Bayyinah means Clear Proof/ Evidence. This Surah has eight verses. The Surah is so designated after the word al-bayyinah occurring at the end of the first verse.
There’s a difference of opinion for this Surah to be Makki or Madini. As for its contents, there is nothing in it to indicate whether it was revealed at Makkah or at Madinah.
This Surah has been placed after Surahs Al-Alaq and Al-Qadr in the arrangement of the Quran & is very meaningful. Surah Al-Alaq contains the very first revelation, while Surah Al-Qadr shows as to when it was revealed, and in this Surah the essence of Revelation has been explained. That why it was necessary to send a Messenger along with this Holy Book.
The theme of this Surah is that the Prophets who came from Allah and the Books sent down by Him, did not enjoin anything but that the way of sincere and true service to Allah be adopted, apart from all other ways, no one else’s worship, service or obedience be mixed with His, the salat be established and the zakat be paid. This same has been the true religion since ever. From this also it automatically follows that the followers of the earlier scriptures, straying from this true religion, have added extraneous things to it, which are false, and Allah’s final Messenger now has come to invite them back to the same original faith.
In conclusion, it has been pointed out clearly that the followers of the earlier Books and the idolaters who would refuse to acknowledge this Messenger are the worst of creatures: their punishment is an everlasting Hell; and the people who would believe and act righteously, and would spend life in the world in awe of God, are the best of creatures: their reward is eternal Paradise wherein they will live for ever. Allah became well pleased with them and they became well pleased with Allah.
In this verse Allah highlights how the Divine revelation set a criteria to completely separate Haqq and Falsehood. Allah picks up two major divisions of that time who were indulged in kufr, the polytheists and the Prople of the Book.
➖The People of the Book imply the people who possessed any of the revealed Books, even if in corrupted form, sent to the former Prophets, and they believed in it.
➖The Polytheists (idolaters) imply the people who did not follow any Prophet nor believed in any Book.
Both belief system of these groups was corrupted. Allah points out at them that they were not going to stop their shirk until bayyinah came.
Bayyinah means the clear proof of divine revelation which Prophet Muhammad pbuh brought to them in form of Quran, which clearly stated the Tawheed and set a criteria!
The people were really set in their ways of kufr so something really strong had to come to push them away. The proof of bayyinah was so powerful that these people had to be separated from their own legacy, own traditions which were deeply rooted since generations.
Later this verse became a global phenomena, as Islam spreads this verse becomes true and true. It is apparent from the seerah of Prophet pbuh that people who were mushrikeen for generations left shirk forever. Even when Islam spread to the Roman and Persian empires where the people had been firm on their traditions for centuries, the impact of this proof (Bayyinah) was so powerful that it was enough for them to be separated from their own legacies conclusively in a way which it could never be reconciled again.
The only dividing line now between kufr and Islam is the testimony of faith which divided people up into believers and disbelievers. This is what bayyinah did, the criterion and separator. Bayyinah means to put distance between two things and we can see that bayyinah clearly came to separate two groups from each other when previously they were all a mixture of people in one society. And this applies to mankind till Akhirat.
What is the bayyinah and clear proof? The proof is in this ayah and is the messenger himself, a messenger from Allah i.e. Muhammad pbuh!
Here the Prophet pbuh himself has been called “the clear evidence”, for his life before and after Prophethood, his presenting a Book like the Quran in spite of being un-lettered, his bringing about an extraordinary revolution in the lives of the converts to Islam through education and training, his educating the people in rational beliefs, clean and pure forms of worship, excellent morals and the best principles and injunctions for human life, perfect harmony and agreement between his word and deed, and his constancy of purpose in respect of his message in spite of every kind of opposition, all these were clear signs of the truth that he was Allah’s Messenger.
Thus, bayyinah is made up of two components, the messenger and the message. It is important to understand that Islam is not just a theory or an idea because a theory or concept in of itself is not good enough unless you see it in action. So Prophet pbuh exhibited the action also, he was a living Quran! He didn’t just present it but applied it too.
Allah sent the Quran as the divine final scripture which contained laws and many wisdoms to set mankind and society straight. In other words Quran is the establishment of the upright wisdoms of Allah which takes all of the crookedness in society and sets it straight.
