One of the most beautiful aspects of the language of the Qur’an is when it ties to the meaning behind a verse in more than one way. For those of you especially interested in the Qira’at, this might interest you…

Looking at verses 25 and 26 in Surat al-Naml:

أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ
اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ
“[And] so they do not prostrate to Allah Who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare.
Allah – there is no deity except Him, Lord of the Great Throne.”

There are different ways of reciting the part where it says: أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا

Some of the Qurra’ read it as أَلَّا with a shaddah whilst some of them read it as أَلَا without a shaddah.

But what are the implications and how does it affect the meaning?

Well, when ألا is read without a shaddah, the verse entails the meaning of ألا يا هؤلاء اسجدوا which means “O you people! Prostrate!” Grammatically what’s happened is that the هؤلاء dhamir (pronoun) is hidden due to the prevailing sufficiency of the harf al-nida used for calling: i.e. the “Ya” (‘O’). Proof of this is in the olden statements of Arabs when they say things like ألا يا ارحمنا (Have mercy on us!), or like in the poem of al-Akhtal; ألا يا اسلمي يا هندُ هندَ بني بدر (‘O Hind, be safe!’). And the verb that comes after it is majzum (command form). So when the verse is read in this way (without a shaddah on the lam), it is actually a command saying, “O you people, prostrate to Allah Who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you reveal.” And so this is the reason we make sajdah here – out of fulfilment of a command from Allah `azza wa jall.

What about the common way of recital according to Hafs ‘an ‘Asim?

When the ألّا is read with a shaddah, it carries the meaning of لئلا in Arabic, which can be translated as: ‘Such that they do not’ or ‘So they do not’ (i.e. a combination of لِ + أن + لاا). When taken along with the previous verse, the meaning becomes clear:

وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ
أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ
“… and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from the path, so they are not guided, and so they do not prostrate to Allah Who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare.”

We prostrate here out of belief and obedience to Allah, and in complete opposition and disobedience to the Shaytan. This is actually a Sunnah in that we interact with the Qur’an and respond to the meaning of verses as we come across them (just like in the narrations where the Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, would ask for Jannah when he came across verses regarding Jannah, he would seek refuge from Hellfire when he read verses pertaining to that, he would glorify Allah when he came across verses of glorification and so on).

Here, the act of Shaytan’s deception prevented Bilqis, the Queen of Saba’ and her people from making sajdah. So in response to that, we make sajdah in defiance against the Shaytan and his deception.

Another place where a similar thing comes up is in Surat al-Furqan:

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اسْجُدُوا لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ قَالُوا وَمَا الرَّحْمَٰنُ أَنَسْجُدُ لِمَا تَأْمُرُنَا وَزَادَهُمْ نُفُورًا ۩
“And when it is said to them, “Prostrate to the Most Merciful,” they say, “And what is the Most Merciful? Should we prostrate to that which you order us?” And it increases them in aversion.” [al-Furqan: 60]

This is also a verse of prostration, and we make sajdah here out of obedience and acknowledgement to Allah `azza wa jall, and in complete opposition to the pagan Makkans who refused to acknowledge the Tawhid of Allah. This is our response both to the Qur’anic passage, to Allah `azza wa jall, and to the pagans themselves who uttered such words.

Note: Both of these riwayat (variants of recital) are authentic and complimentary to one another.

I don’t know about you guys, but that certainly did a lot for my understanding of the sujud in these verses! 🙂

For more, see the available tafasir such as al-Tabari