My Thoughts on Surah Al-Naml — Part II
The Five Questions
After the stories of the four prophets (Musa — Suleman — Salih — Lut), the next section in this Surah is what I like to call “The Five Questions”.
Opening Statement
Allah opens his commentary with a statement and a question:
Statement — All Praise and Gratitude are for Allah, and peace upon His servants whom He has chosen
Question — Is Allah better or what do they associate with Him?
Five Questions
After the opening question, there is One question that Allah asks 5 TIMES. Each of the five questions is made of 3 things —
- the context/build-up of the question
- the question itself
- an unusual answer to the question
First:
Context — Allah talks about how rains come from the sky, go into the earth, and gardens and trees come out of it, Allah says who grows these trees?
Question — Is there a deity with Allah?
Unusual Answer — They are people who try to equalize things.
Second:
Context — Allah talks about who made the earth stable, made rivers and mountains in it, and placed between the two seas a barrier.
Question — Is there a deity with Allah?
Unusual Answer — Most of them do not know
Third:
Context — Allah talks about who responds to the desperate one and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth.
Question — Is there a deity with Allah?
Unusual Answer — Little do you remember
Fourth:
Context — Allah talks about who guides you through the darknesses of the land and the sea, and who gives good tidings
Question — Is there a deity with Allah?
Unusual Answer — Allah is High above whatever they associate with Him
Before we go to the fifth question, let’s pause here for a moment and have a deeper look at the section of the questions.
A Deeper Look at the 4 Questions
First question:
- Allah talks about rain coming from the sky, going into the earth, and gardens and trees coming out of them.
- Allah asks: if they grow the trees or does Allah?
- They are a nation that equates.
This is similar to the creation of human beings — a sperm goes into the womb, and through a divine process, a child comes out of it. The expression of rain and earth and gardens and trees tie in perfectly with the crime the people of Lut AS were committing. Are they able to create their children by themselves through the process of the sperm and the womb? or does Allah create their children? They are desperately trying to bring order as they claim it against nature itself.
The First Question corresponds to the last Prophet:
Second Question:
Allah talks about 2 things:
- Who made the earth a stable ground and placed within it, rivers and made for it firmly set mountains? — A beautiful place
- Who placed between the two seas a barrier
And Allah ends with
but most of them do not know.
A Beautiful Place
We learn that in the stoy of Salih AS, there were multiple faction heads, and they were corrupting the lands — which means they were in a position of authority and control.
Allah asks: Who made this place a beautiful place to begin with? Now that you’re given authority over a people and have been made heads of the beautiful city, you go and corrupt the lands? Allah is the one who owns this!
Allah also ended the story of Salih AS with advice — the same wordings are used as the unusual answer to the question.
Indeed in that is a sign for people who know.
Two Seas having a Barrier
Who part the two seas? When were the two seas parted? — This context clearly relates to the story of Moses AS.
Third Question
Allah talks about three things:
- Who responds to the distressed?
- Who removes evil?
- Who makes you inheritors of the land?
In the story of Solomen, we know that the ants cried out in distress about, and the Queen of Sheba was brought down by Solomen, and thus inheritance of the lands was given to Solomen.
Fourth Question
Allah talks about 2 things
- Guidance in the darknesses of day and night.
- Winds of Good Tidings
Guidance in the darknesses of day and night.
The First Part of the Last Question goes back to the story of Moses. When Moses AS was lost in the darkness of the night, it is Allah alone who guided him!
Winds of Good Tidings
The Second Part of the Last Question goes back to the third story of Salih AS. When they said that Salih AS and his followers are bad Omens. Allah mentions it is He alone who gives good tidings!
The Unusual Answer to the Fourth Question
The unusual answer at the end ties back to the opening statement of the section with Questions.
At the start, Allah asked:
Is Allāh better or what with they associate with Him?”
And He himself answers:
High is Allāh above whatever they associate with Him.
To view correlations of speech in a visual manner:
However, we mentioned that there are 5 questions, which we have correlated with the stories of the 4 prophets mentioned above. 4 Questions, and 4 Prophets, why is there a fifth one?
The Last Question:
Allah asks: who begins the creation and then repeats it? and who provides you from heaven and earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Say, “Produce your proof, if you should be truthful!”
In the question, Allah combines the main theme of all the stories of the prophets — that they were destroyed when they did not follow their prophets, and a new nation replaced them and Allah provided Rizq for all of them from the heavens and the earth.
There is one significant difference in how Allah answers the question — Before, we saw that the answers to the 4 questions were statements of facts.
They are a nation that equates
But most of them do not know
Little do you remember
High is Allāh above whatever they associate with Him.
But with the last question,
Allah says: Say to them! — which is not a statement of fact, but a statement of action.
Who is Allah asking to Say to them? It is none other than our Prophet PBUH! So the fifth question ties into the man to which this magnificent speech came!
