🕋 تفسير سورة الأنبياء
(Al-Anbiya) • المصدر: EN-TAZKIRUL-QURAN
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُعْرِضُونَ
📘 Every man who is living in this world is nearer to death than life. In this respect he is virtually on the verge of coming face to face with his Day of Reckoning. But man is so reckless that he does not pay heed to any sort of reminder from God, whether given through a prophet or anyone else. He ignores the advice of the preacher of truth and dismisses it as something uttered by ‘a mere man’. When in Makkah the Prophet Muhammad started calling upon people to God by means of the Quran. The divine discourse enshrined therein moved people’s hearts. This became a serious matter for the Makkan leaders, because this jeopardized their leadership. The Quran urged people to accept the unity of God, whereas the great leaders of Makkah had maintained their supremacy on the basis of polytheism. In order to divert the attention of the people, they started spreading the notion that the effectiveness of the Prophet Muhammad’s message did not derive from its being the word of God; the force behind it was not that of Truth but of magic. It was all mere human rhetoric and was in no way to be considred a divine discourse. Albeit taking the name of God, those who indulged in such talk did not firmly believe that God was seeing and hearing them. Had they had real faith in God’s being all-knowing, that is, His being One who knows the unseen—they would never have uttered such insincere words.
لَقَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
لَهُمْ فِيهَا زَفِيرٌ وَهُمْ فِيهَا لَا يَسْمَعُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَتْ لَهُمْ مِنَّا الْحُسْنَىٰ أُولَٰئِكَ عَنْهَا مُبْعَدُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
لَا يَسْمَعُونَ حَسِيسَهَا ۖ وَهُمْ فِي مَا اشْتَهَتْ أَنْفُسُهُمْ خَالِدُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
لَا يَحْزُنُهُمُ الْفَزَعُ الْأَكْبَرُ وَتَتَلَقَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ هَٰذَا يَوْمُكُمُ الَّذِي كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
يَوْمَ نَطْوِي السَّمَاءَ كَطَيِّ السِّجِلِّ لِلْكُتُبِ ۚ كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُعِيدُهُ ۚ وَعْدًا عَلَيْنَا ۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
📘 The expanse of the present universe was brought into existence for the purpose of creating a testing ground. Subsequently, when the time comes for creating the world of reaping results (the Hereafter), God will wind up this world, and perhaps with the same material will create another world which will fulfil result-and reward- oriented purposes. The coming into existence of one world (the present world) itself provides sufficient proof of the fact that another world can be brought into existence. In the present world, bad persons attain positions of greatness, but this is only for as long as the period of trial lasts. When the period of trial is over and God’s eternal and perfect world is created, every kind of comfort and honour will be in evidence, but only for those who had proved to be God’s true subjects in this world of trial. This has been set down in detail in the Bible, ‘And do not envy the evil people....Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday – for evil-doers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever.’ (Psalms, chapter 37, verses 1, 3, 6, 9 and 27).
وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ مِنْ بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ أَنَّ الْأَرْضَ يَرِثُهَا عِبَادِيَ الصَّالِحُونَ
📘 The expanse of the present universe was brought into existence for the purpose of creating a testing ground. Subsequently, when the time comes for creating the world of reaping results (the Hereafter), God will wind up this world, and perhaps with the same material will create another world which will fulfil result-and reward- oriented purposes. The coming into existence of one world (the present world) itself provides sufficient proof of the fact that another world can be brought into existence. In the present world, bad persons attain positions of greatness, but this is only for as long as the period of trial lasts. When the period of trial is over and God’s eternal and perfect world is created, every kind of comfort and honour will be in evidence, but only for those who had proved to be God’s true subjects in this world of trial. This has been set down in detail in the Bible, ‘And do not envy the evil people....Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday – for evil-doers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever.’ (Psalms, chapter 37, verses 1, 3, 6, 9 and 27).
إِنَّ فِي هَٰذَا لَبَلَاغًا لِقَوْمٍ عَابِدِينَ
📘 The expanse of the present universe was brought into existence for the purpose of creating a testing ground. Subsequently, when the time comes for creating the world of reaping results (the Hereafter), God will wind up this world, and perhaps with the same material will create another world which will fulfil result-and reward- oriented purposes. The coming into existence of one world (the present world) itself provides sufficient proof of the fact that another world can be brought into existence. In the present world, bad persons attain positions of greatness, but this is only for as long as the period of trial lasts. When the period of trial is over and God’s eternal and perfect world is created, every kind of comfort and honour will be in evidence, but only for those who had proved to be God’s true subjects in this world of trial. This has been set down in detail in the Bible, ‘And do not envy the evil people....Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday – for evil-doers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever.’ (Psalms, chapter 37, verses 1, 3, 6, 9 and 27).
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
قُلْ إِنَّمَا يُوحَىٰ إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُلْ آذَنْتُكُمْ عَلَىٰ سَوَاءٍ ۖ وَإِنْ أَدْرِي أَقَرِيبٌ أَمْ بَعِيدٌ مَا تُوعَدُونَ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَأَنْشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
إِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْجَهْرَ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَكْتُمُونَ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
وَإِنْ أَدْرِي لَعَلَّهُ فِتْنَةٌ لَكُمْ وَمَتَاعٌ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
قَالَ رَبِّ احْكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ ۗ وَرَبُّنَا الرَّحْمَٰنُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَىٰ مَا تَصِفُونَ
📘 All the prophets who were sent by God were sent here for one and the same purpose. Through them, God wanted to impart to man that knowledge of reality which would enable him to become an inhabitant of eternal paradise. But every time a prophet came, he was rejected. All prophets were dispensers of God’s grace on earth. But, what distinguished the Prophet Muhammad from the others was that God chose him as a means of sending a special kind of His blessings to His subjects. God decided that a door of guidance, which had hitherto been closed to them, should be opened forever. Accordingly, it was God’s plan that his addressees’ community should somehow be brought on to the right path, so that a strong band of his Companions could be formed, made up of stalwarts who could then bring about a revolution in the world and thus change the course of history. This gracious plan of God was indeed fulfilled, completely and perfectly, through the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions.
فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا إِذَا هُمْ مِنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
فَمَا زَالَتْ تِلْكَ دَعْوَاهُمْ حَتَّىٰ جَعَلْنَاهُمْ حَصِيدًا خَامِدِينَ
📘 The Book of God is not a mere book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in fact a reminder. It is to remind man that the creation of mankind in the present world was not an accident. It took place in accordance with a divine plan, by which man was to be given temporary freedom for the purpose of putting him to the test, and thereafter rewarding him according to his deeds in this world. A partial manifestation of this fact has been given time and again in the shape of the destruction of transgressing communities. Its full manifestation will take place on the Day of Reckoning, when all past and present human beings will be re-created and gathered together in God’s court. As long as man possesses material means of support, he is not prepared to come out of his slumber of carelessness. But when the process of God’s reckoning starts, all the material props on the strength of which the individual dared to ignore the call for Truth, will appear to be so burdensome that he would like to get rid of them. And it is only when he has to part company with his props that his eyes are opened. However, the opening of his eyes at that juncture will be of no avail, because at that time all things will have lost their power. Thereafter, only God and not the false deities—will have the power to help.
وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ
📘 Those who are not serious about the divine call, consider the present world as a plaything of God which has no purpose except temporal entertainment. But judging by the immense wisdom and meaningfulness underlying the working of the present world, it would appear to be impossible that the Creator of this world could be a being who has created it merely for the sake of diversion. In the present world, there is the special creation of God, namely, human beings, who by their very nature, have the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. The existence in the world of such creatures, who can use their discretion and decide upon one path as that of truth and another as that of untruth, coupled with the frequent struggle between Truth and untruth, are all indications of the fact that a time is going to come when it will finally be clear as to what is really Truth and what is Untruth. And whoever sides with the Truth will attain success and whoever does not will be doomed to failure.
لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نَتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لَاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا إِنْ كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
📘 Those who are not serious about the divine call, consider the present world as a plaything of God which has no purpose except temporal entertainment. But judging by the immense wisdom and meaningfulness underlying the working of the present world, it would appear to be impossible that the Creator of this world could be a being who has created it merely for the sake of diversion. In the present world, there is the special creation of God, namely, human beings, who by their very nature, have the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. The existence in the world of such creatures, who can use their discretion and decide upon one path as that of truth and another as that of untruth, coupled with the frequent struggle between Truth and untruth, are all indications of the fact that a time is going to come when it will finally be clear as to what is really Truth and what is Untruth. And whoever sides with the Truth will attain success and whoever does not will be doomed to failure.
بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ ۚ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ
📘 Those who are not serious about the divine call, consider the present world as a plaything of God which has no purpose except temporal entertainment. But judging by the immense wisdom and meaningfulness underlying the working of the present world, it would appear to be impossible that the Creator of this world could be a being who has created it merely for the sake of diversion. In the present world, there is the special creation of God, namely, human beings, who by their very nature, have the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. The existence in the world of such creatures, who can use their discretion and decide upon one path as that of truth and another as that of untruth, coupled with the frequent struggle between Truth and untruth, are all indications of the fact that a time is going to come when it will finally be clear as to what is really Truth and what is Untruth. And whoever sides with the Truth will attain success and whoever does not will be doomed to failure.
وَلَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَمَنْ عِنْدَهُ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَلَا يَسْتَحْسِرُونَ
📘 Every object on the earth and in the skies is God’s creation. Everything behaves as has been divinely ordained. In the entire universe, it is only man who is arrogant and disobedient. Those who do not believe in God indulge in arrogance and disobedience on the plea that there is nobody to rule over them, and they are free to do as they like. Those who believe in God also indulge in arrogance and disobedience, but they offer a different explanation for this behaviour. They take some particular individuals other than God as intermediaries and recommenders. They assume them to be closer to God and presume that if from time to time they are paid homage and obeisance, they will intercede with God for their salvation. Some assume angels to be the intermediaries, while others attribute such qualities to other human beings. But all such theories are totally baseless. If one has such a deep insight as to have a clear vision of Reality at the universal level, he will see that those beings (who are supposed to have divine attributes) are themselves awe-struck by God’s majesty and kneel down before Him. Ironically, it is in their name that man has adopted an attitude of arrogance and disobedience in the world.
مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ ذِكْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ مُحْدَثٍ إِلَّا اسْتَمَعُوهُ وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ
📘 Every man who is living in this world is nearer to death than life. In this respect he is virtually on the verge of coming face to face with his Day of Reckoning. But man is so reckless that he does not pay heed to any sort of reminder from God, whether given through a prophet or anyone else. He ignores the advice of the preacher of truth and dismisses it as something uttered by ‘a mere man’. When in Makkah the Prophet Muhammad started calling upon people to God by means of the Quran. The divine discourse enshrined therein moved people’s hearts. This became a serious matter for the Makkan leaders, because this jeopardized their leadership. The Quran urged people to accept the unity of God, whereas the great leaders of Makkah had maintained their supremacy on the basis of polytheism. In order to divert the attention of the people, they started spreading the notion that the effectiveness of the Prophet Muhammad’s message did not derive from its being the word of God; the force behind it was not that of Truth but of magic. It was all mere human rhetoric and was in no way to be considred a divine discourse. Albeit taking the name of God, those who indulged in such talk did not firmly believe that God was seeing and hearing them. Had they had real faith in God’s being all-knowing, that is, His being One who knows the unseen—they would never have uttered such insincere words.
يُسَبِّحُونَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ لَا يَفْتُرُونَ
📘 Every object on the earth and in the skies is God’s creation. Everything behaves as has been divinely ordained. In the entire universe, it is only man who is arrogant and disobedient. Those who do not believe in God indulge in arrogance and disobedience on the plea that there is nobody to rule over them, and they are free to do as they like. Those who believe in God also indulge in arrogance and disobedience, but they offer a different explanation for this behaviour. They take some particular individuals other than God as intermediaries and recommenders. They assume them to be closer to God and presume that if from time to time they are paid homage and obeisance, they will intercede with God for their salvation. Some assume angels to be the intermediaries, while others attribute such qualities to other human beings. But all such theories are totally baseless. If one has such a deep insight as to have a clear vision of Reality at the universal level, he will see that those beings (who are supposed to have divine attributes) are themselves awe-struck by God’s majesty and kneel down before Him. Ironically, it is in their name that man has adopted an attitude of arrogance and disobedience in the world.
أَمِ اتَّخَذُوا آلِهَةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ هُمْ يُنْشِرُونَ
📘 The earth is not isolated from the rest of creation; it is inseparably bound with the cosmos. The existence of life on the earth and its flourishing and growth are possible only when it maintains total harmony with the rest of the universe. This balanced and harmonious interaction between the earth and the sky proves that the control of the earth and the sky rests in the hands of one single Being. Had it been with two beings, there would certainly have been frequent clashes between them and consequently the preservation of the existing life on earth would not have been possible. The universe with all its immense majesty and meaningfulness projects the image of its Creator as a God who is absolutely above all shortcomings. To assume the Creator of all things to be a Being subject to shortcomings and weaknesses would be to grossly undervalue the existing universe.
لَوْ كَانَ فِيهِمَا آلِهَةٌ إِلَّا اللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَا ۚ فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ
📘 The earth is not isolated from the rest of creation; it is inseparably bound with the cosmos. The existence of life on the earth and its flourishing and growth are possible only when it maintains total harmony with the rest of the universe. This balanced and harmonious interaction between the earth and the sky proves that the control of the earth and the sky rests in the hands of one single Being. Had it been with two beings, there would certainly have been frequent clashes between them and consequently the preservation of the existing life on earth would not have been possible. The universe with all its immense majesty and meaningfulness projects the image of its Creator as a God who is absolutely above all shortcomings. To assume the Creator of all things to be a Being subject to shortcomings and weaknesses would be to grossly undervalue the existing universe.
لَا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ
📘 The earth is not isolated from the rest of creation; it is inseparably bound with the cosmos. The existence of life on the earth and its flourishing and growth are possible only when it maintains total harmony with the rest of the universe. This balanced and harmonious interaction between the earth and the sky proves that the control of the earth and the sky rests in the hands of one single Being. Had it been with two beings, there would certainly have been frequent clashes between them and consequently the preservation of the existing life on earth would not have been possible. The universe with all its immense majesty and meaningfulness projects the image of its Creator as a God who is absolutely above all shortcomings. To assume the Creator of all things to be a Being subject to shortcomings and weaknesses would be to grossly undervalue the existing universe.
أَمِ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ آلِهَةً ۖ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ ۖ هَٰذَا ذِكْرُ مَنْ مَعِيَ وَذِكْرُ مَنْ قَبْلِي ۗ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْحَقَّ ۖ فَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ
📘 The assumption of there being anyone worthy of worship other than God is not based on any real reasoning, but on total ignorance. Those who assign partners to God have no argument in support of their belief—neither is it based on human knowledge nor on divine revelation. On hearing arguments in favour of the oneness of God, they become evasive and turn their backs, not because of the firmness of their belief based on sound reasoning, but purely because of their prejudice. On account of their biased attitude, they have become so rigid in their belief that they are not prepared to give it up, in spite of its being untenable on the basis of reasoning.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ
📘 The assumption of there being anyone worthy of worship other than God is not based on any real reasoning, but on total ignorance. Those who assign partners to God have no argument in support of their belief—neither is it based on human knowledge nor on divine revelation. On hearing arguments in favour of the oneness of God, they become evasive and turn their backs, not because of the firmness of their belief based on sound reasoning, but purely because of their prejudice. On account of their biased attitude, they have become so rigid in their belief that they are not prepared to give it up, in spite of its being untenable on the basis of reasoning.
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۚ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُكْرَمُونَ
📘 To consider one thing as right and some other thing as wrong curtails the freedom of human beings. Therefore, they have always attempted to find a theory according to which the difference between truth and untruth should vanish, so that they might live in the world in whatever manner they liked and have the satisfaction of not being answerable for what they did or for what they did not do. Irreligious people have tried to achieve this by denying the life hereafter while religious people have had recourse to polytheistic practices. Angels are invisible creatures. Human beings were informed of the existence of angels through the prophets, so that they might realise God’s power. But they (the human beings) formed the erroneous idea that the angels were the daughters of God and adopted the strange belief that they should perform certain rites of worship in the name of the angels, who would in turn recommend them to their ‘Father’, have them (the worshippers) pardoned and procure their salvation. All such beliefs amount to a negation of the godhood of the Almighty. God is God only because He is free of all shortcomings. Had He been subject to shortcomings, He would not have been God.
لَا يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُمْ بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ
📘 To consider one thing as right and some other thing as wrong curtails the freedom of human beings. Therefore, they have always attempted to find a theory according to which the difference between truth and untruth should vanish, so that they might live in the world in whatever manner they liked and have the satisfaction of not being answerable for what they did or for what they did not do. Irreligious people have tried to achieve this by denying the life hereafter while religious people have had recourse to polytheistic practices. Angels are invisible creatures. Human beings were informed of the existence of angels through the prophets, so that they might realise God’s power. But they (the human beings) formed the erroneous idea that the angels were the daughters of God and adopted the strange belief that they should perform certain rites of worship in the name of the angels, who would in turn recommend them to their ‘Father’, have them (the worshippers) pardoned and procure their salvation. All such beliefs amount to a negation of the godhood of the Almighty. God is God only because He is free of all shortcomings. Had He been subject to shortcomings, He would not have been God.
يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يَشْفَعُونَ إِلَّا لِمَنِ ارْتَضَىٰ وَهُمْ مِنْ خَشْيَتِهِ مُشْفِقُونَ
📘 To consider one thing as right and some other thing as wrong curtails the freedom of human beings. Therefore, they have always attempted to find a theory according to which the difference between truth and untruth should vanish, so that they might live in the world in whatever manner they liked and have the satisfaction of not being answerable for what they did or for what they did not do. Irreligious people have tried to achieve this by denying the life hereafter while religious people have had recourse to polytheistic practices. Angels are invisible creatures. Human beings were informed of the existence of angels through the prophets, so that they might realise God’s power. But they (the human beings) formed the erroneous idea that the angels were the daughters of God and adopted the strange belief that they should perform certain rites of worship in the name of the angels, who would in turn recommend them to their ‘Father’, have them (the worshippers) pardoned and procure their salvation. All such beliefs amount to a negation of the godhood of the Almighty. God is God only because He is free of all shortcomings. Had He been subject to shortcomings, He would not have been God.
