Tafsir of Yunus 10:10

(Their invocation)—meaning their prayer—is the subject (mubtada’). The statement of the Exalted (i.e., "therein") is linked to it, and His statement (i.e., "Glory be to You, O Allah") is its predicate. That is, their prayer is this utterance. Although "invocation" (da'wa) is commonly understood as a claim, it has also been used in the sense we have mentioned. That the predicate can be of the same nature as a prayer is evidenced by the saying of the Prophet (may the blessings of Allah be upon him): "The best of my prayer and the prayer of the prophets before me at Arafat is: 'There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner, to Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs the praise, and He has power over all things.'"

It is apparent that applying the term "prayer" (du'a') to this is metaphorical, which is what the words of Ibn al-Athir suggest, as he said: "The declaration of oneness (tahlil), the declaration of praise (tahmid), and the declaration of glory (tamjid) are called 'prayer' because they are in its stead regarding the obligation of Allah’s reward and recompense." In the Hadith, it is said: "If My servant’s praise of Me distracts him from asking of Me, I shall give him the best of what I give to those who ask." It has also been used to mean worship, as in the saying of the Exalted: "And I withdraw from you and what you invoke (tad'una) besides Allah." It is permissible to intend this here, and the meaning would be the negation of obligation—that is, they have no act of worship other than this utterance. It is not worship per se, but rather they are inspired to it and utter it for the sake of delight, not obligation. Similar to this is the saying of the Exalted: "And their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping." There is, however, an obscurity in this, as is not hidden.

It may also be said: A similar interpretation comes regarding the verse, under the possibility that "invocation" (da'wa) is intended literally as "prayer." Thus, the meaning would be—along the lines of what has been established—that they have no request of Allah the Exalted other than this. It is known that this is not a "request" at all, which indicates that they have no request whatsoever. The purpose of this is to point to the attainment of all their aims in actuality; thus, they have no need to ask for anything. Yet, there are some reservations regarding this.

The word "Glory" (subhan) is in the accusative case as a verbal noun (masdar) for a necessarily omitted verb, and it signifies glorification (tasbih). The sentence is considered nominal—that is, "We glorify You with a glorification"—because it is more eloquent. The sentences following it are likewise. "O Allah" (Allahumma) is by the estimation of "O Allah" (ya Allah), where the particle of invocation is omitted and replaced by the mim at the end. The completion of the discussion regarding this and what preceded it has already been presented to you, so recall it. The standard grammatical rule would be to place the Majestic Name first, because invocation precedes prayer, but it is used in the context of glorification in this manner. It is said: because it is an act of declaring [Him] free from all imperfections, whereas in [mere] invocation, one might potentially imagine a lapse in etiquette.

(And their greeting therein is "Peace")—that is, what they greet with—means their safety from every dislike; it is the predicate of "their greeting," and "therein" is linked to it. The "greeting" (tahiyyah) is honoring with a noble state, and its origin is "May Allah grant you a good life." Its genitive addition here is to the object, and the agent is either Allah the Exalted (meaning: Allah’s greeting of them is that) and His saying—Exalted be He—("Peace, a word from a Merciful Lord") directs one to this; or it is the angels (peace be upon them), and the saying of the Exalted ("And the angels enter upon them from every gate, 'Peace'") directs one to this.

It is permissible for the addition to be to the agent by estimating an omitted noun—that is, their greeting of one another is that. Some may consider the omitted part as the object, in which case the addition is to the object and the agent is omitted. It is said: it is permissible that it is of the type where the verbal noun is added to both its agent and object simultaneously if the meaning is "they greet one another." An example of this addition to both agent and object is the saying of the Exalted: "And We were witnesses to their judgment," where "judgment" is added to the pronoun of David and Solomon (peace be upon them), for they were the judges, and the others were the judged. This is not of the type of combining truth and metaphor, which is disputed, because the addition of a verbal noun to its agent is literal, and to its object is metaphorical; there is no dispute in the permissibility of combining them if the metaphor is rational ('aqli), but the dispute only exists if it is linguistic (lughawi).

(And the last of their invocation is "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds")—meaning the conclusion of their prayer is "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds." "That" (anna) is a lightened form of the heavy anna, and its pronoun is an omitted "pronoun of state" (dameer al-sha'n), and the nominal sentence is its predicate. The anna and its components form another predicate. It is not an explanatory (mufassira) particle because it lacks the necessary conditions, nor is it redundant, because redundancy is contrary to the original rule and there is no call for it. Moreover, Ibn Muhaysin, Mujahid, Qatada, and Ya'qub have recited it with the shadda (emphatic doubling) and the accusative case of "Praise" (al-hamd), and in that is proof for what we have said.

It is apparent that the realization of the content of these sentences, due to them being nominal, is by way of permanence and continuity, and there are reports that support this. Perhaps, when the people enter Paradise, they attain of the knowledge of Allah the Exalted what they had not attained before, according to their varying ranks. Our master Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi explicitly stated in some of his treatises on theology the disparity of the people of Paradise in knowledge. He said: "The common believers in Paradise will be in knowledge like the scholars in this world; the scholars therein will be like the prophets (peace be upon them) in this world; and the prophets (peace be upon them) will be in that regard like our Prophet (may the blessings of Allah be upon him). And our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will have the ultimate peak of knowledge of his Lord, which no favored angel nor sent prophet will possess." It is possible that this is the "Station of Praise," and it does not seem far-fetched to me that despite their disparity in knowledge, they will continue to ascend therein according to their ranks, for the journey into Allah the Exalted is endless, and grasping the essence is impossible.

