The name of this Surah is composed of two words, Ha-Mim and As-Sajdah, which implies that it is a Surah which begins with Ha-Mim and in which a verse requiring the performance of sajdah (prostration) has occurred.
According to authentic Traditions, it was sent down after the affirmation of the Faith by Hadrat Hamzah and before the affirmation of the Faith by Hadrat Umar. Muhammad bin Ishaq, the earliest biographer of the Holy Prophet, has related on the authority of Muhammad bin Ka'b al-Qurzi, the famous follower of the Companions, that one day some of the Quraish chiefs were sitting in their assembly in the Masjid al-Haram, while in another corner of the Mosque there was the Holy Prophet sitting by himself. This was the time when Hadrat Hamzah had already embraced Islam and the people of the Quraish were feeling upset at the growing numbers of the Muslims. On this occasion, Utbah bin Rabi'ah (the father-in-law of Abu Sufyan) said to the Quraish chiefs: "Gentlemen, if you like I would go and speak to Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) and put before him some proposals; maybe that he accepts one of them, to which we may also agree, and so he stops opposing us." They all agreed to this, and Utbah went and sat by the Holy Prophet. When the Holy Prophet turned to him, he said: "Nephew, you know the high status that you enjoy in the community by virtue of your ancestry and family relations, but you have put your people to great trouble: you have created divisions among them and you consider them to be fools: you talk ill of their religion and gods, and say things as though all our forefathers were pagans. Now listen to me and I shall make some suggestions. Consider them well: maybe that you accept one of them." The Holy Prophet said: "Abul Walid, say what you want to say and I shall listen to you." He said, "Nephew, if by what you are doing, you want wealth, we will give you enough of it so that you will be the richest man among us; if you want to became an important man, we will make you our chief and will never decide a matter without you; if you want to be a king, we will accept you as our king; and if you are visited by a jinn, whom you cannot get rid of by your own power, we will arrange the best physicians and have you treated at our own expense." 'Utbah went on speaking in this strain and the Holy Prophet went on listening to him quietly. Then he said, "Have you said, O Abul Walid, what you had to say?" He replied that he had. The Holy Prophet said: "Well, now listen to me."Then pronouncing Bismilah ir Rehman-ir-Raihm he began to recite this very Surah, and Utbah kept on listening to it, putting his hands behind his back and leaning on them as he listened. Coming to the verse of prostration (v. 38) the Holy Prophet prostrated himself; then raising his head, said, "This was my reply, O Abul Walid, now you may act as you please." then Utbah arose and walked back towards the chiefs, the people saw him from afar, and said: "By God! Utbab's face is changed. He does not look the same man that he was when he went from here." Then, when he came back and sat down, the people asked, "What have you heard?" He replied, "By God! I have heard something the like of which I had never heard before. By God, it's neither poetry, nor sorcery, nor magic. O chiefs of the Quraish, listen to what I say and leave this man to himself. I think what he recites is going to have its effect. If the other Arabs overcome him, you will be saved from raising your band against your brother, and the others will deal with him. But if he overcame Arabia, his sovereignty would be your sovereignty and his honor your honor." Hearing this the chiefs spoke out:"You too, O father of Walid, have been bewitched by his tongue." Utbah replied, "I have given you my opinion; now you may act as you please." (Ibn Hisham, vol. I, pp. 313-314).
This story has been narrated by several other traditionists also on the authority of Hadrat Jabir bin Abdullah in different ways, with a little variation in wording. In some traditions it has also been related that when during the recitation the Holy Prophet had come to verse 13, viz."If they turn away, say to them: I warn you of a thunderbolt the like of which had visited the Ad and the Thamud,"Utbah had spontaneously placed his hand on the Holy Prophet's mouth, and said: "For God's sake, have mercy on your people." Afterwards he justified his action before the Quraish chiefs, saying: "You know that whatever Muhammad says is always fulfilled; therefore, I feared lest a torment should descend on us." (For details, see Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. IV, pp. 90- 91; Al Bidayah wan-Nihayah, vol. III, p. 62).
In the discourse that Allah sent down in response to what Utbah said, no attention whatever was paid to the absurd proposals that he had made to the Holy Prophet. For what he had said was, in fact, an attack on the Holy Prophet's intention and his intellect. His assumption was that as there was no possibility of his being a Prophet and the Quran being Allah's Revelation, inevitably the motive of his invitation must either be the desire to obtain wealth and political power, or, God forbid, he had lost his reason. In the first case, he wanted to make a bargain with the Holy Prophet; in the second, he was insulting him when he said that the Quraish chiefs would have been cured of his madness at their own expense. Obviously, when the opponents come down to such absurd things, no gentleman would like to answer them, but would ignore them and say what he himself had to say.
