بَغْتَةً

22:48; 26:205; 27:72-73; 37:177-178.

Commentary:

The verse gives a direct answer to the disbelievers’ demand for the sign of punishment and says that instead of benefiting by the sign of mercy which has been given to them in the form of the Quran, these ill-fated people persist in their demand for punishment. They will have this Sign and the punishment will come upon them also all of a sudden and from quarters least expected. But they will have to wait for أجل مسمی i.e. a fixed and appointed term.

The implied reference in the words أجل مسمی is to the migration of the Holy Prophet to Medina and the punishment demanded by the disbelievers is elsewhere expressed in the words, "O Allah! if this indeed be the truth from Thee, then rain down upon us stones from heaven or bring down upon us a grievous punishment" (8:33). The punishment came upon the disbelievers in the form of the Battle of Badr which took place about a year after the Holy Prophet left Mecca. It broke the power of the Quraish and all their prominent leaders were killed. Their defeat was crushing and most unexpected. They could never conceive that their well-armed and fully equipped army would be defeated by a handful of 313 ill-armed Muslims who had come to the field of battle quite unprepared, because they had no idea when they left Medina that they would be meeting a regular and fully armed host. The words, "it will come upon them unexpectedly" may also have a general application, meaning that when Divine punishment is delayed, the disbelievers begin to think that all the warning was but an illusion and a fantasy and consequently they become lulled into a false sense of security and even increase in transgression. It is when they are in this state of complacency that the punishment comes upon them quite unexpectedly and destroys them.

10:46.

2:168.

Important Words:

فرطنا (our neglecting) is derived from فرّط (farrata) which again is derived from فرط (farata) which means, he went before or preceded. فرط منه الکلام means, the speech or the words issued from him hastily before reflection. فرط علیه means, he acted hastily and unjustly towards him. فرّطه (farratahu) means, he made him to precede; or he made him to be before, or beforehand or first or foremost. فرطه also means, he sent it before, himself remaining behind it. فرط عنه means, he left or forsook him; or he abstained or desisted from it. فرط فیه means, he neglected it or he was remiss with respect to it; or he preferred backwardness in it; or he failed to do, or fell short of doing, what he ought to have done with respect to it. افرط فی الامر means, he exceeded due bounds or just limits in the matter. Thus تفریط (from فرط) has generally come to mean, "falling short of" and إفراط(from افرط) "exceeding proper limits" (Lane & Aqrab).

الا (surely) originally denotes an interrogation respecting a negative, or a wish or reproof, or the asking for or requiring a thing. It is also used as an inceptive particle giving the sense of "now" or "why". It also means, verily, truly or surely (Lane).

Commentary:

The pronoun in فیھا (this) may refer to the "Hour" mentioned above. In that case, "neglecting this Hour" would mean that disbelievers never believed that the Hour would come and never gave it a thought; or it may refer to الدنیا (the earth) or to حیاتنا الدنیا (our present life) occurring in 6:30 above. In this case, the sentence would mean that they acted negligently during their life on this earth.

The words, they shall bear their burdens on their backs, are intended to hint that their burdens would be exceedingly heavy.

5:14; 7:166.

7:96; 39:56.

Commentary:

When disbelievers became hardened and treated Divine admonition as a thing forgotten, God let them wander in their blind transgression. The words, We opened unto them the gates of all things, signify that God let them stray away and advance further and further into the evil deeds in which they were engaged. Sometimes the afflictions were removed from them for a time and they rejoiced to think that they were right in thinking that the afflictions were not due to their sins. Then the punishment of God suddenly seized them, and they gave themselves up to despair. Thus, there are two kinds of afflictions that visit disbelieving people in the days of Divine Messengers: (1) temporary afflictions that come as warnings and then pass away; (2) general disaster which finally overtakes and destroys the wicked.

6:41; 10:51; 12:108; 43:67.

Commentary:

The word "suddenly" signifies the coming of the Divine punishment without warning or previous indication. The Fall of Mecca belonged to this class of signs.

The word "openly" implies giving a warning beforehand so that such people as still retain inward light and have a desire to follow the guidance may become warned and may accept the truth without further delay, lest they should also perish along with the wrongdoers.

Important Words:

عفوا (they grew) is derived from عفا which gives a number of meanings: (1) it was or became effaced or obliterated; (2) transitively, he or it effaced or obliterated something; (3) he forgave or pardoned; (4) it was or became much in quantity or many in number; or (5) transitively, he made it much in quantity or many in number, etc. (Lane).

Commentary:

The words حسنة (good condition) and سیئة (evil condition) are not used here in their moral sense, but in the sense of straitness and plenty.

