سَنَة

27:47.

Commentary:

Such has always been the way of disbelievers that instead of benefiting by the respite that is granted to them, they become all the more arrogant, and misconstruing the delay as an argument against their Prophet, demand the speedy coming of the threatened Divine punishment.

4:41; 6:161; 28:85.

Commentary:

Those who believed in the Holy Prophet and did righteous deeds had a good reward and became immune from all fear and apprehension about the future. And the burning of heart, as says the next verse, was the lot of the disbelievers and evildoers. These verses may also apply to the condition of believers and disbelievers in the life after death.

62:9.

Commentary:

The reason why Jews were more attached to the world than pagans is that the latter did not believe in any retribution after death and, therefore, though they loved this world as the only place for enjoying honour and happiness and entertained no hope about the next, yet with no fear of punishment after death, they were less cringingly attached to the present life than the Jews, who believed in Resurrection after death and feared in their hearts that their actions would make them liable to punishment before God.

13:23; 23:97; 41:35.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that such persons from among the "People of the Book" as believe in the Quran will have double reward for the belief both in the Torah and the Quran and also for suffering patiently for the cause of truth and for their perseverance and steadfastness under trials and tribulations.

4:124; 6:161; 17:8; 41:47; 99:8-9.

Commentary:

The verse points to the divine law of compensation which in this life works in this way that whereas for good works God gives a reward many times greater than what the doer has earned, He punishes a bad deed with a punishment which is less than what the guilty person has incurred or at the most with a punishment proportionate to the evil deed which he has committed.

42:21.

Commentary:

In this verse God mentions that class of men whose efforts and wishes are not confined to this world only. They (1) seek the good things of this world and (2) seek the good things of the next world, and (3) try to be saved from the Fire which not only signifies the fire of Hell but also everything that is painful and is a source of heart-burning. It may be noted that here, unlike the preceding verse, God uses the word حسنة (good) with the words فی الدنیا (in this world), meaning that even virtuous men may seek the things of this world but they should always be good and not bad.

The prayer mentioned in this verse is indeed very comprehensive and may be used by men of all grades in all their spiritual and temporal requirements, and the Holy Prophet is reported to have used this prayer very often (Muslim, ch. on Dhikr) with a view to teaching his Companions that if and when they choose to seek both the good things of this world and of the next, they should pray like this.

The prayer has another significance also. The good things of this world and the good things of the Hereafter spoken of in this verse may both stand for spiritual blessings, the good things of this world standing for such spiritual blessings as a righteous man gets in this world and the good things of the next world standing for those which he will get in the Hereafter. In fact, the very words used in the verse point to that signification, for the Quranic words فی الدنیاحسنة do not mean "good things of this world" but simply "good in this world". In this case النارor "the Fire" would stand not for Hell, protection against which is, in fact, included in the good things of the next world, but for such trials and hardships as one may come across in this world in the struggle for spiritual advancement or in the effort to benefit others. It was in this sense that the Holy Prophet used this prayer with regard to himself; for personally he never sought even the good things of this world, though he always sought "good in this world".

Important Words:

سنة (year) is derived both from سنه and سنو. They say سنه الطعام i.e. the food rotted; or it rotted by the lapse of years. As derived from سنا یسنو this word (سنة) signifies "a simple revolution of the sun," i.e. a simple revolution of the earth round the sun. It is synonymous with عام (and also حول) with this difference that whereas every سنة is an عام every عام is not سنة. It is also said to be longer than the عام which is applied to the twelve Arabian months collectively; but سنة is also applied to twelve revolutions of the moon. According to Imam Raghib سنة is used as denoting a year in which there is difficulty, or drought or barrenness or dearth; and عام as denoting that in which is ampleness of the means or circumstances of life and abundance of herbage or the like. سنة also means, drought or barrenness or vehement or intense drought. أصابتھم السنة means, drought, etc. befell them. سنة سنھاءmeans, a year in which there is no herbage or rain. سنة سنواء means, a hard, rigorous or distressing year (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

In the verse under comment the age of Noah has been mentioned as 950 years. The Bible gives 952 years as his age. But it is difficult to assign a definite date as to when the Prophets of antiquity, such as Noah, Hud, Salih, etc. lived and how long they lived. "None knows them save Allah," says the Quran (14:10). Nine hundred and fifty years does not seem to be the span of Noah’s life but the period of his Dispensation. In fact, the age of a Prophet is the age of his Dispensation and teaching. It is in this sense that we call the Holy Prophet Muhammad the ever-living Prophet and Islam the everlasting religion. It appears from the Quran (37:84) that Abraham was a follower of Noah. This means that Noah’s period continued up to the time of Abraham or even to that of Joseph or of Moses.

