Muhammad Ali's Commentary on the Parable of the Goodly Tree

[ihsan]

Surah Ibraheem...

The parable likening a good word to a good tree follows immediately a description of the final abode of those who do good, which is repeatedly described in the Holy Qur’ån as being a Garden or Gardens wherein rivers flow. This gives us a clue to the real nature of paradise. A good word is like a good tree which gives its fruit in every season, and therefore the fruits which a man will find in paradise, ever ready and within his reach, are only the fruits of his own good deeds. The trees of paradise are in fact
man’s own good deeds, which have grown into trees, bearing a fruit which is an embodiment of the spiritual fruits of the good deeds of this life. It should also be noted that, as good deeds are likened to fruit-bearing trees, faith is likened to water repeatedly in the Holy Qur’ån, being the source of physical life. It is for this reason that, just as the righteous are always spoken of as being those who believe and do good, paradise is always described as being a Garden in which rivers flow, the rivers corresponding to faith and the trees of the Garden corresponding to the good which a man does. By the kalimah
(word) is meant a thing, or an affair or a matter, because every matter is termed a kalimah, whether it is a word or a deed (R).

[Sadiq_b]

Salaam,

That is very insightful indeed. Thanks.

[Sadiq_b]

Achha not to derail this thread but if i may ask you, wasn't Maulana Muhammad Ali a part of the Ahmaddiya Movement?

[ihsan]

Achha not to derail this thread but if i may ask you, wasn't Maulana Muhammad Ali a part of the Ahmaddiya Movement?

1.

Yes, but he is part of the group that believes in the finality of prophethood, further claiming Mirza Ghulam never asserted he was a Prophet, but the mujaddid. There was a split in the organization on this fundamental issue from the very beginning.

2.

His commentary is still one of the better one's out there, though it possesses a lot of the same faults as Muhammad Asad's, such as the over-rationalization of the miracles and the tendency to find 'double-prophecies' in verses that clearly are meant just for the Hereafter.