Ruku 245 ع

16:126; 23:97; 41:35.

7:201; 12:101; 41:37.

Commentary:

In v. 16:126 which was actually revealed after the Surah under comment in order of revelation, we have, call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and reason with them in a way that is best. The order in which the three precepts to be followed in preaching have been mentioned in these words has been closely observed in the teaching given in the present Surah. This constitutes a strong argument in favour of the contention that the chapters and verses of the Quran have been arranged in an intelligent order and not placed haphazard. Verses 24-40 of the present Surah embody some of the excellent teachings of the Quran and end with the words, this is part of that wisdom which thy Lord has revealed to thee (v. 40). These words correspond to the first injunction contained in 16:126, viz. call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom. Verses 40-53 begin with the theme "set not up with Allah any other god" and proceed to give teachings concerning the Unity of God. This corresponds to the second precept contained in 16:126 and is expressed by the words "goodly exhortation." A discourse on the Unity of God makes a natural appeal to the sentiments of man. The third principle mentioned in 16:126 was, reason with them in a way that is best. This corresponds to the third injunction, beginning with the verse under comment, viz. say to My servants that they should speak that which is best.

The verse also contains the hint that if Muslims desire to hasten the day of the spiritual resurrection referred to in the previous verse when the whole of Arabia would become Muslim, they should adopt a manner of discourse best calculated to help disbelievers accept Islam.

2:285; 3:129; 5:41; 29:22.

6:108; 39:42; 42:7.

Commentary:

God alone knows the innermost secrets of man’s heart and therefore He has reserved for Himself the right to punish or reward man. This work has not been entrusted even to the Holy Prophet. God Himself will deal with men according to the state of their minds.

2:254; 27:16.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that not only does God know all those peoples to whom Messengers were sent at different times and how they received the Divine Message but He knows also all the Prophets whether dead (in the heavens) or living (in the earth). He is aware of their stations and grades as well. He knows also what kind of a Prophet is needed at a particular time. In this connection special mention has been made of the Prophet David in order to warn Muslims that, like the Israelites who were punished after him for their iniquities and transgressions, they will be punished if they behave like them.

Muslims, however, did not profit by this timely warning. The power of the Israelites was broken by Nebuchadnezzar and all their glory departed. Similarly, the great and glorious Muslim Empire of Baghdad was destroyed by Hulagu Khan and the Abbasid glory and pomp vanished, leaving the Muslim world in mourning.

22:74; 25:4; 34:23.

Commentary

In this verse idolaters are told that they can judge the truth or falsity of their faith from the prophecies that foretell their destruction and the eventual triumph of Islam. Let them pray to their gods to save them if they can from the threatened Divine punishment. Far from saving their votaries from Divine punishment, these gods do not possess the power even to postpone or defer it for a single day. While idolaters are admonished that idolatry is at the root of all their misfortunes Muslims are warned that idolatry will bring about their downfall also. It is worthy of note that one of the major causes of the decline, downfall and destruction of the Abbasid Empire of Baghdad was that Muslim nobles freely married Turkish and Iranian idolatrous women. This led to the growth and spread of idolatrous beliefs among Muslims. Ibn Muqanna‘ and Hasan bin Sabbah were the product of the idolatrous ideas and practices that were rampant in those days among Muslims.

Important Words:

ایھم (those of them who). ای is a noun used in five different senses. (1) It means, who? which? and what? They say ایھم اخوک i.e. who or which of them is thy brother? In the Quran we have فبای حدیث بعدہ یومنون i.e. And in what announcement after it will they believe? (2) It denotes a condition. They say ایھم یکرمنی اکرمه i.e. whichever of them treats me with honour, I will treat him with honour. (3) It is a conjunct noun; and is sometimes used in the manner of الذی and therefore requires a complement; as in the Quranic verse ثم لننزعن من کل شیعة ایھم اشد علی الرحمان عصیا i.e. Then We will assuredly draw forth from every sect those of them who are most exorbitantly rebellious against the Compassionate God (4) It denotes perfection or consummation and in this case it is an epithet applying to an indeterminate noun. They say زید رجل ای رجل i.e. Zaid is a man; what a man! (5) It is also a connective of the vocative یا with the noun signifying the person or persons called, when this noun has the article ال prefixed to it; and with a noun of indication, as ذا; and with a conjunct noun having ال prefixed to it, as الذی it is a noun formed for serving as such a connective; and has ھا affixed to it. They say یا ایھا الرجل i.e. O thou man or O thou, the man, or O thou who art the man (Lane).

Commentary:

This verse may be interpreted in two ways: (1) The pronoun اولئك (those) may be taken as referring to the Prophets mentioned in v. 56. In this case the verse would mean that those Prophets always invited people to the worship of the One God, sought His nearness and feared His punishment. (2) The pronoun اولئك may refer to the gods of the idolaters, the latter (idolaters) being taken as subject of the verb یدعون(they call on). In this case the verse would mean, those whom the idolaters call upon beside God themselves seek His nearness and pleasure and fear His punishment.

21:12; 22:46; 28:59.

Commentary:

In the previous verse it was stated that false deities could not save their devotees from Divine punishment. The present verse gives a specific illustration of this. It purports to say that the time was coming when idolatry would spread all over the world and in consequence thereof the whole of mankind would suffer for its sins and iniquities. At that time no human device and no seeking of help from false deities would save their devotees from Divine wrath. This subject has been dealt with at greater length in the next Surah.

The verse contains a warning for Muslims to beware of "the second great punishment" to which an allusion has already been made in v. 57. The words "before the Day of Resurrection" allude to a prophecy which was to be fulfilled in the latter days. From the Hadith it appears that this prophecy about "the second punishment" was to be fulfilled after the advent of the Promised Messiah, and we find that it is already being fulfilled.

