Chapter 11, Verse 113

42:16.

Commentary:

This verse shows that mere outward observance of the commandments of God is not productive of good results; it must be in full accord with Divine will. The offering of the prescribed Prayers and the observance of Fasts, for instance, are not the object of religion. The real object of religion is that man should live in accordance with God’s will. Unless this is done and all actions of man are actuated by a desire to please God, he cannot hope to win His favour.

The verse also shows that it was not the Holy Prophet only who was required to mould his own life in harmony with Divine will. It was also his duty to see that all those who believed in him followed his example. This dual responsibility equally lay on his Successors, even on all the Faithful who are not only themselves required to act upon Divine commandments but are expected to make others attain a high standard of spiritual progress.

The magnitude and heaviness of this responsibility is self-evident. It is tremendous both as regards its depth and vastness. It is no easy task to observe faithfully all the commandments of God and at the same time to make one’s companions do the same. But the importance of this injunction becomes all the more augmented when the fact is taken into consideration that the commandments are to be acted upon in the way in which God requires, as hinted at in the words, as thou hast been commanded.

Another inference which can be drawn from this verse is that the Faithful are to take the Holy Prophet as their model and to follow his example. The words, So stand thou upright as thou hast been commanded, and also those who have turned to God with thee, mean that the Faithful are to act uprightly in the same way as the Holy Prophet is commanded to do. The high moral standard to which believers are required to rise is thus the one set up for the Holy Prophet himself. It is clear that the verse does not say that believers are to be upright in the way in which they themselves are commanded but that they have to act uprightly in the way in which the Prophet is commanded. This definitely shows that believers are to take the Holy Prophet as their exemplar and have to try to come up to his standard.

The far-reaching effect which this verse had on the Holy Prophet himself is clear from his own words. He is reported to have said: "The Surah Hud and its sister-Surahs have rendered me aged before my time" (Manthur). Abu ‘Ali Sirri is reported to have said that he once saw the Prophet in a dream and asked him whether he had really said that the SurahHud had made him old? The Holy Prophet replied in the affirmative, upon which Abu ‘Ali further asked whether it was the stories of the Prophets and the destruction of their peoples that had aged him. The Holy Prophet said: "No, but the words, So stand thou upright as thou hast been commanded, have done it" (Baihaqi). The reason why this verse weighed so heavily on the Holy Prophet’s mind was that it was not only his immediate followers but the generations that were to come long afterwards whose spiritual progress he was made responsible for. It was the full realization of this grave responsibility that weighed heavily on him and rendered him old prematurely. But it appears that this high sense of responsibility so pleased God that He took upon Himself the fulfilment of this responsibility and promised the Prophet that He would continue to raise from among his followers men who, by following in his footsteps, would attain nearness to Him and would reform his people in his name.

The verse also points out how necessary it is that Muslims should become organized into a homogeneous and evenly advanced community. A Muslim can easily exhort his neighbours to virtue, but he cannot convey his exhortation to Muslims scattered all over the world. It is only through a perfect organization that this supreme and stupendous task can be accomplished. By helping to maintain such an organization, a Muslim becomes part of it and a sharer in the work carried on by it in any part of the world. The Ahmadiyya Movement is, by the grace of God, the living example of such an organization in the world today.

The injunction to see that our fellow-men should, like us, follow the right way also implies the need of the proper upbringing of our children as well as the care of future generations.

42:16.

The Holy Prophet alone was not required to mould his own life in accordance with Divine Will. He had to see that all those who believed in him also followed his example. It was the realization of this grave dual responsibility which weighed so heavily upon him as to have rendered him prematurely aged (Baihaqi).