تَأْتِيَ

5:49; 6:150; 11:119; 13:32; 16:10.

Important Words:

نفقا (passage). نفق means, a hole or a passage bored into or through the earth and having an opening at the other end (Aqrab). See also 9:67.

سلما (ladder) is derived from سلم (sallama). They say سلمه i.e. he made him safe and secure. سلمه الیه means, he gave or delivered it to him. سلم (sullam) means, a ladder or series of stairs or steps meant for ascending. It is so called because it delivers one to the place to which one desires to go. The word also signifies a means to a thing (Lane).

Commentary:

The words, to seek a passage into the earth, signify using worldly means, i.e. preaching and propagating the truth in the earth in order to strengthen the faith; and the words, a ladder unto Heaven, imply using spiritual means, i.e. offering up prayers to God for the guidance of disbelievers, etc. Prayer is indeed the ladder by which a man can mount to Heaven.

The Holy Prophet has been told here that God is not going to compel men to embrace Islam; if he desires their wholesale conversion he should assiduously follow the two prescribed courses, one earthly and the other heavenly. He should, on the one hand, devote himself vigorously to preaching and propagating the truth; and, on the other, he should fervently pray to God that He may guide mankind and help the cause of Islam.

It goes without saying that the Holy Prophet acted upon both these methods to the fullest extent, as a result of which God helped the cause of Islam, so much so that within a small space of time the whole of Arabia was converted.

The word جاھل (one lacking knowledge) is here used only in the sense of one not knowing or unacquainted, and not in the stronger sense of ignorant. It has been also used in this sense in other verses of the Quran. For instance, we read in 2:274; "One who does not know them (the needy) thinks them to be free from want", i.e. those who are unacquainted with the real condition of the poor, think them to be well off. In the verse under comment, the Holy Prophet has been exhorted not to remain unacquainted with the law of God in this respect.

It should also be noted that it was not by way of rebuke, as some have thought, that the Holy Prophet was asked to seek a passage into the earth or a ladder into the sky. The words become meaningless, if taken in that light. What is meant is simply the suggestion of two ways of success which, when acted upon, proved wonderfully effective.

2:211; 16:34.

Commentary:

The "coming of angels" here refers to the punishment of the people through wars; for, in the Quran the coming of angels has been mentioned in connection with the battles that took place between Muslims and their enemies (3:125, 126 & 8:10).

The term "coming of the Lord" with regard to disbelievers has been used in the Quran to express death and destruction (2:211). The words thus refer to the punishment of death that was to overtake the enemies of Islam in other ways than by war. In fact, when an offender is spoken of as having been summoned before God, it is only for punishment.

The "coming of the Signs" refers to punishments such as famines, pestilences, etc.

Finally, the verse makes it clear that believing at the time when a man is visited by punishment can do him no good. The verse mentions two conditions under which faith is of no avail: firstly, the faith of the man who believes at the time when he is overtaken by punishment; secondly, the faith of the man who has earned no good by his faith, i.e. he whose faith is not accompanied by good works and righteous deeds. The verse does not mean that faith will benefit nobody when the signs of God come. What it means is that at the time when the sign of punishment comes, faith will not avail those for whom this punishment is meant.

10:14, 15.

Commentary:

It appears from the Bible that, like the followers of other Prophets of God, the followers of Moses were made to bear additional burdens of which they complained to Moses (Exod. 5:21). To that complaint a reference is made in this verse.

The word "land" mentioned in the verse refer not to Egypt but to the Holy Land which had been promised to the Israelites and which they inherited in accordance with the promise. The word may also mean "the earth" generally.

Though primarily the address in the words, that He may then see how you act, is to the Israelites of the time of Moses, the words possess a much wider application. They apply with equal force to succeeding generations as well.

It is noteworthy that similar words have been used with regard to Muslims also (10:15) and, like the Israelites, they have been told that God would make them successors in the land and would bestow upon them Khilafat and dominion, and then He would see whether they acted righteously in the earth. This resemblance also shows that Muslim dispensation is a counterpart of the Mosaic dispensation and that a time was to come when Muslims also were to become corrupt like the Jews. It is to this tragic fact that a reference has been made in the prayer, "Make us not of those upon whom Thy wrath has descended" (see note on 1:7).