Thus, the disparity is in the knowledge of the Attributes, which, as it is said, are either negative [Attributes of Majesty]—called the Attributes of Majesty because it is said of them, "He is exalted above such-and-such"—or they are otherwise—called the Attributes of Bounty. By this, the saying of the Exalted is explained: "Blessed is the name of your Lord, Possessor of Majesty and Bounty." Thus, they continue to invoke Allah the Exalted with glorification, which is a reference to describing Him with the attributes of Majesty, and with praise, which is a reference to describing Him with the attributes of Bounty. The continuity is customary, and it is more than can be enumerated. The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in describing the people of Paradise, as in Sahih Muslim: "They glorify Allah the Exalted morning and evening," supports this in its outward meaning. The "morning and evening," as al-Nawawi said, refers to their equivalent [times]. The literal meaning of the verse is that they lead with describing Him with the attributes of Majesty and conclude their prayer with describing Him with the attributes of Bounty, because the former precedes the latter, just as cleansing precedes adorning. His saying, "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing," points to this.

The preferred view for me is that the agent of the "greeting" is Allah the Exalted or the angels (peace be upon them). In that case, it is not far-fetched that the order of mention corresponds to the order of occurrence. This is by saying: when they begin their prayer, they glorify Allah the Exalted and declare Him free of imperfections, and they are met with "Peace," which is a prayer for safety from every dislike. If it is from Allah the Exalted, it is undoubtedly metaphorical because literal prayer is impossible for Him. If it is from the angels (peace be upon them), there is no hindrance to it remaining literal, but the request in it is directed toward continuity, as the essence of safety is already theirs. If we say that it is capable of increase, then there is no difficulty in it being directed toward requesting it. How subtle the correspondence is between glorification and declaring [Him] free of imperfections, and "Peace," which is safety from dislikes, for they are close in meaning, as is not hidden to the fair-minded. Then they conclude their prayer with "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds." Such is their constant state morning and evening, as the report in the Sahih indicates. Perhaps the lack of mention of "praise" in it is because of the sufficiency of what is in the verse. This is what I hold regarding it.

Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Abu al-Shaykh extracted from Ibn Jurayj that he said: "I was informed that when a bird passes by the people of Paradise which they desire, they say, 'Glory be to You, O Allah,' and that is their prayer for it. Then the angel comes to them with what they desired. When the angel brings it, he greets them, and they respond to him, which is the saying of the Exalted: 'And their greeting therein is "Peace."' When they have eaten as much as they need, they say, 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds,' which is the saying of the Exalted: 'And the last of their invocation is "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds."'" This is apparent in that the order of mention also corresponds to the order of occurrence, but it indicates that "invocation" here means prayer, and that "Glory be to You, O Allah" being a prayer and a request for what they desire means it is a sign for the request. Similar to this is the glorification (tasbih) of the one praying if something occurs to him during his prayer. In some reports, it is stated that this phrase is a sign between the people of Paradise and the servants regarding food; when they say it, they bring them what they desire.

Ibn Marduwayh extracted from Ubayy ibn Ka'b in a marfu' (raised) chain that when they say that, there comes to them what they desired from Paradise from their Lord. There is no objection to this. However, that "praise" comes after they have eaten the amount of their need, as indicated by the saying of the Exalted, "And the last of their invocation is 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds,'" contains some obscurity.

The Qadi (may Allah brighten his features) said: Perhaps the meaning is that when they enter Paradise and witness the greatness of Allah the Exalted and His majesty, they exalt Him and describe Him with the attributes of Majesty. Then the angels greet them with safety from afflictions and victory through various types of bounty—or Allah the Exalted does—and so they praise Him and extol Him with the attributes of Bounty. This is also apparent in the order of mention being as we said, except that it was challenged by the fact that the addition of "last" to "their invocation" rejects it. It seems the reason for the rejection, as it is said, is that according to this view, that is the end of the state, and because the consideration of victory through bounty in the concept of "Peace" is not apparent. Perhaps the matter regarding this is simple.

The Shaykh al-Islam said: Perhaps they say "Glory be to You, O Allah" when they witness the wonders of His power—the Exalted—and the results of His mercy and kindness, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has not crossed the heart of man, declaring His station (Exalted be His state) free from the impurities of inability and imperfection, and declaring His noble promise free from the signs of breaking. And the conclusion of their prayer is to say, "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds," describing Him (Exalted be His state) with the attributes of Bounty after describing Him with the attributes of Majesty. The meaning is that their prayer is restricted to what has been mentioned, since they have no pending request to organize into a string of prayer. Perhaps the interjection of the mention of their greeting during the narrative between their prayer and its conclusion is for the purpose of concluding the narrative with praise to seek blessing, even though the greeting is not entirely foreign. End quote.

It seems that by "not entirely foreign," he meant it is a prayer in meaning. His words are an explicit statement that the order of occurrence is contrary to the order of mention. It is not hidden that explaining the interjection of the mention of greeting as he did is something a fair-minded person would hardly accept. Furthermore, he—and all others whose words we have reviewed—neglected to address why the sentences are nominal. So understand this, and Allah the Exalted knows best.