This means that The people who were given the Book before this did not divide into sects until after the clear statement (of the Right Way) had come to them. This is a special case mentioned in the middle of Surah, Allah is only mentioning People of Book here, mainly Jews and Christians, who were given Prophets and Scriptures earlier for guidance but they, for not accepting it turned into divsion, far from the Bayyinah!
That is, the reason why the people of the Book before this were divided into countless sects because of different kinds of errors and deviation, was not that Allah had failed to send “a clear evidence” from Himself for their guidance, but the fact that they adopted the wrong way after guidance had come from Allah; therefore, they themselves were responsible for their deviation, for Allah had fulfilled His obligation towards them.
Likewise, since their scriptures are no longer pure and their books no longer consist of original and correct teachings, Allah by sending a Messenger of His (now Muhammad pbuh), as a clear evidence, with a clear Book (now Quran), containing sound and pure teachings, has again fulfilled His obligation towards them, so that if even after that they remained divided, they themselves should be responsible for it and should have no excuse left to plead before Allah.
That is, the message of the same religion, which now the Prophet Muhammad pbuh is preaching, had been given to the people of the Book by the Prophets who came to them and by the Books which were sent among them; they had not ban enjoined any of the false belief and wicked deeds which they adopted afterwards and created different sects. Right and correct religion has always been the same: that Allah alone should be served and worshiped exclusively, none else be joined with Him in worship, man should become worshiper of One Allah alone and obedient to His Command only, should establish the Salah and pay the Zakah.
Now the subject continues that the root cause for people to not accept Haqq (the Bayyinah) is lack of sincerity! This verse is the essence of whole Deen, that summarises what Allah expected from a true slave. If anything the people were commanded was that they should worship Allah and be His slaves, making the Deen pure and sincerely for Allah, follow the correct straight path without deviations as the Sunnah of Prophet Ibrahim a.s (who was the best example of purifying his Deen only for Allah), and maintain Salah and Zakah. If a man follows all these conditions then he can be said to have following the right path, the path and the religion which had been this way since very start until now.
Now Allah concludes the Surah from this verse onwards that those who have disbelieved from among the People of the Book and the Mushriks, shall certainly enter Hell, and remain therein for ever. They Disbelieved means they refused to acknowledge the Prophet Muhammad pbuh as Allah’s Messenger. The meaning is that the end of those from among the mushriks and the followers of the Book, who have not acknowledged the Messenger whose emergence by itself is a clear evidence, and who is reciting to them Divine pages containing sound and correct teachings, will be destined to Hell forever.
They are worse than all creatures of God, even than animals, for the animals do not possess reason and power, but these people reject the Truth in spite of having reason and authority. They are the foremost criminals because they experienced the Bayyinah in real and rejected, Prophet pbuh and the Quran both were in front of their eyes yet they ended up loosers!
Now Allah says that those who believed and did righteous works, they are indeed the best of all creatures.That is, they are superior to all creatures of God, even to the angels, for the angels do not have the power to disobey, and these people adopt Allah’s obedience in spite of having the power to disobey Him. This is the group that witnessed the Bayyinah and accepted it rather ignoring and rejecting.
Such people are offered Jannah , the forever gardens underneath where rivers flow. Jannah is explained in Quran at many places like this because ita human obsession to have a house near water, it is pleasing to soul. Allah therefore offers us what we have always wanted and what is pre-programmed in us. The people of Jannah will reside in it permanently. The dunya fails in comparison to whatever Allah offers in Jannah. Allah motivates us by giving us what is at the heart of every human desire – a nice house. One that is stable and peaceful without any form of hardship whatsoever.
This is the small gift though. The ultimate gift is the Raza of Allah, that Allah will be pleased with them. This is all for the one who truly feared his Master and worshipped Him as He commanded. The believers, while in dunia, painfully disconnected themselves from the ways and legacies of their forefathers and society due to the clear proof which convinced them. This was not easy because their families and society had been living like this for all past years. Their respect and dignity rested on their religious identity, yet, still they walked away from it without any fear of the consequences. This was simply because they accepted Bayyinah and feared Allah more. This was a separation that would never have happened other than from a people who truly feared their Master.
In other words, the person who did not live in the world fearless and independent of God, but feared Him at every step lest he should do something which might entail His wrath and punishment, will have this reward for sure from Allah!
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