Topic: Latter Days

36:73; 40:81; 43:13.

Commentary:

The word زینة (as a source of beauty) literally meaning ornament, is here used in the sense of splendour and pomp. This meaning is in keeping with the significance of the words, that you ride them, thus hinting that their beauty lies in their being used as a means of conveyance. The animals mentioned in this verse are those that are used in warfare and serve to show the power and might of a people in opposition to the enemy.

In this and the preceding three verses, the Quran speaks of two kinds of things created for the good of man: (1) those that are of use to him in his private life; (2) those that serve his political ends. These things have been created to serve the following six purposes; (a) to protect man from the inclemency of weather; (b) to provide him with food; (c) to bring him honour and glory; (d) to carry his burdens; (e) to be used as a means of personal conveyance; and (f) to serve as a source of strength and power for him.

The verse purports to say that when God has taken so much care to provide for the above six physical and material needs of man, the idea cannot be entertained for a single moment that He should have neglected to make a similar provision for his spiritual needs. The verse also hints that although man exacts work from other creatures in spite of the fact that he is not their creator, he denies God (Who does not derive any benefit from him) the right to reform and guide him to a stage where he should constitute an evidence of His Holiness and Sanctity and a means of His glorification.

The expression, And He will create what you do not yet know, embodies a prophecy that God will bring into existence new means of conveyance which were yet unknown to man. This prophecy has been wonderfully fulfilled by the discovery of comfortable and ever-increasing means of conveyance such as railway trains, steamships, motor cars, aeroplanes, etc. God only knows what new means of conveyance are yet to be discovered by man.

As against the six physical objects enumerated above, the six spiritual characteristics that the word of God must possess are the following:

(1) It should protect man from the evil effects of heat and cold, i.e. it should guard him against extremes in everything. Absence of the love of God may be called cold in religious terminology and abusing or persecuting in the name of religion those who differ from us in their views and compelling them to subscribe to our views against their will may represent heat. The word of God inspires man with His love on the one hand and on the other enjoins its followers to be tolerant towards those who hold views different from theirs.

(2) It should serve the purpose of spiritual food, i.e. it should contain all those elements which develop and strengthen the spiritual faculties of man. It should inculcate teachings which tend to suppress and subdue his evil inclinations and propensities and inspire him with spiritual strength and vigour.

(3) It should be a source of beauty and glory i.e. those who act upon it should appear beautiful and dignified in the eyes of others. Their compatriots should feel and admit that the word of God has worked a great revolution in their lives.

(4) It should bear man’s burdens, i.e. it should make him realize his duties and responsibilities and, by freeing him from the shackles of superstitious customs and usages, should enable him to achieve true liberty.

(5) It should serve as a means of conveyance, i.e. it should help man speedily to attain nearness to his Creator by understanding and realizing His attributes, and should save him from a long and fatiguing spiritual journey.

(6) It should impart vigour and strength to man, i.e. by acting upon it, its followers should lead a respectable and honourable life in both worlds, their organization should become strong, and they should win the esteem and regard of nations by living up to their ideals and teachings.

These are the six essential qualities which the word of God must possess and without which it forfeits the title of being called Divine.

7:138.

Important Words:

لفیفا (together) is derived from لف i.e. he folded up or wrapped up a thing in another thing. لف العدو means, he involved the enemy in difficulty. لف و نشر in rhetoric means, involution and evolution or complication and explication. لفیفا means, wrapped up under an envelope; mixed; mixed crowd; intimate friend (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words "the land" do not refer to Egypt, where the Israelites never dwelt after Pharaoh had been drowned. They refer to Canaan, the land which was promised to them.

It is worthy of note that whereas Moses could never settle the Israelites in Egypt where he was born and brought up and got only Canaan as a substitute for it, the Holy Prophet not only regained Mecca, the land of his birth and the cradle of his Faith, but many other countries also fell into the hands of his followers.

The present verse read along with verses 17:6-8 & 1:6-7 may be explained as follows:

After the destruction of Pharaoh Jews would go and dwell in Canaan from where after sometime they would be driven away but would later return to it. In consequence, however, of their misdeeds they would again be visited with Divine punishment and be banished from their hearths and homes and would live in exile till the time when the second of the two punishments would overtake another people (Muslims) who would succeed them (the Jews) as their counterparts. It is then that they (the Jews) will be gathered from the ends of the earth and brought back to their Holy Land. But with the regeneration of Muslims through the Promised Messiah the latter would again come into their own.

