تَعُدُّ

16:19.

Important Words:

لاتحصوھا (you will not be able to number them). تحصوا is derived from احصا which again is derived from حصا or حصی. They say حصی الرجل i.e. he cast a pebble or small stone at the man. احصا means, he numbered or counted it, or he collected it into an aggregate, or he reckoned or computed it; or he reached the last number of it by means of حصی (pebbles or small stones), because the Arabs used pebbles for counting; he registered or recorded its number; he comprehended it, or knew it altogether. احصی کل شیء بعلمه means, God has comprehended everything by His knowledge, nothing thereof escaping Him, small or great (Lane & Aqrab). The expression therefore signifies comprehending or, as it were, encircling a thing and knowing its full number. As against this تعدوا (you try to count) signifies simply counting a thing, whether you comprehend the whole number or not.

Commentary:

The words, you wanted of Him, refer to the demands of human nature which have all been freely met. God has made definite provision for the satisfaction of all the cravings and demands of human nature. For instance, if He has made eyes to see, He has provided for them light and beautiful sights; similarly, if He has made ears to hear, He has provided for them air and sweet, melodious voices.

The verb آتاکم (He gave you) may also be taken in the sense of "He will give you," for in Arabic the past tense is not unoften used for the future when it is meant to give the assurance that the promise made or thing stated is as good as fulfilled. In this sense the verse means to say that God would give Muslims all that they want—land, wealth and dominion, not to speak of spiritual favours. They will be given all sorts of facilities to propagate their Faith. Even the day and night, the sun and the moon (v. 34) will be made subservient to them. Then will God see whether they have made proper use of His favours and have glorified His name and preached His Message to the ends of the earth as they ought to do.

The verse does not mean that man cannot count all the favours of God, for this fact is too evident to need mention. What the verse refers to is the great favours which God was to bestow upon Muslims in future and which were to be too multifarious and multitudinous to be foreseen and counted now. All these favours were actually bestowed on Muslims. But, when they became (1) lax in Prayer and (2) lax in spending their wealth according to God’s commandment, the divine favours were withdrawn. The "good tree" (v. 25) has, however, again borne fruit through Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, and blessed are they who accept him, for theirs shall be the kingdom of Heaven and of earth.

14:35.

Commentary:

The present verse continues the theme of the previous one and points out that when physical blessings bestowed by God are so numerous as to be beyond the power of man to reckon, is it reasonable that He should not bestow upon man His spiritual blessings in the form of revealed guidance and, like false gods should behave as if He were deaf and dumb?

The verse ends with the mention of the Divine attributes of the Forgiving and Merciful. These two attributes could not function unless God had revealed His guidance to man. Forgiveness for the weak and reward to the virtuous were only possible when man had been given a teaching to follow.

26:205; 27:72; 29:54-55;37:177; 51:15.

Commentary:

The reference in this verse is to a mighty event in the history of Islam. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that the first three centuries of Islam would be its best period after which falsehood would spread and a period of darkness would come and this period of darkness would extend to over a thousand years (Tirmidhi). This period is likened to one day in the present verse and in 32:6. In this period of moral and spiritual decadence of Muslims a people having blue eyes were to arise who were to spread all over the earth and at whose hands Islam was destined to receive a serious setback (20:103-104). This period of political decadence of Islam and moral degeneration of Muslims in which they faced defeat and discomfiture at the hands of western Christian nations having blue eyes, began after the expiry of the third century of Hijrah and lasted up to the dawn of the 14th century when the Promised Messiah made his appearance. It is to these western people that the reference has been made in the words "And they ask thee to hasten on the punishment." In their conceit and arrogance born of material glory and political power, the western peoples came to labour under the misconception that their progress and glory would last forever. So they are depicted in the verse under comment as challenging the Holy Prophet to hasten on the punishment which he said would overtake them. To their implied taunt and gibe, the verse makes a reply that God had already made a promise that these western nations would be granted respite for one thousand years after which a terrible tribulation would overtake them and all their greatness and glory would become a thing of the past. Divine punishment would descend on their houses and the very soil on which they would be living would be rendered bleak and barren. They are warned that the punishment would be so severe, overwhelming and enveloping that one day of it would appear to them as a thousand years. See also 18:9 & 32:6.

Commentary:

As mentioned above the principal theme of the Surah under comment is the progressive expansion and eventual triumph of Islam. In the present verse, however, reference has been made to a very serious crisis that was destined to come over Islam in its chequered career. Islam was to pass through a period of sustained progress and prosperity during the first three centuries of its life. The Holy Prophet is reported to have pointedly alluded to this fact in a well-known saying, viz. خیر القرون قرنی ثم الذین یلونھم الخ i.e. the best century is the one in which I live, then the next century, then the century after that. Then there will spread falsehood at the hands of people who will take pride in their wealth and riches and will grow fat on the earnings of others (Tirmidhi & Bukhari, Kitabush-Shahadat). As foretold in this saying of the Prophet, Islam began to decline after the first three centuries of uninterrupted conquests and growing prosperity, till it suffered a very serious check in about 271 A.H. when its gradual decline set in. The process of decline and decay continued till it reached its nadir in the next one thousand years. It is to this period of a thousand years that reference has been made in the words, then shall it go up to Him in a day the duration of which is a thousand years. In another of his sayings the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that Faith will ascend to the Pleiades and a man of Persian descent, namely the Promised Messiah, will bring it back to the earth (Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir). With the appearance of the Promised Messiah in the 14th century A.H., the process of decay has been arrested and a renaissance of Islam has taken place. The indications are, and prophecies in Divine Scriptures and those in the Hadith lend support to the inference, that the present renaissance of Islam will extend over a much longer period and its spiritual conquests will not stop unless they have embraced in their orbit almost the entire globe.