بَلَىٰٓ

Important Words:

فور (immediately) is derived from فار. They say فار الماء i.e. the water gushed forth from the earth. فارت القدر means, the contents of the cooking pot vehemently boiled and rose high in it. فورة means, the intensity of heat or anger or the like. فورة النھار means, the first part of the day. فور signifies the state or condition that comes without delay. The Arabs say رجع من فوره he returned or turned back immediately without tarrying (Arab).

مسومین (attacking vehemently) is derived from سوم. They say سوم الفرس i.e. he branded the horse with a brand. سوم الخیل means, he let loose the horses for grazing. سوم علیھمmeans, he suddenly and vehemently attacked them and wrought havoc among them (Aqrab). In the verse under comment the word is used in the last-mentioned sense.

Commentary:

The verse signifies that if the disbelievers returned to the attack at once, without giving the Muslims any opportunity to recoup themselves, God would help the latter with five thousand angels. The difference in the number of angels,—in the preceding verse the number mentioned being 3,000—was due to the difference in the condition of the Muslims. They were at that time exhausted and wounded and, therefore, needed greater help than they would have needed, if the enemy attack had been delayed.

The enemy did indeed think of returning, but God prevented them from doing so. Briefly stated, the facts are that when the Quraish were retracing their steps towards Mecca, members of the Arab tribes living in the vicinity of Medina asked them about the results of the battle, and when they declared that they were victorious, these men put them to shame by saying, "If you have been really victorious, where are the spoils? What have you brought from the battlefield?" Touched to the quick by this taunt, the Quraish decided to retrieve their shame by attacking the Muslims once more. When the Holy Prophet came to know of this, on the day following the battle, he gave immediate orders to march and directed that only those of his followers who had taken part in the Battle of Uhud should join him. The Muslims went as far as Hamra’ul-Asad, a place about eight miles from Medina. The Meccans were, however, so overawed by this unexpectedly bold and prompt appearance of the Holy Prophet and his followers that they decided to retreat hastily to Mecca. This was due to the fear which the angels had inspired in their hearts. Otherwise there was no reason for them to flee from an enemy upon whom they had inflicted so heavy a loss only a day before and who, besides being very much reduced in number, were utterly exhausted and were suffering from grievous wounds as a result of the previous day’s fighting.

A recent commentator, having translated the words, من فورھم ھذا as "in headlong manner", has applied them to the Battle of Ahzab. This is not right. The fact is that verses 125 and 126, as already explained, are both connected with the Battle of Uhud and relate to the time immediately following it. The word بلی (yea) occurring in the beginning of the verse also denotes a connection between the verses and supplies the answer to the question in 3:125, viz: will it not suffice you? Thus the word بلی would here mean "yes, it will suffice, and so will suffice a force of 5,000 angels if the enemy were to return to the attack at this very moment."

4:98; 8:51; 47:28.

16:88.

Commentary:

The verse speaks of those disbelievers who spend their whole life in disbelief and opposition to the truth. By doing so they only harm themselves while all the time labouring under the misconception that they are injuring the cause of the Divine Messenger.

The words, We used not to do any evil, mean that disbelievers would not deny having worshipped the false gods because that would be too patent a fact to be denied but would deny only the baseness of their motives and would protest that what they did was actuated by good intentions and pure motives and that they worshipped their false gods as an aid to concentration on Divine attributes. The present verse gives the lie to this sense of injured innocence of disbelievers by saying that this exactly is the plea which is always advanced by idolaters when they find their position indefensible.

The words may also be understood to mean that disbelievers would say that they had tried their best to find out the truth and what they did they did under the impression that it was the right course to adopt.

The words, Allah knows well what you used to do, mean that the plea put forward by disbelievers is false and that if they had been really actuated by right motives, they would surely have been guided to the right path in accordance with God’s promise contained in the words, And as for those who strive in Our cause, We will surely guide them in Our ways (29:70). So their plea of good intentions could not save them from Divine punishment.

17:100; 36:82; 86:9.

Important Words:

لم یعی (was not wearied). عی بأمرہ means, he lacked power, strength or ability for, or was unable to perform or execute, his affair thoroughly. أعیا means, he was or became disabled or incapacitated; he was or became fatigued, tired, wearied. اعیاء is weakness and fatigue which is the result of doing a thing (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the process of the creation of new heavens and earth has not ceased. Neither is it an empty and unsubstantiated claim. With the coming of a great Divine Reformer the old order dies and a new one takes its place. This signifies the coming into being of a new heaven and a new earth.