Q536 :An old man told me that one should not recite
the surah entitled “A’bas” or “The frowning” very often. He gives the
reason saying that the surah contains a reproach to the Prophet for
having frowned on a blind man who came to him to seek guidance. Please
netment.
A536 : It is true that the surah you have mentioned
tackles the incident when a blind man, a netpanion of the Prophet, came
to him requesting that the Prophet teach him a passage of the Qur’an.
At the time, the Prophet was speaking to a few people who netmanded
high position in Makkah. The Prophet had high hopes to win them over to
Islam. He felt that if they gave him a positive response, Islam would
benete much stronger in Makkah. Therefore, he wanted to devote all his
attention to them at that time. The blind man, however, pressed his
request time after time. The Prophet did not like that, but he did not
express his displeasure in any words. He simply frowned, obviously
unnoticed by the blind man. Allah then revealed this surah telling the
Prophet that his attitude was not the right one. It was not up to him
to make people follow divine guidance. It is Allah who guides
whomsoever He pleases to the right path. The surah contains a strong
reproach telling the Prophet [that] he could not refuse to teach
anyone who sought to be taught. No person of high position is to be
preferred to a humble person. To suggest that this surah should not be
read often may be motivated by a noble feeling. A person may feel that
he does not wish to read the reproach to the Prophet often. This
feeling, however, is mistaken because it misses out on the lesson to be
learned and concentrates on appearances and superficial elements. The
message of the surah is one of the essential elements of the Islamic
faith. All people are equal and all deserve to be called upon to
believe in Allah and His messenger. None is to be preferred on account
of his high position. None is to be ignored on account of his
humbleness. That Allah has chosen to give this very important principle
in the way He has, making use of the incident I had just described in
order to drive the point home is His own prerogative. We read this
surah in the same way as we read other parts of the Qur’an. Every
portion is highly relevant and highly important. We cannot ignore any
part of it for any consideration whatsoever. The old man who told you
not to read this surah often might have spoken out of love for the
Prophet. We should remember, however, that no matter how dearly we love
the Prophet, Allah loves him more. If we were to ignore this surah our
attitude represents a protest against its inclusion in the Qur’an. This
is not up to us to do. Every part of the Qur’an is as important as the
rest. The old man is mistaken and we treat this surah in the same way
as we treat the other 113 surahs.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )