كِتَابٌ

14:12; 40:79.

Commentary:

Disbelievers objected that the Holy Prophet had come without any worldly resources. The verse under comment replies to this objection by stating that earlier Prophets were also without any worldly resources. They, like him, had their physical needs and requirements. They, too, had wives and children whom they had to support and look after and had their duties to perform. Yet in spite of all the impediments and obstacles in their way and in spite of their physical needs and requirements and of the absence of material resources, they succeeded and triumphed. So shall the Holy Prophet.

The verse also makes it clear that signs of punishment are certainly shown to disbelievers but not at the time and in the form in which they demand them. The form and time of signs are determined by God alone, for they are shown only "by the command of Allah."

It may be asked here what, if God raised Messengers for the reformation of man, prevented Him from delegating to these Messengers the power of punishment, particularly when He knew that Signs would be demanded of them by their opponents and also when even earthly governments invest their officials with certain magisterial powers? Again, if God had invested His Prophets with the power to punish the people, it would have at least this advantage that the people would have feared and respected them and dared not oppose them. The Quran answers this question in the words, For every term there is a divine decree, which means that, as it is God Who determines the nature and form of each punishment and the time of its occurrence and He alone, being All-Knowing, knows in what form and at what time the sending down of a certain punishment will prove beneficial to the people, the power of punishing cannot be delegated to any other person. For if that delegation can at all be fair and useful, it must be accompanied by the delegation of many other divine powers, which is simply unthinkable. The infliction of punishment, therefore, could not be entrusted to the Prophets or to anybody else.

Commentary:

In this verse the word "town" stands for the people to whom a Prophet is sent. The town of the Holy Prophet is called ام القری (the mother of towns) in the Quran. When the mother is visited by Divine punishment, the other places which are, as it were, its children must also share its fate. This is why in the present age, which has witnessed the advent of Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, calamities and disasters of diverse kinds have visited the world, because like his Master, the Holy Prophet of Islam, he too was raised for the whole of mankind.

The term "known decree" here means the time appointed for the destruction of the opponents of a Prophet and predicted by him. To the opponents of a Prophet punishment comes only after it has been foretold by him.