Allah’s Countenance Is On Each Side

LESSON # 118 HOLY QUR’AN

BAQARAH – 2 (The Cow)

Allah’s Countenance Is On Each Side

Verse –115 of 286, Section – 14 

Unto Allah belong the East and the West, and whithersoever ye turn, there is Allah’s Countenance. Lo! Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.

Wa  lillaahil-Mashriqu wal-Magrib;  Fa-‘aynamaa tu-walluu fa-samma waj-hul-laah.  ‘Innallaaha  waasi-‘un ‘Aliim.

Lesson

Waj-hu – literally it means Face. Its other meanings are body, person, kind, nature. So it aims that on which side you will turn the God Almighty exists there. Wherever you will go you will find Allah there. The East and the West, the North and the South all belong to Allah Almighty.

During the times of Ignorance the people had faith, “Allah Almighty is also in the detention of Time and place, so we would have to turn our bodies towards that particular side”. They used to suppose that direction themselves and after turning their faces to that side they used to do worship. There was also dispute on this matter between the children of Israel and the Christians themselves. Each religious group had fixed a direction and they meditated this direction better.

The Holy Qur’an refuted this false belief of theirs and commanded that the Allah Almighty is neither limited in any enclosure of the particular place of worship nor He is imprisoned in any place or direction, but wherever He will be called with purity and sincerity He will be attentive. He does not belong particularly to any particular place, particular city or particular direction.

God Almighty neither only likes the East and nor only the West but all the directions are of Him. He has already surrounded the entire Universe. He is unlimited. He is present everywhere. So turning on which place and on which side He will be called with sincerity, He shall be attentive. He knows very well that who calls Him with the true heart and who calls Him only to show the others.

One Revelation Grace of this verse is narrated as that because it is difficult for the traveller and the rider to know the direction of the Temple of Makkah, so for that time it has been commanded that turning on which direction you will do worship, that will be accepted because God Almighty is masterly present on each direction and each place. Accordingly this is the matter that if you do not know the correct direction of the Temple of Makkah, you should offer prayer turning to that side to which your heart witnesses. And if you are riding on any conveyance and direction of conveyance changes, you would have to continue and complete your temporary prayer.

Transliteration in Roman Script & English Translation by Marmaduke Pickthall, Published by Paak Company, 17-Urdu Bazar, Lahore and Paraphrase collected from Dars e Qur’aan published By Idara Islah wa Tableegh, Lahore (translated by Muhammad Sharif) (http://hltsharif.blogspot.com)