وَلَن

3:11; 66:7.

Important Words:

الحجارة (stones) is the plural of الحجر (a stone) which is derived from the verb حجر which means, he or it prevented or hindered or resisted. A stone is called حجر because it resists pressure owing to its hardness. الحجر also means, a rock or a great mass of stone; a metal as gold and silver which both together are sometimes called الحجران i.e. the two metals (Lane). Thus coal (not charcoal) would also be looked upon as حجر. The word حجارة may also be used metaphorically for idols made of stone or metal (Kashshaf).

اعدت (prepared) is derived from اعد which again is derived from عد which means, he considered or he counted. اعد means, he prepared a thing and made or kept it ready (Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse says that if the opponents of Islam are not able to produce the like of the Quran as demanded in the previous verse, they should understand that it is the word of God and that they are not opposing a man but God Himself; they should, therefore, be ready to suffer the lot of those who oppose Divine will.

The clause, and never shall you do it, signifies that the disbelievers knew that the idols had no power of revealing anything; so they would never call upon the idols to help them.

The word "fuel" may also be taken in a figurative sense, in which case the meaning would be that the punishment of Hell is caused by idol-worship. So the idols are like fuel for hellfire, being a means of bringing it into existence. The words الناس (men) and الحجارة (stones) may also be taken as indicating two classes of inmates of Hell. The word الناس (men) which, according to its root, signifies love, has been used to denote those disbelievers who may be called human in so far as they still retain something of the love of God which distinguishes human beings from stones. But the other disbelievers are called الحجارة (stones), for they have no love left for God. Such men are indeed no better than stones.

Though this verse speaks of fire and stones, it should be remembered that what is called the next world is not a material world. In fact, expressions used in the Quran to denote rewards and punishment should not be taken literally but metaphorically. It should also be noted that the punishment of the next world is not everlasting. According to Islam, Hell is not eternal. It is only a reformatory. The subject will be discussed later in its proper place.

62:8.

Commentary:

In verses 95 and 96 Jews are invited to join with Muslims in what is termed a مباھلة or prayer contest. They are called upon to pray to God in the company of Muslims for the death or destruction of the party with which God is displeased on account of its espousal of the cause of falsehood. If Jews are really the favourites of God and Muslims are under His wrath, the latter, as a result of the prayer contest, will surely meet with ruin, and thus it will become clear which of the two parties is on the side of truth. The only evidence which in this world can prove the truth of any of the conflicting claims regarding the next life made by the different religious systems is that the promises held out about the next life should in part at least begin to fulfil themselves in this very life. If, in such a prayer contest as the above, God were to show His favour to the Jews, it would furnish a clear proof that His favours would accompany them also in the next life.

The Quran adds that Jews will never venture to accept the challenge, for they are well aware of their actions and the motives that guide them.

For a fuller description of the institution of Mubahalah or prayer contest see under 3:62.

2:112.

2:146; 13:38.

Important Words:

ملة (creed) is derived from مل and means, among other things, religion; law of Shari‘ah; the right way (Lane).

اھواء (evil desires) is the plural of ھوی (an evil desire). The verb ھوی means, he or it fell or descended or came down from a higher position to a lower one. It also means, it rose or ascended. الھوی means, a desire; an evil or low desire; an evil inclination; love and attachment اتبع ھواہ means, he followed his evil inclination, i.e. swerved from the way of rectitude (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The words, if thou follow their evil desires, though apparently addressed to the Holy Prophet, are really general in their application, being meant for his followers. The Holy Prophet has been described in the Quran as a model for mankind and a paragon of perfection (3:32; 33:22) and therefore he was infinitely above the possibility of complying with the evil wishes of the Jews and the Christians concerning the guidance he had directly received from God. At several other places in the Quran, the same form of address has been used. This is done to emphasize the importance of the commandment which is seemingly addressed to the Holy Prophet but is really meant for his followers (see 17:24). This mode of address is not peculiar to the Quran. In the Bible we come across similar instances (e.g. Deut. 16:21, 22).

4:4.

2:232.

