Commentary
Events relating to past prophets and their peoples, from Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) to Sayyidna Musa, have been mentioned in Surah Hud in a fair enough order and detail with many wise counsels, injunctions and directives. At the end of the description of these events, it is by ad-dressing the Holy Prophet ﷺ that his entire community has been exhorted to draw their essential lessons from them. It was said: ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْقُرَىٰ نَقُصُّهُ عَلَيْكَ ۖ مِنْهَا قَائِمٌ وَحَصِيدٌ (That is a part of the stories of the towns that We narrate to you. Some of them are standing, and (some) harvested - 100). It means that some of the habitations that were visited by Divine punishment still have their ruins standing while some others have been erased like harvested fields with no signs of what was there in the past.
After that it was said that Allah did not wrong them, rather, they had wronged themselves (101, 102) in that they abandoned their creator and sustainer and took to idols and other things as their gods. Finally, when the Divine punishment came, their self-made gods did not come to their rescue in any way. The lesson to learn was that the grip of Allah is painful and severe. When He seizes heedless wrongdoers doing what they do, this is what happens invariably.
Then, to turn them round to the concern of the Hereafter, it was said (103-105) that these events carry in them great lessons and signs for those who fear the punishment of the Hereafter, a day when all human beings will be gathered together, with everyone present there. That will be a day of such awe that no one present there shall dare utter a word without Divine permission.
Six verses later, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was addressed again by saying:
فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْتَ وَمَن تَابَ مَعَكَ وَلَا تَطْغَوْا ۚ إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
So, stand firm - as you have been commanded - you, and those who have repented [ from kufr and are ] with you, and do not cross the limits. Surely, He is watchful of what you do - 112.
The Sense of Istiqimah (Standing Firm): Some related problems and their solutions
Istiqamah means to stand straight without the least tilt one way or the other (hence expressed in English as straightforwardness, straightness, directness, rectitude etc.) As obvious, it is not something easy to do. If we were dealing with a vertical object cast in iron, rock or some other material, our expert engineers could make it stand straight at the very outset in a way that it stands on perfect right angles from all sides without the least tilt on any side. But, having a moving object stand straight at all times and under all conditions in this perfect state is certainly something extremely difficult. For discerning people, this is no secret.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ and all Muslims have been commanded in this verse that they should stand firm under all conditions in everything they do. Istiqamah is a small word but in its sense it extends to many areas of application in a very unusual manner. The very meaning of this act of standing firm is that one has to move straight-forwardly, as commanded by Allah, on the straight path identified by Him, remaining within the limits set by Him. This has to be in all matters of beliefs, acts of worship, personal and collective transactions, morals, social dealings, economic pursuits inclusive of all channels of income and expenditure. In the event, there occurs the slightest tilt, or decrease or increase, or shortcoming or excess, under any condition, and in any deed, in any of these areas of activity, Istiqamah be-comes the first casualty.
Errors in thinking and practice that show up around us are an out-come of this deviation from the command to stand firm. When people do not stand firm in beliefs (` aqa’ id), they start with self-invented practices in religion (bid'at) and end up into the extremes of kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating others with Allah). The principles of Allah's Oneness (Tauhid) and His Being (Dhat) and Attributes (Sifat) conveyed to us by the Holy Prophet u are moderate and sound. People who commit any act of excess and deficiency or addition and deletion in them - even if they may be doing so with good intentions on their part - shall be considered astray and in error. As for those who belittle and lessen the limits set for having regard and love for the blessed prophets, everyone knows that they are astray and audacious. Similarly, those who commit the excess of assigning a prophet proprietary rights in Divine attributes and powers also cross those limits and fall into an error of this nature. The Jews and the Christians lost them-selves into this error. The methods of worshipping Allah and seeking nearness to Him determined by the Glorious Qur'an, and the Holy Prophet ﷺ are great benchmarks. Any slicing, undercutting or shortcoming in these drags one down from the desired level of standing firm and, similarly, any addition to these from one's own side ruins one's chances of standing firm by his indulgence in self-innovated ways in established religion. Unfortunately, such a person honestly thinks that he is pleasing Allah while, in fact, it is precisely the very cause of His displeasure. Therefore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has very emphatically prohibited his community from indulging in self-innovated ways in established religion (bid'at and muhdathat) and has declared that to be acute error and straying. Therefore, before one does something as an act of worship (` ibadah) for the pleasure of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ he must first investigate and ensure fully as to the nature of his action. He must find out whether or not what he is going to do stands proved from the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his noble Sahabah in the same state and form. If it does not, let him not waste his good time and energy in this pursuit.
