Surah Az-Zumar, Ayah 4

Which was revealed in Makkah

The Virtues of Surat Az-Zumar

An-Nasa'i recorded that `A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to fast until we would say, `He does not want to break fast,' and he would not fast until we would say, `He does not want to fast.' And he used to recite Bani Isra'il Al-Isra' and Az-Zumar every night."

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Order for Tawhid and the Refutation of Shirk

Allah tells us that the revelation of this Book, which is the magnificent Qur'an, is from Him, and is truth in which there is no doubt whatsoever. This is like the Ayat:

وَإِنَّهُ لَتَنزِيلُ رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ - نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الاٌّمِينُ - عَلَى قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنْذِرِينَ - بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِىٍّ مُّبِينٍ

The first sentence of verse 4: لَّوْ أَرَ‌ادَ اللَّـهُ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا (Had Allah opted to have a son of His own) is a refutation of the allegation of those who said that angels were the progeny of Allah. The idea was false and absurd. Taking it on as a supposition of the impossible, it was said: If Allah Ta’ ala were to have, God forbid, any children, it goes without saying that it could not have happened without His intention and will, for it would have been impossible as children are not imposed on anyone - definitely not so in the case of Allah. Then, suppose He had the intention, in which case, everyone other than Him happens to have been created him, so He would have picked up one of them to be His progeny. Now, children have to be of the same genus as the father, and the created cannot be of the same genus as the creator, therefore, the intention to have progeny from the created becomes impossible.

The Quran is a divine statement of facts. Its sagacious style of expression and the exceptional nature of its discourses allude to it being the Book of God. No man is capable of presenting such a sublime work. ‘So worship God with your total devotion,’ means to worship only God, praying to Him, revering Him and devoting oneself entirely to Him. (Safwat at-Tafasir, vol. III, p. 69 ). The instinct for worship and devotion is inherent in human nature, so he must consider a being as great and have feelings of awe for that being. Anyone for whom a man develops such feelings is considered most holy by him and man’s entire existence submits before him. He expresses superlative respect and veneration for him and, his soul derives pleasure from remembering him. That being becomes the greatest support in man’s life. This is true devotion and such worship is the exclusive, rightful due of the one and only God. But what man does is that while accepting the one God, he accords divinity to beings other than God and starts worshipping them. This is the real error into which man falls because just as the godhead or divinity is indivisible, worship cannot be divided either.