87- Surat Al-A'la/Tafseer
19 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)
A'auzu Bellahi mena alshaiytani alrajeem
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan
Besmi Ellahi Alrhmani Alraheem
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Sabbehi esma Rabbika al-a'la (1).
Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High.
Allazi khalaqa fa sawwa (2).
Who created, then proportioned.
Wa allazi qaddara fa hada (3).
And who destined, then guided.
Wa allazi akhraja almar'a (4).
And who brought forth the pasture.
Fa ja'alahuo ghutha'an ahwa (5).
And then made it black stubble.
Sa-nuqre-uka fala tansa (6).
We will make You recite, so You will not forget.
Ella ma shaa Allahu innahuo ya'lamuo aljahra wa ma yakhfa (7).
Except what Allah should will, indeed, He knows what is declared, and what is hidden.
Wa nuyassiruka lel-yousra (8).
And We will ease You towards the ease.
Fa zakker in nafa-ati alzekra (9).
So Remind, if the reminder should benefit.
Sa ya-zzakkaruo man yakhsha (10).
He who fears will be reminded.
Wa ya-tajannabuha alashqa (11).
But the most wretched will avoid it.
Allazi yasla alnara alkubra (12).
Who will burn in the greatest Fire.
Thumma la yamutu feeha wa la yahya (13).
Then he will neither die therein, nor live.
Qad aflaha man tazakka (14).
Indeed, he has succeeded, who purifies himself.
Wa zakara esma Rabbihi fa salla (15).
And mentions the Name of his Lord, and prays.
Bal tu'thiruna alhayata alddunya (16).
But you prefer the worldly life.
Wa alakheratu khaiyrun wa abqa (17).
While the Hereafter is better and more enduring.
Inna haza lafi alssuhufi aloula (18).
Indeed, this is in the former scriptures.
Suhufi Ibrahima wa Musa (19).
The scriptures of Abraham and Moses.
Simplified interpretation:
Surat Al-A'la is one of the seven Surahs of the Holy Quran that begin with glorification, and it carries two commands for the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and two glad tidings, then Allah makes clear the fate of those who follow His Messenger, and the fate of those who turn away from Him, and Allah confirms in the last verses that the message of the heavenly religions is one.
And as narrated by Ubayy bin Ka'b: "The messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to pray witr with three Rak'ahs, in the first He would recite {Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High, the current Surah}, in the second Raka'h {Say O disbelievers, Surat Alkafiruon}, and in the third Rak'ah {Say, He is Allah, who is One, Surat Alikhlas}, and He would say the Qunut (Supplication) before bowing, and when He finished, He would say Subhana Almaliki Alquddus: Glory to be the Sovereign, the Holy, elongating the words at the last time" (Sunan Alnasai 1700). And as narrated by Nu'man bin Bashir: "The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to recite on two Eids and in Friday prayer {Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High, the current Surah}, and {Has there come to You the news of Overwhelming, Surat Alghashiyah}, and when the Eid and Jumu'ah combined on a day, He recited these two in both the prayers" (Sahih Muslim 878).
Surat Al-A'la is one of the four Surahs that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) commanded Mu'adh bin Jabal to recite when he leads people in the prayer (Imam) in order not to prolong the prayer, as Jabir bin Abdullah narrated: "Mu'adh bin Jabal Al-Ansari led his companions in Ishaa prayer (Evening prayer) and prolonged it for them. A person separated himself from us and prayed alone, Mu'adh was informed of this, and he remarked that he was a hypocrite, when his saying was conveyed to the man, he went to Allah's Messenger (PBUH) and informed Him of what Mu'adh had said, upon this Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said to him Do you want to be a person putting people to trial?, when you lead people in prayer Recite {Wa alshamsi wa duhaha: By the sun and its brightness, Surat Alshams}, {Sabehi esma Rabbika al-a'la: Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High, the current Surah}, {Eqra'a besmi Rabbika allazi khalaq: Read in the Name of Your Lord who created, Surat Al-Alaq}, and {Wa al-laili iza yaghsha: By the night when it covers, Surat Al-Lail}" (Sahih Muslim 465 b).
Allah Almighty says in the First five verses (1-5) "Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High, who created, then proportioned, and who destined, then guided, and who brought forth the pasture, and then made it black stubble", that is, Allah commanded His Messenger Muhammad (PBUH) to Glorify the Name of His Lord, the Most High, there is no Lord higher or greater than Him, and as narrated by Hudhaifa that Allah's Messenger used to say in His prostration Subhana Rabbiya Al-A'la: Glory to Be My Lord, the Most High (Sahih Muslim 772), and some of the companions of Allah's Messenger (PBUH) used to say Glory to be My Lord, the Most High, when they recite it. Then Allah describes Himself with some attributes that belong to Him alone, as the Most High is the One who created everything is in the heavens and everything is on the earth, and He created them in the best form, and Allah destined the fate of man, then guided man to the endeavor that corresponds to his destiny, and as narrated by Abdullah bin Amr bin Alas: "I heard Allah's Messenger (PBUH) as saying Allah ordained the measures of the creation fifty thousands years before He created the heavens and the earth, as His Throne was upon water" (Sahih Muslim 2653), then Allah says that He alone brought forth from the earth the pasture from various kinds of plants and seeds for the cattle, and He guided that cattle to their pasture, and then that pasture dries up and turns black.
