يُرَ

See under 2:87.

2:10.

9:54.

Important Words:

For the meaning of the word یخادعون and خادعھم see 2:10. The latter expression, though similar in root and construction, means "will punish them for their deception" and not "will deceive them". See also 2:16.

Commentary:

It is not the Holy Prophet but God Himself Whom in reality the hypocrites seek to deceive because the Prophet is only an agent of God and all plots hatched against him are really so many plots hatched to frustrate the purpose of God. Therefore, He Himself will punish them for their deceitful conduct.

Laziness and slowness are the characteristics of a hypocrite. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said, "The most burdensome of Prayers for the hypocrites are the late-evening and morning Prayers"; and "A hypocrite waits until the sun is about to set; then he gets up and hurriedly performs four Rak‘at of late-afternoon Prayer, and remembers God but little" (Muslim). It is only true faith and certainty that can engender in man the spirit of eagerness to live up to one’s conviction.

6:134; 7:157.

Commentary:

The verse answers an implied objection of the Jews, viz. if God had forbidden them certain extra things, why was not the prohibition continued in Islam? The verse answers this objection by saying that whereas the divine law of punishment demanded that Jews should be punished, the law of mercy demanded that Muslims should be shown mercy. It was unfair to continue a special prohibition that had been imposed by way of punishment under a new dispensation.

Important Words:

مردوا (persist) is from مرد (marada) which means, he exalted himself; he was insolent and audacious in pride and in acts of disobedience; he was excessively proud or disobedient or rebellious; he was refractory; or he outstripped others in pride or disobedience. They say مرد علی شیء i.e. he became accustomed or inured to a thing and persisted in it. The expression مردوا علی النفاق means, they have become accustomed or inured to hypocrisy and persist in it; or they have become insolent and audacious in hypocrisy. تمرد has about the same meaning. مرد(marida) with different vowel point at the central letter, means, it (a tree, etc.) was or became destitute of leaves (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the opening part of this verse is particularly to the five tribes of the desert living near Medina, viz. Juhainah, Muzainah, Ashja‘, Aslam and Ghifar (Ma‘ani, vol. iii. p. 361). After the death of the Holy Prophet, the hypocrites from among the neighbouring tribes gathered together and made a raid on Medina (Khaldun, ii. 66).

The word "twice" occurring in the sentence, We will punish them twice, does not refer to the form of punishment, but to the period thereof which is explained in 9:126 below, where the Quran says, do they not see that they are tried every year once or twice? Thus, the word "twice" occurring in the present verse signifies that the hypocrites would be punished in a period ranging from one to two years, i.e. if the punishment comes twice a year, they will have it in one year; if it comes once, they will have it in two years.

2:215.

Important Words:

کذبوا (they had been told a lie) is the passive plural from کذب (kadhaba) which means, he lied; or he uttered a falsehood; or he said what was untrue whether intentionally or unintentionally; he found his hopes to be false or vain. کذبه الحدیث means, he gave him a false account of the thing and said what was untrue. They say کذب الرأی i.e. he imagined the thing contrary to its real state. An Arab would say کذبتك عینك i.e. thine eye showed thee that which had no reality i.e. thou wast deceived in the vision. They say کذبته نفسه i.e. his soul made him desire things and conceive hopes that did not come to pass. کذب الرجل(kudhiba) means, the man was told a lie or a falsehood or an untruth (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Like the preceding verse, the verse under comment speaks of both the Prophets and their opponents. The first sentence speaks of the Prophets of God, and the second of their enemies. The verse purports to say that the enemies of Prophets so continue to increase in wickedness and opposition to them that a stage is reached when the Prophets begin to think that those who were destined to believe had already believed and they despair of the rest. Their opponents, on the other hand, owing to the delay in the coming of Divine punishment, begin to feel secure in the thought that they will never be visited with any punishment and that the prophecies of the Prophets about their own final success and about the discomfiture of their enemies were so many pieces of falsehood. When matters come to such a pass, God’s help comes to the Prophets and the leaders of disbelief are destroyed.

This is exactly what happens at the advent of every Prophet. The hour of final reckoning is delayed so long that disbelievers begin to have a false sense of security. Then God comes to the succour of His Prophets and makes their cause prevail.

