There are passages in the Quran running to several rukus (paragraphs) on a single topic. On the other hand a single ayah may discuss several issues. The index ayah is an example of the latter. During the explanation of this ayah Maulana Maudoodi declares in his monumental tafseer “Tafheemul-ul-Quran” “In this brief sentence the whole essence of the mission of the Prophets bas been compressed, which one should clearly understand”.

The words and their sequence of the initial part of the ayah are very important and meaningful. It begins as لَقَد أَرسَلنا رُسُلَنا  i.e. “We have already sent Our messengers……”. By using the pleural tense, God Almighty is signaling loud and clear that the Divine Message is similar and identical all down the line. All messengers preached the same theme and idea, equipped with books, miracles and clear signs. This ensures the unity of the Divine Message. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein et al mention in their modern tafseer “The Study Quran” state “In this context, the Book refers to all scriptures”.

The word bayyinat— بِالبَيِّناتِ—means to make or become clear, evident, manifest, plain, or apparent. It could mean “clear injunctions”. It may refer to miracles, clear proofs and evidences of Prophet-hood and Messenger-ship. [Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hayyan]. It appears that “in the Quran, clarity and exposition of truths are attributes of God’s revelations and the teachings of God’s prophets”. Thus all revelation is presented as a clear proof.^[3]

“We have made plain to you the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses) if you understand”.

An alternative translation reads as:

“We have made plain for you the revelations if ye will understand”.

The Prophet Muhammad is described in the Quran as as “making clear”^[4]

“And upon thee [too] have We bestowed from on high this divine writ for no other reason than that thou might make clear unto them all [questions of faith]……….”

And so is Prophet Jesus: ^[5]

“NOW WHEN Jesus came [to his people] with all evidence of the truth, he said: “I have now come unto you with wisdom,1 and to make clear unto you some of that on which you are at variance…….”

And lastly Prophet Moses performs the same task:^[6]

“There came to you Moses with clear (Signs)……..”

Thus the Quran makes it clear that Allah’s Messengers were for real and not impostors; that the truths presented by them were really the truths; that what they labelled as untrue was not true indeed.

The next segment of the ayah وَأَنزَلنا مَعَهُمُ الكِتابَ وَالميزانَ brings out an important cause for controversy in understanding our Holy Text. The pronoun “وَ”  between al-kitaab and al-meezaan usually and commonly means “and”. This segment is usually translated as “sent down with them the Book and the Balance”.

Mufti Mohammed Shafi states “the Holy Qur’an has set forth two factors as fundamental to the establishment of justice: [I] the Book; and [2] the Balance. The Book sets forth the Divine rights and the human rights, and the need to fulfill them; it prohibits their violation. The Balance lays down the system which maintains just equilibrium in human social relations”. Therefore the literature is filled with a long controversy about the definition of the word “meezaan”. However “وَ”  has about nineteen meanings. One of them is “ie or viz” which in-fact is applicable in the ayah we are discussing. Hence Dr. Mohammed Asad, in his famous exegesis “The Message of the Quran” renders this segment as “We bestowed revelation from on high, and [thus gave you] a balance [wherewith to weigh right and wrong]. In simple language it could be stated “ the book ie a balance”. In other words the Quran provides us a scheme to evaluate and categorize  the moral problems around us as maaroof or munkar (acceptable or rejected). It refers to the God-given faculty to judge between right and wrong. The research scholar and mentor Javed

Ahmed Ghamdi emphasises that the  pronoun “وَ” here is used as tafseer (explanation). Hence “Meezaan” in fact is illustrating and speaking for the “Book”. His Ustaad (teacher), the prominent scholar Imam Amin Ahsan Ilahi endorses this view. He writes “Combining Meezaan with Kitaab, in my view is to illustrate the most important purpose of the book itself ie it weighs and discloses how much one stands on justice and how much is an unnecessary addition.” (my translation). “The Balance has many meanings, including the religious Law (Sharīʿah), which provides the standard by which to weigh what is good and beneficial against what is evil and harmful. From another perspective, “the Balance indicates all of those things by which human beings uphold the justice enjoined in the scriptures” mentions the modern tafseer “The Study Quran”.

