Topic: Negation Of

2:117; 9:31; 10:19.

Important Words:

الجن (the jinn) is derived from the verb جن i.e. he covered up or concealed. The word here signifies such beings as remain aloof from the people, as if remaining concealed, e.g. kings and other potentates. In its wider significance the word extends to angels and other hidden creatures. See also 2:26; 6:77 & 6:129.

خرقوا (they falsely ascribe) is derived from خرق. They say خرقه i.e. he made a hole in it, or he cut it or tore it. خرق الارضmeans, he traversed or crossed the land by journeying so as to reach the furthest part thereof.

خرق الکذب means, he forged the lie. Sometimes the word خرق even when used without a qualifying word means, he forged a lie, or he lied, or he falsely ascribed something to somebody (Taj).

Commentary:

This verse draws attention to the way in which man stumbles when he rejects divine revelation and follows his own judgement and reason. It calls upon the reader to mark the difference between divine and man-made teachings. Men, unguided by divine light and following their own reason, have strayed so far away from the path of rectitude that some suppose the jinn (kings, etc.) to be co-partners with God, as did the Egyptians in the time of Moses; while others attribute sons and daughters to Him, as do the Christians, who have deified Jesus and believe him to be the son of God. A comparison of these man-made teachings with those revealed by God definitely proves the need of Divine revelation.

10:56.

10:37.

Important Words:

یخرصون (they guess) is derived from خرص which means, (1) he guessed or he made a conjecture; (2) he lied or he forged a lie (Taj & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse embodies a twofold consolation for the Prophet. Firstly, he has been told that, apart from a natural concern for them on account of their wrong beliefs, he need not worry or grieve over what disbelievers do, because their case is in the hands of God the Almighty Who possesses the power to punish them or to lead them to the right path. Secondly, the verse hints that the idolatrous beliefs of disbelievers have no foundation in fact and are consequently doomed to perish sooner or later. The Holy Prophet should, therefore, feel no anxiety on their account.

The word ما (not) in the clause, "do not really follow" is used both as an interrogative pronoun meaning "what" and as a negative particle meaning "no or not." In the former case the sentence would mean, "what do those who call on 'partners' beside Allah follow?" Taken in the latter sense, it would mean, "those who call on others than Allah do not really follow these 'partners.'" Thus, according to the former interpretation, the so-called 'partners' whom people worship beside God are spoken of with the contempt they deserve; while, according to the latter interpretation, their very existence is denied, hinting that truly speaking there are no 'partners' and the idolaters follow nothing but mere conjecture.

2:117; 4:172; 9:31; 17:112; 18:5, 6.

Commentary:

In v. 67, it had been hinted that in the false doctrines of disbelievers lie hidden the seeds of their destruction. In the present verse, the Quran proceeds to refute the doctrine of the plurality of gods, the most heinous of all false beliefs, and of the various forms of this doctrine it selects the belief that God has a son. This doctrine differs from other known polytheistic dogmas in that, whereas in other forms of shirk, idolaters claim only that they can attain nearness to God through the instrumentality of their gods, by this doctrine a person is believed to be an actual partner in Godhead.

Four arguments have been given here in refutation of the doctrine that a person can be a Son of God. The first is contained in the words, Holy is He, which mean that God is free from all defects and imperfections. But the belief that God has a son presupposes the presence of carnal passions in Him as well as His being subject to the laws of decay and death, for only such beings or things are perpetuated in their progeny as are subject to decay and death. The earth, the sun and the moon, for instance, have no issue because they are above the familiar law of death and decay; but animals and plants wither and die. Therefore they produce their substitutes which take their place when they are gone. Thus the existence of the progeny of a thing presupposes its mortality.

The second argument is embodied in the words, He is Self-Sufficient, which mean that in His work of running the universe God does not need anybody’s help. Progeny, besides saving a person from extinction, helps him to carry on his work. But God being Self-Sufficient needs no helper in that respect either.

The third argument is contained in the sentence, To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. Sometimes one can make or originate a thing but lacks the power or ability to keep it in his possession or under his control and therefore needs assistance. But God does not need anybody’s help to keep the universe in His possession or under His control.

