Surat Al-Zumar Ayat 57-59
{أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ هَدَانِي لَكُنتُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ * أَوْ تَقُولَ حِينَ تَرَى الْعَذَابَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ}
As we continue to explore the many lessons contained within surat Al-Zumar, this month we will end our analysis of this fruitful passage of the Holy Quran with verses 57-58. Surely, we have covered only very few of the teachings within this chapter but for the sake of time, we will move on to a new Surah next month, Insha’Allah. Last month, we left off with Allah ﷻ commanding us to follow that which is the best of what has been revealed to us by our Lord before the punishment comes to us unexpectedly. Indeed, Allah ﷻ is referring to many things, including the Quran itself, the teachings of the Messenger ﷺ, and the journeys of all of the Prophets, peace be upon them. Most importantly, we should apply what we have learned from that which Allah ﷻ has revealed to us to our lives.
Following this commandment, the people that lost hope in the mercy of Allah ﷻ are now feeling great regret for that poor decision. After realizing this mistake that they have made, they ask, “Oh my God. What have I done?” They are feeling regret for all of the times they fell short in their expectations while Allah ﷻ was right next to them and all of the wasted time being amongst those who always took everything as a joke.
Aya 57:
اَوۡ تَقُوۡلَ لَوۡ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ هَدٰٮنِىۡ
Now, the dialogue continues between those who lost hope in the mercy of their Lord and Allah ﷻ. Now this person puts the blame on Allah ﷻ. They say, {If only Allah guided me.} Allah ﷻ is the one who guides people, so why didn’t He guide me?” This is where many people will make the argument about predestination. The reality is that Allah ﷻ already knows everything that we will do in our lives from the moment that we are born to the moment that we die. Allah ﷻ knows already where we will end up in the afterlife. However, He ﷻ leaves the choice up to us. Whether or not we enter paradise or hell fire is completely based upon our own actions that we decide to commit. As the Quran states, any good deeds that we do are from Allah ﷻ and any bad deeds are from ourselves. We have no one to blame for our bad outcome except ourselves. May Allah ﷻ protect us from the hell fire.
لَكُنۡتُ مِنَ الۡمُتَّقِيۡنَ
{I would have been from the people of Taqwa.} These people put the blame on Allah ﷻ. If only Allah ﷻ had guided them, then they would be amongst those who have Taqwa. They would have been amongst those who have fear from Allah ﷻ.
Aya 58:
اَوۡ تَقُوۡلَ حِيۡنَ تَرَى الۡعَذَاب
Now that he sees the punishment, {Or it should say when it sees the punishment} he takes the last thing he said back. I cannot help but laugh when I hear this verse. Just a moment ago, this person was blaming Allah ﷻ for not guiding him. But now that he sees the punishment in front of him, he takes it back out of fear. This relates to when a child might have said something bad to their parents, and then they see their parents become angry. Then out of fear from seeing their parents become angry, they take it back by saying that they were just joking about what they last said.
لَوۡ اَنَّ لِىۡ كَرَّةً فَاَكُوۡنَ مِنَ الۡمُحۡسِنِيۡنَ
After seeing the punishment in front of him, he says {if only I had one more chance. I could be amongst the doers of good.} Not the Muslimeen, not the Mu’mineen, rather the Muhsineen. He is making a big statement by claiming that if he had one more chance, he could be amongst the Muhsineen. There are three levels of faith. The lower level of faith is Muslim. This constitutes of someone who does only what is required of them in order to be a Muslim. They fulfill the basic obligations. Most of the worship that Muslims do is what people can see someone doing, such as the prayer, giving zakat, etc. Whereas, a Mu’min not only does the five pillars, but this person focuses on implementing them internally to better themselves. A Muhsin is someone who does everything in their lives with excellence. Their excellence is portrayed through their consciousness of Allah ﷻ in their actions. Meaning, before doing any action, they ask themselves whether or not it will please Allah ﷻ. In other words, they are fully conscious of Allah ﷻ throughout everything that they do in their lives. As the hadith states, Muhsineen worship Allah ﷻ as if they could see Him.
By Ahmad Salah
