1 Mount Fig and Mount Olive 2 and Mount Sinai 3 and this City of peace present witness that 4 We certainly have created man with the most excellent potential; 5 then We reduce him to the lowest of the low, 6 except for those who believe and do good deeds – for them there will be unending recompense. 7 So on what basis can they contradict you about the Recompense? 8 Is not Allaah the most just of Rulers?

Usually the first verse is translated as “By the fig and the olive” giving an impression that the fruits themselves have been used for oath. That impression is not valid as it is inconsistent with verses two and three which are clearly talking about two geographic locations and it is a known fact that whenever there are a series of oaths in the Qur-aan, the items used for those multiple oaths are of the same kind. It was also a known practice in earlier generations of Jews and Arabs to name a place by the name of the produce most commonly and abundantly grown in that area. Thus, the Fig and the Olive in this verse do not mean the fruits themselves but the localities of their growth, or the mountains famous by the name of these fruits.

So what are the places that these oaths refer to? The Fig refers to the mountain where Adam and Hawwah (Eve) ‘alayhimussalaam ended up after their expulsion from Jannah, and where they covered their private parts with fig leaves [1] . The Arabs knew it as the name of the place and one of their famous poets, Nabighah Zibyani, mentioned it as such in one of his verses. It is also the place where Nooh’s (Noah’s) Ark rested after the flood on the Mount Joodiy in the mountains of Ararat in Turkey , the land of figs.

The Olive refers to Mount Olive in Jerusalem that was frequented by Prophet ‘Eesa (Jesus) [2] ‘alayhissalaam .

Mount Sinai obviously was the mountain where Moosa ‘alayhissalaam talked to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala, spent forty days in worship, received the Commandments and where the Israelites made their covenant with Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala.

“This city of peace” refers to Makkah that was founded and inhabited by Ibraaheem and Ismaa‘eel ‘alayhimussalaam , and where they built the first house of worship for Allaah. It was because of this house that Makkah always remained peaceful and secure when the rest of Arabia was engulfed in the flames of violence. And it is also the city of the Last messenger, Prophet Muhammad sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam himself.

These four places were presented to people so that they could understand Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala’s system of reward and punishment.

To understand the impact of their evidence, it should be remembered that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala pre-programmed all inanimate creation with His laws of nature so that they continue to function in a balanced manner, maintaining an equilibrium as desired by Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala. The living creatures are pre-programmed though instincts in addition to the laws of nature. Thus they also sustain a balance among various creatures. Human beings and Jinns are the only exceptions who have been given freedom to makes choices and decisions on their own which can be very different from instinctive behaviour.

Biologically, human beings are not much different from animals. So, what is the difference between people and animals? Yes, we have a physical shape that is more adaptable and flexible to give us an edge over other living organisms. And we can talk and communicate more expressively and eloquently than other creatures. Also, our intelligence is more developed and sophisticated than other species. These are important differences. They collectively give us much superiority over animals. But there are some much more profound and crucial differences that truly distinguish us from animals:

Animals are pre-programmed through their instincts to react specifically to a certain stimulus. They cannot choose any response that is not instinctively programmed. For example, they cannot think beyond fight or flight. Human beings have freedom of choice. They have a capability to intercept between the stimulus and instinctive response to choose between options. They can review the pros and cons of different responses, their personal objectives and preferences and the results they want to achieve and then choose a response that is most appropriate for their situation. They have myriad of choices and they can come up with imaginative new ways of handling situations.

Furthermore, human beings can look inwards at any time and review and assess what is going on in their mind and thought processes. In addition, they have an innate sense of right and wrong. When they look inside they can judge themselves on whether they are doing something good or something bad. They feel good when they find themselves doing the right thing and they feel guilty when they find themselves doing wrong. These elements of human psyche – the capability of reviewing one’s own decisions, the ability to choose and change one’s course of action, a concern about right and wrong, the process of self judgement and feelings about their behaviour – are all very pronounced, strong and well developed features that differentiate people from animals. Taken all together, they provide a tremendous potential to human beings enabling them to excel in morals and behaviour. Thus the God-given freedom allows them to do better than merely being just, equitable, and balanced. It allows them to be forgiving, magnanimous, outstanding and excellent.