Important Words:

معلقة (a thing suspended) is derived from علق. They say علقه i.e. he hung it up or suspended it. علق الامر means, he left the affair suspended, i.e. undecided. معلقه is, therefore, a woman whose husband neither keeps her properly as a wife nor divorces her so that she might marry another man (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The words, And you cannot keep perfect balance between wives, however much you may desire it, mean that it is not humanly possible for a man to keep perfect balance between his different wives in every respect. For instance, love being an affair of the heart over which man has no control, a husband cannot be expected to have equal love for all his wives. But he can certainly treat them with equity in matters of money, time, etc., and this he must do. So acting equitably between the different wives, which has been laid down by Islam as an essential condition for polygamy, pertains only to such overt acts over which man has control. This is the interpretation which the Holy Prophet himself has put on this verse, both through his word and example. ‘A’ishah reports that the Holy Prophet used to treat his wives with equity in all matters over which man can have control and having done this, he used to pray to God, saying: "My Lord, these are my dealings in matters over which I have control; so blame me not for that which is in Thy power and not mine," meaning the feelings of the heart (Dawud, ch. on Nikah). The Holy Prophet is also reported to have said: "If a man has two wives and he is inclined to one of them (neglecting the other), he will rise on the Day of Resurrection with one of his sides having been torn off (Dawud, ch. on Nikah). Thus, both the example and the sayings of the Holy Prophet show that though a husband cannot love his wives equally, he should in his outward treatment, i.e. allotment of time, money, etc. be equally just and fair to all of them. In this connection see also 4:4.

9:98; 57:15.

Important Words:

نستحوذ علیکم (get the better of you). نستحوذ is derived from حاذ. They say حاذہ i.e. he guarded or protected it and took care of it. حاذ الابل means, he drove the camels quickly or he gained mastery over the camels and collected them together. استحوذ علیهmeans, he overcame or mastered or gained mastery of him or it; he got the better of him or it (Taj).

نمنعکم (protected you) is derived from منع i.e. (1) he prevented or hindered: (2) he denied or refused (3) he protected or guarded (Lane).

Commentary:

The words, did we not get the better of you, are addressed by the hypocrites to the disbelievers and mean "we had you in our power but we spared you". Similarly, the words, and protect you against the believers, may be interpreted something like this: "We separated ourselves from the Muslims with the result that they became weak and you were thus saved from them." Or the words may mean, "some of the faint-hearted among you wished to make peace with the Muslims, but we prevented them from doing so, and now the result is that you are victorious." In the latter case the clause نمنعکم من المؤمنینwould be translated as "we prevented you from making peace with the believers".

The last sentence of the verse means that the hypocrites will never be able to bring a valid objection against Muslims.

Important Words:

درك (depth). They say, درك المطر i.e. the rain fell in close consecutiveness. ادرك الشیء means, he attained, reached or overtook the thing; he sought or pursued and attained it. درك means, the act of attaining, or overtaking; the attainment or acquisition of an object; a consequence; an evil consequence; the bottom or lowest depth of a thing or of anything deep as of a well or sea. درك signifies, a stage counting downwards whereas درج is a stage upwards (Lane & Aqrab).

الاسفل (lowest) is both comparative and superlative degree from سافل meaning, low or base or vile. اسفل means, lower or lowest, both physically and in rank (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The Quran’s strong denunciation of the hypocrites is a clear refutation of the charge brought against it that it exhorts its followers to spread Islam by means of the sword. If a man is forced to accept Islam against his will, he can never make a sincere believer. In other words, such a one will be a hypocrite and the last thing that can be alleged against the Quran is that it enjoins its followers to augment their numbers by admitting hypocrites into their fold.

The hypocrites will be placed in the lowest depth of Hell, because they combine the sin of disbelief with

that of hypocrisy. The lowest depth does not necessarily signify a depth which is the physically lowest, but a depth which is the hardest in torment and is meant for offenders of the lowest type.

3:140.

Important Words:

لن یترکم (will not deprive you). یتر is derived from وتر. They say وترہ حقه i.e. he made him to suffer loss or detriment in respect of his right; or he deprived him or defrauded him of it partially or wholly (Aqrab).

