بِمَا كَسَبَتْ

5:90.

Important Words:

یؤاخذکم (will call you to account) is derived from اخذ. اخذه means, he took hold of him; he seized him. آخذه means, he called him to account; he punished or chastised him (Aqrab).

اللغو (vain) is derived from لغا. They say لغابکلمة i.e. he uttered or spoke a word. لغا الشیء means, the thing went in vain. لغا عن الطریق means he deviated from the path. لغافی قوله means, he spoke without proper care and thinking. اللغو therefore means, a speech or writing, etc. which is worthless and of no account and deserves no attention; it also means, the barking of a dog (Aqrab). لاغاه means, he jested or joked with him (Lane). اللغو also means that which one utters without seriously meaning it (Muhit).

حلیم (Forbearing) is derived from حلم meaning, he was forbearing and clement; he forgave and connived at offences; he controlled his temper in moments of anger; he was patient, sedate, or intelligent and calm and was not hasty in punishing or taking revenge. Thus حلیم which is one of the attributive names of God, means, one who is forbearing and to whom the disobedience of the disobedient does not cause agitation or excitement, who is slow in punishing but quick in forgiving; it also means one who is intelligent (Aqrab, Lane & Mufradat).

Commentary:

Oaths are very serious things, as mentioned in the preceding verse, but some men are in the habit of swearing without meaning anything. Such oaths as are referred to in this verse are oaths taken carelessly or as a matter of habit or those taken in a sudden fit of anger. The fact that such oaths are not liable to be punished does not, however, mean that indulgence in them is permitted. It only means that a person who swears vain oaths will not be punished on the basis of such oaths, i.e. these oaths will not be legally treated as oaths. But he will certainly suffer the consequences of indulging in vain and useless talk. A Muslim is expected to avoid all things that are vain or purposeless and the Quran clearly enjoins it (23:4).

The clause, He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned, means that a person will have to answer for oaths he takes consciously and deliberately. The words, what your hearts have earned, also hint that God does not call a man to account for such passing thoughts as may flash across the mind and then disappear. Only such thoughts are punishable as are "earned" by the heart, i.e. cherished and retained by the mind.

The words, Allah is Most Forgiving, Forbearing, signify that as Allah knows your weaknesses, He treats you with forbearance, and does not call you to account for such of your acts as you might do without meaning them.

5:58; 7:52; 8:36.

10:5.

Important Words:

تبسل (be consigned to perdition) is derived from بسل i.e. he prevented or prohibited or debarred. ابسل besides giving the above-mentioned meaning, also means, he gave in pledge; or gave in exchange. ابسله also means, he gave him up to or he delivered him over to or he consigned him to destruction or perdition or punishment (Lane & Aqrab).

شراب (drink) is derived from شرب i.e. he drank. شراب means, a drink or beverage; any liquid which is drunk and not eaten or chewed. This is the original significance. Post-classical writers, however, sometimes use the word in the sense of خمر (wine) also (Lane).

حمیم (boiling water) is derived from حم i.e. it (water, etc.) became hot or very hot. The word is also used transitively, meaning, he heated water, etc. or he heated it fully. حم الشحمة means, he melted the fat. حمه means, he washed him with hot water or, conversely, with cold water. حمیم means, hot water or, conversely, cold water; sweat or perspiration. The word also means a friend or a beloved person (Lane). The last significance is probably based on warmth of feeling.

Commentary:

The context and the sense of the passage required the use of the words "thy religion," but the Quran uses the words "their religion" instead of "thy religion". This is to point out that it was for their own good that the religion of Islam had been sent and that they were injuring themselves by rejecting it.

The words, admonish people thereby, signify that if disbelievers are in a state of excitement and it is found that admonition will provoke them all the more, then one should "let them alone"; but if there is no fear of their being provoked, then one should first admonish them and then quit their company. The pronoun in به (thereby) refers to the Quran.

The verse also contains an exhortation to believers not to get enraged at the scornful remarks of disbelievers. As it is the duty of believers to admonish and warn disbelievers, therefore the former should patiently endure the taunts of the latter.

