Surah Al-Furqan

The majority have declared it to be Meccan. It is reported from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with both of them—and Qatadah that it is Meccan, except for three verses revealed in Medina: "And those who do not invoke with Allah another deity..." up to His saying, Glorified be He, "...and Allah is Ever Forgiving, Merciful." Ad-Dahhak said: It is Medinan, except for its beginning up to His saying, Exalted be He, "...and no resurrection," which is Meccan. The number of its verses is seventy-seven, without dispute, as mentioned by At-Tabarsi and Ad-Dani in the book of numbering [of verses].

Since He—Glorified and Exalted be He—mentioned at the end of the previous Surah the obligation for believers to follow the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), praised those who follow, and warned those who oppose, He—Glorified be He—began this Surah with that which indicates His transcendence—Glorified be His Majesty—above all else in His Essence, His attributes, and His actions, or [it indicates] the abundance and permanence of His goodness—Exalted be He. [He indicated] that He sent down the Furqan (the Criterion) upon His servant so that he might be a warner to the worlds, as an enticement toward His goodness and a warning against His punishment—Glorified be His Majesty. This Surah also contains, regarding the confirmation of what was in the previous one concerning the praise of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), what it contains. Thus, He—Blessed and Exalted be He—said:

Al-Furqan: (1) Blessed is He who sent down...

(1) "Blessed is He who sent down the Furqan [the Criterion] upon His servant, that he may be to the worlds a warner."

(Meaning: He is Exalted—Glorified is His Majesty—in His Essence, His attributes, and His actions, in the most perfect and eloquent manner, as indicated by the ascription of the tafa‘‘ul form [form V] to Him, the Exalted. This verb is mostly not ascribed to anyone other than Him, the Exalted, and it is similarly frozen in its usage, not possessing a present tense or an imperative, and for the most part, it does not change. However, Ubayy read—as will come, if Allah wills—"Blessed be the earth and what is around it." It also appears in al-Kashf as "Blessed is the palm tree," meaning "it has been exalted." Al-Asma‘i narrated that a Bedouin ascended a hill and said to his companions, "It is blessed upon you." The poet said: "To the trunk, the blessed trunk of the palm tree."

Al-Khalil said: The meaning of tabaraka is "He is glorified." Al-Dahhak said: "He is magnified," which is close to the former. From al-Hasan and al-Nakha‘i, it is narrated that the meaning is "His goodness and giving have increased and multiplied." This is one of the two narrations from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. The second is that the meaning is "He has never ceased to be, and will never cease to be." The investigation of this is that tabaraka is derived from barakah (blessing), which originally comes from the kneeling (buruk) of the camel, meaning its settling down. From this comes "the camel knelt" when it casts its weight upon the earth. The meaning of "persistence" is considered in it; hence, baraka’ al-harb and buruka’uha are used for the place where the heroes persist and hold their ground. The place where water gathers is called a birka (pond), like a sidrah. Then, it was applied to the persistence of divine goodness in a thing, just as water persists in a pond. It is said: Because it contains that goodness, it is mubarak (blessed). Since divine goodness originates from where it is not perceived and in a way that cannot be counted or confined, everything in which a non-perceptible increase is observed is said to be "blessed" (mubarak) and to contain "blessing" (barakah).

Thus, whoever considers the meaning of persistence—like Ibn ‘Abbas, based on the second narration from him—says the meaning is "He has never ceased to be, and will never cease to be," or similar. And whoever considers the meaning of increase is divided into two groups: one group considered it in view of the perfection of the Essence in Itself and the deficiency of all else, so they interpreted it as "transcendence" (ta‘ali) and the like; and a second group considered it in view of the perfection of the action, so they interpreted it as the increase and multiplication of goodness. There is no consideration here for the variation based on the meaning of persistence, due to the weakness of the benefit of the speech regarding it and the lack of suitability of that meaning to what follows. Hence, the majority wavered between the first meaning mentioned and what was narrated from al-Hasan and those with him.

The ordering of His—the Exalted—description by His saying (Blessed is He) in the first sense upon His sending down the Furqan is because it [the Furqan] speaks to the loftiness of His status and the exaltation of His attributes, and because His actions are built upon the foundation of wisdom and benefits, free from any stain of deficiency whatsoever. The ordering of it in the second sense upon it [the sending down] is because of the great goodness it contains, for it is guidance and mercy for the worlds, and it contains that which regulates the affairs of both life and the hereafter. Both meanings are suitable for the context, but the first is judged more likely because it is more suitable in view of His saying: "that he may be to the worlds a warner." Al-Tayyibi said regarding the specification of "warner" and "bringer of glad tidings" that it employs the technique of bara‘at al-istihlal (skillful opening), signaling that this Surah contains mention of the obstinate ones who attribute a son and partner to Allah, and who attack His books, His messengers, and the Last Day. This supports the interpretation of tabaraka as "increasing beyond everything" and "transcending everything" in His attributes and actions—Glorified be He—as it conveys the attribute of Majesty and Awe, and signals from the very beginning His transcendence above what the wrongdoers say, a great transcendence. And this is highly excellent.