17:95; 18:56.

Important Words:

ظلموا بھا (unjustly rejected it). The word ظلم means, (1) he did wrong; or acted wrongfully, unjustly or tyrannically, (2) he put a thing in a wrong place or in a place not its own. They say من اشبه اباہ فما ظلم i.e. whoso resembles his father, he has not put the likeness in a wrong place; (3) he made him suffer loss as in وما ظلمونا ولکن کانوا انفسھم یظلمون i.e. and they made not Us to suffer loss or detriment but it was themselves they made to suffer loss or detriment. ظلم الارض means, he dug the ground in what was not the place of digging. ظلمه also means, he imposed upon him a thing that was above his power or ability. The word is also used transitively by means of ب as in the Quranic words فظلموا بھا i.e. and they disbelieved in them (the Signs) or unjustly rejected them (Lane & Aqrab). See also 2:36, 52.

Commentary:

The verse beautifully states that heavenly signs will never cease to appear. It warns Muslims not to entertain such a foolish belief and proceeds to refute and demolish the only possible objection against the appearance of heavenly signs. The objection is: When the people to whom the signs were first shown did not profit by them, where was the warrant that their successors would do so? The arguments given in refutation of this objection are: (a) If the rejection of heavenly signs had been a reasonable ground, no Prophet after the very first Prophet—Adam––would have appeared. But this did not happen and fresh Prophets continued to appear in all ages and fresh signs continued to be shown at their hands, which showed that the rejection of signs never proved a barrier in the way of the appearance of new signs. (b) Prophets are sent in the world in order to warn wrongdoers of their transgressions and iniquities and of the impending Divine punishment in consequence of those iniquities. Any such punishment without a previous warning and without showing signs would be contrary to Divine mercy.

As an illustration of the claim that wrongdoers never go unpunished if they do not repent, special mention has been made of the tribe of Thamud because the Thamud were an Arab tribe and their history was a matter of common knowledge with pagan Arabs as well as with the Jews of Arabia.

17:2.

Important Words:

احاط بالناس (has encompassed the people). احاط is derived from حاط. They say احاط به العدو i.e. the enemy surrounded him. احیط بفلان means, such a one was destroyed or his destruction drew near. احاط به علما means, he had a comprehensive or complete knowledge thereof, or he attained the utmost knowledge thereof. The Quranic expression ان ربک احاط بالناسmeans, verily thy Lord hath men in His grasp or power or hath destroyed them (Lane & Aqrab).

الشجرة الملعونة (the cursed tree). شجرة is the noun infinitive from شجر. They say شجر الامر بینھم i.e. the affair was or became confused or complicated so as to be a subject of disagreement or difference between them. شجرہ means, he tied it. شجرةmeans, a tree; the stock or origin of a man. They say ھو من شجرة طیبة i.e. he is of good stock or origin (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the words, When We said to thee, is to the Vision mentioned under v. 2 of this Surah. In that Vision the Holy Prophet saw himself leading all other Prophets in Prayers. The Vision implied that at some future time, the followers of those Prophets would join the fold of Islam. This is what is meant by the words, Thy Lord has encompassed the people. This general spread of Islam would follow in the wake of the worldwide disasters of which mention has been made in v. 59. The object of these disasters was to open the way for the propagation of Islam, to induce all men to rally round its banner and to demonstrate the futility of the present materialistic Western civilization to stand in its way. Some of these disasters have already taken place and others are waiting to shake the present order of things to its foundation.

The signs of these impending disasters are already in evidence everywhere in the world. They will be followed by conditions favourable to the general and widespread acceptance and expansion of Islam.

Commentators of the Quran have greatly differed as to what the expression الشجرة الملعونة (the accursed tree) means. According to some of them it means شجرة خبیثة (evil tree) mentioned in 14:27. The word خبیث (evil) meaning a thing devoid of all good is synonymous with ملعون (accursed) which means, far removed from good. But the word شجرةas shown under Important Words, also means, a family. According to this meaning of the word the expression الشجرة الملعونةappears to apply more appropriately to a people—the Jewish people—who have been repeatedly mentioned in the Quran as having been cursed by God (5:14, 61, 65, 79). The curse of God has dogged the footsteps of these unfortunate people from the time of the Prophet David right down to the present time. This interpretation of the expression finds additional support from the fact that the present Surah particularly deals with the Israelites as its very name, BaniIsra’il, suggests. The fact that the verse begins with a mention of the Vision in which the Holy Prophet saw himself leading the Israelite Prophets in Prayers in Jerusalem, the Centre of the Jewish Faith, lends further support to the assumption that by الشجرة الملعونة (cursed tree) is meant the Jewish people.

The verse speaks both of "the vision" and the Jewish people (the accursed tree) to whom that Vision specially refers as "a trial for men". The Jews have, throughout the ages, proved a source of much misery and distress for mankind, particularly for Muslims, under whose benign rule they have enjoyed more freedom and security than under any other people. The two World Wars have been the result directly or indirectly of the plots and machinations of the Jews. They led an organized opposition to the German people in the First Great War and the Second Great War was also the result of their widespread and highly organized propaganda against Hitler. In the Russian Revolution which, too, forms a part of the Divine punishment (v. 59) the Jews took a prominent part and some of its foremost leaders are Jews by blood. The Jewish machinations have now extended to Palestine and have turned this "land of the Prophets" into a veritable hot-bed of intrigue, murder and arson. But all their intrigues and efforts to go back to, and take possession of, Palestine, will meet with only temporary success because this country has been divinely decreed to remain in Muslim hands.