The three words in the next segment of the ayah announce one of the cardinal features and main goals of our Deen. It is declared لِيَقومَ النّاسُ بِالقِسطِ ie “that men may stand forth in justice.”  The eminent scholar Maudoodi throws in “The main purpose of sending all the messengers is that humanity stands for justice and equity” in his glorious tafseer Ma’aariful Quran. Think of the ground reality, even among or should I say mainly in Muslims and this objective appears to be miles and miles away. The system of human life, individual and collective should rest 0n decency and impartiality. Beginning with the rights of God Almighty, the rights of self and that of all around us—human and animals—should be respected. Maintaining correct balance in all collective activities will ensure elimination of all types of extremism. This spirit of equity should seep into “his mind, his character, his conduct and his dealings” guaranteeing the spiritual, moral and material well-being of every soul. Thus every sphere of life, beliefs and actions, individual and collective should be based on justice. It should be known that Messengers were not sent just for preaching but to induce and dictate folks for justice. The eminent scholar Sayyid Qutb in his tafseer “Fee Zilalil Quran” narrates similar opinions. I am forced to quote him because of his forceful language and style “This Divine Message also sets the Balance so that people can maintain proper balance in the evaluation of every thing around including action, events and people. This is essential to ward off the turmoil from conflicting desires and interests pulling us apart. This balance or standard bestowed by God is the only guarantee of safety for humanity in the midst of tempests, earthquakes and other turmoil that overwhelms it as it finds itself in the middle of an ocean of conflicting desires and sentiments, competition and selfishness. Hence it is imperative that people should have an accurately balanced and steady standard that points them to the truth, justice and fairness with no favoritism whatsoever. The purpose of this balance, then, is “that people could uphold justice” (index ayah). This accurate balance that is an essential part of Divine Law is indispensable.”

After deliberating on two spiritual matters—bayyinah and meezaan—the ayah moves on to the material world by referring to “iron”. It reads   وَأَنزَلنَا الحَديدَ and We sent down Iron فيهِ بَأسٌ شَديدٌ  wherein is mighty power   وَمَنافِعُ لِلنّاسِ as well as many benefits for mankind. Other renderings for بَأسٌ شَديدٌ are great military might— (material for) mighty war,—wherein is great violence— in which there is strong power—wherein is mighty power (in matters of war)—wherein is great might and lastly in which is (material for) mighty war. Let me point out that using the word وَأَنزَلنَا —ie we sent down —for iron just means we created iron in the earth. The Quran uses this terminology on many other occasions.