The fourth argument is implied in the expression, You have no authority for this, which signifies that the doctrine of the plurality of gods is based on no sound or solid ground. Its whole basis lies in the fancy and caprice of men. This fact alone constitutes an argument against this foolish doctrine. All efforts to find some real evidence in support of shirk, do not go beyond mere indulgence in idle philosophical discussion, and no real basis has so far been found for it.

The argument embodied in the words, Do you say against Allah what you know not?, is given in 13:34, in the words, Would you inform Him of what He does not know in the earth? The difference in the wording is due to the fact that in the verse under comment it is pointed out that shirk springs from the ignorance of man and is not based on any sound reasoning, while in 13:34 it is said that the doctrine of shirk involves the charge of ignorance on the part of God, for it means that He failed to know and make known the existence of gods and it was left to idolaters to disclose the godhead of their deities by the force of their own knowledge.

7:72; 53:24.

6:58; 12:68.

2:84; 17:24; 41:15.

30:31; 98:6.

Commentary:

The verse draws attention to the great principle that the things which claim to be from God must be accompanied by some evidence of Divine authority and power. It is by this criterion that the claim of different religions to be of Divine origin must be tested. The religion which claims to be from God must show on what Divine authority it bases its claim. It does not stand to reason that a divine religion should depend on human and purely rational arguments for the demonstration of its truth. That religion which claims to come from Heaven must have heavenly evidence to support its claim. This is what is hinted at in the words, Allah has sent down no authority for that.

In the expression الدین القیم meaning "the right religion" i.e. a religion which puts into a right state the affairs of this world and of the next, the principle has been laid down that only that religion can be said to be a true religion which satisfies both the physical and the spiritual needs of man. It also points out that only that religion can be called "the right religion" which saves men from shirk or setting up equals to God. There is no doubt that shirk has proved a great hindrance in the way of human progress. How can a people who look upon elements which God has created for their service as objects of worship, examine and analyse them and put them to their service?

23:87.

25:4.

11:25; 35:20.

Commentary:

The words, who have no power for good or harm even for themselves, spoken about false deities point to a strange coincidence. Generally, the lives of all those persons who later came to be worshipped as deities were full of hardship and privation. Jesus, Imam Husain, Rama, etc., all led very hard lives. This fact seems to entail a strong warning to their misguided worshippers that they could expect no benefit or help from those who could not even protect themselves from harm or danger.

In the words, Can the blind and the seeing be equal?, disbelievers are told that they, being spiritually and morally blind, should not be deceived by their power and their numbers against the Holy Prophet, as even an army of blind men is powerless against one person who has eyes. The Prophet and his followers possess sight, while disbelievers are blind.

The powerlessness of the disbelievers is further brought home to them in the simile of light and darkness referred to in the words, can darkness be equal to light? Disbelievers are told that as darkness possesses no independent existence, being only the negation of light, it must flee before light. So disbelievers cannot stand against the Holy Prophet. In the last part of the verse disbelievers are challenged to produce anything which they think has been created by their false deities.

The Quran has used two different words to express the Unity of God, viz. (1) احد and (2) واحد. Whereas the former denotes the absolute Unity of God without relation to any other being, the latter means only "the first" or "the starting point" and requires a second and a third to follow it. The Divine attribute of واحد (One) is thus intended to show that God is the real "source" from which all creation springs. Although none of His creatures is similar to Him in perfection and He is Independent of all, yet everything does point to Him, just as a second or a third thing necessarily points to the first. The attribute واحد (One) has therefore been used here as an evidence of the truth of the previous statement, viz. Allah alone is the Creator of all things. As against this, where the Quran seeks to refute the doctrine of the son-ship of those who have been falsely given that status, it uses the word احد i.e. He Who has ever been One and alone and has begotten no child (112:2).

The addition of the attribute of "Most Supreme" to "One" signifies that God does not need the help or assistance of any being for the control and governance of the universe He has brought into existence, because He is not only the source of all things but is also Supreme and Powerful over them. Hence it is useless and absurd for disbelievers to worship their false deities.

