With the grace of God, we will start studying Section Ya-Seen of the Qur’an which is said to be the 41st Revealed Section chronologically. This section is well known among Muslims who are familiar with the Qur’an, it is recited very often by many to gain virtue. The prophet (pbuh) also mentioned this section to be the heart of the Qur’an. This section came around the 5th year of the prophetic mission which is when the people around him started paying attention to the message seriously.
The people of that time were alarmed and somewhat confused upon hearing this revolutionary message which challenged their tribal customs with which they were happy. According to them, suddenly this person they knew living with them started claiming strange things. They were not much aware of what religion sent by God is all about. They heard some things about the Christians in “Habash” which is now Ethiopia in the West of the Arabian Peninsula, and on the Eastern side there was Confucianism and Zoroastrianism as an extension of the religion of Persian Empire which is present day Iran. As a preventive measure, they went to the prophet to tell him to stop conveying the message as it was causing conflict and division in their tribe. They never had heard anything like this before interfering in their customs. Section Ya-Seen starts with describing their ancestors who were not warned. It had been a very long time since they had not heard such matters. Although in faraway neighboring areas, people were aware of prophet Moses and Jesus bringing God’s Revelation. In the Western Arabia region known as “Hijaz”, people were unaware of them; they had no religion.
The Qur’an mentions that your ancestors were not warned and they were lost. In a way it is asking the readers: “are you willing to be lost or to be guided?” The people at that time were strangers to the prophetic message, God’s guidance to human beings. The mentioning of ancestors is one of the reminders in the introduction of this section. The previously revealed Sections of the Qur’an emphasized on human values, the transient nature of the universe which can be destroyed at any time and cannot be trusted. People were gradually reminded that they will be responsible for their free will. This was a preparation for the minds of the addressees that this world is very fragile, cannot be taken as stable in its existence. After 5 years of revelation the Qur’an started emphasizing on the hereafter, some descriptions of paradise and hell are made in the Qur’an as introductory subjects for the readers to think about.
The description of the hereafter is not in detail at this stage but as an introduction and a warning for people to realize that they will be responsible for their choices in this world, there will be consequences for those choices, and they will be surprised upon the news of resurrection. Towards the end of the section there is almost a page on how God creates the world to reveal as evidence for people to conclude and believe in the hereafter. It invites people to use their reason by giving simple examples saying that the One who does this, can He not do this again? If you look carefully, examine the existence of the universe, you will understand that in order to be able to create this universe, one must have Absolute Will; His power must be limitless.
Let’s start with the following verse:
يسٓ
36:1 “Ya-Seen”.
This is an interesting way to start the section with two letters of the Arabic Alphabet. For example, in English saying the letters “Y” and “S”. These are known as “حُرُوف مُقَطَّعَات” or disjoined letters; one cannot make words out of them as they are disjoint letters. Many scholars have made many investigations to understand the meaning of these letters. There are several Sections in the Qur’an that have these disjoined letters at the start. The prophet (pbuh) had no way to explain the meaning of these letters and some critics mentioned that why would God reveal some letters like “H” and “M”? Some scholars said to the critics that if the prophet was hiding things from revelation in order not to be ridiculed he would have hidden them. But he did not, which seems to be unreasonable as he (pbuh) did not do that and conveyed everything as it was revealed to him by God. Some of the scholars came up with the possibilities of the meanings of these disjoined letters but no one can claim that this is exactly what is meant by these letters.
One can notice the fact that these letters are used in most cases where immediately after is the description of the Qur’an. Why are these letters mentioned in the beginning of the section and then qualities and description of the Qur’an are followed immediately after them? The subject is to understand the Qur’an, but the universe must also be understood in terms of the meaning of letters. Some scholars say that the universe must be read in such a way that you will look at a thing not for the sake of it at all but for the sake of what the message the thing conveys. For example, looking at a bird and saying that it is a bird, instead, take it as a letter and see what the bird represents in its meaning. By itself the letter doesn’t mean anything, but the bird (letter) can be used in any word, in a setting with other letters referring to the qualities of their Creator. Any individual letter of the Qur’an or being in the universe does not have any significance or meaning but letters are meant to be used in words or sentences; each being of the universe is also meant to be understood within its environmental context.
