Surah Luqman

Just like there are numerous computer programs in multiple languages and multiple programmers for those programs, we could have found different kinds of life forms on our planet earth, with some created by for example, God the Father, some  by the holy Ghost and some by Jesus. But unity of the biological code speaks of one Creator and that is the argument of these verses, if you will read it again: “He spread about all kinds of animals therein. … This is the creation of God; so show me that which those apart from Him have created. Nay, the wrongdoers are in manifest error.”

Richard Dawkins quotes Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the DNA structure, in his book, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing:

Heredity is all-or-none. That’s digital. But what neither Mendel nor anyone else before 1953 knew was that genes themselves are digital, within themselves. A gene is a sequence of code letters, drawn from an alphabet of precisely four letters, and the genetic code is universal throughout all known living things. Life is the execution of programs written using a small digital alphabet in a single, universal machine language. This realization was the hammer blow that knocked the last nail into the coffin of vitalism and, by extension, of dualism. The hammer was wielded, with undisguised youthful relish, by James Watson and Francis Crick.

James Watson and Francis Crick’s famous one-page paper, describing the structure of DNA, appeared in Nature in 1953. In addition to being a biological epiphany, it also turned out to be an amazing religious epiphany, in as much as there is only One Creator of all life forms and not two or three. Trinity is no longer, logically sustainable! There is only one Creator of all life forms on our planet earth.

Additionally, Allah says that if there had been more than one god there would have been chaos, rather than order in the universe, as they competed with each other for dominance: “God has never had a child. Nor is there any god beside Him — if there were, each god would have taken his creation aside and tried to overcome the others. May God be exalted above what they describe! He knows what is not seen and what is seen; He is far above any partner they subscribe to Him.” (23:91-92)

Please also see 13:16, 21:22 and 112:1-4.

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, as he and his colleagues describe the verse 11:

This verse challenges the idolaters to substantiate their claim that their idols have some part in the creative process, as in 52:35-36: Were they created from naught? Or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no certainty (cf. 7:191; 16:20). For manifest error, see 36:24c.

The same could be said about Jesus to the Trinitarian Christians. According to their official view he is perfect man and fully divine. The human part of Jesus was not born until around 1 AD, therefore Jesus had no role in the creation of the universe some 13 billion years ago.

Section II: Luqman’s Advice to his Son

31:12

“And indeed We endowed Luqman with wisdom: ‘Give thanks to God: whosoever gives thanks, he gives thanks for his own sake. And whosoever is ungrateful, truly God is Self-Sufficient, worthy of all praise.’”

Who was Luqman? According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr:

There is extensive debate regarding his identity. A minority of commentators propose that he was a pre-Islamic Arabian prophet (T, Z), but most commentators maintain that he was simply a righteous man (IK, T) or a sage (Hakim). Some identify him as a Nubian, an Ethiopian, or an Egyptian slave (IK, T, Z). Others claim that he was the nephew of the Prophet Job who lived a thousand years and acquired knowledge from the prophet David (Z), or that he was a judge among the people of Israel (Z). In the modern period, some scholars have attempted to identify him with such ancient figures as Prometheus, Alcmacon, or the Biblical Balaam. It is most likely that he was a pre-Islamic Arabian sage revered during the time of Muhammad. That he was given wisdom is thus interpreted to mean comprehension and understanding rather than revelation (T).

Luqman’s name in secular literature may well be Aesop. According to Encyclopedia Britannica:

Aesop, the supposed author of a collection of Greek fables, almost certainly a legendary figure. Various attempts were made in ancient times to establish him as an actual personage. Herodotus in the 5th century bc said that he had lived in the 6th century and that he was a slave, and Plutarch in the 1st century ad made him adviser to Croesus, the 6th-century-bc king of Lydia. One tradition holds that he came from Thrace, while a later one styles him a Phrygian. An Egyptian biography of the 1st century adplaces him on the island of Samos as a slave who gained his freedom from his master, thence going to Babylon as riddle solver to King Lycurgus, and, finally, meeting his death at Delphi. The probability is that Aesop was no more than a name invented to provide an author for fables centring on beasts, so that “a story of Aesop” became synonymous with ‘fable.’ The importance of fables lay not so much in the story told as in the moral derived from it.