۞ وَمَنْ يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّي إِلَٰهٌ مِنْ دُونِهِ فَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 To consider one thing as right and some other thing as wrong curtails the freedom of human beings. Therefore, they have always attempted to find a theory according to which the difference between truth and untruth should vanish, so that they might live in the world in whatever manner they liked and have the satisfaction of not being answerable for what they did or for what they did not do. Irreligious people have tried to achieve this by denying the life hereafter while religious people have had recourse to polytheistic practices. Angels are invisible creatures. Human beings were informed of the existence of angels through the prophets, so that they might realise God’s power. But they (the human beings) formed the erroneous idea that the angels were the daughters of God and adopted the strange belief that they should perform certain rites of worship in the name of the angels, who would in turn recommend them to their ‘Father’, have them (the worshippers) pardoned and procure their salvation. All such beliefs amount to a negation of the godhood of the Almighty. God is God only because He is free of all shortcomings. Had He been subject to shortcomings, He would not have been God.
لَاهِيَةً قُلُوبُهُمْ ۗ وَأَسَرُّوا النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا هَلْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ ۖ أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ
📘 Every man who is living in this world is nearer to death than life. In this respect he is virtually on the verge of coming face to face with his Day of Reckoning. But man is so reckless that he does not pay heed to any sort of reminder from God, whether given through a prophet or anyone else. He ignores the advice of the preacher of truth and dismisses it as something uttered by ‘a mere man’. When in Makkah the Prophet Muhammad started calling upon people to God by means of the Quran. The divine discourse enshrined therein moved people’s hearts. This became a serious matter for the Makkan leaders, because this jeopardized their leadership. The Quran urged people to accept the unity of God, whereas the great leaders of Makkah had maintained their supremacy on the basis of polytheism. In order to divert the attention of the people, they started spreading the notion that the effectiveness of the Prophet Muhammad’s message did not derive from its being the word of God; the force behind it was not that of Truth but of magic. It was all mere human rhetoric and was in no way to be considred a divine discourse. Albeit taking the name of God, those who indulged in such talk did not firmly believe that God was seeing and hearing them. Had they had real faith in God’s being all-knowing, that is, His being One who knows the unseen—they would never have uttered such insincere words.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 The solid mass which God ‘tore asunder’ probably refers to the earliest state of the earth and skies which, in this modern age is explained in terms of the ‘Big Bang’ theory. According to modern scientific calculations, the entire matter of the Universe was originally in the shape of a very big ball (a super atom). In obedience to known physical laws, all its parts were attracted towards its centre and were bound together very strongly. At some point, there was a huge explosion in this ball and its parts suddenly started hurtling outwards. In this way, finally the vast universe, which now extends before us, came into being. The question that remains is what caused the highly compact particles of the super-atom to explode. The Big Bang proves the existence of an intervenor. When the intervenor is proved, the existence of God is proven in itself. In this way, the history of the origin of the universe clearly establishes the existence of a Being Who has a separate permanent existence outside the universe and, Who by His own independent power, exerts His influence over the universe. In this world of ours the major component of every living thing is water. If there were no water there would be no life. Water is found in great abundance on the earth. In this extensive universe, the existence of so much water at one place clearly gives an indication of a ‘special creation’. How surprising it is that in spite of such clear signs, man does not find God and continues to remain spiritually deprived.
وَجَعَلْنَا فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِهِمْ وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا فِجَاجًا سُبُلًا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ
📘 Here some prominent features of the earth have been mentioned which remind man of God in order to make him a grateful servant of God. One of these is the mountain ranges that have risen up on the surface of the earth in order to keep the dense matter beneath the seas well-balanced. Probably this refers to what is known as ‘isostasy’ in modern science. Similarly, it is also a sign of God that the earth is so made that man is able to make roadways sometimes on level plains, and sometimes as passages between mountains and rivers. The roof of the sky, which is our upper atmosphere, is composed in such a way as to prevent certain harmful rays of the sun from affecting us in the form of the ozone layer. The atmosphere also prevents the majority of the continuous shower of meteorites from reaching us. In the same way, there are signs in the moving of the sun and the moon in their orbits without clashing with each other, resulting in the regular occurrence of day and night on the earth. Innumerable such signs are found on the earth. If man examines them in depth, he will be overwhelmed by the realisation of God’s blessings and His powers. But he ignores them. Even after seeing clear events and signs, he continues to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them.
وَجَعَلْنَا السَّمَاءَ سَقْفًا مَحْفُوظًا ۖ وَهُمْ عَنْ آيَاتِهَا مُعْرِضُونَ
📘 Here some prominent features of the earth have been mentioned which remind man of God in order to make him a grateful servant of God. One of these is the mountain ranges that have risen up on the surface of the earth in order to keep the dense matter beneath the seas well-balanced. Probably this refers to what is known as ‘isostasy’ in modern science. Similarly, it is also a sign of God that the earth is so made that man is able to make roadways sometimes on level plains, and sometimes as passages between mountains and rivers. The roof of the sky, which is our upper atmosphere, is composed in such a way as to prevent certain harmful rays of the sun from affecting us in the form of the ozone layer. The atmosphere also prevents the majority of the continuous shower of meteorites from reaching us. In the same way, there are signs in the moving of the sun and the moon in their orbits without clashing with each other, resulting in the regular occurrence of day and night on the earth. Innumerable such signs are found on the earth. If man examines them in depth, he will be overwhelmed by the realisation of God’s blessings and His powers. But he ignores them. Even after seeing clear events and signs, he continues to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them.
وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ ۖ كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ
📘 Here some prominent features of the earth have been mentioned which remind man of God in order to make him a grateful servant of God. One of these is the mountain ranges that have risen up on the surface of the earth in order to keep the dense matter beneath the seas well-balanced. Probably this refers to what is known as ‘isostasy’ in modern science. Similarly, it is also a sign of God that the earth is so made that man is able to make roadways sometimes on level plains, and sometimes as passages between mountains and rivers. The roof of the sky, which is our upper atmosphere, is composed in such a way as to prevent certain harmful rays of the sun from affecting us in the form of the ozone layer. The atmosphere also prevents the majority of the continuous shower of meteorites from reaching us. In the same way, there are signs in the moving of the sun and the moon in their orbits without clashing with each other, resulting in the regular occurrence of day and night on the earth. Innumerable such signs are found on the earth. If man examines them in depth, he will be overwhelmed by the realisation of God’s blessings and His powers. But he ignores them. Even after seeing clear events and signs, he continues to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them.
وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ ۖ أَفَإِنْ مِتَّ فَهُمُ الْخَالِدُونَ
📘 Those who were opponents of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah were more affluent and powerful in terms of material resources. They enjoyed respect and positions of superiority in the society of those days. According to them, this difference meant that they were on the right path and the Prophet Muhammad on the wrong path. But an excess or paucity of worldly effects bears no relation to superiority or inferiority, being purely for the purpose of trial. It is a trial imposed at the behest of God. If, after acquiring worldly resources, a man thinks highly of himself, he is as if proving himself unworthy of this blessing. The result will be that after death, in the life hereafter, he will be totally deprived of his riches. The people of Makkah were engaged in strenuous efforts to defeat the Prophet Muhammad, to the extent that they wanted to eliminate him somehow in order to nip his mission in the bud. God says that those who conspired against the Prophet had forgotten the fact that those who dug a grave for others, have ultimately to enter the grave themselves. Then, after death, when they faced their Real Lord, what would they do?
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ۗ وَنَبْلُوكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً ۖ وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ
📘 Those who were opponents of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah were more affluent and powerful in terms of material resources. They enjoyed respect and positions of superiority in the society of those days. According to them, this difference meant that they were on the right path and the Prophet Muhammad on the wrong path. But an excess or paucity of worldly effects bears no relation to superiority or inferiority, being purely for the purpose of trial. It is a trial imposed at the behest of God. If, after acquiring worldly resources, a man thinks highly of himself, he is as if proving himself unworthy of this blessing. The result will be that after death, in the life hereafter, he will be totally deprived of his riches. The people of Makkah were engaged in strenuous efforts to defeat the Prophet Muhammad, to the extent that they wanted to eliminate him somehow in order to nip his mission in the bud. God says that those who conspired against the Prophet had forgotten the fact that those who dug a grave for others, have ultimately to enter the grave themselves. Then, after death, when they faced their Real Lord, what would they do?
وَإِذَا رَآكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ يَتَّخِذُونَكَ إِلَّا هُزُوًا أَهَٰذَا الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ آلِهَتَكُمْ وَهُمْ بِذِكْرِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ هُمْ كَافِرُونَ
📘 The gods of the Quraysh were, in reality, the great ones of the community. On the one hand, there was their imaginary greatness which was imbedded in their minds. On the other hand, there was the Prophet, whose image at that time was not more elevated than that of an ordinary man. In this comparison, the Prophet appeared, indeed, to be an ordinary man with no special merit. They used to ask contemptuously, ‘Is this the man who criticises our great men, who rejects the religion of these great men which we follow, and seeks to introduce a new religion?’ The Prophet Muhammad used to invite people to accept the oneness of God. But these people were not interested in God. All their interests were centred round their great men, whom they had elevated to the status of gods. As it was these false gods who were affected by the call of the Prophet, their devotees became his deadly opponents. They forgot that, by rejecting the false gods, he was presenting the cause of the real God and not promoting his own self.
خُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ مِنْ عَجَلٍ ۚ سَأُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِي فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُونِ
📘 The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.
وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَٰذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.
لَوْ يَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا حِينَ لَا يَكُفُّونَ عَنْ وُجُوهِهِمُ النَّارَ وَلَا عَنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.
قَالَ رَبِّي يَعْلَمُ الْقَوْلَ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
📘 Every man who is living in this world is nearer to death than life. In this respect he is virtually on the verge of coming face to face with his Day of Reckoning. But man is so reckless that he does not pay heed to any sort of reminder from God, whether given through a prophet or anyone else. He ignores the advice of the preacher of truth and dismisses it as something uttered by ‘a mere man’. When in Makkah the Prophet Muhammad started calling upon people to God by means of the Quran. The divine discourse enshrined therein moved people’s hearts. This became a serious matter for the Makkan leaders, because this jeopardized their leadership. The Quran urged people to accept the unity of God, whereas the great leaders of Makkah had maintained their supremacy on the basis of polytheism. In order to divert the attention of the people, they started spreading the notion that the effectiveness of the Prophet Muhammad’s message did not derive from its being the word of God; the force behind it was not that of Truth but of magic. It was all mere human rhetoric and was in no way to be considred a divine discourse. Albeit taking the name of God, those who indulged in such talk did not firmly believe that God was seeing and hearing them. Had they had real faith in God’s being all-knowing, that is, His being One who knows the unseen—they would never have uttered such insincere words.
بَلْ تَأْتِيهِمْ بَغْتَةً فَتَبْهَتُهُمْ فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ رَدَّهَا وَلَا هُمْ يُنْظَرُونَ
📘 The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.
وَلَقَدِ اسْتُهْزِئَ بِرُسُلٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ فَحَاقَ بِالَّذِينَ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ
📘 The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.
قُلْ مَنْ يَكْلَؤُكُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ مِنَ الرَّحْمَٰنِ ۗ بَلْ هُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ رَبِّهِمْ مُعْرِضُونَ
📘 God’s reckoning is not something which belongs to a distant future. It is latent in this very diurnal routine in which man feels so secure and protected. For instance, if the distance between the sun and the earth were to be reduced by half, our days would become so hot that we would be roasted as if by the flames of a fire. On the contrary, if the distance between the sun and the earth were doubled, our nights would become so cold that we would be frozen like ice. The Being who has established such a highly favourable system of the earth and the heavens deserves to have homage paid to Him, to be worshipped and offered total loyalty, instead of false gods who are not capable of giving people anything.
أَمْ لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ تَمْنَعُهُمْ مِنْ دُونِنَا ۚ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ مِنَّا يُصْحَبُونَ
📘 God’s reckoning is not something which belongs to a distant future. It is latent in this very diurnal routine in which man feels so secure and protected. For instance, if the distance between the sun and the earth were to be reduced by half, our days would become so hot that we would be roasted as if by the flames of a fire. On the contrary, if the distance between the sun and the earth were doubled, our nights would become so cold that we would be frozen like ice. The Being who has established such a highly favourable system of the earth and the heavens deserves to have homage paid to Him, to be worshipped and offered total loyalty, instead of false gods who are not capable of giving people anything.
بَلْ مَتَّعْنَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ وَآبَاءَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ طَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْعُمُرُ ۗ أَفَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّا نَأْتِي الْأَرْضَ نَنْقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَا ۚ أَفَهُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ
📘 In ancient times, the people of Makkah were considered leaders of the Arab world. This leadership was God’s gift to them, but it only gave rise to false pride and egoism. So, when the Truth was declared through the Prophet Muhammad, they refused to accept it on account of their egoistic mentality. Such was the position of Islam in Makkah. But, among the people of other places who did not suffer from similar psychological complications, the truth of Islam was spreading. In Makkah, Islam was rejected, but in other places, Islam was being adopted by the tribesmen. The large-scale adoption of Islam by the people of Madinah had finally made it clear that the sphere of leadership of the people in Makkah was continually contracting. But those who suffer from a superiority complex do not learn a lesson from any warning, however open that might be.
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أُنْذِرُكُمْ بِالْوَحْيِ ۚ وَلَا يَسْمَعُ الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا مَا يُنْذَرُونَ
📘 ‘I warn you only through the Revelation’ means warning people with the help of arguments. The giver of the call for the Truth always supports his statements with convincing arguments and people are required to recognise the truth solely on the basis of his reasoning. Those who are blind and deaf to arguments, are jerked into awareness only when God’s power reveals itself openly after their death. Every arrogant and vain person will thereupon admit the Truth. But the acceptance of Truth at that stage will be of no avail.
وَلَئِنْ مَسَّتْهُمْ نَفْحَةٌ مِنْ عَذَابِ رَبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ
📘 ‘I warn you only through the Revelation’ means warning people with the help of arguments. The giver of the call for the Truth always supports his statements with convincing arguments and people are required to recognise the truth solely on the basis of his reasoning. Those who are blind and deaf to arguments, are jerked into awareness only when God’s power reveals itself openly after their death. Every arrogant and vain person will thereupon admit the Truth. But the acceptance of Truth at that stage will be of no avail.
وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا ۖ وَإِنْ كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَاسِبِينَ
📘 In the present world, a ‘balance (or scale)’ is a device for finding out the weight of an object. Therefore, God has used this known term to explain the events on Judgement Day. Where the scales of the world weigh material things, on the Day of Judgement, the scales of God will weigh intangible facts and show their ‘weights.’ That is, the scales of the world can measure the material aspect of things but the divine scales will be able to measure the inner value of our deeds. In this world, a man obtains things by paying for them. One who pays less receives less and one who pays more receives more. The same will be the position on the Day of Judgement. Things of high value will be available only on payment of their price which will be in terms of good deeds. Just as things are not available gratis in this world, similarly things will be available on the Day of Judgement only on making a suitable payment: the Quran is a book which indicates what the cost will be. According to the Quranic criterion, a believer will have to develop a spiritual personality in this world itself. This is the price which he has to pay if he wants to find an entry into the ideal world of Paradise.
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ وَهَارُونَ الْفُرْقَانَ وَضِيَاءً وَذِكْرًا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 The criterion or discernment (al-furqan), light and reminder or remembrance (dhikr), which were given to Moses, were the same things which all the prophets received from God. Al-furqan means that ideological standard which enables a man to distinguish between Truth and falsehood. Light means divine guidance which pulls a man out of the darkness of the wrong path and puts him on to the straight path. Dhikr means remembrance, i.e. the highlighting of the latent educative aspect of things, so that they do not figure simply as things, but as treasure chests of knowledge for the recognition and realisation of God and His Divine guidance. In this way God has arranged for the guidance of man. But, it is possible for God’s Guide Book to provide guidance in the real sense only when a man is anxious about his fate in the Hereafter, and this anxiety makes him so serious that he attaches more importance to Truth and righteousness than to all other things.
الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَيْبِ وَهُمْ مِنَ السَّاعَةِ مُشْفِقُونَ
📘 The criterion or discernment (al-furqan), light and reminder or remembrance (dhikr), which were given to Moses, were the same things which all the prophets received from God. Al-furqan means that ideological standard which enables a man to distinguish between Truth and falsehood. Light means divine guidance which pulls a man out of the darkness of the wrong path and puts him on to the straight path. Dhikr means remembrance, i.e. the highlighting of the latent educative aspect of things, so that they do not figure simply as things, but as treasure chests of knowledge for the recognition and realisation of God and His Divine guidance. In this way God has arranged for the guidance of man. But, it is possible for God’s Guide Book to provide guidance in the real sense only when a man is anxious about his fate in the Hereafter, and this anxiety makes him so serious that he attaches more importance to Truth and righteousness than to all other things.
بَلْ قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِآيَةٍ كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الْأَوَّلُونَ
📘 The messenger of truth always presents the truth on the strength of sound arguments. When the Prophet’s opponents felt that they could not counter his arguments with their own arguments, they tried to dissuade the people from treading the path of truth by levelling different types of false allegations, such as saying that this (the divine discourse in the Quran) was mere poetry, that it was literary magic, that these were the senseless ramblings of a madman, that it was all self-devised, etc. Since the Prophet Muhammad did not perform any miracles before the people of Makkah, they cast aspersions on his prophethood by raising the issue of why he had not brought any miracle from God, like the other prophets in the past. Throughout the history of religion, experience has shown that those who do not accept the truth on the presentation of sound arguments, refuse to accept it even after seeing a miracle. Therefore, it is essential for the well wishing of the people that admonition on the strength of arguments be continued, instead of concluding the process of preaching by performing a miracle, because the rejection of a miracle invites the wrath of God. Consequently, the next stage can only be the destruction of the deniers.
وَهَٰذَا ذِكْرٌ مُبَارَكٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ ۚ أَفَأَنْتُمْ لَهُ مُنْكِرُونَ
📘 The criterion or discernment (al-furqan), light and reminder or remembrance (dhikr), which were given to Moses, were the same things which all the prophets received from God. Al-furqan means that ideological standard which enables a man to distinguish between Truth and falsehood. Light means divine guidance which pulls a man out of the darkness of the wrong path and puts him on to the straight path. Dhikr means remembrance, i.e. the highlighting of the latent educative aspect of things, so that they do not figure simply as things, but as treasure chests of knowledge for the recognition and realisation of God and His Divine guidance. In this way God has arranged for the guidance of man. But, it is possible for God’s Guide Book to provide guidance in the real sense only when a man is anxious about his fate in the Hereafter, and this anxiety makes him so serious that he attaches more importance to Truth and righteousness than to all other things.