Allah Almighty says in the next three verses (6-8) "We will make You recite, so You will not forget, except what Allah should will, indeed, He knows what is declared, and what is hidden, and We will ease You towards the ease", that is, Allah gave His Messenger glad tidings saying that He will make Him recite the Holy Quran, and He promised Him that He will not forget it, except what Allah wills that He should forget and do not remember, so you will forget what Allah abrogated from the Holy Quran and cancelled its rulings and recitation, and there were verses in the Holy Quran that Allah caused to be forgotten as He has stated in Aya (106) of Surat Albaqarah {We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten that We bring forth one better than it or one similar to it, Do You not know that Allah is All-powerful over everything?}, then Allah confirms that He knows what is declared, and what his creatures say and do openly, and that He knows what is hidden and what they conceal of their words and deeds, so nothing of this is hidden from Him and He even knows what the soul of man whispers as mentioned in Aya (16) of Surat Qaaf {And indeed, We have created man, and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than jugular vein}, Then Allah gave His Messenger (PBUH) the second glad tidings saying that He will make good deeds and words easy for Him, so He will find it easy and pleasant to do the good deeds, and that He will legislate for Him an easy, upright and just law in which there is no crookedness or difficulty, and it was said that it means that Allah will make the revelation easy for Him, so that He may memorize it and act upon it.
Allah Almighty says in the next five verses (9-13) "So Remind, if the reminder should benefit, he who fears will be reminded, but the most wretched will avoid it, who will burn in the greatest Fire, then he will neither die therein, nor live", that is, Allah commanded His Messenger (PBUH) to remind His people with the Quran if the reminder benefits them, and Allah assures that he who fears Allah and fears His punishment and knows that he will meet Him will take heed of what Allah's Messenger conveyed to him. But as for the most wretched, he will avoid the reminder, and it will not benefit him, so he will burn in Hellfire on the day of resurrection, then he will neither die therein, nor live, so he will not die in Hellfire and find rest nor will he live a life that benefit him, rather he will tortured with the painful torment and will abide in Hellfire as a recompense for his disbelief as Allah has stated in many verses of the Holy Quran, such as Aya (36) of Surat Fatir {And those who disbelieve, for them will be the fire of Hellfire, it will not be decreed for them that they will die, nor will its torment be lightened for them, thus, We recompense every ungrateful}, and Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said in narration of Abu Sa'id: "The inhabitants of the Fire who are doomed to it, they would neither die nor live in it, but the people whom the Fire would afflict on account of their sins, or He said on account of their misdeeds, He would cause them to die till they would be turned into charcoal, then they would be granted intercession and would be brought into groups and would be spread on the rivers of Paradise, then it would be said O inhabitants of Paradise, Pour water over them, then they would sprout forth like the sprouting of seeds in the silt carried by flood" (Sahih Muslim 185 a).
Allah Almighty says in the next two verses (14,15) "Indeed, he has succeeded, who purifies himself, and mentions the Name of his Lord, and prays", that is, Allah assures that the successful one is he who purified himself from disbelief, and followed Allah's Messenger (PBUH), so he did what Allah commanded and avoided what He forbade, and he mentioned the Name of Allah, and performed the prayers at their prescribed times, seeking Allah's pleasure, obeying His commands, and complying with His law, as the prayer is the dividing line between disbelief and belief, as Jabir bin Abdullah narrated that Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said: "Indeed, between man and polytheism and disbelief is abandoning the prayer" (Sahih Muslim 82). Therefore, abandoning prayer while denying its obligation is considered disbelief, and abandoning prayer out of negligence or laziness is considered disbelief that expel one from the fold of Islam according to many scholars.
Allah Almighty says in the next two verses (16,17) "But you prefer the worldly life, while the Hereafter is better and more enduring", that is, Allah assures that people prefer the worldly life and give it precedence over the Hereafter, while the Hereafter is better and more enduring, so How can a sane man prefer what perishes over what remains, and cares about what will soon ends, and abandons the abode of immortality?. And Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said in narration of Mustawred Bin Shaddad: "By Allah! This world compared to the Hereafter is nothing but like that one of you puts his finger (and Yahya pointed with his forefinger) in the sea, so Let him see what it returns with?" (Sahih Muslim 2858).
Allah Almighty says in the last two verses (18,19) "Indeed, this is in the former scriptures, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses", that is, Allah assures that the message of the heavenly religions is one, saying that what He has stated in this Surah is in the former Scriptures, the Scriptures that Allah revealed to Abraham and Moses, so all scriptures came to explain the way to Allah, and to warn man against indulging in the pleasures of this worldly life and leaving work for the Hereafter, and Allah's Books state that the Hereafter is better and more lasting than the worldly life.