Al-Jinn (The Jinn)

13. 'And when we heard the Guidance of the Holy Qur’an, we believed therein and whoever believes in his Lord shall have no fear, either of a decrease or injustice.

14. 'And that some amongst us are Muslims and some are disobedient.' And whoever embraces Islam has opted for the Straight Path.

15. And as for the disobedient, they shall be firewood for Hell.

The believing jinn proceed to say:

“When we heard the Guidance of the Holy Qur’an, we believed in it,”

intending to say that if they call others unto the Guidance of the Holy Qur’an, they have already acted upon the same; thus, they do not call others to something which they have already neglected.

The consequence of believing in God Almighty is expressed in a terse clause, saying:

“Whosoever believes in his Lord shall fear neither decrease nor injustice.”

The Arabic word bakhs implies decrease stemming from injustice and the word rahaqa connotes to cover by force.

Some Qur’an exegetes maintain that the distinction lying between the twain is that the former implies that nothing shall be decreased from their righteous good deeds and the latter reflects that nothing shall be added to their sins and vices.

Some also hold that the former implies decrease in righteous good deeds and the latter is used in the sense of hard task. At any rate, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse in question reflects that no matter whether the deeds are significant or otherwise, the believing shall be granted the Rewards without any increase or decrease. It is true that Divine Justice is not restricted to the believing, but since disbelievers do no righteous good deeds, they are not mentioned herein.

The blessed Verse 14 provides further explanation as to the believers’ and the disbelievers’ fates:

“And that some amongst us are Muslims and some are disobedient.”

The present participial form

qasit (“just distributor”), derived from the root q-s-t (“distribute or divide justly”), made from the fourth form of the root, if‘al, implying transitivity, connotes administration of justice, though used in its trilateral form, as appearing herein, implies disobedience and digression from the Path of Truth.

The blessed Verse proceeds to say:

“And whoever embraces Islam has opted for the Straight Path,”

proceeding toward Divine Guidance and Rewards.

The blessed Verse 15 adds:

“But as to the disobedient, they shall be firewood in Hell.”

It is worthy of note that the verbal form

aslama (“believed”), in preceding blessed Verse, stands in contrast with qasit (herein: “disobedient”) in the blessed Verse in question, implying that faith impedes man from plunging into disobedience, as the disbelieving are certainly adulterated with disobedience and wrong doing.

It also implies that the true believers may never be adulterated with disobedience.

In this respect, it is narrated from the Noble Prophet (S) as saying:

“A true believer is one from whose part people are assured of the security of their life and property.”1

According to another Prophetic tradition,

“Muslim is one from whose hands and tongue other are rest assured.2

The Arabic clause

“They have sought the Straight Path” (taharru rashadan),

appearing at the close of the previous Verse, implies that the believing proceed toward Guidance attentively and intentionally rather than blindly, and their most cherished Reward lies in attaining to the Truth thanks to which, they may avail themselves of all Divine Bounties; whereas the worst misfortune of the disobedient is that they shall be firewood in Hell, inwardly set ablaze.