6:101; 10:67; 13:17.

17:98; 39:24, 37.

Commentary:

The words, Who stands over every soul to note what it earns, contain another reason why God delays punishment. The argument is that as God is keeping close watch over every soul and nothing, however remote and secret, is hidden from His knowledge and He is also All-Powerful, He needs no hurry to punish the disbelievers; for if only punishment were the object, He could bring the offenders to book whenever He liked. The postponement of punishment is not therefore a thing to be scoffed or wondered at. The wonder rather is that disbelievers do not ponder over the fact that they are offenders against God’s Kingdom and yet they do not fear His punishment and desire to hasten it.

The words, they ascribe partners to Allah, mean that if disbelievers pondered over their own beliefs and actions they would readily discover that they were sinning against God by ascribing co-partners to Him and have therefore rightly incurred His displeasure.

The simple words, Say, Name them, embody a mighty argument against shirk. Idolaters are called upon to describe what function their gods perform. The word "name" in the verse does not mean personal name but attributive name, for the personal names of some of the gods have been given in the Quran itself (71:24). The demand that idolaters should name the functions of their gods is such as cannot fail to bring home to them the absurdity of their beliefs. Suppose, for instance, the idolaters say about one of their gods that his function or attribute is that he can or does bestow children. Now the possession of such a power by a god would imply that he has control not only over the birth of children but over numberless other things which have direct or indirect bearing on geniture. Thus, in order to bestow children, the god to whom this attribute is ascribed must have control over diet and medicinal drugs and must have control over even the working of man’s physical system. He must also have knowledge of hidden things so that he may know the genital defects of the parents and also know what medicine will suit the special circumstances of the case. Besides, he must be able to impart the knowledge of hidden things to others. For instance, he must be able to inspire the physician or the patient as to what medicine and what food will remove the defect. In short, until a god possesses an all-comprehensive knowledge and unlimited powers, he will not be able to perform even one single function. On the other hand, if it be supposed that each and every god possesses all the powers required for his special function, then the existence of so many gods would become superfluous, besides being a potential source of discord and disorder; for in that case each one of these gods would be the Supreme Being, a position which is impossible to imagine.

The words, Name them, may also be an expression of contempt, meaning that the gods of the disbelievers are so worthless that even the mention of their names would put them to shame.

The words, Would you inform Him of what He does not know in the earth?, contain yet another powerful argument against shirk. If there had been any other gods, argues the verse, the fact ought to have been made known by God Himself through a Prophet or through angels, or the alleged co-partners of God should themselves have made that announcement, but no such communication or announcement has ever been known to exist. Hence, the verse takes idolaters to task by telling them that by ascribing co-partners to God they presume to inform Him of something of which He Himself has no knowledge.

The expression, or is it a mere empty saying?, means that idolaters say these things only with their tongues and have no real faith in them. The verse asks disbelievers whether they really believe in what they allege. In this way, an appeal has been made to human nature, which often proves a very successful way of bringing home the truth.

It often happens that when a man commits a fraud or imposture in order to procure worldly advantage, he himself gradually falls a prey to his own imposture which, by and by, begins to appear attractive to him. Thus man’s design is made to look fair to him not by God, but by man himself. Some men ascribe divine powers to certain creatures, not because they really believe them to be gods beside Allah, but to impose upon simple-minded people and to cheat them of their possessions. But, as time goes on, their own trick begins to appeal to them, and they become the dupes of their own fraud. This is the significance of the words, Nay, but the design of the disbelievers has been made to appear beautiful in their eyes.

The expression, and they have been kept back from the right way, signifies that when a man severs his connection with God, he becomes involved in shirk, whether hidden or visible. Man cannot remain without a companion. When he leaves God, the inevitable result is that he begins to seek the support of petty things, which gradually gives rise to shirk.