Therefore, ignoring what Utbah said, this Surah makes antagonism its subject of discussion, which the unbelieving Quraish were showing stubbornly and wickedly in order to defeat the message of the Qur'an. They would say to tho Holy Prophet, "You may try however hard you try: we would not listen to you. We have put coverings on our hearts and we have closed our ears. There is a wall between you and us, which would never let us meet together."
They had given a clear notice to the Holy Prophet to the effect: "You may continue your mission of inviting the people to yourself, but we would go on opposing you as hard as we can to frustrate your mission."
For this object they had devised the following plan: Whenever the Holy Prophet or a follower of his would try to recite the Qur'an before the people, they would at once raise such a hue and cry that no one could bear anything.
They were desperately trying to misconstrue the verses of the Qur'an and spread every kind of misunderstanding among the people. They misconstrued everything and found fault even with the straightforward things. They would isolate words and sentences from their right context, from here and there, and would add their own words in order to put new meanings on them so as to mislead the people about the Quran and the Messenger who presented it.
They would raise strange objections a specimen of which has been presented in this Surah. They said, "If an Arab presents a discourse in Arabic, what could be the miracle in it? Arabic is his mother tongue. Anyone could compose anything that he pleased in his mother tongue and then make the claim that he had received it from God. It would be a miracle if the person would suddenly arise and make an eloquent speech in a foreign tongue which he did not know. Then only could one say that the discourse was not of his own composition but a revelation from God."
Here is a resume of what has been said in answer to this deaf and blind opposition:
The Qur'an is most certainly the Word of God, which He has sent down in Arabic. The ignorant people do not find any light of knowledge in the truths that have been presented in it plainly and clearly, but the people of understanding are seeing this light as well as benefiting by it. It is surely Allah's mercy that He has sent down this Word for the guidance of man. If a person regarded it as an affliction, it would be his own misfortune. Good news is for those who benefit by it and warning for those who turn away from it.
If you have put coverings on your hearts and have made yourselves deaf, it is none of the Prophet's job to make the one hear who does not want to hear, and the one who does not want to understand understand forcibly. He is a man like you; he can make only those to hear and understand, who are inclined to hear and understand.
Whether you close down your eyes and ears and put coverings on your hearts, the fact, however, is that your God is only One God, and you are not the servant of any one else. Your stubbornness cannot change this reality in any way. If you accept this truth and correct your behavior accordingly you will do good only to yourselves, and if you reject it, you will only be preparing your own doom.
Do you have any understanding as to whom you disbelieve and with whom you associate others in divinity? It is with regard to that God Who has created this limitless universe, Who is the Creator of the earth and heavens, from Whose blessings you are benefiting on the earth, and on Whose provisions you are being fed and sustained. You set up His mean creatures as His associates and then you are made to understand the truth you turn away in stubbornness.
If you still do not believe, then be aware that a sudden torment is about to visit you, the like of which had visited the Ad and the Thamud, and this torment also will not be the final punishment of your crimes, but there is in addition the accountability and the fire of Hell in the Hereafter.
Wretched is the man who gets as company such satans from among men and jinn, who show him nothing but green and pleasant, who make his follies seem fair to him, who neither let him think aright himself nor let him hear right from others. But on the Day of Reckoning when their doom overtakes them, each one of them will say that if he happened to get hold of those who had misled and deceived him in the world, he would trample them under his foot.
This Quran is an unchangeable Book. You can not defeat it by your machinations and falsehoods. Whether falsehood comes from the front or makes a secret and indirect attack from behind, it cannot succeed in refuting it.
Today when this Quran is being Presented in your own language so that you may understand it, you say that it should have been sent down in some foreign tongue. But had We sent it in a foreign tongue for your guidance, you would yourselves have called it a joke, as if to say, "What a strange thing! The Arabs are being given guidance in a non- Arabic language, which nobody understands." This means that you, in fact, have no desire to obtain guidance. You are only inventing ever new excuses for not affirming the faith.
Have you ever considered that if it became established that the Qur'an was really from Allah, then what fate you would meet by denying it and opposing it so vehemently as you do?
Today you do not believe but soon you will see with your own eyes that the message of this Qur'an had pervaded the whole world and you have yourselves been overwhelmed by it. Then you will come to know that what you were being told was the very truth.
Besides giving these answers to the opponents, attention has been paid to the problems which the believers and the Holy Prophet himself were facing in that environment of active resistance. Not to speak of preaching the message to others, the believers were even finding it difficult to follow the way of the Faith. Any one about whom it became known that he had become a Muslim, life would become an agony. As against the dreadful combination of the enemy and its all pervading power, they were feeling utterly helpless and powerless. In this state, in the first place, they were consoled and encouraged, as if to say: "You are not, in fact, helpless and powerless, for any person who believes in God as his Lord and adheres to this belief and way of life resolutely, God's angels descend on him and help and support him at every stage, from the life of this world till the Hereafter." Then they were encouraged with the consolation: "The best man is be who does good, invites others to God and proclaims firmly that he is a Muslim."