The words, when the Messengers despaired, cannot be taken to mean that the Prophet despair of the help of God. This inference is obviously wrong and is belied by v. 88 of this very Surah wherein we have, none despairs of Allah’s mercy save the unbelieving people. As a matter of fact, Prophets never despair of God’s help. They only sometimes despair of their people believing in them, and this happens when the latter continue turning a deaf ear to their preaching.

Similarly, the words, they thought that they had been told a lie, do not mean that the Prophets thought so. The words only mean that their enemies thought so. The Prophets cannot entertain any doubt about the truth of their prophecies and of the promises of ultimate success made to them by God. Their faith in God is invincible; it stands on the firm rock of certitude. The pronoun "they" thus refers, not to the Prophets, but to their opponents mentioned in the previous verse. According to Arabic idiom it is allowable to use in the same sentence pronouns referring to different antecedents when the nouns to which they refer are clear from the context. But if the pronoun "they" be taken to refer to the Prophets, the sentence, they thought that they had been told a lie, would mean that wishful thinking and overconfidence in the help of God had made the Prophets interpret the Word of God containing promises of success in such a way as to believe in the very early triumph of their cause which, however, was not so ordained by God. Thus their own minds, as it were, lied to them or held out to them false hopes, by placing on the Word of God an interpretation which it did not bear.

The words, they thought that they had been told a lie, may also mean that the hopes that the Prophets had entertained about the repentance of their opponents turned out to be false. When at a certain stage the hostility of their opponents temporarily slackened, the Prophets began to entertain the hope that they would repent of their past misdeeds and would accept the truth, but that hope turned out to be a delusion. Taken in this sense, these words also serve as an explanation of the words "the Messengers despaired." See the different meanings of the word کذبوا under Important Words.

22:6.

Commentary:

In vv. 52-54, it was explained that the false gods of disbelievers were unable to devise a Law for the guidance of mankind, and in the immediately preceding verses it has been made clear that disbelievers too cannot make such a Law. The present verse, however, makes a more general statement and says that a perfect Law can only be framed by Him Who has full control over man’s birth, death and reasoning faculties, Who knows his needs and requirements and knows also how to satisfy them. God being Almighty and All-Knowing, all these things are subject to His control. He selects as His Messenger only him of whom He knows that his intellect would not suffer decline. History bears testimony to the fact that whereas there have been thousands of Prophets, there never was one whose reason or intellect ever declined or was impaired. This fact clearly shows that God Who had sent these Messengers had full control over their mental powers. Hence the Almighty and the All-Knowing God alone can send down revelation embodying principles and teaching which can lead man to the realization of the noble and grand purpose of his life.

Nations, like individuals, are subject to the law of decline and death. After attaining to the highest stages of knowledge they begin to show signs of senility and decay or relapse into ignorance. When one nation suffers intellectual or moral death, God makes another nation take its place and gives it a new Prophet and a new Law. The use of the Divine attributes of "All-Knowing" and "Powerful" at the end of the verse suggests that the function of giving true guidance properly belongs to Him Whose knowledge and powers never suffer decline or impairment.

7:166.

Commentary:

The words, then shall he be brought back to his Lord, indicate that Cyrus believed in life after death. He was a follower of Zoroaster and of all religions, second only to Islam, Zoroastrianism has laid the greatest stress on life after death. "There can be no doubt that Cyrus and his Persians, like Darius at a later period, were faithful believers in the pure doctrine of Zoroaster, and disdainfully regarded foreign cults" (Jew. Enc., vol. 4, p. 404).

13:9; 35:12; 41:48.

16:71; 36:69.

16:66; 27:61; 30:49-51; 35:28; 45:6.

Important Words:

تراب (dust) is derived from ترب which means, it became dusted or dusty; he had dust in his hand; he clove to dust or earth; he clove to the dust or earth by means of poverty. تراب means, dust, earth (Lane).

علقة (clotted blood) is derived from علق which has several meanings. علق به means, it stuck fast, clung or adhered to it; it was or became suspended by it; it concerned him or it. علقت المرأة means, the woman became pregnant. علق means, blood or intensely red blood or thick or clotted blood because of its clinging together. علقة signifies a portion of clotted blood or the seminal fluid when it becomes thick clotted blood after which it passes to another stage termed مضغة (Lane).

مضغة (lump of flesh) is derived from مضغ. They say مضغ الطعام i.e. he chewed the food. مضغة means, a piece or bit of flesh or a morsel of flesh; a foetus when it has become like a lump or flesh (Lane & Aqrab).

