42. Ash-Shuraa
42.1 Al-Hasan (رضي الله عنه) said
People never seek advice without being guided to the best possibility available to them. Then he recited,
وأمرهم شورى بينهم
And manage their affairs by mutual consultation (42:38)
42.2 Narrated Tawus (رضي الله عنه)
Ibn ‘Abbas (رضي الله عنه) was asked about this Ayah:
قل لا أسألكم عليه أجرا إلا المودة في القربى
Say: ‘No reward do I ask of you for this except to be kind for my kinship with you (42:23).’
So Sa’eed bin Jubair said: ‘To be kind to the family of Muhammad.’ Ibn ‘Abbas replied: ‘You know that there was no family of the Quraish except that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) had some relatives among them.’ He said: ‘Except that you should uphold ties of kinship that exist between me and you.'”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3251
42.3 Narrated Masruq (رضي الله عنه)
“I was reclining in the presence of ‘Aishah (رضي الله عنها) when she said: ‘O Abu ‘Aishah! There are three things, whoever speaks of one of them, then he has uttered one of the worst lies against Allah. Whoever claims that Muhammad saw his Lord. Then he has uttered one the worst lies against Allah, Allah says:
No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision, and He is the Most Subtle, Well-Acquainted with all things (6:103).
وما كان لبشر أن يكلمه الله إلا وحيا أو من وراء حجاب
It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him unless (it be) by revelation or from behind a veil (42:51).’
I was reclining so I sat up an said: ‘O Mother of the Believers! Take your time with me and do not be hasty with me! Did Allah Most High not say:
And indeed he saw him at a second descent (53:13).
(And)
‘And indeed he saw him in the clear horizon (81:23).’
She said ‘By Allah! I was the first who asked the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) about this. He said: “That was only Jibril. I did not see him in the appearance he was created in except for these two times. I saw him descending from the heavens, and due to his tremendous size he filled what was between the heavens and the earth.” “And whoever claimed that Muhammad hid anything that Allah revealed to him, then he uttered one of the worst lies against Allah. Allah says:
O Messenger! Proclaim what has been sent down to you from your Lord (5:67).”
“And whoever claimed that he (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) knew what would be tomorrow, then he has uttered one of the worst lies against Allah. Allah says:
Say: ‘None in the heavens and in the earth knows the unseen but Allah (27:65).'”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3068
42.4 Narrated ‘Ubaidullah bin Al-Wazi’
“A Shaikh from Banu Murrah narrated to me, he said: ‘I arrived in Al-Kufah and was informed about Bilal bin Abi Burdah so I said: “Indeed there is a lesson in him” so I went to him while he was imprisoned in his home, which he had built.’ He said: ‘After everything that had happened to him he had changed due to the punishment and the beatings, and now he was living in isolation. So I said: “All praise is due to Allah O Bilal! I have seen you passing you by us holding your nose, and it was not from the dust! And today you are in this state.’
So he said: ‘Where are you from?’ I said: ‘From Banu Murrah bin ‘Abbad.’ So he said: ‘Shall I not narrate a Hadith to you, perhaps Allah will benefit you by it?’ I said: ‘Go ahead.’ He said: ‘My father, Abu Burdah narrated from his father Abu Musa, that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “No worshiper suffers a calamity nor what is worse than that or less, except due to a sin, and what Allah pardons as a result of it is more.” He (Abu Musa) said:
“And he recited: And whatever misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned (42:30).”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3252
42.5 Ibn Kathir (رحمه الله) related about
ومن كان يريد حرث الدنيا نؤته منها وما له في الآخرة من نصيب
And whoever desires the harvest of this world – We give him thereof, but there is not for him in the Hereafter any share (42:20)
It was reported that Ubayy bin Ka’b (رضي الله عنه) said, The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “Give the glad tidings to this Ummah of sublimity, high status, victory and power in the land. But whoever among them does the deeds of the Hereafter for the sake of worldly gain, will have no portion of the Hereafter.”
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
42.6 Ibn Kathir (رحمه الله) related about
وهو الذي يقبل التوبة عن عباد
And it is He who accepts repentance from his servants (42:25)
It was reported that Az-Zuhri that Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said that Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “Allah rejoices more over the repentance of His servant than one of you feels when he finds his lost camel in a place where he had feared that he would die of thirst.”
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
42.7 Ibn Kathir (رحمه الله) related about
وما أصابكم من مصيبة فبما كسبت أيديكم ويعفو عن كثير
And whatever strikes you of disaster – it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much (42:30)
According to a Sahih Hadith: “By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no believer is stricken with fatigue, exhaustion, worry or grief, but Allah will forgive him for some of his sins thereby -even a thorn which pricks him.”
Imam Ahmad recorded that Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (رضي الله عنه) said, I heard the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) say: “No physical harm befalls a believer, but Allah will expiate for some of his sins because of it.”
Imam Ahmad (رحمه الله) also recorded that A’ishah (رضي الله عنها) said, The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “If a person commits many sins and has nothing that will expiate for them, Allah will test him with some grief that will expiate for them.”
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
42.8 Ibn Kathir (رحمه الله) related about
فمن عفا وأصلح فأجره على الله
But whoever pardons and makes reconciliation – his reward is [due] from Allah (42:40)
It is said in a Sahih Hadith: “Allah does not increase the person who forgives except in honor.”
