Al-Hijr Verse 99

and worship your Lord until the inevitable[[ i.e., lit., what is certain—death.]] comes your way.

and worship your Lord until the certainty [of death] comes to you.

and serve thy Lord, until the Certain comes to thee.

worship your Lord until what is certain comes to you.

And worship thy Lord until there cometh unto thee the certainty.

And serve thy Lord until there come unto thee the Hour that is Certain.

and worship your Lord until the last moment (of your life) that will most certainly come.

And go on worshipping your Lord till the certainty (of death) comes upon you.

And keep worshipping your Lord, till death* comes to you. (* The certainty.)

and worship your Lord until certainty comes to you.

And (continue to) worship your Lord until what is certain (death) comes to you.

And go on worshipping your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain (and you breathe your last).

And worship your Lord, until the assurance/certainty (death) comes to you. 179

And keep worshipping your Lord, till death * comes to you. (* The certainty.)

And serve your Lord until there comes unto you the Hour that is certain (death).

And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death).

So celebrate the praise of thy Lord, and be of those who make obeisance.

And serve your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain.

And serve thy Lord till the Inevitable cometh unto thee.

Worship your Lord until you achieve the ultimate certainty.

Worship your Lord till the certainty (death) comes to you.

And worship your Lord until the certainty (i.e. death) comes to you.

and worship your Lord until what is certain [death] comes to you.

And worship your Lord in order to attain certainty.

and worship your Lord until Certainty -- Death -- comes to you. Meccan, except for the last three verses, which are Medinese; it consists of 128 verses, revealed after [srat] al-Kahf.

And worship your Lord until the certainty comes to you.

Al-Bukhari said;

"Salim said, `(This means) death."'

This Salim is Salim bin Abdullah bin Umar.

Ibn Jarir also recorded from Salim bin Abdullah,
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
(And worship your Lord until the Yaqin comes to you).

He said, "Death."

It is reported in the Sahih from Umm Al-Ala' (one of the women of the Ansar) that when the Messenger of Allah entered upon Uthman bin Maz`un after he had died, Umm Al-Ala' said,

"May the mercy of Allah be upon you, Abu As-Sa`ib. My testimony over you is that Allah has honored you."

The Messenger of Allah said,

وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ أَنَّ اللهَ أَكْرَمَهُ



How do you know that Allah has honored him?

I said, "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah! If not him, then who else?"

He said,

أَمَّا هُوَ فَقَدْ جَاءَهُ الْيَقِينُ وَإِنِّي لَاَرْجُو لَهُ الْخَيْر

As far as he is concerned, the death has come to him, and I hope for good for him.

This is evidence that the meaning of this Ayah,
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
(And worship your Lord until the certainty comes to you),

is that acts of worship, such as prayer and the like, are obligatory on man so long as his mind is sound, so he should pray according to his best ability.

It was reported in Sahih Al-Bukhari from Imran bin Husayn that the Messenger of Allah said;

صَلِّ قَايِمًا فَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَقَاعِدًا فَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَعَلَى جَنْب

Pray standing, and if you cannot, then sitting, and if you cannot, then on your side.

From this we may understand that it is a mistake to interpret Yaqin (the certainty) as Ma`rifah ("spiritual knowing") as some of the Sufis do.

According to them, when one of them attains the level of Ma`rifah, they consider him to be free of these obligations.

This is disbelief, misguidance and ignorance.

The Prophets - peace be upon them - and their companions, were the most knowledgeable of people about Allah, about His rights, His attributes, and the glorification that He deserves. But at the same time, they were the people who worshipped Him the most, continuing in good deeds until the time they died.

Therefore, what is meant by Yaqin here is death, as we have stated above.

To Allah be praise and thanks. Praise be to Allah for His guidance. It is to Him that we turn for help and it is in Him that we put our trust. He is the One Whom we ask to help us to reach the best of circumstances, for He is the Most Generous and Kind.

This is the end of the Tafsir of Surah Al-Hijr. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all that exists