The verse also implies that, like Jews, the Muslims would suffer- national disaster twice. As mentioned in vv. 6-8 Divine punishment befell the Jews twice. They suffered terribly first at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when they were carried away into captivity, and then a second time at the hands of the Emperor Titus of Rome. On both these occasions the Jews were driven away from their native land and were scattered all over the world. In the present verse a promise has been held out to them that they will be gathered in the Holy Land at the time of the fulfilment of "the promise of the latter days" (وعدالاخرة). This fulfilment of "the promise of the latter days" must have reference to some other incident than the twofold national disaster that overtook the Jews. Elsewhere (73:16) the Quran has compared the Holy Prophet to Moses and 1:7 implies that a section of Muslims would follow in the footsteps of Jews. It can therefore be reasonably concluded that, like Jews, Muslims also were destined to be smitten twice with national disaster. The first of these two disasters befell Muslims at the time of the Crusades when for a time the Holy Land was lost to them and later when Baghdad fell to the arms of the Tartars under Hulagu Khan. They were to be visited with Divine punishment for the second time in the time of the Promised Messiah just as the Jews were punished in that of the first Messiah—Jesus. In the present verse we are told that when Muslims are punished for the second time which means the fulfilment of "the promise of the latter days" the Jews would be brought back to their Holy Land from all parts of the world. This is what is happening now in Palestine.

According to Fat’hul-Bayan some very prominent Muslim religious scholars hold the view that وعدالاخرة (the promise of the latter days) applies to the time of the Promised Messiah. This interpretation supports our view.

16:8, 9; 23:23; 43:13.

Commentary:

There were no steamships in the world when the Quran was revealed. There used to be only ordinary boats made of wood which plied with oars or floated with the aid of sails. It was at such a time that the Quran foretold that God would bring into existence new kinds of boats. Steamers and big liners, airships and aeroplanes which are so much in use in these days are a clear fulfilment of this Quranic prophecy. The present and the preceding verse which speaks of sea-voyage seem to refer to the present time and not to Arabs in the Holy Prophet’s time who were not familiar with these things.

9:33; 48:29.

Commentary:

Most commentators of the Quran are agreed that this verse applies to the Promised Messiah in whose time all religions will make their appearance and the superiority of Islam over all of them will be established.

This and the previous verse contain two very challenging prophecies, the present one about the establishment of the superiority of Islam over other Faiths and the preceding one about the total failure of the enemies of Islam to extinguish its light.

78:21; 81:4.

Commentary:

The purport of the verse is: When great changes take place, or when powerful and influential men are brought low; or when old and time-honoured institutions are destroyed, root and branch. In short, when the whole corrupt order changes. For جبال see 14:47.

Commentary:

The meaning is: When prophecies concerning the second advent of various Messengers will be fulfilled with the appearance in the world of a great heavenly Reformer who will come in the power and spirit of such Messengers, clad, as it were, in the mantles of all of them.

Important Words:

کورت (wrapped up) is derived from کور. They say کور العمامة i.e. he wound round the turban upon his head. کورت الشمس means, the light of the sun became folded up or became dim or it disappeared or the sun became eclipsed (Aqrab). اذا الشمس کورتmeans, when the sun shall be wound with darkness like a turban; or when it shall be wrapped up and have its light taken away or shall lose its light; or shall be divested of its light; or shall be cast away. These are some of the meanings of the verse given by Jalalain, Qatadah, ‘Ikrimah and Mujahid as quoted by Lane.

Commentary:

It is generally said that this Surah deals with the Resurrection, when the laws and processes of nature as we know them, will cease to operate. But this does not appear to be plausible, the whole trend and tenor of the Surah speaks so patently of the conditions which obtain in the physical world that some of the verses will lose all sense if they are taken as referring to the Final Resurrection. In fact, the Surah speaks of the great changes that have taken place in the material world and in human life since the time of the Holy Prophet, particularly in our own time. The Surah thus makes a special reference to the present era—the era of the Promised Messiah. Some verses may equally be interpreted literally as well as metaphorically.

The Holy Prophet is described in the Quran as the Bright Sun (25:62). The verse, therefore, may mean: When there will be spiritual darkness all over the world—the light of the Spiritual Sun having become dim or having disappeared altogether. Or the verse may refer to the eclipse of the sun and the moon, which according to a well-known saying of the Holy Prophet, was to take place in the time of the Mahdi, a phenomenon that the world had never witnessed before (Qutni, p. 188). A reference to this is also to be found in 75:10. This predicted eclipse of the sun and the moon took place in 1894 in the month of Ramadan.

