From now on one has to decide: Whetehr to be an ordinary Muslim or a Muslim and beleiver who are to be the true servants of Allah. Now the latter are people who are preferred over ordinary Muslims. But for being loved by Allah, one has to put in something extra. We have already shared many posts on the subject, but Qur'an is full of tips on how to be true servants of Allah. In this regard, we share three verses from Surah 25. Al-Furqan (verses 63-65) that spell out how to be true servants of Allah. Decide after reading of these verses and decide for yourself.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi notes that from here onwards, the addressees are invited in a very moving style to adhere to qualities which arise in a person if he has a true comprehension of God. An admonition is sounded in it to the arrogant Quraysh that they should observe their character and conduct in this mirror while at the same time believers are urged to consider the qualities their Lord wants them to adopt.
وَعِبَادُ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الَّذِيۡنَ يَمۡشُوۡنَ عَلَى الۡاَرۡضِ هَوۡنًا وَّاِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الۡجٰهِلُوۡنَ قَالُوۡا سَلٰمًا
(25:63) The true servants of the Merciful One are those who walk on the earth gently and when the foolish ones address them, they simply say: "Peace to you";
وَالَّذِيۡنَ يَبِيۡتُوۡنَ لِرَبِّهِمۡ سُجَّدًا وَّقِيَامًا
(25:64) who spend the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing;
وَٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا ٱصْرِفْ عَنَّا عَذَابَ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ إِنَّ عَذَابَهَا كَانَ غَرَامًا
(25:65) who entreat: "Our Lord! Ward off from us the chastisement of Hell, for its chastisement is one that clings.
That is, "Though all human beings are by birth the servants of the Merciful before Whom you have been invited to prostrate yourselves, and which you disdain, his true servants are those who adopt the way of His obedience consciously and develop such desirable characteristics. Then the natural consequences of the prostration are those found in the lives of the Believers and the evil results of rejecting the invitation, those found in your lives." Here attention is being drawn to the two patterns of character and life: first of those who had accepted the Message of the Holy Prophet and were following it, and the second of those who persisted in the ways of ignorance. Here only the prominent characteristics of the true Believers have been cited, and for contrast, the characteristics of the disbelievers have been left to every discerning eye and mind which could see them all around in society and make its own decision.
( those who walk on the earth gently ) That is; "They do not walk haughtily and arrogantly like the tyrants and mischief-makers, but their "gait" is of a gentle, right-thinking and good natured person." "Walking humbly" does not mean walking like a weak or sick person, nor does it imply the gait of a hypocrite who walks ostentatiously to show humility or fear of God. According to Traditions, the Holy Prophet himself used to walk with firm, quick steps. One day Caliph `Umar saw a young man walking slowly like a weak, sick person, and asked him, "Are you ill?" When the man replied in the negative, the Caliph raised his whip, rebuked him and told him to walk like a healthy man. This shows that the "humble gait" is the natural gait of a noble and gentle person and not a gait which shows weakness and undue humility.
In this connection, the first characteristic of the true servants of Allah to which attention has been drawn, is their "gait" This is because the gait indicates the character of an individual. If a man walks in a humble and dignified way, as opposed to a haughty, vain and proud manner, it shows that he is a noble and gentle person. Thus the different "gaits" of the different types of people show what sort of characters they possess. The verse means to imply that the true servants of the Merciful can be easily recognized by their "gait" among the people. Their attitude of Allah's worship and obedience has changed them so thoroughly that it can "be seen at first sight from their "gate that they are noble, humble and good natured people, who cannot be expected to indulge in any mischief. For further explanation, see E.N.43 of Bani Isra'il and E.N 33 of Luqman.