"The Furqan" is a verbal noun meaning to separate one thing from another, and it is also said—as al-Raghib mentioned—"I separated between two things" if you have distinguished between them, whether by a separation perceived by the eye or a separation perceived by insight (basirah). Tafriq (differentiation) has the same meaning, except that it denotes plurality, unlike the former. It is said that farq (the noun) is used for meanings, and tafriq is used for physical bodies. The intended meaning here is the Quran, and it is called so because of its separating truth from falsehood through the clarification it contains, or separating the righteous from the false because of its inimitability, or because it was separated into parts in its essence or in its revelation, as it was not revealed all at once like other books. What the Sufis say about this will come, if Allah wills. It is a verbal noun in the sense of the active participle (the one who separates) or the passive participle (the one which is separated). It is also permissible for it to be like "arrival and departure" [in grammar], so do not be heedless.

The intended meaning of "His servant" is our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Bringing him—upon him be peace—with this title serves to honor him and signals that he, may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him, is in the farthest reaches of servitude, and serves to alert that the Messenger is only a servant to the One who sent him, a rebuttal to the Christians. It is said that the intended meaning of "the Furqan" is all the heavenly books, because they all separated truth from falsehood, and "His servant" is a generic term inclusive of all those upon whom books were sent down. This was supported by Ibn al-Zubayr's reading: "upon His servants." The remoteness of this is evident; the "servants" in Ibn al-Zubayr's reading is meant to be the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his nation. Sending down, just as it is attributed to the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is attributed to his nation, as in His saying: "We have surely sent down to you," because it reaches them and was sent for their sake, as if it were sent down upon them, even if its revelation was, in reality, upon him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

It is said that the collective is meant to be him—peace be upon him—and he was expressed in that way to glorify him. The pronoun in "that he may be" refers to "His servant." It is also said that it returns to "the Furqan," and the ascription of warning to it is figurative. It is also said that it returns to the relative pronoun (the "He" who is the Exalted). This is considered more likely because it is the principal subject to which the action is ascribed, and warning is one of His—the Mighty and Majestic—attributes, as in His saying: "Indeed, We were warners." It is also said that it returns to the "sending down" implied by "sent down." What naturally comes to mind is the first, which is what is demanded by what follows. "Warner" is a similarity-adjective (participial form) meaning "one who warns."

It is permitted that it be a verbal noun in the sense of "warning," like nakir (denial) in the sense of inkar. Informing by way of a verbal noun is well-known, and warning is information that contains intimidation. It is contrasted with "bringing glad tidings," which was not addressed here for the reason mentioned earlier. The "worlds" (al-‘alamin) according to a group are the humans and jinn who were contemporaneous with him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, until the Day of Resurrection. This is supported by Ibn al-Zubayr's reading "to the worlds of the jinn and humans." His mission—peace be upon him—to them is known by necessity in the religion, so he who denies it is an infidel. The same applies to the angels—peace be upon them—as a group of investigators, such as al-Subki and those who followed him, have judged as more likely, rebutting those who disagreed with that. Some of them claimed the verse indicates it, because "the world" is everything other than Allah and His High Attributes, thus it includes the angels—peace be upon them. The plural form for rational beings is for the sake of predominance, or it is a plural after being specified for rational beings.

Whoever says, like al-Barizi, that he—peace be upon him—was sent even to inanimate objects after making them perceptive, based on the apparent meaning of the report of Muslim, "And I was sent to all creation," did not specify, but sufficed with the rule of predominance. The benefit of the mission to the infallible [angel] and the non-accountable [inanimate object] is the request for their submission due to his nobility—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and their inclusion under his call and his following, as an honor over all the other Messengers—peace be upon them.

The advancement of the prepositional phrase over its governing verb is for the sake of creating anticipation, observing the flow of the verses, and also for restriction—according to the first opinion regarding "the worlds." Presenting the sending down of the Furqan in the form of a relative clause, which by right should be information already established for the relative pronoun in the knowledge of the listener, despite the denial of the infidels, is to treat it as known and accepted information, alerting to the strength of its proofs and that it is such that no one could possibly be ignorant of it, like His saying: "There is no doubt in it." The same is said regarding its peers among the relative clauses that the infidels deny. Some said: There is no need for what was mentioned, as it suffices for the relative clause to be known to the listener addressed by it, and it does not necessitate that it be known to every listener. The person addressed here is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he—may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him—is aware of its establishment for the relative pronoun. In Sharh al-Tashil, it is stated that it does not necessitate that it be known, and that the definition of the relative pronoun, like the definition of the [definite article] al, can be for designation or for the genus, and that its relative clause may be ambiguous for the sake of glorification, as in the saying: "If I am able, I shall overcome, and if desire overcomes, then the like of whom I met overcomes its owner." What was mentioned first, of treating it as known information, is more eloquent because it is a metonymy for what was mentioned, suitable for rebutting those who denied prophethood and the Oneness of Allah.