According to an English 5 volume commentary that is available online, under the commentary of this verse:

Luqman seems to be a non-Arab, very probably an Ethiopian. He is said to belong to Egypt or Nubia. By some he has also been identified with the Greek ‘Aesop’. From the beautiful moral precepts he gave to his son that are embodied in the present and the next few verses, Luqman appears to be a prophet of God. To know who Luqman was is not of importance so much as the principle that God sent His Messengers among all people and that all those Messengers deserve our respect and reverence, and that Luqman was one of them. Islam was the first and the only religion to proclaim this principle which alone can form a sound and solid basis for peace among the followers  of various faiths.

31:13

“Luqman counseled his son, ‘O my son! Do not ascribe partners unto God. Truly ascribing partners is a terrible wrong.’”

The Quran quoting the advice of Luqman has a great significance that Islam is not a new religion, rather a reaffirmation of the best that has gone before, through some 124,000 prophets, mentioned in Hadith. If Luqman was not a prophet and only a sage then his mention in such glowing colors in these verses even more powerfully scores the above point.

Once again the two fundamental beliefs in Islam, which it shares with Judaism and Christianity are belief in the Transcendent God and accountability in the life after death. These beliefs come up in almost every surah of the Quran in one form or the other. The former is discussed at some length in the commentary of Surah Fatihah and the latter in the commentary of Surah Waqi’ah.

This verse lays emphasis on the Unity of God and not associating any partners with Him.

31:14

“We have commanded people to be good to their parents: their mothers carried them, with strain upon strain, and weaning took two years. Give thanks to Me and to your parents. Unto Me is the journey’s end.”

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and colleagues:

Goodness, gratitude, and virtue toward parents are enjoined in several verses (4:36; 29:8; 46:15) and often combined with the command to worship none but God (see 17:23); see 29:8c. In 2:83, Be virtuous toward parents is listed as the first injunction of the covenant (mithaq).

31:15

“But if they strive to make you ascribe as a partner unto Me that of which you have no knowledge, then obey them not. Consort with them in the world in a kindly manner, and follow the way of those who turn in repentance unto Me. Then unto Me is your return, and I shall inform you of that which you used to do.”

This is a very important verse in as much as it sets the order of importance of things. Obeying your parents is encouraged, but, if the advice is against God’s commandments or against His Oneness and Unity then we should not follow the advice, yet consort with the parents kindly in other matter. In this verse the Quran beautifully describes how in all matters, wise people can have a set of priorities and follow a middle course without the extremes of all or none.

According to Muhammad Ali, under the commentary of this verse:

Notwithstanding the great stress that the Holy Qur’an lays here and elsewhere on the duty of obedience to parents, it also warns against attaching undue importance to that duty when the same clashes with a still higher duty, viz., one’s duty to one’s Maker. In fact any duty, however great, must be sacrificed before a higher duty, and one’s duty to one’s Maker is the highest of all duties.

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and colleagues:

This is one of several verses where it is said that at the Final Judgment, God will inform people about their actions in this life; see also 5:14., 105; 6:60, 108, 159; 9:94., 105; 10:23; 24:64.; 29:8; 31:23; 39:7; 41:50; 58:6-7; 62:8; 64:7; 75:13. In this context, God’s ‘informing’ human beings stands as a reminder that among the things for which they will be called to account are their attitude and actions toward parents.

Section III: Greatness of the Divine Power

31:27

“And if all the trees on earth were pens, and if the sea and seven more added to it [were ink], the Words of God would not be exhausted. Indeed, God is Mighty, Wise.”

This verse talks about the vastness of the knowledge contained in the holy Quran: “And if all the trees on earth were pens, and if the sea and seven more added to it [were ink], the Words of God would not be exhausted. Truly God is Mighty, Wise.” In Surah Kahf (the Cave), we read a similar verse: “Say, ‘If every ocean becomes ink for the words of my Lord, surely, the ocean would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even though We brought the like thereof as further help;’” (18:109)

For, some details on these two verses of the Quran please see:

Our Collection of Essays or Articles about the Glorious Quran

The Scope, Style and Effect of the Holy Quran

Sources or Criteria for Interpretation of the Holy Quran

31:28

“Your creation and your resurrection are as naught but a single soul. Truly God is Hearing, Seeing.”

As regards the creation, ‘a single soul,’ could imply the very first unicellular organism from which all life forms evolved over the billions of years.

