قَدَرٍ

40:14.

Commentary:

This verse further explains the meaning of the previous verse. It purports to say that God possesses an unlimited stock of everything. But in His infinite mercy He directs the minds of men to a certain thing only when a real and genuine need for it arises. Then it happens that men begin to find access to the required thing and derive benefit from it. For example, there was a time when men did not know the various uses and properties of iron. When, however, the proper time arrived for all its manifold potentialities and uses to be known, they were discovered and these discoveries led to a great change in human affairs. Similar is the case of coal and of petroleum. These things opened up a great vista of progress for mankind. Again, discovery of electricity and the wonderful inventions that have come in its wake have revolutionized human life. Thus the universe has been unfolding its secrets from age to age. The verse under comment purports to say that, like the material universe, the Quran is a spiritual universe in which lie hidden treasures of spiritual knowledge which are revealed to man according to the needs of the time. It is not like other books that it should have served its purpose and then become a dead thing. On the contrary, like the physical universe, the Quran comprehends unlimited treasures of spiritual knowledge for all times. It is, therefore, impossible that it should be left without Divine protection until all the generations for whom its treasures are meant have received them. Other revealed Scriptures never laid any claim about the inexhaustibility of their treasures and therefore they did not enjoy eternal Divine protection.

The subject matter of the previous verse has been further developed in the verse under comment, viz. the protection and preservation of the Quran, but, in a different form. The present verse is intended to point to the provision for the removal of such doubts and misgivings as were to arise in future in the hearts of the people, including Muslims themselves.

28:12-13.

28:14.

26:15; 28:16, 34.

Important Words:

قدر (standard) is inf. noun from قدر (qadara). قدرت الشیء means, I measured the thing; computed or determined its quantity, measure, size, value, worth, bulk, proportion, extent, amount, limit or number. قدر (qadrun) or قدر (qadarun) is the quantity, quantum measure, magnitude, size, bulk, proportion and extent, of a thing. They say جاء علی قدر i.e. it came according to measure or as it may be said, he came up to the standard (Aqrab, Mufradat & Lane). See also 15:61.

Commentary:

In what a wonderful way did God fulfil the promise He made to Moses’ mother (when He commanded her to cast him into the river) that he would be restored to her (28:8)! God so managed the whole affair that the baby was soon again in the loving arms of his mother. It is in this way that God demonstrates not only His existence, but also His knowledge and shows His supreme control over all things and it is events like these that inspire a living faith in the hearts of God’s loving and sincere votaries. And it was that living faith which made Moses’ mother cast her baby into the river which was amply rewarded by Moses being restored to her very soon.

The words فتناک فتوناً (We tried thee with various trials) mean that Moses was made to pass through the crucible of trials and tribulations so that his mettle might be tested, and after passing out of these ordeals with flying colours he might be declared fit to be endowed with God’s great gifts and favours.

Midian or Madyan is the name of a town on the east side of the Gulf of ‘Akabah. The name is connected with that of the tribe of Midianites. In the 6th century Ya‘qubi speaks of its position in a district rich in springs, gardens and date-groves. Istakhri describes from his own observation the spring in the town from which Moses watered the flocks of Shu‘aib. It was then covered by a house which had been built over it. The town had then shown signs of gradual decay and decline. In the 12th century Idrisi says, "It is an unimportant little trading centre with scanty resources." In the 14th century Abul-Fida saw that it was in ruins. In recent times it has been visited by Ruppell, Burton and Musil. The extensive ruins which the Arabs call Maghair Shu‘aib after the cave-tombs lie about 16 miles east of the port of Makna, in the southern part of the valley of Al-Bad’ which is rich in streams and palms and other trees. According to Burton the whole district between 29° 28΄ and 27° 40΄ is called Ard Madyan (Enc. of Islam under "Madyan").

The town lay on the trade route from Medina to Syria and caravans going to Syria or Egypt passed through it.

The sojourn of Moses among the people of Midian fulfilled yet another divine plan. As he was destined to live with the Israelites in the deserts and forests of the valley of Sinai, he was made to become used to a hard life by living for several years in Midian.

15:23.

Commentary:

This verse gives the first illustration of how God supplies the physical and spiritual needs of man. All life, it says, depends on water which descends from heaven, in the form of rain, snow or hail. Similarly, spiritual water descends from heaven in the form of Divine revelation without which no spiritual life can exist. The verse purports to say that if men out of their perversity and ingratitude reject the Divine Message and the heavenly water which God has sent down, they will become deprived of it. The parallelism in the physical and spiritual life of man with which this Surah has opened, is further developed in the present and the next few verses.

The words, And surely it is We Who determine its taking away, refer to a well-known law of nature. The verse means to say that God sends down rain but rain-water does not stay in the earth permanently. It disappears by evaporation or flows into the sea through streams and rivers. The earth again becomes dry and then fresh rain is needed to make it fertile. The same is the case with Divine teaching. It powerfully influences the lives of men and brings about a great change in them for a certain period. Then it begins to be neglected, ignored and misinterpreted and so a fresh revelation is needed. This law of God came into operation with the life of man on this planet and it will remain in operation till the end of time.

The verse also embodies an implied reference to a prophecy of the Holy Prophet about his second advent in the person of the Promised Messiah and about the spread of irreligious and spiritual darkness in the centuries before the latter’s advent, when there was to remain nothing of Islam but its name and nothing of the Quran but its written words (Mishkat, Kitabul-‘Ilm) and belief would have gone up to the Pleiades (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir).

15:22.

Commentary:

As physical life depends on water that comes down as rain, so does spiritual life depend on the spiritual water of Divine revelation. The words, "even so will you be raised" signify that even as dry and parched earth blooms and blossoms into new life when rain falls on it, so will a morally and spiritually dead people receive new life through Divine revelation.

15:22; 25:3; 80:20.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that there is a determined measure for everything. It has an appointed time and place. It is when the cup of iniquities of disbelievers becomes full, that they are seized with Divine punishment. God alone knows when and how to punish the wicked people. For the pagan Quraish, the Day of Badr was the appointed hour of punishment.