Commentary:

The word النجوم meaning stars, signifies religious ulema. The well-known hadith أصحابی کالنجوم بأیھم اقتدیتم اھتدیتم i.e. My Companions are like stars, whomsoever you will follow, you will receive right guidance (Baihaqi), supports this meaning. In this sense of the word, the verse means: "When religious leaders become corrupt, and cease to exercise any influence." Literally, the verse means: "When stars fall in large numbers." This may be a reference to the falling of stars in exceptionally large numbers in 1885 when the Promised Messiah, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, had already announced his claim to be a Divine Reformer.

18:48; 52:11; 78:21.

Important Words:

سیرت (made to move) is derived from سار i.e. he or it went, passed away or departed. سیرہ من بلده means, he expelled him from his town (Lane & Aqrab).

الجبال (mountains) is plural of جبل which means, a mountain; a man who does not move from his place, i.e. a big man; the chief of a people; a learned man (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse means: When mountains will be blown away by dynamite and roads will be made through them; or (metaphorically) when men wielding great authority and influence will be expelled from their own countries; or when the authority of rulers will become undermined.

Important Words:

عشار (she-camels, ten months with young) is the plural of عشراء which means, a she-camel that has been ten months with young. عشار is applied to she-camels until some of them have brought forth and others are expected to bring forth. Such she-camels were considered to be a very valuable possession by the Arabs (Lane & Aqrab).

عطلت (are abandoned) is derived from عطل. They say عطل الأجیر i.e. the hired man was without occupation. عطل الشیء (attala) means, he left the thing unattended or neglected. عطل البئر means, he left off going to the well for taking water (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the verse is to the replacement of camels by better and swifter means of transport—railway trains, steamships motor cars, aeroplanes, etc. Or the verse may signify that, in Promised Mahdi’s time, camels—she-camels ten months with young—will lose their importance, even in Arabia. There is a pointed reference to camels being replaced by other means of transport in a saying of the Holy Prophet which is to the effect: ولیترکن القلاص فلا یسعی علیھا i.e. the camels will be abandoned and will not be used for going from one place to another (Muslim).

Important Words:

حشرت (gathered together) is passive voice in the fem. gen. from حشر. They say حشر الناس i.e. he collected the people. حشر الجمعmeans, he drove the people from one place to another. حشره عن وطنه means, he banished him from his native country. حشرت الوحوش means, the wild beasts died or were destroyed (Lane)

Commentary:

In view of different meanings of the root word حشر the verse would signify: When animals will be collected in zoos or when primitive people will be settled in organized, civil communities; or when they will be compelled to leave their homelands, as the natives in Uganda and the Kenya Colony, etc. were told to till their lands or go out; or when they will be destroyed as the Native Americans in the United States of America and the Aborigines in Australia and New Zealand, etc. have been practically annihilated.

52:7; 82:4.

Important Words:

البحار (seas) is the plural of بحر which means, a sea; a great river; a spacious place comprising a large quantity of water. It is also the plural of بحرة which means, a town or village (Lane & Aqrab).

سجرت (made to flow forth). They say سجر الماء النھر i.e. the water filled the stream. سجر الماء (sajjara) means, he made the water to flow forth whithersoever it would. Thus اذا البحار سجرت means: When the seas are filled; when the rivers are made to flow into one another; when the seas will be set on fire; when the seas will meet together and become one; when towns or cities will swell with their populations (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

In view of different meanings of the words سجرت and البحار given under Important Words the verse signifies: When the waters of rivers will be drained away for irrigation and other purposes, and rivers will be linked up together for these purposes; when in sea battles very large ships will be set on fire and it would seem as if the seas were on fire; when large oceans will be joined together by means of canals; when the rural population will go into towns and cities and they will overflow with their inhabitants.

Commentary:

The verse means: When the means of transport and communication will become so developed and when intercourse between peoples living in far off lands will become so easy and frequent as to make them unite into one people. Or the verse may signify that people holding analogous social or political views will form themselves into "parties." The reference may be to the Labour, Communist, Nazi and Fascist parties.

Commentary:

The burying or burning alive of girls will be declared a capital crime.

Commentary:

The reference clearly seems to be to the vast circulation of newspapers, journals, and books and to the system of libraries and reading rooms and such other places and means of spreading knowledge in the latter days—in the time of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.

Important Words:

کشطت (laid bare). کشط الشیء means, he removed, took off or stripped off from the thing what had covered it. کشطت البعیرmeans, I skinned the camel. کشط روعه means, his fright was removed (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the verse may be to the vast strides that the science of astronomy has made in the latter days. The advance in this branch of science during the past decade has startled the world.

The verse also signifies that with the advent of the Promised Messiah the doors of spiritual sciences will be thrown wide open.