فَسِيرُوا۟

7:39; 13:31; 41:26; 46:19.

6:12; 12:110; 27:70.

Important Words:

سنن (dispensations) is the plural of سنة which is derived from سن. They say سنه i.e. he whetted or sharpened it (knife, appetite, etc.). سن العقده means, he undid the knot. سن الامر means, he made known or manifested the matter or the affair or the case. سن الشیء means, he shaped or formed or fashioned the thing. سن الطریقه means, he followed or pursued the way or course. سن علیھم سنة means, he established or instituted or prescribed for them a law or custom or mode of conduct. سنة means, (1) face or form; (2) way or course or rule of conduct; (3) way of acting instituted or pursued by a people and followed by others after them; (4) character or conduct or nature or disposition; (5) law or religious law or dispensation (Aqrab & Taj).

Commentary:

The clause, there have been many dispensations before you, means that there have gone before you men who followed different ways and possessed diverse characters; or there have passed before you many dispensations and many nations following different systems or laws. So you should journey in the earth and see what class of men were saved and who perished and what the end of those who persisted in evil was.

10:48; 13:8; 35:25.

7:31.

3:138; 6:12.

Commentary:

This verse supplies several answers to the objection of disbelievers mentioned in the previous verse. The first answer is that God had raised Prophets among different peoples at different times and every one of these Prophets had taught the Unity of God. If the contention of disbelievers that polytheism was permitted and countenanced by God had any basis in fact then one or other of these Prophets should have subscribed to this doctrine. But all the Prophets most vehemently denounced polytheism in every shape and form.

The second answer is implied in the words, We did raise among every people a Messenger, which mean that if God had chosen to employ force in the matter of faith, then there was no need for so many Prophets to come to convey to man the will of God. One Prophet would have sufficed through whom God would have guided to the right path those whom He desired. The long succession of Prophets who appeared among different peoples at different times to exhort them to live righteous lives constitutes a strong proof that man is created a free agent.

The third answer is contained in the injunction "shun the Evil One". If it were true that good and evil had been predetermined by God and man is only the victim of determinism, there is no sense in such an injunction, and in sending so many Prophets, for in that case every man’s course would have been predetermined. The fourth answer consists in the fact that at the appearance of every Prophet a certain number of people who before his advent are polytheists renounce their wrong doctrines and become believers in the Unity of God. In the event of man’s actions having been predetermined, he could not possibly effect a change in his beliefs or actions. The fact that on the occasion of the advent of every Prophet a certain number of disbelievers join the ranks of believers is positive proof of the fact that man has been endowed with freewill and that he is the master of his own destiny.

Divine visitations that have invariably overtaken disbelievers in all ages constitute yet another very cogent proof that man has been created free and is not the object or victim of a predetermined fate because there is no sense or justification in punishment overtaking a person who is not free to act as he likes.