Prayer, Command or Response
The Almighty God has provided several hundred Prayers which are in the Holy Qor-aan. Some prayers have perpetuated how past Prophets had cried out for or people sought God’s help, such as 002:068 and 002:127. Some prayers eternalized how the Holy Prophet s.a.w. responded to the needs of his followers, such as 006:163. Some prayers provide for moments when one is confronting spiritual uplift (like 002:202), enjoying worldly ecstasy or suffering physical distress. Many prayers begin with word Qool that means say such as 113:001 to 006.
The Almighty God has also stated Commandments and Prohibitions starting with the word Qool. These Commands help one reach the lofty altitudes in spiritual endeavors and the Prohibitions save him from the unfortunate consequences by failing in or fouling his good life.
The Almighty God has also started with the word Qool the Responses to those inquiring about certain things such as regarding Rooh in the verse 017:086. One who knows Arabic can easily and rightly differentiate but a foreigner or a new Moslem must see the reference to the context to know the exact nature of direction. Following quotes flood-light this aspect.
Maulana Muhammad Ali wrote in his N 1464. “For the word ruh, meaning inspiration or revelation, see 653. Here, before this verse as well as after it, the Qur’an is the only topic of discussion, and therefore the context shows clearly that the question of the disbelievers is not about the soul of man, for which the proper word is nafs, but about the Qur’an itself, i.e., the revelation of the spirit.
N 653. (It is very long. Briefly, relying upon (T LL) “ruah and ruh both mean mercy of Allah” … “ruh also signifies inspiration or Divine revelation (T LL)”
A Yusuf Ali wrote in his Note N 2285. “What is the nature of inspiration? Who brings it? Can it ask its Bringer questions? Can we ask anything which we wish? These are the sort of questions always asked when inspiration is called in question. The answer is given here. Inspiration is one of those high spiritual mysteries which cannot be explained in the terms of our everyday human experience. It is spiritual. The Spirit (Gabriel) does not come of his own will. He comes by the command of God and reveals what God commands him to reveal. Of the sum-total of true spiritual knowledge what a small part it is that ordinary mortals can understand! They can be only given that which they can understand, however dimly. We are not in a position to ask anything that we wish. If we did so, it would only makes us look foolish, for the guidance comes from God’s Wisdom, not from our worldly knowledge.”
Malik Ghulam Farid wrote in his Note 1647: “In the period of their spiritual decline and decadence the Jews seem to have come to dabble in occult practices like many modern Spiritualists, Theosophists and Hindu Yogis. Some of the Jews of Medina also seem to have resorted to these practices in the time of the Holy Prophet. This is why when the Meccan idolaters sought their help to confute the HP, they suggested that they (the Meccan idolaters) should question him about the human soul. The Qur’an answers them by the verse under comment by saying that the soul derives its powers from the command of God and anything else that is claimed to be acquired by the so-called spiritual exercises and magical art is all humbug.”
