Faawha ila AAabdihi ma awha (surah Najm: 10)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(53:10) Then he revealed to Allah's servant whatever he had to reveal. *9

Fa awhaaa ilaa `abdihee maaa awhaa

*9) The sentence fa auha ila `abd-i -hi ma auha of the Text can have two translations: (1) "He revealed to His (Allah's) servant whatever he revealed"; and (2) "He (Allah) revealed to His own servant whatever He revealed. " According to the first translation, the meaning would be: Gabriel revealed to the servant of Allah whatever he had to reveal"; according to the second: "Allah revealed through Gabriel to His servant whatever He had to reveal. " The commentators have given both these meanings; the first meaning, however, fits in better with the context, .and the same has been reported from Hadrat Hasan Basri and lbn Zaid. Here, the question may be asked: "How can the pronoun of abd-i-hi turn to Allah instead of to the subject of auha, whereas Allah has nowhere been mentioned from the beginning of the Surah to this place ?" The answer is that wherever it becomes apparent from the context that the antecedent of a pronoun refers to a particular person, the pronoun turns to him automatically whether it has been mentioned before or not. There are several instances of this available in the Qur'an itself. In Surah AI-Qadr: l, AIIah says: "We have sent it down in the Night of Glory." There is no mention of the Qur'an in this sentence, but the context explicitly shows that the antecedent of the pronoun is the Qur'an. At another place Allah says: 'If Allah were to seize the people because of their misdeeds, He would not leave any creature (unpunished) on its back. " In this sentence there is no mention of the earth anywhere, but the context clearly shows that "its back" implies "the earth's back". In Surah Ya Sin: 69, it has been said: "We have not taught him poetry, nor does poetry behove him." Here, there is no mention of the Holy Prophet, neither before this sentence nor after it, yet the context is explicit that the antecedent of the pronouns is the Holy Prophet himself. In Surah Ar-Rahman: 26, it has been said: "Whatever exists on it shall perish." There is no mention of the earth either before or after it, but the style clearly shows that the pronoun of 'alaika turns to it. In Surah AI-Waqi'ah: 35, it has been said: "We shall have created them especially." There is no noun or pronoun before or after it to which the pronoun of hunna may be referring. It is apparent from the context that it signifies the women of Paradise. Thus, as auha ila `abd-i hi cannot at all mean that Gabriel revealed to his servant, the meaning necessarily would be that "Gabriel revealed w the servant of AIlah", or that "Allah revealed to His own servant through Gabriel. "