كَلَّآ

21:96; 36:32.

Important Words:

برزخ means, a barrier; a bar; a thing that intervenes between any two things; an obstruction or a thing that separates two things; the interval from the time of death to the Day of Resurrection. The word is technically applied to the period or state from the day of death to the Day of Resurrection (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The word لعل (that) conveys the idea of doubt. As used here the word shows that the disbeliever will have been so deeply impressed by God’s Greatness and Majesty and his own insignificance that he dare not declare with certainty that he will make amends for what he had left undone in life on earth. He only expresses a hope that he will do righteous deeds if he were sent back to this world.

The word کلمة has been used in the verse, as at several other places in the Quran in the sense of a full sentence. The Holy Prophet also used the word in the sense of a complete sentence in a well-known hadith:

أصدق کلمة قالھا لبید، الا کل شیء ما خلا اللّٰه باطل

i.e. the truest sentence is the one which the poet Labid uttered and which is to the effect, "Everything besides God is subject to destruction." See also 4:172.

The verse incidentally disproves a commonly held belief that a man passes into Heaven or Hell immediately after his death. In fact after death he lives in برزخ which is an intermediate state of incomplete realization of the punishments or rewards of Hell or Heaven respectively or a state of preparation for their complete and full realization. The Quran has compared barzakh to the embryonic state and the resurrection to the birth of the fully developed soul.

Commentary:

The verse throws a flood of light on the invincible faith that the Prophets have in God. The Israelites were between the devil and the deep sea. The sea was before them and the mighty hosts of Pharaoh were coming from behind in hot pursuit. Complete destruction stared them in the face, and in utter despair they cried "We are surely overtaken." But Moses’ faith in his Lord was as strong as ever, nay it shone forth with greater effulgence in the face of the extreme peril. To the cry of despair of his companions Moses replied, most emphatically, and in words expressive of complete confidence and trust in God. "We shall never be overtaken," he said, "My Lord is with me." This is how God’s Elect stand firm and unshaken like a rock in the midst of severest trials. God purposely makes them pass through hard ordeals to show to the world the invincibility of their trust in God and His own regard for them. They emerge from these ordeals triumphant. This has happened in the time of every Prophet of God. Its brightest example is to be seen in the life of the Holy Prophet of Islam.

Commentary:

Taken along with its predecessor, the verse would mean that a man cannot hope to be received into God’s favour by mere expression of a pious wish. He has first to discharge his obligations to God, and his fellow-beings, and by making full use of God-given powers and faculties he has to traverse all the different stages of spiritual progress before he can hope to enter "the Garden of Bliss." The word مما signifies natural powers and faculties with which God has endowed him.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that disbelievers entertain very high ambitions but those ambitions shall not materialize. On the contrary, they shall be punished; the particle کلا being used to reject the request of a person and to reprimand him for making it (Lane).

Commentary:

The demand of disbelievers can never be accepted as the Quran has fully satisfied all needs and requirements of man. It is a Reminder and an Exhortation par excellence, and through it the nations that will accept its Message and act upon its teaching will rise to great eminence.

56:84.

Important Words:

التراقی (throat) is the plural of ترقوة meaning, the collarbone. They say بلغت روحه التراقی i.e. he was about to die. راقی means, the uppermost parts of the chest or parts of the throat next of the chest (Lane & Aqrab).

20:4; 73:20; 74:55; 76:30.

Important Words:

کلا (nay) means, nay; by no means; on the contrary. The particle is also used to remonstrate with a person and to tell him that he is saying something which is not correct (Aqrab & Baqa).

Commentary:

The verse means that the charge of indifference is not correct. Moreover, why at all the Prophet should have adopted an attitude of sullen indifference towards a poor man when the Quran, being meant equally for the rich and the poor, it was not only inconsistent with his own high moral stature but also against human reason to do so? What the Prophet did on the specific occasion was dictated by the exigency of the occasion and was demanded by the situation and, therefore, was the right thing to do.

45:29; 69:26.

Important Words:

سجین (Sijjin) is wrongly considered by some commentators of the Quran as a non-Arabic word. According to such eminent authorities as Farra’, Zajjaj. Abu ‘Ubaidah and Mubarrad, it is an Arabic word derived from the root سجن(sajana). Lisan considers it as equivalent to سجن (sijn) meaning, a prison. سجین is a register or book in which the record of evil deeds of the wicked is said to be kept in the next world. The word also means, anything hard, vehement and severe; continuous, lasting or everlasting (Lane & Aqrab).

3:78.

Commentary:

The sight of God is granted to a believer in two stages. The first stage is that of belief, when the believer acquires a firm faith in the Divine attributes. This is the initial stage. The second or the higher stage consists in his being granted realization of the Divine Being. This stage is achieved after one has witnessed the manifestation of God’s powers and attributes in the form of great signs and miracles. The sinners, on account of their rusted hearts, will remain deprived of the realization of the Divine Being on the Day of Judgement. They will not see the face of God. The Surah particularly deals with the fraudulent behaviour of the Christian powers of the west.

The use of the particle کلا (by no means) three times after referring to the wicked deeds of disbelievers seems to suggest that the Christian powers of the west will receive three severe shocks, may be in the form of three world wars, two of which have already taken place.

Important Words:

علیین is considered by some to have been derived from علا which means, it was or became high, and thus may mean, the most exalted ranks which the righteous will enjoy. The word may also mean liberty or freedom which signifies that the righteous will be free to go anywhere in Paradise. The word may also stand for those parts of the Quran which contain prophecies about the great progress and prosperity of believers. According to Ibn ‘Abbas the word means Paradise (Ibn Kathir), while Imam Raghib considers it to be the name of the dwellers thereof.

Commentary:

The word سجین being singular and علیین plural it appears that the punishment of evildoers will be static, i.e. stationary in one place, but the spiritual progress of the righteous will continue without interruption, assuming different forms. They will go from one rank to another.

Commentary:

The verse warns disbelievers that as they do not possess the ingredients mentioned in the foregoing verses which are so essential for the maintenance of the moral health of a people, the time would surely come when they will become morally corrupt and will be seized with Divine punishment.

37:31.

Commentary:

The particle کلا is sometimes used to impart emphasis and is expressive of certainty. Or it is used in the sense of 'nay' or 'never'. The verse means that though man has been endowed with great natural powers and has been created in the best make, he errs grievously if he thinks that he can ignore God’s help and guidance. He constantly stands in need of Divine assistance because his capacities and capabilities are at best limited.