Commentary

The diction of the Qur'an points out to the great station the Holy Prophet ﷺ occupies

It would be recalled that following the description of awe-inspiring events relating to past prophets and their peoples in Surah Hud, some instructions have been given to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his community that begin from the previous verse (112): فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْ‌تَ (So, stand firm - as you have been commanded). In these instructions, the beauty and eloquence of the Holy Qur'an stands out as highly educative. It will be noticed that a positive command to do something has been addressed to the Holy Prophet ﷺ with his community included therein as a corollary. Examples are as follows: فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْ‌تَ وَمَن تَابَ مَعَكَ (So, stand firm - as you have been commanded - you and those who have repented with you - 112) and وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ (And establish salah - 114) and then: وَاصْبِرْ‌(And be patient - 115). But, when something was prohibited and instruction was given to abstain from it, the address was beamed at the Muslim community directly, for instance: وَلَا تَطْغَوْا (and do not cross the limits - 112) and: وَلَا تَرْ‌كَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا (And do not incline towards the wrongdoers - 113).

If we were to look at this in depth, it will be realized that it hap-pens to be the general form used throughout the Qur'an whereby a positive imperative has been addressed to the Holy Prophet ﷺ while the negative imperative of prohibition to the Muslim community. This is an indication towards his high station. It tells us that things worth leaving off are things the Holy Prophet ﷺ himself abstained from. Allah Ta'ala had made his elemental nature tuned so right that he would simply not incline towards any desire or thing that was evil. The limit was that things that were permissible and halal (lawful) during the early period of Islam - but, their becoming haram (unlawful) later was already settled in the ultimate knowledge of Allah Ta‘ala - were things he never went near, even when they were halal, such as, liquor, interest, gambling etc.

In this verse (114), addressing the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his entire Ummah has been commanded to establish salah. Scholars of Tafsir among the Sahabah and Tabi` in concur that صلَوۃ salah' at this place means obligatory prayers (al-Bahr al-Muhit, al-Qurtubi) and the ` iqamah of salah' means establishing and implementing it fully and faithfully and being constantly regular with it. Some have said that it means performing Salah with due consideration of all its inherent rules of etiquette. Some others have said that it means performing Salah at its most preferred time. These reflect the three positions taken in the Tafsir of the verse: أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ (aqimi's-salah: establish the prayer). The truth of the matter is that there is not much of a difference in there. Everything said here is included in the sense of ` establishing the prayer'.

Following the command to establish Salah, the statement about its timings appears briefly as: ` and establish Salah at both ends of the day [ at the beginning and at the end ], and in the early hours [ parts ] of the night.' Here, " زُلفا " (zulafan) is the plural of زُلفَۃ (zulfah) which means a part or unit. As for the prayer ` at both ends of the day,' there is a consensus of revered early commentators that the prayer at the first end is the Salah of Fajr. However, the prayer at the last end has been taken by some of them as the Salah of Maghrib for it is almost at the end of the day. But, some others have taken the Salah of ` Asr as the prayer at the last end because that is the last prayer of the day. The time of Maghrib is not a part of the day, rather, comes after the passage of the day. Then, the text's: زُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ that is, 'prayers during parts of the night,' have been declared as referring to the Salah of Maghrib and ` Isha' by the majority of early commentators Hasan al-Basri, Mujahid, Muhammad ibn Ka'b, Qatadah, Dahhak and others. And a Hadith which says that زُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ ; (prayers during parts of the night) are Maghrib and ` Isha' confirms it. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

When the text's: طَرَ‌فَيِ النَّهَارِ‌ (at both ends of the day) means the Salah of Fajr and ` Asr, and زُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ (in the early hours or parts of the night) the Salah of Maghrib and ` Isha,' the timings of four prayers find mention in the verse. What remains to be mentioned is the Salah of Zuhr which appears in another verse: أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِدُلُوكِ الشَّمْسِ (Establish salah at the decline of the sun - 17:78).

