مَتَّعۡ

37:149.

Important Words:

یونس (Jonah), the name of a Prophet who lived in the 9th Century B. C., is supposed to be derived from انس. They say انس به i.e. he was or became sociable, amiable or friendly with him; he was or became cheerful, gay or gladdened by his presence or company (Lane). See also Commentary below.

Commentary:

For those who are accustomed to pondering over the deep meanings of the Quran, this verse possesses remarkable evidence of the greatness of God’s mercy. The almost pathetic words breathe a strong desire that the world should follow Divine guidance. The verse expresses the deepest regret at the disbelief of the people by asking why there had not been other people who, like the people of Jonah, should have believed in the truth and escaped Divine punishment. The case of the people of Jonah possesses a strong similarity with that of the people of the Holy Prophet. The people of Nineveh first bitterly opposed Jonah so much so that they were threatened with Divine punishment and Jonah prophesied their early destruction; but later they repented and were saved. In the same way, the people of Mecca opposed the Holy Prophet bitterly and persistently, but at the Fall of Mecca they submitted to him and were consequently saved from Divine punishment. Later, all of them believed in his mission and became the inheritors of Divine grace. In this way the Holy Prophet came to bear a great resemblance to the Prophet Jonah.

Jonah is a Prophet who has been mentioned in six different places in the Quran. In 37:140 he has been spoken of as a heavenly Messenger; in 6:87 and 4:164 he has been reckoned among the Prophets of God; in 21:88 and 68:49 he has been called ذوالنون and صاحب الحوت (i.e. "he of the fish" or "the man of the fish"), in allusion to the incident of the fish. Reference has also been made to him in the words of the Holy Prophet who is reported to have said on one occasion, "Do not declare me to be better than Jonah, son of Amittai" (Muslim). The saying does not mean that the Holy Prophet was not superior to the Prophet Jonah, for he uttered these words before he had been informed by God of his superior spiritual rank. Later on, however, he himself said انا سید ولد آدم i.e. "I am the chief of the children of Adam," meaning thereby that he was the best of all mankind and the Head of the human race (Tirmidhi, ch. on al-Manaqib).

The above saying of the Holy Prophet can also be explained in another way, which has a particular bearing on the verse under comment. The superiority referred to in this saying may not mean superiority in all respects but superiority in one respect only, viz. that all the people of Jonah finally believed in him––a distinction which till then was not shared by any other Prophet. Hence the Holy Prophet hesitated to ascribe unqualified superiority to himself over Jonah until he had seen the end of his people. But subsequent events conferred this distinction on him also, as, like the people of Jonah, all his people too finally believed in him.

In the Bible, Jonah is spoken of as an Israelite Prophet (2 Kings 14:25), who was bidden to go to Nineveh and "cry" against it. But fearing that the Ninevites may repent, he fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. The Quran differs from the Bible on these points. The Prophets of God are, according to the Quran, incapable of disobeying Him in the way in which Jonah is represented to have done in the Bible. They are held out, in the Quran, as models whose example other people should follow (4:65 & 6:91). Disobedience to God is therefore the last thing of which a Prophet is capable. Again, it appears from the Quran that Jonah was sent to his own people, i.e. to a people to whom he belonged. According to Jewish tradition, however, he was a Jew but was sent to the people of Nineveh, which was the capital of Ashur. So in the light of the Quranic version Jonah was either not an Israelite or he was sent not to Nineveh but to a section of his own people. Biblical scholars themselves are not agreed as to Jonah’s being an Israelite. In the two points on which the Quran differs from the Bible, reason favours the Quran.

20:132.

Important Words:

تمدن (stretch) is derived from مد which means, he strained, extended or stretched a thing. مدنظرہ الیه means, he stretched his eyes towards it (Aqrab).

