As-Sajdah: the cards as text
Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 32. Awaiting scholar review.
- Card 1
Two bowed heads. One chose it. One ran out of time.
- Card 2
Two objections
The Muslims are few, and in hiding.
Quraysh, the tribe that runs Makkah, has two replies. One: he made the Qur'an up.
The other: a body that has turned to soil stays soil.
- Card 3
The reply, step by step
- 1-3: The charge. Makkah says he invented it. The reply: it is from the Lord of the worlds, for a people no warner had come to.
- 4-9: Who is speaking. The One who made the heavens and the earth, and the human being from clay and a drop of fluid, then gave him hearing, sight and a mind.
- 10-14: The first bowed head. "When we are lost in the earth?" Then the same people on the Day, heads hanging: we have seen and heard, send us back.
- 15-20: The second bowed head. People who fall in prostration now, leave their beds at night, and are promised a joy nobody has been shown.
- 21-22: The nearer punishment. Hardship in this life, sent before the greater one, so that people might come back.
- 23-25: Musa's people. A Book was given before. Leaders rose from that people when they were patient and certain.
- 26-30: Hear, see, wait. Ruins to hear about. Dry land turning green to look at. "When is this decision?" Wait. They are waiting too.
- Card 4
As-Sajdah 32:3: Makkah's charge, quoted. Then the answer.
أَمۡ يَقُولُونَ ٱفۡتَرَىٰهُۚ بَلۡ هُوَ ٱلۡحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ لِتُنذِرَ قَوۡمࣱا مَّآ أَتَىٰهُم مِّن نَّذِيرࣲ مِّن قَبۡلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَهۡتَدُونَ ٣
3 Or do they say, "He invented it"? Rather, it is the truth from your Lord, [O Muḥammad], that you may warn a people to whom no warner has come before you [so] perhaps they will be guided.
- Card 5
Had nobody ever told Makkah?
A few had. Zayd ibn 'Amr refused Makkah's idols years before the Prophet's mission. What Makkah had never had, says Ma'ariful Qur'an, was a messenger of its own.
- Card 6
As-Sajdah 32:7: Then the surah says who is speaking.
ٱلَّذِيٓ أَحۡسَنَ كُلَّ شَيۡءٍ خَلَقَهُۥۖ وَبَدَأَ خَلۡقَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنِ مِن طِينࣲ ٧
7 Who perfected everything which He created and began the creation of man from clay.
- Card 7
As-Sajdah 32:9: Mid-sentence, "him" turns into "you".
ثُمَّ سَوَّىٰهُ وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِهِۦۖ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمۡعَ وَٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرَ وَٱلۡأَفۡـِٔدَةَۚ قَلِيلࣱا مَّا تَشۡكُرُونَ ٩
9 Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts [i.e., intellect]; little are you grateful.
- Card 8
Made from the lowest things
The human being: clay, then a fluid nobody respects. The worth is in what was done with it: hearing, sight, a mind. The rest of the surah is about how those three get used.
- Card 9
As-Sajdah 32:10: Makkah's second objection.
وَقَالُوٓاْ أَءِذَا ضَلَلۡنَا فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ أَءِنَّا لَفِي خَلۡقࣲ جَدِيدِۭۚ بَلۡ هُم بِلِقَآءِ رَبِّهِمۡ كَٰفِرُونَ ١٠
10 And they say, "When we are lost [i.e., disintegrated] within the earth, will we indeed be [recreated] in a new creation?" Rather, they are, in the meeting with their Lord, disbelievers.
- Card 10
As-Sajdah 32:11: The reply does not argue about soil.
۞ قُلۡ يَتَوَفَّىٰكُم مَّلَكُ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ ٱلَّذِي وُكِّلَ بِكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمۡ تُرۡجَعُونَ ١١
11 Say, "The angel of death who has been entrusted with you will take you. Then to your Lord you will be returned."
- Card 11
An angel with no name
The Qur'an gives the angel of death a job and no name. "'Izra'il" comes from reports, says Ibn Kathir. Mujahid pictured the earth before him like a tray he picks from.
- Card 12
Two bowed heads
- Later, no choice left: The deniers. On the Day, heads hanging: "We have seen and heard. Send us back." Nobody is sent back. (32:12)
- Now, by choice: The believers. Reminded, they fall in prostration and are not arrogant. They have seen nothing yet. (32:15)
- Card 13
"We have seen and heard"
Hearing and sight: the two gifts the surah listed earlier. On the Day, for the deniers, they finally work. Wahiduddin Khan's point: accepting what is standing in front of you is not belief.
