The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 375
PT. 14 AL-HIJR CH. 15 إِلَّا مَنِ اسْتَرَقَ السَّمْعَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ شِهَابٌ hears 19. But if any one stealthily, there pursues him a bright flame. 1725 "37:11; 67:6. disbelievers as refuse to obey the Prophets and desire to attain union with God independently of them. Against such the spiritual heavens have indeed been guarded, and the doors of God's nearness are closed against them. 1725. Important Words: of fire مشعلة flame of fire; or a gleaming or radiating; a shooting or falling star; a star or the like of a star that darts across the sky; a shining star; one who is penetrating, sharp or energetic in an affair (Lane). Commentary: The verse purports to say that so is long as the Word of God is in the استرق (hears stealthly) استرق السمع derived from. The expression dis or means, he stole from him a thing; he took a thing from him secretly and by artifice; or he came clandestinely to a place of custody and took what belonged to another. means, he stole from استرقه or استرق منه him a thing or robbed him of it. also means, he deceived or circumvented secretly or by stealth. The expression means, taking an opportunity of looking by stealth. means, the sense of hearing; the thing that is heard; the faculty in the ear whereby it perceives sounds; the ear itself. The word is used in both the singular and plural. heavens and till it descends on the Prophets, it is secure and safe against all interference and stealing, but when, after descending on the lowest heaven it is recited to human beings and when men begin to repeat it to one another, then satans i. e. the enemies of God's Prophets, try to steal it and make a wrong use of it. Then either as a result of this stealing they are visited by heavenly punishment or the Prophet of the day and his followers explain the true nature of the Divine revelation to the people and expose the deception of the stealers, who then become disgraced and humiliated. Thus the means, he listened | stealing of the Word of God in this سرق السمع or استرق السمع or heard by stealth (Lane). (bright). See 2:169. ✓ ✓ (flame) is derived from which means, it was or became of the colour in which whiteness predominated over blackness; or in which whiteness was interrupted by blackness. of which the plural is (shuhub) means, a brand or a 1583 verse means that, like thieves who take unlawful possession of the property of other people, the enemies of God's Prophets seek to steal the Word of God not in order to believe in it but to mislead people by mis- representing and misinterpreting it. Stealing the Word of God may also refer to the action of such people as