Commentary:

As the Surah primarily deals with the subject of war, the Muslims are enjoined here that when once the fighting has started, they are not to sue for peace, whatever form or shape the fortunes of war may take. They are to win either victory or martyrdom. The verse, besides laying this heavy responsibility on Muslims, makes to them an unequivocal promise of victory in the words "You will certainly have the upper hand as Allah is with you." But whereas, on the one hand, Muslims are not to sue for peace under any circumstances, on the other, they are not to reject overtures of peace made by the enemy even if by doing so he seeks to deceive Muslims or to gain time (8:62). Islam is a religion of peace. It has certainly permitted its followers to take up arms in self-defence, or, when refusal to fight means sure destruction. But it has also enjoined them to cease fighting, whatever the circumstances, when an offer of peace is made by the opposite side.

32:29.

Important Words:

تستفتحوا (if you sought a judgement) is derived from استفتح which again is derived from فتح which means, he opened or he unlocked. فتح الحاکم بین الناس means, the judge or magistrate judged between the people. استفتح means, he asked or sought or demanded victory; or he asked or sought or demanded judgement (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse is addressed to the disbelievers who demanded the sign of victory or God’s judgement from the Holy Prophet. They said, "If you are a true Messenger of God, why does He not help you and grant you victory?" They are here told that God’s judgement in the form of victory has indeed come and that if they now desist from fighting, it will be well for them; but if they return to war, God will show them further signs of victory and they shall be defeated and brought low in spite of their great superiority in numbers and resources, for Allah is with the believers.

Commentary:

The verse was probably revealed when the Holy Prophet was away from Medina during his expedition to Tabuk. But if, as some commentators think, it was revealed after his return to Medina, it would be taken to allude to what the hypocrites previously used to say regarding the said expedition. They thought that he would never return from the expedition alive. So the Quran, in this verse reminds them of what they used to say about the Holy Prophet, and of his safe return, contrary to their expectation.

The particle ان (if), it should be noted, does not always express doubt but is often used as simply a conditional particle. Moreover, it is sometimes used not from the point of view of the speaker, but from that of the person addressed. The word is here used by God and it is obvious that God had no doubt as to the safe return of the Prophet. So it must be taken to express the state of mind of the hypocrites.

17:78; 35:44; 48:24.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that it is an invariable Divine practice that the enemies of truth fail in their wicked designs against it and come to grief in the long run. This has happened in the time of every Divine Reformer and Prophet.

37:34.

Commentary:

The fact that both the accomplices are equal partners in a crime and, therefore, are equal sharers in punishment, can be of no use or benefit to either of them because it lessens neither their individual responsibility nor the punishment which each of them incurs and suffers.

27:51-52; 35:11.

17:78; 33:63; 48:24.

Commentary:

The verse warns disbelievers that if they persist in their disbelief, they will be punished like disbelievers of the Prophets of yore. It is an established and invariable Divine law that opposition to Divine laws never goes unpunished. This fact is writ large on the history of all revealed religions. This is God’s way and God’s ways never change.

31:19.

Commentary:

The teaching given in the previous verses pertained to our relations with other individuals or with God. The moral precepts which this verse proceeds to lay down concern our own selves. First of all we are bidden not to be proud of and exult over our achievements, for such an attitude makes us content with what we have already achieved and is thus calculated to impede and arrest our moral progress. The words, thou canst not rend the earth nor canst thou reach the mountains in height, remind us that after all our successes and achievements are limited, and there is no sense in our losing our heads over what is so limited. In spite of all our achievements, real or imaginary, we, have to live on this earth and among its people. We should not therefore behave in such a manner as to make ourselves intolerable to others. A proud man’s life is generally very bitter. In every-day life he cannot do without the help and assistance of those among whom he lives and yet he disdains their cooperation. This contrariness and irreconcilability of attitude and feelings renders his life bitter and makes him unacceptable to others.

Taking the word جبال (mountains) in the sense of "leaders" or "learned men", which is also one of its so many meanings, the verse seems to administer a subtle rebuke to the haughty and the arrogant that they cannot attain that height of greatness and honour among their people which these two classes of men reach by their knowledge and service, and yet these pillars of learning are the models of humility and humaneness.