مخلقة (formed) is derived form خلق for which see 3:50. مضغة مخلقة signifies a foetus when it has become like a lump of flesh perfect or complete in make or of which the make has become apparent (Lane).

ھامدة (lifeless) is active participle in the feminine gender from ھمد which means, he or it died or perished. ھمدت الریح means, the wind became still. ھمدت الارض means, the land became lifeless, without herbage and without rain (Lane & Aqrab).

اھتزت (stirs) is derived from ھز. They say ھزہ i.e. he shook it. اھتز النبات means, the plant or herbage became tall. اھتزت الارضmeans, the land produced herbage or became in motion and produced plants or herbage (Lane & Aqrab). When Sa‘d, a very prominent companion of the Holy Prophet died, he is reported to have exclaimed, اھتز عرش الرحمان لموت سعد بن معاذ i.e. the Throne of the Gracious God shook on account of the death of Sa‘d bin Ma‘adh.

ربت (swells) is fromربا meaning, it increased or augmented; it became high. ربت الارض means, the earth became large and swelled (Lane). See also 2:266 & 3:131.

بھیج (beauteous) is derived from بھج (bahuja) i.e. he or it was or became beauteous or beautiful or goodly or beautiful and bright or splendid; or from بھج (bahija) which means, he was or became joyful, glad or happy. بھج به means, he rejoiced in it or at it. Or it may also be said to have been derived from بھج (bahaja). They say بھجه (bahaja) i.e. it made him joyful, glad or happy. بھیج means, beauteous or beautiful and bright or splendid, having a joyful, glad or happy appearance. بھجة means, beauty or goodliness of a thing or its beauty and brightness or splendour; joyfulness, gladness or happiness of appearance (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse proceeds to give arguments to show that life after death or the resurrection is an established fact. Man’s own creation and physical development is the first argument given in this verse to prove this theme. This creation is a process of evolution, a gradual unfolding, a development from one stage to another, from lifeless matter to a seed, then to a fertilized ovum, then to a foetus and then it culminates in the birth of a perfectly formed human being. But this process of evolution and growth does not stop with man’s birth. It continues. A child grows into a full grown man and then he passes on to old age and then to death which is the flight of the human soul from its physical habitat. This wonderful physical growth of man from a lifeless piece of matter to a fully developed human being constitutes an irrefutable proof that the Creator of man and the Author of all these stages of development possesses the power to give him a new life after he is dead.

The inference seems to be that just as the creation and development of man is a process of evolution and gradual growth, in the same way the progress of Islam will also be gradual and in stages.

After this argument in favour of life after death, another argument given in this verse is taken from nature. The verse says that the earth becomes barren, bleak or dead on account of a long period of drought. There is not a blade of grass to be seen on it. Then God sends down rain. The bleak and barren earth begins to vibrate with new life. This phenomenon also leads to the same conclusion that God Who has the power to make the dead and barren earth vibrate with new life has the power to bring man to life after his death. It also leads to the implied inference that by the advent of Islam, a spiritually dead Arabia will bloom and blossom into new life. See also 23:13-15.

71:24.

Commentary:

As disbelievers believed that there were many gods, and the Holy Prophet proclaimed the Unity of God, they would say that somehow he had rolled all the gods into one.

The words "This is a thing designed" put in the mouths of the leaders of disbelief signify that according to them the Holy Prophet had his own ulterior motives to serve in preaching the message of the Unity of God. Or the words may mean that when invited by the Holy Prophet to give up idolatry, the leaders of the Quraish said to one another that they should stick to their own gods and that was a most desirable thing for them to do.

13:9; 35:12.

18:53; 28:63.

Commentary:

The "Hour" signifying the hour of the disbelievers’ doom, the verse means to say that God alone knows how the seed that the Holy Prophet has sown in the soil of Arabia would grow, and what kinds of fruit it would bear. If the fruits were rotten they would be destroyed but if they were wholesome and delicious they would be preserved with care, i.e. God alone knows whether the future Arab generations would accept or reject Islam, because on their attitude towards the new Faith would depend their salvation or destruction. The verse also seems to imply a prophecy that idolatry would completely disappear from Arabia and the future generations of the disbelieving Quraish would accept Islam.