Here the Quran differs from the students of comparative religion. According to the latter, polytheism preceded the belief in one God. According to the Quran the reverse is true, and history supports the Quran. We see that Muslims and Jews were worshippers of one God in the beginning, but afterwards many of them virtually reverted to polytheism and idolatry. The case of Christians is still worse. They were first believers in the Unity of God but took to deifying Jesus afterwards and the whole community became stuck in the quagmire of shirk. Why should we not assume that the same was the case with the peoples of remote antiquity?

39:4.

Important Words:

واصبا (forever) is derived from وصب which means, it continued; was constant; was fixed, settled or firm. They say وصب لبن الناقة i.e. the milk of the camel continued or was constant. وصب علی الامر means, he kept, attended or applied himself constantly, perseveringly or assiduously to the thing and managed it or conducted it well. The Quranic expression, وله الدین واصبا means, to Him shall be rendered obedience perpetually or constantly, whether man be content with that which he is commanded to do or not, or whether it be easy for him or not; to Him shall be rendered obedience, even if it be attended by successive fatigue (Lane).

Commentary:

In this verse the argument in refutation of polytheism is continued. The verse means to say that if we study the working of the universe we would find a wonderful uniformity of system running through it. If there had been more gods than one, this uniformity would not have existed. Moreover, if there had been two gods one would have to be subordinate to the other to carry out the latter’s orders. In that case his existence would have been superfluous. But if both of them had been of equal status, then each of them would have his own separate sphere of influence and control. In such an event, differences would certainly have arisen between the two. But both these suppositions are absurd. Hence there must be One God, the only Creator of the entire universe.

Commentary:

This verse furnishes an illustration of the fact that when the Quran reverts to a subject it does so to deal with it in a new light. The verse has reverted to the subject of setting up equals with God. But here it gives quite a new argument in its refutation. It demolishes the claim of idolaters that they worship their idols to seek nearness to God through their mediation (39:4) by saying that if by this worship they had really sought nearness to God, they should have achieved this object but there are no signs of any one of them ever having attained nearness to God.

Incidentally some light may be thrown on some of the signs and marks which a person who has established real connection with God must possess: (a) his prayers are accepted; (b) he becomes very much immune from sin or indulgence in vain discourse; (c) he enjoys a sort of Divine protection and (d) he treats God’s creatures with kindness and benevolence and lives peacefully and amicably with them, i.e. he is at peace with God and man. Idolaters are completely devoid of all these characteristics of God’s beloved and His Elect.

The expression, they (idolaters) would have surely sought out a way to the Owner of the Throne, may also be understood to mean that if the false gods of idolaters had possessed any truth or power, then with their help idolaters would have learnt from the Supreme Lord of the Throne some way or means to counteract and nullify the Holy Prophet’s efforts. The fact, therefore, that the Prophet marched from success to success and all their schemes and machinations failed to impede his progress furnishes proof positive of the fact that these so-called gods possess no truth or power.

18:5; 19:36; 21:27; 25:3; 39:5; 43:82; 72:4.

21:23.

Commentary:

In brief words the verse very effectively demonstrates the futility and falsity of the Christian dogma that Jesus is God’s son. It purports to say that a son is needed by one to help him to carry on his affairs, but as God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the Sole Master and Controller of the whole universe, He does not need the help or assistance of any helper or son. Moreover, the whole universe appears to be subject to one uniform law and the unity of the design and purpose and control points to the Unity of the Designer and the Controller. The duality of control and authority implies confusion and disorder. See also 17:43 & 21:23.

16:23; 22:35; 59:23.

Commentary:

The word قل (say) here embodies a permanent command to all Muslims to keep proclaiming "God is One."

ھو (He) used as ضمیر الشأن and meaning, "the truth is," signifies that the truth is embedded in human nature that God is and that He is One and Alone.

الله is the distinctive name used for the Supreme Being in the Quran. In the Arabic language the word is never used for any other thing or being. It is a personal name of God, neither attributive nor descriptive. See also 1:1.

احد (the One) is an epithet applied to God alone and signifies, the One; the Sole; He Who has been and will ever be One and Alone; Who has no second to share in His Lordship, nor in His Essence (Lane).