10:51; 22:56; 43:67.

Important Words:

غاشیة (an overwhelming punishment) is derived from غشی. They say, غشیه i.e. it covered or concealed him; it overcame or overwhelmed him, etc. غاشیة means, a covering; a calamity or misfortune; a certain disease attacking the belly or the chest; a punishment that overwhelms and is general in its extent (Lane). See also 7:42.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that as disbelievers refuse to accept anything but a sign of punishment, they will indeed have a sign of punishment. But as is the way of God, they will have smaller punishments before they are visited with the final or decisive one. And so it happened in the case of the Meccan idolaters. After a series of small reverses, Mecca, which was in those days temporarily the citadel of disbelief and infidelity, fell to the victorious arms of the Muslims. This was the decisive and real sign for which they had clamoured.

2:211; 6:159; 7:54.

9:70; 16:119; 29:41; 30:10.

Commentary:

The expressions, "the coming of angels" and "the coming of God", when used with reference to disbelievers, always denote the coming of Divine punishment. By "the coming of angels" is meant the destruction of individual disbelievers, and by "the coming of God" their national ruin. The expression, the decree of thy Lord should come to pass, refers to the latter kind of punishment. See also 2:211.

17:95.

Commentary:

The Quran has explained all matters that concern man’s belief and conduct so completely and comprehensively that no room is left to an honest person but to accept truth and obey the Divine Call. But so perverse and wayward are disbelievers that they refuse to see reason and accept truth. Their obstinacy and hardness of heart seems to show that they will not be satisfied with anything but Divine punishment.

By the words سنة الاولین is meant the last and final Divine punishment which completely destroys disbelievers, while the expression اویاتیھم العذاب قبلا refers to intermediate punishments which come only to warn disbelievers and rouse them from their state of indifference and lethargy. The verse means to say that people to whom reference has been made in the foregoing verses will have both kinds of punishment.

11:18.

Important Words:

عقیم (destructive) is derived from عقم. They say عقمت المرأة i.e. the woman was or became barren. امرأة عقیم means, a barren woman, a woman that does not conceive or give birth to a child. یوم عقیم means, a severe fighting. یوم عقیم means, a day having no day after it; a destructive day, a day of hard fighting, so called because many women having lost their sons in the fighting become عقیم (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

"Hour" in the verse signifies the final triumph of Islam. It may also refer to the Fall of Mecca, when the power of the disbelieving Quraish was finally broken. The fall took place quite suddenly. The Quraish had not had the least inkling of the approach of Muslim army till it reached the very gates of Mecca.

The words, "the punishment of a destructive day," may refer to any form of punishment, preferably to the day of the Battle of Badr.

This and the following two verses imply a prophecy about the ultimate triumph of Islam, and the defeat and discomfiture of disbelievers.

10:62.

Commentary:

The reference in the word "Hour" is to the hour of the triumph of Islam and the defeat and discomfiture of disbelief.

The subject of the preceding verse is further elaborated and developed in the present one, viz. that no action good or bad goes unrewarded. The disbelievers are thus warned that their opposition to Islam and their persecution of Muslims will not go unpunished.

10:51; 12:108; 22:56; 47:19.

Commentary:

The verse refers to the original theme of the Surah and means to say that disbelievers, by rejecting the Holy Prophet, are inviting the hour of punishment to come suddenly upon them.

22:56; 43:67.

Important Words:

أشراط (signs) is the plural of شرط. They say شرط علیه بکذا i.e. he imposed upon him such a condition. أشرط نفسه لکذا means, he marked himself for such an affair. شرط means, a sign, token or mark. أشراط الناس means, the best or meanest of men (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Disbelievers are so obstinate in rejecting the Divine Message that they would not listen to any argument but would continue to insist that the threatened punishment should come soon. But, the verse purports to say, the signs of their destruction have already appeared if they but read them. When, however, punishment would actually arrive, their repentance would be of no avail. Why don’t they then take heed before it is too late? The reference in the word أشراط(signs) seems to be to the Holy Prophet’s flight from Mecca which proved to be the prelude to the appearance of many signs.