this statement is that the matter is not as the disbelievers
claim:that there is no final return, no reckoning, no resurrection and no
gathering. Rather all of this will occur and come to pass. There is no way of
avoiding it. This is the reason that Allah has stated a negation at the
beginning of this oath. This shows that He is swearing by a denial of their
claim. This is a refutation of their false claim of rejecting the Day of
Judgement. They already witnessed the greatness of Allah's power in what is
more convincing than the Day of Judgement, that is the creation of the heavens
and the earth, and the subjection of the creatures in them, the animals, the
inanimate objects and the other types of creatures that exist.
--------------
‘Amir-Al-Momineen
asws preached to us upon the Pulpit of Al-Kufa. So he asws Praised Allah azwj
and Extolled Him azwj, then said: ‘O you people! Ask me asws, for between my
asws ribs is the (Divine) Knowledge’. So Ibn Al-Kawa stood up and said, ‘O
Amir-Al-Momineenasws, I have found in the Book of Allahazwj (Verses) which
invalidate each other’.
Hea
sws said: ‘May your mother be bereft of you, O Ibn Al-Kawa! The Book of Allah
azwj, (Verses) ratify each other, and do not invalidate each other, so ask
whatever comes to you’.
He
said, ‘O Amir-Al-Momineen asws! I heard Him azwj Saying: I swear by the Lord of
the Easts and the Wests [70:40]. And in another Verse: Lord of the two Easts
and Lord of the two Wests [55:17]. And in another Verse: ‘Lord of the east and
the west [26:28]’
He
asws said: ‘May your mother be bereft of you, O Ibn Al- Kawa! This is the east
and this is the west. And as for His azwj Words: Lord of the two Easts and Lord
of the two Wests [55:17], so it is the east of the winter upon a limit, and
east of the summer upon a limit. But do you not recognise that from the
nearness of the sun and its remoteness?
And
as for His azwj Words: I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests [70:40],
so it has for it three hundred and sixty constellations, (the sun is) emerging
from each constellation and setting in another. So it does not return to it
except from the following year in that particular day’.
For
Further Reseach Click here Tafseer Hub-e-Ali (asws) |
HubeAli asws
-----------
Sura
70:40, as quoted by you “But nay. I call to
witness the Lord of the East and West. We are certainly powerful”?
The
better translation goes as : I swear by the
Lord of the Easts and the Wests, that We are Able.
- you have wrongly used the words “East” and “West” (actually it is “Easts” and “Wests”)- which actually means all the directions.
- Allah is swearing upon himself. While taking swear He identifies as “I” and while talking about His power he says Himself as “We” (a language giving respect to One Self while telling about His power or ability) and declares that He is the Lord of all the directions.
------------
The
correct translation is “But no, I swear by
the Lord of the Easts and the Wests; We are indeed able”
The
next verse, 70:42, says “to replace them with
better than them; We can never be outdone.”
In
this verse God is swearing on Himself, the Lord of all the Easts and Wests
there are (or the Lord of all sunrises and sunsets), that he is able to replace
the disbelievers with those better than them, and that God can never be outdone
in doing so (which, of course, is because God is the only one that can make
people).
-----------
And to Allah belongs the east and
the west. So wherever you turn, there is
the Face of Allah . Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (Quran 2:115)
In
70:40 God swore by himself. Since God is supreme in the universe, by swearing
by himself, it makes the matter a very serious matter.
