Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim.

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn . The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray .

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45: (Al-Jathiyah)- Kneeling

(The Kneeling)

Section (juz' 25)

Number of Verses: 37

Sūra al-Jāthīya (Arabic: سورَة الجاثیة) is the forty fifth surah of the quran. It is a makki sura located in twenty five. The word "al-Jathiya" means "crawling" and this sura is called so, because in verse twenty eight, it speaks about seeing every nation fallen on its knees on the day of judgement upon receiving their records of deeds.

The discussion about the rightfulness of the Qur'an, the oneness of god, warning the ignorant who insist on their deviant beliefs, inviting believers to forgive disbeleivers and describing scenes from the Day of Judgement are among the issues mentioned in this sura. About the merits of recitation of this sura, it is transmitted from the prophet that whoever recites Sura al-Jathiya, allah  will cover his defects and removes his fears and worries upon reckoning.

The Chapter was revealed in Mecca. The designation of the Chapter is taken from Verse 28 in which the word jathiya denotes kneeling. God Almighty is described as the Omnipotent (al-'Aziz) and the Wise (al-Hakim) in the opening and closing Verses of the Chapter.

The subject matter of the Chapter includes the Greatness of the Qur'an, arguments substantiating Divine Unity, refutation of materialistic views, history of some ancient peoples, warning to the astray, encouragement to forgiveness, and allusions to the depictions of resurrection.

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Merits of recitation

According to a Prophetic tradition,

"God Almighty will conceal the defects of whoever recites Surah al-Jathiya and will turn his fear into serenity."

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Benefits

There are 37 verses in this Surah and it was revealed in Makkah. This Surah is also called Surah ash-Shari'ah. It is narrated that whoever recites this Surah will not be frightened on the Day of Judgement and his private parts will remain covered (whereas all people will be raised naked on this day).

Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) has said that whoever recites this Surah will not see Jahannam and neither will he hear the voice of its flames. Keeping this Surah in one's possession makes him a beloved of the people and protects him from tyrant rulers. It also keeps one safe from those who love to slander and backbite. If it is placed on the neck of a newborn child, it ensures safety and protection from all calamities.

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Lessons

Allāh made subservient for man most things on earth.

Whoever does good, does so for his/her own benefit; and whoever does bad, will him/herself stand to suffer from it.

If you become a slave to your desires, you will deviate despite knowing the truth, and become blind and deaf to it.

On the Day of Qiyāmah, each nation will be seen on their knees, before their book of deeds is given to them.

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It answers the doubts and objections of the disbelievers of Makkah about Tauhid and the Hereafter and warns them for their attitude that they had adopted against the message of the Qur'an.

The discourse begins with the arguments for Tauhid. In this connection, reference has been made to the count- less Signs that are found in the world, from man's own body to the earth and heavens, and it is pointed out that everywhere around him man finds things which testify to Tauhid which he refuses to acknowledge. If man sees carefully the variety of animals, the day and night, the rainfall and the vegetation thereby, the winds and his own creation, and ponders over them intelligently, without prejudice, he will find these Signs sufficiently convincing of the truth that this universe is not Godless, nor under the control of many gods, but it has been created by One God, and He alone is its Controller and Ruler. However, the case of the person who is determined not to acknowledge and wants to remain involved in doubts and suspicions is different. He cannot be blessed with the faith and conviction from anywhere in the world.

A little below, in the beginning of the second section, it has been reiterated that the things man is exploiting in the world, and the countless forces and agencies that are serving his interests in the universe, did not come into being just accidentally, nor have they been provided by the gods and goddesses, but it is One God alone, Who has supplied and subjected these to him from Himself. If only a person uses his mind properly and rightly, his own intellect will proclaim that God alone is man's real Benefactor and He alone deserves that man should pay obeisance to Him.

After this, the disbelievers of Makkah have been taken to task and reproved for their stubbornness, arrogance, mockery and insistence on disbelief with which they were resisting the invitation of the Qur'an they have been warned that this Qur'an has brought the same blessing which had been granted to the children of Israel before, by virtue of which they became distinguished above all the people of the world. Then, when they failed to recognize the true worth of this blessing and disputed their religion and lost it, this blessing now has been sent to them. This is such a code of guidance which shows the clear highway of Religion to man. The people who would turn it down by their own folly, would only prepare for their own doom, and only such people would become worthy of God's succour and mercy who would adopt obedience to it and lead a life of piety and righteousness.

