AAabdan itha salla (surah Al Alaq: 10)

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

(96:10) a servant (of Allah) when he prays? *10

Abdan iza sallaa

*10) "A Servant" : the Holy Messenger of Allah himself. The Holy Prophet has been mentioned by this epithet at several places in the Qur'an. For example, "Glory be to Him Who transported His servant one night from the Masjid alHaram to the distant Temple." (Bani Isra'il: 1); "All praise is for Allah Who has sent down this Book to His servant." (AI-Kahf: 1); "And that when the servant of Allah stood up to pray, the people got ready to assault him." (Al-Jinn: 19). This shows that it is a special style of love by which Allah makes mention of His Messenger Muhammad (upon whom be His peace and blessings) in His Book. Besides, it also shows that AIiah after appointing His Messenger to Prophethood had taught him the method of performing the Prayer. There is no mention of this method anywhere in the Qur'an, saying: "O Prophet, perform the Prayer in this and this way." Hence, this is another proof that the Revelation sent down to the Holy Prophet did not only consist of what has been recorded in the Qur'an, but besides this, other things also were taught to him by revelation, which are not recorded in the Qur'an.