Noah’s Dispensation seems to have lasted about 950 years. In describing the limit of Noah’s age two words سنة and عام have been used. Whereas the root meaning of the former word possesses a sense of badness, that of latter has a sense of goodness. It seems that the first fifty years of Noah’s Dispensation were years of all-round spiritual progress and regeneration and after that moral decadence and degeneration set in and his people gradually became degraded morally, till their degeneration became complete in nine hundred years.

9:50.

Commentary:

The enemies of Islam, both open and secret, are grieved to see the success of believers and try to minimize it. But when Muslims meet with some failure, they rejoice and try to exaggerate it. Their object is to dishearten and discourage believers.

The words, Allah encompasses their deeds, signify that God will bring to nought all their doings and destroy them. Muslims should not, therefore, fear them. All machinations of the enemies of Islam are known to God, Who will frustrate them.

10:45; 18:50; 28:85.

Important Words:

مثقال (weight) is derived from ثقل meaning, it was or became heavy, weighty or ponderous. مثقال means, the weight of a thing whether great or small; a thing with which one weighs; a certain weight of which the quantity is well-known; a dirham; a dinar (Lane).

ذرة (atom) is derived from ذر meaning, he sprinkled or scattered. ذر of whichذرة is the singular means, the young of ants; ant’s eggs; small red ants; the smallest of ants; the motes that are seen in a ray of the sun that enters through an aperture (Lane).

Commentary:

No good deed, done even by a disbeliever, goes unrewarded. If the good deeds of disbelievers do not make them deserving of salvation, they at least serve to mitigate the severity, and lessen the duration of their punishment. In fact, wherever the Quran says that the deeds of disbelievers will not avail them, it means either that they will not succeed in their efforts against the truth or that their deeds will be of no help to them in securing for them admission into Heaven.

The reward promised in this verse is of two kinds: firstly, the direct result of one’s good acts; and secondly, their indirect consequence in the form of God’s pleasure.

62:9.

Important Words:

مشیدة (strongly built) is derived from شاد meaning, he plastered (a wall, etc.) with the requisite material. شاد البناء means, he raised the building high. شادوا الدین means, they strengthened and exalted the religion. شیدہ means, he raised it high, namely, a place or a building; or he built it firmly and strongly and raised it high (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words, Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you, may either refer to the general physical law about the inevitability of death, meaning that when one must die sooner or later, there is no reason why one should be so afraid of death as to refuse to fight in a just cause; or they may be taken as particularly addressed to the hypocrites, who disobeyed the Divine command to fight, thinking that in this way they would be able to avoid death. The verse purports to say that God had decreed that they should suffer death and destruction, however well protected they might be.

It was customary with the hypocrites that when Muslims achieved a success, they attributed it to God, saying that since Islam was a divine religion, it was bound to prosper and succeed. But when a misfortune overtook Muslims, they declared that it was due to mistakes committed by the Prophet. The Quran says that from the viewpoint from which they ascribe success to God, failures are also ascribable to Him. By attributing success to God and failure to the Prophet, the hypocrites sought to discredit the Prophet and to lower him in the estimation of Muslims.

The words, Say, All is from Allah, point to the fact that both successes and misfortunes were foretold by the Holy Prophet (e.g. see 2:156-158). So even the failures which the hypocrites attributed to the Holy Prophet really constituted a proof of his truth. The expression, All is from Allah, is also true in this sense that God is the final controlling power in the universe and whatever good or evil befalls man is attributable either to the general law of nature ordained by God or to one or other of His special decrees.