In this connection, the followers of the Holy Prophet have been instructed that they should forbear and pardon the absurd and foolish behavior towards them of the people fearless of God, for if they showed patience God Himself would deal with their opponents and would reward them for their fortitude.

Then, there is a criticism of the erroneous ideas that the disbelievers hold about the Hereafter. They said that life was only this worldly life there was no life hereafter. Man dies in the course of time just as a watch stops functioning suddenly. The body is not survived by any soul, which might be seized and then breathed again into the human body some time in the future. In this regard, they challenged the Holy Prophet, saying: "If you lay a claim to this, then raise our dead forefathers back to life." In answer to this, Allah has given the following arguments:

"You do not say this on the basis of any knowledge but are uttering this grave thing on the basis of conjecture. Do you really have the knowledge that there is no other life after death, and the souls are not seized but are annihilated?"

"Your this claim rests mainly on this that you have not seen any dead person rising back to life and returning to the world. Is this basis strong enough for a person to make a claim that the dead people will never rise to life?When you do not experience and observe a thing, does it mean that you have the knowledge that it does not exist at all?

It is utterly against reason and justice that the good and the bad, the obedient and the disobedient, the oppressor and the oppressed, should be made equal ultimately. Neither a good act should bear a good result nor an evil act an evil result; neither the grievances of the oppressed be redressed nor the oppressor be punished, but everyone should meet with the same fate ultimately. Whoever has formed this view about the universe of God, has formed a patently wrong view. The unjust and wicked people adopt this view because they do not want to face the evil results of their deeds, but this world of God is not a lawless kingdom; it is rather a system based on the Truth, in which there can be no question of the injustice of regarding the good and the bad as equal.

That the creed of the denial of the Hereafter is highly destructive of morals. This is adopted only by such people as are the slaves of their lusts, and for the reason that they should have full freedom to serve their lusts. Then, when they have adopted this creed, it goes on making them more and more perverse till at last their moral sense becomes dead and all avenues of guidance are closed against them.

After giving these arguments Allah says most emphatically: "Just as you did not become living of your own accord, but became living by Our power, so you do not die of your own accord, but die when We send death on you. And a time is certainly coming when you will all be gathered together. If you do not believe in this because of your ignorance and folly today, you may not; when the time arrives, you will see for yourself that you are present before your God and your whole book of conduct is ready accurately, which bears evidence against each of your misdeeds. Then you will come to know how dearly has your denial of the Hereafter and your mockery of it cost you."

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Hadiths/Narrations

According to a well known narration attributed to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali (as), man is the microcosm embracing the macrocosm. His qualities constitute an admixture of the qualities shared by all living creatures and the diversity of his creation is an extract of all the accidents of the world.

The structure of a human cell is as enigmatic as that of an industrial metropolitan city and the creation of one single hair whose various characteristics have been discovered by science may serve as a great Divine Sign.

Thousands of kilometers of veins and vessels some of which are extraordinarily delicate and thousands of kilometers of commissural fibers of the nervous system and the manner of their interrelation with the highly complicated, enigmatic, and powerful brain system and the functions of each and every internal bodily organ and their strange harmony at the time of emergencies and the strong immune system against external bodies demonstrate the greatness of Divine Signs.

Besides mankind, hundreds of thousands of living creatures from microscopic living beings to huge animals with totally diverse characteristics and structures, one of which may be the subject of lifelong research for many a scientist, bear testimony to Divine Signs.

In spite of the fact that thousands of books have been authored on the mysteries surrounding their creation, human knowledge is still quite limited. Each of these creatures serves as a sign of the Creator's Infinite Knowledge, Wisdom, and Omnipotence.

What is the reason lying behind the fact that many individuals witness such signs for decades but they are totally unaware of them? The Holy Qur'an provides an answer to the question: these signs are for seekers of faith and certitude and those who think.

They are for those who have opened their hearts and are thirsty for certitude and knowledge. Such people do not fail to notice the slightest movement and the tiniest being, rather ponder about them for long hours, thus transcend towards God and the Book of knowing the Creator, spending their time in devotions and supplication, brimming the goblets of their hearts with the wine of love for God.

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