Sūrat al-Mujādilah (Part 6)
Part 6 of observations on the structure and coherence of Sūrat al-Mujādilah
This is a continuation of a series on Sūrat al-Mujādilah (The Woman Who Pleaded and Argued). Please see Part 5 before moving ahead.
This next section is also a mirror structure and overlaps a bit with the previous one.1
CONNECTIONS
[I]/[I’] – Both ends of the mirror structure speak about our accounting on Judgment Day. It is a day we will be gathered to Allah ﷻ and then brought forth for accounting so that we may be informed of all we did while alive. This is why it is important for us to “be conscious of Allah” before He resurrects us.
[J]/[J’] – Allah ﷻ forbids the Jews and hypocrites from meeting in private where they are known to plot against the Messenger ﷺ. However, in the complementary section, Allah ﷻ actually encourages the Muslims to meet, but for the purposes of “righteousness and God-consciousness.”
[K]/[K’] – Allah ﷻ notifies us that the disbelievers “meet for sin, animosity, and disobedience of the Messenger (yatanājawna bil ithmi wal ʿudwāni wa mʿaṣiyatir rasūli).” This is such a big deal that Allah ﷻ repeats these infractions when telling the Muslims how to meet properly. He explicitly tells them to “not meet for sin, animosity, and disobedience of the Messenger (lā tatanājaw bil ithmi wal ʿudwāni wa mʿaṣiyatir rasūli).”
[L]/[L’] – At the center, Allah ﷻ juxtaposes the way in which the disbelievers are doubly wrong. They call to the Messenger the wrong way,2 and then they have the audacity to ask themselves the wrong question of, “Why doesn’t Allah punish us for what we say?” The surrounding text helps answer what they should really be asking themselves. They need to reflect on why they continue to meet in private, oppose, and reject the Messenger despite knowing he is in the right? If they do not, they will find themselves on Judgment Day thrown into Hellfire “burning in it – a wretched destination.”
Again, this next mirror structure borrows from the end of the previous one.
CONNECTIONS
[M]/[M’] – The injunction to only meet for pure purposes is established at the beginning of this structure very briefly. All that is mentioned is to “meet for righteousness and God-consciousness” and to “fear Allah, the One you will all be gathered to.” The ending gives much more details on this topic. Believers want to meet with the Messenger ﷺ, the greatest type of private meeting, and if they cannot pay the charity asked of them are told to “establish prayer, give the alms, and to obey Allah and His Messenger.” These are all actions that increase one in righteousness and God-consciousness.
[N]/[N’] – Allah ﷻ teaches us that secret meetings are from Satan “to make those who believe sad.” However, this sadness is alleviated from the believers shortly after when Allah ﷻ gives them the good news of raised ranks for those who believe and those given knowledge.
[O]/[O’] – The center gives details on how to avoid secret meetings. If one is already in a meeting, make sure to make space for others to join. This keeps the gathering public and helps to dilute those in the crowd who may have ill intentions. On the other hand, when it is time to leave, one should immediately disperse. Lingering may allow unplanned meetings to take place between small groups, which usually turn into the types of meetings Allah ﷻ has forbidden.
In shā’ Allah, we will continue this series next week.
And Allah ﷻ knows best.
Some would argue that the overlapping microstructures lends itself to the argument that there is a linear coherence to the sūrah as well. And maybe others would argue that this demonstrates that science behind the structuring of the Quran is a bit too arbitrary. Probably some truth to both groups.
See the previous mirror structure for those details.
May Allah increase you more in ilm and amal.