ازواجا (some classes) is the plural of زوج which means, any sort of thing; sort or species i.e. class; one of a pair or couple of things; a thing having with it a thing of the same kind; a woman’s husband or a man’s wife (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words, Stretch not thine eyes towards that what We have bestowed on some classes of them, do not mean that the Holy Prophet is here bidden not to covet the worldly possession of disbelievers, for such an interpretation is not only inconsistent with his dignity and nobility of character but also is in conflict with the clauses that immediately follow, viz.and grieve not over them and lower thy wing of mercy for the believers. The real significance of these words is that the Holy Prophet has here been told not to grieve over the fact that disbelievers, instead of feeling grateful to God Who had bestowed riches and prosperity on them, had incurred His wrath on account of their wickedness and now all their glory and power was going to depart and they were about to be destroyed. In fact, it had very much grieved the Holy Prophetthat the disbelievers whom God had blessed with such prosperity were going to be destroyed for their disobedience. He had wished and prayed that they should have believed in him and thus have inherited the spiritual blessings promised to his followers. But instead of this they disobeyed God and defied His Prophet and therefore were going to be destroyed as God had informed the Holy Prophet in the words: and the hour is sure to come (v. 86). This naturally caused much grief to the Holy Prophet who has been here bidden not to grieve for the Meccans, for they had made themselves deserving of this fate, but to devote his merciful attention to the up-bringing of the small community of believers and to look after their moral and spiritual welfare. Incidentally, this injunction also implied a veiled hint about the impending migration of the Holy Prophet and his followers to Medina; for it was not possible to train and bring up the small band of believers as pioneers of the new world order so long as they were in Mecca, where they had no freedom of action. The verse also hints that the Holy Prophet desired to delay and postpone his departure from Mecca out of a heartfelt desire to save the disbelievers, if possible. He is bidden here to wait no longer and prepare for departure.

The words, Stretch not thine eyes towards what We have bestowed on some classes of them, do not refer even to the Companions of the Holy Prophet, as suggested by some commentators, who assert that these words depict the mental condition of some of the Muslims at the time when they saw the caravans of the two Jewish tribes of Banu Quraizah and Banu Nadir laden with jewels, scents, etc. The fact that the whole Surah has been admitted by the consensus of scholarly opinion to have been revealed at Mecca, where there were no Jews, knocks the bottom out of this baseless insinuation.

15:89; 26:206-208; 28:61-62.

Important Words:

زھرة (splendour) is noun-infinitive from زھر which means, it shone or glistened; it gave light or shone brightly; it was clear in colour; he was or became beautiful. زھرة الدنیا means, the beauty and splendour of the present world or life; the abundance of its goods or comforts; its goods, finery or beauty and splendour (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

All international jealousies and rivalries which result in wars and consequently in much human misery and bloodshed are the result, direct or indirect, of a mad hunger for material wealth and physical comforts. Muslims are warned not to cast covetous looks on the wealth and riches of other people and not to think that the acceptance of Islam by the wealthy people only will add to its glory and power and will accelerate its progress. On the contrary, material wealth will prove a source of great affliction and distress for nations hankering after it. In fact mad competition for the acquisition of wealth has brought all the misery to the world. Rivalries among western nations know no end and they have already caused two highly destructive wars and there is no knowing when humanity is to be thrown into the vortex of a third war, far more destructive than its two predecessors.

57:17.

13:42.

Commentary:

The verse gives the reason why disbelievers go astray and what leads them to forget and forsake the truth. It is this that when the time of the national prosperity of a people becomes prolonged, they come to labour under the misconception that their prosperity and progress will never see decline or decay and consequently they become arrogant and their hearts are hardened and they reject the message of their Prophet. Thus prolongation of the period of the prosperity of a people becomes the cause of their downfall. The verse warns disbelievers against wishful thinking and false complacency that their progress and prosperity will continue indefinitely and tells them not to shut their eyes to the patent fact that God is gradually but surely reducing and curtailing the land from all its sides i.e. Islam is making inroads into every home and all sections and strata of their society. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the learned and the illiterate are daily joining its fold. It asks: "Does not this fact alone constitute an irrefutable proof of the truth of Islam? And in view of the sure signs of their decline and fall do they still entertain the false hope that they will continue to enjoy peace, prosperity and progress and will be able to arrest or retard the progress of Islam?" See also 13:42.

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

10:99.

Commentary:

In the whole history of religion, no people are known to have benefited so much from the warning of impending Divine punishment as did the people of Jonah. When they were warned that they would be visited with punishment if they did not behave and believe in Jonah and did not mend their ways, they at once repented and believed in Jonah with the result that the threatened punishment was averted. This repentance of Jonah’s people, even though belated, so pleased God that they were not only forgiven but their case is held up in the Quran, as an example for disbelievers of all Prophets of God (10:99).

Commentary:

This verse further says that the plea of following ancestral beliefs on the part of disbelievers is only a pretext. The real reason for their rejecting the Holy Prophet is that they possess worldly wealth and material means which have made them proud and arrogant.