Commentary:

The contemptuous tone of the disbelievers’ discourse is continued in this verse. They are represented as saying to the Prophet that if he could not accomplish any of the things they demanded of him, he might at least have some good things for himself. Pharaoh had challenged Moses that he could not be a true Prophet because he possessed no bracelets of gold (43:54); but the Meccan disbelievers went a step further and declared that the Prophet’s claims could only be regarded true if he possessed a house made of gold.

The words, Or thou ascend up into heaven…that we can read, contain a derisive reference to the Mi‘raj or the Ascension of the Prophet. The disbelievers meant to say that they would not believe in his ascension unless he stayed in the heavens and let fall to them a book that they might read. To these foolish demands of the disbelievers the words, Say, Holy is my Lord! I am not but a man sent as a Messenger, embody a crushing reply. They are told that their demands fall under two heads: (a) those that pertain to God; (b) those that pertain to the Prophet. The demands of the first category are frivolous in character and God is above such frivolities. These demands have nothing to do with the spiritual development of man for which Divine Messengers are raised. As for their demands pertaining to the Prophet, they are incompatible with his humanity and his mission as a Prophet of God. A human being, even one invested with prophethood, could not and would not indulge in such acrobatic feats.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that if the people to whom you are sending trade parties became acquainted with your real intentions, or before your feet became firmly established in their country some political quarrel or commercial disagreement arose and you were overpowered, then you would either have to quit their country or embrace their religion. In either ease you would fail to gain a permanent foothold and all your dreams of establishing a great empire in their country would come to naught.

29:46.

6:35, 116; 10:65.

Commentary:

The verse makes it clear that the above account of the Dwellers of the Cave is not meant merely as an interesting narrative but refers to events of the past of great spiritual significance, at the same time constituting a forewarning to Muslims to be always prepared for hardships like those that the Dwellers of the Cave had to suffer. In fact according to Ibn ‘Abbas the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that اصحاب الکھف (Dwellers of the Cave) are the companions of the Imam Mahdi (Manthur). The words, there is none who can change His words, also support the assumption that the account of the Dwellers of the Cave contains mighty prophecies, otherwise there was no sense in using such challenging words as these. See the following verses.

26:205; 27:72; 29:54-55;37:177; 51:15.

Commentary:

The reference in this verse is to a mighty event in the history of Islam. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said that the first three centuries of Islam would be its best period after which falsehood would spread and a period of darkness would come and this period of darkness would extend to over a thousand years (Tirmidhi). This period is likened to one day in the present verse and in 32:6. In this period of moral and spiritual decadence of Muslims a people having blue eyes were to arise who were to spread all over the earth and at whose hands Islam was destined to receive a serious setback (20:103-104). This period of political decadence of Islam and moral degeneration of Muslims in which they faced defeat and discomfiture at the hands of western Christian nations having blue eyes, began after the expiry of the third century of Hijrah and lasted up to the dawn of the 14th century when the Promised Messiah made his appearance. It is to these western people that the reference has been made in the words "And they ask thee to hasten on the punishment." In their conceit and arrogance born of material glory and political power, the western peoples came to labour under the misconception that their progress and glory would last forever. So they are depicted in the verse under comment as challenging the Holy Prophet to hasten on the punishment which he said would overtake them. To their implied taunt and gibe, the verse makes a reply that God had already made a promise that these western nations would be granted respite for one thousand years after which a terrible tribulation would overtake them and all their greatness and glory would become a thing of the past. Divine punishment would descend on their houses and the very soil on which they would be living would be rendered bleak and barren. They are warned that the punishment would be so severe, overwhelming and enveloping that one day of it would appear to them as a thousand years. See also 18:9 & 32:6.

17:78; 33:63; 35:44.

Commentary:

The verse means that it has always been the Law of God that truth must ultimately triumph and falsehood suffer defeat; and God’s Law knows no change. This fact is writ large on the face of human history.

71:5.

Commentary:

The word أجل signifies a Divine decree, and the verse means that a people should make the best of their opportunities before the Divine decree comes into force; that is, because they will have outlived their usefulness, they would deserve to live no more.

46:31-32.

Commentary:

This verse shows that "a company of the jinn" were either Unitarian Christians or such Jews, as were closely associated with Christians, or being under their influence, were conversant with Christian beliefs.

55:34.