Az-Zumar (The Groups)

9. Is one who is obedient to Allah, prostrating himself or standing in prayer during the hours of the night, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the Mercy of his Lord [is better or such a person]? Say: “Are those who know equal to those who know not?” It is only men of understanding who will remember [and get a lesson].

Alongside the preceding Verses depicting the characteristics of the people of Fire, the blessed Verse in question treats of the believers’ characteristics.

The preceding Verse says that some people solely invoke God in hardships and forget Him in peace of mind and comfort whereas the Verse question says that believers irrespective of hardships and comforts remember God Almighty at all times.

This Verse reflects the employment of the Qur’anic methodological treatment of questions to ask the rhetorical question:

Is such person worthy of Divine Reward or the one who worships God Almighty:

“prostrating himself or standing in prayer during the hours of the night, fearing the [chastisement] of the Hereafter and Hoping for the Mercy of his Lord?”

The disbelieving, forgetful, capricious, astray, and misleading man is too apart from the one whose soul is awakened and when the neglectful are asleep prostrates before his Friend and invokes Him in awe and hope.

They neither regard themselves secure from chastisement in comfort nor do they lose their hope for His Mercy in hardship; as a consequence of which they constantly, willfully, and attentively tread the Path toward their Friend.

The present participle:

qanit (“obedient”)

indicates the accompaniment of obedience with humbleness. ana’ is the plural form of ana’ which indicates hour and portion of time.

The emphasis laid on the hour of night reveals that at that time presence of heart is more and impurities springing from dissimulation are less than any other time.

“Prostrating” (sajidan)

Precedes:

“standing in prayer” (qa’iman)

since prostration is a higher state of worship and the absoluteness of Divine Mercy and Its lack of restriction to the Hereafter reflects the inclusivity of Divine Mercy in this world and the Hereafter.

According to a tradition narrated from Imam Baqir (as) attested in ‘Ilal al-Shara’i’ and Kafi:

“Is one who is obedient to Allah, prostrating himself or standing in prayer during the hours of the night”

is interpreted as night prayer.¹

Addressing the Prophet (S), the Verse reads:

“Are those who know equal to those who know not?”

The reply to this rhetorical question follows thus:

“It is only men of understanding who will remember [and get a lesson].”

Though the question is signifies a wide range of meaning explicitly referring to those who know and those who know not, men of understanding and the ignorant, but owing to the fact that the preceding question treats of the inequality of believers praying to God at night time and disbelievers, the latter question alludes to the same question, namely those obdurate disbelievers are not on a par with sincere devout believers.

It is to be noted that the aforementioned rhetorical question and is regarded as one of the fundamental slogans of the Islamic faith bears testimony to the Glory of knowledge and the knowledgeable against the ignorant and with due consideration of its inclusivity, it is evident that the two groups are neither on a par at Divine Threshold nor from the viewpoint of the aware; they are far apart in this world and the Hereafter. They are inwardly and outwardly unlike to one another.

The word:

knowledge (‘ilm)

is not employed ad hoc in the sense of knowing some terms or the material links amongst things; in other words, it does not indicate “formal sciences” but it denotes a specific knowledge and awareness that leads man to obedience (qunut) to God Almighty and fear of Judgment makes man to set his hopes on Divine Mercy.

This the truth of knowledge and formal sciences constitute knowledge in case they are in this vein; otherwise, they lead to vanity, neglect, wrong doing, and corruption in this world and they are no more than futile discussions not leading to spiritual realization.

Contrary to what the ignorant imagine regarding religion as the opium of people, the most fundamental prophetic calls addressed gaining knowledge thereby proclaiming their objection against ignorance at all times.

Besides the Qur’anic Verses imbued with the exposition of such truth, Islamic traditions abound in such unimaginable expressions concerning the significance of gaining knowledge.

According to a prophetic tradition:

“Life is solely fruitful for two people: a knowledgeable person whose views are followed and students giving their ears to a scholar.”2

A tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) says:

“Scholars are the inheritors of prophets, since the latter left no worldly possessions but they left sciences and traditions and whoever possesses anything enjoys abundant possessions of prophets’ heritage.”

Imam Sadiq (as) further adds:

“Be careful from whom you gain your knowledge [from real scholars or pretenders to knowledge]. Know that at any era, there are just and trustworthy individuals from amongst us, the Prophet’s (S) Household, who reject the extremists’ distortions, the deviants’ baseless claims, and the justifications of the ignorant in order to remove the impurities from this pure religion.”3

The blessed Verse in question makes mention of three groups of people: those who know, those who do not know, and men of understanding.

A tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) includes an interpretation concerning the three groups mentioned herein:

“We are those who know, our enemies are those who do not know, and our followers are men of understanding.”4

According to a tradition, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ‘Ali (as) departed one night from the Mosque at Kufa toward his house while he was accompanied by one of his intimate friends, Kumayl ibn Ziyad. Passing by a house from which they could hear a man reciting:

“Is one who is obedient to Allah, prostrating himself or standing in prayer during the hours of the night, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the Mercy of his Lord”

with a pleasing and sad voice, Kumayl was quite pleased with the spiritual state of the man though he refrained from uttering any word.

Imam ‘Ali (as) turned to him and said:

“Do not be pleased by this man’s voice. He is among the people of the Hell! I will inform you of that soon!”

Kumayl was taken aback since Imam ‘Ali (as) had been able to read his mind and besides, he had informed him of the apparently pious man’s place in Hell.

Before long, Seceders (Khariji’s, khawarij) disobeyed Imam ‘Ali (as) and the Imam waged war against them, though they knew the Qur’an by heart as It was revealed to the Holy Prophet of Islam (S).

Standing among the carcasses of the rebellious disbelievers, Imam ‘Ali (as), holding his sword in his hand, turned to Kumayl and pointed with his sword at one of heads fallen on the battleground and said unto him:

“O Kumayl! Is one who is obedient to Allah, prostrating himself or standing in prayer during the hours of the night, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the Mercy of his Lord.”

By which he meant that it was the same person reciting the Holy Qur’an that night and whose seemingly spiritual state had made you wonder. Kumal kissed the Imam and prayed for repentance.²