۞ وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ رُشْدَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا بِهِ عَالِمِينَ
📘 It is God’s principle to give according to the capability of the receiver. Abraham passed through different trials and tests and proved his mettle: God accordingly gave him guidance and divine knowledge. This is how God deals with His subjects. Abraham was born in Iraq in the ancient city of Ur. At that time polytheism was all-pervasive. In spite of being brought up in this polytheistic atmosphere, Abraham was not influenced by it. He examined things rationally, rising completely above his immediate environment, he was able to discover the truth. He was living in a world where every worldly honour and progress were linked with polytheism. But he did not care for all this. Unmindful of all worldly considerations, he criticised the behaviour of his community and became ready to declare the Truth before it—these are the attributes which make an individual capable of receiving God’s guidance.
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا هَٰذِهِ التَّمَاثِيلُ الَّتِي أَنْتُمْ لَهَا عَاكِفُونَ
📘 It is God’s principle to give according to the capability of the receiver. Abraham passed through different trials and tests and proved his mettle: God accordingly gave him guidance and divine knowledge. This is how God deals with His subjects. Abraham was born in Iraq in the ancient city of Ur. At that time polytheism was all-pervasive. In spite of being brought up in this polytheistic atmosphere, Abraham was not influenced by it. He examined things rationally, rising completely above his immediate environment, he was able to discover the truth. He was living in a world where every worldly honour and progress were linked with polytheism. But he did not care for all this. Unmindful of all worldly considerations, he criticised the behaviour of his community and became ready to declare the Truth before it—these are the attributes which make an individual capable of receiving God’s guidance.
قَالُوا وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا لَهَا عَابِدِينَ
📘 It is God’s principle to give according to the capability of the receiver. Abraham passed through different trials and tests and proved his mettle: God accordingly gave him guidance and divine knowledge. This is how God deals with His subjects. Abraham was born in Iraq in the ancient city of Ur. At that time polytheism was all-pervasive. In spite of being brought up in this polytheistic atmosphere, Abraham was not influenced by it. He examined things rationally, rising completely above his immediate environment, he was able to discover the truth. He was living in a world where every worldly honour and progress were linked with polytheism. But he did not care for all this. Unmindful of all worldly considerations, he criticised the behaviour of his community and became ready to declare the Truth before it—these are the attributes which make an individual capable of receiving God’s guidance.
قَالَ لَقَدْ كُنْتُمْ أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
📘 It is God’s principle to give according to the capability of the receiver. Abraham passed through different trials and tests and proved his mettle: God accordingly gave him guidance and divine knowledge. This is how God deals with His subjects. Abraham was born in Iraq in the ancient city of Ur. At that time polytheism was all-pervasive. In spite of being brought up in this polytheistic atmosphere, Abraham was not influenced by it. He examined things rationally, rising completely above his immediate environment, he was able to discover the truth. He was living in a world where every worldly honour and progress were linked with polytheism. But he did not care for all this. Unmindful of all worldly considerations, he criticised the behaviour of his community and became ready to declare the Truth before it—these are the attributes which make an individual capable of receiving God’s guidance.
قَالُوا أَجِئْتَنَا بِالْحَقِّ أَمْ أَنْتَ مِنَ اللَّاعِبِينَ
📘 During Abraham’s period, people’s minds were in the grip of polytheistic ideas, so much so that in the beginning they took Abraham’s criticism to be frivolous. Therefore, they asked him whether his utterances had been well thought out, or whether he was mouthing words out of sheer frivolity. Abraham said that the fact that they considered matters of the greatest importance as frivolous was further proof of their ignorance. The truth is that the entire earth and the heavens bear testimony to the word of God. The next day, in an act of extraordinary courage, he broke down their deities. In this way, Abraham proved in practice what he had been saying in theory, namely, that the deities were absolutely worthless.
قَالَ بَلْ رَبُّكُمْ رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ الَّذِي فَطَرَهُنَّ وَأَنَا عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُمْ مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ
📘 During Abraham’s period, people’s minds were in the grip of polytheistic ideas, so much so that in the beginning they took Abraham’s criticism to be frivolous. Therefore, they asked him whether his utterances had been well thought out, or whether he was mouthing words out of sheer frivolity. Abraham said that the fact that they considered matters of the greatest importance as frivolous was further proof of their ignorance. The truth is that the entire earth and the heavens bear testimony to the word of God. The next day, in an act of extraordinary courage, he broke down their deities. In this way, Abraham proved in practice what he had been saying in theory, namely, that the deities were absolutely worthless.
وَتَاللَّهِ لَأَكِيدَنَّ أَصْنَامَكُمْ بَعْدَ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا مُدْبِرِينَ
📘 During Abraham’s period, people’s minds were in the grip of polytheistic ideas, so much so that in the beginning they took Abraham’s criticism to be frivolous. Therefore, they asked him whether his utterances had been well thought out, or whether he was mouthing words out of sheer frivolity. Abraham said that the fact that they considered matters of the greatest importance as frivolous was further proof of their ignorance. The truth is that the entire earth and the heavens bear testimony to the word of God. The next day, in an act of extraordinary courage, he broke down their deities. In this way, Abraham proved in practice what he had been saying in theory, namely, that the deities were absolutely worthless.
فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا إِلَّا كَبِيرًا لَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 During Abraham’s period, people’s minds were in the grip of polytheistic ideas, so much so that in the beginning they took Abraham’s criticism to be frivolous. Therefore, they asked him whether his utterances had been well thought out, or whether he was mouthing words out of sheer frivolity. Abraham said that the fact that they considered matters of the greatest importance as frivolous was further proof of their ignorance. The truth is that the entire earth and the heavens bear testimony to the word of God. The next day, in an act of extraordinary courage, he broke down their deities. In this way, Abraham proved in practice what he had been saying in theory, namely, that the deities were absolutely worthless.
قَالُوا مَنْ فَعَلَ هَٰذَا بِآلِهَتِنَا إِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.
مَا آمَنَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا ۖ أَفَهُمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 The messenger of truth always presents the truth on the strength of sound arguments. When the Prophet’s opponents felt that they could not counter his arguments with their own arguments, they tried to dissuade the people from treading the path of truth by levelling different types of false allegations, such as saying that this (the divine discourse in the Quran) was mere poetry, that it was literary magic, that these were the senseless ramblings of a madman, that it was all self-devised, etc. Since the Prophet Muhammad did not perform any miracles before the people of Makkah, they cast aspersions on his prophethood by raising the issue of why he had not brought any miracle from God, like the other prophets in the past. Throughout the history of religion, experience has shown that those who do not accept the truth on the presentation of sound arguments, refuse to accept it even after seeing a miracle. Therefore, it is essential for the well wishing of the people that admonition on the strength of arguments be continued, instead of concluding the process of preaching by performing a miracle, because the rejection of a miracle invites the wrath of God. Consequently, the next stage can only be the destruction of the deniers.
قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا فَتًى يَذْكُرُهُمْ يُقَالُ لَهُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ
📘 The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.
قَالُوا فَأْتُوا بِهِ عَلَىٰ أَعْيُنِ النَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْهَدُونَ
📘 The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.
قَالُوا أَأَنْتَ فَعَلْتَ هَٰذَا بِآلِهَتِنَا يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ
📘 The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.
قَالَ بَلْ فَعَلَهُ كَبِيرُهُمْ هَٰذَا فَاسْأَلُوهُمْ إِنْ كَانُوا يَنْطِقُونَ
📘 The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.
فَرَجَعُوا إِلَىٰ أَنْفُسِهِمْ فَقَالُوا إِنَّكُمْ أَنْتُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
📘 On hearing such replies from Abraham, the people could have accused him of insolence and taken him to task, as usually happens in such cases. But, in spite of their being polytheists, there seemed to be some sense of reason left in them. So, realizing the force of the rationality in his replies, they felt ashamed and admitted that they were wrong. Had they not subsequently fallen a prey to prejudices, this experience would have been sufficient to lead them towards the true faith.
ثُمَّ نُكِسُوا عَلَىٰ رُءُوسِهِمْ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ يَنْطِقُونَ
📘 On hearing such replies from Abraham, the people could have accused him of insolence and taken him to task, as usually happens in such cases. But, in spite of their being polytheists, there seemed to be some sense of reason left in them. So, realizing the force of the rationality in his replies, they felt ashamed and admitted that they were wrong. Had they not subsequently fallen a prey to prejudices, this experience would have been sufficient to lead them towards the true faith.
قَالَ أَفَتَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنْفَعُكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَضُرُّكُمْ
📘 On hearing such replies from Abraham, the people could have accused him of insolence and taken him to task, as usually happens in such cases. But, in spite of their being polytheists, there seemed to be some sense of reason left in them. So, realizing the force of the rationality in his replies, they felt ashamed and admitted that they were wrong. Had they not subsequently fallen a prey to prejudices, this experience would have been sufficient to lead them towards the true faith.
