Session Thirteen, Verses 58 and 59, The Five Parts of Verse 58, Part Three

Session Thirteen

Verses 58 and 59 – The Five Parts of Verse 58 – Part Three: “And Enter Through the Gate Prostrating” – Point One: An Obligatory Command – Point Two: The Meaning of “Gate” – Point Three: The Meaning of “Prostrating”

November 13, 2024

Part Three: “And Enter Through the Gate Prostrating”

The third part of verse 58 is: “and enter through the gate prostrating” («وَادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا») — a command to enter this town in a state of prostration; the verse says: enter the gate in a state of prostration. “Sujjadan” («سجداً») is the plural of sajid, meaning “those who prostrate,” and it is mentioned here as a circumstantial clause (hal) referring to the subject pronoun in “enter” («ادخلوا»). The verse thus says: enter through this gate while in a state of prostration.

Point One: An Obligatory Command

This command is an obligatory command, similar to the command to enter the town, and in contrast to the command to eat in the second part. There is, however, a discussion regarding what is meant here by “gate,” and likewise what is meant here by “sujjadan” and being in a state of prostration (sajid) — or, put another way, what “prostration” means here.

Point Two: The Meaning of “Gate”

Regarding “gate,” there is disagreement, and several possibilities have been put forward concerning it. We may perhaps identify five possibilities; these five possibilities each have proponents among the exegetes, though one of these possibilities may not constitute an exegesis as such, but rather, since it appears in certain narrations transmitted in connection with this verse as an application to a particular referent, it is, in effect, a case of application rather than interpretation. Hence, the fifth possibility is not, in a sense, on the same level as the other four, but is to be regarded as a separate stage or level.

First possibility: what is meant by “gate” is the very Bab al-Hittah (“Gate of Remission”), one of the gates of Jerusalem. Ibn ‘Abbas, al-Dahhak, and Qatadah have committed themselves to this view; the author of al-Bahr al-Muhit has likewise mentioned it. This, of course, rests on the assumption that what is meant by “town” is Jerusalem, such that, when the command is given to enter this town, what is then meant by “gate” is this very Bab al-Hittah of Jerusalem.

If we adopt this possibility, then naturally, entry through this gate relates to a time after the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, since the Prophet Moses, during his lifetime, did not enter Jerusalem, and his burial place is in a region near Jericho; hence, entry through this gate, on the supposition that we apply “town” to Jerusalem, relates to the Children of Israel after the time of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him.

Second possibility: as related by ‘Asim from certain sources, this is that what is meant is not a specific gate, but rather “a direction from among the directions of the town” (jihatun min jihat al-qaryah) — that is, enter from any one of its various directions. Here too, no specific reference is intended to Jerusalem in particular; rather, take it as an entry point toward it, from any direction. “Gate” here, then, does not refer to a specific gate or specifically to Jerusalem; whatever meaning we take for “town,” it means: enter it from some direction. This perhaps means, in effect, that you should enter this city by the conventional route, from whichever direction you wish — that is, do not enter by some unconventional route. This, too, may perhaps be on account of the particular circumstances of that place.

Third possibility: what is meant is the specific gate of Jericho, which is consistent with the lifetime of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, since, according to certain narrations, the Children of Israel entered Jericho during the very lifetime of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him.

Fourth possibility: what is meant by “gate” is the place and dome (qubbah) that the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, erected in the wilderness for the purpose of worship, and which he held to be sacred. This possibility, too, has been transmitted in certain exegetical works.

Fifth possibility: which is derived from certain narrations and is, in fact, regarded as an application rather than an exegesis — namely, that this refers to the gate of the guardianship of the Household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt), peace be upon them. There is, of course, no conflict between this possibility and the preceding possibilities, for in terms of its apparent meaning, it is one of those possibilities, but in fact, a deeper meaning and a deeper inner sense (batn) was intended, namely the gate of the guardianship of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, peace be upon them. Among the narrations on this point is one from Imam al-‘Askari, peace be upon him, who said: “And enter the gate — the gate of the town — prostrating: God set up at the gate the likeness of Muhammad and ‘Ali, and commanded them to prostrate to God in exaltation of that likeness, and to renew upon themselves their pledge of allegiance to the two of them and the remembrance of their devotion, and to recall the covenant and pledge that had been taken from them on behalf of the two of them” («وَادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ بَابَ الْقَرْيَةِ سُجَّداً مَثَّلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْبَابِ مِثَالَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلِيٍّ وَأَمَرَهُمْ أَنْ يَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ تَعْظِيماً لِذَلِكَ الْمِثَالِ وَيُجَدِّدُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ بَيْعَتَهُمَا وَذِكْرَ مُوَالاتِهِمَا وَيَذْكُرُوا الْعَهْدَ وَالْمِيثَاقَ الْمَأْخُوذِينَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَهُمَا»). What is meant is the likeness of Muhammad, peace be upon him, and ‘Ali, peace be upon him, and He commanded them to prostrate before these — not prostration in the technical sense, but rather as an act of exaltation and reverence toward these likenesses — and that they should renew their pledge of allegiance to them, and recall the covenant and pledge that had been taken on behalf of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and Amir al-Mu’minin, peace be upon him. This “gate,” then, has been applied to the likeness of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and Amir al-Mu’minin, peace be upon him, and to the remembrance of and reverence toward them. This is a point that has been applied to this term and is also reconcilable with the possibilities already mentioned.

There is, of course, a further narration related to this part of the verse as well; however, since it contains certain matters relating to other passages, we shall, God willing, cite it later.

These four — or, including the application, five — possibilities thus exist regarding “gate.” In our view, the possibility that carries the greater weight here, and which is more consistent with the meaning of “town,” is the very possibility we put forward concerning “town.”

Point Three: The Meaning of “Sujjadan”

The second point concerns “sujjadan” — what it means; that is, what is meant by the command to enter this town through this gate in a state of prostration. There are roughly six possibilities here, which have for the most part been put forward by the exegetes, each with its proponents and arguments.

First possibility: the apparent meaning of the word “prostration” (sujud) is “placing the forehead upon the ground” or “pressing the face to the ground” — that is, this very conventional and technical form of prostration. Al-Razi mentions this possibility and rejects it.

This possibility seems unlikely, for it is difficult to reconcile the two — that is, both entry and the pressing of the face to the ground; the simultaneity of entering and walking in, on the one hand, while doing this, on the other, is ordinarily impossible. For both the pressing of the face to the ground and the act of entering to occur at the same time requires movement, and this is inconsistent with the stillness required for prostration. Hence, this possibility appears unlikely.

Second possibility: God Almighty here means that, when you reach this gate, you should prostrate and then enter — that is, that these two need not be simultaneous; first prostrate, and then enter the town. It is like someone who wishes to enter a sacred place today: right at the doorway, before entering, they prostrate, and then enter. There is, accordingly, no impossibility here, and no inconsistency in both prostrating and entering, since these occur in sequence — first the prostration, and then the entry.

Topic of the Next Session

Four further possibilities exist here, which we shall set forth in the coming session.