According to Aqrab the difference between أحد and واحد when used about God is that whereas أحد signifies Oneness of God in His Person, the idea of a second being inconceivable, واحد signifies uniqueness of God in His attributes.

Commentary:

In view of the above-mentioned signification of أحد and واحد the expression الله واحد would signify that God is that Supreme Being Who is the Source and Fountainhead from Whom all creation has emanated; and الله أحد would mean that Allah is that Being Who is One and Alone in the sense that when we think of Him, the very idea that there is any other being or thing is absent from our minds. He is One and Alone in every sense. He is neither the starting link of any chain, nor its last link. Nothing is like Him nor is He like anything else. This is Allah as conceived and presented by the Quran.

Important Words:

الصمد (Independent and Besought of all) is substantive noun from صمد. They say صمد الله فی الحوائج i.e. he betook himself or had recourse to Allah in needs and exigencies. صمد (samad) means, a person to whom one betakes oneself in one’s needs. سید صمد means, a chief to whom recourse is had; a lord to whom obedience is rendered; without whom no affair is accomplished. صمد also means, a person or place above whom or which there is no one. الصمد means, the Supreme Being to Whom recourse is had for the accomplishment of needs; Who is Independent of all and upon Whom all depend for their needs; Who will continue forever after all creation has ceased to exit; above Whom there is no one. (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

In the preceding verse the claim was made that God is One, Alone, and Unique. The present verse substantiates that claim. It says that God is الصمد i.e. all things and beings depend upon Him and He is Independent and Besought of all. All have need of Him and He has need of none. He needed the help of no being or material to create the universe. So when all things and beings are dependent on Him and to Him we have recourse for our needs and requirements and He fulfils them, then where is the necessity of any other God?

In fact, nothing in the universe is complete in itself, not even the smallest atom. Nothing is self-subsisting; everything depends on some other thing for its existence. God alone is such a Being Who depends on no being or thing. He is above conception and conjecture. His attributes know no bound or limit. This is the meaning of الصمد.

17:112; 19:93; 25:3; 37:153.

Commentary:

The Divine attribute الصمد (Independent and Besought of all) was mentioned in the previous verse to establish the claim that Allah is احد (One, Alone, the Unique), and now in the verse under comment the Divine attribute لم یلد و لم یولد (He begets not, nor is He begotten) is mentioned to show that He is الصمد i.e. God is above need, because the presence of need presupposes that He requires the assistance of someone without whom He cannot carry on His work, and who should continue His work, after He is dead, inasmuch as all those beings that succeed, or are succeeded by others, are subject to death, but those things which need no successor and do not die before fulfilling the object of their creation, such as the sun, the moon, the oceans, the mountains, etc., are not subject to death or destruction. Thus Allah Who has succeeded no one and will be succeeded by no one is complete in all His attributes and is Eternal, Everlasting and Absolute.

Commentary:

This verse disposes of a possible doubt that the previous verses might have created: Granted that Allah is One, Alone, Absolute and Independent of all and that He neither begets nor is He begotten, but there might be in existence another being who, like Him, might also possess all the attributes He possesses. The verse effectively removes this misgiving. It says that there is none like Allah. Human reason demands, and the Quran has conceded the reasonableness of this demand, that there should be One Creator and Controller of the whole universe. The perfect order that pervades and permeates it leads to the inevitable result that one uniform law must govern it, and the unity and uniformity of the law and the design proves and proclaims the Unity of its Maker (21:23). Thus the Surah cuts at the root of all polytheistic beliefs that exist in one form or other in other faiths—belief in two, three or more gods, or the belief that soul and matter or any other thing co-exists with Allah.

God, as conceived and held out by Islam, is a personal God and not a mere philosophical conception; One, Alone, Unique, Eternal and Absolute, without beginning or end, Incomparable, above the need of being succeeded by anyone, nor ever having succeeded anyone. This is the sublime definition of the Supreme Being as given in the Quran; and nothing in any other revealed Scripture touches even the fringes of the beauty, sublimity and majesty of this definition.