Ha Mim By this luminous Book, which endorses the realities with ample evidences It descended in an extremely auspicious night from the Guarded Tablet to the nether heaven. It indicates the correct course of action to mankind and forewarns of the formidable results of evil deeds.

 

Auspicious Night

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According to the Commentators it is the Laila tul Qadras determined by other verses. The Quran was revealed in the month of Ramadan. The report about its being the 15^th night of Sha'ban is weak and as such not entertained by most of the scholars. Those who support this version assert that even the weak reports of Hadith are meritorious in matters of practice. However, the revelation of Quran in Laila tul Qadr and in the month of Ramadan has been highlighted by the Quran itself.

 

In this very Night all affairs and decisions for the coming year, already in Allah^-SWT's Knowledge since eternity, are entrusted to the relevant angels for execution Similarly, it was Allah^-SWT's decision to raise the Holy Prophet^-SW as His^-SWT Messenger^-SW, indeed a great mercy for mankind It is He^-SWT Who^-SWT listens to the cries for help and knows everything about His^-SWT creation. In other words, Allaah^-SWT has answered every possible human pleading pertaining both to this world as well as the Akhirah by raising the Holy Prophet^-SW. Devotion and conformity to his teachings alleviates every suffering and solves all problems. So O' people! If you believe in His^-SWT Providence that it is He^-SWT Who^-SWT is fulfilling all needs of whoever is in the heavens and the earth, you will realize that the creation did need a Prophet^-AS to connect them with their Rabb^-SWT . Allaah^-SWT satiated this vital need by raising the Holy Prophet^-SW. It is an evidence of His^-SWT Magnificence that He^-SWT blessed mankind with such a supreme favour. There is no one worthy of worship save Him^-SWT for it is He^-SWT Who^-SWT gives life and enforces death. He^-SWT is your Rabb^-SWT as well as of those who lived before. In other words, just as He^-SWT gives physical life, He^-SWT has also blessed you with spiritual life by raising His^-SWT Prophet^-SW amongst you. Estrangement from him^-SW amounts to spiritual death. Yet these people harbour doubts and are engrossed in futile sport. 

 

Smoke from the Sky

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The Holy Prophet^-SW may wait until the sky is all smoke, engulfing people in a tormenting doom. The Commentators offer two explanations Firstly, the obduracy of the Makkans, which led the Holy Prophet^-SW to invoke a famine on them, like the one the Egyptians experienced during the era of Prophet Yusuf^-AS. And it struck compelling them to eat bones and carrion under a sky clouded with smoke. They approached the Holy Prophet^-SW to have it alleviated in order that they become believers. Allah^-SWT knew it to be a ruse, as they had already denied a magnificent Prophet^-SW raised amongst them whose noble personality was itself a great miracle. Still He^-SWT averted the chastisement and obliged them with a downpour as a result of the Holy Prophet^-SW’s prayer, yet they breached their promise and labelled him insane.

The second explanation is that on the Day of Reckoning, a haze like smoke will descend from the sky. According to Hadith, it will cause a mild cold to the believers, but will enter a non-believer's body to exude from every cell. The latter will then pray to Allaah^-SWT that if spared the misery, they would become believers. But it will be too late, for they had already rejected the invitation of the Holy Prophet^-SW to true faith and made fun of him by labelling him insane. And even if it was done and they are returned to the world they would once again resort to infidelity, already deeply embedded in their souls. The grip of Qayamah will indeed be very harsh and no excuses will be entertained on behalf of the wrong doers and a fair requital shall settle all scores.

 

Earlier, the Pharaoh's folk were tried through a distinguished Prophet^-AS who asked them to let the long oppressed Bani Israil go along with him. He also informed them that he was Allaah^-SWT ’s Messenger^-AS calling them to believe in His^-SWT Magnificence and Divinity and not to contest Allah^-SWT by indulging in pointless arguments with him, despite the evidences and manifest miracles brought by him yet they did not listen to Prophet Musa^-AS and refused to believe, rather threatened to stone him to death.

 

He sought Allah^-SWT's Protection and prayed for his deliverance from the wicked people ready even to stone him to death. Allaah^-SWT directed him to escort the Bani Israil by night out of the tyrants' land. And that they will be pursued by the Pharaoh and his forces whence Allaah^-SWT shall make pathways in the sea for them to cross over. However, he should not wish the water to resume its flow immediately so that the Pharaoh is attracted into it and be destroyed by drowning, leaving behind the gardens, the springs, the vast fields and the lofty mansions where they had lived lavishly. Allaah^-SWT transferred these bounties to the Bani Israil heretofore treated worse than the animals. The sky never cried over this tragic decimation of the Pharaohs nor was the earth moved in the least. 

 

The Crying of Heaven and Earth

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According to some scholars it is a metaphoric expression, merely depicting that such a great havoc had no affect whatever on the functioning of the Universal System. However, many Commentators believe that this Ayah testifies a saying of the Holy Prophet^-SW that the portion of earth where a virtuous person practices piety cries upon his death, as well as the heaven, through which his noble deeds used to ascend. Every creation enjoys a certain level of understanding and expresses itself in a peculiar way. Thus the crying of heaven and the earth will be in their own style.