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
42.9 Mufti Shafi Usmani (رحمه الله) related about
الله لطيف بعباده يرزق من يشاء وهو القوي العزيز
Allah is Subtle with His servants; He gives provisions to whom He wills. And He is the Powerful, the Exalted in Might. (42:19)
Shah Abdul Ghani Phulpuri (رحمه الله) relates from Haji Imdadullah (رحمه الله) that anyone who recites the above verse (42:19 from Surah Ash-Shura) seventy times every morning regularly, would be preserved from shortage of sustenance and said that experience has shown it to be very effective.
(Ma’ariful Qur’an)
42.10 Mufti Shafi Usmani (رحمه الله) related about
قل لا أسألكم عليه أجرا إلا المودة في القربى
Say, [O Muhammad], “I do not ask you for this message any payment [but] only good will through kinship.” (42:23)
Sayyidna Ibn ‘Abbas (رضي الله عنه) says that when this verse was revealed, people asked the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) as to who are his kinsfolk, and he replied that Sayyidna Ali (رضي الله عنه), Sayyidah Fatimah (رضي الله عنها) and their offspring (رضي الله عنهم اجمعين).
Since one’s children are the closest relations, hence the reverence and love for the children of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is undoubtedly a necessary element of faith. But it does not mean that one should ignore or forget the pure wives (رضي الله عنهما) or other noble Companions (رضي الله عنهم) who had manifold associations, closeness and relationships with the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم).
The gist is that love for the progeny and for the family members of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) has never been a matter of controversy in the Ummah. It has been taken by the entire Ummah unanimously as an essential requirement of faith. Controversies arise when the reverence of others is attacked, otherwise reverence and love for even common descendants of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), known as S’adat, no matter how distantly related to him, is an honor for a Muslim and is a source of reward in the Hereafter.
Since many people started neglecting it, Imam Shafi’i (رحمه الله) denounced this attitude in a few couplets reproduced below:
یا راکباً قف بالمحصّب من منیً *** واھتف بساکن خیفھا والناھض
سِحراً اِذا فاضَ الحجیج الیٰ منیً *** فیضاً کملتطم الفرات الفایٔض
إن کان رفضاً حُبُّ اٰلِ محَمَّد ﷺ *** فلیشھد الثقلان انّی رافضی
O rider! Halt near the valley of Muhassab in Mina, and when the sea of Hajj pilgrims advances in quick waves towards Mina in the morning, announce to every passer-by and inhabitant of the area that if only the love of the progeny of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is rifd (extreme Shi’ism), then I ask all the jins and humans of this universe to witness that I am also a rafidi (staunch Shi’ah)
This statement of Imam Shafi’i (رحمه الله), in fact, is the standpoint of the whole ummah.
(Abridged from Ma’ariful Qur’an)
42.11 Imam Suyuti (رحمه الله) related about
قل لا أسألكم عليه أجرا إلا المودة في القربى
Say, [O Muhammad], “I do not ask you for this message any payment [but] only good will through kinship.” (42:23)
Imam Ibn Najar narrated from Hazrat Hasan bin Ali (رضي الله عنه) in his Tarikh that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said, “Everything has a foundation and the foundation of Islam is the love with my Sahaba (companions) and Ahl al-Bayt (family).”
(Dur al-Manthur)
42.12 Mufti Shafi Usmani (رحمه الله) related about
وأمرهم شورى بينهم
And whose affair is [determined by] consultation among themselves (42:38)
Khatib Baghdadi has narrated the following statement of Sayyidna Ali (رضي الله عنه) asked the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) that if, after you we face a situation about which neither the Qur’an has any specific ruling, nor have you given any direction, how should we proceed’?” The Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) replied by saying, “In such a case, assemble abidin (the worshipping people) of my ummah, and decide the matter by mutual consultation; do not take decision on any individual’s single opinion.” (Ruh-ul-Ma’ani, referring to Khatib)
In some versions of this narration, the word ‘fuqaha‘ (jurists) also appears alongwith abidin (the worshipping people) which means that the jurists who have understanding of the religion and worshipers are the ones who should be consulted. The author of Ruh-ul-Ma’ani has stated that if the above process is not followed in consultation, rather irreligious people and people without proper knowledge of religion are consulted, the ill effects would prevail upon the good in their advice.
Baihaqi (رحمه الله) has narrated in Shu’ab-ul-Iman from Sayyidna Ibn Umar (رضي الله عنه) that the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) has said, “Anyone who intends to do something, and he takes that action after consultation, Allah Ta’ala would guide him towards the best possible option.” It means that He will turn that person’s direction towards an option that results in his betterment.
A similar Hadith reported by Sayyidna Hasan (رضي الله عنه) has been reproduced by Bukhari in Al-Adab-ul-Mufrad, and by Abd Ibn Humaid in his Musnad that the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), after reciting the above verse, said: “When a nation takes an action after mutual consultation, it is surely guided towards the correct course.”
As reported in a Hadith, the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said, “So far as your rulers are the best among you, your rich people are generous (enough to spend in the way of Allah and on poor people) and your affairs are decided through mutual consultation, then the back of the earth would be better for you than its belly (i.e. the life would be better than death) but when your rulers are the worst from among you, your rich people are misers and your affairs are given in the charge of women, then the belly of the earth will be better for you than its back (i.e. death will be better than life). (Ruh-ul-Ma’ani)
(Ma’ariful Qur’an)
﴾ بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ﴿ 
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