Suggested Reading:

The Single Quranic Verse that Can Convince You about Evolution

31:29

“Have you not considered that God makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night, and that He made the sun and the moon subservient, each running for an appointed term, and that God is Aware of whatsoever you do?”

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and colleagues:

Cf. 35:13. The passing of the night into the day and  the day into the night (cf. 3:27; 22:61; 57:6) can refer to the daily exchange of light and darkness (Aj), to seasonal variations in the length of days and nights (IK, JJ), or to both. That God has made the sun and the moon subservient (cf. 7:54; 13:2; 14:33; 16:12; 29:61; 39:5) refers to God’s control over all celestial bodies (IK), as in 16:12: The sun, and the moon, and the stars are subservient by His Command. It can also be understood as a reference to the manner in which they are made to serve human beings, as in 14:33: He has made the sun and the moon subservient unto you, constant, and He made the night and the day subservient unto you (of. 22:65; 31:20; 45:13). That each runs for a term appointed (cf. 13:2; 35:13; 39:5) refers to their termination at the end of the world (IK, JJ) or to their cyclical rotation.

Section IV: Human Psychology In and Out of Trials

31:31-32

“Have you not considered that the ships sail upon the sea by God’s Blessing, that He may show you His wonders? Truly there are signs in this for every steadfast, thankful person.”

“When the waves enshroud them like so many coverings, they call upon God, devoting their religion entirely to Him. Then when He has delivered them safely to land, some of them waver — only a treacherous, thankless person refuses to acknowledge Our signs.”

There is a popular saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Armand M. Nicholi, M.D., Jr. is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He writes, “Some of my students dogmatically deny the existence of God — but at the same time acknowledge that whenever their plane hits turbulence, they find themselves praying.”[1]

In times of extreme need we call upon Allah in extreme anguish but many among us forget our prayers when the trial is over. We could do well to remember that trials can return and ultimately we are all mortals and will be returning to God. Also see 30:33-34.

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and colleagues in the commentary of verse number 31:

That seafaring is a blessing bestowed by God (cf. 14:32; 17:66; 22:65; 30:46; 43:12) reiterates the manner in which God makes creation subservient to human beings, as in 45:12: God it is Who made the sea subservient unto you, that the ships may sail upon it by His Command, that you may seek His Bounty, and that haply you may give thanks; see 31:20c. Patient and thankful describe those who are steadfast in the face of affliction and thankful when in a state of ease (IK).

According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and colleagues in the commentary of verse number 32:

Cf. 10:22-23; 17:67; 29:65. A storm at sea can be seen  as a parable for every affliction that besets human beings in life. Devoting religion entirely to Him (cf. 7:29; 10:22; 29:65; 40:14., 65; 98:5) refers to the singularity of their devotion in the face of severe afflictions (T). Yet when they are delivered to safety, some take a middling course, wavering away from the sincerity they had declared when they feared for their lives (Z), or turn away and are ungrateful (17:67), returning to their polytheism or their forgetfulness of God and behaving tyrannically upon the earth without right (10:23). Perfidious translates khattar, which means one who betrays or stabs in the back or who breaks every promise made (IK). Such people deny that their good fortune is a blessing from God and do not give thanks for it (IK).

What we have to realize is that when we get out of a trial successfully, it is not ultimate victory as there would be still further trials and eventually Afterlife. Allah says in Surah Rome:

When something bad happens to people, they cry to their Lord and turn to Him for help, but no sooner does He let them taste His blessing than—lo and behold!—some of them ascribe partners to their Lord, showing no gratitude for what We have given them. ‘Take your pleasure! You will come to know.’ (30:33-34)

In other words humans have little choice but to be grateful to their Creator God, Who helps and saves them in their various trials and tribulations.

31:34

“Truly with God lies knowledge of the Hour, and He sends down the rain and knows what lies in wombs. And no soul knows what it will reap tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Truly God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”

This verse talks about Afterlife in indirect terms.

We believe the two fundamental beliefs in Islam, which it shares with Judaism and Christianity are belief in the Transcendent God and accountability in the life after death. These beliefs come up in almost every surah of the Quran in one form or the other. The former is discussed at some length in the commentary of Surah Fatihah and the latter in the commentary of Surah Waqi’ah.

References

1. Armand M Nicholi Jr. CS Lewis and Freud: debate God, love, sex and meaning of life. Free Press 2002, page 51.