Al-Mulk (The Sovereignty)
Verse 1 - 2
Table of Contents
Section (juz’) 29
Number of Verses: 30
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful The blessed Chapter opens the twenty ninth part (juz’) of the Holy Qur’an. The Chapter, revealed in Mecca, has thirty Verses. Another designation of the Chapter is Tabarak (“the Bountiful”). Both designations are derived from the first Verse and denote “Sovereignty” and “Bountiful” respectively.
The blessed Chapter generally treats of the following:
1. Topics regarding the Origin of existence, Divine Attributes, the marvelous system of the Creation of the world of existence and man, and man’s means of gaining knowledge;
2. Topics concerning the Hereafter, torments of the Hell, and the conversations of the people of the Hell on the Day of Resurrection;
3. Warning the disbelievers and wrong doers against being afflicted with torments in this world and the Hereafter.
The Merit of Reciting the Chapter
The blessed Chapter is one of the most meritorious Qur’anic Chapters regarding which many a tradition have been narrated from the Noble Prophet (S) and the Infallible Imams (as) regarding the recitation of the blessed Chapter.
In this vein, it is narrated from the Noble Prophet (S) as saying:
“One who recites Surah al-Tabarak is like one who wakes up praying in the Night of Ordainment.1
According to another Prophetic tradition:
“I wish Surah al-Tabarak were recorded in the believers’ heart.2
Other traditions in this respect are to found in tradition sources.
Surah al-Mulk - Verses 1-2
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ تَبارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَ هُوَ عَلی كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (1) الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَ الْحَياةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلاً وَ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ (2)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
1. Bountiful is He in Whose Hand is the Sovereignty and He is All-Able to do all things.
2. The Lord who created death and life so that He may test you that which of you is better in deed. And He is the Omnipotent, the Oft-Forgiving.
The blessed Chapter 25 (Surah al-Furqan) also opens with the word
“Bountiful” (tabarak). The Arabic word tabarak, deriving from b-r-t, is cognate with the infinitive baraka (“permanent good”) and barka (“pond, where water gathers”).
All powers and states are subject to decline except for Divine Sovereignty which is everlasting.
The blessed Chapter opens with the significant issue of Divine Ownership, Sovereignty, and His Everlasting Pure Essence which serves as the key to all the discussions raised in the Chapter wherein it is said that He is Bountiful and Everlasting. He is the One in Whose Hand is the Sovereignty of the world of existence and He is Omnipotent.
The blessed Verse 1 is indicative of the Bountifulness of Divine Pure Essence, namely His Ownership and Sovereignty in the world of existence and His Omnipotence as the Everlasting and Bountiful Existent Being.
In other words, His Omnipotence, Majesty, and Infinite Might leave no room for any hopelessness, defect, and limit in the Omnipotence of the Absolute Mighty and Eternal Existent Being. His All-Mightiness in Infinite, His Knowledge encompasses all beings, His Omnipotence is Boundless, and the Emanation of His Existence embraces all creatures.
All intellectually possible existent beings, souls, essences of matter, and natural phenomena take their fill of the Infinite Ocean of Divine Emanation and are thereby existent and are dominated by His Existential Command. They all conspire to constitute such luxurious palace of the universe. It is through His Will that man comes into existence.
The second blessed Verse makes a reference to the goal of creation and man’s death and life which are indicative of Divine Ownership and Sovereignty, saying:
“He is the Lord who created death and life so that He may test you that which of you is better in deed.”
Death employed in the sense of non-existence is not created, since Creation concerns existential matters, though we know that death is truly transference from one world to another and in this sense, it is an existential matter which may be created. The precedence of death over life herein is owing to the profound impression made by according attention to death in performing good deeds. Besides, death temporally precedes life.
The blessed Verse also treats of the Divine Trial that as mentioned above is a kind of fostering such that it makes man enter the arena of action and thereby makes them experienced and pure deserving Divine Proximity.
Further treatment of the topic is to be found under 2:155. It is worthy of note that the goal behind trial is mentioned as performing good deeds rather than the quantity of such deeds. Deeds are supposed to be performed sincerely for the sake of God Almighty even if they happen to be few in terms of quantity.
It is mentioned in some Prophetic traditions that
“good deeds”
connotes perfect intellect, fear of God Almighty, and being fully aware of Divine Commands even if the good deeds happen to be few in terms of number.
It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) as saying that the blessed Verse is indicative of proper acts which are accompanied by worshipping God Almighty and having pure intentions. He further says that preservation of deeds from impurities is harder than performing deeds and sincerely performed righteous good deeds are those whose agent does not expect praise from anyone besides God Almighty.1
Thus, the world is the arena of a great trial for all mankind. Death and life are the means of the trial and the goal behind it is to achieve performing good righteous deeds which are indicative of the development of inward knowledge, sincerity of intentions, and performing any kind of good righteous deeds.
In this vein, some Qur’an exegetes maintain that
“good deeds”
herein connote remembrance of death or preparation for death and the like. In fact they refer to different implications of the general sense of the word. Since man commits numerous mistakes in such great arena of trial, he should not despair of having committed such mistakes and thereby refrain from striving toward his spiritual growth.
The blessed Verse closes with the Divine Promise of Support and Forgiving of sins, saying that God Almighty is Invincible and Oft-Forgiving. He is the Omnipotent Lord Who forgives all repenting believers and His Might and Majesty is accompanied by Mercy and Compassion.
Footnotes
Tafsir Safi, under the blessed Verse in question. ↩