The true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk gently on earth...
And who pray: “Our Lord! Grant us spouses and offspring who will be a joy to our eyes, and cause us to be foremost among the God-fearing.”
These will be rewarded for all their patient endurance (in life) with a high station in heaven, and will be met there with a greeting of welcome and peace, and there they shall abide; how goodly an abode and how high a station!
Say: “No weight or value would my Lord attach to you were it not for you calling out (to Him). You have indeed denied (His message), and in time this (sin) will cleave unto you.” (The Standard, Al-Furqan: 25: 63 & 74-77)
Over the last couple of weeks we commented on the qualities of the true servants of God, as outlined in the surah. When the outline has been completed, we are told that these true servants of God are not content with staying up far into the night offering their voluntary worship, prostrating themselves to God, and having all their other fine qualities. They want something more. What they hope for is that they should have spouses of their type and children who follow in their footsteps, thus bringing them great joy. Not only so, but in this way, those who are classified as God’s servants will multiply. They also pray that God will make of them a good example for those who are God-fearing: “And who pray: ‘Our Lord! Grant us spouses and offspring who will be a joy to our eyes, and cause us to be foremost among the God-fearing.”
This is a natural feeling based on a profound sense of faith. It expresses a strong desire to increase the numbers of people who follow divine guidance, and that the first in such increased numbers should be their own offspring and spouses who are the closest to them. Indeed, these are a man’s first responsibility. Added to this natural feeling is one which a believer always hopes for, which is that he would be an example of goodness to be followed by those who are keen to earn God’s pleasure. There is no element of selfishness or arrogance in such a wish, because all the God-fearing are on the way that God defines.
What reward do God’s true servants receive? The outline of their qualities is concluded with pointing it out: “These will be rewarded for all their patient endurance (in life) with a high station in heaven, and will be met there with a greeting of welcome and peace, and there they shall abide; how goodly an abode and how high a station.” The Arabic text uses the term “al-ghurfah”, which is translated here as “a high station in heaven”. The term may be taken to mean in this context either heaven, or a special place in heaven. Linguistically speaking it means, “the room”, which is a more honorable place than the reception room where Arabs normally received their guests. So those people whose qualities have been enumerated are received in this high position with greetings and warm welcome, on account of their patient endurance of whatever they had to put up with in order to maintain their qualities. What is implied here is a recognition of the strong willpower needed to persevere with restraining their desires and resist all kinds of temptation that present themselves in life. It is not easy to do so without a good degree of endurance that can only be shown by someone who deserves to be mentioned by God in His book, the Qur’an.
In contrast to hell from which they pray to God to save them, God rewards them with heaven where “they shall abide; how goodly an abode and how high a station.” There they are in the best state, enjoying God’s favors and blessings.
With the picture of God’s true servants fully drawn, showing them as the cream of humanity, the surah is concluded with a statement that mankind are worth very little in God’s sight, except for the fact that some of them turn up to God with their prayers. As for those who deny Him and His messages, they will inevitably be punished. “Say: No weight or value would my Lord attach to you were it not for you calling out (to Him). You have indeed denied (His message), and in time this (sin) will cleave unto you.”
It is a fitting final statement of the surah which is intended to give comfort and reassurance to the Prophet, consoling him for the stiff resistance he received from his people and their impudent remarks when they were really aware of his true status. Nevertheless they persisted with their opposition in order to maintain their falsehood. What value did the Prophet’s people have, and what value for all humanity, if it was not for the small group of believers who pray and appeal to God, as do His true servants? What significance have they when the earth on which all mankind live is no more than a tiny particle in the great expanse of the universe? Moreover, man is no more than one of the numerous species that live on earth. Any nation is but one of many that live on earth, and a single generation of one nation is no more than a single page of a great book the number of whose pages is known only to God Almighty.
Despite all this man continues to give himself airs, thinking himself to be of real value. He is lost in his arrogance to the extent that he speaks impertinently about his Creator. In truth, man is weak, powerless and insignificant, except when he establishes his links with God and derives from Him strength and guidance. Only then he acquires weight in God’s scales, even to the extent that his weight becomes greater than that of angels. This is indeed a blessing God bestows on man whom He has honored and before whom He ordered His angels to bow. The purpose of that was that man should know his Lord and worship Him alone, for only then he maintains his qualities for which the angels bow. Otherwise, he is insignificant and valueless.
“Say: No weight or value would my Lord attach to you were it not for you calling out (to Him).” The phraseology here is meant to give support and honor to the Prophet who speaks of his Lord who grants him His protection. What are they if they continue to refuse to join God’s true servants? They are no more than fuel for hell: “You have indeed denied (His message), and in time this (sin) will cleave unto you.”
