Surah Al-Hajj (22) — Ayah 18

(Ayah 18) ➊ { اَلَمْ تَرَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يَسْجُدُ لَهٗ …:} In the previous verse, among the groups mentioned, all except the believers have associated partners with Allah. The Jews have declared Uzair (peace be upon him) and the Christians have declared the Messiah (peace be upon him) as the son of Allah. The Sabeans are star worshippers, the Magians are fire worshippers, and the polytheists are idol worshippers. In this verse, it is stated: Do you not know that everything in the universe is united in worshipping Allah and prostrating to Him? Man, to whom Allah has granted the blessing of intellect, should have been such that all its individuals, more than others, would be united in worshipping Him and prostrating before Him, but many of its individuals, due to worshipping others besides Allah, have become deserving of Allah’s punishment.

➋ By {’’ اَلَمْ تَرَ ‘‘} is meant {’’أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ‘‘}, i.e., do you not know? Because no one has seen all the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth prostrating to Allah. See also the commentary of Surah Al-Fil, verse (1): «{ اَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِاَصْحٰبِ الْفِيْلِ }». The primary addressee of {’’ اَلَمْ تَرَ ‘‘} is the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and after him, every individual of his Ummah.

➌ Some commentators have taken prostration here to mean submission, i.e., all creation is humble and powerless before Allah. Whether they wish or not, they have to bow their necks before Him and accept His command of {’’كُنْ فَيَكُوْنُ‘‘}. It is not possible that He gives a {’’كُنْ‘‘} command and anyone can turn away from it. But it is not correct to take only this meaning of prostration here, because this prostration is done by all creation, including every human and jinn; rather, what is meant here is the prostration that many people perform according to Allah’s command, and many people have become deserving of punishment, i.e., they do not prostrate. If the prostration of creation (takwini) is meant, then neither believer nor disbeliever can dare to disobey His command. A man can lift one leg, let him try to lift both! Let him try to stop his hunger or thirst. Let him try to be free from the need for urination or defecation. Let him try to stop his heartbeat, blood circulation, childhood, youth, old age, illness, weakness, decline, death—can anyone raise his head against any of Allah’s creative commands? It is clear that the prostration meant here is the one that a person does willingly for the worship of Allah. According to Allah’s command, all the things mentioned in this verse prostrate to Allah willingly, while among people, many willingly prostrate for Allah’s worship and many do not. All creation except jinn and humans prostrate to Allah in both ways: by creation and by obedience and worship, while humans prostrate to Allah by creation, and as for obedience and worship, many humans prostrate and many do not. Here the question arises: it is understandable that everything in the heavens and the earth is subject to the creative command, but it is not understandable that they perform actual prostration for worship, because mountains, trees, the sun, the moon, and stars are lifeless things—how can they prostrate? The answer is that Allah has placed feeling and consciousness in all these things and has taught each thing the way of bowing, prostrating, standing, and glorifying before Him, so much so that when He commanded the heavens and the earth to come willingly or unwillingly, both said, “We come willingly.” See Surah Ha Mim As-Sajdah (11), and He said: «{ اَلَمْ تَرَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهٗ مَنْ فِي السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الْاَرْضِ وَ الطَّيْرُ صٰٓفّٰتٍ كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهٗ وَ تَسْبِيْحَهٗ وَ اللّٰهُ عَلِيْمٌۢ بِمَا يَفْعَلُوْنَ }» [ النور : ۴۱ ] “Do you not see that glorify Allah whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth and the birds with wings outspread? Each knows its prayer (in which there is standing, bowing, and prostration) and its glorification, and Allah is Knowing of what they do.” And see Surah Al-Isra (44), Al-Ahzab (72), Al-Hashr (21), An-Nahl (48), Ha Mim As-Sajdah (21), and Surah Al-Baqarah (74). In summary, here by the prostration of {’’ النَّاسِ ‘‘} is meant the prostration of worship, which some people do and some do not, and by the prostration of all things except {’’ النَّاسِ ‘‘}, both prostrations are meant: the creative and the prostration of worship.

➍ Allah, out of His countless creations, has specifically mentioned a few by name that they prostrate to Allah. The wisdom in this seems to be that among all these things, each has been taken as a deity by some polytheist. The Sabeans worship the sun, moon, and stars. The polytheists of Arabia worshipped Sirius and other stars. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) also forbade his people from worshipping them. Idol worshippers worship the stones of mountains, and similarly, many trees are also worshipped, as many grave worshippers and idol worshippers consider the trees of their shrines as sacred and consider breaking their leaves or branches a great sin. Many animals have also been made deities, such as Hindus worship cows, snakes, monkeys, and many other animals. Allah said that all these prostrate to Allah and accept Him as their Lord, so how devoid of reason are those who, instead of prostrating to Allah, prostrate to those who themselves prostrate to Allah. What greater humiliation can there be for man than this?

➎ Due to { وَ مَنْ يُّهِنِ اللّٰهُ فَمَا لَهٗ مِنْ مُّكْرِمٍ : ’’ يُهِنِ ‘‘} coming after {’’ مَنْ ‘‘}, sukoon (jazm) came on the noon, and due to two consecutive sukoons, the “yaa” was dropped, so it became {’’يُهِنْ‘‘}, then to join ahead, the noon was given a kasrah. That is, the one whom Allah, as a result of his polytheism and disbelief, deprives of human honor and dignity and makes him even worse than animals (Al-A’raf: 179) and subjects him to the eternal punishment of Hell, humiliating and disgracing him forever—no one can grant him honor after this humiliation. Allah said: «{ وَ تُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَآءُ وَ تُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَآءُ }» [ آل عمران : ۲۶ ] “And You honor whom You will and You humiliate whom You will.”

➏ { اِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَآءُ: ’’ اِنَّ ‘‘} (with kasrah on the hamzah) comes to state the reason for the previous sentence. This is the answer to the question: Why does Allah grant honor to some and humiliation to others? He said, He is the Owner of His will; He does what He wills. See also the commentary of Surah Al-Anbiya, verse (23).

➐ There is a prostration (sajdah) on this verse, and there is consensus on the prostration of this verse in Surah Al-Hajj.