Till very lately, and even now iron is the most useful metal known to man. Together with steel it formed the foundation for the industrial revolution responsible for the prosperity and power of modern manufacturing nations. Man depends on it in war and peace. Most of the scholars have interpreted the mention of iron in this ayah as political and military Power, Discipline and Law’s sanctions. The prominent and popular Islamic scholar Dr. Israr Ahmed appeared visibly excited when discussing this ayah in his 108 video series of Al Bayaan—translation and short tafseer of the Quran. Apologizing for his use of the word, he said this is a nangi (naked) ayah advocating violent revolution for political dominance of Islam. And listen to the great scholar Maudoodi in his monumental tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran “The mention of sending down iron which has great strength and other benefits for men immediately after stating the object of the mission of the Prophets by itself indicates that by iron here is meant political and military power. Thus the verse means: Allah did not raise His Prophets in the world just to present a scheme for the establishment of justice, but it was also a part of their mission to endeavor to enforce it practically, to collect necessary power to establish justice in all spheres of life, to punish those who might disrupt it and to break the power of those who might resist it”. Iron is mentioned immediately after mentioning justice as the main theme of the Prophets. Some scholars like Mufti and Maudoodi surmise from this that iron ie force can be used to establish justice if dialogue and preaching is not effective. Imam Amin Ahsan Ilahi, the teacher of the research scholar and mentor Javed Ahmed Ghamdi also beats a similar chord. He explains that if warning and sermonizing to uphold justice does not succeed, resort to iron/force is a clear option. He reminds us of this  Sunnat-e-Ilahi (Divine practice) on conclusion of his mission (itmaam-e-hujjat) by a Prophet: if the majority has rejected him, God Almighty exterminates the rejectors by a natural disaster like flood and cyclone and saves the believers.  On the other hand, if the disbelievers are a minority, they are eliminated by the hands and power of the momins. It needs stressing that iron is mentioned as a last option and therefore should be used as such. It should not be used to teach and propagate justice but to enforce it in face of resistance. Strength and power of iron are the main reasons to include its name in this ayah; the other benefits of the metal are secondary. Lastly iron used to be the main and probably the only instrument for war. Now the situation is radically different; tanks and missiles are the “iron” of today.

I would like to throw in a suggestion on the floor. The index ayah mentions the power and might of iron. Our great scholars have developed a purpose, scheme and strategy for the Muslim brotherhood to use this power and might. I feel that an obsession, exaggeration and distortion of this plan has led to  lot of strife, conflict and violence within and without: among Muslims and against the non-Muslims

All that I have said about the reference to iron in this ayah is beautifully and effectively described by the eminent scholar Dr. Mohammed Asad in his tafseer “The Message of the Quran”. It sounds very beautiful, powerful and persuasive because of his vision, eloquence and command over language. I enjoyed reading it. I am quoting here if you are interested: “Side by side with enabling man to discriminate between right and wrong (which is the innermost purpose of all divine revelation), God has endowed him with the ability to convert to his use the natural resources of his earthly environment. An outstanding symbol of this ability is man’s skill, unique among all animated beings, in making tools; and the primary material for all tool-making – and, indeed, for all human technology – is iron: the one metal which is found abundantly on earth, and which can be utilized for beneficial as well as destructive ends. The “awesome power” (ba’s shadid) inherent in iron manifests itself not merely in the manufacture of weapons of war but also, more subtly, in man’s every-growing tendency to foster the development of an increasingly complicated technology which places the machine in the foreground of all human existence and which, by its inherent – almost irresistible – dynamism, gradually estranges man from all inner connection with nature. This process of growing mechanization, so evident in our modern life, jeopardizes the very structure of human society and, thus, contributes to a gradual dissolution of all moral and spiritual perceptions epitomized in the concept of “divine guidance”. It is to warn man of this danger that the Qur’an stresses – symbolically and metonymically – the potential evil (ba’s) of “iron” if it is put to wrong use: in other words, the danger of man’s allowing his technological ingenuity to run wild and thus to overwhelm his spiritual consciousness and, ultimately, to destroy all possibility of individual and social happiness.”

The next segment mentions وَلِيَعلَمَ اللَّهُ. Literally the words means “so that Allah may know”. But Allah’s knowledge is original, complete and eternal. Hence it is rendered also as HE may test or HE may make evident. God Almighty wants to test “those who succour Him and His Apostle” ie those who will stand up for the cause, purpose and principle of Allah and HIS apostles. And how does one do that? By putting all the Divine spiritual and material gifts to right use. To participate in jihad if necessary without any hesitation.

At the end the ayah declares إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِيٌّ عَزيزٌ ie Lo! Allah is Strong, Almighty. HE can enforce HIS will and needs no assistance from any quarters. All this exercise of sending Messengers is to guide and  assess HIS subjects; who will obey the unseen God Almighty and join hands with HIS messengers’

……..and Allah knows best.

May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding–“fahm”–of our Deen, Aameen.

Dr. Khalid Mitha