The Soorah talks about this tremendous human potential and presents four physical locations where people of the best calibre lived. The messengers associated with these localities, Adam, Nooh, ‘Eesa, Moosa, Ibraaheem and Muĥammad ‘alayhimussalaam , have been mentioned to provide a vivid evidence of how excellent a person can become. By mentioning them, the Qur-aan has actually put in front of us the whole chain of prophets from the first to the last, including all the five top ranking messengers [3] . They were the most outstanding people of their societies in terms of intelligence, status, personality, good qualities, commendable behaviour and moral excellence. They excelled in being kind, gracious, forgiving, sharing, fair, supportive of the weak, helpers of helpless, restorers of human dignity, promoters of human equality, keepers of their words, truthful, honest, courageous, steadfast, firm, gentle and adorned with many other beautiful qualities. They have been presented to us as evidence of the potential of human beings, showing how much people can excel if they choose to do so. In that case, they are better than angels because angels are pre-programmed for obedience, but obedient Muslims choose to do so despite the freedom accorded to them.

However, even if they do not excel, if they continue to live by the teachings of Islam, they can maintain justice, fairness and resulting peace, at the minimum.

On the other hand, if people want to go the wrong way, they have the potential to become the worst of the worst. They can fall to the lowest of the low levels. In that case, they become far worse than animals. Animals only kill for food or to defend if threatened. People kill by planning to do so: for fun, for animosity, out of jealousy or simply arrogance. No animal ever collects and recruits armies to attack another group of their own species. People do. They invent hydrogen bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. They use such weapons and then have the nerve to call themselves civilized. Animals engage in sexual activity only with a willing partner. People rape and use rape as a weapon. It is used as an act of war where helpless innocent women of the perceived enemy are gang raped. To add insult to the torture, they are raped in front of their helpless relatives. They do not even spare innocent children. They are abused, murdered, maimed and used for sexual activities and pornography. Their vengeance is also unbridled. Murder is not enough to cool their anger, arrogance or vengeance. They mutilate and dismember people who are alive and disrespect the corpses of the dead. They force mothers to drink the blood of their children. They invent such techniques of physical, mental and psychological torture and persecution of fellow human beings that are indescribable. Just read about what the Christian Militia of Lebanon did, what Israelis do to Palestinians, what Indians do to Kashmiris, and what Serbs did to Bosnians and Kosovars. In addition, there are such deranged people who become serial killers and rapists and their victims are not even enemies but members of their own society. In politics, they lie, break promises and demonstrate the dirtiest demagoguery. In business, they cheat the most vulnerable of the people out of their meagre finances. When they deviate in matters of religion, they worship stones, trees, snakes, and even sexual organs. Or, in their sectarian madness, they kill people busy in worshipping Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala. In short, when people choose to stoop low, they prove to be horribly vicious. [4]

Although all people have the potential to be like prophets or like the worst kind of savages, those who believe and do good deeds are only the people who try to emulate the prophets and develop themselves in their good potential. They are motivated to excel in morals and ethics. Such people are usually fewer because doing good is not easy. It is like going uphill, which has its own risks and difficulties. It takes effort, resolve and constancy. On the other hand, going downhill is easy. You just let yourself roll and you will end up in the lowest of the ditches. Just follow your temptations and submit to your lusts, and you will be rolling down fast. Hence, without faith in the Creator, without a desire to reach to the top, and without commitment to succeed in the life Hereafter, it is difficult to resist those temptations and deny those lusts. Only those who do so will be reaching the top. They will have a never-ending, uninterrupted reward in the life Hereafter.

