Sūratu’l-Fath [Victory]:(48:29).Part2

مُّحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ تَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا ۖ سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِم مِّنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ ۚ ذَ‌ٰلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ ۚ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوَىٰ عَلَىٰ سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ ۗ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنْهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

Muhammad is the Messenger of God; and those who are in his company are firm and unyielding against the unbelievers, and compassionate among themselves. You see them (constant in the Prayer) bowing down and prostrating, seeking favor with God and His approval and good pleasure. Their marks are on their faces, traced by prostration. This is their description in the Torah; and their description in the Gospel: like a seed that has sprouted its shoot, then it has strengthened it, and then risen firmly on its stem, delighting the sowers (with joy and wonder); (thereby) it fills the unbelievers with rage at them (the believers). God has promised all those among them who believe and do good, righteous deeds forgiveness (to bring unforeseen blessings) and a tremendous reward.(Al-Fath 48:29)

The verse begins with “Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” At its very beginning, the verse emphasizes the Messengership of our Prophet and since this truth, which is the second inseparable essential of Islamic faith, is explained in many other places of the Qur’ān, it is only mentioned here briefly. After this, the verse praises those who were around God’s Messenger with many of their virtues and describes them with their spiritual and material depths.

Anyone who was favored with the companionship of the Prophet was also honored with the blessing of “God’s company.” Companionship of the Prophet in the physical realm can be regarded as the projection of God’s company in the spiritual realm.

The expression, “And those who are in his company,” means this companionship and company, and the rest of the verse explains the praiseworthy qualities of those who attained this horizon.

One of the praiseworthy qualities of those people was their being “firm and unyielding against the unbelievers.” 

• That is, they were firm and unyielding against those who extinguished their inborn capacity to believe, denied innumerable signs and proofs of God and other truths of faith and tried to put out the light which God kindled.

Their second quality was being “compassionate among themselves.”

This virtue was followed by,

“You see them (constant in the Prayer) bowing down and prostrating, seeking favor with God and His approval and good pleasure.” 

• That is, they became a ring or circle by putting their heads where they put their feet—they were so modest and humble that they rose to the highest rank of being the nearest to God. They attributed whatever attainment they had and whatever success they achieved to God, without appropriating anything of God’s bounties and blessings on them. They sought and pursued God’s approval and good pleasure. Their description continues,

“Their marks are on their faces, traced by prostration.”

The verse concludes this very description of the Prophet’s Companions in the Old Testament with:

“This is their description in the Torah.” 

The Torah, which had been given to Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, describes the Companions of God’s Messenger mostly according to their spiritual or metaphysical features. After these features, the verse continues with, “their description in the Gospel,” as follows:

• The description of the Prophet Muhammad’s Companions is given this time with a parable: they are “like a seed.” Any crop grows from a seed and something material. A seed is something that has physical existence and in which was installed a life program like in a nucleus or a sperm. This is a seed “that has sprouted its shoot.” A “shoot” is also something physical. It can be said that the pronunciation or melody of many words the Qur’ān uses is completely suited to their meaning. The sound of the word “shat’a” (shoot), for example, resembles the sprouting up of a seed that is just beginning to appear above the ground. Therefore, it implies the emergence of a material structure from beneath the surface. All the words comprising the verse are like wefts or threads of a lacework.