کَفَرۡ

10:27, 28; 39:61; 80:39-43.

Important Words:

تبیض (shall be white) is derived from باض. They say باض فلانا i.e. he exceeded him in whiteness. ابیض means, he or it turned white. بیاض signifies whiteness, and ابیض means white (Aqrab). The expression ابیض وجھه means, his face became white, meaning, his face became expressive of joy, i.e. he became joyful (Lane).

تسود (will turn black) is derived from ساد. They say ساد فلانا i.e. he exceeded him in blackness. اسود means, he or it turned black. سواد means, blackness, and اسود means, black (Aqrab). اسود وجھه means, his face became black, meaning, his face became expressive of grief or sorrow (Lane). Whiteness is sometimes used to denote a good and happy condition; while blackness is a token of a bad condition and failure (Aqrab under بیاض).

Commentary:

The Quran itself explains "whiteness" and "blackness" as emb-lematic of "happiness" and "sorrow", respectively (see 3:108 and 16:59 and also compare 75:23 and 80:39, 40). Similarly, when a person does a deed for which he is praised, the Arabs say of him ابیض وجه فلان i.e. the face of such a one has become white or قد بیض الله وجه فلان i.e. God has made the face of such a one white. On the contrary, if a person does a deed for which he is reproached, it is said of him اسود وجھه i.e. his face has become black, or سود الله وجھه i.e. Allah has blackened his face. Thus, the words یوم تبیض وجوہ و تسود وجوہ (lit. when some faces shall turn white and some faces shall turn black) mean, when some will be praised for their deeds, and some will be reproached; or they mean, when some will rejoice and some will grieve.

The present verse speaks of discord and disagreement mentioned in the preceding verse as disbelief; for the ultimate end of such disagreement and dissension is nothing but disbelief.

56:8.

Commentary:

The words, You have certainly disbelieved after your believing, mean, "You expressed belief in God and His Messenger but practically you remained disbelievers;" or "You possessed some light of faith in you in the beginning but you allowed that light to become gradually extinguished."

The verse also hints that the hypocrites may yet repent and their repentance would be accepted; and history tells us that some of the hypocrites did actually repent and became sincere Muslims.

3:116; 4:148.

Important Words:

شکرتم (you are grateful) is formed from شکر. They say, شکرالله or شکرلله i.e. he thanked God; or he praised God for His beneficence; or he was grateful to God; or he acknowledged the beneficence of God, and spoke of it largely, and acted in the manner incumbent on him in rendering Him obedience and abstaining from disobedience.

شکر (Shukr i.e. thankfulness) is of three kinds:

(1) with the heart or mind, which consists in forming an adequate idea of the benefit received;

(2) with the tongue, which consists in praising, eulogizing or commend-ing the benefactor; and

(3) with the limbs, which consists in requiting the benefit received according to what it deserves. It rests upon five foundations: (a) humility of him who renders it towards him to whom it is rendered; (b) his love of him; (c) his acknowledgment of his benefit; (d) his eulogizing him for it; and (e) his not making use of the benefit in a manner which he (who has conferred it) may dislike. This is شکر on the part of man. شکر on the part of God consists in forgiving a person or commending him, or regarding him with satisfaction, goodwill or favour, and hence necessarily recom-pensing or rewarding him. The expression شکرالله سعیه means, May God recompense or reward his work (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse enunciates the great principle that all advancement is bound up with شکر (thankfulness) which, as explained under Important Words, denotes acknowledgment of the benefits received. One can render true شکر to God only when one makes a right and proper use of His gifts. If right use is not made of divine gifts, the act of eulogizing God by man is mere verbal praising; it is not real شکر. Now, as the verse explains, the Merciful God has ordained that divine gifts increase by their proper use. If, for instance, one makes a right use of knowledge, which is a great divine gift, it is bound to increase. Similarly, if proper use is made of the organs of the body, they develop further. This divine law founded on God’s eternal mercy applies to all men irrespective of their caste, colour or creed. It holds equally good as regards both spiritual and material gifts. It operates not only in تقدیر عام (the general law of God) but also in تقدیر خاص (the special law of God).

9:70; 40:32; 50:13-15.

Important Words:

نبأ (tidings) is the noun-infinitive, from نبأ (naba’a). They say انباہ ایاہ i.e. he informed him of it. نبأ means, information or a piece of information; an announcement; news or tidings; an account; a narrative or story; an announcement of great utility, from which results either great knowledge or predominance of opinion; news which fills the heart of a person with horror and makes it tremble (Lane, Aqrab & Kulliyat).

ایدیھم (their hands). ایدی is the plural of ید which among other things means, the arm from the shoulder-joint to the extremities of the fingers; palm of the hand; honour; dignity; power; predominance or mastery; good or favour done to a person (Aqrab & Lane). See also 5:65; 9:29.

