عُدْنَا

2:256; 40:8.

Commentary:

The argument of the followers of Shu‘aib for not renouncing their religion is continued in this verse. There could be only two reasons, they said, for giving up their faith; firstly if they had been false and insincere in their profession of faith; secondly, if their religion itself had been false. But as neither of these two things was true, therefore, it was impossible for them to give up their faith. They further reinforce their argument by the words, Our Lord comprehends all things in His knowledge, meaning that when they are fully convinced of their religion being the religion of God and of God being always in the right, it is impossible for them to recant their faith. There is only one possibility of their doing so, i.e. that Allah, our Lord, should so will, viz. that some hidden weakness or sin of theirs may move God to cut them asunder like a diseased limb. But they have faith in their Lord and trust in Him Who has given them the opportunity and the power to accept the truth. He would not let them go astray because His permitting them to forsake the path of rectitude would be inconsistent with His attribute of being their رب or Lord.

The words, In Allah have we put our trust, are also intended to imply that, as the votaries of truth have perfect faith in God, so no amount of persecution can intimidate them into giving it up. They are encouraged and strengthened by constantly praying to God to protect them from the plots and machinations of their enemies.

Commentary:

After speaking of the utter destruction of the Israelites, the Quran in the present verse gives them a message of hope and informs them that, although so far as the Bible and the Jewish faith are concerned their fate is sealed forever and they can never hope to regain their departed glory, yet, outside the Mosaic Dispensation, God has opened to them a new way by following which they can be readmitted to His Mercy and Grace. That way is Islam and through it they can again rise to their former power and greatness (Deut. 33:1-3). They should avail themselves of this new opportunity and inherit Divine blessings. If, however, they refuse to benefit by this last opportunity, God’s wrath shall descend on them and they shall be consigned to everlasting perdition. While in these verses the Jews were told that according to the prophecies of their own Scriptures there was no future for them outside Islam, the Muslims have also been warned that, like the Jews, they too will be punished twice if they did not give up their evil ways. But they also threw this timely warning to the winds and the result was their disgrace and punishment. They, too, were twice punished. The first punishment overtook them at the fall of Baghdad when the barbarous hordes of Hulagu laid waste that great seat of learning and power. In the heyday of their glory Muslims married the beautiful women of Farghana. These women brought with them their idolatrous beliefs with the result that later generations of Muslims became infected with these beliefs and lost the respect they once had for their own religion and became lax in morals and discipline. This led to the invasion of Baghdad by the savage Tartar hordes who exceeded the Babylonian despoilers of Palestine in savagery and barbarity. Baghdad fell in 1258 A.D. and 1,800,000 Muslims are said to have been put to the sword. All members of the royal family were mercilessly butchered and for days the city was given over to pillage and arson and with the destruction of the Abbasid Empire, Muslim power in the east came to a most inglorious end. Islam, however, emerged triumphant from this dreadful ordeal. The victors became the vanquished and the humble servants of Islam. The second punishment was destined to overtake Muslims in the latter days. Its signs have already begun to appear. See also 17:105.

6:28.