The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5)

The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 451

CHAPTER 85 AL-BURŪJ (Revealed before Hijrah) Introductory Remarks This Surah was revealed at Mecca in the first few years of the Call. It takes its title from the word Burūj in the first verse. The connection of this Surah with its predecessor Surah Inshiqāq—is indicated by the fact that in the latter Surah the moon of the 13th night was invoked as a witness, and in the present Surah "mansions of stars and the Promised Day" have been invoked to serve the same purpose. The Burūj or mansions of stars may represent the twelve Divine Reformers (Mujaddids), each of whom was raised at the beginning of a century of Hijrah, and the Promised Day stands for the 14th Century of Hijrah when the Muslims stood in great need of a Divine Reformer, their fortunes having sunk to the lowest ebb, and thus, befittingly, the greatest of these Reformers the Promised Messiah was raised to restore to them their spiritual glory. This Surah presents the subject matter of the preceding Surah in a different form and points to the severe persecution to which the followers of the Promised Messiah would be subjected, ending appropriately on the note that because in the time of the Promised Messiah the integrity of the Quran as God's revealed Word would be assailed from all quarters, particularly by Christian writers, the Promised Messiah would devote all his energies and his great God-given gifts to rebut these attacks and to prove the infallibility and inviolability of the Quran. 3347