أُفٍّ لَكُمْ وَلِمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 On hearing such replies from Abraham, the people could have accused him of insolence and taken him to task, as usually happens in such cases. But, in spite of their being polytheists, there seemed to be some sense of reason left in them. So, realizing the force of the rationality in his replies, they felt ashamed and admitted that they were wrong. Had they not subsequently fallen a prey to prejudices, this experience would have been sufficient to lead them towards the true faith.
قَالُوا حَرِّقُوهُ وَانْصُرُوا آلِهَتَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ
📘 Those who enjoy power always resort to oppressive methods when they fail in the field of reasoned argument. This happened likewise in the case of the Prophet Abraham. After the incident of the demolition of the deities, when the leaders of the community felt that they could not counter Abraham’s arguments, they started persecuting him. Finally, one day, intoxicated with power, they threw him in a pit of fire. But, a prophet is God’s representative on earth. Therefore, on this exceptional basis, God grants extraordinary help to prophets. So, in this case also, at God’ behest, the fire cooled down for him. Help of this kind can be available to a non-prophet also, provided he completely identifies himself with God’s plan to the same extent as a prophet does.
قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ
📘 Those who enjoy power always resort to oppressive methods when they fail in the field of reasoned argument. This happened likewise in the case of the Prophet Abraham. After the incident of the demolition of the deities, when the leaders of the community felt that they could not counter Abraham’s arguments, they started persecuting him. Finally, one day, intoxicated with power, they threw him in a pit of fire. But, a prophet is God’s representative on earth. Therefore, on this exceptional basis, God grants extraordinary help to prophets. So, in this case also, at God’ behest, the fire cooled down for him. Help of this kind can be available to a non-prophet also, provided he completely identifies himself with God’s plan to the same extent as a prophet does.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ ۖ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Those who refused to accept the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad on the grounds that he was a human being like them, were told that if they were sincere and serious in their objection, they should not find it difficult to come to a correct understanding of the truth. The People of the Book, believers in past prophets, could be asked whether these prophets had been human beings or not. If they (the prophets of the past) were human beings, they had no reason to reject the present Prophet solely on the grounds that he was born of human parents, just like any ordinary human being. The history of former prophets reveals that the people’s acceptance or rejection of them was not an ordinary type of acceptance or rejection, in that it led to distinctly different results for the two groups. The acceptors enjoyed salvation, while the rejectors were destroyed. Therefore, this is a matter in which one has to be extremely sincere and serious.
وَأَرَادُوا بِهِ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْنَاهُمُ الْأَخْسَرِينَ
📘 Those who enjoy power always resort to oppressive methods when they fail in the field of reasoned argument. This happened likewise in the case of the Prophet Abraham. After the incident of the demolition of the deities, when the leaders of the community felt that they could not counter Abraham’s arguments, they started persecuting him. Finally, one day, intoxicated with power, they threw him in a pit of fire. But, a prophet is God’s representative on earth. Therefore, on this exceptional basis, God grants extraordinary help to prophets. So, in this case also, at God’ behest, the fire cooled down for him. Help of this kind can be available to a non-prophet also, provided he completely identifies himself with God’s plan to the same extent as a prophet does.
وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَلُوطًا إِلَى الْأَرْضِ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا لِلْعَالَمِينَ
📘 The Prophet Abraham was born in Iraq. When the people of his community and Iraq’s ruler, Nimrod, became his enemies, he left his native place after fully conveying the divine message to them. At God’s command he migrated to the lands of Syria and Palestine. Though his countrymen did not support him, God gave him sons and grandsons who followed in his footsteps. God accepted and appreciated his piety to the extent that He started a chain of prophets from amongst his descendants.
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ نَافِلَةً ۖ وَكُلًّا جَعَلْنَا صَالِحِينَ
📘 The Prophet Abraham was born in Iraq. When the people of his community and Iraq’s ruler, Nimrod, became his enemies, he left his native place after fully conveying the divine message to them. At God’s command he migrated to the lands of Syria and Palestine. Though his countrymen did not support him, God gave him sons and grandsons who followed in his footsteps. God accepted and appreciated his piety to the extent that He started a chain of prophets from amongst his descendants.
وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ الْخَيْرَاتِ وَإِقَامَ الصَّلَاةِ وَإِيتَاءَ الزَّكَاةِ ۖ وَكَانُوا لَنَا عَابِدِينَ
📘 The Prophet Abraham was born in Iraq. When the people of his community and Iraq’s ruler, Nimrod, became his enemies, he left his native place after fully conveying the divine message to them. At God’s command he migrated to the lands of Syria and Palestine. Though his countrymen did not support him, God gave him sons and grandsons who followed in his footsteps. God accepted and appreciated his piety to the extent that He started a chain of prophets from amongst his descendants.
وَلُوطًا آتَيْنَاهُ حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ تَعْمَلُ الْخَبَائِثَ ۗ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمَ سَوْءٍ فَاسِقِينَ
📘 Wisdom means realization of God (ma‘rifah) and knowledge (‘ilm) means divine revelation. All other prophets besides Lot also received these blessings. Now after the cessation of prophethood, the Quran is the sole purveyor of divine Revelation. As regards divine knowledge (hikmah or ma‘rifah), non-prophets also receive a share of it according to their merits. Those on whom God looks with kindness has God as their friend. He pulls them out of the environment of evil-doers and puts them in the environment of good people. He becomes their supporter at every turn of their lives. He bestows divine knowledge (hikmah) upon them, after which their whole life is bathed in God’s mercy.
وَأَدْخَلْنَاهُ فِي رَحْمَتِنَا ۖ إِنَّهُ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
📘 Wisdom means realization of God (ma‘rifah) and knowledge (‘ilm) means divine revelation. All other prophets besides Lot also received these blessings. Now after the cessation of prophethood, the Quran is the sole purveyor of divine Revelation. As regards divine knowledge (hikmah or ma‘rifah), non-prophets also receive a share of it according to their merits. Those on whom God looks with kindness has God as their friend. He pulls them out of the environment of evil-doers and puts them in the environment of good people. He becomes their supporter at every turn of their lives. He bestows divine knowledge (hikmah) upon them, after which their whole life is bathed in God’s mercy.
وَنُوحًا إِذْ نَادَىٰ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ فَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ مِنَ الْكَرْبِ الْعَظِيمِ
📘 The Prophet Noah performed his divine task of giving the call for the Truth among his community over an extremely long period, but except for a few individuals, nobody was reformed. At last, Noah prayed for the destruction of his community. Thereupon, such a disastrous flood set in that even the mountain tops could not provide the people with safe havens. Though this incident took place in relation to a prophet, there is solace in this for the common man also. It shows that those who make mischief in this world do not enjoy absolute freedom to do whatever they like, while one who espouses the cause of Truth is not all alone in this world. One who identifies himself with Truth, to the extent that he becomes the representative of Truth in the world, does not remain alone in this life, for God becomes his supporter; and who can overpower one who is supported by God?
وَنَصَرْنَاهُ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمَ سَوْءٍ فَأَغْرَقْنَاهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
📘 The Prophet Noah performed his divine task of giving the call for the Truth among his community over an extremely long period, but except for a few individuals, nobody was reformed. At last, Noah prayed for the destruction of his community. Thereupon, such a disastrous flood set in that even the mountain tops could not provide the people with safe havens. Though this incident took place in relation to a prophet, there is solace in this for the common man also. It shows that those who make mischief in this world do not enjoy absolute freedom to do whatever they like, while one who espouses the cause of Truth is not all alone in this world. One who identifies himself with Truth, to the extent that he becomes the representative of Truth in the world, does not remain alone in this life, for God becomes his supporter; and who can overpower one who is supported by God?
وَدَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ إِذْ يَحْكُمَانِ فِي الْحَرْثِ إِذْ نَفَشَتْ فِيهِ غَنَمُ الْقَوْمِ وَكُنَّا لِحُكْمِهِمْ شَاهِدِينَ
📘 In these verses two Israelite prophets have been mentioned—One David (Dawud) and the other, his son, Soloman (Sulayman). God had bestowed upon them the capability to settle human problems and take right decisions about them. The Prophet David used to offer prayers to God so eloquently that even the mountains and the birds would join in with him. Moreover, God also told him how to make use of iron. It was the prophets of God who taught man how to pray to his Lord and praise Him. But it appears from these verses that other important things also came to be properly known to man through the prophets: for instance, the principles of social justice and the use of minerals and metals. Indeed, primary knowledge of every important thing in relation to life was probably granted to man through their good graces alone.
فَفَهَّمْنَاهَا سُلَيْمَانَ ۚ وَكُلًّا آتَيْنَا حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا ۚ وَسَخَّرْنَا مَعَ دَاوُودَ الْجِبَالَ يُسَبِّحْنَ وَالطَّيْرَ ۚ وَكُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
📘 In these verses two Israelite prophets have been mentioned—One David (Dawud) and the other, his son, Soloman (Sulayman). God had bestowed upon them the capability to settle human problems and take right decisions about them. The Prophet David used to offer prayers to God so eloquently that even the mountains and the birds would join in with him. Moreover, God also told him how to make use of iron. It was the prophets of God who taught man how to pray to his Lord and praise Him. But it appears from these verses that other important things also came to be properly known to man through the prophets: for instance, the principles of social justice and the use of minerals and metals. Indeed, primary knowledge of every important thing in relation to life was probably granted to man through their good graces alone.
