Meaning of Two easts and Two wests
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Asalam alikoum
Dear brother Burhan,
I was reading the
translation of Suraa Rehman
and the suraa again and again refers to jinns and humans. Is the Holy Quran
also for the jinns. If yes then do jinns also have
the same problems as humans regarding finding the correct and right religion?
Also in the same suraa Allah says that he rules two easts and two wests(mashreqain and maghribain). What is
the meaning of 2 easts and 2 wests?
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none
can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
We bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and
we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Your Question: is the Holy Quran also for the jinns. If yes then do jinns also have the same problems as humans regarding finding the correct and right religion?
Among all of Allah’s creations, only humans and jinns
have been given the free will to choose between right and wrong, virtue and sin, obedience or disobedience to his
Creator, accept or deny the
Message!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 51 Surah Dhariyat verse 56:I have not
created the jinn and men except for this that they should worship Me alone.
The Holy Quran
is a revealed Book of Allah, and as such it is obligatory for a believer to
believe in all the revealed Books of Allah Subhanah. The basic principles and foundation of all of
Allah’s revealed Books are exactly the same; namely, The
concept of Tawheed (Oneness of Allah), the absolute
refutation of Shirk (associating other beings with Allah), the concept of the
Hereafter, etc. All the Books revealed
by Allah have the same basic message.
Thus, the believing Jinns must also bring ‘imaan’ on the Quran to be muslims.
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 46 Surah Ahqaaf verses 29-31:(And recall
the event) when We brought to you (O Mohamed) a group of the Jinn so that they
might listen to the Quran. When they reached the place (where you were
reciting it) they said to one another, “Be silent.” When the recitation was over, they returned
to their people as warners. They said to them, “O our people! We have just listened to a Book that has
been sent down after Moses. It contains
the Books that came before it and it guides to the Truth and to a
Your Question: Also in the same suraa Allah says that he rules two easts
and two wests(mashreqain and maghribain). What is
the meaning of 2 easts and 2 wests?
The
literal meaning of the Arabic word ‘mashriq’ means
the place the sun rises;
and the word ‘magrib’ means the place
the sun sets.
It is a scientific fact
that the sun does not always rise and set at the same points, but does so at
different points every day. Moreover,
it does not rise at the same time for the whole world, but rises at different
times for different places. Both the
‘easts’ and both the ‘wests’ mean the two points of sunrise and the two points
of sunset on the shortest day of winter and the longest day of summer. There are other places in the Quran where Allah says that He is the Lord of all the ‘Easts’! The plural form of ‘easts’ and ‘wests’ is used to
indicate the different points at which the sun rises according to the seasons
of the year!
These aayahs
are stated by Allah as a declaration of His Oneness, to all those pagans and
polytheists who worship other things with Allah; especially those who
worshipped the sun, its rising, its setting, etc. Allah Subhanah
declares that He Alone it is Who is the Lord of the
sun and all the places from where it rises and sets!
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,