It is invariably the case that when the afflictions and miseries which come upon a disbelieving people as a result of their rejection of a Prophet of God pass away and ease and comfort take their place, then instead of improving their condition and turning to God in repentance, they refuse to recognize past afflictions as heavenly visitations and as signs of the truth of their Prophet, but, on the contrary, begin to say that they were merely normal occurrences of nature which even their forefathers experienced in their time but which then passed away.

16:78; 54:51.

33:64; 78:2; 79:43.

31:35; 43:86.

Important Words:

ایان مرساھا (when will it come to pass?) مرسی is derived from رسا. They say رساالجبل i.e. the mountain was firmly based or fixed upon the ground. رست السفینة means, the ship cast anchor and became stationary. مرسی is the noun-infinitive or a noun of time or a noun of place, meaning, the act of anchoring or the time or place of anchorage; or the time and place of becoming stationary; or of coming to pass. The expression ایان مرساھا means, when will it come to pass, or what is the time of its taking place; or when will it occur or happen? (Lane & Aqrab).

حفی (well acquainted) is derived from حفی which means, he walked barefooted; or his feet became chafed by walking much. حفی به means, he showed him much honour and kindness and affection; or he behaved towards him with solicitude and manifested joy and pleasure. حفی عنه means, he asked or inquired much respecting him; he exceeded the usual bounds in making much inquiry respecting him. So حفی means, showing much honour and solicitude and manifesting joy or pleasure at meeting another; asking or inquiring much respecting another’s state or condition; going to the utmost in asking or inquiring; or knowing in the utmost degree (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The reference in the opening sentence of the verse is to 7:186. When the opponents of Islam were told that their hour had already drawn near, they inquired of the Prophet the exact time when the promised hour would come. The awarding of punishment is as painful to God as the receiving of it is to men, and this is the meaning of the words, It lies heavy on the heavens and the earth. The word "heavens" here represents God and angels, while the word "earth" represents human beings.

The word حفی signifies (1) importunate in inquiring; or (2) well acquainted. The sentence would thus mean: (1) They ask thee concerning the exact time when the hour of their punishment will come to pass, as if thou wert repeatedly inquiring of God as to its time of occurrence; or (2) they ask thee about the time of the "Hour", as if thou wert well acquainted with it. In both these cases the clause would imply that the Holy Prophet neither knew when the "Hour" would come to pass nor was he very solicitous about it.

10:51; 22:56; 43:67.

Important Words:

غاشیة (an overwhelming punishment) is derived from غشی. They say, غشیه i.e. it covered or concealed him; it overcame or overwhelmed him, etc. غاشیة means, a covering; a calamity or misfortune; a certain disease attacking the belly or the chest; a punishment that overwhelms and is general in its extent (Lane). See also 7:42.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that as disbelievers refuse to accept anything but a sign of punishment, they will indeed have a sign of punishment. But as is the way of God, they will have smaller punishments before they are visited with the final or decisive one. And so it happened in the case of the Meccan idolaters. After a series of small reverses, Mecca, which was in those days temporarily the citadel of disbelief and infidelity, fell to the victorious arms of the Muslims. This was the decisive and real sign for which they had clamoured.

Commentary:

This verse continues the theme of the preceding one. Man has first to make himself deserving of Divine mercy by following the best Teaching that has been revealed—the Quran—and only then to demand it. It is honest endeavour that is demanded of men and the rest is made up by God’s mercy.

36:50; 67:28.

Commentary:

The reference in the verse may be to the Fall of Mecca when the Quraish were taken completely by surprise and were utterly confounded. The sign of punishment which they demanded came upon them suddenly in the form of the fall of their capital city the centre of disbelief and idolatry.

11:18.

Important Words:

عقیم (destructive) is derived from عقم. They say عقمت المرأة i.e. the woman was or became barren. امرأة عقیم means, a barren woman, a woman that does not conceive or give birth to a child. یوم عقیم means, a severe fighting. یوم عقیم means, a day having no day after it; a destructive day, a day of hard fighting, so called because many women having lost their sons in the fighting become عقیم (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

"Hour" in the verse signifies the final triumph of Islam. It may also refer to the Fall of Mecca, when the power of the disbelieving Quraish was finally broken. The fall took place quite suddenly. The Quraish had not had the least inkling of the approach of Muslim army till it reached the very gates of Mecca.

The words, "the punishment of a destructive day," may refer to any form of punishment, preferably to the day of the Battle of Badr.

This and the following two verses imply a prophecy about the ultimate triumph of Islam, and the defeat and discomfiture of disbelievers.