فَعَلُ

7:202.

14:11; 39:54; 61:13.

Commentary:

This verse embodies a refutation of the Christian doctrine of Atonement. The words remember Allah, mean that righteous persons are at once reminded of Allah whenever they happen to commit a sin. As a matter of fact though even good men may occasionally fall into sin, their hearts are not dead and they are always ready to repent. So if they happen to commit a sin, it is due only to a temporary lapse, and not because they love to indulge in sin. Thus so long as a man "remembers God" immediately after he commits a sin and feels sincere remorse and compunction at his evil deed, there is always time for his repentance to be accepted. But when he goes of sinning until he loses all sense of sin and ceases to feel compunction and remorse at his evil deeds, he loses the power to repent and is doomed, unless God should work some special change in him.

The words, and who can forgive sins except Allah? have been introduced as a parenthetical clause to exhort sinners to repent. They are not made to repent through fear, but by being reminded of Divine forgiveness. When God is Gracious and Forgiving, why should not man repent?

The words, do not persist knowingly, imply that whenever good men happen to commit an error, they do not try to justify their conduct, but frankly admit their mistake and then reform themselves. The verse does not, however, mean that a man should confess his sins to others. What is meant is that one should confess one’s guilt to oneself, i.e. one should feel that one has been in the wrong and should not proceed to defend one’s conduct when someone else, or, for that matter, when one’s own conscience reproaches one for one’s misdeeds. Those truly righteous never try to deceive themselves.

4:78.

Commentary:

This verse refers to the hypocrites of Medina. The words اقتلوا انفسکم (kill your people) do not mean "kill yourselves" because suicide has been declared in Islam to be unlawful.

The expression انفسکم simply means "your people" (see note on 2:55). The Refugees had to leave their hearths and homes and had to kill their own disbelieving kith and kin in the war that had been forced upon them by the latter.

25:32.

Important Words:

زخرف (gilded). They say زخرف البیت i.e. he adorned, decorated or embellished the house. زخرف الکلام means, he arranged or put into a right state the speech or language; he embellished it with lies, etc. زخرف means, gold; any ornament or decoration or embellishment; also anything adorned, decorated or embellished; anything embellished with false colouring or with lies (Aqrab).

For غرورا (in order to deceive) see 4:121.

Commentary:

The words, men and jinn, which occur in many verses of the Quran do not refer to two different species of God’s creatures, but only to two classes of human beings, i.e. "men" denoting the masses or the common folk, and jinn standing for the big people who often remain aloof from the common people and do not mix with them, practically remaining concealed from public gaze. See also 6:101.

Those of the common people and the big people who lead the opposition to the Prophets of God have been styled Shayatin (evil ones), for an explanation of which see note on 2:15. This word shows that those who lead lives of sin before the advent of a Prophet generally increase in sinfulness as a punishment for their evil deeds, so that when a Prophet makes his appearance, they assume the role of arch-enemies to him and become leaders of opposition. It is a law of God, in both the physical and spiritual worlds, that the powers of man develop in the direction in which they are exercised. So, as such men employ their powers in the wrong way, the result is that at the advent of a Prophet they become still greater sinners and become leaders of men in opposing the truth. Again, in order to augment their mischief, these leaders suggest, as hinted in the words, gilded speech, such arguments to one another as appear to be sound and true but are really false and hollow, and their object in suggesting such things is to deceive the weak-minded.

5:64.

Commentary:

One of the great sins which drew the wrath of God upon the Jewish people was that they did not prohibit one another from the evil practices which were so rife among them. While some simply connived at these evil practices, others actually encouraged them. Unfortunately, Muslim scholars and priests of the present day are also guilty of this deadly sin. They will not preach against the evils to which the wealthier and the more powerful Muslims are addicted.

Commentary:

The "associate-gods" here referred to are divines, soothsayers and others. The "killing of children" happened in three ways: (1) some of the Arabs killed their female children and preserved the male ones; (2) some took the vow that if they had a certain number of children, whether male or female, one of them would be slaughtered in the name of God or in the name of one of their deities; and (3) sometimes they sacrificed their children to avert a calamity.

The word کثیر (many) in the expression, to many of the idolaters, shows that all Arabs did not indulge in this practice, nor even most of them, but only a considerable number. But, whatever the number, the practice provides one more instance of how men go astray when they begin to make laws for themselves with the sole aid of reason.

The particle ل (that) in لیـردوھم (that they may ruin them) is here used to express عاقبة (the result) and not the cause or motive. Thus, the sentence would mean that the result of the action of the associate-gods was that men who followed them were spiritually ruined. When a man goes so far as even to sacrifice his son in obedience to another person’s bidding, then he is entirely under the latter’s control, and is thus completely ruined in respect of religion.

16:91.

Commentary:

This verse, applied generally, gives an apposite description of those who follow Satan as stated in the preceding verse. It may also particularly apply to Christians who allege that Adam sinned and that it is from him that sin came as a heritage to his posterity who, therefore, cannot get rid of it. The Quran condemns this doctrine most forcibly; firstly because it is simply absurd and foolish, and secondly because the Quran exonerates Adam from the charge of having committed a sin.

By saying, Allah has enjoined it upon us, disbelievers mean that it is God Who has given them the power to commit sins or that He it is Who has created Satan that leads them astray. They thus seek to absolve themselves of the responsibility of their evil deeds. The latter part of the verse embodies an effective answer to this lame excuse. God never enjoins foul deeds, says the verse. As for Satan, the people do not understand the object of his creation. Satan is only a trial for men. He serves the purpose of a hurdle in a hurdle race. The hurdles are placed there not to block our progress but to make us vigilant and to cause us to increase our efforts. The careless and negligent person who stumbles over a hurdle and thus loses the race should blame himself and not the person who puts it in his way in order to try and prove his mettle.

18:50; 45:30.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that the former Scriptures contain a record of the treatment the disbelievers meted out to God’s Prophets and their followers and also of the sad end to which they came on account of their rejection of the Divine Message and their iniquities and evil deeds.

The verse may also signify that the smallest action of man, good or bad, produces its inevitable result, according to the law of cause and effect, and, its indelible impress is preserved in the atmosphere.