Similarly, there are matters relating to transactions, morals and social dealings. The Holy Prophet ﷺ has followed the principles given by the Qur'an in his practical teachings through which he has marked out a moderate and sound way of conducting ourselves in our lives. It has provided the Muslims with a moderate and straight course of action in the matters of friendship, enmity, softness and strictness, anger and forbearance, miserliness and generosity, economic activity and monasticism, trust in Allah and use of possible material means, finding what is necessary and relying on the Prime Mover of all causes. These are different things, yet they have been fused into one, a straight path of moderation, and a virtual gift to Muslims not to be found elsewhere in the whole world. So, the key is to act in accordance with these teachings and become perfect human beings. When people do not stand firm and tilt one way or the other, the society goes bad inevitably.
In short, the concept of standing firm is comprehensive. It covers all parts and pillars of religion. When acted upon correctly, it becomes its eloquent demonstration.
Sufyan ibn ` Abdullah Thaqafi asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ ` please tell me something so comprehensive about Islam that I need not ask anyone anything after you.' He said, قُل اٰمَنتُ بِاللہِ ثُمَّ استقِم : Say: I believe in Allah. Then, stand firm on it.' (Reported by Muslim, as quoted by al Qurtubi)
` Uthman ibn ` Abdullah al-Azdi said that once he went to the famous Sahabi and the commentator, Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ and requested him for some words of advice. He said, علیکَ بِتَقوٰی اللہِ وَ الاِستِقَامَۃِ اِتَّبِع والا تبتَدِع ' (Reported by a1-Darimi in his Musnad, as quoted by al-Qurtubi). It means that he should make the fear of Allah essential for him, and also that he should stand firm in his faith. The method of doing so was to follow the percepts of the Shari` ah in all religious matters and not to invent and introduce any bid'ah in it from his own side.
Out of the many tough jobs handled in this world, the toughest is nothing but to stand firm. Therefore, Sufi authorities have said that standing firm is a station much superior to the working of miracles (karamah). It means that a person who is holding on firmly to the assignments of his religion is a saint in his own right - even though, no miracle has issued forth from him throughout his life.
Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، said that no verse revealed to the Holy Prophet ﷺ in the entire Qur'an was harder and more trying than this (112). And he said that once the Companions noticing some gray strands of hair in his blessed beard sorrowfully re-marked, ` old age is approaching you much earlier.' Thereupon, he said, ` Surah Hud has made me old.' The events of severe punishments that came upon past communities as described in Surah Hud could also be the reason for it, but Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ said that this verse alone is its reason.
Tafsir al-Qurtubi reports from Abu ` Ali Sirriy that he, on seeing the Holy Prophet ﷺ in a dream asked him, ` have you said some-thing like "Surah Hud has made me old"?' He said, ` yes.' Abu ` Ali asked again, ` had the subject of punishments that came upon the peoples of the past prophets made you old?' He said, ` no, in fact, this saying of Allah Ta` ala did: فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْتَ (So, stand firm - as you have been commanded - 112) '.
As for the Holy Prophet ﷺ it is obvious that he had graced this world as the blessed substantiation of the perfect universal man. Standing firm was his natural habit. But then, why was it that he felt its weight to be so conspicuous and telling upon him? Perhaps, it was because the verse did not ask him to stand firm in an absolute sense, instead, asked him that this act of standing firm should be as commanded by Allah. How overwhelming is the fear and awe prophets have of their creator and master is well recognized. It must have been the effect of this fear and awe that, despite having his perfect stance of firmness, he was still concerned whether or not he had been able to come up with the kind of firmness and rectitude expected by his master, the most exalted Allah.
And it is also possible that he was not that concerned about his personal stance of firmness, because he, by the grace of Allah, had it in him. But, there was something else to it. In this verse, the command given to him was also given to the entire Muslim Ummah. So, it was his realization that his Ummah may find it difficult to stand firm as commanded that made him sad.
After the command to stand firm, it was said: وَلَا تَطْغَوْا is (and do not cross the limits). This word is a derivation from the verbal noun: طغیان (tughy an) which means to cross limits, and which is the opposite of standing firm. It will be noticed that the positive statement to stand firm in the verse has not been considered sufficient, rather, its negative aspect, that of its prohibition, was clarified expressly. This establishes the sense of the verse: ` do not cross the limits set by Allah and His Rasul - in beliefs, acts of worship, transactions, morals etc. - for it was the outlet of all disorder and corruption in material and religious life.