The grandeur of Quranic expression is manifested in the condensation of the constitution of human life and the rungs of success in the hereafter into a few words that shake the conscience of the believer and place him before the reality of his existence and destiny. Among these most eloquent verses is the word of Almighty God in Surah An-Nazi'at: ﴿وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى * فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَى﴾ («And as for he who feared the standing of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge»). This noble verse is not limited to being a divine promise of the best reward, but rather represents a comprehensive educational and psychological method that links the perception of the Creator's grandeur in the unseen with the ability to control the soul's impulses in the world of testimony, thus drawing the dividing line between two paths with no third: the path of tyranny and preference for worldly life, and the path of reverent fear and the struggle against oneself, making inner vigilance a safety valve that protects man from slipping into the abysses of vice and negligence.
The narratives in the books of the occasions of revelation and traditional exegesis have varied regarding the specific context in which this verse was revealed, although the lesson lies in the generality of the expression and not in the specificity of the cause, as is established among the scholars of jurisprudence. Imam Al-Qurtubi narrated in his book "Al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Quran" and Al-Baghawi in "Ma'alim al-Tanzil", through Said ibn Jubayr and Muqatil, that the verse was revealed concerning Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, or regarding Mus'ab ibn Umair and his brother Abu al-Ruum ibn Umair, while others mentioned that it was revealed concerning a man from the Ansar whom a beautiful woman captivated; when he was alone with her and prepared to commit sin, he remembered his standing before Almighty God on the Day of Resurrection, whereupon he trembled with fear and restrained his soul from sin out of fear of God, and God revealed this verse concerning him as a reward for the sincerity of his struggle, so that it might remain as a testimony for all believers who follow this path until the Day of Judgment, affirming that salvation does not lie in immunity from sinful thoughts, but rather in vigilance before the assault of temptations.
Immersing ourselves in the seas of exegesis, we find the imam of exegetes, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, detailing in "Jami' al-Bayan" the meaning of «feared the standing of his Lord» as the servant's fear of his position before Almighty God to be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection, when secrets are exposed and records are unfolded. Hafiz Ibn Kathir corroborated this meaning in his exegesis, transmitting from Qatada and Mujahid that what is intended by the standing is to stand before Almighty God on the Day of Judgment; therefore, if the servant remembers that imposing position, he refrains from sins. Meanwhile, Fakhr al-Razi in "Mafatih al-Ghaib" and Al-Zamakhshari in "Al-Kashshaf" added another rhetorical and doctrinal dimension, pointing out that the word "standing" (maqam) may also carry the meaning of the watchful position and the all-encompassing knowledge of the Lord Almighty over His servant, as in His word: ﴿أَفَمَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ عَلَى كُلِّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ﴾ («Then is He who is a maintainer over every soul by what it has earned...»)? Thus, two fears that grant security unite in the heart of the believer: a fear of God's vigilance present in this world, and a fear of standing before Him to be held accountable in the hereafter, which was expressed by Rabi' ibn Khuthaym when he was told during his illness: «Shall we call a physician for you?», to which he responded by recalling this verse:
«I know that my illness is sins, and my medicine is the seeking of forgiveness».
This fear in the heart is only completed by translating it into practical conduct represented in the second part of the verse: ﴿وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى﴾ («And prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination»). Here, the acute sayings of the pious predecessors and the imams of purification are manifested in dissecting the reality of this prohibition; Al-Tabari and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, may God be pleased with him, said: «You are in an era where truth guides passion, and an era will come where passion guides truth, so we take refuge in God from that time». Muqatil ibn Hayyan interpreted the prohibition of passion as the restraining of the soul before prohibitions and desires that God detests, and Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad uttered his famous phrase: «The best of actions is opposing passion», while Imam Sahl ibn Abd Allah al-Tustari formulated a golden rule saying: «Leaving passion is the key to Paradise, due to His word: And whoever feared the standing of his Lord and prevented the soul from passion». Imam Ibn al-Qayyim observed in his books "Madarij al-Salikin" and "Al-Wabil al-Sayyib" the secret of combining fear and the prohibition of the soul in this verse, explaining that passion invites ephemeral pleasure regardless of the consequence, and no authority in the heart resists the dominance of passion except the authority of fear of God. When the authority of fear and the majesty of the divine presence strengthen, the dominance of passion breaks and the soul prone to evil retreats, because the soul by its nature tends toward comfort and desire, but if it is reined in with the bridle of piety, it is straightened onto the straight path.