Another example is a brick by itself does not mean much but when placed at a position in the wall, the meaning comes from the placement of each brick in that wall. Each brick is important just like a letter is important once it is positioned within the wall. Some material scientists studying a letter such as an atom by itself independently in the lab isolating it from its location, do not see any meaning in its existence. They do not see the atom within the context of the whole universe.
When it comes to the Qur’an, each letter doesn’t have any meaning in and of itself but must be used in meaningful words and sentences. When the verse says “Y” “S” which is pronounced as “Ya-Seen”, it indicates to look at the following verses as referring to certain deep meanings where one must go letter by letter. In summary, read this Qur’an letter by letter, in the meaning that it carries. For example, it is not that the Qur’an is “ٱلْحَـٰكِمِ” but “ٱلْحَكِيمِ”, which is more precise and using the “ي” in the word “ٱلْحَكِيمِ ” makes a great difference in meaning. Even the diacritical marks on the letters have great significance. For example, the words “Qur’an” and “Furqan” in this form emphasize on the capacity and importance of the content of this word. For example the ٱلْقُرْءَانُ form is used in the Qur’an rather than “مقرون” which has the same but a lighter meaning than ٱلْقُرْءَانُ. This means the Qur’an is not just read like an ordinary book but it must be read over and over again to penetrate into the deeper meaning each time when it is read.
These disjointed letters must be read separately and cannot be combined. The universe must also be read in a similar fashion. For example, a single point such as an atom in one position moving to another position in the entirety of the whole universe completely changes the meaning the thing conveys to us. Each word and sentence must be taken seriously where the Qur’an challenges the reader that you cannot find even a letter that is meaningless or pointless in this book. Pay attention to how that letter fits within the word and sentences.
Some scholars mentioned these letters as an exclamation asking the reader to pay attention to what follows. For example, if someone shouts “Hey” loudly, it attracts the attention of others to pay attention to him although it does not have any meaning by itself. These disjoint letters act as attention grabbing to the statements that follow it.
وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ”
36:2 Consider this Qur’an full of wisdom
The word “Qur’an” with the “alif” changes the meaning to what is intensely and carefully read. For example, “Ghafirغَافِرِ” is forgiver, “Ghafoor غَفُورٌ” is “continuously forgiver”, “Ghufraan غُفْرَانَ” is generously always forgiving One. As the forms and the letters of the word change, the meaning changes greatly.
The most important characteristic of the Qur’an introduced in this section is “لْحَكِيمِ”, i.e. wisdom. Read it and try to understand the wisdom in it. This is emphasized here. The first verse asked the reader to be careful as this book has importance letter by letter and now you will find that it is full of wisdom, there is nothing nonsensical in it at all.
إِنَّكَ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
36:3 You are one of the messengers,
Indicating here that “obviously you are one of the messengers which means that there have been other messengers as well before you. The combination between the Qur’an and the messengers is that the wisdom in the Qur’an is evidence demonstrating that the prophet is not the source of it but one of the apostles of God. It means, “you cannot make this wisdom of the Qur’an as a human being”. The more powerful the wisdom is, the stronger the evidence is that it cannot be human-made. The appointed messengers are not the source but carry the message full of wisdom to human beings alongside with their practice in a human form of the content of the message in their lives.
عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍۢ مُّسْتَقِيمٍۢ
36:4 on a Straight Path.
This indicates that you are an appointed person and are on the right, straight path where there is no contradiction that people will find in your message. Pay attention to this and you as the reader will understand that if you look at the quality of the message that he brings, see the consistency of the message where it does not contradict human nature and creation. When you see this then this is the proof that you are on the right path.
تَنزِيلَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
36:5 The revealing down of the most mighty, the merciful God.
Why is he (pbuh) on a straight path?
The word strangely says “نزِيلَ” with a specific diacritical mark “la لَ” as opposed to “lu لُّ”. This refers to a word “نـزل” hidden before it, that the most mighty and merciful One “ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ” revealed it to you. This revelation is revealed by that One, not just something unknown but the One who created the universe is revealing this to you.
