Surah 55: Ar-Rahman
The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and Short Commentary
[a]In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.
[a] 1:1.
The Gracious God.
He taught the Holy Qur’an.[2918]
[2918] God revealed Himself through His Prophets and Messengers to whom He gave His Word. The Holy Qur’an constituted the culmination of Divine revelation. This revelation of God to man through His Word was not due to any good act on his part. It was a sheer Divine gift flowing from God’s beneficence.
[b]He created man,[2919]
[b] 96:3.
[2919] The word, 'man,' besides its general connotation, may here signify 'the perfect man,' i.e. the Holy Prophet, in whom Divine attributes found their most perfect and complete manifestation. The verse thus signifies that, out of beneficence, God created man in order that he may rise to the highest peaks of spiritual development and may reflect in his person Divine attributes.
And taught him plain speech.
[c]The sun and the moon run their courses according to a fixed reckoning.
[c] 6:97; 36:39, 40.
And the stemless plants and the trees humbly submit to His Will.[2920]
[2920] The verse, read along with the preceding one, shows that from the largest celestial body to the smallest stemless plant, all things are subject to certain laws, and they perform regularly, punctually and unerringly their allotted tasks. In the huge solar system which is but one of millions of such systems, every orb proceeds safely on its destined course and never deviates from it.
And the heaven He has raised high and set up the [d]measure,[2921]
[d] 42:18; 57:26.
[2921] The whole universe is subject to one uniform law and all its constituent parts unite to form a glorious harmony of structure and motion. If this harmony or equilibrium between different things is in the least disturbed, the whole universe would fall to pieces. But God has kept all the laws that regulate the world under His exclusive control, beyond the reach of man.
That you may not exceed the measure.[2922]
[2922] As there is an all-comprehensive harmony in the whole universe, so is man—the crown and object of creation—enjoined to maintain a just balance and to treat with equity and justice his fellow beings, giving everyone his due, and to avoid extremes and follow the golden mean in the discharge of his duties towards his Creator.
So weigh all things with justice and [a]fall not short of the measure.
[a] 11:85, 86; 17:36; 26:182.
And He has set the earth for His creatures;
Therein are all kinds of [b]fruit and palm-tree with sheaths,
[b] 50:10, 11.