As shown under Important Words, the word تبسل (consigned to perdition) may also mean, "be given up or surrendered." Taking the word in the latter sense, the sentence would mean, "Admonish the people lest a soul be surrendered to what it has wrought," i.e. admonish them lest they be given over to the evil works they are now engaged in, viz. lest they continue in their evil condition. See also 2:16. Taking the word in the former sense, i.e. as rendered in the text, the sentence would mean, "Admonish them lest they be consigned to destruction or punishment on account of the evil deeds which they have wrought."

The verse is addressed to believers and points out to them the urgent need of preaching the truth to disbelievers. It calls upon believers to picture to themselves the dire consequences of their failure to preach the truth to disbelieving people. If they do not show disbelievers the right path, the result will be that the latter will continue in their error and will be delivered over to destruction on account of their sins, being reduced to a condition when they will have no helper and no intercessor and when no compensation or ransom will be accepted from them.

The "boiling water" mentioned in the verse will serve as a medicine to bring about a cure, while the "grievous punishment" will be in the nature of an operation.

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?

Commentary:

The main theme of the foregoing verses consisted in engendering and instilling in man belief in an Almighty and All-Powerful God, Who creates, regulates and guides all life. In the present verse we are told that when darkness enshrouds the face of the earth and man consigns God to oblivion and gives himself up to the worship of the false gods of his own conception and creation, God raises a Prophet to bring back "the erring flock into the Master’s fold." Such was the condition of mankind when the Holy Prophet Muhammad, humanity’s greatest Teacher, made his appearance. The following quotations support this contention:

"The beginning of the seventh century was an epoch of disintegration—national and social—and religion had become extinct as a moral force and had become reduced to mere ritual and ceremony and the great Faiths of the world had ceased to exert any healthy influence on the lives of their followers. The holy flames kindled by Zoroaster, Moses and Jesus had been quenched in the blood of man…Incessant war for supremacy, perpetual internecine strife, combined with the ceaseless wrangling of creeds and sects, had sucked the lifeblood out of the hearts of nations, and people of the earth, trodden under the iron heels of a lifeless sacerdotalism, were crying to God to deliver them from the misdeeds of their masters. Never in the history of the world was the need so great, the time so ripe for the appearance of a Deliverer ("Spirit of Islam").

In the fifth and sixth Centuries the civilized world stood on the verge of chaos. It seemed that the great civilization that it had taken four thousand years to construct was on the verge of disintegration, and that mankind was likely to return to that condition of barbarism where every tribe and sect was against the next and law and order were unknown. . .It was a time fraught with tragedy. Civilization like a gigantic tree whose foliage had overarched the world and whose branches had borne the golden fruits of art and science and literature, stood tottering, its trunk no longer alive with the flowing sap of devotion and reverence, but rotten to the core". (Emotion as the Basis of Civilization).

The words "land and sea," may signify: (a) such nations as had no experience of Divine revelation and those that believed in heavenly Scriptures; or (b) nations whose cultures and civilizations were based purely on reason and collective human experience and those whose cultures and civilizations were based on Divine revelation; (c) peoples living on the continents and those living in the islands.

The verse means to say that the nations of the world had become corrupt to the very core—politically, socially and morally, and their corruption was the result of "what their hands had wrought."

14:52; 45:23; 74:39.

14:52; 40:18; 74:39.

Commentary:

The verse again draws attention to the supreme fact that the creation of the universe and the perfect design and order that pervade it lead to but one conclusion that adequate provision has been made for man’s moral and spiritual development, and therefore in the life to come he shall have to render an account of the use he makes of God-given faculties and powers in this life.

14:52; 40:18; 45:23.

Important Words:

رھینة (is pledged) is derived from رھن. They say رھن الشیء عند فلان i.e. he deposited the thing with him to be in lieu of that which he had taken or received from him; he deposited the thing with him as a security for a debt (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that every soul shall remain in pledge unless it will have paid for the sins it had committed, i.e. unless it will have been cleansed of sins after suffering punishment for them.