Part 5 (b): Tafseer of Ayatul Kursi (Verse 3)- The Divine Protection

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Read the previous Part 5 (a): Tafseer of Ayatul Kursi (Verse 2)

Verse 3

لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ

“Neither drowsiness/slumber overtakes Him nor sleep”

Listen to Ayatul Kursi: [mp3: http://www.areweprepared.ca/audio/ayatulkursi.mp3]

Sleep is a quality of imperfection: The need to have a rest is the motive behind sleeping. He did not say, “He does not sleep” to include the negation of overwhelming sleepiness.

The People of the Book have written in their scriptures that God created the universe in six days, and then he slept on the seventh. So for them either Saturday or Sunday is a day of est. However, by making Allah like humans who tire from work and need rest, they have committed the biggest sin of shirk.

Great Hadith: “Allah does not sleep and it does not befit His majesty that He sleeps. He lowers the scales and raises them. The deeds of the day are resurrected in front of Him before the deeds of night, and those of the night before the deeds of the day. His veil is light and if He removes it, the rays from His face would burn whatever His sight reaches of His Creation.” (Muslim)

This indicates that:

• No lack of awareness due to slumber or sleep ever overtakes Allah
• He has perfect watch over everyting
• He has perfect knowledge, and no secret matter is secret to Him

Story:

The Seller of Milk and Umar bin Al Khattab

“Narrated `Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: `When I was accompanying `Umar ibn al-Khattab on his patrol of Madinah at night, he felt tired, so he leant against a wall. It was the middle of the night, and (we heard) a woman say to her daughter, “O my daughter, get up and mix that milk with some water.” The girl said, “O Mother, did you not hear the decree of Amir al-Mu’minin (chief of the believers) today?” The mother said, “What was that?” The girl said, “He ordered someone to announce in a loud voice that milk should not be mixed with water.” The mother said, “Get up and mix the milk with water; you are in a place where `Umar cannot see you.” The girl told her mother, “I cannot obey Him (Allah) in public and disobey him in private.”

This is the deep sense of awareness that Islam had implanted in the heart of this young woman. She was righteous and upright in all her deeds, both in public and in private, because she believed that Allah (SWT) was with her at all times and saw and heard everything.

Read the next Part 5 (c): Tafseer of Ayatul Kursi (Verse 4)