بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
On the Day you shall see the believing men and the believing women their light running forward before them and by their right hands. Glad tidings for you this Day! Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), to dwell therein forever! Truly, this is the great success!
al-Hadid : 12
Each and every word of Allah in the Quran is powerful but there are some ayaat and suraahs which offer so much to reflect upon and so many lessons to draw from and sura al-Hadid is one of them. It is one of the most powerful and most beautiful of surahs, and one of my most favorite one. There is an intense beauty in these words which stir the soul. For example just take this ayaah and the expression that ‘their light running forward before them …’ It’s gut wrenching! I wish every Muslim could understand Allah’s words directly, without the human factor of translation getting involved. Then we would experience the true miracle of Quran.
‘The day’ here refers to the ‘Day of Resurrection’. The fact of ‘light running before them’ will take place just prior to people’s passing over the bridge of sirat. There will come a stage on the day of Qiyamah when people — believers and non-believers — all will assemble on the Plane of Gathering. An intense darkness will prevail and nobody will be able to see anything. Thereafter this noor (light) will be distributed amongst muminoon (believers) according to their deeds.
There are lengthy discussions in the books of tafseer about this noor and you can read tafseer ibn Kathir or Maarif al Quran for a beautiful discussion on it. Here I am just mentioning a few ahadeeth which tell us how to earn this noor on the day of Qiyamah. (For references of these ahadeeth, refer to the tafseer of this ayaah in Maarif al Quran)
- “Give glad tidings to those who go to the mosque in the darkness of night that they will receive perfect light on the Day of Judgment.”
- “He who takes care of his five daily prayers [that is, performs them regularly fulfilling all their essentials], it will serve as light, proof and salvation for him on the Day of Judgement. He who fails to take care of it, there will be no light, nor proof or salvation for him on the Day of Judgement. The latter will be in the company of Qarun, Haman and Fir’aun.”
- “Whoever recites sura Al-Kahf, there will be so much of light for him on the Day of Judgement that it will spread from his place to Makkah.” In another narration, “Whoever recites Surah Al-Kahf on a Friday, light will extend from his feet to the heights of the heaven on the Day of Judgment.”
- “Whoever recites just a single verse of the Quran, it will be a light for him on the Day of Judgement.”
- “Whoever sends salah (durud) to me, it shall be the cause of light on the Bridge of Sirat.”
- “The hair, that falls on the ground at the time of shaving it when coming out of the state of ihram, will be a light for him on the Day of Judgement.”
- “Stoning the jamaraat in Mina will be a light on the Day of Judgement.”
- “He whose hair turns grey in Islam, it will be a light for him on the Day of Judgement.” (i.e. he remains steadfast on Islam for his whole life)
- “He who shoots even one arrow in Allah’s way while fighting in jihad, it will be a light for him on the Day of Judgement.”
- “He who remembers Allah in the marketplace will receive light for every strand of hair on the Day of Judgement.” (markets being the places where the temptations of dunya manifest themselves)
- “He who alleviates the calamity of a Muslim, Allah will create two compartments of light for him at the bridge which will brighten up a whole world. No one besides Allah knows its number.”
May Allah grant us the light! Ameen
سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك نشهد ان لااله الّا انت نستغفرك و نتوب اليك