نُصَرِّفُ

2:8; 16:109; 45:24.

Commentary:

The preceding verse spoke of the punishment that cuts at the root. But there is a stage when only a part is affected, or even if the whole body is affected the disease is not deep-rooted and there is yet time to prevent the total loss of the body. In its early stages, a disease is generally curable; but if it is not attended to in time, it may be aggravated and become incurable. It is against such negligence that men are warned in the present verse. Some men delay acceptance of Divine Messengers. They wait for more and more signs, and go on postponing the tendering of allegiance to the heavenly Messengers until it is too late. The punishment of God descends on the enemies of the Prophets; and those who do not make use of their inward light and prefer to wait for more and more evidence of the truth of the Divine Messengers also perish with their enemies. So this verse warns those who are in the habit of delaying and postponing, and exhorts them to use their inward light for the recognition of the Divine Messenger, and expedite their acceptance of him, lest delay should result in the total extinction of their God-given faculties and they should perish with the rest. They should be prompt to make use of their hearing, and their eyes, and their hearts; for if they fail to make use of these faculties in time, they will gradually become impaired and will finally be lost; then no power will be able to restore these faculties to them after they have been completely lost.

The words, how We vary the Signs, signify that in order to make things perfectly clear, God brings the different aspects of signs before the people, sometimes showing one kind of sign and sometimes another, so that all kinds of people may be satisfied.

Commentary:

This verse gives the fourth reason why no mortal possesses the power to bring down punishment upon men for their sins, and that it is God alone Who possesses that power. This reason consists in the fact that the punishments which mortals inflict upon others are merely external and are limited in their character; while the punishments that come from God are varied and far-extending. For instance, man can at most kill another man and end his life, but the punishment which God inflicts sometimes grows in the very heart of man and causes him great heart-burning and uneasiness of mind. Such punishments, which are often greater than mere killing, cannot be inflicted by man. The Quran here refers to some of the kinds of punishment which God may send down on men.

Punishments "from above" signify famines, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, the oppression of the weak by the powerful, mental agony, etc. And punishments "from beneath" signify diseases, pestilences, revolt by subject peoples, etc. Then there is the punishment of discord, disunity and dissension which sometimes end in civil war. This is hinted in the words, make you taste the violence of one another.

All these different forms of punishment are under the control of God and none other; hence, it is God alone Who has the real power of sending down punishment upon men.

7:59.

Important Words:

درست (thou hast learnt well) is derived from درس which means, it became effaced, erased or obliterated; or transitively, it effaced, erased or obliterated. درس الثوب means, the cloth became old and worn out. Similarly, درس الثوب means, he rendered the cloth old and worn out. درس الکتاب means, he read the book or he read it repeatedly so as to remember it; or he made it easy to remember by much reading; or he learnt or studied it (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse purports to say, "We have explained Our teachings in various ways with the result that believers have acquired perfect belief in them, while disbelievers have rejected them, saying, 'You have learnt these teachings from Jews and Christians and are now repeating them to us.'" The verb درست (thou hast learnt well) has thus been used here ironically. Taking the transitive meaning of درست the clause would mean that disbelievers reject the teachings, saying: "You have read or recited the signs and teachings you claim to have brought to us and we have heard them. That is enough; do not bother us any more."

In fact, whereas the teachings of the Quran benefit those who accept them, they serve the purpose of establishing the guilt of those who reject them so that they become answerable to God for their rejection.

Commentary:

Rain produces different effects upon different plots of land according to their nature and quality; so does Divine revelation affect different men in different ways. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that there are three kinds of land: (a) the good level land which, when watered by rain, absorbs the rain water and yields good vegetation and brings forth abundant fruit; (b) the land which, being low-lying and rocky, only collects the water of rain but does not absorb it and so brings forth no vegetation but provides drinking water for man and beast; (c) the high stony ground which neither collects the water of rain nor absorbs it, being useless both for the purpose of vegetation and as a storage for rainwater. Similarly, men are of three kinds: (1) Those who not only accept but also profit by Divine revelation. They are like the good level land which receives rain and yields good produce. (2) Those who do not themselves profit by the Divine revelation, but receive it and keep it stored up for others to benefit thereby. They are like that piece of land which yields no produce, but from which men and beasts benefit by the water collected during the rain. (3) Those who neither derive any benefit from the Divine revelation themselves nor keep it stored for the use of others. They are like that piece of land which neither yields any produce nor hoards up water so that men and beasts may drink from it.