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: meaning that they walk with dignity and humility, not with arrogance and pride. This is like the Ayah: (And walk not on the earth with conceit and arrogance...) (17:37). So these people do not walk with conceit or arrogance or pride. This does not mean that they should walk like sick people, making a show of their humility, for the leader of the sons of Adam (the Prophet) used to walk as if he was coming downhill, and as if the earth were folded up beneath him. What is meant here by Hawn is serenity and dignity, as the Messenger of Allah said: (When you come to the prayer, do not come rushing in haste. Come calmly and with tranquility, and whatever you catch up with, pray, and whatever you miss, make it up.)
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi explains that their gait is not the gait of the arrogant and haughty. Such a gait reflects a person’s inner self. Wealth, authority, knowledge and skill, beauty and physical power and other similar things produce conceit in a person. The arrogance of each of them manifests in the gait of a person in a specific way and testifies to the fact that his heart is devoid of any comprehension of worship and conception of God. The heart which has comprehension of worship and conception of God beats in the chest of those who are humble and down to earth. Instead of showing arrogance, they walk humbly on earth.
( when the foolish ones address them, they simply say: "Peace to you" ) "Ignorant people": Rude and insolent people and not uneducated and illiterate ones. The true servants of the "Merciful" do not believe in "vengeance", even though they may have to deal with the ignorant people who behave rudely and insolently towards them. If they happen to come across such people, they wish them peace and turn away. The same thing has been expressed in AI-Qasas: 55, thus: "And when they hear something vain and absurd they turn away from it, saying, `Our deeds are for us and your deeds are for you: peace be to you: we have nothing to do with the ignorant'." For details see E.N.'s 72 to 78 of Al-Qasas.
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: If the ignorant people insult them with bad words, they do not respond in kind, but they forgive and overlook, and say nothing but good words. This is what the Messenger of Allah did: the more ignorant the people, the more patient he would be. This is as Allah says: (And when they hear Al-Laghw (evil or vain talk), they withdraw from it) (28:55).
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Ignorant: in a moral sense. Address: in the aggressive sense. Their humility is shown in two ways: (1) to those in real search of knowledge, they give such knowledge as they have and as the recipients can assimilate; (2) to those who merely dispute, they do not speak harshly, but say "Peace!", as much as to say, "May it be well with you, may you repent and be better"; or "May Allah give me peace from such wrangling"; or "Peace, and Good-bye; let me leave you!"
( who spend the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing ) That is, they neither spend their nights in fun and merry-making nor in gossips and telling tales, nor in doing wicked deeds, for these are the ways of the ignorant people. The true servants of Allah pass their nights in worshipping and remembering Him as much as they can. This characteristic of theirs has been brought out clearly at several places in the Qur'an, thus: "their backs forsake their beds and they invoke their Lord in fear and in hope." (As-Sajdah: 16). "These people (of Paradise) slept but little at night, and prayed for their forgiveness in the hours of the morning." (Az-Zariyat: 17, 18). And: "Can the end of the one, who is obedient to Allah, prostrates himself and stands before Him during the hours of the night, fears the Hereafter and places his hope in the mercy of his Lord, be like that of a mushrik;'" (Az-Zumar: 9).
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: meaning, worshipping and obeying Him. This is like the Ayat: (They used to sleep but little by night. And in the hours before dawn, they were asking for forgiveness) (51:17-18), (Their sides forsake their beds...) (32:16), (Is one who is obedient to Allah, prostrating himself or standing during the hours of the night, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord...) (39:9).
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: In the words of Imām Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, this refers to the tahajjud prayer in which a person fervently stands and prostrates before God. The devotion and anxiety which is evident from the style of this verse does not need elaboration. (Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, vol. 5, 487)
Yusuf Ali Explanation: (Those who say "Our Lord! avert from us the Wrath of Hell for its Wrath is indeed an affliction grievous) This is a prayer of humility: such a person relies, not on any good works which he may have done, but on the Grace and Mercy of Allah; and he shows a lively sense of the Day of Judgment, when every action will weigh for or against a soul.
Please read more about the traits of Muslims in our reference page: Selected verses from Qur'an under the heading: Muslims / Trait.
Please listen to explanation of the ayat by eminent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan:
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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