وَمَا جَعَلْنَاهُمْ جَسَدًا لَا يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا خَالِدِينَ
📘 Those who refused to accept the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad on the grounds that he was a human being like them, were told that if they were sincere and serious in their objection, they should not find it difficult to come to a correct understanding of the truth. The People of the Book, believers in past prophets, could be asked whether these prophets had been human beings or not. If they (the prophets of the past) were human beings, they had no reason to reject the present Prophet solely on the grounds that he was born of human parents, just like any ordinary human being. The history of former prophets reveals that the people’s acceptance or rejection of them was not an ordinary type of acceptance or rejection, in that it led to distinctly different results for the two groups. The acceptors enjoyed salvation, while the rejectors were destroyed. Therefore, this is a matter in which one has to be extremely sincere and serious.
وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ صَنْعَةَ لَبُوسٍ لَكُمْ لِتُحْصِنَكُمْ مِنْ بَأْسِكُمْ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ شَاكِرُونَ
📘 In these verses two Israelite prophets have been mentioned—One David (Dawud) and the other, his son, Soloman (Sulayman). God had bestowed upon them the capability to settle human problems and take right decisions about them. The Prophet David used to offer prayers to God so eloquently that even the mountains and the birds would join in with him. Moreover, God also told him how to make use of iron. It was the prophets of God who taught man how to pray to his Lord and praise Him. But it appears from these verses that other important things also came to be properly known to man through the prophets: for instance, the principles of social justice and the use of minerals and metals. Indeed, primary knowledge of every important thing in relation to life was probably granted to man through their good graces alone.
وَلِسُلَيْمَانَ الرِّيحَ عَاصِفَةً تَجْرِي بِأَمْرِهِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا ۚ وَكُنَّا بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَالِمِينَ
📘 Here the taming of the winds means making navigation on the seas a possibility, for in ancient times ocean travel was revolutionised when man invented ships with sails. The sails were in fact a means of harnessing the winds and performed the function of engines for the ships of those days. The invention of ships with sales made the oceans not only navigable, but also suitable for transporting heavy cargo. This gives an indication that man was taught the science of navigation on the seas through the prophets. Besides this, a group of jinn was made subservient to the Prophet Solomon (Sulayman). They used to execute for him large welfare projects which could not be done by ordinary men. In the modern machine age, such enormous tasks of human welfare are performed by machines. Before the machine age, in order to facilitate the performance of major projects, God had made the jinn subordinate to His prophets.
وَمِنَ الشَّيَاطِينِ مَنْ يَغُوصُونَ لَهُ وَيَعْمَلُونَ عَمَلًا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ وَكُنَّا لَهُمْ حَافِظِينَ
📘 Here the taming of the winds means making navigation on the seas a possibility, for in ancient times ocean travel was revolutionised when man invented ships with sails. The sails were in fact a means of harnessing the winds and performed the function of engines for the ships of those days. The invention of ships with sales made the oceans not only navigable, but also suitable for transporting heavy cargo. This gives an indication that man was taught the science of navigation on the seas through the prophets. Besides this, a group of jinn was made subservient to the Prophet Solomon (Sulayman). They used to execute for him large welfare projects which could not be done by ordinary men. In the modern machine age, such enormous tasks of human welfare are performed by machines. Before the machine age, in order to facilitate the performance of major projects, God had made the jinn subordinate to His prophets.
۞ وَأَيُّوبَ إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ وَأَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ
📘 God provides examples differing in kind and of the highest order through His prophets, the purpose being to give people a set of ideals. One of these examples is that of the Prophet Job (Ayyub). Job was an Israelite prophet probably some time in the ninth century B.C. According to the Bible, he was initially very rich. He was blessed with farms, cattle, houses, children, etc., to such an extent that it was said that nobody was his peer in the entire east. In spite of this, however, Job was a very grateful and faithful person. His life set an example of how a person may remain humble and modest, in spite of being blessed with great wealth and honour. But, Satan reversed the lesson to be learned from this situation. He managed to convince people that Job’s extraordinary reverence for God was on account of the extraordinary blessings that had been showered on him. If he were to be deprived of these blessings,—so Satan maintained—his entire gratefulness would vanish. God thereupon set another example through him. Job’s cattle died, his farms were destroyed, his children died and even his body was afflicted with a disease. All his friends and relatives left him, except his wife who remained with him. But Job reconciled himself with God’s decision. He exercised the utmost patience. In the words of the Bible: ‘Then Job, tore his robe and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said:Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrongdoing.’ (Job, 1:20-22). When Job showed so much patience and gratefulness, not only was a befitting reward set apart for him in the Hereafter, but his circumstances in the world were also changed. ‘Then God gave him double of what he had before.’ (Job:42:12). This very incident is thus figuratively described in the Prophet Muhammad’s saying: ‘When God changed the days of Job again, He sent a shower of golden grass-hoppers on him.’
فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِ مِنْ ضُرٍّ ۖ وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَهْلَهُ وَمِثْلَهُمْ مَعَهُمْ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِنْدِنَا وَذِكْرَىٰ لِلْعَابِدِينَ
📘 God provides examples differing in kind and of the highest order through His prophets, the purpose being to give people a set of ideals. One of these examples is that of the Prophet Job (Ayyub). Job was an Israelite prophet probably some time in the ninth century B.C. According to the Bible, he was initially very rich. He was blessed with farms, cattle, houses, children, etc., to such an extent that it was said that nobody was his peer in the entire east. In spite of this, however, Job was a very grateful and faithful person. His life set an example of how a person may remain humble and modest, in spite of being blessed with great wealth and honour. But, Satan reversed the lesson to be learned from this situation. He managed to convince people that Job’s extraordinary reverence for God was on account of the extraordinary blessings that had been showered on him. If he were to be deprived of these blessings,—so Satan maintained—his entire gratefulness would vanish. God thereupon set another example through him. Job’s cattle died, his farms were destroyed, his children died and even his body was afflicted with a disease. All his friends and relatives left him, except his wife who remained with him. But Job reconciled himself with God’s decision. He exercised the utmost patience. In the words of the Bible: ‘Then Job, tore his robe and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said:Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrongdoing.’ (Job, 1:20-22). When Job showed so much patience and gratefulness, not only was a befitting reward set apart for him in the Hereafter, but his circumstances in the world were also changed. ‘Then God gave him double of what he had before.’ (Job:42:12). This very incident is thus figuratively described in the Prophet Muhammad’s saying: ‘When God changed the days of Job again, He sent a shower of golden grass-hoppers on him.’
وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِدْرِيسَ وَذَا الْكِفْلِ ۖ كُلٌّ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ
📘 Ishmael (Isma‘il) was the Prophet Abraham’s son. Some commentators (of the Quran) have held that Idris is the prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Enoch. Similarly, Dhul Kifl is perhaps that prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Hizti-El. The prophets are refered to as patience personified. The reason for this is that the root of all God-worshipping actions is patience. Patience means abstaining from reaction. A person who is unable to refrain from reaction can never maintain himself on the path of the God-favoured life in this world of trial. The fact is that patience is the door leading to all God’s mercies, in this world as well as in the life after death.
وَأَدْخَلْنَاهُمْ فِي رَحْمَتِنَا ۖ إِنَّهُمْ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
📘 Ishmael (Isma‘il) was the Prophet Abraham’s son. Some commentators (of the Quran) have held that Idris is the prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Enoch. Similarly, Dhul Kifl is perhaps that prophet who has been mentioned in the Bible by the name of Hizti-El. The prophets are refered to as patience personified. The reason for this is that the root of all God-worshipping actions is patience. Patience means abstaining from reaction. A person who is unable to refrain from reaction can never maintain himself on the path of the God-favoured life in this world of trial. The fact is that patience is the door leading to all God’s mercies, in this world as well as in the life after death.
وَذَا النُّونِ إِذْ ذَهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ نَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَىٰ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Jonah (Yunus) was sent as a prophet to Nineveh, an ancient city of Iraq. At that time, Nineveh’s population was just over one hundred thousand. For a long time, he invited the community to accept the unity of God and the Hereafter, but they were not ready to do so. Now, if any community remains adamant about their denial of a prophet, even after having had the divine message conveyed to them to the fullest possible extent, then God’s way is to ask the prophet to leave the town and thereafter the community is subjected to punishment (in the shape of some disaster). But Jonah himself felt that the time had come for him to go, and he went away, leaving his community without waiting for God’s command to do so. He left the city and, reaching the sea coast, he boarded a boat. After setting sail, the boat started sinking. People thought that some slave who had fled from his master was on the boat. According to an old tradition, the solution to this problem was to discover the slave and cast him out. When lots were drawn, the name of Jonah came up and he was thrown overboard. At that moment a big fish (probably a sperm whale) appeared and swallowed him. The fish kept him in its stomach, then at God’s command, ejected him and cast him up on the coast. There he recovered his health and returned to his community. A prophet had to face this fate simply because he left his dawah mission before its completion. Then one can imagine the fate of those successors of the prophet who have been neglectful and completely unmindful of the task of spreading God’s word.
فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْغَمِّ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُنْجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Jonah (Yunus) was sent as a prophet to Nineveh, an ancient city of Iraq. At that time, Nineveh’s population was just over one hundred thousand. For a long time, he invited the community to accept the unity of God and the Hereafter, but they were not ready to do so. Now, if any community remains adamant about their denial of a prophet, even after having had the divine message conveyed to them to the fullest possible extent, then God’s way is to ask the prophet to leave the town and thereafter the community is subjected to punishment (in the shape of some disaster). But Jonah himself felt that the time had come for him to go, and he went away, leaving his community without waiting for God’s command to do so. He left the city and, reaching the sea coast, he boarded a boat. After setting sail, the boat started sinking. People thought that some slave who had fled from his master was on the boat. According to an old tradition, the solution to this problem was to discover the slave and cast him out. When lots were drawn, the name of Jonah came up and he was thrown overboard. At that moment a big fish (probably a sperm whale) appeared and swallowed him. The fish kept him in its stomach, then at God’s command, ejected him and cast him up on the coast. There he recovered his health and returned to his community. A prophet had to face this fate simply because he left his dawah mission before its completion. Then one can imagine the fate of those successors of the prophet who have been neglectful and completely unmindful of the task of spreading God’s word.
وَزَكَرِيَّا إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُ رَبِّ لَا تَذَرْنِي فَرْدًا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْوَارِثِينَ
📘 Prophets are those on whom God has bestowed His special Grace. A most prominent personal characteristic of theirs is that their endeavours are directed not towards the attainment of worldly goals but towards the attainment of things that are valuable from the viewpoint of the Hereafter. They have discovered the Majesty of God to the extent that in their eyes He is everything and nothing else matters. In every circumstance they opt for the path of modesty and humility. These qualities were found in full measure in Zachariah (Zakariyya) and other prophets. On this account, God blessed them with His special grace. Common believers too will be entitled to God’s succour and His blessings, provided that they possess the aforesaid qualities.
ثُمَّ صَدَقْنَاهُمُ الْوَعْدَ فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُمْ وَمَنْ نَشَاءُ وَأَهْلَكْنَا الْمُسْرِفِينَ
📘 Those who refused to accept the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad on the grounds that he was a human being like them, were told that if they were sincere and serious in their objection, they should not find it difficult to come to a correct understanding of the truth. The People of the Book, believers in past prophets, could be asked whether these prophets had been human beings or not. If they (the prophets of the past) were human beings, they had no reason to reject the present Prophet solely on the grounds that he was born of human parents, just like any ordinary human being. The history of former prophets reveals that the people’s acceptance or rejection of them was not an ordinary type of acceptance or rejection, in that it led to distinctly different results for the two groups. The acceptors enjoyed salvation, while the rejectors were destroyed. Therefore, this is a matter in which one has to be extremely sincere and serious.
فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ يَحْيَىٰ وَأَصْلَحْنَا لَهُ زَوْجَهُ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا ۖ وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ
📘 Prophets are those on whom God has bestowed His special Grace. A most prominent personal characteristic of theirs is that their endeavours are directed not towards the attainment of worldly goals but towards the attainment of things that are valuable from the viewpoint of the Hereafter. They have discovered the Majesty of God to the extent that in their eyes He is everything and nothing else matters. In every circumstance they opt for the path of modesty and humility. These qualities were found in full measure in Zachariah (Zakariyya) and other prophets. On this account, God blessed them with His special grace. Common believers too will be entitled to God’s succour and His blessings, provided that they possess the aforesaid qualities.
وَالَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ رُوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَاهَا وَابْنَهَا آيَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ
📘 The special quality of Mary (Maryam) is said to be that she guarded her chastity. By way of a reward for this, she was made the mother of a prophet who was born by a direct miracle of God. This is true of common men and women also. Everybody is being tried in this world by being required to keep his urges and desires under control. The more an individual shows self-discipline on this score, the more he will share in God’s special blessings.
إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ
📘 God has sent all prophets with the same religion, namely, one according to which the one and only God should be one’s God and that He alone should be worshipped. Had people been steadfast in this original religion, all of them would have continued as one Community (ummah). But, people on their own started entering into disputes and thus concocted different versions of the same religion. Individuals exercised their ‘right’ to choose whatever religion best suited their interests. Thus one religion came to be divided into many religions. To God, faith and deeds have importance only when they signify true realization of Him and true obedience to Him. Anything other than these will not be appreciated by God, however much the individuals themselves may attach value to them.
وَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ كُلٌّ إِلَيْنَا رَاجِعُونَ
📘 God has sent all prophets with the same religion, namely, one according to which the one and only God should be one’s God and that He alone should be worshipped. Had people been steadfast in this original religion, all of them would have continued as one Community (ummah). But, people on their own started entering into disputes and thus concocted different versions of the same religion. Individuals exercised their ‘right’ to choose whatever religion best suited their interests. Thus one religion came to be divided into many religions. To God, faith and deeds have importance only when they signify true realization of Him and true obedience to Him. Anything other than these will not be appreciated by God, however much the individuals themselves may attach value to them.
فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِنَ الصَّالِحَاتِ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَا كُفْرَانَ لِسَعْيِهِ وَإِنَّا لَهُ كَاتِبُونَ
📘 God has sent all prophets with the same religion, namely, one according to which the one and only God should be one’s God and that He alone should be worshipped. Had people been steadfast in this original religion, all of them would have continued as one Community (ummah). But, people on their own started entering into disputes and thus concocted different versions of the same religion. Individuals exercised their ‘right’ to choose whatever religion best suited their interests. Thus one religion came to be divided into many religions. To God, faith and deeds have importance only when they signify true realization of Him and true obedience to Him. Anything other than these will not be appreciated by God, however much the individuals themselves may attach value to them.
وَحَرَامٌ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا أَنَّهُمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 When the Truth appears with clear arguments, a man is compelled to recognise it by the compulsion of his very nature. Now, those who accept the Truth after recognising it, remain in consonance with their nature. On the other hand, those who give importance to material things and, therefore, do not accept the Truth, are as if ignoring their nature—virtually casting a veil over it. Denial of Truth is always at the cost of shutting one’s senses. The fate of those who run this risk is that their entry into Islam becomes absolutely impossible: they are no longer receptive to the truth. Those who fail to recognise the Truth, though presented in rational arguments, will recognise it only when the Day of Judgement tears the veil away from their eyes. But, recognition at that stage will be of no avail, because it will be time not for acceptance itself, but for reaping the benefit of an earlier acceptance of the Truth.
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا فُتِحَتْ يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ
📘 When the Truth appears with clear arguments, a man is compelled to recognise it by the compulsion of his very nature. Now, those who accept the Truth after recognising it, remain in consonance with their nature. On the other hand, those who give importance to material things and, therefore, do not accept the Truth, are as if ignoring their nature—virtually casting a veil over it. Denial of Truth is always at the cost of shutting one’s senses. The fate of those who run this risk is that their entry into Islam becomes absolutely impossible: they are no longer receptive to the truth. Those who fail to recognise the Truth, though presented in rational arguments, will recognise it only when the Day of Judgement tears the veil away from their eyes. But, recognition at that stage will be of no avail, because it will be time not for acceptance itself, but for reaping the benefit of an earlier acceptance of the Truth.
وَاقْتَرَبَ الْوَعْدُ الْحَقُّ فَإِذَا هِيَ شَاخِصَةٌ أَبْصَارُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا قَدْ كُنَّا فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هَٰذَا بَلْ كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ
📘 When the Truth appears with clear arguments, a man is compelled to recognise it by the compulsion of his very nature. Now, those who accept the Truth after recognising it, remain in consonance with their nature. On the other hand, those who give importance to material things and, therefore, do not accept the Truth, are as if ignoring their nature—virtually casting a veil over it. Denial of Truth is always at the cost of shutting one’s senses. The fate of those who run this risk is that their entry into Islam becomes absolutely impossible: they are no longer receptive to the truth. Those who fail to recognise the Truth, though presented in rational arguments, will recognise it only when the Day of Judgement tears the veil away from their eyes. But, recognition at that stage will be of no avail, because it will be time not for acceptance itself, but for reaping the benefit of an earlier acceptance of the Truth.
إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنْتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
لَوْ كَانَ هَٰؤُلَاءِ آلِهَةً مَا وَرَدُوهَا ۖ وَكُلٌّ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari was a famous poet of ancient times. When this verse was revealed, he urged the people to ask the Prophet Muhammad if all those being worshipped other than God along with their worshippers would go to hell. He then pointed out that, in fact, they were worshipping angels, the Jews were worshipping the Prophet ‘Uzayr and the Christians were worshipping the Messiah. The polytheists were very anxious to understand this point and asked the Prophet Muhammad about it. He replied that the one who was being worshipped, and liked to be worshipped instead of God, would accompany the worshipper. On hearing this reply, ‘Abdullah ibn az-Zab‘ari did not enter into any further arguments but embraced Islam. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. III, p.
199
). This shows that this verse refers to a deity made of stone, etc., or one who himself liked to be worshipped. One who worshipped anybody other than God and one who was so worshipped and liked to be so worshipped, would both be cast into hell in order to teach the people a lesson. Doomsday will be a terrible day. But those who fear Doomsday before its arrival, will be safe from the terror of that day. They will be sent to a world full of heavenly pleasures.
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