After the command to establish Salah points out to the great good these bring. It was said:إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ (Surely, good deeds erase bad deeds). Early commentators have said that ` al-hasanat' means all good deeds. These include Salah, Sawm, Zakah, Sadaqat, good morals, good dealings etc., but Salah takes precedence over all of them. Similarly, ` as-saiyyi'at' covers all bad deeds, kabirah (major sins) or saghirah (minor sins). But, there is another verse of the Qur'an, as well as, several sayings of the Holy Prophet ﷺ where it has been particularized with saghirah sins, according to which, it would mean that good deeds - Salah being the superior most - become the kaffarah (expiation) of saghirah sins which stand erased. This verse of the Qur'an says: إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ‌ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ‌ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ (If abstain from the major [ sins ] out of what you have been forbidden from, We shall write off your minor sins - Al-Nisa' 4:31) (See Ma` ariful-Qur'an, Volume II, pages 405-410 under 4:31 for a detailed discussion of the nature of kabirah and saghirah)

It appears in a Hadith of Sahih Muslim that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that five prayers and a Jumu'ah until the next Jumu'ah, and a Ramadan until the next Ramadan, become the kaffarah (expiation) of all sins committed in between them. This is subject to the condition that the person concerned has remained safe from major sins (kaba'ir). It means that major sins are such that they are not for-given without Taubah (repentance). But, minor sins do get to be forgiven automatically when one keeps doing other good deeds such as Salah, Sawm, Sadaqah etc. However, Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit has reported the saying of authentic scholars of the Principles of the Shari` ah of Islam that even minor sins are forgiven by doing good deeds only when one feels ashamed of having done these and makes a solemn re-solve of not doing these in the future. It is important that one does not insist on them. There are many events mentioned in Hadith reports to the effects that sins were so erased. They too state clearly that this happens on condition that the sinner is ashamed of his doing, repents and resolves not to do it in future. It was on this basis that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has given the good news of forgiveness of a sin to

a sinner. Allah knows best.

The following have been declared as kaba'ir or major sins in well known Hadith reports:

(1) Ascribing anyone as partner or equal in the Being or Attributes of Allah Ta'ala.

(2) Intentionally skipping an obligatory (fard) Salah.

(3) Killing someone unjustly.

(4) Committing fornication or adultery.

(5) Stealing.

(6) Drinking.

(7) Disobedience to parents.

(8) Taking false oaths.

(9) Giving false witness.

(10) Practicing magic.

(11) Transacting interest.

(12) Usurping the property of the orphan by unfair means.

(13) Deserting the battlefield in Jihad.

(14) Accusing chaste women falsely.

(15) The taking of someone's property or wealth by unfair means.

(16) Breaking a pledge.

(17) Committing a breach of trust.

(18) Using foul language against anyone.

(19) Accusing someone as a criminal unjustly, etc.

Details about major and minor sins appear in standard books written by Muslim scholars. It can also be seen in ` Sin sans Taste' (Gunahi-bay-Ladhdhat) a treatise written by this humble writer.

In short, this verse proves that sins are also forgiven by doing good deeds. Therefore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` after a bad deed gets to be committed by you, do a good one and it will erase its evil;' and he said, ` deal with people pleasantly.' (Ibn Kathir with reference to the Musnad of Ahmad)

Sayyidna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari said, ` I requested the Holy Prophet ﷺ to order me to do something. He said, ` if you fall into some sin, do some good deed after that, so that it erases the sin.'

In fact, these Ahadith tell us about the preferred method of repenting from a sin. This is as it has been reported in the Musnad of Ahmad from Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` if a Muslim unfortunately falls into some sin, he should make wudu and offer two raka` at of nafl prayer - that sin will be forgiven. (All riwayat have been taken from Ibn Kathir) This prayer is known by the very name of Salatut-Taubah (the prayer of repentance).

In the last sentence of the verse (114): ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَ‌ىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِ‌ينَ (That is a reminder for the mindful), the word: ذَٰلِكَ (dhalik) could be referring to the Holy Qur'an, and to the do's and don'ts both, which have been mentioned earlier. The sense is that this Qur'an, or its injunctions referred to above, are guidance and good counsel for those who listen to and are used to obeying it. The hint embedded here is that a person, who is so compulsively obstinate that he would just not think about anything reasonable, remains deprived of every guidance.