The question that was vexing the Holy Prophet at that time was as to how be should carve out a way of preaching his message when he had to face such heavy odds on every side. The solution he was given to this question was: "Although apparently the obstacles seem to be insurmountable, the weapon of good morals and character can smash and melt them away. Use this weapon patiently, and whenever Satan provokes you and incites you to use some other device, seek refuge in Allah."
En el nombre de Allah, el Misericordioso, el Compasivo.
Ḥa, Mim.
Revelación procedente del Misericordioso, el Compasivo.
Un Libro cuyos signos* se han expresado con claridad* como una recitación* árabe para gente que sabe.
Es portador de buenas noticias y advertidor, pero la mayoría de ellos se ha apartado y no escuchan.
Y dicen: Nuestros corazones están cerrados a lo que nos llamas, en nuestros oídos hay sordera y entre nosotros y tú hay un velo, así pues, actúa en consecuencia, que nosotros también lo haremos.
Di: Yo sólo soy un ser humano como vosotros al que le ha sido inspirado que vuestro dios es un Único Dios, así pues dirigíos a Él sin desviaros y pedidle perdón. Y perdición para los que Le atribuyen asociados.
Los que no dan el ẓakat y son incrédulos con respecto a la Última Vida.
Realmente los que crean y practiquen las acciones de bien, tendrán una recompensa que no cesará.
Di: ¿Cómo es que os negáis a creer en Aquel que creó la tierra en dos días y Le atribuís semejantes? Él es el Señor de los mundos.
Y puso sobre ella cordilleras, la bendijo y repartió con medida sus provisiones, en cuatro días completos, para los que lo quieran saber.
Luego dirigió (Su voluntad) al cielo, que era humo, y le dijo junto con la Tierra: Venid a Mí de buen grado o a la fuerza. Dijeron: Venimos a Ti obedientes.
Y en dos días lo culminó en siete cielos, a cada uno de los cuales le inspiró su cometido. Hemos embellecido el cielo de este mundo con lámparas y protección. Ése es el decreto del Poderoso, el Conocedor.
Pero si se apartan, di: Os he advertido de caer fulminados como cayeron los ‘Ad y los Zamud.
Cuando antes y después, les llegaron Mensajeros diciendo: ¡Adorad únicamente a Allah! Dijeron: Si nuestro Señor quisiera, haría bajar ángeles; así pues nosotros nos negamos a creer en aquello con lo que habéis sido enviados.
Los ‘Ad fueron soberbios en la Tierra sin razón, dijeron: ¿Quién tiene más poderío que nosotros? ¿Es que no veían que Allah, que los había creado, tenía más fuerza y poder que ellos? Negaron sistemáticamente Nuestros signos.
Entonces enviamos contra ellos un viento gélido a lo largo de días fatales para que probaran así el castigo de la humillación en esta vida. Sin embargo el castigo de la Última será más humillante y nadie los auxilará.
Y a los Zamud les dimos la guía, pero ellos prefirieron la ceguera a la guía y los sorprendimos con un castigo fulminante e infame a causa de lo que se habían buscado.
Y salvamos a los que creían y temían (a su Señor).
El día en que sean reunidos* los enemigos de Allah de cara al Fuego, se les conducirá como al ganado.
Y cuando lleguen a él, sus oídos, vista y piel atestiguarán contra ellos por lo que hicieron.
Y le dirán a su piel: ¿Por qué das testimonio en nuestra contra? Dirá: Allah, que hace hablar a todas las cosas, es Quien nos hace hablar. Él os creó por primera vez y a Él tenéis que volver.
No os guardasteis de que vuestro oído, vuestra vista y vuestra piel iban a dar testimonio contra vosotros y pensasteis que Allah no sabría gran parte de lo que hacíais.
Y eso que pensasteis sobre vuestro Señor os ha llevado a la ruina y os habéis convertido en perdedores.
Y aunque tengan paciencia... el Fuego será el refugio para ellos. Y si piden disculpas no serán disculpados.
Les habíamos asignado compañeros inseparables que les embellecieron lo que tenían ante ellos y lo que había de venir, y así fue como la Palabra se hizo realidad en su contra, como ya ocurriera con las comunidades anteriores de genios y de hombres. Fueron, en verdad, perdedores.
Y dicen los que se niegan a creer: No escuchéis esta Recitación, intentad acalladla* y puede que venzáis.
A los que se niegan a creer les haremos probar un durísimo castigo y les pagaremos por lo peor que hayan hecho.