- Card 14
As-Sajdah 32:16: The surah follows the believers home.
تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمۡ عَنِ ٱلۡمَضَاجِعِ يَدۡعُونَ رَبَّهُمۡ خَوۡفࣱا وَطَمَعࣱا وَمِمَّا رَزَقۡنَٰهُمۡ يُنفِقُونَ ١٦
16 Their sides part [i.e., they arise] from [their] beds; they supplicate their Lord in fear and aspiration, and from what We have provided them, they spend.
- Card 15
One question on the road
Mu'adh asked the Prophet ﷺ what deed leads to the Garden. Among the answers: a prayer in the depth of the night. Then he recited: their sides part from their beds.
- Card 16
As-Sajdah 32:17: The promise is shaped like a secret.
فَلَا تَعۡلَمُ نَفۡسࣰ مَّآ أُخۡفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعۡيُنࣲ جَزَآءَۢ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ ١٧
17 And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes [i.e., satisfaction] as reward for what they used to do.
- Card 17
Hidden deed, hidden reward
A prayer at night has no audience. Al-Hasan al-Basri: they concealed their good deeds, so Allah concealed for them what no eye has seen.
- Card 18
As-Sajdah 32:21: Back in this life, something comes first.
وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُم مِّنَ ٱلۡعَذَابِ ٱلۡأَدۡنَىٰ دُونَ ٱلۡعَذَابِ ٱلۡأَكۡبَرِ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡجِعُونَ ٢١
21 And We will surely let them taste the nearer punishment short of the greater punishment that perhaps they will return [i.e., repent].
- Card 19
Why hardship comes first
- A nearer punishment Ibn 'Abbas: the illness and trouble of this life.
- Before the greater one Smaller, and while there is still time.
- So that they return The ayah gives the purpose itself.
- Card 20
Is all hardship punishment?
No, says Ma'ariful Qur'an. For people in the wrong it is a warning. For prophets and those close to Allah it is a trial that raises them.
- Card 21
As-Sajdah 32:24: A Book was sent before, to the people of Musa (Moses).
وَجَعَلۡنَا مِنۡهُمۡ أَئِمَّةࣱ يَهۡدُونَ بِأَمۡرِنَا لَمَّا صَبَرُواْۖ وَكَانُواْ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ ٢٤
24 And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of Our signs.
- Card 22
"When", or "because"?
Leaders rose from Musa's people. The Arabic is recited two ways: when they were patient, or because they were. Ibn Kathir adds: when they changed, they lost that place.
- Card 23
As-Sajdah 32:27: The last evidence is outside the window.
أَوَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ أَنَّا نَسُوقُ ٱلۡمَآءَ إِلَى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ ٱلۡجُرُزِ فَنُخۡرِجُ بِهِۦ زَرۡعࣱا تَأۡكُلُ مِنۡهُ أَنۡعَٰمُهُمۡ وَأَنفُسُهُمۡۚ أَفَلَا يُبۡصِرُونَ ٢٧
27 Have they not seen that We drive water [in clouds] to barren land and bring forth thereby crops from which their livestock eat and [they] themselves? Then do they not see?
- Card 24
A field that never sees rain
The ayah says water is driven to dry land. Ma'ariful Qur'an thinks of Egypt: rain falls far away in Ethiopia, and the Nile carries it to fields under a dry sky.
- Card 25
Conquest, or verdict?
Quraysh jeer: when is this fath? Some said the conquest of Makkah. Ibn Kathir says no: that day the Makkans' Islam was accepted. He reads it as judgment, in this world and the next.
- Card 26
As-Sajdah 32:30: The surah's last line. Both sides are left waiting.
فَأَعۡرِضۡ عَنۡهُمۡ وَٱنتَظِرۡ إِنَّهُم مُّنتَظِرُونَ ٣٠
30 So turn away from them and wait. Indeed, they are waiting.
- Card 27
Reflect: What separates the two bowed heads in this surah?
Answer: When they bow, and whether they chose to. The deniers hang their heads on the Day, after seeing. The believers prostrate now, unseen and by choice. Ayah 15 is a sajdah ayah: a reader who reaches it prostrates.
- Card 28
The Prophet ﷺ would not sleep until he had recited Alif Lam Mim Tanzil (As-Sajdah) and Tabarak (Al-Mulk).
- Card 29
The end of As-Sajdah.