Another verse which we can look into:
قُلْ إِن ضَلَلْتُ فَإِنَّمَآ أَضِلُّ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِى ۖ وَإِنِ ٱهْتَدَيْتُ فَبِمَا يُوحِىٓ إِلَىَّ رَبِّىٓ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ سَمِيعٌۭ قَرِيبٌۭ
34:50 Say, “If I go astray, that is my loss, and if I am rightly guided, it is only through what my Lord has revealed to me. He is all hearing, and ever near.”
This is an obvious declaration of the prophet described by God that “If I tell a lie, I would be a loser. If I am rightly guided, it is only through what my Lord has revealed to me. It is not that I am a qualified scholar, I have studied many books and am intelligent as a result of having a smart brain to come up with interesting ideas. The One who is the Lord of the universe is revealing everything to me” The One who is creating the universe cannot be far away from it but near in the sense that His actions are continuously demonstrated in front of my eyes.
The word “ تَنزِيلَ ”, translated as “revealing down” becomes interesting with the specific diacritical marks that give another meaning. The Most Mighty, Most Compassionate One is revealing the message to you.
لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًۭا مَّآ أُنذِرَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَـٰفِلُونَ
36:6 “to warn a people whose forefathers were not warned, and so they are unaware.”
This Revelation of God is for what purpose?
It is difficult for anyone to change their customary, inherited life. Familiarity makes life easy. For example, driving a car can be learnt and easy where without thinking one can be driving a car as we become familiar. On the other hand, this familiarity becomes important when I start to use another vehicle such as an airplane, we may be accustomed to having a foot brake and a round steering wheel, but the airplane has brakes for steering, they do not have a round steering wheel.
The prophets are always sent to people who are lost in their living, they have lost the previous message of the prophets. The region of “Hijaz”, Western Arabia was deprived for thousands of years of any message of God, they were firmly rooted in their cultural pagan lifestyle. The prophet (pbuh) is sent to them claiming that: “I have been employed to convey to you the message of God. The nature of the universe is transient, you are all equal as created beings, you are created for a particular purpose.” This came as a challenge to one’s customary way of living and was hard to accept. If there was no guidance from the Lord of the universe, then one would be lost. The characteristic of any human being is to be lost unless they are guided.
Another option is to hear what this person is claiming. What he says sounds interesting, let me entertain his message is not something one would be willing to say in the conditions of his environment. He is saying to replace your thousands-years-customary way of living with this way of living where the tribal systems must be demolished. This was impossible to imagine for many but appealing to the slaves and poor people. There was no benefit for the slaves in this tradition of the tribes, so it was easier for them to accept the prophetic message; they did not have much to sacrifice to accept it. They took the message seriously whether they felt comfortable with the message within themselves. The nobles, leaders of society and some poets that were regarded as philosophers and scientists of our time could not accept this. How is it possible that we become equal to the slaves and lose our status in our tribe?
For example, the politicians, wealthy families want to keep their status, they want to move further in their status in society. It is much harder to leave status in society than their hard wealth. How many kings left their throne before their death, why is that? The situation is delicate, that a leader of a country is going to follow a poor illiterate orphan and be ready to accept whatever he says? It is extremely difficult to accept this message the more one is self-centered, feeding his human caprices. The Qur’an describes that human beings cannot satisfy themselves even if they swallow the whole world. Human capacity is huge where one can understand the Absolute Being with all His qualities. The other option is to attribute the qualities to themselves or to matter as material scientists do.
What we inherited from our ancestors is not important, I must define my existence, define my own way of living, and decide on which path I should take. I must decide what is right for me as an independent free thinking human being. I am warned now to not be stuck to my customary values; I must be careful in my living by following the inherited customs and values without questioning their validity. I must build my own values based on prophetic guidance.
لَقَدْ حَقَّ ٱلْقَوْلُ عَلَىٰٓ أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
36:7 The verdict has been passed against most of them, because they refuse to believe.
The verse does not mean that because those people were all people of hell, they were all lost and doomed but it is because some of them deliberately refused to believe. If I refuse to believe the Truth and am not open to confirm the message, then the verdict is that I would be doomed. The choice I have is to either confirm or refuse to believe. The message is for me right now; it is not of much importance to talk about the contemporaries of the prophet at his time and especially the people who lived before the prophet’s life. I should understand that if someone refuses to believe in the revelation for no reason other than following the ancestral culture then they would be doomed.