B U S I N E S S N A M E

Reflections
From the Glorious Qur’ān
I S S U E N O . 2 1 5 T H D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8

Through the needle’s eye

‫إ َِّن َّاَّل َين كَ َّذبُوا بِآاي ِتنا َو ْاس تَ ْك ََبُوا عَْنْ ا ال‬ show a man a palm tree of gold, nor In the Qur’an, those who reject the
an elephant going through the eye of signs of Allah are described as not
‫ون امْ َجنَّ َة‬
َ ُ‫امسام ِء َو ال يَدْ ُخل‬ َّ ‫ت ُ َفتَّ ُح مَه ُْم أَبْو ُاب‬ a needle,” signifying that they are the having the gates of the heavens

POINTS TO ‫ذِل‬َ ِ ‫ياط َو َك‬ ِ ‫َس امْ ِخ‬ ِّ َ ‫َح ََّّت ي َ ِل َج امْ َج َم ُل يف‬ product of reason rather than the opened for them and not being
absence of it. given entry into paradise until a
PONDER َ ‫َ َْن ِزي امْ ُم ْج ِر‬
‫مني‬ In the Christian Bible one finds more camel passes through the eye of a
UPON than one instance where Jesus is re-
needle.
Surely those who deny Our signs and
ported to have said that it is more Atheists reject the existence of a
 What is meant are disdainful of them, the gates of
difficult for a rich man to enter the Creator and polytheists reject the
by the needle’s heaven will not be opened for them
kingdom of God than it is for a camel oneness (tawhid) of the Almighty
eye aphorism? nor shall they enter paradise until the
to pass through the eye of a needle. and the prophethood of His messen-
camel passes through the eye of a
 What are the gers despite the numerous clear
needle and thus do we requite the
different ways in signs and manifest proofs brought
guilty.
which this apho- by them. These are examples of
rism has been (al-A’raaf [7]:40) those who reject the signs of Allah
used in the past? about whom this verse speaks.
One of the meanings given by com-
 Who are the Nobody knows exactly when needles
rejecters of were invented but what is known is mentators regarding the doors of
divine signs? that it was a very long time ago. The heaven not being opened for such
first needles were made of bone, people is that the blessings of Allah
An artists depiction of camels in the eye are not showered upon them. An-
ivory, thorns and even stone. Needles of a needle
have ‘eyes’ or apertures through other interpretation is that their
which thread is pulled. Eyes of needles Since this aphorism has been used for souls do not ascend to the heavens
are often found to be very small and millennia, various attempts have been (when they die) like the souls of the
difficult to thread, leading to an apho- made to interpret it. One such inter- believers.
rism based on the impossibility of pretation is that there used to be a The condition given for their en-
passing a large object or animal small gate in Jerusalem called ‘the eye trance into paradise is an impossible
through the eye of a needle. of the needle’ through which a camel
one i.e. the passing of a camel
could not pass unless it stooped and through the eye of a needle, and
The first recorded instance of this first had all its baggage removed. After
aphorism in a religious text is in the this just goes to show how impossi-
dark, when the main gates were shut, ble it is for them to enter paradise.
ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. It
travelers or merchants would have to This creates a sense of hopelessness
is narrated that Narada visited a cob- use this smaller gate, through which
bler who was devoted to Vishnu (the for them as they know they will
the camel could only enter unencum- never enter paradise.
Hindu god of creation) and told him bered and crawling on its knees!
that he saw Vishnu threading an ele- Muslim commentators are not faced
phant through the eye of a needle. Another interpretation given by Chris-
with the same debacle that Christian
tian scholars is that even though pass-
The cobbler then picked up a seed and scholars are faced with because the
ing a camel through a needle’s eye
exclaimed, "Oh, that's not surprising! verse is clear-cut and applies to all
may seem impossible to us, everything
Inside this seed is an enormous tree, those who reject the signs of Allah,
is possible for God, so it does not
ready to come out at the right time. So unlike in the Bible where it does not
of course He was threading an ele- negate the possibility of the rich en-
Please address your make sense to say that all rich peo-
comments and phant through the eye of a needle!" tering paradise. Of course these types ple would be denied entry to
suggestions to: of interpretations have to be made in
In the Judaic tradition, rabbis are order to make sense of the statement heaven. After all, Solomon was also
quoted in the Babylonian Talmud as wealthy as were many others who
tridhaj@yahoo.co.uk made about rich people being unable
saying about dreams: “They do not to enter paradise. served God.