Ésa es la recompensa de los enemigos de Allah: el Fuego. En él tendrán la morada de la eternidad como recompensa por haber negado Nuestros signos.
Y dirán los que se negaron a creer: ¡Señor nuestro! Muéstranos a aquellos genios y hombres que nos extraviaron para que los pongamos bajo nuestros pies y queden entre los más bajos.
Realmente los que hayan dicho: Mi Señor es Allah; y hayan sido rectos, los ángeles descenderán a ellos: No temáis ni os entristezcáis y alegraos con la buena nueva del Jardín que se os había prometido.
Somos vuestros protectores en esta vida y en la Última, allí tendréis lo que deseen vuestras almas y todo cuanto pidáis.
Hospedaje de un Perdonador, Compasivo.
¿Y qué mejor palabra que la de aquel que llama (a los demás) a Allah, obra con rectitud y dice: Yo soy de los musulmanes?
No son iguales la bondad y la maldad; responde con la mejor actitud y aquel con el que tenías enemistad será como un amigo ardiente.
Pero esto no lo consiguen sino los que tienen paciencia, no lo consigue sino el dotado de una suerte inmensa.
Y si te solivianta una tentación procedente del Shaiṭán pide refugio en Allah; es cierto que Él es el que oye y el que sabe.
Entre Sus signos están la noche y el día, el sol y la luna. No os postréis ni ante el sol ni ante la luna sino postraos ante Allah que es Quien los ha creado, si sólo a Él Lo adoráis.
Y si muestran soberbia... aquellos que están junto a tu Señor Lo glorifican noche y día y no se hastían.
Y entre Sus signos está cuando ves la tierra humillada y entonces hacemos que caiga agua sobre ella, con la que se estremece y se hincha; realmente Aquel que le da vida es Quien dará vida a los muertos; es verdad que Él tiene poder sobre todas las cosas.
Es cierto que aquellos que se apartan de Nuestros signos no se Nos ocultan. ¿Acaso alguien que va a ser arrojado al Fuego es mejor que quien se presente a salvo el Día del Levantamiento? Haced lo que queráis; Él ve lo que hacéis.
Es cierto que los que se han negado a creer en el Recuerdo cuando les ha llegado... es un Libro sin igual.
Al que no le afecta lo falso por ningún lado. Y es una Revelación cuyo descenso procede de uno que es Sabio, y en Sí mismo Alabado.
No se te ha dicho sino lo que se dijo a los Mensajeros anteriores a ti, realmente tu Señor es Poseedor de perdón, pero también de un doloroso castigo.
Y si hubiéramos hecho que fuera una recitación en lengua no árabe, habrían dicho: ¿Por qué no se han expresado con claridad sus signos (aleyas)? ¿No es árabe siendo él árabe*? Di: Para los que creen es una guía y una cura, pero los que no creen tienen sordera en sus oídos y es una ceguera para ellos, es como si los llamaran desde muy lejos.
Y en verdad le dimos a Musa el Libro y hubo diferencias sobre él. De no haber sido por una palabra previa de tu Señor se habría decidido entre ellos, que dudaban de él con desconfianza.
Quien obre con rectitud, lo hará para sí mismo, y quien obre mal, lo hará en contra de sí mismo; tu Señor no es injusto con los siervos.
A Él se remite el conocimiento de la Hora. No hay fruto que salga de su envoltura, ni hembra que quede preñada ni que dé a luz, que no sea con Su conocimiento. El día en que se les llame: ¿Dónde están los que asociabais conmigo? Dirán: Te anunciamos que no tenemos ningún testigo.
Se les habrá extraviado aquello que antes invocaban y sabrán con certeza que no habrá escapatoria para ellos.
El hombre no se cansa de pedir lo bueno, pero si el mal le toca se queda abatido, desesperado.
Y si después del daño que le tocó le hacemos probar una misericordia de Nuestra parte, dice: Esto es cosa mía, no creo que la Hora vaya a llegar y aún en el caso de que volviera a mi Señor, sin duda que tendría junto a Él lo más hermoso. Les haremos saber a los que se negaron a creer lo que hicieron y les haremos gustar parte de un duro castigo.
Y cuando favorecemos al hombre, éste se desentiende y se aleja con arrogancia, pero cuando le toca algún daño se vuelve muy suplicante.
Di: ¿Qué me diríais si procediera* de junto a Allah y vosotros os hubiérais negado a creer en él? ¿Quién está más extraviado que quien se encuentra en una profunda oposición?
Les haremos ver Nuestros signos en el horizonte y en ellos mismos hasta que se les haga evidente que es la verdad. ¿Es que no basta con que tu Señor es Testigo de todas las cosas?
¿Acaso no están en duda del encuentro con su Señor? ¿Y acaso no rodea Él todas las cosas?