أَصْحَٰبِ

5:20; 6:49; 17:106; 33:46.

Commentary:

As to the disbelievers’ demand for a Sign of punishment, the Quran says that punishment is bound to visit those who refuse to believe in the Holy Prophet, because, like all other Prophets, he was the bearer of glad tidings for believers, and a warner for his opponents. Every student of history knows how clearly this prophecy was fulfilled. The world witnessed the ruin of the Holy Prophet’s adversaries in a manner which has no parallel in history, although worldly conditions and circumstances were all in favour of the disbelievers and against the Holy Prophet.

The last-mentioned words of the verse, i.e. thou wilt not be questioned about the inmates of Hell, are a sort of consolation for the Holy Prophet who, owing to his great solicitude for the people who disbelieved in him, was ever anxious about their fate. Elsewhere the Quran says, It may be thou wilt grieve thyself to death, because they believe not (26:4).

Important Words:

ارید (I wish) is derived from راد i.e. he or it went to and fro; or he desired or sought (a thing). ارید means, he intended or willed or wished or desired or sought. But sometimes the word does not express an actual will or wish but simply a practical state or condition likely to develop in a certain manner. The Arabs say of a seriously sick person یرید ان یموت (lit. he wishes to die) meaning, he is about to die or his condition bespeaks of near­ness of death. The Quran says: یرید ان ینقض viz.the wall intended to fall down, i.e. it was about or ready to fall down (18:78) (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The verse does not mean, as some may be led to think, that Abel desired his brother, Cain, to be cast into Hell. What he meant by the word ارید (I wish), as explained under Important Words above, was simply that the natural and inevitable consequence of his own non-aggressive attitude would be that his brother would go to Hell. In fact, by using this expression, Abel desired to dissuade Cain from perpetration of the horrible crime of fratricide by picturing to him its awful consequences. He told his brother that, as for himself, he would rather die the death of one sinned against than raise his hand to kill him. The result of this would be that he (Cain) would take upon himself the burden of his (Abel’s) sin, (i.e.that of slaying him) as well as that of other sins of his own.

The expression may be explained in another way also. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that on the Day of Judgement the good deeds of transgressors would be transferred to the account of the persons whom they had wronged and if transgressors had no good deeds to their account, the sins of the persons transgressed against would be transferred to them and thus wrongdoers would bear not only their own sins but also those of the persons whom they had wronged (Muslim, ch. on Birr Was-Silah).

23:95.

Commentary:

The passive voice used in the words, when their eyes are turned, shows that the eyes of the men on the elevated places will be made to turn towards the inmates of Hell by some higher power, i.e. God, with some definite purpose which was to provide occasion for making certain announcements.

The last sentence of the verse spoken by the men on the elevated places, i.e. Our Lord, put us not with the unjust people, does not show that those, who will utter these words, will yet be in a state of uncertainty and that their case will not yet have been decided. They are mere words of piety or of God-fearingness that even a Prophet would utter when he sees an object of God’s punishment.

14:10; 50:13-15.

10:45; 29:41; 30:10.

Important Words:

المؤتفکات (cities which were over-thrown) is derived from افك. They say افکه i.e. he changed his or its manner of being or state; he turned him or it away or back. They say ائتفکت البلدة باھلھا i.e. the land or town was or became overturned or subverted with its inhabitants. مؤتفکات therefore means, ties overthrown or subverted. It also means, the winds that turn over the surface of the earth, or the winds that blow from different quarters, now from this and now from that (Lane).

Commentary:

This verse explains the words, those before you, occurring in the preceding verse. The reference in words, cities which were overthrown, is to the towns to which Prophet Lot was sent and which were turned upside down on account of their transgression and depravity. The catastrophe was caused by a violent earthquake. The overthrown habitation were according to the Bible, the two towns of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24 & 25). The site is believed to be that of the Dead Sea (Jew. Enc. under Sodom). The Quran speaks of the place as being situated on or near a "permanent way" (15:75-77).

2:169; 12:6; 18:51; 20:118.

11:10-11; 17:68; 30:34; 39:50.

17:109; 19:62; 73:19.

Important Words:

نتجاوز (We shall overlook) is derived from جاز.They say جاز المکان او جاوزہ i.e. he passed along the place and left it behind. جاوز الحدmeans, he exceeded the proper limit or became extravagant or exorbitant. تجاوز عن ذنبه means, he overlooked sin; he forgave him. (Lane).

Important Words:

ذنوب (lot) is derived from ذنب. They say ذنبه i.e. he followed his tail, not quitting his track. ذنوب means; a great bucket; a bucket full of water or nearly full of water (an empty bucket is called دلو); fate, lot, share or portion; requital. The word also signifies a day of prolonged evil (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse warns disbelievers that if they persisted in their evil course, they will meet with a fate similar to that of the opponents of former Prophets. Like them they will come to a sad end.

Commentary:

This verse refers to Abraha, who marched on Mecca with a large army in 570 A.D., the year of the Holy Prophet’s birth, in order to destroy the Ka‘bah. The Holy Prophet’s birth taking place in the year of Abraha’s attack on the Ka‘bah and the utter destruction of his army implied a Divine hint that because the great Prophet for whose sake the Ka‘bah had been built and who was to preach the Last Heavenly Message from there was about to be born, it militated against God’s eternal plan that it should suffer destruction at the hands of an arch-infidel. Abraha had a number of elephants with him. They were destroyed by a plague or epidemic, of the nature of smallpox, and their rotting bodies were eaten up by swarms of birds. For a detailed account of this incident see Introduction.

The expression کیف فعل refers more to the dreadfulness of the scourge which destroyed Abraha’s army than to the manner of their destruction.