Commentary:

The words, and those after them. None knows them now save Allah, clearly indicate that Prophets were also raised among nations other than the progeny of Abraham, for, as the verse makes clear, the tribes of ‘Ad and Thamud were followed by some about whom None knows now save Allah, whereas the Prophets that appeared among the progeny of Abraham have been mentioned both in the Quran and the Bible. So the words, None knows them now save Allah, evidently refer to Prophets other than those that appeared among the descendants of Abraham. The words signify that the Prophets referred to have not been mentioned in any of the revealed Books which have remained partially or wholly intact.

The words, they turned their hands to their mouths, have been taken by some commentators to mean that disbelievers turned their hands to their own mouths in amazement at the high-sounding claims of the Prophets. To express wonder in this way is really a form of derision. In this sense the expression would mean that disbelievers treated the Prophets of God with contempt. The words may, however, also mean that disbelievers put their hands on their mouths in a way so as to wish the Prophets to be silent and cease talking about their claims. It is a general practice that when a person desires another person to keep silent, he sometimes puts his hand or occasionally one of his fingers on his own mouth as a sign for the other person to keep silent.

Taking the word ید in the sense of favour or gift, the expression would mean that disbelievers threw the favours of the Prophet in their faces, telling them to keep their teachings to themselves as they (the disbelievers) did not want them. The words that follow support this meaning.

15:43; 16:100; 17:66.

Important Words:

مصرخکم (succour you) and مصرخی (succour me) are both derived from صرخ which means, he called or called out; or he cried or he cried out vehemently; he called or cried for aid or succour or, transitively, he succoured or aided someone. اصرخ also means, he succoured or aided; he came to the help of. مصرخ means, aiding or succouring; or an aider or succourer (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

By uttering the words, I cannot succour you, Satan disclaims the possession of any power to lead man astray. It is indeed true that Satan has no power over man. He is only an instrument for the manifestation of man’s weaknesses, just as angels are instruments for the manifestation of his good qualities. In reality man is led astray by his own baser self, for, as the verse puts it, Satan only calls and it is man who obeys. The function of Satan is merely to make evil suggestions, just as the function of angels is to make good suggestions. Angels cannot make a man good, nor can Satan make him bad. They only show the way, good or bad, and man does the rest.

It may appear paradoxical on Satan’s part to claim, as he has done in this verse, that he asserted the Unity of God and disclaimed association with Him. In a sense it is true, because he who is conscious of God’s glory and has actually witnessed it cannot be guilty of shirk (setting up equals to God). Shirk comes into being when man accepts Satan’s evil suggestions and disobeys God. Satan may thus be likened to arsenic. So long as arsenic does not enter the system of man in toxic quantity, it is a valuable drug, but when man makes a wrong use of it, it becomes a deadly poison. Similarly, before Satan enters the spiritual system of man he is but a test-question and nothing more. Indeed, Satan is only an agent deputed to expose human weaknesses and frailties.

But here arises a question. If Satan has no power over man, why will he be punished with Hellfire? This question is answered in 7:13, where Satan is represented as having been created of fire. How can a thing which is created of fire be said to be punished when cast into fire? A burning piece of coal is not tormented when thrown into a furnace. This is why perhaps some of the mystics in Islam have held the view that it is not Satan, but his manifestations and vicegerents that will be punished. Satan, they say, is but an agent meant to try the mettle of man and only performs his functions.

67:18.

Important Words:

قاصفا (storm-blast) is active participle from قصف. They say قصف الشیء i.e. he broke the thing. قصف البعیرmeans, the camel roared violently. قصف الرعد means, it thundered violently. ریح قاصف means, strong wind and رعد قاصف means, violent thunder (Aqrab).

Commentary:

It is strange that in fulfilment of the warning contained in this verse, some of the disbelievers were actually drowned in the Red Sea when they fled from Mecca after its conquest by the Holy Prophet.

22:6; 23:13; 35:12; 36:78; 40:68.

Commentary:

This verse constitutes the reply of the poor and depressed Muslim to his boastful Christian companion. He admonishes the latter not to deny God in his conceit. He seeks to rouse him from his state of self-complacency by drawing his attention to his very insignificant beginning and by implication to the transitoriness of the things of this world.

22:73; 39:46.

Commentary:

The basic doctrine of Islam, in fact of all religions, is the Unity of God. It is the pivot round which all other religious principles and teachings revolve. The Quran has laid the greatest stress on this doctrine. Second in importance to this doctrine is belief in life after death.

10:52, 91.

Commentary:

The Surah had begun with the subject of the Quranic revelation and it has ended on the same theme. The disbelievers are here warned that if the Quran is from Allah, as it certainly is, then they incur a grave responsibility by rejecting it.