The four aforementioned places also remind people of the incidents of rewards and punishment attached to these places. The mountain with figs reminds us of Adam ‘alayhissalaam being expelled from Jannah because of his disobedience to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala as well as of the good news of the acceptance of his repentance. That area also reminds us of how rejecters of Nooh’s ‘alayhissalaam message were destroyed while the Muslims were saved. They prospered and spread out from there to other parts of the world.

The Mount of Olives is where Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala informed ‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam that He will be raised and the Israelites will be cursed and punished.

At Mount Sinai, Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala took a covenant from the Israelites under very terrifying circumstances while it appeared that the mountain was about to fall over them, This was done in order to emphasize that the covenant they are entering into is not a trivial matter but very serious, the violation of which will have dire consequences.

It was in the City of Makkah where Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala appointed Ibraaheem ‘alayhissalaam as the leader of the human kind while the wrongdoers of his progeny were excluded from this favour and reward.

Usually, people who follow their lusts deny the Day of Judgement. They have their doubts about resurrection and life Hereafter. They think that death will be end of it. They assume that a saint and a serial killer and rapist will have the same end! Do they not think about why Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala gave them all the capabilities not given to animals - if they were just to eat, drink and die like animals? How do they figure that a person climbing up and the one rolling down will both end up at the same destination?

Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta‘aala asks:

§ “Will We treat Muslims and criminals alike? What is wrong with you? How do you judge?” [5]

§ “Have those who commit evils assumed that We will treat them the same as those who believe and do good deeds—that they will be equal in life and death? What an evil assumption they make!” [6]

§ “Have you assumed that We have created you purposelessly and that you will not be brought back to Us?” [7]

How can anyone harbour the ideas that the Creator Who has given people the potentials to be good and bad will not judge them and that He created them with all these human faculties for nothing? Does He, with Eternal Wisdom and Absolute Knowledge, do meaningless things? He endowed you your own conscience and your feelings of right and wrong so that you are warned internally before you commit a wrong and so that you can judge yourselves before you are judged! How can He, Who has taken so many measures to guide you towards realizing your best potential, let you off scot-free without holding you accountable if you have done so or not?

So after all this rational evidence, what is your reason to deny or doubt the Resurrection, Judgment, Justice, Rewards and Punishment?

If the administrators and rulers of this world try to maintain law and order and deliver justice in their territory, why will Allaah, the Sovereign of the whole universe, not deliver perfect justice? Is He not the Most Just of all the rulers?

Indeed, He is!

[1] Genesis 3:1

[2] Luke 19:29, 37; 21:37 and 22:39. Also Matthew 21:1, 24:3 and 26:30

[3] Even in the order of their mention there is wisdom. Adam and Eesa ‘alayhimussalaam have been put one after the other in order because of their similarity in their creation. Then, Moosa and Muhammad ‘alayhimussalaam are together because of the very close similarity between the two mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur-aan. Nooh’s relationship with Adam and Muhammad’s strong relationship with Ibraaheem ‘alayhimussalaam are also indicated by associating each couple to the same place.

[4] Some people take a totally different kind of meaning from this Soorah. They think the best form represents physical capabilities and lowest of the low refers to the old age when a person is totally debilitated after the strength of the youth. This meaning neither fits the context whatsoever nor does it make sense. If we consider it referring to the lifecycle of a person, then a child is not born in the best form. In that case, a human being is born in weakness and dies in weakness. Secondly, it is not that only non-Muslims grow old and Muslims stay young. These stages come to every human being, so how can they provide any evidence about reward and punishment? This meaning makes the question about Recompense totally out of place. Thirdly, the oaths in the beginning have no relationship to this meaning at all.

Because someone in the past has expressed this opinion does not mean that we accept the opinion of the previous scholars even if it does not make any sense. That is why all the major contemporary commentators of the Qur-aan do not accept this view.

[5] Al-Qalam 68:35-36

[6] Al-Jaathiya 45:21

[7] Al-Mo’minoon 18:114