The masters of eloquence and analytical exegesis, such as Imam Abu Hayyan al-Andalusi in "Al-Bahr al-Muhit" and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in "Majmu' al-Fatawa", dwelt on the deep linguistic meaning of the root "hawa" (passion), which revolves in the language of the Arabs around the meaning of falling and descending from high to low; it is said: «the star fell (hawa)» when it descended. It is as if the denomination carries within it an implicit warning that following the censurable desires of the soul is not an elevation of the human being nor a liberation of his will, but rather a collapse of his spirit from the heaven of divine dignity to the abysses of degradation. Hence, the expression was formulated as «prevented the soul» in a way that suggests the soul is an entity that rivals its owner and requires firm discourse and continuous repression, which was expressed by Imam Al-Ghazali in "Ihya Ulum al-Din" when he compared reason to a knight hunting, and passion and anger to a steed and a hunting dog; if the knight surrenders to the rebellion of his steed he perishes, but if he tames it and pulls its reins he reaches his goal. Therefore, it is attributed to Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, his eloquent saying: «Return ignorant matters to the Sunna and restrain passions with the Quran».
Among the most creative rhetorical subtleties that scholars have extracted from this verse is the precise comparison between it and its counterpart in Surah Ar-Rahman: ﴿وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ﴾ («And for he who has feared the standing of his Lord are two gardens»); where the context in Surah Ar-Rahman was limited to mentioning «fear of the standing» because it is framed within the counting of blessings and motivation, whereas it added in Surah An-Nazi'at His word: ﴿وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى﴾ («And prevented the soul from passion») because the context there is that of the horrors of the Day of Judgment and the separation between two groups. Thus, the addition came to explain the reality of sincere fear and distinguish it from illusory fear, since praiseworthy fear is not merely a passing emotion in the heart or a tear that wells up upon hearing an admonition only for its owner to return to his misguidance; rather, the practical proof of the sincerity of fear of God's standing is restraining the soul's impulses when the winds of desire and temptation blow. That is why Imam Al-Shatibi said in "Al-Muwafaqat": All legislation came solely to take the legally responsible person out of the dictates of his passion until he is a servant of God by choice, just as he is His servant by necessity.
The exegetes also reflected upon the secret of the astonishing proportion in the contraposition between the two parts of the division in the surah; on the side of wretchedness, Almighty God said: ﴿فَأَمَّا مَنْ طَغَى * وَآثَرَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا * فَإِنَّ الْجَحِيمَ هيَ الْمَأْوَى﴾ («As for he who transgressed * And preferred the life of the world * Then indeed, Hellfire will be [his] refuge»), and on the side of happiness, He contrasted "transgression" —which is the violation of limits and arrogance— with "fear of the Lord's standing", which produces humility and brokenness, and contrasted "preference for the worldly life" with "preventing the soul from passion", because the origin of every sin and preference for the ephemeral over the enduring arises precisely from following passion. Thus, God made the remedy against transgression the fear of His standing, and the remedy against inclination toward the world the weaning of the soul from its passions, to purify the heart from the impurities of attachment to other than its Creator, and to enter the earthly paradise represented in the tranquility of contentment and peace, before accessing the paradise of the hereafter, which is the true abode and refuge of the righteous.
The verse reaches the pinnacle of the miraculous by linking reward with deed in the word of Almighty God: ﴿فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَى﴾ («Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge»), where the divine expression used the most eloquent formulas of emphasis and exclusion; it began the sentence with "Inna" (indeed), and brought the pronoun of separation "Hiya" (it is) along with the definition of both extremes, which indicates restriction and exclusivity, to emphasize that whoever preferred God's pleasure over the passion of his soul in the house of trial, will have no other abode or refuge appropriate for his sacrifice except Paradise as a home. Imam Al-Shawkani in "Fath al-Qadir" and the scholar Al-Tahir ibn Ashur in "Al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir" pointed out that the choice of the word "refuge" (ma'wa) carries a deep connotation of tranquility, stability, and eternal rest; just as this servant wearied his soul in this world by prohibiting it from what it desired, and his spirit lived in exile and in a constant struggle against the currents of temptations, God rewards him with an abode in which he finds everything that souls desire and eyes delight in without fear or fatigue, so that the reward is of the same genus as the deed. Whoever feared in this world will be safe in the hereafter, and whoever weaned his soul from ephemeral passion, God will liberate it in the eternal bliss of Paradise, fulfilling the glorious Qudsi hadith: «By My honor, I will not gather in My servant two fears nor two securities; if he fears Me in the world, I will make him safe on the Day of Resurrection, and if he feels safe from Me in the world, I will terrify him on the Day of Resurrection».
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to react!