NARRATIONS: (Verse 26);- It is said that the Pagan Arabs –in the Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance- used to do A-Tawaf= [circumambulation] of the Ka’bah in a naked state. So when Islam became victorious and Mecca was conquered, the Pagans and the polytheists were forbidden to enter Mecca, and none was allowed to do Tawaf of the Ka’bah in a naked state.

(Verse 31)- It is obligatory to wear the clothes while praying. And the commandment of God “Take your adornment [by wearing your clean clothes –while praying] covering completely the ‘Aurah’- genitals: (covering of one’s Aurah means; while praying a male must cover himself with clothes from umbilicus of his abdomen down to his knees, and it is much better that his both shoulders should be covered. And a female must cover all her body and feet except her face, and it is better that both her hands are also covered, while praying and circumambulation. In what sort of clothes a woman should pray? Ikrima said: ‘If she can cover all her body with one garment, it is sufficient’. * it is agreed by the majority of the religious scholars that a woman while praying should cover herself completely except her face, and it is better that she should cover her hands with gloves or cloth, and her feet must be covered either with long dress or she must wear socks to cover her feet.

COMMENTARY:

(Verse 26)- There is a double philosophy of clothes here, to correspond with the double signification of verse 20 above, and as explained in the commentary. Spiritually, God created man “bare and alone” (Surat Al-An’am 6 verse 94): the soul in its naked purity and beauty knew no shame because it knew no guilt, but after it was touched by the guilt and soiled by evil, its thoughts and deeds became its clothing and adornments –good or bad, honest or meretricious, according to the inner motives which gave them color. So in the case of the body; it is pure and beautiful, as long as it is not defiled by misuse; its clothing and ornaments may be good or meretricious, according to its motives in the mind and character: if good, then they are the symbols of purity and beauty; but the best clothing and ornament we could have comes from righteousness, which covers the nakedness of sin, and adorns us with virtues.

(Verses 27-28)- That is by fraud and deceit;- by putting you off your guard and telling lies. Adam’s story here becomes an introduction to the later spiritual history of mankind, see verses 20-22. In the Garden/ Paradise Satan’s deceit stripped off their raiment of honor and innocence. In this life on a lower plane he seeks to strip us of the raiment of righteousness. And he can take up positions on a vantage ground of worldly power or influence or richness, in which he and his confederates are not seen in their true colors. They may assume a fair-seeming disguise of disinterested friendship or high motives of patriotism or public spirit, or a loyalty to ancestors, when beneath it there is nothing but spite and selfishness.

(Verse 29)- A/For Wajh see Surat Al-Bagara 2 verse 112. Our devotion should be sincere -not as in other men’s sight- but by presenting our whole selves, heart and soul, to God. Even so, it may not be enough; for the sight of our heart and soul may be faulty. We should call upon God to give us the light, by which our sincerity may commend itself to Him as true sincerity “as in His Sight”. B/See also Surat Al-Ana’m 6 verse 94. Our sincerity should be real sincerity, as in God’s Sight; for when we return to Him, we shall be stripped of all pretence, even such self-deception as it may satisfy us in this life.

(Verse 30)- Guidance is for all. But in some it take effect; in others the doors are closed against it, because they have taken Evil for their friend. If they have lost their way, they have richly deserved it; for they deliberately took their choice –even though- in their self-righteousness they may think that their sin is their virtue, and their Evil is their Good.

(Verse 31)- Zinat= Beautiful apparel: adornments or apparel for beautiful living;- construed to mean not only clothes that add grace to the wearer, but toilet and cleanliness, attention to hair, and other small personal details which no self-respect man or woman ought to neglect when going solemnly even before a great human dignity, if only out of respect for the dignity of the occasion. How much more important it is to attend to these details when we solemnly apply our minds to the Presence of God, though He is always present everywhere! But the caution against excess applies; men must not go to prayer in silks or ornaments appropriate to women. Similarly sober food, good and wholesome, is not to be divorced from the offices of religion; only the caution against excess apply strictly. A dirty, unkempt, slovenly could not claim sanctity in Islam.      

(ILLUSTRATION – VERSES 32-58) God has forbidden the things that are evil, not those that are god, for those were created for man’s enjoyment. The transgressors are those who reject God’s Signs, they will have no share in the Bliss of the Hereafter. But the righteous will dwell in Peace , and the Hope that was promised will be theirs.

(Verse 32)- A/Asceticism often means the negation of art and beauty. It has no necessary sanctity attached to it. B/The beautiful and good things of life are really meant for, and should be the privilege of those with faith in God. If they do not always have them in this life, and if there is sometimes the semblance of others having them who do not deserve them, let us at least consider the matter in another light. Our Faith in God’s wisdom is unshaken and we know that these are but fleeting and mixed types of the things in the spiritual world. Their pure counterparts in the spiritual world will be only for those who proved –in all the trials of this world- that they had Faith.

(Verse 33)- The forbidden things are described in four categories: (1) what is shameful or unbecoming, the sort of things which have also legal and social sanctions, not of local but a universal kind; they may be called offences against society: (2) Sins against self and trespasses or excesses of every sort, these are against truth and reason; here would come in indiscipline, failure in doing intangible duties not clearly defined by law; selfishness or self-aggrandizement, which may be condones by custom and not punished by law; etc… : (3) Erecting fetishes or false gods; this is treason against the True God: and (4) corrupting religion by debasing it, superstitions, etc..

(Verses 34-35-36)- Umma=  People/Nation; I do not know whether “generation” would be more appropriate here. If so, it would refer to the Time Spirit, for it affects a whole number of people living contemporaneously, and while we deal grammatically with a group, we really have in mind the individuals  composing the group. Anyway, the lesson is what is suggested in the following verses. There is only a limited time for an individual or for a group of people. If they do not make good during that time of probation, the chance is lost, and cannot come again. We cannot retard or advance the march of time by a single hour or minute. (“Hour” in the text expresses an indefinite but short period of time).

(Verse 37)- It must not be supposed that the rebels against God would at once be cut off in this life for their sins. They will get the portion allotted to them, including the good things of life and the chance of repentance and reformation, during their probationary period on this earth. During that period they will have a full run. After that period expires, they will be called to account. They will themselves see that the false things in which they put their trust, were false, and they will confess their sins, but it will be too late.         

(Verse 38)- The earlier generations committed a double crime: (1) their own sins, (2) the bad example they set for those that followed. We are responsible –not only for our needs- but for those which our example and our teaching to our juniors may induce them to commit. But it does not lie in the mouth of the juniors to ask for a double punishment for seniors; the motive is not justice, but pure spite, which in itself a sin. Farther, the later generations have to answer for two things: (1) their own sins, and (2) their failure to learn from the past, from the experiences of those who preceded them. They should have an advantage in this respect; being “in the foremost files of Time”, but they did not learn. Thus there was nothing to choose between the earlier and later generations in the matter of guilt. But how few people understand this! In Surat Al-Ana’m 6 verse 160, we were told that good was rewarded tenfold, but evil was punished according to its guilt, in perfect justice. This verse is in no way inconsistent with it. Two crimes must have a double penalty. But we must understand “ten times” and “double” figuratively and not quantitatively.

(Verse 39)- Wrong-doers have really no sense of honor towards each other. “Honor among thieves” is an exceptional, not an ordinary experience. In real life, guilt and crime are apt to indulge in mean spite and bitter recriminations against accomplices.